The General's residence was indeed left with ruins, the night fell and the cold moon hung high, scattering silvery beams on the shattered walls of the residence. Once magnificent and imposing, it had now turned into a charred land, emitting faint gunpowder scent. Zheng Lingbo stood quietly before the ruins, as if a statue, his eyes vacant with a hint of confusion and pain.
Although it was already empty, in her eyes, she seemed to see roaring flames that lit up half of the sky. The cries and sobs of her brother, sister, and children intermingled together, faintly echoing in her ears.
Her hands trembled slightly, clenching tightly at the hem of her clothes. Her nails dug deep into her flesh, yet she felt no pain at all.
The night breeze swept over, lifting the ashes from the ground, which slowly dispersed in the moonlight. Zheng Lingbo could hear no sounds and feel no warmth.
Standing quietly until the first light of dawn, Zheng Lingbo slowly turned around, walking away from the ruins with her footsteps wavering. She walked like that, lost and without a destination.
Only until dawn did she return to the Liu family stiffly as a ghost.
The Liu family was having their morning meal and did not notice that Zheng Lingbo had not returned for the night. It was only when she stood at the door, looking disoriented and disheveled, that Yang Yuyan, who had been smiling and playing with the children just moments before, dropped her chopsticks abruptly, her expression turning displeased.
Zheng Lingbo looked at her once, without the usual smile to accompany it, stumbled back to her small courtyard.
Liushengwang spent the night drunk and couldn't get up in the morning. At this moment, he just opened his eyes, adjusted his clothes, was puzzled and wondered why. He saw Zheng Lingbo floating in.
Frowning and displeased, he was about to speak when he saw Zheng Lingbo staring intently into his eyes and asking, "You knew yesterday?"
——That big house was burned down so cleanly, it couldn't have taken just a day to finish.
Liushengwang, hung over from the previous night's drinking, felt weak and uncomfortable. Hearing this, he replied, "What?"
"The General's residence, did you know about it yesterday?"
——So happily drank so much wine that one couldn't even recognize people.
Liushengwang fell silent for a moment, avoiding Zheng Lingbo's gaze and showing some impatience: "What does it matter to know?"
Feeling the severity of Zheng Lingbo's expression, Liushengwang softened his tone as he continued, "The matter is settled. The General's residence is no more. From now on, you should stay in the mansion and take good care of your mother-in-law and raise Baobao well."
With this tone and these words in normal circumstances, Zheng Lingbo would probably laugh out loud with joy. However, at this moment, she just blankly stared at Liushengwang, touched her heart and then looked down at her hands.
In her youth, she was a pampered miss with hands as delicate as scallions, a proper young lady of noble birth. Now, in her early twenties, her hands were like the bark of an old tree, dry and thin.
Looking on, Zheng Lingbo couldn't help but laugh loudly, laughing at the absurdity of her entire life.
This courtyard was secluded. She had been beaten and cried for help by Liushengwang many times in the past. At this moment, she laughed as if she were a madwoman with no one to care for her.
Liushengwang, who was already feeling a headache, became even more uncomfortable with her laughter. He opened his mouth to scold her, but Zheng Lingbo paid no attention.
Only after she finished laughing did Zheng Lingbo use all her strength to drag the still dizzy and noisy Liushengwang into the stable, bind him with a cloth, and then set fire to the stable.
The dried firewood was easy to burn and gave off a very warm heat. Zheng Lingbo laughed loudly, tightly holding onto Liushengwang who was struggling to escape, and closed her eyes in peace.
"Though we lived apart, we shall die together in the same grave!"
"Father, brothers, sisters, I have come to find you."
……
"Jin'er, pack up your things. I want to go home."
Jin'er was stunned for a moment, staring blankly and repeating, "Going home?"
Zheng Lingbo lowered her eyes and nodded: "Yes, going home! Back to Zheng family!"
After the past life when she and Liushengwang perished together in the flames, Zheng Lingbo hadn't thought she would ever open her eyes again.
Just opening her eyes, she was still in the Lius family.
Zheng Lingbo remembers this time.
She was fifteen years old, and was extremely attached to Liushengwang. A few days ago, for her aunt Yang Yuyan's birthday, she came to deliver gifts and insisted on staying at the Liu household. She even argued with her family because of it. That night, she deliberately left the window open to let in a whole night of wind, and the next day, she successfully got herself sick, thus staying at the Liu mansion.
Zheng Lingbo was drowsy and feverish all night, waking up to realize that she had truly returned to the age of fifteen in the middle of Jin'er's worried sniffles.
She had returned to a time before her marriage to Liushengwang, when the Liu family still existed.
At this moment, her whole body was still in pain. She opened her mouth to call Jin'er, only to realize that her throat was also hoarse.
The door was pushed open, but it was not Jin'er who came in, but the younger Liushengwang. Zheng Lingbo's teeth clenched tightly, and she almost couldn't control her expression.
In that moment, the faces and expressions of the dozens of people in the General's residence flashed through her mind. She couldn't understand how Liushengwang could be so heartless, indifferent, and even happy to drink while disregarding their lives to please a woman.
Zheng Lingbo deeply breathed in, telling herself that the General's residence was still intact at the moment, and only then did she calm down.
Liushengwang looked at her once, and then impatiently scolded: "Zheng Lingbo, do you have to be so melodramatic? I haven't even reckoned with you for trying to harm Xin'er yet. You better really die."
However, it was Jin'er, seeing that Zheng Lingbo had been unconscious for a long time, who wanted to ask a doctor to take a look at her and had gone to seek Liushengwang's permission.
Zheng Lingbo could guess Jin'er's thoughts, and when she heard this, she didn't look at Liushengwang. As for the thing about wanting to harm Xin'er that she had said in her previous life, she didn't feel the need to explain it again this time - there was no need for it. She only said coldly:
"We have plenty of doctors in the General's residence, no need for Mr. Liushengwang to bother."
Liushengwang hesitated for a moment, frowning: "Zheng Lingbo, are you up to something again?"
Zheng Lingbo heard Liushengwang's voice and remembered him asking her in his drunkenness the last time, "The General's residence is no more. Are you happy?" At that moment, she felt a sudden surge of nausea. When she heard what he said, she coldly replied: "What does it have to do with you?"
Liushengwang had never experienced such a cold face from her, and at that moment, he was so angry that he stared at her in disbelief for a long time. After stammering "you, you, you" for a while, he dropped a sentence "unreasonable!" and turned to leave.
Jin'er knew how much Zheng Lingbo liked Liushengwang, and she watched in anxiety from behind: "Miss, Master Liu Sanjun came here so rarely. You didn't seize the chance to keep him, how did you manage to make Master Liu Sanjun angry and leave?"
As soon as Zheng Lingbo heard that name, she felt suffocated. Her heart seemed to break a big hole, causing her to sweat coldly and even vomit a few times.
Jin'er was startled and helped her sit down, saying: "Miss, don't be afraid. I'll ask Master Liu Sanjun to please a doctor here."
Zheng Lingbo's face turned pale, and she managed to grasp Jin'er's hand: "Don't go."
Jin'er was stunned for a moment. Zheng Lingbo clenched her teeth and her fingers shook uncontrollably as she grip the bedding tightly: "Don't go looking for him, let's go home!"
