Boundless resentment
It felt like falling into an endless black hole, with only the howling wind in my ears, and every breath felt dry and hard.
Her body continued to fall, her eyelashes trembled, and she tried to open her eyes, but she couldn't even move her fingertips.
She felt cold, dark shadows sweep across her face, their weight pressing down on her eyelids like a thousand pounds.
Sui Zhixu could do nothing.
Finally, her body was gently supported, and her feet landed firmly on the ground.
But what followed was the encirclement of countless dark shadows.
"Why, why, why! Why did you abandon me?"
A resentful voice echoed across the boundless天地 (heaven and earth), and he began to weep again at the cold, gloomy sky, "Why is it so dark? Where are you? I can't find you. This shouldn't be, I finally found you after so much trouble, where are you? Where are you?"
Although Xu remained vigilant and tried to pinpoint his location, he was too agitated and darted around like the wind.
The wind rustled through the stray hairs by her ear, and Sui Zhixu dodged to the side, her heart pounding. He, however, became delighted and circled around her.
"Are you pregnant? The three of us can be together forever."
"Xi Yushao?"
"You remember my name."
He happily circled around Sui Zhixu, and the moment Sui Zhixu called out his name, everything around him changed.
The black ink faded from the center outwards, revealing a pale corner, while in the distance, twilight descended, reaching the mountain bend where heaven and earth seemed to cut each other off.
Nearby, beneath her feet, lay a grave, and a dark shadow coiled around her wrist, meandering upwards.
Suddenly, the witch's furrowed brows appeared before her. She held a wine cup, swayed her body, and poured the wine around the grave through Sui Zhixu's body.
What happened to her this time?
The witch's voice was hoarse as she sang and chanted, while a madwoman and a shadowy figure surrounded her, chattering incessantly.
The cold, emerald-green scales of fire ignited instantly, and the witch's face shifted constantly between joy and anger, sometimes harmonious with the shadowy figure's delight, sometimes ferocious.
Xi Yushao: "Orchids are the knot, mist is the flower, a gift from the mountain god. The wind is your garment, the water your pendant..."
Sui Zhixu frowned. "Don't read it anymore."
Even after the madman died, he still wanted to trap her here.
"Why not stay here? Come on, carve my name on the tombstone, and we can stay here forever."
Sui Zhixu pulled out her hairpin and held it in her palm. Seeing that she did not react, Xi Yushao wrapped her wrist around his and pulled her toward the tombstone.
She used her hairpin to tease Yu Shao, saying, "Don't bother me anymore now that you're dead. Let me out, or I'll destroy your grave."
"You are so heartless."
Xi Yushao floated behind Sui Zhixu, transformed into human form, and touched her face with his hand. Sui Zhixu turned around and stabbed at him.
"You're not as good as me. Your sister died under mysterious circumstances and you didn't care. You still have the nerve to bother me."
He flew away, hovering in mid-air, then transformed into a dark shadow, his voice shrill, "She's a burden. Do you think she's some obedient little sister? No! She wants to eat my flesh and drink my blood. She's stupid, despicable, arrogant, and incompetent; she'll always ruin my plans."
"If it weren't for her, I wouldn't have only just arrived in Chang'an. If it weren't for her, I should have taken the imperial examinations earlier and met you sooner. I've been kind and righteous to her since childhood, so what do I care about her life or death?"
Xi Yushao was a collateral branch of the Xi family. The main branch of the Xi family betrayed the people of Jiannan and colluded with a general of the Yue Kingdom, resulting in the confiscation of their property by the late emperor. Although the disaster affected nine generations of the family, the collateral branch of the Xi family, who lived in a small town in Jiannan, was also implicated and despised by the local people.
When Xi Yushao was nine years old, his mother was bedridden, and his father and grandmother ignored her, focusing only on choosing a new bride to bring into the family.
At her bedside, she grabbed Xi Yushao's hand, her expression frantic. "I want you to swear! Swear you'll always protect your sister. Only if you succeed will your sister be alright. Promise me, or you'll never be reincarnated! No...no! I don't believe a single one of you from the Xi family! I don't believe you! My child! My child!"
She stumbled out of the room, her frail body barely able to stay upright. The old woman beside her forced Xi Yushao to kneel down and swear an oath.
"Brother, quickly swear an oath to your mother, hurry up!"
Xi Yushao knelt on the ground, crying, and raised three fingers, shouting, "I swear to protect my sister with my life!"
