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Gao Qiang began to recount the full story of what had happened.

Marquis Xuanping had secretly entered the State of Yan without a proper travel permit. In order to avoid unnecessary conflicts or misunderstandings, he, along with Tang Yueshan and the Old Marquis, all used the identities of the Crown Princess’s subordinates.

Among them, Marquis Xuanping was even appointed as a general by Shangguan Yan at a critical moment.

When he suddenly went missing, it naturally raised suspicions.

To the outside world, Shangguan Yan claimed that he had gone to find medicine for His Highness the Ghost King of Ghost Mountain.

The ghost soldiers were a militia force formed by the common people, and they had saved many locals from the Jin army. The people held great respect for the ghost soldiers and their leader.

So when they heard that General Xiao had gone to find medicine for that man, everyone was eagerly awaiting his safe return.

But instead of good news after a month, word came that the deputy commander of the Black Wind Cavalry had mobilized elite experts from the Shadow Division to recover a body from the icy plains.

According to reports, General Xiao had successfully brought the medicine back from the far side of the icy plains and handed it to his companions, but he never made it out alive.

At this point in the story, both mother and son fell into heavy silence.

No one had expected such an outcome. A living, breathing person suddenly vanished from their lives, and it felt impossible to believe it was real.

Gao Qiang cautiously asked, “Just now, that person… that was His Highness the Ghost King, right?” As he said this, he stole a glance at the mother and son and quickly added, “I, I didn’t ask anything! Not a thing!”

A deep, suffocating ache seized Xiao Heng’s chest like a giant hand clutching his heart. He desperately wanted Shangguan Qing to survive, but he also didn’t want to believe his father had sacrificed his life for it.

Once, he and his father hadn’t known how to get along. And now, just when they had finally started to understand each other, there was no more time left.

He clenched his fists tightly, and his eyes slowly began to redden. “Why… why did it have to end like this…”

Gao Qiang was completely panicked now. “I… I don’t know why it turned out this way either… If I had known earlier… I wouldn’t have opened my big mouth…”

Was it still possible to take it all back?

Why did it feel like he had made an enormous blunder?

Would his master punish him when he got back?

There goes this month’s stipend!

“Th-then… I… I…” Gao Qiang felt like he needed to disappear immediately or he might not get out of here alive.

Just then, the craftsmen repairing the door arrived.

His eyes lit up. “I’ll go fix the gate! The one I broke! I’ll fix it myself!”

He took a couple of hurried steps away, then turned back with an embarrassed expression and said, “Y-your Highness… my condolences!”

Losing a father didn’t hurt any less than losing a brother. Xiao Heng held himself together, refusing to let his tears fall.

He no longer had a father.

Unlike all the angry words he had spoken before, this time, he had truly lost him.

……

When Yu Jin brought the imperial physician over, Gao Qiang was helping the craftsman repair the courtyard gate that he himself had kicked down, and Xiao Heng was no longer there.

Yu Jin, being sharp and perceptive, immediately sensed that something was off in the atmosphere of the residence. She wanted to ask what had happened, but every servant she encountered averted their eyes more obviously than the last.

She turned to Gao Qiang. This time, he didn’t even dare to make a sound. Avoiding her gaze, he waved his hand quickly and said, “Don’t ask me, I’m not saying a thing! I know nothing!”

She muttered to herself, “Did something happen to the young master?”

Her first instinct was that something had worsened with Shangguan Qing’s condition. After all, she couldn’t think of anything else that could make everyone so flustered and uneasy.

Without delay, she led the imperial physician to Shangguan Qing’s room.

The furnishings inside the room remained unchanged, yet the moment she stepped through the threshold, the air felt suffocatingly heavy.

Yu Jin’s brows knitted slightly, and she unconsciously tightened her grip on the handkerchief in her hand.

She crossed the threshold and walked toward Shangguan Qing’s bed. “Princess!”

Princess Xinyang sat on a stool at the bedside, her back facing the door, and as always, her spine was perfectly straight.

But her figure, viewed from behind, carried a trace of sorrow.

Could it really be that something had happened to the young master?

“Physician!” She turned her head and urged him forward.

Carrying his medicine chest on his back, the physician stepped over the threshold.

He came up behind Princess Xinyang and first bowed respectfully. “This humble official greets Your Highness.”

After a long pause, Princess Xinyang replied with a faint, calm voice, “Take Qing’er’s pulse.”

Yu Jin, worried and anxious, stepped aside to give the physician space to take the pulse.

The imperial physician examined Shangguan Qing with great care. When he finished, he bowed deeply and reported, “Your Highness, it appears that the young master has been poisoned, but judging from the pulse, there is no immediate danger to his life.”

No danger to his life, that meant the antidote was working.

Then why did the princess still look so unhappy?

The physician didn’t dare ask who this young man was, whom Princess Xinyang clearly treasured so deeply, though he couldn’t shake the feeling that the face looked familiar.

He said, “He should continue taking the antidote. This humble official will prescribe a nourishing formula to aid his recovery.”

“Thank you.” said Princess Xinyang.

The physician picked up his medicine chest and took his leave.

