Xu Lanmeng had no idea what to say to convince Yun Yueqin to stay. She couldn’t find the right words.
But deep down, she knew it was her own obsession with that relationship—which had ended before it even truly began—that was the problem. She had thought that after more than twenty years, she had seen through it all, let go, and could finally face Yun Yueqin without issue.
But…
Her feelings for Yun Yueqin hadn’t faded after two decades of trials and tribulations. If anything, they had grown stronger, more resilient, and far better at hiding themselves.
She had believed she had let go, but in truth, she had only buried them deeper.
All those deeply buried emotions surged forth the instant she heard that Yun Yueqin had passed away. In that single second, longing spread from the depths of her heart throughout her entire body, every organ echoing with the desperate cry to “find Yun Yueqin.”
In that moment, Xu Lanmeng felt profoundly grateful that she had apprenticed under a master after leaving the village and learned these arts.
Otherwise… she never would have had another chance to see Yun Yueqin.
She stared at the bracelet, lost in thought for a moment.
In that brief interval, Xu Lanmeng’s emotions settled somewhat.
She placed the bracelet into the safe. It was completely sealed off, impervious to any disturbance—just like how she was sealing away her feelings once more.
Once everything was taken care of, Xu Lanmeng’s gaze fell on the potted plant on the floor. Without a second thought, she picked it up and tossed it into the trash bin.
But as it landed with a thud, her heart lurched violently, as if she had thrown her own heart away instead of the flower.
Xu Lanmeng’s fingers curled involuntarily. In the end, upon seeing the flower still blooming vibrantly amid the rubbish, she bent down and retrieved it.
She set it back in its original spot.
~~~
As Xu Lanmeng swept up the spilled soil from the floor, a frantic pounding at the door suddenly erupted.
The knocks came like relentless drumbeats, setting her already frayed nerves on edge.
Xu Lanmeng’s irritation deepened. She scowled, assuming it was some brat from the neighborhood playing pranks without a shred of manners.
The pounding continued. Just as Xu Lanmeng was about to curse aloud, she heard Yun Chun’s voice from outside. “Auntie Xu, are you home?”
“…”
Oh. Her own little troublemaker.
Xu Lanmeng wondered why Yun Chun, who always politely rang the doorbell on every previous visit, had abandoned all decorum today.
Could it be…?!
A possibility flashed through Xu Lanmeng’s mind. Had something happened with Lu Qingxue?
With that thought, Xu Lanmeng hurried to the door.
She flung it open. “Auntie Xu—”
Yun Chun’s words caught in her throat.
Xu Lanmeng froze as well.
The sight of each other’s faces stunned them both!
Yun Chun had rushed over, her hair disheveled and tangled around her cheeks like a madwoman’s. Her eyes were bloodshot and swollen from crying; her mascara had smeared into a mess. If not for the waterproof eyeliner holding up, it would have been even worse. In that state, Xu Lanmeng might have mistaken her for a vengeful ghost appearing in broad daylight. It wasn’t far off as it was.
Yun Chun froze because Xu Lanmeng’s eyes were threaded with red veins, clear signs of recent tears. Worse still, the left side of Xu Lanmeng’s face was swollen high with a vivid handprint, the palm mark glaringly red. It was obvious the person who struck her had put real force behind the slap.
“You…” Yun Chun gathered herself. “Who hit you?”
Xu Lanmeng let go of the door handle and turned back into the house.
Yun Chun followed in a daze. “Say something! Who hit you? One of your clients?”
The more she thought about it, the more likely it seemed. She pressed, “Why did they hit you? Did you rip them off?”
Xu Lanmeng turned, exasperated. “When have I ever ripped anyone off?”
“…”
Yun Chun coughed lightly. “Then who hit you? And why? Tell me who it was—I’ll go beat them up for you.”
Xu Lanmeng let out a chuckle, her tone turning a bit roguish. “Your mom did it.”
