“Think whatever you want,” Shen Linchuan said, numb and cold, like a walking corpse. “But today, you’re staying here.”
Shen Linchuan felt as though everything had been drained out of him. He didn’t even have the strength to speak to Liu Tanghuan.
No matter how Liu Tanghuan speculated, screamed, roared, or cursed, he didn’t want to say another word.
There was still one day left. He wasn’t going to waste his breath on Liu Tanghuan, nor would he let her disturb their precious remaining time.
Shen Linchuan leaned against the wall, his body sliding weakly downward.
He covered his face with his hand, burying it in the crook of his arm as a low whimper escaped his throat.
He didn’t know how much time had passed before Shen Linchuan raised his head, wiped away his tears, and suddenly ran toward the living room.
The entire Liu family was immersed in grief.
Only Xi Yu sat there like some spoiled young master, one leg propped up on Lu Zhixing’s lap.
Lu Zhixing’s hand rested on Xi Yu’s leg, gently massaging it. With his head lowered and an obedient expression, he still remembered to quietly ask whether Xi Yu’s leg was still numb.
The two of them looked exactly like a pampered young master and his delicate, favored concubine.
They were completely at odds with the oppressive atmosphere hanging over the Liu family.
Shen Linchuan stumbled toward Xi Yu.
“Do you… do you… have a way… to save Xiaoman?”
The more desperate he became, the clearer Shen Linchuan’s mind grew.
Just moments ago, he had noticed the hidden word “almost” in Xi Yu’s words.
Almost certain to die did not mean certain to die.
As long as those two words remained, there was still a chance.
Besides, there had been something strange about Xi Yu coming here in the first place.
At the time, Shen Linchuan had been so shocked that Xiaoman had returned that he hadn’t thought about it.
Xi Yu wasn’t someone who liked prying into other people’s private affairs.
He had been able to tell from the variety show that there was a demon around Shen Linchuan, yet he had never brought it up. That alone showed that Xi Yu wouldn’t make a special trip here just to watch the excitement.
But now he had come.
Did that mean… there was still hope?
The moment Shen Linchuan said this, everyone else immediately turned toward Xi Yu.
“I don’t.”
Xi Yu shook his head without hesitation.
The light in everyone’s eyes went out.
Shen Linchuan’s legs went weak, and he grabbed the back of a nearby chair just to keep himself standing.
Xiaoman was also somewhat disappointed, but not by much.
She had learned before her death that her parents loved her.
That was enough.
She had no regrets.
If there was one thing she regretted…
Xiaoman looked at Shen Linchuan.
It was that she couldn’t stay with her parents forever, couldn’t stay with Shen Linchuan.
Xi Yu glanced indifferently at the people enveloped in sorrow.
Then his words suddenly took a turn.
He was holding a jade-colored, snow-stemmed flower that no one knew where he had gotten. He pointed it toward Liu Mu.
“But she can.”
Liu Mu looked bewildered.
“Me…? Me?”
Shen Linchuan also didn’t understand. He exchanged a look with Liu Fu.
Xiaoman stared at Xi Yu and shook her head.
“Mr. Xi, did you make a mistake? My mother is just an ordinary human.”
Liu Fu looked suspiciously at his wife.
“Could it be that you’re not human either?”
Liu Mu had already been feeling miserable. Hearing that, she kicked Liu Fu in the leg.
“That’s right. I’m a tigress!”
Only Shen Linchuan showed neither confusion nor disbelief.
He trusted Xi Yu completely.
If Xi Yu said Liu Mu could do it, then she could.
Xiaoman was about to say something, but Shen Linchuan shook his head at her.
As the center of attention, Liu Mu thought what Xi Yu had said sounded strange.
But she had watched the entire variety show.
Xi Yu really was different.
If Xi Yu said she could do it, perhaps… she really could.
Liu Mu asked Xi Yu,
“What do I have to do to save Xiaoman?”
