Yun Chunfeng watched from a distance as Jiang Xingyan stomped toward him, visibly fuming.
Trapped inside Huo Ci’s body, she looked just like an angry little pufferfish.
He couldn’t help but lower his head and smile softly.
Even when the young lady was furious, she was still so full of life.
Once she got her own body back, he absolutely had to poke those puffed-up cheeks of hers.
Jiang Xingyan trudged along, head down.
She had never wanted to get caught up in the whirlpool of the fight for the crown prince position, yet everyone seemed desperate to drag Huo Ci into the water.
Fine then. If that’s how it is, let’s play!
Let’s see if the water gets murky first, or who ends up dead first!
She clenched her jaw, a fierce determination settling in.
When she looked up, Brother Yun’s tall, slender figure was still waiting for her by the ornate gate.
The lamplight stretched his shadow long and thin.
His moon-white Daoist robe was tinged with a warm yellow glow, and the little girl in his arms slept soundly. It was such a tender, beautiful picture—a caring man doting on his child.
If only she could ignore that it was Huo Ci’s entirely unsuitable body.
Jiang Xingyan hurried over to Yun Chunfeng.
“Little Ya is already asleep. Why didn’t you go inside?
It must be tiring holding her.”
Yun Chunfeng smiled faintly. “I promised I’d wait for the young lady. I couldn’t break my word.”
Jiang Xingyan’s heart warmed beyond measure.
But still, separated by Huo Ci’s physical shell, it wasn’t right to be too affectionate.
They returned to the room together.
Jiang Xingyan looked around, puzzled. “Where did he go?”
Yun Chunfeng turned his face away slightly. “The young lady seems rather concerned about him, after all.”
Jiang Xingyan couldn’t help but laugh. “I’m just worried about my own body.”
Yun Chunfeng gently laid Little Ya down on the bed.
Now that summer was approaching and the weather was warming up, he only made sure her belly was covered.
Qiuyan and Chunxue, who had rushed over from the military camp, quickly stepped forward to watch over the child.
“Young lady, may I have a word in private?”
Jiang Xingyan lounged onto the warm alcove bed and stretched lazily. “If we’re going to have a private word, let’s just go all the way.”
Yun Chunfeng was stunned for a moment.
Then he suddenly understood the young lady’s meaning. He nodded with a slight smile, his ears reddening, and went to the side chamber.
Soon, their souls met in a dream.
Jiang Xingyan skillfully took Yun Chunfeng’s hand, blinked her eyes, and leaned in with a mischievous curl of her lips.
“Brother Yun is quite adept.”
Yun Chunfeng’s fingertips traced from her silken hair down to her cheek, infinitely tender. “The young lady is an excellent teacher.”
Jiang Xingyan lightly punched his chest. “Flatterer.
What did you need to talk to me about?”
Yun Chunfeng led Jiang Xingyan to sit in a pavilion and told her everything Wang Qi had revealed to him.
Jiang Xingyan was silent for a long time.
For Old General Huo, she felt sorrow at his misfortune and anger at his weakness.
For Huo Ci, she felt he deserved exactly what he got.
This was the family he had spent nearly twenty years upholding, even at the cost of abandoning his wife and daughter.
So vile. So contemptible.
If Old General Huo hadn’t kept Huo Ci by his side, who knows what kind of person that old shrew would have raised him to be.
“If you knew this would happen, why didn’t you act differently back then?”
This was the one sentence she most wanted to say to Huo Ci.
If he had possessed even a shred of clarity, neither of them would have ended up at this irreconcilable impasse.
Still, thankfully he had abandoned her. Only then could she meet a man as wonderful as Brother Yun.
Jiang Xingyan wrapped both arms around Yun Chunfeng’s slender waist and pressed her cheek against his chest.
But since they were both in spirit form, it was hard to hear the heartbeat within.
“Brother Yun, I want to switch back so badly.”
Yun Chunfeng’s eyes dimmed slightly, and he gently stroked the young lady’s hair.
