But right now, I couldn’t care less. Since returning, I hadn’t eaten anything, not even had a sip of water. I was starving, and if I went any longer without food, I’d probably get hypoglycemia.
I didn’t stand up. Instead, I shuffled on my knees to the threshold. That still counted as kneeling, right?
Seeing the bowl of sour and spicy noodles, I stretched my arm to reach the bowl Grandma had placed outside.
The sour and spicy aroma hit me right away, and I eagerly wolfed it down. But the noodles tasted strange in my mouth, almost like mud mixed with a fishy smell.
This wasn’t the taste of sour and spicy noodles I remembered. Puzzled, I looked down at the bowl. What I saw made my blood run cold, and I screamed, throwing the bowl away.
What was in the bowl wasn’t noodles at all—it was a dense, wriggling mass of earthworms!
Ugh—
Thinking about what I had just eaten, my stomach churned violently. I vomited until I was dizzy, tears blurring my vision.
It was clearly the sour and spicy noodles Grandma had brought me, so how had they turned into earthworms?
And why was my head getting dizzier and dizzier…
The intense dizziness made me collapse to the ground with a thud. Just before I completely blacked out, I seemed to hear a cold, arrogant male voice from inside the room.
“Hah, why didn’t you just eat yourself to death?”
…
When I woke up, I wasn’t in the main hall of my house.
Instead, I was beside a solitary grave on the back hill, curled up next to a small mound of earth. Everything around me was eerily quiet, with only the rustling of weeds and leaves stirred by the cold wind.
I was on the verge of tears. What was going on? I had clearly fainted in the main hall, so why had I woken up on the back hill, right next to a solitary grave?
I was very familiar with this grave. Ever since I was little, my mother would occasionally tell me that I was born beside a solitary grave. Sometimes, when we passed by from a distance, she would point it out and remind me.
So, I knew this grave well, but I had never dared to go near it. Deep down, I felt an instinctive fear.
Now, I couldn’t explain to myself why I was beside this solitary grave. Everything I had learned didn’t allow for this—it was completely beyond comprehension!
I quickly scrambled away from the grave and started running. I knew the way home, and I had to get back as soon as possible.
The scenery around me blurred as I ran, but no matter how long I ran, I couldn’t seem to leave the back hill. I was just running in circles.
That’s when I realized I had been circling around the solitary grave the whole time. My gaze involuntarily shifted to the lonely, eerie grave under the moonlight. But this glance made my breath catch in my throat, and I nearly lost my soul in fright.
A pitch-black figure was standing on top of the grave, though I couldn’t make out their face. Yet, I could feel that person watching me.
Was this “person” who appeared on the grave in the middle of the night really human?
Suddenly, a soft chuckle broke the silence of the night. The sound seemed to linger by my ear, carrying a hint of mockery.
“Since you’re already here, why run?” It was a chilling yet somewhat familiar male voice.
I thought to myself, I had inexplicably appeared beside a solitary grave in the middle of the night. I was practically scared out of my wits! How could I not run?
But at that moment, my heart was willing, but my body was not. My legs felt as if they were filled with lead, unable to move even half a step.
I could only watch helplessly as that dark shadow drew closer to me. He moved incredibly fast—not like walking, but more like floating.
In an instant, he was right in front of me, a pale, bluish-white face suddenly shoved into my view. The sight of that face nearly scared me to death on the spot.
A scream caught in my throat, unable to escape, unable to be swallowed down.
Though the face had the deathly pallor of a corpse, his features were delicate and handsome. But that wasn’t the point. The point was, his face was exactly the same as Song Lin’s!
“S-S-S-Song—” My tongue tangled in fear.
It seemed the events of last night weren’t a dream, nor were they my imagination.
The person before me revealed a strange, eerie smile, one corner of his lips curling upward as he spoke in a chilling voice, “You’ve angered him. Do you think he’ll still come to save you?”
“Who?” I instinctively asked.
Song Lin sneered, “Of course, your petty husband.”
Husband?
Hearing Song Lin’s words, I pieced together the events of the past two days and suddenly realized—could the petty husband Song Lin mentioned be the man in red who crushed Song Lin’s head and later stormed off in anger?
He… was my unseen Chongxi husband?
I stared at Song Lin in terror, “But… aren’t you dead? How are you here? Did you bring me here?”
Song Lin’s gloomy eyes fixed on me as he said, “This is my home. If I’m not here, where else would I be?”
Home?
I glanced at the solitary grave behind him. Was that grave his home?
“Xue Jingyao, you’ve kept me waiting for so long, making me wait in vain for nineteen years.”
I didn’t understand, “What do you mean?”
Song Lin sneered, “You want to know? But I won’t tell you. All you need to know is that you should aim for a better reincarnation in your next life.”
Black energy emanated from Song Lin’s body, strands of it coiling around me like countless tiny black snakes. The dark tendrils tightened, as if trying to crush my bones.
“He won’t come to save you. No man would forgive a woman who cuckolds him.”
I was both frantic and furious, my face flushing red with anger at Song Lin’s words!
I shouted at him, “Stop talking nonsense! If you want to kill me, just do it! Why attack my character? I didn’t cuckold anyone! I’ve never even held a man’s hand in my life!”
I only yelled out of sheer anger, but I regretted it immediately.
Anger gives people strength, but it also brings regret.
Song Lin’s expression grew even darker. Before, it was pale and bluish-white; now, it turned ashen gray. He glared viciously behind me.
What was behind me?
Just then, several dark clouds covered the few remaining stars and the moon in the sky, plunging the surroundings into deeper darkness.
Suddenly, a thunderclap exploded overhead, accompanied by lightning. A fierce wind rose, scattering the black energy coiled around me.
I turned to look and saw a red figure standing not far behind me. His crimson robes fluttered wildly in the wind, his ink-black hair dancing like a blooming black spider lily.
“Damn it!” Song Lin glared venomously at the man in red, and the black energy wrapped around me suddenly dissipated.
He wanted to turn and drift away, but the man in red reached out and grabbed him mid-air, instantly pinning his figure in place.
"Leaving won't be that easy. Hand over Xue Jingyao's belongings," the man in red said coldly.
His voice was as pleasant as a clear mountain spring, and to my ears at that moment, it sounded like heavenly music.
Wait—did he just tell Song Lin to hand over my things?
What of mine did Song Lin take?