newborn
Her consciousness drifted in a boundless sea of chaos, finally grasping a glimmer of light with great difficulty. Sissy's eyelashes trembled violently for a few times before finally opening with a heavy thud.
It took a moment for her blurry vision to focus. The first thing that caught her eye was Gu Tinglan's bloodshot eyes, filled with worry. He sat on the edge of the bed, holding her hand tightly, his knuckles turning slightly white from the pressure.
And behind him stood two people she had never expected to see at this moment—Ji Yunbai and...
Is that Gu Tinglan’s father?
She must be dead.
So...that's why we see their family reunited in the underworld?
It was because of her...that they...
This thought was like the coldest sting, instantly piercing her newly awakened, fragile mind. The immense sorrow and overwhelming guilt were like a surging wave, completely drowning her. Tears burst out without warning, rolling down in large drops. She suddenly struggled to her feet, ignoring the excruciating pain that tore through her body, and threw herself into Gu Tinglan's arms, wrapping her arms tightly around his waist, sobbing so hard that her whole body was convulsing and her words were incoherent:
"I'm sorry... I'm sorry... It's all my fault... I've hurt you all... I'm sorry... Woo..."
Gu Tinglan's heart clenched at her sudden collapse and scalding tears, and he immediately understood her bizarre idea. Heartbroken and helpless, he sighed, gently patted her back, then bent his fingers and gently touched her smooth forehead with his knuckles.
"Hiss...it hurts!" The real, warm touch made Xixi's crying stop for a moment. She looked up with tears in her eyes and looked at him blankly.
"What are you imagining?" His voice was hoarse from excessive exhaustion, but it was unusually clear and powerful. "We are all alive and well. You are not dead, and neither are we."
Xixi froze, blinking her tear-stained eyelashes before timidly turning to look to the side. Gu Chen's expression was complex, yet he couldn't conceal his concern. Ji Yunbai stepped forward and gently wiped the tears from her face with a handkerchief, his eyes filled with guilt and pity. "Don't be afraid, dear child. It's all over. We were too late, and we made you and Gu Tinglan suffer."
Gu Tinglan's fingertips curled up almost imperceptibly, avoiding Xixi's pure and dependent gaze when she first woke up. That memory flooded into his mind, carrying with it a burning pain like his heart being torn apart.
The moment she collapsed, his heart contract began to churn furiously, and he almost willingly let his life and soul flow towards her like a floodgate. This world was already dull to him, his parents' expectations, the sins of the Gu family... If he hadn't fallen in love with her by accident, he would never have embarked on this so-called path of "atonement."
At that moment, he was not thinking about his family or his responsibilities, but only one brutal thought: to let her survive and stay by his side.
But as his heart truly began to burn, a familiar feeling of loss of control gripped him. The arcane spells he'd studied countless times were vulnerable to the backlash of sheer power. As expected... had he failed again? He twitched his lips, trying to force a mocking smile, but he couldn't even muster the strength to lift his eyelids. Before the darkness engulfed him, he just wanted to take one last look at her...
However, when his heavy eyelids parted, he was greeted by two faces both familiar and unfamiliar—his parents, who traveled extensively and whom he had seen only a handful of times. Their faces were paler and more solemn than he had ever seen them before. Four hands pressed firmly against his heart meridians. A powerful yet gentle spiritual force, like the strongest thread, forcibly mended his crumbling life and forcibly pulled the unchecked power of his heart back on track.
It turns out... it was them.
His scattered eyes struggled to focus, looking over his parents' shoulders, stubbornly searching for the figure, ignoring the anxious and concerned whispers of the two people behind him. Only when he confirmed that Xixi was lying not far away, breathing steadily, did his tense heartstrings suddenly relax, and he fell completely into darkness.
At this moment, looking at the tearful face of the person in his arms, Gu Tinglan suppressed the complex emotions surging in his eyes and just held her hand tighter.
Gu Chen and Ji Yunbai looked at their son who was completely immersed in his thoughts, as if nothing in the outside world existed. Their eyes darkened, and finally they just sighed silently, quietly left the room, and gently closed the door.
The room was completely quiet, leaving only Xixi's subtle, aggrieved sobs, scratching Gu Tinglan's heart like a feather.
He carefully pressed her back onto the soft pillow, tucked the quilt gently, and brushed his fingertips over the corners of her red and swollen eyes and wet cheeks, wiping away the hot tears.
"But... I clearly..." Xixi's voice was nasal and filled with the confusion of a survivor. She stared at him in confusion, her hand subconsciously pressing towards her heart - there, there was no longer the terrifying empty silence, but a kind of... steady, real, and vital pulsation.
Dong...Dong...Dong...
She suddenly opened her eyes wide, tiny tears still stained her long eyelashes, and her pupils were full of disbelief.
