Huguo Temple.
Before the Buddha statue, a Changming Lantern flickered. Su Tan had knelt on the Pu Tuan, chanting scriptures for nearly five hours. When she rose, she realized her legs had gone completely numb.
In the bitter cold, she stood alone before the Buddha, clad in thin garments, resembling a solitary bamboo stalk braving the wind and snow.
“Su Tan?”
Song Tingchen’s icy voice cut through the air. Su Tan turned to see him standing beside the delicate Liu Qingyin, who looked as fragile as a willow swaying in the breeze.
Her son, Song Xiao, clung affectionately to Liu Qingyin’s hand.
Together, they appeared to be the picture of a happy, perfect family of three.
They had been married for five years, and it had been three years since their Divorce. Now, caught off guard by this sudden reunion, she found herself facing such a scene.
Song Tingchen stood beside Liu Qingyin, his gaze toward Su Tan cold and complex, tinged with an indescribable emotion. “You disappeared without a word for three years. Have you finally decided to return?”
Song Xiao, initially delighted to see his mother, remembered how she had abandoned him three years ago. His lips pursed, and he snorted.
“Bad woman!”
Su Tan regarded the father and son with indifference. Seeing Song Tingchen’s frosty glare and hearing Song Xiao’s “bad woman” no longer pierced her heart as it once had. Instead, she found it absurd and laughable. “What are you doing here?”
And bringing Liu Qingyin along, no less.
Did Song Tingchen feel that humiliating her three years ago wasn’t enough? Did he now intend to disgrace her parents as well?
Liu Qingyin shrank back, tears welling in her eyes. “Su Tan, you’ve misunderstood. It wasn’t Tingchen who insisted on bringing me. Xiao is still young and can’t do without me yet.”
Su Tan watched her performance calmly. “So you’re here to flaunt that my ex-husband and my son both adore you now?”
Song Tingchen’s brow furrowed, his aura turning oppressive.
“Su Tan, must you speak like that!”
She always assumed the worst in people.
It was true three years ago, and it remained true now.
“During the three years you were gone, it was Qingyin who took care of Xiao for you. Even if you don’t appreciate her, there’s no need for such sharp words!”
Su Tan stared at Song Tingchen’s cold expression, unsure whether to feel scorn or sorrow.
She had merely said one thing about Liu Qingyin.
And he was already rushing to defend her.
During their five years of marriage, he had never once stood up for her in front of others like this.
Trapped in the past, she had always believed it was just his nature.
Now, freed from that delusion, she realized it wasn’t about his nature at all. In Song Tingchen’s eyes, Su Tan simply wasn’t worth defending.
Liu Qingyin’s lips curved imperceptibly.
Though she wore a mask of fragility, mockery gleamed in her eyes.
“Su Tan, you’ve truly misunderstood me.”
Liu Qingyin looked on the verge of tears, lifting the hem of her skirt as she stepped forward, her eyes filled with anxious urgency as if desperate to explain.
“Ah!”
After a few steps, Liu Qingyin’s legs suddenly gave way. She stumbled forward, knocking over the Changming Lantern Su Tan had lit for her family.
Her face paled instantly. “I… I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to…”
Liu Qingyin knelt to gather the shattered pieces of the lantern but cut her palm in the process.
Song Tingchen frowned deeply, quickly helping her to her feet. “Stop picking them up. Can’t you see you’re hurt?”
Liu Qingyin gently nudged him, her expression growing increasingly remorseful. Biting her lip as she approached Su Tan, tears began to fall pattering down her cheeks. “I… I’m sorry, Su Tan. I… I didn’t mean to.”
“I never expected this to happen. I truly apologize…”
Her voice trembled with sobs, her slender frame swaying precariously as if about to collapse.
Su Tan’s gaze was profound and cold as she stared fixedly at her.
In the next instant, she raised her hand and delivered three sharp slaps across Liu Qingyin’s face without hesitation.
“Ah!”
Liu Qingyin looked up in shock, her delicate face now swollen and red, completely unprepared for Su Tan’s physical retaliation.
Su Tan wiped her hands clean with a handkerchief. “Had enough of this act? Get lost.”
“Su Tan!”
Song Tingchen approached with an aura of frosty chill, as if still carrying the cold of untouched snow. Supporting Liu Qingyin, who dared only weep silently despite being struck, he felt both weary and infuriated by Su Tan’s unreasonable harshness.
“Don’t you think you’ve gone too far?”
“Qingyin accidentally knocking over the Changming Lantern was her fault, but she has sincerely apologized and repented. She’s even injured herself—how could you still resort to violence?”
Though born into an aristocratic family where some pride was expected, one shouldn’t be so domineering and unforgiving even when in the right.
Liu Qingyin weakly wiped her tears, forcing a strained smile. “Brother Song, please don’t blame Su Tan. I was at fault first. Whatever punishment she deals me, I deserve it.”
Song Xiao immediately rushed forward like a protective young calf, glaring furiously at Su Tan. “Aunt Qing! You did nothing wrong!”
