Volume 1, Chapter 132: Is it Self-Righteous Love or Deliberate Consideration?

“Is there something you absolutely must accomplish? Something more important than the two of us?”

“Didn’t we agree already?”

Zhang Wanwan instinctively reached to punch Luo Tianshang’s chest, but her hand passed right through him.

Startled, she suddenly realized that Luo Tianshang was already dead.

Seeing her red-rimmed eyes, Luo Tianshang felt a pang of guilt, but he could change nothing. All he could do was apologize repeatedly, “Wanwan, I’m sorry.”

“What’s the use of sorry? How am I supposed to live the rest of my life without you? How can I live without you?”

Zhang Wanwan’s emotions surged, waking Luo Yiyi, who had just gone to bed.

Thinking her mother was hallucinating again and talking to herself, Luo Yiyi said softly, “Mom, it’s late. Please sleep. Dad tonight is—”

Luo Yiyi froze.

Could it be that I’m hallucinating too?

She rubbed her eyes.

The vision remained.

She rubbed again.

Until the apparition called her name, “Yiyi.”

The familiar voice brought tears to Luo Yiyi’s beautifully shaped brows and eyes.

It wasn’t that she didn’t miss her father, but she had to be strong for her mother’s sake.

“Dad…”

Her voice choked.

“Coo coo…”

A bird’s call outside seemed to urge them on.

Luo Tianshang turned back, gazing tenderly at Zhang Wanwan, whose tears of anger and confusion fell like a torrent. His eyes almost seemed to unravel into threads.

“Wanwan…” Luo Tianshang’s voice was gentle and husky, stopping Zhang Wanwan’s tears for a moment.

“To have married Zhang Wanwan in this life is the blessing I earned from many past lives.”

“In this life, I have failed Zhang Wanwan, but if there is a next life, I will make it up to her twice over!”

“If you don’t mind, let’s meet by the Bridge of Helplessness—no matter what, we won’t part!”

Luo Tianshang spoke with resolute force, each word a solemn vow.

Wiping her tears, Zhang Wanwan offered the first genuine smile in days, her gaze full of affection and shimmering with tears. “By the Bridge of Helplessness, no matter what, we won’t part.”

“Coo coo~”

Another bird’s call sounded outside the door.

“You must come out before the third bird call,”

Mu Ling’s voice echoed in Luo Tianshang’s mind again, reminding him it was time to leave.

He made a silent hugging motion, embracing his wife wordlessly. “Wanwan, I have to go.”

This time, Zhang Wanwan did not stop him. With tears in her eyes, she called after him, “Wait.”

She took off the jade bracelet she had worn for years from her wrist and without hesitation, struck it sharply on the table. It shattered into two halves with a crisp sound.

“Wanwan, what are you doing? That’s a keepsake from your mother!” Luo Tianshang winced in pain for her.

Zhang Wanwan tucked one half away carefully. “I’m afraid I’ll grow so old by the time you come back that you won’t recognize me.”

“This half I will entrust to the master to deliver to you; I’ll keep the other half. Seeing the bracelet will be like seeing me.”

Luo Tianshang opened his mouth to say something but vanished into thin air like dust before he could speak.

“Yiyi, in a few days, a package will be delivered to you.”

A gentle breeze whispered past Luo Yiyi’s ear, carrying Luo Tianshang’s final words.

“Coo coo~”

The third bird call rang out.

“Mr. Mu, I’m coming out now.”

Luo Tianshang appeared, the seams on his body slowly splitting open, his form fracturing horrifically.

“If you’d been a second later, you would have revealed your true form before mother and daughter.”

Even Mu Ling was sweating nervously for him.

His death was so gruesome that although Qin Yu had patched him up with magic, the repairs couldn’t hold for long before splitting again.

Standing outside the door, Luo Tianshang watched the shadows of the mother and daughter clutching their heads in sorrow by the window, his heart aching painfully.

“Would you regret staying? They would have had a better life.”

Mu Ling asked.

Luo Tianshang gave a bitter smile. “Does regret do any good?”

Mu Ling sighed. “Money isn’t that important to them.”

Luo Tianshang shook his head, laughing at him. “They say money isn’t everything, but without money, nothing works—that’s reality.”

Mu Ling’s eyes suddenly turned cold. He snapped, “You people are so self-righteous! Thinking what you give them is what they need! But you’ve never truly understood what they want!”

He seemed to be speaking to Luo Tianshang—or something else entirely.

Luo Tianshang was stunned by the rebuke and dared not speak.

He wondered silently: This is his family matter, right? Why does Mr. Mu seem even more agitated?

[Several days later]

Luo Yiyi indeed received an anonymous package.

It was very heavy; she couldn’t move it alone.

She called Zhang Wanwan, and together they carried it home.

“Yiyi, what did you order online that’s this heavy?” Zhang Wanwan hesitated, thinking of their current financial situation.

“This is from Dad.”

Due to the change in climate, Luo Yiyi’s face was dotted with several large pimples, and her once fair and rosy skin had developed freckles from sun exposure.

Compared to the goddess image she had shown on her livestream not long ago, it was like night and day.

They opened the package, and gold and silver spilled out.

—

Qin Yu looked at the sullen Mu Ling returning and asked, “Did things not go well?”

Mu Ling showed no interest, expressionless, saying only, “The person has been sent off,” before retreating into his space.

Qin Yu was left puzzled.

Who had provoked him this time?