Chapter 76.2 White Hair

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Nian Muning followed Tantai Jin.

Tantai Jin didn’t hurt Nian Muning. Perhaps because she’d watched over Su Su the longest, so she could often recall her life.

This became his last hope.

In the dark dungeon, a dying woman was lying among the millet straw.

Nian Muning looked at Ye Bing Shang with a complicated feeling. The formerly famous beauty of Xia Empire had now become a puddle of rotten meat.

Hearing footsteps, she screamed in pain, “Ahhh—— I beg you, please kill me, just kill me.”

The youth in black sat down cross-legged beside her.

Dripping water echoed, and countless small snakes slithered out of a bamboo basket ¹ How it might look like: by the side. An icy-cold and terrifying sensation enveloped Ye Bing Shang’s body, feasting on her flesh and blood.

She frantically screamed, no longer possessing the gentleness she had in the past.

Tantai Jin sat with her in the snake pit.

The young snakes were hungry and had no spiritual consciousness. They couldn’t recognize the owner who’d raised them and bit Tantai Jin too. He was expressionless, and didn’t care at all. Occasionally, when he was annoyed, he would pull them away.

Ye Bing Shang was going crazy. She was afraid of snakes! Afraid of snakes!

She would rather die than stay in this awful place, but unfortunately Tantai Jin didn’t want to let her die. He’d even calculated how long the snakes would eat everyday.

It wouldn’t kill her, but still made it impossible for her to commit suicide. 

Like an evil spirit, his gentle voice rang in the dungeon, “Are you afraid? So it turns out that when someone faces what they are most afraid of, they’ll look like you.”

As if admiring a beautiful view, he laughed deeply.

“How scared my Empress was, now you are too. She hasn’t been very happy recently, she doesn’t allow me to approach her or go visit her. I hope that she’s happier now, since she hasn’t smiled for a long time. Maybe tomorrow, she’ll be willing to see me.”

Ye Bing Shang was rolling on the ground, no longer able to control herself she shouted, “You lunatic, she’s dead. It’s not just my fault, it’s also yours! You’re in the wrong too. Everything was your decision, you can’t just blame me.”

She thought he would argue and get angry, but unexpectedly Tantai Jin just smiled gently and said, “Yes, I deserve to die too.”

Ye Bing Shang laughed, “You like her, but you killed her yourself. Tantai Jin, even if I die, you won’t be happy. How does it taste to kill the person you love with your own hands? You’re a monster, a monster! Ahh…… get lost, don’t bite me!”

When it was dark, Tantai Jin came out of the dungeon.

Nian Muning hesitated for a long time, but finally decided to tell Tantai Jin the results of the interrogation, “Ye Bing Shang was extremely scared, and she even confessed. She said that when she was eight years old, she went to the villa, lost her footing and fell down a valley.”

“The valley was in full bloom, and there was a woman who’d just given birth and was dying. Seeing that she was also a young little girl, the woman took her in for a few days. Afraid that she would get lost in the valley or encounter danger, she gave her a flying jade flute that led her out.”

It turned out that back then, Ye Bing Shang had sat on the enlarged jade flute, but on the way out of the valley, she happened to meet a bloody demon.

That demon didn’t have long to live. Seeing Ye Bing Shang, who was sitting on the jade flute, he asked her to give a silk brocade bag to the owner of the valley.

The young little girl nodded her head again and again and agreed.

When Ye Bing Shang returned to the valley as promised, her curiosity to know what was inside the silk brocade bag got the best of her. This was her first exposure to such a magical place— a valley where flowers bloomed in winter, a flute that could fly, a stunning woman, and even a demon.

So, what’s inside the bag?

She opened it, and inside lay a pure white object that was as beautiful as ice silk.

She reached out and touched it, and imperceptibly, as if a hand had brushed away a dull fog, her expression instantly became clear and intelligent.

The little girl happily put aside the ‘ice silk’ and looked at the next thing.

Shining with a beautiful luster——

The heart protecting scale.

It was the hardest scale that had fallen from the ancient great demon. She held her breath, almost instantly drawn to it.

The scale cut her palm. The little girl let out a cry, and the restless scale, which sensed the breath of the jade flute, hesitantly becoming quiet.

From the heart protecting scale, Ye Bing Shang saw her future fate.

The little girl bit her lip, clenching the white ‘ice silk’ and heart protecting scale, and glanced at the valley behind her.

That pretty woman, perhaps…… she’s already dead.

Even if she took these things over, no one could use them. Instead, for her, her future was so pitiful, maybe these things could save her.

She grit her teeth and left the valley like she was fleeing.

That winter became Ye Bing Shang’s secret. Later, by chance, the heart protecting scale helped her to merge with the ‘ice silk’.

Only as she gradually grew up did she learn that it was actually a complete string of affection. She used to feel guilty, but the wood was already made into a boat ² 木已成舟 (mùyǐchéngzhōu) – an idiom; What’s done cannot be undone , and she couldn’t find the magical valley to return these things.

She discovered that by having an extra string of affection compared to normal people, no matter how stubborn a man was, he would still show interest in her. It became easy to make someone fall in love with her.

It turned out that by having one string of affection you could love others, and by having two she could make other people love her. Her life was smooth, and on this basis she was willing to be a kind and good person.

Before, she had almost forgotten about everything from her childhood, until Su Su appeared and Xiao Lin’s attitude gradually changed.

Ye Bing Shang finally remembered the opportunity from her childhood—— She’d stolen the string of affection and heart protecting scale that had belonged to the beautiful woman from the valley, and began to spend her days in fear of the fate she’d seen when she was young.

She’d plotted and calculated ³ Full idiom: 千算万算, 不及天算 (Qiān suàn wàn suàn, bùjí tiān suàn) – Whatever human minds intend, it’s Heaven that decides the end. , but in the end, bit by bit she lost what had belonged to her.

Until now, she still didn’t know why Tantai Jin no longer liked her. Shouldn’t he always have a place for her in his heart, just like Xiao Lin and Pang Yizhi?

It was too painful, the dark dungeon, the lewd words of the dirty and smelly prisoners next to her, and the snakes that gnawed at her daily. However, she couldn’t die. She didn’t know what Tantai Jin had done, as when she thought of committing suicide, her whole body would feel weak.

Under such torture, she said out all her secrets.

Tantai Jin returned to the palace, but for a long time he didn’t dare to open the door. The young girl’s body wasn’t like the ten thousand-year-old zombie that had belonged to Pian Ran, it was already marred beyond recognition.

He sat outside the palace, looking out at the bleak night.

All Su Su left behind were the six nails in his heart, and an eye that would weep.

Tantai Jin sat on the steps all night, snowflakes falling on his hair. The Soul Extinguishing Nails were killing him inch by inch, and at first, he found the pain unbearable, but afterwards, he gradually felt numb.

Cold, endless cold. He hugged himself tightly, biting his lip so hard that it bled.

This endless feeling of loneliness made Tantai Jin begin to hate her.

He hadn’t even hated her this way when she’d killed herself.

When the first ray of dawn arrived, he pushed open the door behind him and coldly looked at the body on the bed.

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The author has something to say:

Previously, little angels were talking about hating that , but actually, some people understood that that’s the male lead’s character. Desperate love made him grow hatred. He didn’t know how to be gentle and respectful, it was originally a crazy and nauseating love.

He won’t be normal in the future too, he’ll just be slowly taught how to be a human being.

Edited by: Gaze