Xi Yushao's mother stopped, turned around and looked at her with her back to the light, then suddenly burst into laughter, completely out of control.
Within three days, his mother was completely exhausted and passed away.
“I also wanted to be a good older brother. I studied while protecting her from the many troubles in the backyard. At first, things were not bad. She was still young and was very well-behaved except for occasionally looking for her mother. But my father’s new wife was pregnant, and he sent me to an old academy thousands of miles away. When I returned home, my sister, who used to call me ‘brother’ in her letters, poisoned me to please my stepmother, causing me to miss the provincial examination.”
Xi Yushao reverted to human form and grasped Sui Zhixu's wrist. "I almost died. Aren't you disappointed that I didn't die?"
"My sister, whom I've missed for many years, tried to kill me the moment we met again, and I even protected her because of our mother's promise... How utterly ridiculous!"
Hatred suppressed longing.
In the past few years, his family had often withheld money from him, so in order to survive, Xi Yushao had to copy books and do odd jobs in various places...
Because of his young age, most places were unwilling to hire him. Even if someone did hire him, he would only receive a few coins and was often ridiculed by his classmates. During those difficult days, his only solace was a letter from his younger sister.
Xi Yuzhen was too young for Xi Yushao to write properly; he either wrote crookedly or drew pictures based on his own understanding.
Xi Yushao could often watch Xi for a long time. When he was bedridden and missed the provincial examination, Xi Yushao felt for the first time how ridiculous he had been.
Unlike his classmates who mocked him for being poor and made things difficult for him, Xi Yushao always responded with a smile; he didn't find himself laughable. Even when they tricked him into being seen by several prominent ladies in the city while he was working in the restaurant kitchen, he didn't think anything of it.
That was the first time.
Xi Yuzhen knelt down and begged Xi Yushao for forgiveness, recounting how she had always been subservient and cautious in front of her stepmother for many years, and how she dared not disobey her stepmother. Seeing that Xi Yushao did not react, she took out the vow she had made years ago.
"Brother, you promised Mother you would protect me for life. It's because you're away from home all year that I get bullied by them! I had no choice!"
"I don't blame you."
But he will never love her again.
She didn't know that he had been recommended to the governor by the headmaster during this provincial examination. If he had won the top score, the governor could have protected them and allowed them to take the imperial examination in Chang'an. The Xi family would no longer dare to make things difficult for them. All their plans had fallen through.
Xi Yushao could even imagine the governor's rage. He wasn't truly appreciating talent, and Xi Yushao was surely aware of that. He didn't know the governor's true intentions, but it didn't matter. He was confident he could get the top score in the provincial examination, and they could leave the Xi family. There couldn't be a worse place in the world than the Xi family.
Everything is gone.
Three years later, Xi Yushao took the provincial examination again. Xi Yuzhen, considering her own interests, chose Xi Yushao.
As expected, Xi Yushao became the top scholar in the provincial examination, and his name became famous throughout Jiannan. Xi Yuzhen, now famous and proud, followed him to Chang'an to participate in the imperial examination.
Sui Zhixu's gaze fell on him, and she sneered, "Trying to gain my sympathy? You are good at pretending, making all the ladies of Chang'an infatuated. If you just wanted to use the Cui family's influence to rise to power, you would treat Awan well. I wouldn't be dissatisfied with you. But you have repeatedly toyed with her feelings and treated everything she has as nothing."
"Xi Yuzhen caused me to fall off a cliff, taking half my life, so I'll take half hers in return. She used a curse on Zi Rong, leaving him on the verge of death, so I'll take half hers in return as well. I want her to pay for this life. In this world, every wrong has its perpetrator and every debt its debtor. It's understandable that you harbor resentment towards the past, but you've implicated innocent people, even resorting to evil and crooked methods to harm innocent lives. Do you think you can simply erase the lives of others by being all miserable here?"
As Xu Zhixu thrust the hairpin at the witch, this time she encountered a solid object. She forcefully stabbed the witch in the throat, and in an instant, the witch turned into dust and vanished in her hand.
“I don’t know about your deal with He Miao, but do you really think I’m completely ignorant of the formations on Yue Shan? You’re just stalling for time here to wait for her to finish singing the blessing. At that time, I’m afraid I’ll be controlled and have my name engraved on your tombstone.”
"Hmm... clever." A madness appeared in Xi Yushao's eyes as he tried to sketch out Sui Zhixu's features, imprinting every detail in his mind.
