Chapter 23

The woman from before was standing inside the archway. The umbrella in her hand was gone, and she held the porcelain vase tightly with both hands.

At that moment, Xue Liangliang discovered to his astonishment that since arriving beneath this archway, not only had the pulling force of the current vanished, but even the terrifying sensation of suffocation had disappeared.

He immediately began to gasp for air, yet he found himself merely performing the motion without achieving the desired effect.

It was as if his mouth and nose were blocked; no fresh air could enter at all.

He suddenly realized that only his perception had changed; the reality before his eyes remained the same.

He was still at the bottom of the river.

But how on earth was this possible?

He knew how to swim. As a child in his hometown in Anhui, he often played in the water and swam with his companions. After entering university, he would occasionally go to swimming pools with his classmates to swim several vigorous laps.

But he did not believe his swimming skills were so absurdly good. He had been underwater for so long that he had long since passed his breath-holding limit.

He felt under his ears; it was still his original skin. No gills had grown.

He even looked back behind him and into the distance. He suspected that he might have drowned long ago, and that his current self was merely...

Xue Liangliang clutched his head forcefully. He was forcing himself to calm down, using methods that were highly effective during exams or when reviewing design plans, but they were useless now.

His heart remained in a state of panic, his body continued to tremble, and his teeth chattered incessantly.

He was terrified—terrified of the riverbed environment, terrified of this archway, and terrified of the woman standing inside it holding the porcelain vase. He desperately wanted to escape, provided that it was possible.

Then, the woman moved. She began to walk inward.

Xue Liangliang did not move. He did not dare enter the archway, nor did he dare proactively explore this town.

However, once a distance was established between the woman and him, that horrific sensation of suffocation reappeared.

Xue Liangliang was forced to stumble forward in a few quick steps, and the suffocation vanished again.

He understood: as long as he was too far from that woman, the sensation would return.

The woman continued walking ahead, and Xue Liangliang had no choice but to follow her into the archway.

He had no choice. For someone who had just experienced the despair of suffocation, returning to experience it again would be a torment several, if not dozens, of times more intense.

There was clearly no connection between the woman and him, yet in the darkness, it felt as if an invisible chain linked them—one end held by the woman, the other looped around his neck.

Behind the archway lay a continuous flight of thirty-odd descending steps.

Xue Liangliang couldn't help but feel puzzled. Logically, unless the specific terrain necessitated it, most ancient towns with archways would not choose a layout where one sinks immediately upon entering the main gate.

The ancients preferred to elevate the terrain; an archway in front with the ground sloping down, and the ground rising behind it, would better convey a sense of grandeur.

But here, not only was the ground not elevated, it had been artificially excavated into a hollow, and a massive one at that.

No wonder when looking at this place from the outside earlier, the buildings in the town appeared very hazy; it was because half of them were actually obscured, leaving only the upper portions visible.

Additionally, the design of the steps was strange. Typically, the edges of steps are designed with smooth, flat surfaces, while the majority of the area is meant for walking. Here, however, the center was a massive smooth surface, while the actual steps for walking were on both sides—not only narrow and small, but also very steep.

As he descended, Xue Liangliang occasionally had to walk sideways, as if those walking here all had small feet.

After descending the steps and reaching level ground, a stone-brick path came into view, which was not particularly wide and even felt somewhat cramped.

Furthermore, these bricks were not laid flat; they were all set vertically with the narrow ends facing up. Doing this would not only consume more bricks but also increase the labor required.

At the same time, due to the erosion of time, even the best ancient roads become uneven. Because of this strange brickwork, it was impossible to find a flat spot to land one's sole steadily.

With every step, only a tiny portion of the foot could find purchase, leaving the rest suspended in air. One had to walk with extreme caution; a single moment of inattention could lead to a sprained ankle or a fall.

Fortunately, the woman holding the porcelain vase ahead was not walking too fast, and Xue Liangliang could keep up.

Once he had somewhat adapted to the terrain, Xue Liangliang began to observe the residential houses on both sides.

