Half an hour later, the two of them finally arrived at a secluded corner on the back mountain.
Su Jiuyue’s mother had never been buried in the Su family’s ancestral cemetery. Instead, she rested alone in a small plot not far away.
It had been her own request.
She had said she wanted to be buried there so she could look down upon the main road at the foot of the mountain.
A lonely, low grave stood by itself. Weeds had grown all around it, and there were even signs that stray cats had made nests nearby. The place looked desolate beyond words.
Huo Zhixing found a clean, flat boulder and carefully set Su Jiuyue down on it, treating her as though she were something precious. Every movement was gentle and deliberate.
As Su Jiuyue looked at the weathered tombstone, her eyes suddenly reddened.
It wasn’t her own grief—it was the lingering attachment the original Su Jiuyue still held for her mother.
Her fingertips trembled as she reached out and gently stroked the rough stone.
Only five characters were carved upon it:
“The Grave of Ning Wan’er.”
Nothing more.
No signature.
No family name.
Su Jiuyue frowned.
Something felt wrong.
Normally, a woman’s tombstone would read “The Wife of So-and-So” or “Madam Su Ning.”
Why would it bear only her personal name?
She remembered that after Su Jiuyue’s mother died, Father Su had practically ignored his daughter. The villagers had said he was too heartbroken over losing his wife to care about anything else.
But…
In an ordinary family, wouldn’t a father cherish his child even more after losing his wife?
The more she thought about it, the stranger it seemed.
Still, she forced herself to stop.
Both of them were already dead.
There was no point digging into the past now.
What mattered was retrieving what her mother had left behind before Li Guilan got her hands on it.
Huo Zhixing had also noticed the oddity of the tombstone.
His lips pressed together, but he chose not to comment.
He rolled up the sleeves of his military uniform, exposing his powerful forearms, bent down, and began pulling away the weeds and thorny vines around the grave with his bare hands.
More than ten minutes later, the once-neglected grave had been completely cleaned.
Just then, sunlight finally broke through the clouds after the rain.
Golden rays filtered through the leaves, scattering patches of warm light over the two of them.
Su Jiuyue was about to thank him when she saw Huo Zhixing straighten his sweat-dampened uniform, fasten his collar neatly…
Then perform an action that shook her to her soul.
Facing the solitary grave, he solemnly raised his hand in a flawless military salute.
Afterward…
His knees bent.
Thud.
Those proud knees struck heavily into the cold, wet earth.
He knelt perfectly upright before the tombstone and respectfully bowed his head.
His deep, resolute voice echoed through the quiet mountains.
“Mom, my name is Huo Zhixing.”
“I’m Jiuyue’s husband.”
“Please don’t worry. As long as I live, no one will ever bully her again.”
“As long as Huo Zhixing is alive…”
“She is my life.”
“I’m taking her with me today.”
“I’ll protect her for the rest of her life.”
As soon as he finished speaking, a breeze swept through the trees.
The rustling leaves sounded almost like an answer from beyond.
Su Jiuyue covered her mouth as hot tears streamed uncontrollably down her face.
After a long while…
She thought she heard a soft sigh.
And after that sigh faded…
Her entire body suddenly felt lighter.
In this era, a man’s knees were said to be worth their weight in gold.
And Huo Zhixing wasn’t just any man.
He was a powerful military commander.
Yet he had willingly knelt before the lonely grave of an ordinary village woman…
Simply to give Su Jiuyue the greatest dignity and the deepest sense of security.
That single kneel honored not only her late mother—
It was also the moment he truly accepted Su Jiuyue into his family, into his protection, and into his very heart.
Ignoring the pain in her injured foot, Su Jiuyue knelt beside him.
Deep inside, a quiet promise seemed to reach her mother’s spirit.
Mother…
Did you see that?
You can finally rest easy.
I’ve found the man you said would protect me for the rest of my life.
When the ceremony was over, Huo Zhixing helped her back to her feet.
“Where are the things?” he asked quietly while cautiously scanning their surroundings.
Sniffling, Su Jiuyue tugged him back a step.
“Under this rock.”
She pointed directly beneath the spot where they had just been kneeling.
“When I was little, Mother originally hid them inside the hollow of the tree behind her grave.”
“But one day I came to visit her and overheard someone saying they wanted to chop that tree down for roof beams.”
“I was terrified.”
“If they cut the tree down, the hollow would be exposed.”
“So I told everyone I wanted to rebuild Mother’s grave.”
“No one cared enough to stop a little girl.”
