Ye Huohuo closed her eyes, resigned. In that moment, she even felt an unprecedented sense of relief. She had spent every day struggling against fate, trying every possible way to survive. In the end, death was unavoidable.
If she had known this would happen, should she have bothered with so much effort before?
Especially after meeting Li Mohan. To get acquainted with him, she had practically memorized every detail about his family members. She had even cast a divination for each of them, trying to ensure everything was perfect.
But in the end, it all turned out to be for nothing.
Was she to blame Li Mohan? She couldn't. She knew he had someone else in his heart. She was greedy, wanting not just his presence but also his heart. When she couldn't have it, she wanted to give up everything, including her own life.
This was a high-stakes gamble for her, betting that she could survive without him and find the person behind everything.
Unfortunately, she never had luck with gambles. This time, she had lost even more completely, ultimately losing her own life.
Peace!
Perhaps everyone felt this way at the moment of death. Only two words described it: peace…
The wind stopped, the rustling of the leaves ceased, and the world seemed to freeze in that instant. Death had arrived!
After her heart pounded a few times, Ye Huohuo didn't feel the expected pain. Instead, she heard a surprised exclamation, "Wow, nice moves!"
Nice moves? Who? Was it her? Ye Huohuo kept her eyes closed, her mind sluggish. She had thrown her face into someone's knife. How could that be called "nice moves"?
No, she should have been dead by now, her brain pierced by a knife. How could she not even feel pain?
What was going on?
She opened her eyes and suddenly found herself about a meter off the ground, suspended there without falling. What was this situation?
While her mind was still processing, she felt her waist being encircled, as if tightly squeezed by something, making it difficult to breathe.
At the same time, screams echoed from all around.
What had happened? What was going on with her?
Although Ye Huohuo's mind was slow, it was still working. She finally understood the situation: she was being held face down, clamped under someone's arm.
Who? Who had saved her at this critical moment? But this posture was truly uncomfortable!
"Let… let me down, you're suffocating me!" Ye Huohuo managed to squeeze out the words.
The person holding her didn't speak or put her down. They just loosened their grip on her arm, making it easier for her to breathe.
Then, Ye Huohuo felt her scalp being firmly gripped by what felt like animal claws, and a sharp voice entered her ears, "You big dummy, you deserve this!"
Eldest Senior Brother?
Ye Huohuo's heart leaped with joy, tears welling up.
"Eldest Senior Brother, you found rescuers to save me!" Ye Huohuo tried to lift her head, but the bird perched on her head. She hadn't thought much of it before, but now she felt how heavy Eldest Senior Brother was, pressing down so hard she couldn't lift her head.
"Serves you right! Serves you right!" Eldest Senior Brother Nie Ming didn't want to get up. Standing on her head, he continued to curse her.
"Are you my Eldest Senior Brother? I'm already so miserable, and you're scolding me instead of helping! Get off my head quickly!" Ye Huohuo shook her head, but Nie Ming was determined to keep his feet on her head. No matter how she shook her head, it stood firm on the back of her scalp.
Its hook-like claws dug into Ye Huohuo's scalp, causing her such pain that tears threatened to stream down her face.
Ye Huohuo finally surrendered in frustration. "This kind sir holding me, could you please give me a break and put me down? I'm about to vomit from being squeezed, and it wouldn't be good if I vomited on you!"
Ye Huohuo struggled a bit, but her three arrow wounds made her wince with pain at every movement.
"You know pain?" a voice carrying a killing intent, yet cold, came from above her.
This is?
Ye Huohuo shivered at the sound of that voice.
Li Mohan?
Could the person holding her be Li Mohan?
Her face was pressed downwards, so she couldn't see his upper body. She could only see his shoes and pants. In her memory, Li Mohan always wore suits and leather shoes, the attire of a typical corporate elite. But this person was wearing black sweatpants and gray sneakers.
They didn't look like clothes Li Mohan would ever wear!
But that voice, it was undeniably that of the great ice mountain.
"Li Mohan?" Ye Huohuo asked tentatively.
The other party didn't respond, but the chill emanating from him intensified.
Now Ye Huohuo was certain it was him. She hadn't felt such an aura of coldness from anyone else but Li Mohan.
"Let me down! Eldest Senior Brother, you're not helping him?" Ye Huohuo panicked. The last person she wanted to see right now was Li Mohan. She didn't want him to see her in such a pathetic state. Forgetting her arrow wounds, she struggled desperately.
She was wearing a goose-yellow suit, and with her struggles, blood seeped from her wounds, quickly soaking a large area. Even in the darkness, it looked chilling.
"Stop moving!" Li Mohan's anger flared even more, and he finally put her down.
Ye Huohuo half-crawled on the ground, looking as disheveled as one could possibly be. She tried to stand up, but there was a small bush right behind her. As she turned, the three arrows in her body scraped against the branches.
"Hiss…" The pain made Ye Huohuo gasp for air, and she quickly crawled forward half a step.
She crawled right to Li Mohan's feet. Just as Ye Huohuo was about to turn away, someone grabbed her chin, forcing her to look at him.
Ye Huohuo looked up and saw Li Mohan half-kneeling before her. His light brown eyes were filled with rage, and he looked down at her, his thin lips slightly parted. His voice was laced with ice shards, "Are you still running?"
Ye Huohuo felt a chill crawl up her spine under his cold gaze. She swallowed hard. "I'm not running! I'm doing something!"
"Nonsense, nonsense. If you weren't trying to run, why did you cut the red thread?" The bird, Nie Ming, perched on a nearby branch, chimed in.
"I… Eldest Senior Brother! Are you siding with him?!" Ye Huohuo felt the urge to pluck all of the bird's feathers. It was adding insult to injury, kicking her while she was down, rubbing salt in her wounds.
"Answer my question, are you still running?" Li Mohan wasn't swayed by her diversion and continued to press the issue. He tightened his grip on her chin, pulling upwards, forcing tears into Ye Huohuo's eyes. However, she stubbornly held them back, blinking them away.
"I told you, I'm not running. I'm just doing my own thing. What does that have to do with you?" Li Mohan's actions ignited Ye Huohuo's temper.
Li Mohan narrowed his eyes. "Has nothing to do with me? You are my wife. How can your affairs have nothing to do with me?" Every word was squeezed out from between his teeth. The chilling aura was so intense that even the bird, Nie Ming, who was not close, flapped its wings and took two steps back in alarm.
Ye Huohuo had a stubborn streak; she responded to kindness but not force. Once her stubbornness kicked in, nothing could change her mind.
The moment she cut the red thread herself, she had made a decision: she would no longer accept any help from Li Mohan.
A cold smile curled her lips, and she met Li Mohan's gaze fearlessly. "Mr. Li, don't think too highly of yourself. The thread of our marriage has been severed. We are no longer connected. Without you, I, Ye Huohuo, have lived for twenty years."
Li Mohan tightened his grip on Ye Huohuo's chin. The pain finally made Ye Huohuo's tears fall, but she defiantly wiped them away with her hand the next second.
"Living without me? If I hadn't arrived in time just now, wouldn't there be a dagger in your face right now? Would you still be talking to me so defiantly?"
Looking at this stubbornly suicidal young girl before him, he felt an urge to strangle her, or perhaps to pin her down and torment her until she begged for mercy, to see if she could still be so defiant!
"Oh dear, one is willing, the other is willing. Can't you two talk properly?" Fang Fang intervened in time to smooth things over. "Sir, this young girl is seriously injured. Coupled with her current poor health, if she talks any longer, you might have to collect her corpse!"