Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Night fell, accompanied by heavy snow.

Inside the inner courtyard of Mu Manor, at the Tingshui Pavilion.

A maid had just added charcoal to the brazier when an announcement echoed from outside the door.

“Madam!”

Lady Fan, the Matriarch of the Mu family, was supervising her eldest daughter, Mu Tingting, with her embroidery. Hearing the voice, her eyelid twitched inexplicably.

“What is it?”

The servant hesitated, stammering before finally replying, “It’s the front courtyard… something has happened. Steward Zhou said he must ask you to come over personally.”

Beside her, Mu Tingting set down her embroidery frame, frowning in displeasure.

“It’s already this late. What could possibly require the Matriarch to go there herself?”

The servant’s legs suddenly gave way, and they collapsed to their knees, trembling as they answered, “It’s… it’s Miss Xia! She’s back!”

Upon hearing this, Lady Fan’s back stiffened, and her face turned deathly pale.

***

The main hall of Mu Manor was tightly shut.

However, the corridors outside were filled with servants whispering and gossiping amongst themselves.

“Chuntao, I remember you were the one who delivered the food that day. Are you sure you saw correctly?”

“The person is dead. How could she possibly come back to life?”

“The gatekeeper said she was covered in black mud from outside the city. It looked like… she just crawled out of the dirt!”

“Could there really be ghosts in this world?”

“Chuntao… say something! Are you scared witless?”

“Stop asking her. I heard Steward Zhou took some men to bury the body in secret. He’s probably the only one who knows the most-”

“Ahem!”

As the Matriarch, Lady Fan, arrived, the crowd immediately dispersed to both sides, not daring to utter another word.

“Where is Steward Zhou?”

“Madam, Steward Zhou… he is still inside. He hasn’t come out yet.”

Lady Fan paused, appearing as if she wanted to say something but held back.

After a moment, she took off the prayer beads from her wrist and held them in her hand. Looking at the heavy hall doors, she commanded, “Everyone disperse. No one is allowed in without my permission.”

Inside the hall, illuminated by tall candles, a woman sat poised. Her features were blurred in the shadows, her figure thin and solitary.

Hearing the sound of the door, she did not even lift her head, her eyes coldly fixed on a single spot.

Following her gaze, the usually steady and experienced Steward Zhou was actually prostrate on the ground, shivering uncontrollably.

“There’s a ghost…”

“Madam, there really are ghosts in this world!”

“She… she… she’s back!”

The moment he saw Lady Fan’s silhouette, he scrambled toward her on hands and knees. His incoherent speech was filled with sheer terror.

Lady Fan’s brow furrowed deeply, intending to scold him.

However, when she clearly saw the face of the woman in the hall, the blood in her veins turned cold.

“Ximo…”

Under the candlelight, the woman’s face was pale and her features were sharp and cold. A small crimson mark at the corner of her eye did not look flirtatious, but rather gave her an air of unyielding character.

Though she wore only a simple moon-white inner robe stained with mud, the satin shoes on her feet, embroidered with interlocking lotus flowers, were all too familiar.

With just one look, the guilt-stricken Lady Fan couldn’t help but stumble back a few steps.

“How is this possible? Weren’t you already…”

“No, you aren’t Xia Ximo at all.”

“Who exactly are you?”

She forced herself to stay calm, clutching her chest. Beyond her terror, a hint of suspicion arose.

Faced with the string of pale, weak questions, Xia Ximo remained completely indifferent. She sat there quietly, saying nothing.

But the more she acted this way, the more Lady Fan’s heart raced with unease.

She had never believed in ghosts or gods, much less that the dead could return to life.

But how could she explain what was before her eyes?

How could someone whose corpse had already gone stiff suddenly come back to life?

In the silence, the candlelight flickered, casting eerie and blurred shadows.

Xia Ximo finally spoke. Her voice was ghostly and cold, sounding like someone who no longer belonged to the world of the living.

“My father was the world-renowned Great General Protecting the State, Xia Qing. My mother was surnamed Mu; she was the greatest female painter in Great Qi, and she was once the only legitimate eldest daughter of this household…”
“My name-Ximo-was given to me by my maternal grandfather. It means ‘to cherish ink.'”