“I spent three whole days digging by myself.”
“I buried everything in a pit here, covered it with this stone, then packed dirt over it.”
“No one has ever found it.”
Huo Zhixing: “…”
No wonder my knees almost shattered just now…
I’d been kneeling on a rock the whole time.
Since he had already cleared the weeds away, loosening the soil now wouldn’t attract attention.
The two of them quickly scraped away the dirt with a wooden stick.
Huo Zhixing then lifted the heavy stone aside with his bare hands.
Beneath it lay a heavy iron box wrapped layer upon layer in oilcloth.
He hauled it out.
The waterproof wrapping had already begun to rot.
After tearing away the ruined layers and tossing them back into the pit, Su Jiuyue hugged the iron box with trembling hands.
Holding her breath, she slowly opened one corner.
Instantly…
Several brilliant golden flashes shimmered beneath the sunlight.
Su Jiuyue recognized them immediately.
They were the legendary Ghost Gate Golden Needles, the treasured inheritance passed down through generations of the Ghost Doctor Sect.
They looked exactly like the set she had used in her previous life.
She would examine them more carefully once they got home.
Beneath the golden needles lay two yellowed ancient books.
And underneath them…
A piece of black jade?
Its surface was smooth and warm, carrying an unmistakable air of elegance completely out of place in such a remote village.
“This is everything.”
Su Jiuyue quickly shut the box and tucked it safely inside her clothing.
Meanwhile, Huo Zhixing had already replaced the stone, filled the pit with dirt again, and restored everything to its original appearance.
“Let’s go.”
Though he sensed that something about the box was unusual, he deliberately chose not to ask.
Instead, he lifted Su Jiuyue onto his back once more and strode swiftly down the mountain.
As soon as Huo Zhixing settled Su Jiuyue inside the jeep and climbed into the driver’s seat, he caught sight of another off-road vehicle speeding toward the mountain along a nearby path.
Remembering the mysterious items Su Jiuyue had just recovered, he didn’t hesitate.
He slammed on the accelerator.
The military jeep shot away from the foot of the mountain.
Moments later, a black off-road vehicle bearing a Yue A license plate screeched to a stop.
“Sir, that vehicle just left.”
The driver quickly got out and respectfully opened the rear door.
A man dressed in a Zhongshan suit and wearing gold-rimmed glasses stepped out.
Looking at the muddy ground with obvious disgust, he nevertheless walked across it.
Raising a pair of binoculars, he examined the path leading up the mountain.
“Let’s go up.”
“Watch your step, sir. Follow my footprints.”
The driver led the way, carefully following the fresh footprints already left in the mud.
Eventually they arrived before Ning Wan’er’s grave.
“‘The Grave of Ning Wan’er…'”
The man softly repeated the inscription before lifting his camera and snapping two photographs.
“Sir, I guess the people in that vehicle came here to pay their respects.”
The driver pointed toward the freshly cleaned grave.
“They even cleared away all the weeds.”
The man was checking his camera when his eyes suddenly froze.
A long moment later, his gaze shifted toward a torn scrap of oilcloth lying beside the tombstone.
He bent down and picked it up.
“What is this?”
“It’s just a piece of rotten wrapping paper.”
The driver looked puzzled, unable to understand why his employer reacted so strongly.
“We were too late.”
The man adjusted his glasses, a cold glint flashing behind the lenses.
“That was Huo Yama’s vehicle.”
“The item has already been taken.”
The driver lowered his voice.
“It could just be trash blown here by the typhoon. If it were something valuable, who would wrap it in rotten paper?”
“What do you know?”
The man lowered his binoculars and stared toward the direction Huo Zhixing’s jeep had disappeared.
His voice was icy.
“I never expected Huo himself to come.”
“It seems we’ve seriously underestimated how important that village girl is to him.”
He picked up the radio inside the vehicle and spoke emotionlessly.
“The item should already be gone.”
“Tell Li Guilan to keep causing trouble for Su Jiuyue.”
“And then…”
“We’ll make the Huo family’s sky come crashing down.”
“When Su Jiuyue has no one left to rely on…”
“That’s when we’ll appear.”
Bonus Scene
After coming down the mountain, Commander Huo kept rubbing his knees.
Jiuyue looked worried.
“Did you hurt them?”
His eyes darkened, and his voice turned husky.
“Kneeling before Mom was only right…”
“But if you’re really worried about me…”
“How about we don’t sleep in separate rooms tonight?”
Jiuyue: Why did my body fragrance suddenly become sweeter again?!