Chapter 148 Chapter Forty-Nine: The Lost Manor
Li Yufei rolled over.
This is the third day since we saw Song Xiaona off.
For two days, the memory of killing Song Xiaona lingered in Li Yufei's mind.
The tactile sensation of the dagger cutting through the skin and blood vessels lingered in my mind, and the sharp, heavy breathing sound after the trachea was severed still echoed in my ears.
Three years of experience killing demons is nothing compared to killing familiar living people.
Li Yufei lay in bed for two days in a daze, trying to sort out her thoughts.
She pondered repeatedly why things had turned out this way, but she could never come up with an answer.
The only certainty was that she could not tolerate this strange tale continuing.
The manor remained completely calm in the face of Song Xiaona's departure.
The Cheng school was gloating, and the Song school was also secretly pleased, so they immediately put forward a new leader.
People who were on good terms with Song Xiaona and those who were not seemed to hate her to the core and avoid her like the plague overnight;
Those who witnessed Cheng Yuzhou's bizarre behavior seemed to have collectively lost their memories, having little recollection of what happened that day.
"Feifei." There was a gentle knock on the door, and Cheng Yuzhou's voice came from outside, "Can I come in and put some food in?"
Li Yufei sat on the bed without making a sound.
After a while, the door was tentatively opened a crack.
As Cheng Yuzhou entered, he met her gaze. He smiled ingratiatingly at her, his eyes filled with sadness and sorrow.
That smile was weary and dim, much like Fang Yuzhou's expression.
Li Yufei grabbed the crystal glass from the bedside table and aimed it at him—the instant she threw it, she saw Cheng Yuzhou's eyes light up.
Li Yufei forgot the hint Cheng Yuzhou had given her: every time she touched him, her negative emotions would dissipate, and her memories of Zheng Jianbin would fade.
Even if Li Yufei forgot about this incident, she knew what Cheng Yuzhou was expecting: he felt that he had vented his anger by beating him up, and that the matter would be over.
dream!
She might smash the cup, but she won't forget what she's done!
The glass was thrown, but it didn't break. The carpet on the floor was only cracked.
Cheng Yuzhou pursed his lips, bent down, and picked up the cup that had fallen to the ground.
“Feifei,” he said, holding the cracked glass, “the weather outside is lovely, would you like to go for a walk… and have An’an accompany you?”
"Of course I want to go!" Li Yufei suddenly flared up. "I haven't been to Fashion Week, parties, or offline events for three years. Brands in the capital are asking me to participate in their exhibitions. Do you know how rare this opportunity is?! Just let me go!"
"T..." Cheng Yuzhou pleaded in a mournful voice, "Please wait a little longer, give me some time, and I will close the gap with the outside world as soon as possible."
"You came here on purpose to provoke me? I want an even bigger ghost story?!" Li Yufei opened her eyes wide. "Cheng Yuzhou, don't play dumb, you know what I want!"
He remained silent and stopped speaking.
"What?" Li Yufei stood up and walked towards him. "I'm talking to you now, are you going to play the silent treatment on me?"
“I’m sorry, Feifei…” Cheng Yuzhou lowered his eyelids, “I can’t agree to that.”
"Why!"
Cheng Yuzhou had never wanted to expose too many potential problems and worries to Li Yufei, but he also knew how rare it was that Li Yufei was still willing to communicate with him.
“Feifei, I need to gather a lot of negative emotions to combat the risks.” He confessed, “We don’t yet understand the laws and systems of this world. If we don’t hurry to absorb power, how will I protect you once a higher being emerges?”
"You know this world is dangerous, and there are beings of higher power!" Li Yufei said, both angry and anxious. "Can't you just go where you belong and do what other souls are supposed to do?"
"[The world] has already discovered this place. It will send people to deal with you. What's the use of collecting so much negative emotion? How can you possibly fight against the entire world? It has collected the negative emotions of tens of thousands of years and billions of people. How can you fight against it!"
“Then I can’t give up.” Cheng Yuzhou said sadly, “A single swallow has hundreds of feathers, and there are hundreds or thousands of such swallows. I don’t know how many strange tales there are in this world. Feifei, it’s too dangerous outside.”
"I won't really die!" Li Yufei said dismissively. "Even if I'm unlucky and get caught up in another supernatural tale, I can just get out if I die. It won't affect anything."
