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墨書 Inktalez
It was night. Cangjian Villa was brightly lit, and the Elders crowded outside Zhuang Master's door, each face bearing a cold expression.
"What on earth is going on?" Elder Xu leaned on his cane and walked into the room through the crowd, looking at the blood-soaked floor, his gaze falling on the gauze stained with blood.
Xiao Chuxin sat quietly on the couch, his eyes dull and unresponsive, while Nangong Xiang held a handkerchief and cried incessantly.
"Zhuang Master just went to see Flower Mother once, and when he came back, he had his hand chopped off... I don't know what that woman fed Zhuang Master, but now that he’s lost a hand, what are we going to do in the future?" She cried louder and louder.
Elder Xu snorted coldly and shouted impatiently, "All you do is cry! What good does crying do?" He slammed his cane hard against the ground. "Go send someone to bring Flower Mother back!"
"No need, I’m here." A clear, cold female voice spoke up. The crowd parted as Flower Mother approached in plain white clothing.
She wore a white flower in her hair, and her clothes were pure white without any hint of color, her expression blank.
"I’m here."
"Flower Mother, what exactly happened to Zhuang Master?" Elder Xu asked anxiously, this being the first time he had seen such a large child.
"Flower Mother! Zhuang Master is not dead yet; why are you wearing all white and a white flower?" Nangong Xiang interjected sharply. The crowd looked over and indeed found her attire strange.
Some were displeased with this inexplicably appearing woman.
Flower Mother sneered coldly. "As for why I wear this, I believe Zhuang Master knows himself."
Elder Xu glanced at Xiao Chuxin, only to see a flash of painful light in his eyes, yet he still had no intention of speaking.
"...In this world, debts must be repaid. What he is doing now is merely to settle his own debts for peace of mind." To her, the gauze seemed like a mockery.
When her child had passed away, there hadn’t been so many people showing concern for her...
"Flower Mother... what are you doing?" Elder Xu was in poor health, swaying as if about to fall. The other elders rushed forward to support him, their expressions grim as they looked at Flower Mother: "You appeared and immediately caused this trouble. Are you here to seek revenge on Cangjian Villa?"
"Revenge?" Flower Mother's gaze, like that of a vengeful spirit, swept over Xiao Chuxin and landed on Nangong Xiang, making her step back in fear. A smirk appeared on her lips: "That's right, I have come back to seek revenge... Who in Cangjian Villa does not owe me? Those who owe me must pay it back!"
"Flower Mother..." Elder Xu understood what she meant. Years ago, Flower Mother's parents sacrificed their lives for Cangjian Villa, and her daughter had jumped off a cliff to commit suicide due to some events. Although she was now safe and sound, he knew her heart was filled with hatred.
He glanced at Xiao Chuxin with a complex expression, coughed, and hunched over: "Enough, enough... I will not get involved in this matter..." He allowed others to help him leave, ignoring the calls of the other elders, truly choosing not to involve himself any further.
"You crazy woman! How could Cangjian Villa owe you anything!" An elder stepped forward, fuming.
Flower Mother didn't even glance at him; she slowly drew a whip from her bosom, its bright red color shimmering with an eerie glow under the candlelight, tightening the tension in the air.
"What are you doing?!" Nangong Xiang pulled her grandmother back.
Flower Mother shot a mocking glance at Xiao Chuxin, then turned away: "I’m going to kill you."
"How dare you—!" Nangong Xiang screamed, while the other elders immediately stood in front of her: "Do you dare to kill our lady in front of us? Are you looking down on Cangjian Villa!"
Flower Mother looked at them indifferently, her gaze somewhat disdainful: "You have already been hit by the scattering poison and cannot use your powers anymore... Right now, you are just like ordinary people. If you truly are not afraid of death, I can send you on your way. After all, your lives were saved by my parents who were Fated to Suffer, so it is only fair that I take them back." A bloodthirsty glint swept over the crowd; the elders turned pale but ultimately stepped aside.
They were nothing but a bunch of cowards!
"Enough! All Elders, please leave. This is a family matter for me, Xiao Chuxin." Finally speaking up, Xiao Chuxin's voice sounded weary.
The elders shot one last venomous look at Flower Mother before leaving. Some even tried to save face by uttering a few harsh words that were meaningless; Flower Mother paid them no mind at all.
"Have you thought it through? This time... will you still stop me?" Flower Mother snapped the whip sharply, producing a piercing sound. Nangong Xiang looked pale as she gazed at Xiao Chuxin, realizing he was her only hope now.
He showed a hint of fatigue on his pale face, and she became anxious, shouting loudly, “Xiao Chuxin! If you don’t save me, our Nangong Family will not let you go!”
“Oh? Nangong Family?” Flower Mother took a few steps toward Nangong Xiang, looking at the increasingly panicked beauty, her brows and eyes flashing with coldness. “I didn’t know that a declining family would dare to threaten Cangjian Villa. Just a mere Nangong Family, my Nan Xie Tower could make it disappear from this continent without lifting a finger!”
“Flower Mother, how dare you!”