Xi Yu took his leg off Lu Zhixing’s lap and leaned back against the sofa, his expression calm.
He enunciated every word.
“Trade. One. Life. For. Another.”
“No!”
“What does ‘trade one life for another’ mean?”
Xi Yu had barely finished speaking when Xiaoman and Liu Mu spoke at the same time.
When Xiaoman saw Liu Mu going to ask Xi Yu, she hurriedly pulled her mother behind her.
“It’s fake. Don’t believe him. You’re human. How could you trade your life for mine?”
Xiaoman looked at Xi Yu, pleading in her eyes.
“Mr. Xi, this is a family matter. I don’t have much time left, and I want to spend it with my family. You should go.”
Xi Yu raised an eyebrow but said nothing more. He pulled Lu Zhixing along and turned to leave.
“Don’t go!”
Liu Mu broke free from Xiaoman and rushed toward Xi Yu as though she had grabbed hold of a lifeline.
“What does ‘trade one life for another’ mean? Can I use my life to exchange for Xiaoman’s? Can I make my Xiaoman live?”
Xiaoman hurriedly tried to chase after them, but Liu Fu stopped her.
“Mom!”
Liu Mu looked pleadingly at Xi Yu.
The wrinkles on her face bore the traces of years of hardship.
She grabbed the edge of Xi Yu’s clothes, embodying the purest love of a helpless mother.
Xi Yu stopped.
He turned around and remained silent for several seconds before placing the jade-colored flower in front of Liu Mu.
Then he finally spoke.
“For a cat demon, trading one life for another means using its own spiritual essence. Her body contains a trace of your bloodline. Using the jade-colored flower as a catalyst, we can drain the blood from your body and transfer it to her. With that strand of spiritual essence, she can rebuild her demon core.”
“I am willing to help you, which is why I’m giving you the jade-colored flower. But whether you are willing to save her is up to you.”
Xiaoman cried out,
“No!”
“I am!”
Liu Mu’s hands trembled, but she accepted the jade-colored flower quickly and firmly.
“I’ll do it.”
Shen Linchuan’s heart turned completely cold.
So this was what “trading one life for another” meant.
Impossible.
Xiaoman would never agree.
Shen Linchuan asked in a trembling voice,
“Is this the only way?”
“The only way.”
“Then let me do it.”
Shen Linchuan snatched the flower from Liu Mu’s hand.
“I’ll do it. I’ve already used one of her lives once, so let me use mine.”
Liu Fu took advantage of Shen Linchuan’s distraction and snatched the jade-colored flower away, hiding it behind his back to prevent anyone else from taking it.
“I can do it. Let me.”
Seeing this, Xiaoman reached out to destroy the jade-colored flower.
She gritted her teeth.
“You’re all human. How could you possibly exchange your lives for mine? It would only mean one more person dying. No one is allowed to do this!”
Xiaoman reached out and tried to seize the flower with her spiritual power.
But her spiritual power…
Was gone.
Xi Yu said,
“Your demon core has shattered. It was only because I intervened that you were able to live another forty-eight hours. You have no spiritual power now.”
Xiaoman bit her lip and ran toward Liu Fu, trying to snatch it from him.
Liu Fu hid behind Liu Mu.
He had been afraid of his wife his entire life and wasn’t a man of many words. All he could do was keep dodging.
Shen Linchuan blocked Xiaoman.
“Xiaoman is my wife. Let me do it in her place.”
Several people began fighting over the flower, each trying to take it from the others.
Xi Yu couldn’t stand watching any longer.
“Stop fighting over it. Only she can do it.”
………………….
Xi Yu was talking about Liu Mu.
Seeing the confusion on Liu Fu and Shen Linchuan’s faces, Xi Yu explained,
“Although it’s called trading lives, what you’re really doing is exchanging blood. Her spiritual essence has remained in your bodies for too long and can no longer be used. A man’s body has too much yang energy. She’s a cat demon, with an extremely yin constitution, so you’re incompatible with her. Well… simply put, men and women are different.”