Is her heart back?
She subconsciously wanted to conjure up a tail, but she couldn't sense the existence of the tail. She suddenly turned her head to look at her buttocks.
Her tail... is gone?!
Xixi was so shocked that she tried to cast a spell, but she couldn't even use the simplest cleansing spell.
She slowly raised her head and looked at Gu Tinglan in front of her.
Gu Tinglan's deep gaze, like a deep pool, locked onto her. He nodded slowly and solemnly, confirming her incredible perception. He leaned in closer, his warm breath brushing against her ear, his voice low and hoarse, "You are human now."
Xixi guessed it, but hearing him say it in person still felt a little magical. She unconsciously took a light breath, trying not to get too excited. "Did you put my heart back in?"
"No." Gu Tinglan shook his head and chuckled, "This is my heart."
"your?!"
"What's going on?" Xixi struggled violently in his arms, stroking his chest with her hands, her face anxious. "What about you? Are you okay?"
"It's okay." Gu Tinglan held her shaking head with both hands and moved closer to her. Finally, he gently pressed his forehead against hers, as if to comfort her, but also as if to test her. "Do you know... the Heart Contract?"
Xixi shook her head blankly, her amber eyes full of confusion. She had no idea what these three words meant.
Gu Tinglan took a deep breath, as if to gather enough courage. He held her slightly cold hand, guided it, and slowly but firmly pressed it against his left chest.
Through a thin layer of cloth, she could immediately feel a strong and steady heartbeat beneath her palm - boom, boom, boom - each beat was full of power, vibrating her palm.
Then, before she could digest the shock, he gently but irresistibly guided her hand back and pressed it against her heart.
The same frequency, the same force, exactly the same—boom, boom, boom—transmitted clearly and powerfully through skin and bones, perfectly coinciding with his heartbeat beneath her palm, resonating in her chest like a resonance.
Xixi froze completely, her breathing suddenly stagnating. Only her wide eyes, reflecting Gu Tinglan's face so close to her, were filled with horror and incomprehensible shock. One heart... for two people?
She suddenly understood everything! She understood all his unusual nervousness and concerns, and why he always hesitated to speak!
An indescribable rage instantly surged up her head—such a dangerous thing! How dare he hide it from her! What if it failed?! He would definitely accompany her...
But that rage only burned for a moment, and before it could even erupt, it was instantly extinguished by another more turbulent and colder wave of fear and enlightenment.
Was it because... the success rate was low? Was it because... the risks were enormous? Was it because... he was afraid she wouldn't agree, or even more afraid that it would put a heavy psychological burden on her, so...
All her anger turned into trembling. She looked at his tired yet gentle eyes, at his pale mouth with a relieved smile, at the place where his heart was - where only half of his heart was beating.
She suddenly couldn't say anything.
All the questions, complaints, and even the joy of surviving the disaster were replaced by a deeper and more shocking emotion. She simply reached out and gently stroked his cheek, her fingertips cold.
“…Gu Tinglan.”
"Yeah." Gu Tinglan rubbed her forehead lightly to show that he was listening.
Xixi was so angry, but at the same time she was so touched that she couldn't say anything cruel.
In the end, all the words he had to say were reduced to these two words, laced with tears: "How stupid."
Gu Tinglan held her cold hand, put it against his face, and rubbed it slightly. "Well, it's okay if you're stupid, as long as you're alive."
"You..." Seeing that he had no remorse at all, Xixi lowered her fist to his chest and moved her hand to push him away.
But Gu Tinglan, who was quick-witted and quick-handed, caught her in a split second. He raised his eyebrows and said jokingly, "Be gentle. If it hurts, you'll feel the pain too. Have you forgotten that we share one heart?"
There was a hint of sarcasm in his tone. Under normal circumstances, Xixi would have definitely retorted without admitting defeat. But perhaps knowing that he was just trying to adjust her mood, Xixi silently loosened her clenched fists and gently stroked the place where she had just hit with her palms.
She said nothing.
Silence spread between the two people, but there was no longer a barrier, only a kind of calmness and tacit understanding after experiencing life and death and the blending of blood.
After a while, Xixi seemed to suddenly remember something extremely important. Her expression suddenly tensed, her eyes were filled with fear, and her voice changed tone, "Then... what about my people? What happened to them...?" She almost didn't dare to breathe, waiting for judgment.
Gu Tinglan held her hand tightly.
"They're alive." He uttered these three words clearly. Seeing the sudden flash of light in Xixi's eyes, he continued in a deep voice, "Although the Tree of Life has been destroyed, the remaining mana and the power of your heart haven't completely dissipated. My parents and I worked together to channel that power out and infuse it into your people."
He paused, as if choosing his words. "That power was immense. It...purified the succubus's contract mark within them, but it also completely altered their very foundations. They lost all their magical powers and became...ordinary mortals."
