Just as they reached the doorway, they heard Hua En’s mocking voice.
Mo Xuanli raised a hand to stop them—clearly suggesting they eavesdrop. Well, how else could they learn the truth?
Gu Baiqing thought so indifferently, but then suddenly felt a hand slip beneath his robe and wrap around his waist. His whole body stiffened. He sneaked a glance at his disciple—what on earth was the boy doing? Yet the disciple’s gaze was fixed straight ahead.
Could it be… there was no strange intent behind it?
Wait—wasn’t this touching all over already? His spiritual power was starting to rise again, for heaven’s sake!
Gu Baiqing’s waist nearly went weak. Just as he was about to flare up, the hand slid from his waist to his back. Ah-ha—so it was getting even more presumptuous!
But the next second, Gu Baiqing’s expression instantly shifted. No longer tense, he calmly listened to the voices inside the room.
“You hold a knife wanting to kill me? Save your strength. Didn’t you hear them say I’m already dead?” Hua En sneered.
“I know.” Lu Sulan’s voice was quiet and detached, sounding less like madness and more like lifelessness.
“If you know, then get lost! Or do you still want to stab me a few times to vent your hatred? Even so, Wen Jiang won’t come back. He’s beyond the living, unless you’re not afraid to die and go down to accompany him.” Hua En’s voice was cold. “Separated by life and death—unless you follow him into the grave.”
Lu Sulan stared blankly at Hua En, her eyes flickering. She muttered, “Hua En, I hate you… but I also pity you.”
Hua En froze for a moment, then suddenly burst into wild laughter. “You pity me? You should pity yourself. The man you married was nothing but a coward, daring to act but not to take responsibility. Do you know? Before he married you, he clung to me every single night. Whatever could be done, was done. And still, you married him. Doesn’t that disgust you?”
Lu Sulan’s body wavered. After all, she was just an ordinary woman—hearing such words still shook her deeply.
But she had already given far too much in this matter.
At first, she thought Wen Jiang had merely been taken away by vengeful spirits and might yet return alive. So she often went to the grave mounds to offer sacrifices, even lying that she was pregnant, hoping Hua En might hear her, let Wen Jiang return, or at least, out of anger, drag her away too—so she could follow Wen Jiang in life and death. She wasn’t afraid to die. All she wanted was to be with him.
And things had indeed played out that way: Hua En did send men to capture her. But he wasn’t fooled. After all, Wen Jiang had been missing for months—if she really were pregnant, her belly would have shown. It was obvious she was lying. Hua En seized her only because he was enraged, determined to humiliate and torment her in revenge.
Later, she learned that Wen Jiang had already long been killed by Hua En, and that Hua En still lived on in another form. She was utterly devastated, and in her rage tried to use their river lanterns to lure Hua En out for revenge—but failed.
Grief-stricken, she could only wait for the Daoist masters’ help to avenge her husband.
But when Hua En was captured and the Wen family decided to bury Wen Jiang, her mother-in-law told her to gather some of Wen Jiang’s belongings to bury with him.
That was when she discovered something.
Slowly, she drew a letter from her breast and placed it before Hua En.
At first Hua En thought she was playing tricks, but when he saw the familiar handwriting, he froze. His face went blank, then gradually filled with panic.
“Recognize it? His handwriting.” Lu Sulan gave a bitter smile. “It’s the letter he left for the Wen family… his suicide note.”
The suicide note—Wen Jiang’s final words to his parents. In it, he apologized for his unfilialness, described his suffering in recent times, but declared that he still wished to stay true to his heart and remain with the one he loved.
If they could not be together openly, then they would accompany each other on the Yellow Springs Road.
They had decided on a lovers’ suicide pact.
One letter, and a packet of poison identical to the one Hua En had once swallowed, left behind in Wen Jiang’s study.
When Hua En saw the final date at the end of the letter, his face twisted. At last, he sneered coldly: “So he had made up his mind too. Only, he fled at the last moment. And just because he wrote this suicide note, I’m supposed to forgive him? It was he who said it! He was the one who said it!”
“He said—if this world will not accept us, then we’ll go to another world.”
“He was the one who said it!”
Hua En roared several times, until his own voice turned hoarse.
He seemed to see once more that gentle, sunlit man for the first time revealing resolute madness, as if he had seen through life and death, inviting him with love to descend into the Yellow Springs together.
Wen Jiang had been born to a family of scholars. From childhood his learning excelled; he had the makings of a top scholar. The Wen family raised him for greatness, and all of Linxun Town believed he was destined for high achievement and to marry a lady of equal standing.