“But the pain you’ve experienced won’t disappear.” Cheng Yuzhou closed his eyes. “Why do you have to go out, Feifei? You’re not happy out there…”
"Who says I'm not happy!" Li Yufei raised her voice, her fox-like eyes gleaming. "I'm doing just fine outside, who asked you to meddle!"
You are crying.
“You’re always crying.” Cheng Yuzhou raised his eyes sadly and murmured sadly, “Feifei, you cried for a whole day and night after you came in. How could I bear to see this? How could I turn a blind eye?”
The dazzling, scorching sun descended upon the manor built for her, yet it seemed to weep.
How could he remain unmoved?
As Li Yufei forgot about Zheng Jianbin, her memory of what Cheng Yuzhou had said also became vague.
She couldn't remember those things, but her eyes inexplicably burned, becoming sore and moist under his almost tearful gaze.
"So what!" she raised her voice. "Cheng Yuzhou, you're dead. Whether I cry or laugh is none of your business. Who gave you permission to interfere in my life?"
"Fei..." "Shut up, I don't want to hear your nonsense. Just tell me, can you release them?"
Cheng Yuzhou's Adam's apple bobbed as he swallowed the salty taste in his throat.
“No,” he said with difficulty but firmness, “this is the only thing I cannot promise you.”
"Then there's no need to talk." Li Yufei pointed to the door and shouted hoarsely, "Get out! Get out!"
Cheng Yuzhou hesitated for a moment, then finally put down the food he had brought.
He glanced back at Li Yufei, his eyes filled with a muddy sorrow.
The door was gently closed, and Li Yufei stood in the room, blinking away the moisture in her eyes.
You damned bastard! Did you think she had no other choice?
You bastard, just watch! You don't need any "world's henchmen"; Li Yufei can dismantle his ghost stories!
...
Wang An'an hadn't felt this restless in a long time.
She tossed and turned in bed, for three days earlier, the goddess parade had been abruptly called off.
From that day on, she never saw Li Yufei again.
All the messages she sent to Li Yufei went unanswered.
Cheng Yuzhou still attended Mass as usual, saying to the public that Li Yufei was unwell and needed to rest for a while.
But isn't it true that all illnesses can be cured simply by praying to the goddess here?
Wang An'an asked Cheng Yuzhou if she could see Li Yufei, but Cheng Yuzhou politely declined.
When she was rejected, she could clearly sense that Cheng Yuzhou was not in a good state. His appearance was normal, but his eyes revealed a kind of indifferent fatigue.
All these signs led Wang An'an to even begin to suspect that something bad had happened to Li Yufei.
Various terrifying speculations swirled in Wang An'an's mind. She considered whether to skip tomorrow's morning mass and sneak off to the seventh floor to take a look, avoiding Cheng Yuzhou.
Just as she was pondering this matter, a knock on the door interrupted her thoughts.
Wang An'an sat up abruptly and glanced at her phone.
Who would come looking for her at one in the morning?
She asked warily, "Who is it?"
"It's me, Li Yufei."
Wang An'an was shocked and immediately ran to open the door.
Outside the door, in the deserted corridor, stood Li Yufei, dressed in a black tracksuit.
She was holding an ancient and ornate longsword, and her eyes were dark and swollen.
Upon seeing Wang An'an, she forced an unnatural smile: "An'an."
"Sister Yufei!" Wang An'an hurriedly stepped aside to let her in. "Sister Yufei, where have you been these past few days? Why haven't you replied to my messages? My brother-in-law said you're sick, is that true?"
"It's nothing." Li Yufei, standing at the door, lowered her head slightly. "...An'an, could you pour me a glass of water first?"
"Hmm? Oh, okay." Wang An'an, unsuspecting, went to get the kettle on the table.
As she turned around, she suddenly heard a clanging sound of metal scraping against metal.
Wang An'an turned around, and in that instant, a blindingly cold light filled her entire field of vision.
She didn't understand what was happening yet, only that she felt an unusual coldness in her left chest.
Tick-tock...
Blood was dripping from her chest onto the ground.
A slender longsword pierced her heart. Wang An'an spoke blankly, "Yufei... Sister?"
"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry!" Li Yufei gripped the sword hilt with both hands, her head bowed, murmuring in a hoarse, trembling voice, "...I'm sorry."
*Thud.* The sharp longsword was suddenly drawn, and scalding blood splattered half of Li Yufei's body.
She didn't dare look at Wang An'an's expression, her wet and sticky hands gripping the sword hilt tightly as she thrust forward again—
Puff, puff, puff...
Murder, it turns out, is so troublesome.
