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"Chen Yunqiu, how much do you think your life is worth? You're already dying, what use is there for me to take your life?"

Shen Yunqiu noticed that Shen Pingchang's grip on the hilt of the sword was a little loose, but he still didn't dare to let go.

"Revenge," he said. "Killing me would be the best revenge for Mother and the Lin family. Father, haven't you wanted to do this for a long time?"

Staring straight into Shen Pingchang's eyes, Shen Yunqiu saw that man's expression changed unpredictably in an instant, and a flash of anger at having his thoughts exposed flashed across his face. Then, Shen Pingchang looked back at the young man's bloodshot eyes and uttered a word.

"good."

"No, Shen Yunqiu..."

For a moment, Suxi suddenly recalled the head of the young man rolling in the snow at the execution ground in his previous life, remembering himself slashing his throat with a knife in front of the temple, remembering this fate that he could not escape, and felt as if his soul was being sucked away bit by bit...

"No, Shen Yunqiu, why should you die for me? This is the Su family's business, it has nothing to do with you! Shen Yunqiu, my business has nothing to do with you!"

Suxi knelt in the snow and screamed at the top of her lungs. Immediately, two officers and soldiers understood and came forward to arrest her, but the one in front just turned around and glanced at her lightly, then turned away again.

“Shen Pingchang, if I die, how can you guarantee that you will let her go?”

Shen Yunqiu asked, he knew that even if Shen Pingchang let Suxi go first, once he died, he might send troops to chase him.

"Don't you trust me?" Shen Pingchang smiled. "Okay, then I'll swear a poisonous oath. If you break my promise, I, Shen Pingchang, and the entire Shen family will die suddenly, with our intestines pierced and our stomachs rotted. It's a miserable death!"

"Okay." Shen Yunqiu nodded. He knew that Shen Pingchang had committed many sins along the way. In fact, he was as superstitious about ghosts and gods as the old lady. He even bathed, burned incense, chanted scriptures and prayed for blessings every time he did evil things. He would never swear or gamble with his own life.

Sure enough, in an instant, Shen Pingchang loosened his grip on the hilt of the sword. He walked aside and handed the sword to an armored soldier. He didn't want his hands to be stained with blood, and he didn't want to bear the sin of killing his son and be punished by heaven.

Taking the hilt of the sword, the officer stepped forward tremblingly, his whole body trembling as he closed his eyes tightly, and raised the sword to stab Shen Yunqiu in the heart.

Kneeling on the ground and tightly clenching his bleeding hands, Shen Yunqiu saw the cold light flashing at the tip of the sword and slowly closed his eyes. However, there was a rare fear in his heart. Instead, boundless bitterness gradually spread to his limbs, meridians and torso. A thing called powerlessness was like a tide that drowned and swallowed the struggling people on the shore, and they could never get out again.

Until now, he still wanted to live, wanted to live with her, even live one more day. But there was no other way.

The snow was still falling, and Shen Yunqiu felt his body growing colder and stiffer, like the call of death.

He wants to live.

But if it means he can let her live a peaceful life, he would rather give up his life.

After all, this was the last thing he could leave her.

After a long time, he could feel the blade of the sword cutting through the wind, mixed with the dull thumping of footsteps in the snow. Suddenly, with a "whoosh", the sound of the sword cutting through flesh and blood rang out. Shen Yunqiu froze and clenched his fists tightly. For a long while, the expected excruciating pain did not come for a long time. Instead, the girl's painful groan rang in his ears, as if tearing at his beating heart.

With a bang, there seemed to be a thunderclap in his head. Shen Yunqiu realized something belatedly and suddenly opened his eyes. What caught his eye was the girl's eyes wide open like a dead fish, bloodshot eyes, blood gushing from her lips, and a long sword piercing straight through her chest from her back.

Tick, tick...

The sound of dripping blood kept ringing in the ears. The girl's goose yellow jacket on her chest was completely soaked with blood, dyed black. The blood dripping from the tip of the sword fell on the snow and kept flowing. After a while, it gathered into a bright red lake, so glaring and so terrifying.

Looking up again, Shen Yunqiu saw the officers and soldiers hastily throw down their swords and run away in his blood-stained eyes, saw Shen Pingchang and the two officers and soldiers behind him with equally astonished eyes, and saw the girl who stretched out her arms to block him and suddenly spit out a mouthful of blood, her body falling forward as if exhausted.

Suddenly coming back to his senses from the huge shock, Shen Yunqiu hurriedly pulled Su Xi into his arms. Tears began to flow belatedly, but they could not wash away the bloodshot eyes.

"Xiaoxi..." He could only feel his lips moving, but could hardly make a sound. "Xiaoxi, why...why did you want to..."