“I love you the most when you’re like this. They were all fooled by me, but you’re different. Shouldn’t we be more in sync? The first time I met Lady Sui in this life was at the Cheng family’s banquet. The young master was shining brightly, quite unlike his usual self. There was also hatred in your eyes. Shouldn’t we, who are so similar, be together?”
"Stop with your nonsense. I'm not like you. You think you can trap me with a wisp of a soul?"
The first time the shrine maiden passed through her body, Sui Zhixu initially thought she couldn't touch her, but as the shrine maiden swirled around her, she clearly felt a chill, as cold as a ghost.
Her feelings.
This is her dream, and even the manipulation of her dream by a ghost cannot erase this fact.
"That's not necessarily true, after all, I'm different from other people."
Xu Zhixu's eyes were dark and unfathomable. Xi Yushao sacrificed his body in this life to switch places with his body in the previous life. According to Yueshan, they were fundamentally the same soul. This method originated from the soul's self-selection of the body.
Just as her soul has two bodies, they are fundamentally the same.
In layman's terms, this film depicts the folk tale of ghosts entering dreams.
"Your grave has no name and is in this desolate wilderness. It seems that Xi Yuzhen never even came to collect your body."
"Having you here is enough for me." Xi Yushao tried the same trick again, trying to grab Sui Zhixu's wrist, but she dodged him.
“In my past life, I was tricked and killed by Puyang Kai. Even before my body was cold, your heart would always think of me for a moment. Whether it was resentment or not, at least you remembered me and saw me. Come on, let us continue our love and hate intertwined.”
"I must be crazy to have such a love-hate relationship with you! If it weren't for you siblings constantly bothering me, I wouldn't even bother with you. What? You think I'd remember you just because Xi Yuzhen is impersonating me? Sima Xian must have had his brain slammed in a door to come up with such a stupid idea. You're crazy too, looking at a face that resembles your own sister and still having the mind to talk about love. What's there to love and hate between me and a bunch of lunatics like you?"
What kind of inexplicable county princess is Lu Huai? He's sick too, seriously sick!
Your Majesty, no wonder Sima Xian has been unable to defeat him for so many years, what a waste!
"You're no match for Zirong. He's handsome and obedient, and he certainly wouldn't go crazy like you. All that soft blue shawl you've been so obsessed with—you'll never know until you die that I only wore it once, and that was because Zirong's clothes were soft blue. You're so delusional! I don't like blue at all, you idiot!"
Xi Yushao's soul shook violently; he looked very angry, and that was to be expected.
You crazy lunatic!
Sui Zhixu picked up the musical instrument that had fallen from the witch's hand and smashed it directly onto Xi Yushao's grave mound.
"I don't care whether you enter the cycle of reincarnation or not, just stay away from entering my dreams!"
In an instant, heaven and earth shattered, and the dreamscape shifted and flickered like a galloping horse.
As Xi Yushao's figure disappeared inch by inch from Sui Zhixu's sight, her cold eyes met his gaze, which was both frantic and infatuated.
Ghosts need something to enter dreams, and since he so desperately wants her to carve words, the key must be on the grave.
Sui Zhixu tried to find another purple figure in the shattered dream, but found nothing.
Not found...
She suddenly stood up and clutched her chest.
Gu Qingyi!
"Someone come here!"
Danhong entered the room and walked to her bedside. "My lady, you're finally awake."
How long did I sleep?
"It's been three days."
Three days...
Sui Zhixu lowered her eyes, a flash of grief and sorrow crossing them in an instant. "What happened in Chang'an? What about Gu Qingyi? Is there any news about her?"
"Madam Gu?"
"Take care of yourself. If you get hurt again, will you still want your child?" Wen Ke slammed open the door and handed her the medicine.
"You drink it yourself, do you expect me to feed you?"
Sui Zhixu took the medicine, but she had something on her mind and couldn't drink it, so she put the medicine aside.
"That day, the silver needle pierced her heart..."
"That's something the Prince Wei is worried about. He's kept the news under wraps, so no one can find out. As it stands, she shouldn't be dead. Your needles are still a bit lacking." Wen Ke picked up the medicine and brought it to her lips.
"She's so delicate, she needs to be fed her medicine."
Xu Wuyu took the medicine and drank it all in one gulp.
"Why are you here? And where is Zirong?"
Dan Hong stammered, but Wen Ke was straightforward: "She was taken to the Yue Kingdom by the Imperial Advisor."
Sui Zhixu gritted her teeth, "What did you say?"
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