If you go looking for other people while covered in blood, they will be on guard. But if you clean up first, you can only kill two or three at most in a day.
She has nearly nine hundred people to kill, and new people are added every two or three months...
That's terrible...
If God truly lays the groundwork for everyone's destiny, then her omens had appeared hundreds of times during the year she met Cheng Yuzhou.
That year, Li Yufei was faced with a mountain of problems related to draining the pool.
She once thought there could never be such a stupid pool manager in reality, but after turning thirty, she realized that the biggest idiot was herself.
How many days and how long will the killing last?
She can't even solve second-grade math problems.
Or perhaps, the inability to calculate is a kind of solace.
Dragging her bloodstained longsword, she wandered through the castle like a ghost.
The opulent Baroque style was illuminated by lights that burned day and night, yet not a single sound of human life could be heard.
A long trail of bloody footprints was left behind her. When Li Yufei stood in front of the elevator, she saw Cheng Yuzhou through the mirrored door through her disheveled hair.
He stood behind her, following her for who knows how long or how much he had watched.
His clear, dark eyes were filled with pain. He opened his mouth and uttered a hoarse, almost silent plea, "Please, Feifei..."
Li Yufei dragged her sword, turned around and slashed at him diagonally, squeezing out the words from her bloody throat: "Get lost!"
Beneath the sword, he transformed into a wisp of black smoke, dissipating into the air as she wished.
Li Yufei returned to the seventh floor, feeling dizzy and disoriented, and washed away the bloodstains on her body.
The congealed blood was extremely difficult to wash off. She rubbed until her skin turned red and her hair broke before she could barely clean herself.
The mirror reflected a ghostly pale face.
Li Yufei stared at her for a while. If she really was a ghost, wouldn't things be much simpler?
Whether it's stopping Cheng Yuzhou, destroying this ghost story, or anything else... if she were a ghost, wouldn't everything become easier?
No, this isn't her fault! It's Cheng Yuzhou's fault!
Why would he be a ghost?
If he were a human being, none of these things would have happened!
Why does he have to be a ghost? Why can't he just be a normal human being?
"Once the New Year is over, we'll put your portrait in there, and then we can hold the wedding."
"Feifei, I'm so happy..."
So annoying...so annoying, so annoying.
Such an outrageous and bizarre thing, and she actually had to solve it all by herself with her bare hands?
Sun Wukong was so powerful, and the Bodhisattva even gave him three hairs during the journey to the West. How come she didn't even have a single hair!
Looking down, Li Yufei stared at the severed hair lying in the sink, each strand stained with indelible blood.
Blood stained his black hair, the dark red and black lines densely intertwined.
Are there any passing gods or Buddhas who can see them, save those innocent victims, and send Cheng Yuzhou to the afterlife?
At worst, is there some demon she can make a deal with? She'd be willing to trade the remaining third... no, the remaining half of her life for that fool's reincarnation.
Is there anyone who can help her...?
Help him...
There are no gods, no Buddhas, and no demons.
In the cold, damp mirror, only Li Yufei herself was reflected.
She raised her hand to wipe the wetness from her eyelashes.
I'll just be myself!
That's always been the case; she can do it all by herself!
At first, it was just a longsword, a flashy but impractical collectible. The blade soon developed a nick, so Li Yufei discarded it and replaced it with an axe.
She diligently killed every human in her field of vision. Her efforts were inefficient and slow, but she was making steady progress and reaping rewards every day.
One week, two weeks, one month... Every day, as soon as Li Yufei opened her eyes, she would drag her axe forward to search, and she would never stop until she killed someone; when she was tired of killing, she was too lazy to go back to clean up, so she would lie down on the spot, hug her axe, curl up and sleep for a while.
With the black mist inside her, no one can hurt her. If someone manages to kill her while she's asleep, she should thank him.
This went on for an unknown period of time; Li Yufei's clothes were all worn out, and her hair was dry and smelly.
She didn't remember how many people she had killed; she just kept moving forward, using every ounce of her strength she could muster.
As yet another head fell to her axe, Li Yufei looked up at the sky.
The sky was a clear, azure blue, and the sun was unusually large.
It's incredible. For three whole years, except for the night Song Xiaona died, the manor was always sunny and bright.
Who's pregnant with Nezha?
Is Song Xiaona some kind of tragic heroine? After three years of sunshine, it rained for her.
Li Yufei squinted, and the huge sun seemed to be gradually turning red.
No, it's not an illusion.