“You ask who I am? Then let me start from six years ago and explain everything to you, one by one.”

Her tone was icy, as if she were recounting a matter that had nothing to do with her.

Lady Fan, however, could not stop herself from trembling all over.

Six years ago, the Great General Protecting the State, Xia Qing, died for his country. His wife, Lady Mu, followed him in death, leaving behind their ten-year-old orphaned daughter, Xia Ximo. She was taken in by her maternal uncle, Mu Zheng, and raised in Mu Manor.

As an orphan, Xia Ximo was frail and plagued by illness. She suffered from a congenital deficiency and required expensive medicinal herbs daily to sustain her body, which was a massive financial burden.

If not for the fact that she had been betrothed since childhood to the eldest son of Marquis Renxuan-one of the founding peers of the realm-and received the Marquis Mansion’s protection, the Mu family’s financial situation at the time would have been utterly unable to support her.

The Mu family’s ancestors had produced many refined scholars, but their lineage was thin. By this generation, Mu Zheng was the only male heir left.

Mu Zheng lacked any real schemes or ambitions. He had spent half his life in mediocrity, serving only as a low-ranking eighth-grade official. It was only through the recommendation of Marquis Renxuan that the Emperor made an exception, promoting him to Vice Director of the Secretariat. He took up his post in the capital, and from then on, his career flourished.

Mu Manor rose to prominence because of the Marquis Mansion, but for Xia Ximo, this was where her fate took a turn.

Four years ago, the Marchioness of Renxuan traveled south. While passing through Xiling County, she remembered the orphan of General Xia and wished to see her in person.

However, on that day, Xia Ximo had caught a cold and was bedridden.

Lady Fan did not want to miss this golden opportunity. She hatched a plan and had her own daughter of the same age, Mu Tingting, take her cousin’s place to meet the Marchioness.

Afterward, Xia Ximo’s status in Mu Manor plummeted. Under the pretext that she needed “quiet recuperation and must not see outside guests,” Lady Fan cast her into a side courtyard, leaving her to fend for herself.

Lady Fan’s ultimate calculation was for Mu Tingting to marry into the Marquis Mansion under Xia Ximo’s name. Only then would her plan be complete.

Unfortunately, something went wrong along the way.

Three days ago, Xia Ximo froze to death in that side courtyard. By the time the maid discovered her, her body was already stiff.

Lady Fan had sent people to secretly bury the body overnight, thinking she could deceive everyone and remain Wuyou.

Who could have imagined that the dead person would return on her own?

Listening to Xia Ximo indifferently recount the past was like hearing a judge of the underworld heartlessly chanting a sentence.

Lady Fan felt cold all over. Unable to suppress the fear in her heart, she slumped into a nearby chair.

She fumbled with the Buddhist beads in her hand and closed her eyes in pain, as if struggling with a decision.

“Ximo… your aunt truly did you wrong.”

“But things have already come to this. I can only… continue the mistake.”

Her words were ambiguous. Though her face was full of guilt, a murderous intent flickered in the depths of her eyes.

“If the Marchioness of Renxuan ever found out that our Mu family deceived her back then, the consequences would be unthinkable.”

“You were simply born under an unlucky star. You lost your parents young and your health is poor. Even if you married into the Marquis Mansion, what kind of future could you possibly have?”

“It would be better to-fulfill your elder sister’s future.”

As soon as she finished speaking, Lady Fan lunged upward. She held a jade ornament in her right hand and swung it violently toward Xia Ximo…

At that moment, a gust of ghostly wind rose from the floor, knocking her flat on her back.

The jade ornament fell and shattered in two.

Steward Zhou let out a loud cry and immediately scrambled under the table, shaking like a leaf.

Lady Fan lay stunned on the floor. Seeing the swirl of dark wind still circling beside her, she couldn’t help but scream.

Only Xia Ximo remained calm. She stood up and looked down at the woman with cold, indifferent eyes.

Her thin shadow was cast upon the ground, yet she possessed an aura of inviolable authority.

“Do you know what it means to be ‘haunted by a lingering soul’?”

Lady Fan’s face turned ashen. Her throat tightened, and she found herself unable to make a sound.

Xia Ximo continued, “And do you remember that you still carry the weight of three lives on your back?”