The layout was very compact, overall following the architectural style of the Jiangnan water towns, with white walls and gray tiles.

Between every doorway and the road, there was a groove less than half a meter wide, topped with stone slabs; these were likely drainage channels.

Xue Liangliang could not understand the purpose of building drainage channels at the bottom of a river... unless this town had entered the river at a later time.

To the left of every doorway was a niche, inside which a candle burned, emitting a ghostly green light.

Initially, the doors of the houses he saw upon entering were all closed, but soon, Xue Liangliang saw some that were open, revealing pitch-black interiors that were impossible to see into clearly.

An uncomfortable feeling surfaced in Xue Liangliang's mind. This feeling did not stem from the pressure of internal fear, but from a sense of irrationality, especially after seeing these doorways.

After a moment of thought, he finally realized why: there were no thresholds beneath these doors.

Modern architecture had long since abandoned thresholds, and people were used to it, but the problem was that in traditional-style buildings, doors were often designed to be very high and long. Without a threshold, it created a profound sense of disharmony.

It was too direct, too eerie—like a monster with its mouth agape, making one recoil in dread.

"Ah!"

As he was walking, Xue Liangliang suddenly saw a person sitting inside a house with an open door on his right.

Startled, he took two steps back. The cursed uneven ground caused him to lose his balance and slip to the ground, landing in a position facing that very door.

Inside the door sat an old woman. Whether it was due to being soaked in water for a long time, her skin appeared very pale and slightly swollen.

She wore a blue padded jacket, the color as bright as a burial shroud, though the design was more elaborate.

Her head, neck, and hands were adorned with various pieces of jewelry.

She sat there as if she had been sitting for a very long time. Fortunately, her eyes were closed.

"Huff... huff..."

If her eyes had been open, Xue Liangliang felt he might have fainted from the shock of such an accidental encounter.

Although his current environment and the woman leading him were already quite bizarre, the unique design of the houses combined with the people sitting inside created a different, more impactful kind of horror within the already eerie atmosphere.

Xue Liangliang scrambled to his feet. The sensation of suffocation showed signs of reappearing, so he immediately jogged forward a short distance to close the gap between himself and the woman.

In his mind, he could still see that old woman sitting in the doorway, with nothing but pitch darkness behind her, obscuring any furniture or decor.

This made these compact, two-story houses seem very much like tombs belonging to her alone.

An open-style grave.

So, this was not an empty town submerged by water.

Then, were there people inside the closed houses he had seen when he first entered?

And those houses with open doors but no visible people... were their owners... on the second floor?

At this thought, Xue Liangliang subconsciously moved closer to the woman.

Although he was also afraid of her, the thought that the houses on both sides were tombs made him feel that following the woman ahead was more tolerable; at least, she moved.

As he walked, Xue Liangliang saw a second house with an open door and a person sitting inside.

It was a young girl wearing embroidered clothing, her hair styled in a high, solemn bun. She sat there with her hands folded on her knees and her eyes closed, her lips exceptionally crimson.

Xue Liangliang glanced at her, shuddered, and immediately averted his gaze.

Then, he saw a woman in a cheongsam sitting in a doorway. She had a very slender waist and a seductive posture, her hands resting at her sides, a smile seemingly playing at the corners of her mouth.

It was as if she were silently beckoning you to walk inside and converse with her.

Xue Liangliang discovered that the deeper he went, the more open doors there were, and the higher the proportion of women sitting inside.

Since seeing the first old woman, he had already encountered over a dozen women sitting in doorways.

They were of different ages and wore different styles of clothing, but all were dressed very formally, much like how elderly people in rural areas would prepare their own burial shrouds and coffins before death, wanting to leave their most dignified appearance for their funeral.

This was their carefully designed... appearance after death.

Due to being submerged in water, their skin was very white—excessively so.

However, unlike the bloating seen in bodies submerged for a long time, they generally had not deformed; at least, they largely retained their original appearance from life.

What was even more incomprehensible was that the dead are usually sick, injured, or elderly when they pass; in short, their basic state is rarely good.