The sky gradually turned golden, and the sun grew redder and redder until it transformed into a blooming dark red rose hanging in the pale golden sky.
She was suddenly startled and abruptly stood up.
There were no streets around, and no dead bodies in sight.
She was sitting on the bed in the bedroom, with a bed curtain embroidered with gorgeous roses and interwoven gold and red colors above her head.
Li Yufei stared blankly down at her hands.
Her ten fingers were fair and slender, without a single callus; her clothes and skin were clean and comfortable, and her curly hair was charming and beautiful as it draped over her body.
The month-long massacre left no trace, as if—the moment she stepped out of the Trial Tower, she realized that the days and nights of relentless fighting had been nothing but an illusion.
"Ah...ah..."
Li Yufei clutched her head and screamed in despair.
Is it real or fake? Is it a dream or reality? When did it start?
What did she not know? Who did she kill? Who didn't she kill? Did she kill anyone? Was all her effort in vain? What's true and what's false in her mind? What are her thoughts and what aren't?
Is she still herself? What can she still do?
Li Yufei suddenly rolled out of bed and ran barefoot to the balcony.
The scorching sun stung her for a moment, making her dizzy. In that daze, she vaguely heard Song Xiaona's voice:
"Cheng Yuzhou can't leave the ghost stories. As long as you leave here, everything will be over."
She stood on the terrace, the scorching sun overhead, gazing at the open space beyond the railing, and a strong desire to try it arose within her.
"No—don't!" A pair of arms suddenly wrapped around her waist from behind, trembling from her chest to her fingertips.
Li Yufei turned around and saw Cheng Yuzhou clinging to her tightly.
His pupils narrowed to pinpoints, and he tightened his grip so hard it felt like he was about to break her ribs. His lips trembled, and he couldn't utter a complete sentence, "Get down...please...please...no, I'm so sorry!"
The image of Li Yufei before my eyes overlapped with the scene of Cheng Yuzhou when he was six years old.
He hugged her tightly and dragged her into the house, trying to get her away from the high places.
"Let go! Let go!" Li Yufei kicked and struggled, clinging desperately to the balcony railing, refusing to be dragged into the room. "Let go! Get out! I'm going to jump! I'm going to jump! If you're so capable, lock me in a cage, otherwise I can't jump today, but I'll jump again tomorrow!"
"No! No!" Cheng Yuzhou was heartbroken. He knelt at Li Yufei's feet, tightly hugging her legs, and wept bitterly. "You promised me you would stay with me, why did you go back on your word? Don't you love me anymore, Feifei?"
"How can you expect me to love you?" Li Yufei roared. "No one can love you, Cheng Yuzhou! Can't you have any self-awareness?!"
"You don't love me? You don't love me anymore..."
Stunned, he seemed to suddenly realize: "No wonder...no wonder you wanted to leave...it turns out you were tired of me..."
“I understand…” He slowly raised his eyes, looked into Li Yufei’s eyes, and smiled faintly. “Feifei, look at me: you love me, you love me, we love each other, you like me.”
A strange black light flashed in Cheng Yuzhou's eyes; the black light had never been so dense or so intense.
This was Cheng Yuzhou's bottom line; he would never use such despicable means to gain false affection.
But the moment Li Yufei made the same choice as Fang Yuzhou, Cheng Yuzhou had no time to think about anything else.
Trapped in the eerie light, Li Yufei's pupils gradually dilated.
Cheng Yuzhou stared intently at her, repeating softly, "You love me, Feifei, have you forgotten? You proposed to me, we exchanged rings, you must love me."
"Give me another chance, I'll treat you very, very well."
"Please, please love me, okay..."
"Love you my foot!" With a sudden tug at the hairline, Li Yufei grabbed Cheng Yuzhou's hair and ripped him off her body.
Cheng Yuzhou looked up in surprise and met the glaring eyes of the furious Li Yufei.
She was breathing heavily, her eyes were cloudy and unfocused as she looked at him, already imbued with the command to love him.
But she was also angry and resentful, like a rose burning with rage, her vibrant emotions bursting forth from her unfocused eyes, determined to burn away the layer of ash.
Cheng Yuzhou was stunned by this intense and fiery vitality. His dead heart throbbed and beat in sync with Li Yufei's rapid breathing.
He had no choice but to submit, no choice but to be captivated by her.
That's why he can't abandon her; he can't lose her!
He wanted it… he really wanted it…
Cheng Yuzhou reached out tremblingly and grabbed Li Yufei's skirt.