Xixi was completely stunned, her pupils trembling slightly.
Became...human?
No longer a succubus who is used as a tool for human consumption, but a human being who can live uprightly in the sun and have a complete life?
Tears welled up again, but this time, it was no longer sadness and guilt, but huge, indescribable ecstasy and relief! She held Gu Tinglan's hand tightly, crying and laughing like a child.
Humans are good, she wants to be a human the most.
"Gu Tinglan, you are so nice." Xixi said with emotion.
"You're like a worm in my stomach. You must have known that I'm addicted to the mundane world, so you took the trouble to turn me back into a human, right? You're so kind."
"No," Gu Tinglan shook his head gently, "You are originally a human."
Xixi was stunned, her amber pupils slightly dilated, as if she didn't understand what he said.
"I...was originally human?" she repeated, as if chewing on a strange, distant word. The years of being a succubus had long since faded into obscurity, leaving memories of her human days as hazy and blurred, like a thick fog.
Gu Tinglan looked at her bewildered expression, his heart aching. He recalled the Lin family patriarch's crazy and mocking face, and those harsh words were like poisoned ice spikes.
The Lin family head's frantic taunts seemed to still ring in his ears: "...Hahaha, Gu family brat! Do you think you're saving some innocent succubus? She's nothing more than a 'human sacrifice' raised by the Su family for sixteen years! Fed the finest grains, the cleanest spring water, and confined in the most luxurious cage, untouched by the filth of the world, nurtured to a body of pure flesh and blood and soul... all to be sacrificed to my Lin family and to begin this perpetual 'feast'! How much protection has the Su family gained from this deal? You should have seen the tears of gratitude on her parents' faces when they signed the contract!"
Those dirty truths were like poisonous bubbles in a swamp, and he would never let her touch them.
Gu Tinglan suppressed the anger surging in his eyes, gently brushed her cheek with his fingertips, and spoke in a very gentle voice, weaving a "truth" that stripped away most of the cruelty and left only the core:
"Well, you were originally human." He looked into her eyes, his tone calm but with undeniable strength. "It was the Lin family... who took you away by despicable means. They used an extremely powerful magical weapon called the 'Demon Suppression Bell'."
He chose his words carefully, avoiding any soul-wrenching details: "They... used the power of the Demon-Suppressing Bell to rip your heart out alive and sealed it under an ordinary tree."
Xixi subconsciously covered her heart, and a phantom pain seemed to arise there again.
"That tree," Gu Tinglan continued, his voice tinged with cold hatred, "was born from absorbing the power of your heart... and gradually mutated into the 'Tree of Life.' It began to breed the so-called 'succubi'... and those succubi, from the moment they were born, were to be tools for the Lin family to trade and manipulate."
He omitted the role of the Su family and the sixteen years of "careful raising" full of hypocrisy and betrayal, and simply attributed all the sins to the Lin family.
"Your heart has become the core nutrient that sustains that evil tree, that twisted cycle," he concluded, his fingertips gently wiping the tears that had slipped from the corners of her eyes. "So, I didn't turn you back into a human, Xixi. I'm returning things to their rightful owners, resetting the wrongs. You simply...reclaimed the life that was yours."
Xixi listened blankly, the overwhelming amount of information overwhelming her. She tried to find any trace of confirmation in the thick fog of memory, but only caught a few vague glimpses—a large yard filled with flowers and plants, with no view of the outside world? Many beautiful dresses that she never let herself run around and get dirty? Someone who always looked at her from a distance, with complicated eyes... who?
My head aches slightly.
She shook her head, no longer debating the disturbing blur. She chose to believe Gu Tinglan's words, the man who had saved her from endless reincarnation and suffering.
"So..." she murmured, a strange light gradually appearing in her eyes, "I am now... a complete human being? I can... live like a normal person? Eat whatever I want, go wherever I want?"
"Yes." Gu Tinglan nodded affirmatively, and a genuine, gentle smile finally appeared on the corner of his lips. "You can do whatever you want."
Xixi looked at him and suddenly smiled, a smile as bright as the sun shining through the clouds, so bright that it was blinding. She stretched out her pinky finger, hooked it around his, and gently shook it.
"It's a deal then," she said cheerfully, yet with great seriousness, "from now on you'll take me to try all the delicious food and have fun! Make up for what we missed before!"
"Okay." Gu Tinglan held her slightly cold fingers with his backhand and promised solemnly, "It's a deal."
Sunlight streamed through the window, enveloping them both in warmth, seemingly dispelling all the shadows of the past. Only Gu Tinglan knew that the carefully concealed, bloody truth about her true origins might become a wound in his heart that would never heal. But he would never regret it.
This may not be the most powerful ending, but it is the most precious new life they can have.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