At that time, it wasn’t just the Wen family who disdained Lu Sulan. Even the townsfolk thought she was fine enough, but still not worthy of a gentleman of Wen Jiang’s talent and looks.
A few years back, Wen Jiang sometimes brought his classmate Hua En home, saying Hua En’s hometown was far and inconvenient, and it was better for him to stay at the Wen residence during academy breaks. Later, after Hua En’s family declined and no one looked after him, Wen Jiang warmly invited Hua En to live in the Wen household outside of academy hours.
Wen Jiang was always kind and helpful to his classmates. Hua En, being not only his classmate but also his roommate, was naturally someone he worried about and wanted to care for. Hua En was deeply grateful to Wen Jiang and the Wen family; at first they got along well, and Hua En even swore that once he succeeded, he would repay them.
Hua En and Wen Jiang shared the same interests and comparable learning, and admired each other greatly. They often talked through the night by candlelight, never running out of words. Day after day together, a subtle affection grew between them. But as devout students, they regarded the “cut-sleeve” passion as absolutely impermissible. They strictly abided by rites and tradition, never crossing the line, suppressing their feelings.
But Lu Sulan often pestered Wen Jiang, and this created tension between them.
One night, while composing poetry under the moon, the two sat close together drinking. Whether it was the haze of wine or desire breaking through restraint, Wen Jiang leaned in with a smile, and Hua En, eyes half-closed, crossed the line.
That night, Wen Jiang drew Hua En into his arms, carried him into the curtained bed, and with determination confessed his love. Hua En willingly accepted everything.
From that night, the shackles of tradition were cast aside. Those days were Hua En’s happiest—studying and advancing together with the one he loved, sharing tenderness, envisioning a future where Wen Jiang would one day take office elsewhere, and they could maintain their secret bond for life. Though guilty toward the Wen family, they resolved to repay them, to atone.
At that time, they saw no one else but each other.
But young men cannot hide joy forever. In small signs, the Wen family eventually noticed something amiss, and even Lu Sulan, sensitive as she was, also sensed there was a problem between them.
The Wen family ordered servants to watch them. When they discovered the two were sharing a bed, it struck like a thunderbolt. They expelled Hua En and forbade them from seeing each other.
Hua En refused to leave his beloved. He stayed in Linxun Town, selling paintings and calligraphy to live. With the money he bought gifts, kneeling at their gates to beg for a meeting. Though he was constantly insulted and beaten, Hua En never gave up, waiting for news of Wen Jiang—because they had pledged their lives, vowing never to abandon one another.
But in others’ eyes, all this was just gossip: that Hua En, like that shameless Zhou scholar, had set his sights on the Wen family’s young lady.
For the sake of family honor, the Wen family couldn’t explain the truth publicly. So in Linxun Town it never caused a stir; outsiders knew nothing of it.
Yet for Wen Jiang, things grew unbearable. His family wept, raged, threatened suicide—unceasingly pressing him. The stigma of “unfilial pervert” was hammered upon his head until he could scarcely breathe. Each attempt at escape ended in capture and savage beatings, leaving him bedridden. His family claimed he was sick and must be “treated” and “cured,” even resolving to force him into marriage.
Wen Jiang lost all will to live, and despair took root.
When at last he escaped again and saw Hua En, the two could only hold each other and weep, hearts breaking. Both knew that with the Wen family’s influence in Linxun Town and even Tianxian Prefecture, they could not run. Their only choices were acceptance—or abandonment.
Wen Jiang refused to give up, and Hua En would not betray him. Together they resolved: they would choose the most auspicious hour and make a lovers’ pact of death, believing that in the next life they could be together.
The place: by the river, where they would release the lantern Wen Jiang had crafted for Hua En.
Though they were caught once again and dragged back, Wen Jiang and Hua En’s hearts were already at peace, fearless. Wen Jiang vowed to prepare his suicide note as an explanation to his parents.
He promised: if he could not escape when the time came, he would still take poison at that same hour. That way, they would both depart together, hand in hand, down the Yellow Springs Road.
That day, at the appointed hour, Hua En went to the riverside. He could not wait for Wen Jiang, but he believed in him, so he took the poison right on time.
But on that day, a great incident indeed happened in Linxun Town. It wasn’t the friendless Hua En who died—it was Young Master Wen and Miss Lu who met with trouble at a teahouse.
Hua En died. His body was found by the Wen family and buried in a wild grave.
When Hua En next awoke, what he saw was Wen Jiang alive and well, marrying Lu Sulan.
The man who had agreed to die with him had not died, but instead turned around and married another woman—and word spread that they were already husband and wife in truth.