He looked up, his eyes welling with thick, dark tears. "Love me... Feifei, please, please like me..."
Her mind was in complete chaos, and Li Yufei felt burning hot from head to toe.
Why did things turn out this way...?
She had worked hard in the ghost story for so long and finally made a living, only to suddenly learn that Cheng Yuzhou was the mastermind behind it all.
She had worked so hard killing for so long, almost sending everyone away, only to suddenly learn that it was all just a dream.
She was trembling with rage, so angry that she wanted to kill him, but then she suddenly realized that her own experiences over the past three years and a little over a month were also a reflection of Cheng Yuzhou's entire life.
At first, he tried to integrate into the school, encouraged her to study, tutored her, and planned a journey of growth together with her as they progressed through the school.
Finally, he was no longer the bullied outcast. He and she confirmed their feelings for each other, but he was suddenly taken to the company and forced to separate from her.
He began to work desperately, striving for more freedom and dreaming of a beautiful marriage for himself.
Finally, he gained his freedom and softened her attitude, but death suddenly took his life.
With a single, light feather, he meticulously and painstakingly built this thriving manor.
Finally, they fell in love and pledged their lives to each other, but this happiness suddenly collapsed and shattered.
Cheng Yuzhou's life was full of illusions. He struggled and fought desperately in those three trial towers. After climbing out of the towers with tears streaming down his face, he looked back and realized that everything before was just an empty illusion.
Li Yufei couldn't take her eyes off him. She wanted to hug him, hit him, yell at him, and bury herself in his arms and break down crying.
Why is this happening? Who is playing a trick on them...?
"Love me, Feifei..." He prostrated himself at her feet, humbled to the point of dust, his voice hoarse and choked with sobs, "I will be good to you, I will be very, very good to you, you said that as long as I am good to you, you will love me..."
I love him...
Li Yufei sobbed. How much more did he want her to love him? How much more did he want her to love him!
If she had even a little bit less love for him, how could she be in so much pain and so miserable? If she could stop loving him, she would have listened to Song Xiaona and killed him long ago.
You blind bastard! She's given him all her indecisiveness in this life, how much more love does he expect from her!
"Cheng Yuzhou." Li Yufei's head was throbbing with pain. For some reason, hearing Cheng Yuzhou speak made her feel dizzy.
Was he brainwashing her? She didn't feel any sense of incongruity. Or was she being corrupted by Cheng Yuzhou's murderous aura?
"Are you really that starved for love, that you can't live without me?"
Cheng Yuzhou twitched the corners of his mouth, and fine black smoke streamed down his cheeks, like poisonous weeds climbing down from his eye sockets.
“Ha…” he chuckled bitterly, “From the first time I saw you, I have spent every day of my life imagining what you look like.”
“Feifei… I can’t live without you. I’ll do anything for you, please look at me, just look at me…”
He desperately wanted to meet Li Yufei's gaze, his eyes completely absorbed by the thick black smoke.
Those eyes were hollow and black, yet the unbearable grief and despair were still clearly visible.
Why is brainwashing ineffective?
Why doesn't she love him?
He had already pushed the hints to their limit, so why was she still so resolute? Why was she still unwilling to love him?
So deep down, did she loathe and hate him so much that even superhuman power couldn't sway her in the slightest?
Feifei, Feifei… His sun, he has sinned beyond forgiveness, will he never receive her forgiveness…?
If even brainwashing can't change Li Yufei's mind, Cheng Yuzhou doesn't know what other way to change things.
He can erase her memory, and they can start over...
The moment this thought arose, the space outside the terrace suddenly distorted and deformed in Cheng Yuzhou's eyes. In a daze, he actually saw Fang Yuzhou standing in mid-air!
Her skin was so white it was almost translucent, with a deathly bluish-gray tinge.
The woman's brows were furrowed with lingering sorrow and weariness. She hovered in mid-air, silently gazing at him, using the last ounce of her strength for hatred.
She hated him, she hated him, she would rather die than fall in love with him!
That venomous gaze pierced Cheng Yuzhou's throat like a poisonous thorn, making it impossible for him to breathe.
His mother's complaints and the blood of Cheng Yandong within him tore at him, causing him to weep with anguish and despair.
He didn't want to treat her this way, but she didn't love him, and even brainwashing couldn't make her accept him.
He curled up, like a snail stripped of its shell and exposed to the scorching sun, only weak, painful groans escaping his lips: "Feifei, Feifei... please..."