“?”
Yun Chun clearly didn’t buy it.
She had never seen Yun Yueqin resort to violence, not once in her life.
Such a heavy slap…
If it really had been her mom, what on earth had Xu Lanmeng said or done to push her that far?
Seeing the searching look in Yun Chun’s eyes, Xu Lanmeng swallowed the quip about going ahead and getting revenge. She crossed her arms instead. “What do you want from me?”
Yun Chun’s attention snapped back to the matter at hand.
“I—”
She uttered one syllable before going on high alert, asking cautiously, “Where’s my mom?”
Xu Lanmeng replied, “In the bracelet.”
Yun Chun: “Can she hear our conversation?”
Xu Lanmeng considered the talisman paper affixed to it. Without it, yes—but with it… “No.”
Hearing that Yun Yueqin couldn’t overhear them eased Yun Chun’s mind. She stepped forward, grabbing Xu Lanmeng’s arm. Her swollen, tear-stung eyes struggled to stay open against the burning ache. “Auntie Xu, open my ghost eyes for me.”
Xu Lanmeng paused at the request, staring at Yun Chun in silence. After a dozen seconds or so, she finally spoke. “You burned the marriage certificate?”
Hearing Yun Chun ask to have her ghost eyes opened naturally brought back their previous conversation, leading Xu Lanmeng to guess the rest.
Yun Chun: “Yes.”
The immediate, unwavering affirmation made Xu Lanmeng’s expression darken. She shook off Yun Chun’s hand. “You burned it, so why come to me now?”
Her voice rose in anger. “If you’ve decided to split from Lu Qingxue, isn’t reopening your ghost eyes just pointless?”
Xu Lanmeng was furious. The calm she had just regained evaporated in an instant.
She glared at Yun Chun. “I thought you were different from your mom. In the end, your choice is abandonment too!”
“Abandonment? What do you mean?”
Yun Chun frowned. In her current panic to get back to Lu Qingxue, she glossed over the earlier comment and explained, “I’m not abandoning Sister Qingxue. Didn’t you say ghost eyes would let me see her? If I can see her, then we can still be together. Burning the marriage certificate was just to placate my mom.”
Xu Lanmeng’s volume dropped a notch as she countered, “To placate your mom?”
“…Yeah.”
Xu Lanmeng looked at Yun Chun as if seeing her for the first time. After all, from what she had observed of Yun Chun and Yun Yueqin’s interactions before, deceiving her mother like this didn’t seem like something Yun Chun would do.
She asked, “Aren’t you afraid your mom will be heartbroken if she finds out you lied to her?”
“I don’t have any other choice.”
Yun Chun pressed her lips together. “You have to keep this a secret for me.”
Worried Xu Lanmeng might refuse, she added, “I helped you out once before, remember?”
Xu Lanmeng gave her a sidelong glance. “As long as you’re not abandoning her, I’m on your side.”
Relief washed over Yun Chun at those words. Of course she wasn’t abandoning Lu Qingxue.
She blurted urgently, “Then hurry up and do it! Do I need to prepare anything? I’ll go buy it.”
Xu Lanmeng took a few seconds to compose herself, realizing what felt off.
She eyed Yun Chun with an inscrutable expression, her tone turning oddly eerie. “You can’t see Lu Qingxue anymore?”
Yun Chun nodded vigorously. “Right! The marriage certificate’s gone, so our connection broke. How else could I see her?”
The image of Lu Qingxue vanishing flashed through Yun Chun’s mind, a dull ache stirring in her chest—like a rusty knife sawing at her heart. Each stroke didn’t slice cleanly but ground away slowly with its blunt edge, tearing jagged gashes.
The wounds were a mangled mess of raw flesh and blood, throbbing with every heartbeat and sending fresh stabs of pain through her.
Even breathing hurt.
Yun Chun lowered her gaze, her voice softening. “I watched her fade away right in front of me, and I couldn’t touch her.”
