But when the next scene in Remnants of the Past froze...
Lin Ying still stood there, stunned. The girl appeared again. She really had grown much older, but she had become so gaunt that she barely resembled her former self.
She lit the brazier.
Something was clearly wrong with her. She sat there holding the earthenware jar, the firelight reflected on her vacant face.
That was the money she had spent so long saving. Just as she had said before, she wanted to use it to take her mother away from here, so neither of them would ever have to endure that beast's abuse again.
Even the marks on the locust tree showed that she had finally saved enough to leave.
But something was wrong with her.
The fire burned fiercer and fiercer.
She poured every bit of money she had saved in the jar into the brazier.
As though it were some kind of memorial offering.
As though she no longer needed it, as though everything had lost its meaning.
She watched the fire burn for a long time. Ashes drifted throughout the courtyard, but not a flicker of emotion crossed her face. There was no expression left to see.
From then on...
She never spoke again.
It was as though her soul had perished along with the flames that day.
That night...
She saw the man come home drunk again, stumbling through the snow toward that room.
She heard a shriek.
She heard the sound of clothing being torn apart.
Then came an explosion and a blaze, along with the man's furious roars and curses.
Remnants of the Past froze again.
When the trembling Lin Ying saw her again, she had already become someone else entirely. Half her face was covered in burns and melted flesh. Half