Yet among them, even the oldest woman still retained a sense of composure.

It was as if they were not walking toward death in their final moments of exhaustion, but had actively chosen to die while they still possessed the capacity to live with dignity.

To be honest, if they had all died in various gruesome ways, Xue Liangliang wouldn't have been so afraid.

But it was precisely this atmosphere—the sense of "I have intentionally dressed up well to sit here and show you, or to watch you"—that placed immense psychological pressure on him.

In a trance, he felt a loss of consciousness: was he observing them, or were they sitting in their houses observing him?

In his momentary distraction, Xue Liangliang bumped into the woman's back.

The woman had stopped at some unknown point.

The collision didn't move the woman, but Xue Liangliang fell backward onto the ground.

The woman did not look back; instead, she turned right and changed direction to walk further in.

Here, a crossroad appeared, with two small land bridges on either side. There was no water flowing beneath them; they were purely for decoration and Feng Shui purposes.

Xue Liangliang scrambled up and could only follow the woman as she turned.

Next... all the doors of the houses on both sides were open, and every single house had a woman sitting inside.

"Ah..."

Xue Liangliang felt he was on the verge of a mental breakdown. Although they all had their eyes closed, the persistent, dense "sense of being watched" made him feel incredibly pained and lost.

He could only choose the most ostrich-like method: following behind the woman with his head lowered, refusing to look at either side.

Although his peripheral vision inevitably caught glimpses of them, and although his heart began to beat faster and faster, he finally persevered.

A normal person coming here would likely go mad.

If Xiao Yuan were here, would he behave differently from an ordinary person?

Forget it, Xiao Yuan shouldn't come here. He didn't even know if he could get out alive—no, he wasn't even sure if he was still considered alive.

Finally, the houses on both sides disappeared.

Xue Liangliang rubbed his forehead and took deep breaths; even if it was just a simple physical action, he needed it now to relieve his internal pressure.

Then, he immediately caught up with the woman.

Now, without the terrifying stares from both sides, he could finally lift his head and look forward.

Ahead was a small open area, where a primitive building, clearly different from the other houses, stood tall.

It should be the ancestral hall of Baijia Town.

Xue Liangliang couldn't help but stop. Should he... go in?

Immediately, he walked forward. What was he hesitating for? As if he had any choice.

*Creak...*

The pitch-black doors of the ancestral hall slowly opened as the woman approached.

This ancestral hall also had no threshold. Upon entering, there were descending steps, and once again, the center was a large smooth area, with only small spaces on the sides for walking.

After passing through a not-so-wide square courtyard, the woman continued inward.

As Xue Liangliang followed her, his gaze was drawn to an old well in the very center. The mouth of the well did not face upward but was recessed downward, and the surrounding area also slumped inward.

This was not a later formation; it was designed this way from the beginning.

Around the walls of the well were rows of rusted chains.

This couldn't help but make Xue Liangliang wonder: was it to make it easier for people above to go down for water, or to make it easier for people below to... climb up?

He had reached the core of the ancestral hall.

The woman, holding the vase, knelt down and did not proceed further.

Xue Liangliang approached her, standing to her side, and re-examined her.

Why would this young woman, clearly dressed in modern clothing and carrying an air of worldly travel, appear here and be so familiar with the place... as if she were coming home?

So, should he continue to stay here with her, or should he walk further in to see?

Using her as the center, he had a certain range of movement, but he had been following behind her, not daring to go ahead.

However, he chose to continue standing by the woman's side, going nowhere.

But gradually, the sensation of suffocation resurfaced.

He began to feel discomfort and pain, his hands instinctively clutching his own neck.

Yet, the woman was right here, kneeling just ahead of him. Why was this feeling returning?

Xue Liangliang moved even closer to the woman, but the suffocation did not vanish.

Was it useless?

He could not imagine having to endure the endless torture of suffocation in such a gloomy, oppressive place. What kind of bottomless torment was this?

"Ugh... ah..."

Xue Liangliang also collapsed to his knees, wailing in pain.