He begged her not to leave him, begged her not to hate him, begged her not to be sad, begged her not to hurt herself, begged her to be happy, begged her to forgive him...
He begged her to love him.
Li Yufei closed her eyes.
Why did it turn out this way?
What exactly is Cheng Yuzhou thinking?
What exactly does he want from her?
These questions are unsolvable and unresolved; more importantly, she needs to ask herself some questions first.
Is parting ways with Cheng Yuzhou the ending she wanted?
She would never see him again. She didn't know what the future held for him, whether that swallow or her henchmen would harm him, or whether he would continue to wreak havoc on the world just to see her...
Song Xiaona was not wrong; killing Cheng Yuzhou was the safest and most trouble-free course of action for the world.
He had to die, otherwise there was no guarantee that this supernatural world wouldn't allow Cheng Yuzhou to find a way to reopen the legends.
Separating from Cheng Yuzhou has too many hidden dangers, too many risks, and—can she bear to say goodbye to him again forever?
Could she relive the six years that Cheng Yuzhou lost...?
With no gods or Buddhas passing by, and no demons summoning her, even the usually intelligent Cheng Yuzhou had suffered a mental breakdown and was no longer able to analyze the answers to her difficult questions.
In this room, only Li Yufei herself is still capable of thinking and making decisions.
Therefore, Li Yufei stopped seeking anyone's opinion and followed only her own will.
“You,” she said, lifting the back of her foot to nudge Cheng Yuzhou, “go open the box.”
Cheng Yuzhou was taken aback and slowly looked up at her.
The gods of this land deemed his sins unforgivable and sentenced him to death.
Li Yufei looked down at him.
"Cheng Yuzhou, this is your last chance. If you listen to me, I'm still willing to love you in my final moments."
“Otherwise—” She turned to the side, looking down at the rose garden through her wind-blown hair, “I will use every day I live to try to kill myself, no matter the cost.”
Her profile overlapped with Fang Yuzhou's slender figure in the distance.
She gazed resolutely downstairs, staring at him with resentment.
They all rejected him, drifting away from him bit by bit.
[Leave her behind.] A deep, cold voice rang in Cheng Yuzhou's ears; it was Cheng Yandong's voice.
[Keep her here, isolate her, let her world consist only of you.] He whispered in his ear, [One day, she will belong to you.]
No, she would hate him; she would never belong to him.
[Then at least you'll have her, be able to see her, and be able to hold her in your arms anytime.]
The black mist swirled, and the man's voice drew closer. He leaned down and whispered, "[What does hatred matter—how alluring, how beautiful, she looks when she hates you.]"
Cheng Yuzhou clenched his fists, and thick black mist flowed out from beneath him. He stared at Li Yufei as if bewitched, unable to look away for even a moment.
"Have you made your choice yet?" Li Yufei turned around, her bright fox eyes red and tearful, just like the night they reunited.
That night, she cried incessantly, and he vowed that even if it meant joining forces with the devil, he would erase her sorrow.
Look, she's crying for you, how can you bear to give up?
Cheng Yuzhou closed his eyes tightly.
He knelt on the seventh-floor terrace, the only place in the entire castle with a panoramic view of the rose garden.
This castle, which he designed and built over seven years, has a total of 153 rooms.
153 signifies that 'profound love is faith, dedication, loyalty, and respect'.
The restless black smoke gradually subsided and receded. He recalled every room he had built, its size, orientation, and furnishings... Starting from the first floor, Cheng Yuzhou counted each room one by one. He had personally crafted each one, and he knew each one intimately.
Each time the smoke rose from one room, it subsided a little.
Finally, the ominous smoke was completely absorbed back into Cheng Yuzhou's body, without any further leakage.
He knelt before her, head bowed, "I'll listen to you... Feifei, if this is what you want, I'll do it."
How could he forget why this feather inside him came about?
He is not Cheng Yandong, and she will not be Fang Yuzhou. Her life will not end here, and her future must be bright and splendid.
When Cheng Yuzhou took out the box, he felt no great emotion.
He killed the man who hurt her; now, it's his turn.
“Song Xiaona said this is an artifact capable of killing gods.” Looking at the exquisite box in his hand, Li Yufei asked, “Is what she said true?”
“Yes,” Cheng Yuzhou said. “Anyone, even me, whoever opens it will disappear from the world.”
Since the creation of the Ghost Stories, Cheng Yuzhou has extracted a portion of every negative energy he has absorbed to make this box.