He could not believe Wen Jiang was that kind of person. He waited, wanting to see more. Yet what he saw was Wen Jiang reading and writing by day, sleeping in the bridal chamber by night, never once mentioning him.
Hua En went mad, and appeared before Wen Jiang to demand: “Wen Jiang, are you willing to leave with me?”
The slightly thin-faced Wen Jiang looked at Hua En in disbelief, a fleeting joy flashing across his face, but in the end it gave way to hesitation. “Hua En, I’m sorry, in fact I…”
Before he could finish speaking, his face suddenly froze. He looked at Hua En who had suddenly come close, still entranced by that familiar face. He felt the pain spreading from his chest, almost bringing him to tears, but in the end he still curved his lips in a faint smile, raised his hand to touch Hua En’s cheek—that was the last trace of Wen Jiang’s warmth Hua En ever felt.
“So cold… Ah, I see… That’s fine too… If only I could see you wear red, you would look so beautiful. You never agreed to me before. That’s a little regret.”
Hua En gave a cold laugh. “Fine. From now on we’ll have a long time together. I’ll wear it for you every day.”
Once, Wen Jiang had half-jokingly spoken about red garments, but they both knew that even to secretly be together had already taken all their strength, let alone speaking of wedding robes. So all that remained was regret. Still, Wen Jiang once idly said on the bed that he wanted to see Hua En in red underclothes. Hua En would never agree—he even arrogantly declared that unless one day they lay together in a coffin, he would wear red for him then. That was in fact Hua En’s beautiful vision of growing old together: if they entered the grave white-haired, then wearing red, he would feel no shame.
He never thought only in death would there be the chance to wear it.
Wen Jiang slowly closed his eyes. Through the dagger thrust into his heart, he embraced Hua En. “All right. You said it.”
But what Wen Jiang meant was the next life, while what Hua En meant was a puppet.
And now…
Looking at the familiar letter, learning the other had indeed taken action, was still a pitiful kind of comfort. But… unease stirred in Hua En’s heart.
The words in that letter were as sincere as Wen Jiang’s burning heart. He had solemnly written Hua En’s name, declaring the resolve to live and die together. How could he have abandoned him at the last moment?
“That day, Wen Jiang wanted to escape, but had no means. In the end, in desperation, he came to me.” Lu Sulan recounted slowly, lifelessly.
Hua En lifted his head to look at her, his gaze growing blank.
“At that time, the Wen family’s attitude toward me had already shifted. I faintly knew the reason. Until Wen Jiang came to beg me—he told me the truth. I thought you two meant to elope. How could I possibly allow a man like you to ruin Wen Jiang’s future? He was a dragon among men—even if he didn’t marry me, he could not run away with you.” Lu Sulan said coolly, “So I reported it to the Wen family, wanting to stop him. But they said they could not restrain him anymore, they had to think of another way.”
Hua En’s eyes grew fierce.
“They told me to pretend to help Wen Jiang escape. While the Wen family pursued, we hid in a teahouse nearby. I gave him a farewell drink, and he relaxed and drank it with me. That wine, of course, was prepared by the Wen family.” Lu Sulan let out a sorrowful laugh. “That day, I finally got what I wished for.”
Hua En glared viciously at Lu Sulan, eyes full of contempt.
Lu Sulan, however, remained indifferent. “You look down on me? So what? I gained the one I loved, I stopped him from straying down the wrong path, I gained the support of Wen’s parents. I was in the right… At least that’s what I believed at first. But when Wen Jiang woke, he was in endless torment.”
Hua En let out a mocking laugh. “Torment? Yet he still married you. And where was I then? Buried in some wild grave.”
Lu Sulan looked blankly at Hua En and said, “Because he received a letter. And a golden hairpin.”
Hua En’s face suddenly changed.
The golden hairpin—Wen Jiang had given it to him as a token of love. It had originally been his grandmother’s heirloom, meant for his future wife. But Wen Jiang gave it to him instead, knowing he would dislike being treated like a woman. He said: “You can’t use a hairpin, but keep it for now. It won’t be passed down anyway. Once we leave this place, we’ll have a goldsmith melt it down into a safety lock, so that our Hua En can wear it, blessed with lifelong peace and happiness.”
Hua En had carried it with him always, and it was on him when he died. But when he awoke again, it was gone.
“What letter?” Hua En suddenly realized, and shouted as if torn apart.
“A letter, written in your tone, in your handwriting—an apology. Saying you no longer wished to persist with him, that you regretted it, that you shrank back, that you dared not see him again. So you had already left, returning the hairpin, dissolving your vow.”
