Xi Yan

The little girl turned and shouted into the house, "Mother, someone's here—"

A young woman in a thorn hairpin and plain cloth skirt came out. She was about twenty-seven or twenty-eight, slender and graceful. Her steps were light but swift. The moment she emerged, she gathered the little girl behind her before raising her head to look at the visitors.

She first saw Pan Yun. Seeing that she was a little girl in a Daoist robe, pleasant at first sight, she smiled and was about to greet her when her peripheral vision swept past Pan Yun. Her gaze went over her shoulder to the woman in red standing behind her.

Xi Yan's mouth fell open as she stared at her in shock. "Chao Yan..."

Xiao Hong stared blankly at her too. A moment later, she became excited. "I remember, I remember! The moment I saw you, my memories came surging forth like spring water bursting from the ground. Everything about you—I remembered it all at once."

Xiao Hong was wholly caught up in her excitement, but tears streamed down Xi Yan's face. She rushed forward and threw her arms around her. "You're alive. You're actually alive..."

Xiao Hong's entire body went stiff. She stood there at a loss. Though she remembered, she could not feel Xi Yan's excitement.

The person in her arms was icy cold, especially noticeable in winter. Once her excitement faded, Xi Yan felt as though she were holding a block of ice, without the slightest warmth or breath of heat.

She let go of Xiao Hong blankly and looked at her.

Only upon closer inspection did she realize that the person before her was pale. Between breaths... no, she seemed not to be breathing at all.

Only then did she remember what the county commandant had