“My master once said, all anomalies arise from obsession.
Perhaps there’s still some karmic knot between you and him that hasn’t been untied.”
Jiang Xingyan held Yun Chunfeng even tighter.
“I know. The time just isn’t right yet.”
Yun Chunfeng suddenly grew serious. “Young lady, Brother Yun swears he will care for Little Ya as if she were his own daughter.
What I said last time was just a foolish joke.
How could Brother Yun bear to let you endure the pain of childbirth again?
Let’s just consider Little Ya our daughter. How does that sound?”
Jiang Xingyan, amidst her shock, was overcome with boundless emotion.
She understood immediately. Brother Yun was afraid her obsession was that Little Ya’s biological father wasn’t him.
She didn’t answer.
Instead, she pressed forward, pinning Yun Chunfeng against the railing of the pavilion, and kissed him without another word.
Yun Chunfeng’s eyes flew wide open.
Jiang Xingyan cupped his face, her red lips pressed against his, forming each word deliberately:
“Little Ya is my daughter. My husband is her father.”
Yun Chunfeng’s heart trembled. He pulled Jiang Xingyan tightly into his arms and kissed her deeply, slowly, tenderly.
The pavilion had long since transformed into a cozy daybed.
They kissed with such passionate devotion, neither noticing that not far away, within a barrier, a soul watched everything, tears streaming down his face.
“No, A Yan.
I am Little Ya’s father. I am…”
——-
The old, buried secrets Wang Qi had spoken of struck Huo Ci’s heart like a thunderbolt, shattering it into dust.
He stumbled unsteadily into the ancestral hall. Before he could even kneel, bitter tears had already fallen.
If his birth was a mistake, then what was the filial piety he had clung to for nearly twenty years?
“Father!
Your son finally understands his wrongdoing…”
Father had warned him never to indulge Mother’s every whim. Those words had been spoken with blood and tears!
Father must have regretted it every moment of his life. If only he hadn’t obeyed Grandfather and Grandmother’s wishes back then, if only he had insisted on marrying the woman he truly loved.
Suddenly, Huo Ci understood why his father had only one child, only one wife.
It was all Mother’s vile scheming!
She had schemed against his honorable, upright father, and she had schemed against him—foolishly filial, blindly trusting.
Thump!
He slammed both fists against the ground.
He was born of sin, yet Father never cast him aside. He taught him diligently. And still, Huo Ci had remained so stupid, so dense.
“To know your mistakes and be able to change—there is no greater good.
Let go of your obsession. Fulfill them.”
A childish voice sounded in his ear.
He jerked his head up and realized his surroundings were no longer the Huo ancestral hall, but a garden with rockeries.
Not far away, in a pavilion, two familiar figures were intimately entwined.
“A Yan?!”
He looked down at himself. He was in his own body.
Huo Ci, frantic and anguished, tried to rush forward to stop them, but was thrown back by an invisible wall.
His hands trembled slightly.
He heard clearly A Yan’s words of love to Yun Chunfeng. He saw clearly A Yan kissing him of her own accord.
“A Yan, don’t give up on me.
I have nothing left. Except you…”
The childish voice sighed. “Why do you persist?
Let go of your obsession. Isn’t it better to let them be happy?
You could have a new life of your own, couldn’t you?”
Huo Ci’s eyes were bloodshot, filled entirely with the image of A Yan—happy, radiant, beautiful.
“They’ve met like this before. Haven’t they?”
“Well… how should I put this? You two are already divorced, aren’t you?
It’s perfectly fine for them to meet at dusk.”
Huo Ci’s tears fell, one by one.
He wanted her to be happy. But he wanted that happiness to involve him.
How could he let go?
How was he supposed to let go?
“I fulfill them. And who will fulfill me?”
Hidden in the shadows, a certain master’s heart skipped a beat.
Oh no. He’s even more obsessed now.
Had her good intentions only made things worse?