“Do you think I wouldn’t dare? Once you’re dead, I’ll have your family come to accompany you right away.” She stood in the room in white clothes, her murderous intent surging. “Nangong Xiang, these are all things you did to me—taking away what I loved, hurting those I cared about… I don’t blame you for taking Xiao Chuxin and occupying Cangjian Villa, but why did you have to take my child?!”
This was something she could never forgive! Absolutely not!
“Do you know that I had planned to leave after that heavy snowfall?” She slammed the whip onto the ground and then rushed forward, pushing the old woman aside. The old woman screamed in fright as she fell to the ground.
“Nangong Xiang! How cruel must your heart be to take away a young life without even blinking?” She used the whip to lift the face of the beauty that had turned ferocious with fear.
Nangong Xiang looked at Xiao Chuxin in the distance, who had her eyes closed and was not looking this way. Her husband… it seemed he really didn’t intend to care about her anymore. Just because this woman reappeared, he didn’t even care about her life or death!
She had known it all along… she should have known that as long as this woman appeared, there would be no place for her, Nangong Xiang, in Xiao Chuxin’s eyes…
That year when this woman jumped off the cliff, he stood alone at the edge of the cliff for three whole hours without moving. After returning, he fell seriously ill. She used her family’s power to force him to marry her, but over the years, he had hardly touched her. Especially after discovering she could not bear children, he never went to her chamber again.
Her heart gradually grew cold as she calmed down. With a self-deprecating smile, she raised her gaze to look at the woman before her, her eyes filled with resentment.
“Because you bore his child, you must die.”
“Why?!” Flower Mother restrained the impulse to slap Nangong Xiang dead and bit her lip as she asked.
Nangong Xiang sat on the ground in despair, seemingly reminiscing: “That heavy snowfall… when the old woman heard your words under the Flower Tree, I knew you were pregnant with his child… A child, what a beautiful word; it’s something I could never give him in my lifetime.” Her eyes opened wide and were unexpectedly blood-red. “But if I can’t give it to him, how can you?! If he finds out that you’re pregnant with his child, I’ll lose everything! Everything—! Do you understand?! So you must die… must die—! Take your filthy son with you—!!”
"Bang!" Flower Mother could no longer hold back and slapped Nangong Xiang to the ground. Watching her sit up with a smile, blood spilling from her mouth, the hatred in her eyes surged.
"Nangong Xiang, I won't kill you... I want you to be unable to seek life and unable to seek death..." The warmth in her eyes turned to ice... Just because she couldn't bear children herself, she wanted to take away others' children?
Nangong Xiang, I will make you regret ever stepping into this world!
The whip was raised high, ready to fall, but it met resistance. She turned her head and saw the one-handed man stubbornly holding onto the whip with his left hand, his expression weary: "Flower Mother... just let it go."
Let it go...
Flower Mother, let it go...
Even though her heart no longer felt anything for him, hearing those words still made her flinch slightly. She moved her lips and trembled as she asked aloud, "Say it again."
Xiao Chuxin looked deeply into Flower Mother's eyes, which were filled with scars, and repeated, "...I let it go. She... she is also a pitiful person..."
"Say it again! Xiao Chuxin, look into my eyes and say it again!" Nangong Xiang is pitiful? What about her child? Does he dare say that her unborn child who died is not pitiful?!!
"Flower..." He called her by the name he used in their youth, a faint plea in his eyes. "We can have another child in the future; please do not harm anyone else."
Flower Mother tightened her grip on the whip, looking at Xiao Chuxin. Biting her silver teeth, she yanked the whip from his hand and threw it harshly to the ground. Just as Xiao Chuxin breathed a sigh of relief, she coldly took out a dagger from her sleeve and turned to stab it into Nangong Xiang's abdomen. Blood splattered onto her face as she listened to the woman's piercing scream; at that moment...
It was not as satisfying as she had imagined...
But so what? Who could stop her from taking revenge?!
Provocatively standing up and looking at the shocked Xiao Chuxin, she coldly said, "You no longer have the right to call me Flower... She is the one who caused me to lose my child, and you, Xiao Chuxin—the child's father—are an accomplice! Your hands are also stained with my child's blood!"
Xiao Chuxin listened, the last glimmer of light in his eyes extinguished as he looked at Nangong Xiang, who lay on the ground clutching her abdomen and crying out. His gaze shifted to the upright Cold Noodle Woman, and he fell silent...
When did it become like this between them?
Was it when he drugged Flower Mother to deceive her into marriage?
Or was it when he struck her body away with a single blow?
Or perhaps even earlier... when he chose to believe others and no longer trusted her...?
"…I have taken Nangong Xiang," Flower Mother said, clapping her hands. Hua Qian appeared with two others, crouched down to give Nangong Xiang a pill, and then the people from Nan Xie Tower took Nangong Xiang away.
Throughout it all, Xiao Chuxin did not intervene. His eyes remained fixed on Flower Mother, as if trying to see through the woman before him, or perhaps waiting for an answer.
After Hua Qian left, Flower Mother slowly shifted her gaze and turned to look at the man over there. A person she once loved dearly... though time had utterly destroyed his appearance.
"…In this lifetime, may we grow old without ever crossing paths again."
As she stepped outside, the night wind of June brushed against her face coolly. She reached up to touch it and realized it was tears streaming down.
Flower Mother would never have the chance to have her own children in this life... there would be no more chances...
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