Her complexion was not good, and her gaze swept over Bian Yue, landing precisely on Li Sihe. She said calmly, "Do you have time? There are some things I would like to clear up with you, taking advantage of today’s opportunity." Her voice was cold, tinged with a bit of desolation. Li Sihe looked at her and, after a moment, stood up and followed Zhuang Jie Ning to a side hall. Zhuang Jie Ning’s steps were unsteady, as if she lacked strength. Throughout the walk there was an ineffable sense of exhaustion. The two sat down in the side hall, and Zhuang Jie Ning picked up a pair of scissors from the table, her eyes reflecting contemplation. "What are you going to do?" Li Sihe frowned, a cold chill in his eyes. "Do you have paper?" Zhuang Jie Ning asked, "Just white paper will do." Li Sihe didn’t know what Zhuang Jie Ning wanted to do, but at this moment, he didn’t want to have any conflict with her. So, he took a stack of paper from a tall cabinet nearby and placed it in front of Zhuang Jie Ning. Zhuang Jie Ning smiled and casually picked up a sheet, examining it closely. Li Sihe’s patience was running thin. "You can go ahead and say what you want to say." "How many years have we known each other, Li Sihe?" Zhuang Jie Ning carefully snipped the white paper in her hands while keeping her tone casual. Without waiting for Li Sihe’s answer, she continued, "I’ve roughly calculated, and no matter how, it’s been longer than with Bian Yue, right? You’d think that we could have been a partnership as husband and wife, so how did we end up in this situation?" "I was seriously ill recently. Postpartum depression, is that what it’s called?" Zhuang Jie Ning laughed as she spoke, tears glistening in her eyes, and said with self-mockery, "What postpartum depression? My child didn’t even make it." Zhuang Jie Ning held the scissors tremblingly in her hand; she laughed and laughed, and then tears completely slid down, she said, "Li Sihe, have you ever felt that our conflicts ultimately involved the child, and that this is a sin? Not just your sin, but ours." Li Sihe’s previously unemotional face finally showed a slight softening. He looked at Zhuang Jie Ning, paused, and said coldly, "At that time, under any circumstances, I couldn’t let you bear my child under the title of my wife." His words were as calm as they were cold-blooded. Zhuang Jie Ning understood, "I know, in your eyes, that child was nothing more than a tool for the struggle for power. At first, that’s what I thought too. Having him, I also felt that he was just a means to an end. But then, as he grew little by little inside me, even before he took shape, I could feel his presence. I knew he was alive." Zhuang Jie Ning’s hand with the scissors went astray, piercing the back of her hand. Blood flowed quickly, staining the white paper red. Yet Zhuang Jie Ning seemed as if she didn’t feel the pain and continued to cut. "Your hand is bleeding." "It’s okay, this blood really doesn’t hurt at all." Zhuang Jie Ning said with a smile, insistently continuing, "Li Sihe, I asked you to stay just to have you accompany me in freeing the soul of this child. Such a small wish, can you grant it to me?" Seeing that Li Sihe was silent, Zhuang Jie Ning continued, "Regarding the child, we are both practically murderers. You did the deed, and my reckless desires and ambition are the source where all this tragedy began. I once heard a Taoist say, only if we both, the perpetrators, wholeheartedly pray for his soul, can the child enter the cycle of reincarnation smoothly." Li Sihe’s gaze grew frostier, his brows furrowed as he looked at the expectant eyes of Zhuang Jie Ning. After a long time, he averted his gaze, "Is that all?" "That’s all." Zhuang Jie Ning smiled, the tears in her eyes becoming ever more genuine, "I’ve had many entangled desires I couldn’t let go of, but now, this is my only remaining wish." Li Sihe eventually agreed to Zhuang Jie Ning’s request. Not out of guilt, but because in the midnight dreams, just as Zhuang Jie Ning had said, he too would feel restless. Zhuang Jie Ning looked at him, her lips trembling as if she had a lot to say, but in the end, she just choked out, "Okay." The wind and snow grew stronger on the small island at night. Zhuang Jie Ning and Li Sihe stood in the courtyard, throwing a stack of shaped white paper into the burning fire. The firelight illuminated Zhuang Jie Ning’s face, and in her pupils, it seemed as if the flames were swirling. Follow current novᴇls on novel[f]ire.net She cried and laughed softly, saying, "Baby... goodbye." Li Sihe’s heart suddenly felt a dull pain. The scheming and planning at that time, from beginning to end, were always calculative, even when considering this child, it was from the standpoint of interest. And now, Li Sihe actually felt so vividly that there once was a life, crushed under the wheel of power. The memorial service was simple, and until it was over, Li Sihe watched Zhuang Jie Ning, who was squatting on the ground and slowly standing up, and finally said softly, "Sorry." Surprise showed on Zhuang Jie Ning’s face, then she smiled and hoarsely said, "It is I who failed the child..." In the following two days, everything seemed as if it had never happened, time passing by calmly and without ripple. Zhuang Jie Ning watched Shen Jinci’s meticulous care for Bian Yue and no longer harbored the grievances of before. Perhaps it was because everything was coming to an end, in a state of having no more desires, one could actually be calm. When Bian Yue woke up from her nap, she saw Zhuang Jie Ning sitting beside her, quietly watching her. Time seemed to overlap for an instant, and Bian Yue was taken back to the damp and oppressive rainy season in Xiangjiang years ago. Zhuang Jie Ning was also sitting in the classroom, watching her doze off, saying with a smile that she was going to tell the teacher. But now, it is just that everything has changed. The haze of sleepiness in Bian Yue’s eyes had not yet cleared, as Zhuang Jie Ning already withdrew her gaze. She stood up, as if nothing had ever happened, and left with measured steps. Bian Yue didn’t say a word to her; after waking up, she talked on the phone with Wen Jiao and learned that she and Shen Zhaoli had already completed their wedding ceremony. Bian Yue asked Wen Jiao, "Jiaojiao, do you feel happy?" Wen Jiao’s eyes were bright, and with a smile, she earnestly said, "Yueyue, one cannot always pursue what has been lost. I have looked back once before, but the result was still the same, so now, I am determined to look forward. I am happy." Bian Yue felt relieved, and she settled down, telling Wen Jiao she must wait for her to come back to the country. When that time comes, she would keep her company. Wen Jiao smiled and said, "Then we’ll live together like before." Bian Yue was of course willing. They chatted happily, it had been a long time since they last saw each other, so they talked about everything under the sky. Bian Yue did not know that Zhuang Jie Ning was standing quietly listening for a long time at the corner of the stairs. After that, she really left. When Zhuang Jie Ning left, Bian Yue received her handwritten letter, a thin letter placed in a yellow envelope. The moment Bian Yue unfolded it to read, her emotions inexplicably became complex.