His consciousness blurred time and again, only to snap back to clarity repeatedly. He hated this mental clarity, for it meant his spirit was being repeatedly lashed and tortured.

With a *thud*, Xue Liangliang's body leaned forward and he tumbled sideways.

Because there was no threshold, strictly speaking, half of his body entered the core of the ancestral hall.

At that moment, he suddenly found that the suffocation had weakened.

After a brief hesitation, he immediately moved his body further inward, and the suffocation decreased again.

He understood now: the woman holding the vase was no longer effective; the chain she held him with had broken, and the new chain was in here!

He continued to crawl inward until the suffocation vanished completely, and he was finally able to stand up.

Looking back, the area outside the doors was pitch black; only the woman holding the vase at the entrance was faintly visible.

Looking ahead, there was a massive red coffin.

The coffin was elevated on a frame, so when Xue Liangliang stood on his tiptoes, he could only vaguely see some yellow lining inside; beyond that, he could see nothing unless he climbed onto the coffin.

With a heart full of trepidation, he slowly moved around the coffin, mentally preparing for anything that might emerge at any moment.

However, after walking a full circle around the coffin, nothing terrifying appeared.

The head of the coffin faced a position that should have held an altar for ancestral tablets, but there was none; there was only a grand armchair.

On either side of the coffin were green brick walls.

The ancestral hall in the center of Baijia Town seemed excessively simple and desolate, like a house that had been built and decorated but had not yet been occupied.

But was that really the case?

The images of the women sitting in the houses along the way flashed through Xue Liangliang's mind. If everyone died in their own homes, then there would indeed be no need for ancestral tablets in the hall.

So, would there be an exit here?

Xue Liangliang did not give up on self-rescue. He had a vague feeling that the way out should be within this ancestral hall.

Next, he grew bolder. No longer just circling the coffin, he began to walk along the three walls, feeling them as he went, covering a much larger area.

He even used his hands to tap the bricks to see if he could find a hollow secret door, and while walking, he stomped heavily on the ground to test for underground tunnels.

Unfortunately, he found nothing.

The area was not actually very large, and it was too empty—so empty that it was difficult to hide anything.

What about above?

Xue Liangliang looked up. It was a very ordinary old-fashioned beam ceiling design. He had no way to climb up and search unless he found some tools.

But should he go to those houses to look for tools?

The thought of the women sitting behind those doors made Xue Liangliang's skin crawl. To bypass them and rummage through their houses... he would rather stay here.

"Hmm?"

However, after completing a large circle and returning to the entrance, Xue Liangliang was surprised to find that the woman who had been kneeling there with the porcelain vase was gone.

The porcelain vase was also nowhere to be seen.

This sudden change made Xue Liangliang feel terror once again. The woman he had followed all this way had actually become the most familiar "thing" to him here.

Her disappearance meant being thrust back into wandering and loneliness.

He wanted to find her, to see if she had moved to another kneeling position or gone elsewhere, but just as he prepared to walk toward the doorway, even though he was still some distance away, the suffocation actually reappeared!

But earlier, he hadn't felt this way just by entering the doors.

Xue Liangliang took a deep breath of air that didn't even exist, then gathered his strength and rushed toward the door. The suffocation struck him intensely again, and he endured the pain to reach the outside of the room.

Looking around, he saw no sign of the woman. She had truly vanished; she was truly no longer here.

At the same time, the outermost doors of the ancestral hall, which he had entered through, had closed at some unknown time.

And now, he had reached his limit; he didn't even have the strength to run into the courtyard.

He could only run back quickly. His legs felt weak, and he fell to the ground, his body feeling like a shrimp being continuously squeezed of its moisture.

Finally, he crawled back to the side of the coffin, and the suffocation receded. He had found salvation once more.

But as he lifted his head to look at the bottom of the coffin above him, he couldn't help but wonder: was this truly salvation?

After recovering for a moment, he scrambled up and began to tentatively walk toward the side.

He discovered with horror that as soon as he moved a certain distance away from the coffin, the suffocation would appear, and even more violently.

