Tao Yu sneered and began to lie through her teeth: “Because you are reincarnations of the same person at different times. Although you all think you’re independent individuals, strictly speaking, you are one person, seeing, hearing, and liking the same things. Whenever a person is about to die, the world in their eyes collapses, and you, who unintentionally entered another time and space, will feel this sense of everything crumbling before that person’s death.”
Seeing him listening intently, Tao Yu continued: “So you thought that when someone who looks like you dies, his world is destroyed. Isn’t that destruction? When people are dead, what else can you see?”
“…Why didn’t you say this earlier,” Yue Linze asked in a hoarse voice.
Tao Yu glanced at him sideways: “Would you have believed me if I’d said it earlier? You kept saying that loving me would destroy the world, but you’ve loved me for so many years – has this world shown any sign of destruction?”
She sighed inwardly, why hadn’t she come up with this explanation earlier?!
Yue Linze stared at her, his eyes gradually turning red: “So I misunderstood, right? From the beginning, all you wanted was my life, and I killed you because of this…”
With each word, his heart ached more, and by the end, he was trembling, his face as pale as paper. He covered his eyes in pain, a transparent liquid falling onto the gauze in his palm, quickly disappearing.
Tao Yu looked at his appearance and felt sorry for him. She coughed and pretended not to care: “Don’t be too upset. I didn’t feel pain, and this is all in the past. There’s no point in dwelling on it.”
She glanced at Yue Linze, seeing him sitting motionless, and blinked nervously, worried she might have gone too far. Just as she was about to say something, the carriage wheel hit a stone, causing the entire carriage to shake with a risk of toppling. Without thinking, she rushed to protect Nian Nian, who was sleeping on the soft couch.
Unexpectedly, Yue Linze made the same move, just a step behind her. When she lunged towards the soft couch, he rushed over, coincidentally colliding with her back, forming a protective posture.
The carriage swayed for a moment before stabilizing. The young girl on the soft couch didn’t move, sleeping soundly.
“Are you alright, my lord?” the coachman’s voice came through the curtain.
Tao Yu moved, but the person behind her didn’t let go, still holding her in his arms. Tao Yu frowned. The coachman outside was still asking, so she had to respond first: “The lord is fine, continue driving.”
Then she paused and coldly said, “Let go!”
As soon as the words fell, she felt a warm sensation at her neck, and she was stunned, only then realizing what it was.
Two people had nothing more to talk about, and the carriage silently returned to the City Lord’s Mansion. As soon as they got off the carriage, Tao Yu saw that Nian Nian was still asleep in Yue Linze’s arms, so she curtsied and was about to head to the servants’ quarters.
Yue Linze hurriedly called out to her: “Where are you going?”
“Replying to the City Lord, I’m going back to my room,” Tao Yu lowered her eyes. Earlier in the carriage, she had already found an excuse to ask Yue Linze not to reveal her identity, lest the scholar find out, so she herself needed to be careful not to be discovered.
Yue Linze glanced in the direction of the servants’ quarters, and after a moment of silence, said: “You should still stay in Nian Nian’s room like before. I will instruct others not to enter the young lady’s courtyard.”
“The young lady is already resting. Wouldn’t it be better if I first return to my room to put things down, and then go to take care of her?” At this moment, she disdained the servants’ quarters, but when her original room was blown up into a pond, why didn’t she say anything? Whenever Tao Yu thought about how her previous room was now completely destroyed and even had a large hole dug in it, she felt angry.
Yue Linze paused at her words, his eyes seeming to hold a thousand words, but in the end, he just looked away, not even daring to make eye contact with her.
Tao Yu rolled her eyes and turned to leave. Yue Linze stood stiffly holding Nian Nian, and after a long time, slowly went towards Nian Nian’s room.
When Tao Yu finished organizing her luggage and went to Nian Nian’s place, Yue Linze, who was originally watching the child in the room, was already gone. Tao Yu looked at Nian Nian sleeping on the bed, yawned, and lay down, hugging the milk-scented little one and falling asleep until it was completely dark. When she woke up, Nian Nian, who should have been beside her, was gone.
She knew the guards of the City Lord’s Mansion would not let a three-year-old child be in danger, so Tao Yu was not very anxious when the child was missing. She sat up, stretched, washed up, and then went to look.
After searching the entire courtyard without finding anyone, she finally went to the small pond and saw a maidservant playing with Nian Nian. Nian Nian ran over when she saw her, and Tao Yu smiled and asked: “How did you end up here?”
“Daddy doesn’t want me,” Nian Nian said angrily about what had just happened.
Tao Yu raised an eyebrow: “Why doesn’t daddy want you?”
Nian Nian stammered for a long time but couldn’t explain, so the maidservant answered for her: “The City Lord is currently receiving guests in the reception hall and cannot have the young lady follow, so he had me bring her out to play.”
“At this time, what guests is the City Lord receiving?” Tao Yu asked the maidservant curiously.
The maidservant shook her head: “I don’t know him, he just looks like a gentle, scholarly-looking white-faced man.”
Tao Yu was stunned, thinking something was wrong. She quickly thanked the maidservant, comforted Nian Nian, and then hurried to the reception hall.
When she arrived, an eerie silence filled the room. Yue Linze sat expressionlessly in the main seat, like a killing god. The steward beside him also looked unfriendly, and if not for the City Lord’s presence, he would have wanted to beat the man severely for the child’s parents.
The scholar sitting below nervously picked up his cup, then put it down again after a glance from Yue Linze. Despite the cold weather, he was sweating.
When Tao Yu appeared at the door, all three people’s gazes turned to her. The steward looked angry and suspicious, the scholar looked like he had found a lifeline, and Yue Linze looked… nervous?
Her first reaction was: What bad thing has he done? Although she thought this internally, she still politely curtsied: “City Lord.”
“…You’re here,” Yue Linze unnaturally looked at the ground.
Tao Yu narrowed her eyes, feeling more certain that he had done something. Just as she was about to speak, the scholar stood up awkwardly and walked to her side, saying sheepishly: “Thank you, City Lord, for your hospitality. I would like to take your wet nurse out. Is that possible?”
The steward glared at him and immediately looked at Yue Linze, his feelings complex about whether he wanted this approved or not. Yue Linze, however, did not look at the steward, as all his attention was already on the woman in front of him.
Seeing that she was hinting and suggesting to go out with this scholar, he felt extremely uncomfortable and, gritting his teeth, pretended not to understand: “What do you want to take her out for?”
“Uh…” The scholar thought about whether he could succeed or not, and now he was being asked about the reason? He racked his brain for a long time before stammering, “I, I just want to take the wet nurse out to eat.”
Having borrowed money for accommodation, where would he get money to treat her to a meal? He couldn’t even come up with a good reason. Tao Yu looked at him with disdain but didn’t expose him, because in her view, no matter how poor the excuse, Yue Linze wouldn’t dare to stop them.