She blinked back tears and looked up at Xu Lanmeng. “So, Auntie Xu, please open my ghost eyes quick. I need to go find Lu Qingxue.”
Xu Lanmeng listened, her eyes filling with a mix of sorrow and pity as she regarded Yun Chun.
She understood all too well. With a deep, empathetic look, she turned silently and headed to the desk where she often worked.
Perplexed, Yun Chun trailed after her.
The desk stood against the wall, flanked by a large pot of Chinese evergreen that complemented the elegant, somber redwood.
Xu Lanmeng settled into the chair and pulled a delicate key from the pen holder on the desk. Leaning over, she unlocked the central drawer.
While Xu Lanmeng rummaged inside, Yun Chun quietly positioned herself at the edge of the desk.
She watched as Xu Lanmeng withdrew a rolled-up sheet of paper tied with a thin cord.
The decorative edging, the cut, and the gold foil covering the entire back—even unrolled—grew increasingly familiar to Yun Chun the more she stared.
Xu Lanmeng tugged one end of the cord, untying it effortlessly.
She held the paper and leaned back against the desk.
She picked up a pen holder to weigh down one corner of the paper, then found another heavy object to secure the opposite corner. Once everything was in place, she slowly unrolled the paper. With all four corners pinned down, it lay flat across the table.
During the process, Yun Chun stepped closer to Xu Lanmeng’s side and clearly saw what was written on the page.
When she spotted the four phrases—”Marriage Certificate,” “Yun Chun,” “Lu Qingxue,” “Contracted Today”—Yun Chun’s lips parted slightly. Deep down, she knew exactly what it was, yet she couldn’t hide the surprise flickering in her eyes. She voiced the question aloud anyway. “What is this?”
Xu Lanmeng gazed down at the paper on the table. “You don’t recognize it?” she asked slowly.
Yun Chun thought to herself, Of course I do.
The document on the table was identical to the marriage certificate that had been burned.
Xu Lanmeng glanced up at her. “This is the marriage certificate between you and Lu Qingxue,” she said, providing the answer Yun Chun already suspected.
Yun Chun stared blankly. “This…”
She murmured, “What does it mean?”
Turning her head toward Xu Lanmeng, she pressed on. “Is this the real one and that the fake? Or—”
The corner of Xu Lanmeng’s mouth curved upward. “Marriage certificates always come in duplicate. A marriage contract couldn’t possibly be just one sheet. Back when it was written, one copy went to the Lu Family. The other… was originally meant for Lü Feng, but I didn’t give it to him. I kept it for myself.”
Yun Chun was still reeling from the shock of the duplicate marriage certificates. For the moment, she didn’t ask why Xu Lanmeng had held on to it.
Xu Lanmeng spoke softly. “And the divorce certificate? It comes in two copies as well.”
Yun Chun’s heart clenched and thudded wildly in her chest. Her pupils dilated.
She seemed to guess what was coming next, but she didn’t dare let her mind go there.
Xu Lanmeng, however, had no intention of sparing her feelings. In a measured tone, she revealed the truth. “Burning one marriage certificate changes nothing. Both have to be destroyed before your bond truly breaks.”
She fixed her gaze on Yun Chun and laid out the heartbreaking fact. “As for what you said about seeing Lu Qingxue disappear… I think she did it on purpose.”
Xu Lanmeng refused to believe Lu Qingxue hadn’t sensed something amiss when that first marriage certificate went up in flames. As the paper burned, Lu Qingxue must have felt it—the connection between her and Yun Chun remained unbroken.
If that was the case, then Lu Qingxue’s choice to stage a dramatic vanishing act right in front of Yun Chun pointed to just one possibility.
Xu Lanmeng regarded the woman standing beside her, whose face had grown shadowed and grim. She parted her lips and let out a cold laugh.
“Congratulations. You’ve been dumped.”