But earlier, he had been able to walk along the walls and even touch the bricks.

This meant his range of movement had been shrunk once again.

He came to the head of the coffin, and suddenly his vision blurred. He thought he saw someone sitting on the armchair facing the head of the coffin.

But when he focused his eyes, the person was gone.

No, it wasn't his eyes playing tricks on him. It might happen elsewhere, but not here!

Xue Liangliang walked around the coffin once more, then lunged back to the head of the coffin.

This time, he saw it. There was indeed someone sitting in the armchair. That person... was himself!

Xue Liangliang clenched his fists. He felt he was going insane. He could not understand why a person who looked exactly like him would be sitting there.

If he was Xue Liangliang, then who was he?

He reached out to touch his face and found the texture was no different from usual. After confirming he was still himself, he looked up again, only to find the armchair empty once more.

Although walking around the coffin again would likely allow him to see the person in the chair again, Xue Liangliang did not have the courage to do so a second time.

At the same time, he could not do it.

Because the suffocation had reappeared. Even though he was currently propping himself up with one hand on the coffin, the suffocation still came.

It was contracting. It was as if he were standing inside an invisible underwater bubble; previously, the bubble had been moving, but now, it was shrinking.

Once he lost its protection, he would never find a moment to breathe again.

Xue Liangliang began to press himself tightly against the coffin. He found that the closer his face was to the coffin, the weaker the suffocation became.

But gradually, he realized it wasn't enough; the suffocation was still intensifying.

No, it can't be, it can't be like this...

Xue Liangliang's feet began to step on the frame below. Grabbing the edge of the coffin, he began to climb up.

Once he was up, he felt relieved; he had once again successfully escaped the pursuit of suffocation.

But when he lowered his head to look down, his gaze froze, his mouth fell open, his arms lost all strength, and he fell.

He saw it. Inside that coffin, someone was lying!

A woman in red, her head covered by a red veil, her hands placed on her lower abdomen!

The pain from the fall was secondary; the most terrifying thing was being enveloped by the suffocation once more.

Previously, Xue Liangliang could run outside to look for the woman's traces, but now, it seemed that as soon as he left the safe zone, he could not tolerate it at all.

If it had just been suffocation before, now it felt as if a pair of invisible, terrifyingly powerful hands were squeezing his throat.

He was no longer just enduring the agony of suffocation, but also the direct pain of his neck being constantly crushed and twisted.

Xue Liangliang immediately scrambled up, his feet once again on the frame, his hands gripping the edge of the coffin to pull himself up.

Under the stimulation of immense pain and torture, he overcame his internal fear, solely to seek that moment of comfort.

Though that comfort would likely not last long.

He tried his best not to look at the woman lying in the coffin. He averted his gaze, looking from top to bottom toward the direction facing the head of the coffin. He saw it again: on the armchair, he had appeared once more.

Only, the version of himself in the chair was dressed differently. The other self wore a black jacket with a shimmering luster, purple trousers on the lower body, a hat on the head, and a red flower pinned to the chest.

It looked very much like... the attire of a groom.

Especially that face, identical to his own, which made Xue Liangliang so terrified that tears were nearly streaming down his face.

In this moment, he felt that the version of himself in the armchair was more terrifying than the woman in the coffin.

So, he lowered his head to look at the woman.

When he had entered the town earlier, all the women behind the doors had been sitting; this woman was lying down, and she lay in the most central, core position of the ancestral hall.

At that moment, the suffocation resurfaced.

Xue Liangliang felt like a beast being driven by a whip.

Although he already had a suspicion in his heart, he still craned his neck, moving his head up, left, and right to sense the changes in the strength of the suffocation.

Ultimately, he found his suspicion was correct: only by moving toward the interior of the coffin could he be safe.

His hands gripped the edge of the coffin tightly as he engaged in one last internal struggle.

However, the encroaching and increasingly intense suffocation greatly shortened his hesitation.

He exerted force with his waist, reached one foot up to the edge of the coffin, and reached down with both hands to grab the inner wall of the coffin.

