My mind continuously flashed with the man’s gentle smile as he jumped off the cliff, repeatedly rotating like an overlapping shadow, my unconscious steps slowly moving forward.
But after walking only a short distance, my consciousness began to blur and become chaotic, separating from my mind. Yet my brain continuously circled around the man’s resolute smile and the face identical to Shui Zi Wei’s. The sour and suffocating feeling in my heart continued to intensify, so painful I could not breathe. Finally, my body could no longer bear the intense struggle and softly collapsed.
When I awoke, I was already in a small cottage that seemed abandoned for a long time. The small cottage looked old and dilapidated, but it was clearly carefully maintained. I was the only person in the entire cottage, with not even anyone to speak to. Since that day, I seemed to have been sent to a cold palace. Cang Lian had placed me in this unnamed small room. All I wanted was freedom. I was almost completely isolated from the outside world here, with no news from the outside, no news from Wu Hen, and even less news from Yin Can. The intervals between my headaches had become longer, no longer as intense or frequent as before. From originally tormenting me several times daily, now I could barely feel the headache.
I didn’t know if I had become numb or if the poison had penetrated my bones so deeply that I could no longer feel the pain.
Besides tending to the flowers and plants outside the cottage, I had nothing else to do, and there was no one to talk to. My daily needs were attended to, but the servants seemed either under orders not to converse with me or were naturally mute, always remaining silent no matter what I said.
My greatest skill now was talking to myself, speaking to my own reflection in the mirror every day. I thought I would soon become schizophrenic.
Beautiful Man (Part One)
Today, as usual, I arranged myself in front of the mirror, scolded my reflection, and then continued to tend to my flowers and plants.
In this imperial palace, while not everything was good, it was luxurious. The food, accommodation, and even the flowers were abundant. I spent all day watering them. Strangely, these seemingly delicate flowers remained alive under my care.