"Don't cry, Shen Yunqiu, I'm not hurt..."

For a moment, pain penetrated his body. Su Xi remembered the time when he rushed to the execution ground to save someone and was stabbed through. He suppressed the bitterness in his heart and smiled with difficulty.

At least this time, she really saved him.

After a long time, salty tears dripped down the collar into the neck. Su Xi tried hard to raise her trembling hands to touch the boy's cold cheeks and wipe the tears from his face. However, she didn't know whether it was because her hands were shaking or there were too many tears, she couldn't wipe them away.

"Chen Yunqiu, give me your hand."

Hearing this, Shen Yunqiu carefully grasped the girl's hand that was touching his cheek through his tear-blurred eyes, but saw her struggling to raise her other arm, take off the mutton-fat jade bracelet from her wrist, pass it through their intertwined fingertips, and hang it on his wrist with a jingle.

"Xiaoxi, you..."

"Chen Yunqiu, I..." Su Xi found it increasingly difficult to speak, almost gritting his teeth, "Didn't I tell you that I recognized you a long time ago? I'm not lying, it's true. So don't be sad, and don't cry for me. We will meet again... It's just that next time I might not remember you, so don't be surprised..."

Turbid blood flowed out from the corner of her lips again. Chen Yunqiu saw that Su Xi's eyes were sometimes focused and sometimes absent-minded. He panicked and tried desperately to wipe the blood from the corner of the girl's lips with his sleeves, but the blood kept flowing out and it seemed that he could not wipe it away.

"Xiaoxi, stop talking. Let's go see the doctor and find that old lady. She will definitely be able to save you..."

Shen Yunqiu wrapped his arms around the girl's neck, which had practically bent over with limpness, and struggled to stand. His legs were numb, and even the slightest movement was difficult. After several attempts, he fell again. Unable to contain his tears, Shen Yunqiu pounded his legs, which felt like rotting flesh. For the first time, he hated himself so deeply. He hated his incompetence, his origins, and even more, this cruel and merciless world that exploited human life.

“No... No...” For a moment, Shen Yunqiu could hardly maintain his sanity. He looked at Shen Pingchang, bent down without hesitation and kowtowed repeatedly: “Dad, Dad, please, please take her to see a doctor, please save her, please save her... Please save her...”

Chen Yunqiu could no longer tell what he was doing. He cursed himself in his heart for being a useless coward, but his waist kept lowering uncontrollably. Tears mixed with blood knocked a deep hole in the snow. But after a long time, the breath of the woman in his arms became weaker and weaker, and the person standing over there did not react at all, but looked dazed, completely unlike the condescending and playful look before.

"Chen Yunqiu...Chen Yunqiu..."

Hearing the faint sound of breathing in his arms, Shen Yunqiu finally stopped and saw that Su Xi's eyes were dull and lifeless.

"Chen Yunqiu, I have something to tell you..."

"I······"

Shen Yunqiu could not hear the girl's voice, he could only see her lips opening and closing. Helplessly, he put his ear close to her and felt the girl's cold lips against his ear. The breath from her mouth tickled his temples, and the sound was as soft as a mosquito's, but he could still vaguely make out a few words.

"Live well..."

Suddenly, there was a loud bang and the earth shook. Shen Yunqiu raised his head suddenly and saw that the woman in his arms had closed her eyes and was no longer breathing. Her palm was drooping weakly on the snow, holding newly fallen snowflakes. They melted instantly when they touched her skin, turning into crystal clear water droplets.

The person in my arms is still warm.

Until this moment, Shen Yunqiu calmed down instead, just quietly looking at the girl's pale cheeks, watching the sky clear up after the snow, and a beam of white sunlight shining down from the horizon, illuminating the girl's body.

The snow stopped and everything was quiet. The person in my arms was also very quiet, probably asleep.

Bathed in the sun, Shen Yunqiu felt extremely sleepy, so sleepy that he couldn't open his eyes. His consciousness gradually faded, and he fell backward without realizing it, splashing a large piece of snow that covered the ground.

-

Qingzhou City's winters are long, and the snow never stops falling. Clear skies can clear up during the day, but by the next night, the ground is once again covered in thick snow. At the winter solstice, every household stays indoors, stocking up on New Year's goods when passing caravans arrive, in preparation for the coming New Year.

Inside the Shen residence, the events of that day seemed to have never occurred. Everyone began stockpiling New Year's goods and cleaning. It was rumored that Shen Pingchang had been chanting Buddhist scriptures, bathing, and burning incense daily since returning home that day. He even buried a maidservant in the West Garden. It was also rumored that a young servant girl in the old lady's East Garden had committed suicide for unknown reasons, hanging herself from a beam in the middle of the night with a piece of white silk, and was not discovered until the next day.

