Chapter 92: I’m Back

Chapter 92: Chapter 92: I’m Back

Shen Tingyu grabbed her hand and held it fast. "I didn’t protect you," he murmured. "I should at least taste the suffering you endured."

Cui Lingyao didn’t know what to feel. She couldn’t understand how his sense of responsibility toward her could be so heavy.

After a long silence, just as she was about to say something, the sound of bustling footsteps came from outside the door.

Someone was coming.

Cui Lingyao quickly let go, but seeing he didn’t react, she struggled a little and hissed, "Let go of me."

"..." Shen Tingyu snapped back to reality and hurriedly released her.

In her peripheral vision, Cui Lingyao noticed that his ears had turned red again.

At the entrance of the mourning hall, two familiar figures appeared.

Cui Lingyao thought she was seeing things. While she was still dazed, the visitors walked in.

It was Chen Minrou and her husband, who had sent a calling card the day before upon learning of Mrs. Shen’s passing.

The couple each took three sticks of incense and paid their respects earnestly. Afterward, Chen Minrou walked up to Cui Lingyao and said in a low voice, "Miss Pei, may I have a word with you in private?"

Cui Lingyao had been wanting to meet her friend alone. Hearing this, she immediately nodded and pushed herself up on her sore knees to stand.

Shen Tingyu helped her to her feet and asked quietly, "Do you need me to go with you?"

He had personally witnessed Chen Minrou’s difficult situation at the Duke Zhao Mansion that day, so seeing her seek them out now naturally made him worried.

Cui Lingyao shook her head. "No need. The mourning hall can’t be left empty. You stay here and keep watch for me. I’ll be right back."

With that, she gestured to Chen Minrou and turned to lead her toward the rear garden.

Zhao Shijie was also left behind by his wife.

The two men were left in the mourning hall, staring at each other.

The two women hadn’t walked far before Chen Minrou became short of breath, seemingly lacking the strength.

Cui Lingyao paused, reached out to take her elbow, and frowned. "Has your health gotten this bad?"

The girl who was once skilled in archery and horsemanship, who could ride freely at the Royal Hunting Ground, was now panting after just a few extra steps.

Upon hearing this, Chen Minrou’s heart skipped a beat.

’The girl before me looks so much like my old friend. We’ve only met twice, yet she treats me with such intimacy, her words so incredibly familiar...’

The fog that had clouded her mind for days lifted slightly in that instant.

She collected herself and seized the moment, probing, "Miss, have we met somewhere before?"

Cui Lingyao looked at her pale, sickly face and gently parted her lips. "We have."

Chen Minrou was about to ask more, but Cui Lingyao shook her head, signaling for her not to speak just yet.

She glanced around, then pointed to a pavilion around the corner. "It’s open over there, and the breeze will be less stuffy. Let’s talk over there."

Chen Minrou immediately understood her meaning. Having no objections, she started walking toward the pavilion.

She was incredibly eager to verify the suspicion in her heart.

Cui Lingyao was just as anxious.

Once they were in the pavilion and she had helped Chen Minrou sit on a stone bench, Cui Lingyao said at once, "You guessed right. It’s me. I’m back."

Chen Minrou’s expression was first one of shock, then her eyes instantly reddened. Her lips trembled for a moment before she squeezed out a name: "Yaoyao?"

Her voice trembled with emotion.

Cui Lingyao was heartbroken. She nodded repeatedly. "It’s me. I’m back."

She gripped her friend’s withered hand, her own eyes turning red. "How did your health get so bad? Did the Zhao Family mistreat you, or was it Zhao Shijie..."

"Let’s not talk about me for now," Chen Minrou said, clutching her chest and quickly composing herself. "Hurry and tell me, how... how did you come back?"

The matter of returning in another’s body was truly unbelievable.

But the proof was right before her eyes.

Cui Lingyao didn’t hide anything. She picked and chose her words, telling her everything that could be told.

It was the same story: after falling into the water three years ago, the next time she regained consciousness was a few days ago, in Pei Shuyao’s body.

In addition, she recounted how Xie Jinbai had overheard her conversation with Shen Hanyue outside the carriage on the day she returned to the mansion, which immediately made him suspicious of her identity.

The more Chen Minrou listened, the more silent she became.

Finally, she choked out, "So that’s why a half-dead Xie Jinbai suddenly came back to life, buzzing around a girl like a fly."

’So that girl was my Yaoyao.’

"He’s an incredibly cunning man. You probably don’t know this, but that so-called ’warding-off-illness banquet’ was something he instructed Zhao Shijie to host. The only purpose was to lure you out. He originally planned to host three of them in a row, but after the first banquet ended, there was no more mention of the other two."

It seemed he had already achieved his goal.

"He got off easy!" The more she thought about it, the angrier Chen Minrou got. She slammed her hand on the table and demanded, "Don’t tell me you’re spineless enough to actually marry him again!"

Cui Lingyao jumped in alarm and quickly took her friend’s hand. "Gently! What if you hurt yourself with that much force?"

Chen Minrou couldn’t be bothered with her own hand. She grabbed Cui Lingyao’s back and said furiously, "Didn’t you just regain consciousness a few days ago? The memory of him taking a concubine and all the humiliation he put you through for it should be fresh in your mind. How can you even think of forgiving him so easily? You barely escaped with your life, so why on earth would you throw it away on him again! Do you have no backbone at all?"

Cui Lingyao was rendered speechless.

Only someone who was truly close to her and genuinely cared for her could say such things.

And it was all completely true.

’Wasn’t that what I’ve been thinking all along?’

If it weren’t for the mission, she would never even consider compromising.

Seeing her silence, Chen Minrou assumed she had really been swayed by a few of Xie Jinbai’s sweet words and grew even more frustrated with her lack of fight.

"Listen to me. You can’t have a man who takes concubines. Yesterday, he dared to make you toast Li Wanrong in public. Tomorrow, he’ll dare to make you kneel for the next Wang Wanrong. Don’t be such a pushover and let him sweet-talk you so easily."

After that long speech, Chen Minrou’s breathing grew ragged, and she clutched her chest, coughing repeatedly.

It was as if she were about to cough up a lung.

Cui Lingyao was terrified. She hurriedly patted her back and said anxiously, "Okay, okay! I’ll listen to you! I’ll listen to everything you say! Just don’t get worked up!"

Chen Minrou grabbed her hand. "Really?"

"Really! Really!"

Cui Lingyao broke out in a cold sweat. She shot her an exasperated look. "Why is your temper still so fierce? Your health is already in this state, can’t you try not to get upset so easily?"

"I just despise Xie Jinbai. I’ve despised him for three years. Whenever I think about how his concubine caused your death, I wish I could send him down to join you. If he weren’t so powerful and highly placed... I’m helpless against him. I..."

Chen Minrou caught her breath and said through gritted teeth, "I believe your parents and older brothers would feel the same way I do. If they knew you’d been miraculously reborn only to marry him again, they’d probably be even angrier than I am!"

Her friend was this furious.

A startling realization dawned on Cui Lingyao.

Her "faked death," which she had used as an opportunity to complete her mission after falling into the water, was a very real, final parting in the eyes of those closest to her.

A sudden, unexpected death.

They didn’t know the details. They didn’t know that if she hadn’t gone along with it, Li Wanrong would never have been able to drag her into the water.

They also didn’t know that Xie Jinbai had rescued her the moment she fell in, and that even without the system’s intervention, she wouldn’t have died.

They were convinced that Xie Jinbai taking a concubine was what had gotten her killed.

Therefore, in their eyes, Xie Jinbai deserved to die a thousand deaths.