Returning to her side and receiving her precious love, he knew that sooner or later he would lose control of his growing feelings.
From the very beginning, he was wary of becoming the second Cheng Yandong.
If one day he loses control and does something to hurt her, or if she's had enough of him and doesn't want to stay here anymore, then this box will be the last insurance he left for Li Yufei.
This was his most primal love for her.
Having received Cheng Yuzhou's confirmation, Li Yufei felt relieved. "After you die, what will happen to this ghost story and the people here?"
"The ghost stories may linger for a while, but the fences that obscure the barrier will be removed. Once people step outside the barrier, no more corpses will appear. The corpses left behind in the past were just illusions created by the ghost stories. You can let them leave here."
"And what about you?" Li Yufei asked.
Cheng Yuzhou frowned and smiled, "I will disappear from your world completely. Feifei, don't worry."
Li Yufei pursed her lips and remained silent.
After a moment of silence, Cheng Yuzhou spoke hesitantly, "You said you would love me as long as I obeyed you."
"Mm." Li Yufei nodded.
Cheng Yuzhou placed the box on the table. The black mist that had been spreading around him had completely disappeared, and he had returned to his normal human appearance.
"Then, in the end, can I... die as your husband?" He knelt on one knee in front of Li Yufei, looking up at her. "Feifei, I don't have time to prepare for the wedding. Can we exchange rings one more time?"
Li Yufei lowered her eyes and saw the ring that was still on Cheng Yuzhou's hand, while hers had probably gone to another world with Song Xiaona.
“It is possible.” She shifted her gaze slightly, “but my one… I lost it.”
She still didn't tell him directly; she gave the ring to Song Xiaona to show her determination.
Cheng Yuzhou was taken aback and stopped in his tracks as he was about to take out the ring.
He immediately realized that throwing away the ring was not Li Yufei's instruction; Song Xiaona had tricked her out of the ring!
"It's okay." He suddenly smiled, his eyes crinkling like a child's. "I'll do it again, just one more time."
A trickle of black smoke condensed at his fingertips, and a brand new diamond ring appeared in Cheng Yuzhou's hand.
He looked up at her expectantly, his eyes filled with the same love he had held for ten years.
"Feifei, will you marry me?" he asked, though it was a hypothetical question, his expression was serious and nervous, full of hope.
Li Yufei held back the stinging sensation in her nose.
She held out her hand to him and nodded, "I do."
In an instant, the young man's face lit up with joy. He slipped the ring back onto her ring finger and smiled contentedly.
Li Yufei took off the ring he was already wearing, and when she put it back on his finger, she suddenly noticed something engraved on the inside of Cheng Yuzhou's ring.
It's not an initial of a name, nor a special date; it's a circle of roses and thorns.
What's this?
Li Yufei had also been wearing the ring for several days, and she remembered that her ring didn't have this thorn pattern.
This was not her imagination; her ring finger was completely smooth, while Cheng Yuzhou's finger was marked with a ring of red thorns after he took off the ring.
Roses, thorns, a ring… Suddenly, the memory of the myth he had once told her resurfaced:
"Hephaestus crafted a unique rose ring for his wife to win her back, which he called 'The Fidelity of the Rose'."
"The ring is not only adorned with roses, symbols of beauty and love, but also engraved with thorns, reminding Aphrodite not to forget the humiliation at the banquet and to remain faithful and devoted."
"When Aphrodite saw the ring, she understood her husband's intention, so she put it on and reconciled with Hephaestus."
“The fidelity of the rose.” Noticing Li Yufei staring at the circle of thorns, Cheng Yuzhou felt ashamed and guilty. “I deliberately induced my uncle to lose his investment, so when I was designing the wedding ring, I had a sliver of hope that I could also get your forgiveness… I’m sorry, it’s disgusting, isn’t it? I did so many bad things and still shamelessly asked for your forgiveness, even fantasizing that you could coax me like Hephaestus and give me another chance.”
He took off the ring. "I'll remove the thorns now."
A slender hand pressed down on him.
"Keep it if you want."
Cheng Yuzhou looked up in surprise and saw Li Yufei frowning. "But I remember Hephaestus was an ugly monster, right? What are you thinking about all day long?"
Which man would imagine himself as Venus, the goddess of beauty, and his beautiful wife as the god of fire?
That's outrageous!
Cheng Yuzhou is full of outrageous things, and he himself is an outrageous thing.