In the West Garden, Chen Yunqiu sat by the window, gazing through the half-open lattice at the endless snow outside. Inside, the air was chilly. The charcoal in the charcoal stove hadn't been changed in days, and the pastries on the small plate had long since gone moldy. Only the bed on the other side of the screen remained as it had before, its curtains half-drawn, its quilt neatly folded, and a yellow and white raccoon doll placed beside the pillow.

For the past few days, Shen Yunqiu had been resting on that small couch, breathing in the familiar scent, only able to sleep peacefully for an hour or two at night. But the girl who used to lie there every night had inexplicably vanished. He didn't know where she had gone, and he didn't want to visit Shen Pingchang's grave. Even after seeing her body with his own eyes, he still stubbornly believed she was still alive, just that he could no longer see her. Perhaps, that short, skinny little girl had become the snow outside the window, the morning breeze, a bird shedding its feathers from a branch, or a rabbit, darting across the beams.

He kept thinking this way, so he didn't feel particularly sad. He just returned to his old listless demeanor. He wouldn't eat when no one from the Shen family brought him food, and he'd freeze when no one added charcoal. Over time, all his senses became dull, and he survived on just two pills from a small bottle. Strangely, the black hair on his head, which had only just grown out, turned gray again, growing grayer day by day. His already thin body was reduced to a mere layer of skin. Now, without the mask, he looked like an octogenarian.

Sitting in front of the bronze mirror, looking at his own appearance, Shen Yunqiu hesitated for a moment, then couldn't help but laugh. He thought, if she saw him like this, she would definitely be disgusted. He heard that people go to the underworld after death. So, what would he see her like when he arrived there? Would she look like a teenager, or as old as this?

"Xiaoxi, if I had known that day would come, I would have gone with you."

Chen Yunqiu murmured, feeling somewhat sorry for her. She had said to live well, but she had to endure for a while longer. When the New Year's fireworks were set off outside, he could take one last look and feel the last bit of joy in this world.

-

Another month passed, and Qingzhou City was completely frozen. On New Year's Eve, the Shen family was extremely lively. Wedding silks were hung in the front yard, and a grand banquet was held. Shen Wenzhao, who had just returned from the capital, wore a scarlet official robe and sat at a round table, toasting with Shen Pingchang and Lin. Everyone's face was filled with joy. Even the maids and servants in the mansion had their monthly wages increased. They happily squatted under the corridor, eating dumplings and looking up at the brilliant fireworks exploding in the sky.

On the street, children in non-slip sheepskin boots were running and playing, their cheeks purple and red from the cold. They gathered in groups of three or four and used matches to light the fireworks sticks in their hands. With a click, the flames splashed, and the children ran away laughing, with the worried shouts of adults coming from behind them.

Yinzhen walked through the alleys of Qingzhou, carrying a bag of bacon. As he walked, he subconsciously walked to the corner gate of the West Garden of the Shen Mansion. Standing there for a long time, Yinzhen looked at the bacon he had been preparing for a long time in his hand, and finally mustered the courage to take the key and open the door.

Inside the door, the lights in the main house were on. Yinzhen walked cautiously to the door and knocked gently.

"Master, are you asleep? It's me, I'm Silver Needle!"

After waiting for a long time without hearing a response, Yinzhen swallowed timidly and spoke again: "Master, I know you don't like me. I just want to give you some bacon and leave after that. Now that I have found a job, I won't rely on you anymore. I just want to say goodbye to you. Although you said something angry, I also know that you are a good person. I don't blame you. You are still my benefactor. I will remember your kindness all my life."

After talking a lot but getting no response, Yinzhen was confused and pushed the door open. Instead of seeing the young master, he saw an octogenarian with completely white hair sitting in a wheelchair with his back to the door.

“You are…”

Yinzhen walked closer in confusion and saw his own face through a bronze mirror facing the door, as well as another face in the bronze mirror, a strange yet somewhat familiar face.

In an instant, Yinzhen's eyes widened in shock, and the frozen bacon in his hand fell to the ground with a bang.

In the bronze mirror, I saw that the person sitting in the wheelchair had deeply sunken cheeks like a skull, his lips were pale, and his two skinny hands hung on both sides of the wheelchair. His neck was tilted backward, bent strangely towards the back of the chair as if it had no bones, and there was no sign of life at all.

On the ground next to the wheelchair, a flawless white mutton-fat jade bracelet was broken into several pieces and scattered on the wool carpet, with a clearly visible carp pattern carved on it.