After seeing Steward Wang off, Cui Wan held two invitations in her hand and passed one to Su Tan.
Cui Wan closed the invitation and placed it on the table. The howling wind and snow outside seemed to foreshadow the recent turbulence in Jingcheng.
“The Crown Princess is due to give birth in the next couple of days.”
“Prince Chen is worried that someone might use Fierce Ghosts to cause trouble, so he’s invited us to stand guard.”
They would have to go to the East Palace tomorrow, and might even need to stay there.
Su Tan frowned deeply. “Many people have their eyes on the Crown Princess’s pregnancy.”
With the Crown Prince confined to his sickbed, this child was extremely important. While some hoped for the Crown Princess’s safe delivery, others wished for both mother and child to perish.
Listening to the sound of wind and snow outside, Su Tan suddenly sighed. “It seems we’ll have a tough battle to fight tomorrow.”
Cui Wan’s brow furrowed tightly. Since the Crown Princess was about to give birth, those people wouldn’t let such a good opportunity slip by.
She shook her head. “Enough about others. What about you?”
“I heard about what happened today. Those ungrateful wolves from the Song family are always jumping around in front of you. It would be fine if you could always be as firm as you were today, but I’m afraid you might suddenly soften.”
“Thinking that Song Xiao is still a child who can’t be without a mother.”
Su Tan lowered her gaze, her lips curling slightly, her fingers tightening unconsciously. “Senior sister, do you know what I dreamed about last night?”
“I dreamed of Chang Le.”
Cui Wan’s expression suddenly froze.
Su Tan’s voice, carrying the sound of wind and snow from outside, blew into Cui Wan’s ears. “Chang Le told me never to soften my heart. She said that since A Niang has escaped from the wolf’s den, she shouldn’t go back.”
Cui Wan tightly grasped Su Tan’s hand, her eyes slightly reddened.
On the day Chang Le passed away, Su Tan cried until she fainted and had a nightmare.
She dreamed of a world where she hadn’t divorced Song Tingchen.
She nodded and agreed to let that Song man take Liu Qingyin as his Second Wife.
From then on, Su Tan’s son and husband both became Liu Qingyin’s.
Su Tan often quarreled with Song Tingchen.
Su Tan gave birth to Chang Le.
Unlike in reality where Chang Le passed away in Su Tan’s arms within three days, in the dream she safely grew to two years old. But Chang Le had a heart condition and couldn’t bear any stimulation, while Song Xiao would always say the most unpleasant things to provoke her sister when Su Tan was preparing Chang Le’s medicine.
Chang Le was thoughtful and obedient, like Su Tan’s little comfort. Song Xiao always thought Chang Le was good at pretending and treated her as an enemy, especially since Chang Le didn’t like Liu Qingyin at all.
Later—later Chang Le suddenly contracted smallpox. Su Tan cared for her day and night for three days, exhausting all her Merit and spiritual power, but still couldn’t keep Chang Le.
After Chang Le’s departure, Su Tan’s heart died too.
After burying Chang Le peacefully, Su Tan set fire to the entire General’s Residence.
No one in the entire General’s Residence survived, including Su Tan herself.
Su Tan’s lips trembled as she listened to the wind and snow outside, wiping away her falling tears. “I often wonder if that wasn’t just a dream.”
“Maybe Chang Le couldn’t bear to see me end up like that, so she exchanged her own life for a chance for me to start over. Otherwise—”
Otherwise, why couldn’t she keep Chang Le?
Cui Wan tightly held Su Tan’s hand, pulling her junior sister into an embrace, comforting her through tears. “No, it was just a dream, A Tan!”
“But take it as Chang Le’s spirit watching over you, reminding you not to repeat the same mistakes.”
Su Tan shook her head, the sorrow in her expression gradually fading as her gaze grew colder inch by inch. “Repeat the same mistakes?”
“In this lifetime, unless Song Tingchen and Song Xiao are dead, I will never set foot in the General’s Residence again.”
Though these words were somewhat vicious, they truly reflected Su Tan’s current state of mind. She would not soften her heart for Song Xiao.
Every time she saw Song Xiao and Song Tingchen, her heart grew colder by a degree or two. Coupled with the dream she had last night, it only strengthened Su Tan’s resolve.
“My only child is Chang Le.”
As for Song Xiao, he was nothing more than a bloodsucking parasite she had nurtured in her womb.
Cui Wan nodded firmly. “It’s for the best that you think this way. Song Xiao not only falls short of Chang Le, he isn’t even comparable to a Night Cry Ghost. No matter how much you give to such a child, he will never appreciate it.”
…
Song Family Residence.
Song Xiao had been throwing a tantrum until late into the night. He dragged out a box and smashed the items inside repeatedly. Tears streamed down his face, yet his anger remained unappeased. He gathered all the wooden carvings that Su Tan had made with him before and threw them to the ground in one furious motion.
“Take these away and burn them!”
“I never want to see them again!”
They were all things from that wicked woman!
He didn’t care for them at all!
Rui Hong, the maid serving him, looked on with heartache. She pressed her lips together and finally couldn’t help but advise, “Young master, these were all blessed by the former madam. They can protect people’s safety and ward off evil spirits from the residence.”
“If you don’t like them, we can just put them away. There’s no need to burn them.”
“Get lost!” Song Xiao grabbed a cup and threw it at Rui Hong. She couldn’t dodge in time, and the cup struck her shoulder hard. Tears of pain welled in her eyes. Song Xiao gritted his teeth and snarled viciously, “If you don’t burn them, I’ll have you burned instead!”
Rui Hong’s heart trembled.
She never imagined Song Xiao’s temperament had become so terrible.
Not daring to persuade him further, she could only endure the pain and murmur meekly, “…Yes.”
Her eyes reddened as she slowly gathered the items. Before leaving, she cast a deep look at Song Xiao, wanting to say something but ultimately closing her lips and silently withdrawing.
Outside, the wind and snow rustled. Rui Hong examined an exquisite string of sandalwood beads and a carved statue of Guan Yu among the items. After hesitating for a long time, she couldn’t bring herself to burn them.
“Since the young master doesn’t want them anyway, and he’s discarded them, would it really matter if I kept them?”
She pressed her lips together, thinking that since these were blessed items, even if they couldn’t truly ward off evil spirits, they were beautiful to look at and keeping them wouldn’t cause harm.
Rui Hong paused, changed direction, and returned to the servants’ quarters. She carefully hid the items under her bedding.
Since she wasn’t on night duty that evening, she took a string of red sandalwood beads and went to the front courtyard, handing them to her elder brother Yun Song.
Yun Song worked in procurement, sometimes having to wait before dawn for hard-to-find items.
As the saying goes, walk the night path too often and you’ll eventually meet ghosts. Rui Hong was somewhat concerned. “Wear this. I don’t know if it will work, but the former madam carved it. The young master told me to burn it earlier, but I couldn’t bear to.”
“Since you often go out at night, elder brother, I’ll feel more at ease if you wear it.”
Yun Song didn’t believe in such supernatural matters, but he would still feel pained to see good sandalwood beads burned for no reason.
Moreover, with the recent frequent occurrences of strange events in Jingcheng, hearing about them so often made him feel uneasy himself.
To reassure An Mei, Yun Song put on the bracelet himself, then rummaged through his sleeve and produced a plain silver hairpin. “Dear sister, it so happens I also have something for you.”
“I must leave the residence tonight—your bracelet has come at just the right moment.”