Cheng Yuzhou stared blankly at Li Yufei for a moment, then lowered his eyelids, telling himself not to be delusional.
"Okay." He smiled as he held the thorn ring on his ring finger. "Then it's settled..."
Li Yufei didn't speak. He picked up the Queen of the Underworld's box on his own and opened the lid.
A dazzling golden-red light burst forth from the box, and Li Yufei's pupils contracted slightly, the color of the light mirroring her soul.
Bathed in her radiance, Cheng Yuzhou forced a bitter smile. "Feifei, I'm leaving. Take care of yourself."
His figure gradually faded in the light of her soul, and when he was almost translucent, Li Yufei suddenly spoke: "Cheng Yuzhou."
Cheng Yuzhou looked at her, unable to speak, but he tilted his head to show that he was listening.
You should be secretly happy!
That beautiful figure of a rose rushed into his arms. She buried her face in his chest and cried out hoarsely, "You wicked thing, you've done so many despicable things and harmed so many innocent people, and in the end you still have a beautiful wife like me to die with you!"
"You must have accumulated a lot of good fortune over many lifetimes!"
Cheng Yuzhou immediately opened his eyes. He pushed Li Yufei away in astonishment and anxiety, wanting to ask her what she meant by those words, but he could neither speak nor push her away.
She clung to him tightly, her face pressed against his chest. Her tears, instead of spreading across his chest as before, went straight through his translucent soul and fell to the ground.
"You've kept so many things from me, every single one of them makes me want to beat you up. But there's one thing I've kept from you too." She choked up, her breath hot, and even her very soul felt a burning pain in Cheng Yuzhou's chest.
She said, "I have never hated you."
"Cheng Yuzhou, I don't dislike you."
"For the six years since you died, I've been thinking about only one thing day and night—"
She sobbed uncontrollably, "Why did I torment you like that? Why didn't I just tell you that I didn't hate you, that I just didn't want to get married so early, that I was just... confused and scared... Actually, I've always... liked you."
She looked up from his embrace, her face covered in tears.
Those red, swollen, and wet fox eyes gazed intently at her as she said, "Cheng Yuzhou, I've made it this time. I'll go with you."
Cheng Yuzhou, leaving only a blurry image, shook his head frantically and pushed her away.
But he had already left her world, and the dead soul could do nothing to the living.
Cheng Yuzhou's remaining images brought tears to her eyes, until the last fragment of his soul disappeared, and Li Yufei closed her eyes.
No matter how arrogant she is, she cannot turn a blind eye to the fate of so many people;
Is parting ways with Cheng Yuzhou here the ending she wanted?
Leaving here, she didn't know if Cheng Yuzhou would continue to do evil, or if he would be punished by heaven for all the bad things he had done.
The world's goodwill has penetrated this place, so how could the world's lackeys let him go?
And will she be able to live a good life after leaving him?
No, it's impossible.
How could she possibly live a comfortable and carefree life again? She would think of him every time she felt happy; she would think of him when she saw the grass growing and the birds flying, when the shimmering light danced on the water, and when she saw all the beautiful scenery.
From that moment on, all the beauty in the world served as a reminder of Cheng Yuzhou's death.
He is dead, and the guilt and pain will haunt her soul like a shadow, never letting her catch her breath.
She had barely survived the six years after his death, and now she had to go through that kind of pain again—in her dreams!
How could Cheng Yuzhou be so shameless as to make her heartbroken twice for him!
Li Yufei clutched the ring on her ring finger, gazing vaguely out the window.
Waiting for her.
She would come to see him after she had cleaned up the mess they had left behind and sent everyone out.
I wonder what the afterlife is like. She might never see it after she died. When people die, they become souls, but where do dead souls go...?
In any case, she won't let him have his way.
-----------------------
Author's Note: Cheng Yuzhou: Enter the command: 'Make Li Yufei love me', execute the current code, press Enter to confirm execution... Execute? Why isn't it running?
[Current code has been executed]
Cheng Yuzhou: Did I spell it wrong?
[Current code has been executed]
Cheng Yuzhou: Is the machine broken?
[Current code has been executed]
[Current code has been executed]
[Stop pressing your stupid Enter key, I already said the current code has been executed!]
As everyone knows, a double death is a happy ending;
The female lead dotes on the male lead to the point of giving her life for him, so this is a happy ending romance novel!
Just kidding, don't worry, it will definitely be a happy ending. Not only the male and female leads, but also everyone else who is forced to live in the manor will have a relatively good ending.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