His intention was only to lean his upper body inside, to keep as much distance as possible from the woman.

He had simply overestimated his current physical strength. When he finally managed to flip himself up, he lacked the strength to maintain his balance for the next move, and instead, he lost control and tumbled into the coffin.

He landed on the woman. Her body was very cold and very slippery.

But this slipperiness was not in the conventional sense; it was more like a jellyfish or some kind of secretion—in short, it was extremely physically unpleasant.

Right then,

Xue Liangliang discovered in horror that the woman before him was slowly lifting her head.

Accompanied by her movement,

The red veil that had been covering her face

Slowly slid down.

*Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!*

On the archway of Baijia Town, the white lanterns on that side suddenly turned red.

Starting from them, the candles in the niches of every doorway in the entire town turned from a ghostly green to red, overflowing with a festive atmosphere that was both eerie and chilling.

*Creak...*

*Creak...*

The tightly closed doors of the houses were now being slowly pushed open from the inside.

And the women who had been sitting inside the open doors slowly stood up.

Soon,

Women of different ages and dressed in styles from different eras emerged from their doorways one after another, stepping on the stone slabs of the drainage channels to reach the roadside.

They appeared from houses at various locations in the town, then formed a line, moving slowly at the same pace.

The direction they were gathering toward was the ancestral hall in the center of the town.

Although they all still had their eyes closed and no one spoke, a rustling sound continuously emerged throughout the town.

At first, it was faint and chaotic, but gradually, the sound grew louder and more rhythmic.

Finally, it converged into a single, orderly sound, like a collective chant, echoing over the sky of Baijia Town

"Heavenly Official grants blessings, the Bai family recruits a son-in-law!"

...

"Hey, hello, I am Li Zhuiyuan."

"Hello, do you know Xue Liangliang?"

"I do."

"I think I've heard your voice before. My surname is Luo. Have we met somewhere?"

"Are you... Director Luo? I am the child who was with Brother Liangliang yesterday."

"Oh, so it's you."

"Director Luo, has something happened?"

"Something happened to Liangliang. While he was unconscious, he was muttering 'Xiao Yuan' and even recited this phone number."

"Brother Liangliang, what happened to him?"

"He fell into the water from a boat. He is currently being resuscitated in the hospital. The doctors say his condition is very bad."

"Can I go see him?"

"Yes, I'll send a car to pick you up immediately. Give me a specific location."

"Shinan Town, Shijia Bridge. We will wait for the car there."

"Alright."

After hanging up the phone, Li Zhuiyuan immediately raised his arm and found that the mark had long since completely disappeared, and it had not reappeared.

So, what happened to Brother Liangliang?

Could it be that the Lady of the Bai family still held a grudge and had come back to seek revenge?

But that shouldn't be right; hadn't it all been severed?

Li Zhuiyuan took some pocket money from his pocket and said to Auntie Zhang, "Auntie Zhang, I'm going to buy a pack of cigarettes for my Great-Grandfather, and some candy too."

"Alright, I'll get them for you right now... Here, just in time."

"Thank you, Auntie Zhang."

Li Zhuiyuan put the cigarettes and candy in his pocket and walked toward home with a solemn expression.

He had a vague feeling that this matter must be related to the Lady of the Bai family; it was certainly not a simple case of falling into the water and losing consciousness.

Otherwise, Brother Liangliang wouldn't have been muttering his name and phone number while unconscious.

Most importantly, if the matter weren't strange enough, Engineer Luo wouldn't have sent a car to pick up a child like him in the middle of the night; he must be extremely anxious.

Returning to the dam, Auntie Liu was tidying up the dishes and cleaning, while Uncle Qin was chopping wood—tasks that had been delayed by watching the movie.

The light was on in the east room, but the door was closed. Liu Yumei and Ali should be inside. Liu Yumei's mental state had been very poor after watching the movie tonight.

Li Zhuiyuan walked up to Uncle Qin and asked, "Uncle Qin."

"Xiao Yuan, what is it?"