“It’s all that wicked woman’s fault!”
“You’re a bad woman! Ever since you returned, you’ve been bullying Aunt Qing. I hate you!”
His eyes red with emotion, Song Xiao charged forward and shoved Su Tan aside.
Though young, his sturdy build packed considerable force. Su Tan staggered from the impact.
Her elbow accidentally struck a pillar, sending sharp, needle-like pain radiating through the area.
For a moment, Su Tan felt her arm go numb.
Yet she didn’t even furrow her brow.
“Song Xiao!” Song Tingchen frowned, watching Su Tan’s expressionless face as she massaged her elbow. A sudden sense of suffocation welled in his chest. “Apologize to your mother!”
Tears welled in Song Xiao’s eyes, red with grievance. “She’s not my mother!”
“I hate her!”
Song Xiao ran over, intending to grab the remaining untouched Changming Lantern and smash it on the ground.
In a child’s simple world—since Su Tan had struck Liu Qingyin over an accidentally broken lantern—he would break all the remaining ones to avenge her.
But before he could touch them, Su Tan pushed him away with an icy expression.
Caught off guard, Song Xiao’s round body tumbled to the ground, where he stared at her in stunned silence.
“Xiao Xiao!”
Liu Qingyin wept, reaching to lift Song Xiao from the floor, but the moment she touched his arm, she gasped sharply in pain.
“Sister Su Tan, if you must hit or scold someone, direct it at me. Why bully Xiao Xiao?”
The suffocating feeling in Song Tingchen’s chest intensified. His face hardened like cold iron as he picked Song Xiao up from the ground, not forgetting to cast a concerned glance toward Liu Qingyin.
When his gaze landed on Su Tan, however, it carried clear reproach. “Su Tan, no matter how angry you are, you shouldn’t lay hands on a child.”
In truth, the moment Su Tan saw Song Xiao fall, her heart felt as if pierced by a needle. She had instinctively wanted to step forward and lift him into her arms.
But the moment she thought he wanted to smash the Su family’s Changming Lantern for Liu Qingyin’s sake, her heart turned cold.
Su Tan looked at Song Tingchen and his son. “No one is allowed to disrespect my parents—not Liu Qingyin, and certainly not you.”
“Su Tan! He’s just a child!” Song Tingchen felt as if a heavy stone were pressing on his heart.
He knew Song Xiao was at fault, but she had been gone for three years, and the moment she returned, she was so cold and even pushed Song Xiao to the ground.
Had she ever considered how the child would feel?
Su Tan curled her lips. “Yes, still a child.”
“Three years ago, he abandoned his own mother for Liu Qingyin. Now, for Liu Qingyin, he wants to smash his maternal grandfather’s Changming Lantern. What a fine child—pity he didn’t crawl out of Liu Qingyin’s womb.”
“Su Tan!”
Song Tingchen radiated a chilling aura. Over three years, he had thought she might have matured. “Qingyin is still an unmarried woman. Can’t you watch your words and actions? Don’t tarnish her reputation!”
Liu Qingyin paled and shed tears. “Sister Su Tan, whether you believe it or not, Brother Song and I have always been innocent.”
“What happened three years ago was a misunderstanding. Brother Song only ever intended to give me a way to survive.”
Su Tan couldn’t help but find it laughable.
A trace of mockery flickered in her eyes as she gazed at the perfect pair. “Song Tingchen, back then, you were so eager to marry Liu Qingyin. I kindly agreed to a Divorce to make room for you both. How is it that you haven’t married yet?”
Song Tingchen’s expression turned completely icy.
“Su Tan, there’s no reasoning with you!”
From beginning to end, she always assumed the worst of him—three years ago, and now, three years later.
He said coldly, “Apologize to Qingyin, or this matter won’t end here.”
Su Tan looked at him calmly, but her fingers tightened gradually. “What did you say?”
Song Tingchen remained stern, his gaze frigid. “Xiaoxiao offended you first, so I can overlook you pushing him.”
“But Qingyin has already apologized to you, and you still struck her. Su Tan, if you don’t want the Su family to be shamed because of you, you should know you must apologize for your arrogance today.”
Su Tan laughed in anger.
“Shame the Su family?”
She raised her hand, exuding a chilling aura, and slapped him five times—three for her parents, and two for herself.
Watching blood seep from the corner of Song Tingchen’s mouth, she remained unmoved.
“If the world were to learn that I, Su Tan, had to apologize to the one who tried to shatter my family’s Changming Lantern, that would be the greatest humiliation to the Su family.”
She drew the soft sword from her waist, its silver tip pointing directly at Song Tingchen’s eyes.
“Take your son and Liu Qingyin out of my sight, or don’t blame me for killing you.”
Her murderous intent was palpable, as if she truly would kill him if he took one step forward.
Song Tingchen suddenly laughed, holding the child, his brow frosty.
“Su Tan, you really are just the same as you were three years ago.”