“No! I never wrote that!” Hua En thrashed about in frenzy, collapsing with the chair to the ground. His head thrown back in anguish, he kept crying: “I didn’t! I didn’t!”
Lu Sulan did not stop his howls, only said blandly: “Wen Jiang searched all of Linxun Town and Tianxian Prefecture, but never found you or your corpse. So he believed the letter… And then, when word spread I might be pregnant, he nodded and married me.”
At that time, his corpse lay… Hua En suddenly went limp, staring at Lu Sulan as if emptied, his lips trembling but unable to utter sound, as if he truly had become a puppet.
“So… the reason he went daily to the bridal chamber, the reason he wouldn’t leave with me, was…”
“It was because we tricked him together. We made him bear the burden. They thought that if he had a child, he wouldn’t think of you anymore, wouldn’t lose himself. And indeed he took up the responsibility. But it was only responsibility. He never touched me. How could a false pregnancy turn real? I had planned to someday fake a miscarriage, to deepen his guilt and bind him. But I never expected you to suddenly appear and take him away.” Lu Sulan took a deep breath, but her voice still carried an uncontrollable sob. “And even less did I expect you would strike him down with your own hands, killing him.”
Hua En kept shaking his head, the movements growing bigger and bigger, as if he could not believe it. Because of his struggle, the rope talismans on him only brought more pain.
“Impossible… impossible, you must be lying to me, you must be lying to me. It was he who betrayed me, he who abandoned me, he who wronged me—he deserves to die!”
“At first, when I heard you had died, I thought you could not bear the blow of us getting married and killed yourself. I did not know that the two of you had arranged to die together in advance. Only today did I discover the truth—that his family had already found the suicide note and poison beforehand. Knowing they could not keep him, they could only make use of me as a last resort.” Lu Sulan said this as she slowly drew out a knife. “It is I who wronged you both.”
“No, I don’t believe it… I don’t…” Hua En was still shaking his head in a daze, completely unaware that Lu Sulan was approaching him with the knife, and perhaps he no longer cared.
Outside the door, Gu Baiqing let out a quiet sigh. As a reader, he had once known everything, but the original text never mentioned this scene. So Gu Baiqing also did not know whether Lu Sulan had ever come to find Hua En in the original, or what Hua En truly died of in the end. When he died, had he known the truth—did he die in regret, or in resentment?
Wu Hongxi whispered, “What’s Sister Lan doing? Venting her anger?”
Mo Xuanli frowned slightly, about to say something, when suddenly he realized Lu Sulan’s stance was wrong. He rushed in instantly, but he was still a step too late. Lu Sulan had already driven the blade into her own palm, fresh blood spraying out, splattering onto the talismans binding Hua En.
The golden light of the talismans flared for an instant, a gap appearing in the barrier.
Hua En froze, staring only as Lu Sulan gave him a tragic smile.
No longer caring about anything else, Hua En controlled the puppet threads, flinging Lu Sulan toward the rushing Mo Xuanli. Lu Sulan did not resist, letting herself be controlled. Then Hua En immediately used himself as the price, exhausting his spiritual power to smash through the barrier, leaping out the rear window.
Mo Xuanli immediately chased after him. But Gu Baiqing did not move, because he knew where Hua En would go—and at that place, Mo Xuanli had not undone the barrier. Once inside, there would be no coming out.
Gu Baiqing frowned at Lu Sulan, utterly puzzled. “What are you doing?”
Lu Sulan sat on the ground without getting up. “I am… making amends.”
Suddenly, Gu Baiqing sensed something wrong. He crouched down for a closer look and saw her face was dark purple, black blood already seeping from the corner of her lips.
“Ah! Sister Lan!” Wu Hongxi cried out.
Gu Baiqing tried to use spiritual power to protect her heart veins, but it was already too late.
Lu Sulan had poisoned herself long ago. Her mouth full of black blood, she gave a relieved smile. “I really did love Wen Jiang… I never meant to harm him… but in the end, I was wrong.”
To use the poison he had left behind to send herself away—she considered that her completion.
Thus Lu Sulan died. Gu Baiqing could not remember whether she had died in the original text or not, and felt a deep sense of unease.
“Older Brother Mo, what do we do? Let’s hurry and catch Hua En.” Wu Hongxi urged in panic.
Gu Baiqing slowly drew back his gaze and turned toward Wu Hongxi, his eyes difficult to describe.
Wu Hongxi asked in confusion, “What is it? Older Brother Mo?”
Gu Baiqing sighed deeply. The next instant, he darted forward like lightning, clutching Wu Hongxi’s slender neck in his hand.
“Living puppet control? Dead puppet control? Wu Hongxi—are you really still alive?”