"If my family's soy sauce bottle tipped over, would you reach out to steady it?"

Uncle Qin: "..."

"It's the college student who stayed with us last night. Something happened to him, and he's being resuscitated in the hospital. I won't tell anyone about this, and I certainly won't tell my Great-Grandfather. So, Uncle Qin, could you 'steady' it?"

Uncle Qin reached into his pocket and pulled out some money. "Xiao Yuan, is it to pay his medical bills? I have a little here; I'll ask your aunt for more later and then send it all to your friend."

"Okay... thank you, Uncle Qin."

Li Zhuiyuan could only nod. It seemed he would have to wake Great-Grandfather up and ask for his opinion.

However, Great-Grandfather probably wouldn't have any way to help, because even he had shown wariness toward the Lady of the Bai family that day and chose to retreat.

At that moment, the door to the east room was opened from the inside.

Liu Yumei, having changed into pajamas, walked out with her hair loose. Her eyes were still very red.

"Ali, go with Xiao Yuan to the hospital to deliver the money."

"Okay, I understand."

Li Zhuiyuan looked at Liu Yumei in surprise. He had only intended to test the waters, but he hadn't expected Liu Yumei to agree so decisively this time.

"Xiao Yuan, wait a moment, I'll go get the bicycle out."

"No need, Uncle Qin. We'll wait on the bridge south of the village entrance road; a car will come to pick us up."

"Oh, alright then. Let's go. If we come back late and your Great-Grandfather is awake, your Auntie Liu will help you tell him. Don't worry."

"Mhm."

"Do you need to grab anything?"

"No, we can go now."

Before leaving, Li Zhuiyuan bowed to Liu Yumei. "Thank you, Grandma."

Liu Yumei did not respond and turned back into the room.

After Li Zhuiyuan and Uncle Qin left, Auntie Liu brought in a basin of hot water. After placing it on the rack, she took a comb and walked to Liu Yumei's side to help her tend to her hair.

The rings of time ruthlessly crush everyone. Last year, Liu Yumei's hair was only silver-gray, but now, only the surface held that color; as the comb pulled through, the hair underneath was entirely soft and white.

As Auntie Liu combed, she couldn't help but choke up slightly.

"Why are you crying?"

"I'm not crying."

"Heh." Liu Yumei placed a cleaned ancestral tablet back into its place.

"I want to know why you agreed this time. Even if Uncle Sanjiang truly has nothing to do with it, Xiao Yuan lives here after all. He is still a relative of Uncle Sanjiang. What if..."

"Of course I know 'what if'." Liu Yumei looked at the rows of tablets before her. "But I am in a bad mood today, and I don't want to deal with any 'what ifs' for the time being."

Auntie Liu combed silently, not responding further.

Liu Yumei's voice suddenly rose. "What, am I so old that I no longer even have the right to be willful?"

"No, you do, you do!"

Liu Yumei stood up, pointing at the rows of tablets, her voice agitated

"Those fellows, back then, they just took their fleet and left whenever they wanted without a word of notice. The whole family—no, both families—all deliberately kept me in the dark!

Fine then, they were all so generous, dying until not a single one was left. When they left me as a widow and an orphan, did they ever think of me?

They weren't even willing to leave a single spirit behind; they sacrificed everything, leaving me to stare at these lifeless tablets for decades without a single person to talk to!

Why is it that only they can be willful, while I must always remain cautious here, terrified that a single mistake will trigger a backlash of fortune?

It's not fair..."

As she spoke, tears flowed from Liu Yumei's eyes. One hand braced against the altar, while the other covered her face.

Auntie Liu was heartbroken but did not know how to comfort her.

After a moment,

Liu Yumei lowered her hand and lifted her head again to look at the tablets, smiling.

"Heh, do you see? Do you see? Now that you are gone, how long has it been? Those white rats at the bottom of the river dare to crawl onto the shore to disgust people."

Liu Yumei's expression became solemn, and her gaze turned sharp

"Then I will give them a slap to send them back.

Let them remember,

On this river,

Who is the one in charge!"