Lu Zhixing cast a sidelong glance at Xi Yu.
His fingers unconsciously kneaded the edge of his clothes, and an almost imperceptible smile curled at the corners of his lips.
Liu Fu and Shen Linchuan froze.
Liu Mu stretched out her hand.
“Give it to me!”
Liu Fu shook his head and hid his hand behind his back.
“No, honey… I…”
Liu Fu wanted to say that he could do it, but in truth, he couldn’t.
He could trade his life for Xiaoman’s.
But he couldn’t stand by and watch his wife die.
One was the woman who had accompanied him for half his life.
The other was the daughter who had given him countless moments of happiness.
He couldn’t choose.
After saving someone, he had lost the ability to have more children. Liu Tanghuan was his only daughter. He had spoiled her since she was little, unable to bear seeing her suffer even the slightest hardship, and had raised her into a selfish, self-centered person.
Liu Tanghuan took advantage of the fact that he could never have another child and recklessly squandered their love.
Ever since she was little, whenever Liu Tanghuan wanted something, he would give it to her no matter how hard it was for him.
Yet in the end, what he received was a cup of poison.
He had exhausted himself raising Liu Tanghuan for all those years.
But the years since Xiaoman appeared had been like honey.
So a daughter really could personally make a cake for her parents’ birthdays, perhaps not a very pretty one, but filled with love, then sit with them to blow out the candles and wish for peace and safety.
She didn’t have to beg them to throw an extravagant banquet so she could use the opportunity to entertain herself.
So a daughter really could listen to her parents’ advice. Even if she didn’t follow it, she would patiently explain her reasons instead of growing resentful and thinking that they were old and didn’t understand her.
So a daughter really would care for her parents tirelessly when they were sick, instead of merely sending two messages to show concern, then coming home drunk and telling them the next day not to get too close because they might infect her.
So a daughter really would be willing to exchange her own life for her parents’ survival, instead of treating them as obstacles and using poison to take their lives.
Before Xiaoman appeared, he had always felt that he wasn’t a qualified father.
That was why he had raised Liu Tanghuan the way he had.
But during the years since Xiaoman appeared, he had finally realized that he and his wife were actually good parents.
The love they gave could truly be returned in equal measure.
That was something they had never experienced before.
“Give it to me!”
Liu Mu’s voice was stern.
Liu Fu kept shaking his head.
In her desperation, Liu Mu reached out to snatch it.
Xiaoman was being held back by Shen Linchuan and couldn’t break free. In the end, she simply stopped struggling and said calmly,
“If you want to trade your life for mine, I’ll die right now.”
Xiaoman’s voice was utterly calm, without the slightest ripple.
“I don’t need you to save me. If it weren’t for you, I would have died long ago. This life belongs to you. Consider it my repayment.”
Those words were already bordering on coldness, as though she were deliberately drawing a line between herself and Liu Mu.
Liu Mu turned around in panic, her voice almost breaking with grief.
“When you say something like that, you’re asking for my life! You call it repayment? Fine. Fine, fine!”
Liu Mu repeated the word three times.
“If I’d known this would happen, I shouldn’t have saved you! I’d rather have swallowed that cup of poison and died once and for all. Then I wouldn’t have had to drag your life into this!”
“You’re threatening me with your death. Do you think I’m afraid?”
Liu Mu pointed toward the marble pillar beside them.
“If you dare stop me today, I’ll smash my head against this pillar and die right here!”
As she spoke, Liu Mu rushed toward the pillar.
Everyone hurried to stop her, but Xiaoman moved the fastest and threw herself in front of the stone pillar.
Liu Mu couldn’t stop herself in time and crashed into Xiaoman.
She immediately panicked and asked,
“Does it hurt? Are you stupid or something?”