The spring was bright and beautiful.
Su Xiaoliu followed Mo Xin across the small bridge, carefully observing everything around her.
After crossing the bridge, there was a dried - up river beneath it. In front of them was a pavilion with carved red - wood doors and windows and red pillars in front. Not far away was a small courtyard. Mo Xin gently pushed open the red wooden door with her slender hand, and a faint fragrance assailed their nostrils. What came into view was a simple and elegant room with all the necessary furnishings.
"This is Yun Ruo's room," Mo Xin said.
She walked in and gently waved aside the curtain. Su Xiaoliu then saw a memorial tablet placed in front, with fruits and melons offered in front of it.
Su Xiaoliu glanced around, and her eyes fell on several porcelain cups on the sandalwood table. The cups were very clean, without a speck of dust, indicating that someone often came to clean the place.
She looked up at Mo Xin and softly asked, "Madam Xiao, did Miss Yun Ruo like tea very much before?" She noticed that there were the most tea cups in this room.
Mo Xin nodded slightly and looked at the porcelain cups on the table. "Yun Ruo once learned tea - roasting from Xiao He for a while," she said.
Hearing the name Xiao He, Su Xiaoliu pursed her lips and asked again, "Does the Chief Xiao also like tea?"
At the mention of this name, Mo Xin's eyes dimmed, and the mole at the corner of her eye seemed to carry a faint sadness. "Xiao He liked tea very much. Later, every time a new crop of tea grew in his tea field, I would go and harvest it. But in the end, that tea field withered and never grew tea again," she said.
The tea field withered?
"Where is that tea garden now?" Su Xiaoliu looked up at Mo Xin and asked.
Mo Xin blinked her eyes, lowered her long eyelashes, and softly replied, "It's in the Valley of Ten - Thousand Witherings."
The Valley of Ten - Thousand Witherings used to be full of blooming flowers, but now it has become a barren land. It was easy to guess that the tea field must no longer exist.
Su Xiaoliu suddenly remembered something. She quickly looked at Mo Xin and asked, "Madam Xiao, won't we be discovered by the Hundred Families here?"
Mo Xin was stunned for a moment, and a trace of gloom flashed in her eyes. She looked at Su Xiaoliu, and her voice took on a hint of seriousness. "The Hundred Families are elusive. The Valley of Ten - Thousand Witherings was once invaded by them. They should not expect us to be here."
The Valley of Ten - Thousand Witherings was once invaded by the Hundred Families?
"The Hundred Families is a very secretive gang. There may be thousands or tens of thousands of them, or perhaps only a few. A few years ago, the Hundred Families made a move, and that time, it was a blood - bath that shook the whole town and emptied the valley..."
Su Xiaoliu suddenly remembered what Zhong Fengyue had once said.
She pursed her lips and didn't continue this topic.
After a while, Su Xiaoliu looked up at the memorial tablet not far away. She walked over, took out a butterfly hairpin from her sleeve, held the hairpin with both hands, and bowed her head towards the memorial tablet. "Miss Yun Ruo, this is your hairpin. Now it's back to its rightful owner..." She took two steps forward and placed the hairpin beside the offered fruits.
Then she took a step back, clasped her hands, and bowed.
Mo Xin watched Su Xiaoliu's actions and smiled slightly. "Actually, you could keep that hairpin for yourself. Yun Ruo wouldn't mind," she said.
Su Xiaoliu looked back at Mo Xin and quickly shook her head. "It belongs to Miss Yun Ruo. Naturally, it should be returned to her," she said.
Mo Xin smiled, and a hint of a smile appeared on her beautiful face. "I gave that hairpin to Yun Ruo," she said. She reached up and pulled out the hairpin from her own head. "Do you remember?"
Su Xiaoliu looked down. The butterfly hairpin in Mo Xin's hand was just like a pair with Yun Ruo's.
Su Xiaoliu nodded and looked at Mo Xin. "Are these a pair of hairpins?" she asked.
Mo Xin gave a soft laugh and looked at the hairpin. "These two hairpins were made by an old craftsman. I gave one to Yun Ruo after I married into the Xiao family," she said. She stared at the hairpin quietly, lost in memories. "Yun Ruo was a very considerate woman. She was one year younger than me. At that time, I was nineteen and she was eighteen."
After a moment, Mo Xin looked up at Su Xiaoliu. "Xiaoliu, I didn't marry Xiao He voluntarily back then," she said.
Su Xiaoliu's almond - shaped eyes widened slightly in surprise. She looked at Mo Xin and said, "But doesn't Madam Xiao like..."
"Xiao He was twenty years older than me, and I had never seen him before I married him," Mo Xin looked into her eyes and softly said. "Before I married Xiao He, I already had someone I liked. I secretly got together with that person since I was fifteen. We lived close to each other and played together since childhood. Later, my father wanted me to marry Xiao He. I refused, so my father sent someone to throw him into the lake. He could swim and climbed out by himself, but he caught a cold and died not long after. I blamed all this on my father, but as time passed, I thought it was all Xiao He's fault, which made me resent him even more before I married him."
Su Xiaoliu didn't expect there to be so many stories before. She pursed her lips and asked, "What did you do later?"
Mo Xin lowered her eyes and continued, "Later, I tried to commit suicide several times, but I was always discovered. My father thought Xiao He was a reliable person. He just wanted to marry me off to the person he approved of. But when I was forced into the bridal sedan chair and sent to Xiao He, I didn't know that one's opinion of another person could change in an instant... He was not as vulgar as I had imagined. I was stunned when I saw him for the first time. I didn't expect Xiao He to be such a calm and elegant person. At the same time, I also saw Yun Ruo. She was smiling beautifully at that time. However, Xiao He didn't look at me much. I actually felt a bit disappointed then. Xiao He always regarded me as a little girl and never forced me to do anything. It wasn't until later that I found that what attracted me was not only his temperament. Everything about him made me toss and turn at night. For a whole year, we lived in different pavilions."
"Xiao He didn't remarry, and I gradually tried to get used to life in the Xiao family. Yun Ruo already knew a lot about medicine at that time, and I also learned a bit from her. It took me a whole year to forget the person I used to like. A lot of things happened during this year. After this year passed, I realized that the feelings I had for that person before were nothing. Moreover, after Xiao He died, I never fell in love with anyone else again." Mo Xin said quietly. She looked up at Su Xiaoliu and added, "One can only truly love one person in a lifetime. When this person disappears, everyone you love after that will only be a shadow of him."
After Su Xiaoliu returned to her residence, her mind was full of what Mo Xin had said.
"One can only truly love one person in a lifetime. When this person disappears, everyone you love after that will only be a shadow of him..."
Su Xiaoliu sighed softly. At the same time, she thought of Nie Guiwang's gloomy face as if someone owed him money. This person was an exception. He didn't fall in love with her as a shadow of Yun Ruo. Instead, he was bent on killing her...
Thinking of this, Su Xiaoliu couldn't help but sigh at the twists and turns of her life. Since she got married, she had been divorced several times. Later, when she met the Alliance Leader, she was just a passer - by who was not taken seriously.