Yu Jin gently pushed the door almost shut, then returned to Princess Xinyang’s side and asked in a hushed, puzzled voice, “Princess, what happened? Why is everyone acting so strangely?”

“Xiao Ji is dead.” Princess Xinyang said. Her tone was calm, as if she were talking about something that had nothing to do with her.

But whether her heart was truly as still as water, only she herself knew.

Yu Jin froze, stunned by what she had just heard. “Princess, who told you that? Could there have been a mistake? Wasn’t Lord Marquis out looking for medicine for the young master? He even managed to bring it back…”

“He’s not coming back.” Princess Xinyang said.

She had already seen Long Yi’s drawing. She had studied the geographical records of various nations thoroughly, so she knew well what kind of place the icy plains were——a frozen purgatory in the dead of winter, a deadly barrier no one could cross.

She couldn’t imagine what kind of determination it had taken for him to carry the antidote back through a blizzard.

Yu Jin knelt down and held Princess Xinyang’s hand, looking up at her. “Princess…”

Princess Xinyang murmured, “There was a time I thought about ridding myself of that man, but I never imagined it would end like this.”

Yu Jin’s nose tingled, her eyes welling up. “Princess…”

Princess Xinyang remained composed. “Birth, aging, illness, and death are all part of life, but he died far too suddenly.”

Yu Jin clutched her mistress’s hand tightly in pain. “Princess, if you’re hurting, let yourself cry. It will help ease the pain.”

Princess Xinyang said, “I’m not grieving for myself. I’m grieving for the three children. When I was raising Ah Heng before, I always thought it didn’t really matter whether he had a father or not. After all, the man was always in the military, never around for even a full day throughout the year.”

“Wasn’t it because Your Highness wouldn’t let him visit the Princess Mansion?” Yu Jin choked up, “I saw Lord Marquis pass by the gates on horseback more than once…”

Princess Xinyang didn’t deny her cold treatment of Marquis Xuanping, but she had her reasons. “He always made Ah Heng cry… Ah Heng could count on one hand how many times a month he saw him. I often thought that whether he had a father or not made no difference. But now that he’s truly gone… I realize… it’s not the same.”

Yu Jin spoke with sorrow in her voice, “In the past, Lord Marquis may not have shown himself before you, but he never went far. He was always silently watching over you and the Little Marquis from the shadows. As long as either of you turned back even a little… you would’ve seen, he was always there.”

“But this time, he’s truly gone.”

No matter how many times she turned back now, that man would never be standing there waiting for her again.

“When His Majesty said he would bestow me in marriage to him, I truly believed my nightmare had begun. You know his reputation, he wasn’t known for virtue. He was a powerful martial expert with an unyielding nature. It wasn’t his reputation that bothered me. I was merely a pawn to strengthen ties with a powerful court official. It hardly mattered who I married. But I couldn't bear the touch of a man. If it were someone else, maybe he would’ve been easier to manipulate.”

But Marquis Xuanping, he was that dashing young general, achieving brilliant military success at such a young age, so formidable that even the imperial family was wary of him.

“Though I was an imperial princess, how could there be a bride who refuses her husband on the wedding night? I had already prepared myself to be humiliated by him… I was young then, not as calm as I am now, still reckless in my youth. I even thought, if I truly couldn’t bear it, then I would simply end my life.”

That dagger she held to his chest that night, she had actually prepared it for herself.

She never imagined he would back down.

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Description:

In the suspenseful supernatural novel “Records of Mortals,” Jiang Baiyan, once a solitary and impoverished youth, finds refuge in the Shi family of Chang’an due to his extraordinary bloodline. With his clear and captivating peach blossom eyes, this seemingly innocent young man conceals a fanatical and malevolent lunatic within. Destined to succumb to darkness amidst hardship and degradation, he becomes a harbinger of chaos.

When Shi Dai suddenly transmigrates, she takes on the role of the Shi family’s young lady, the one who subjects him to countless trials, eventually leading to her demise.

The twist? She never got to finish reading the novel.

From what she knew of the plot, Jiang Baiyan was just a silent, timid, and often bullied pitiable character.

***

Jiang Baiyan had never encountered someone like Shi Dai.

After he had slaughtered all the evil creatures in the garden, the blood-stained young man, exuding a murderous aura, approached her step by step, his lips curling into a malicious smile, "Scared?"

Shi Dai responded, “You’re really amazing! I applaud you until I spin like a spiral and fly around the moon three hundred times! And also——you have dimples when you smile!"

Jiang Baiyan: ...?

—

After seeing her at a lantern festival with another man, Jiang Baiyan lowered his eyes, his fingers twirling her hair. He said in a mocking and sinister tone, "The mansion in the western suburbs...if I hide you there, no one will find you, right?"

Shi Dai replied, "Does it come with meals and lodging? Can I sleep in everyday? Oh, and your cooking is the best!"

Jiang Baiyan: ...?

—

Jiang Baiyan was supposed to dislike her, even hate her, but as their separation drew near, his eyes turned red and he grabbed her sleeve, pleading, "Don't abandon me, alri—”

Shi Dai responded, "Alright, alright, I’ll only have you. Mwah."

Jiang Baiyan: ...?

He hasn't finished his lines yet though…

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