Volume One, Chapter 12: Th-That Is My Bone

Page 1 of 3

The servant was badly frightened by him. “President Fu, didn’t Madam go to Sanya for a vacation?”

Only then did Fu Hanzhou come to his senses. He murmured, “That’s right. Tang Xing is in Sanya. She’s in Sanya...”

Fu Hanzhou staggered upstairs, looking utterly lost.

The servant could only shake his head.

Early the next morning, Fu Hanzhou heard someone muttering mysteriously downstairs.

He descended with a splitting headache. He had slept poorly after a nightmare the night before, and now the noise so early in the morning only made him more irritable.

“What’s going on? Why is it so noisy downstairs?”

The servant hurriedly reported the matter, trembling with fear.

“It’s Miss Su. She said she dreamed last night that Madam had turned into a vengeful ghost and come to claim her life. Afraid it might frighten the baby in her womb, she invited a revered monk first thing this morning to perform a ritual and drive away the evil spirits!”

Fu Hanzhou’s brows drew together.

It seemed Su Wanyue had dreamed the same dream as he had.

“Brother Hanzhou, you’re awake!”

The moment Su Wanyue saw him, she came forward with a radiant smile, slipped her arm around his, and nestled against him.

One by one, the servants quickly lowered their heads, afraid of seeing something they ought not to see.

Fu Hanzhou glanced at the wedding portrait of Tang Xing and himself hanging on the staircase.

In it, one of them wore a smile as bright as flowers, while the other looked cold and solemn.

He froze.

I let out a self-mocking laugh. I should have realized it then that he did not love me. I had only been deceiving myself.

“This is the Fu residence. It isn’t appropriate for you and me to embrace here, Wanyue.”

A trace of resistance flashed through Fu Hanzhou’s eyes as he freed himself from her arms.

Su Wanyue stared at her suddenly empty hands, disappointment filling her heart.

“Brother Hanzhou, are you blaming me for getting too close to you?” As she spoke, Su Wanyue suddenly covered her mouth and began to sob. “Sister Tang Xing appeared in my dream last night and said she was going to kill my child. I told her that if she wanted someone’s life, she should take mine—she mustn’t take my child’s!”

Panic flashed in Fu Hanzhou’s eyes. “How is the baby?”

“Fortunately, nothing happened. I had already prayed for a talisman of protection, so the baby was safe. I was only frightened during the night.”

Fu Hanzhou breathed a sigh of relief. His gaze fell upon Su Wanyue’s belly, his eyes softening.

“That’s good. I’ll have someone prepare chicken soup for you later to restore your strength.”

“Brother Hanzhou, I knew you cared about me more than anyone!”

The two of them embraced and clung to each other, making me feel sick to my stomach.

When I was pregnant with my first child, I had nearly miscarried, yet Fu Hanzhou had shown not the slightest concern. Even when I was ill, he still expected me to serve him all three meals and do twelve hours of housework every day.

I had been treated worlds apart from Su Wanyue.

“Miss Su, the revered monk left you a talisman of protection. He said you should place it beneath your pillow at night. It will help ensure you sleep well.”

Page 1 of 3

Page 2 of 3

Su Wanyue received it as though it were a priceless treasure, smiling with innocent radiance like a pure white lotus untouched by worldly affairs.

Seeing how happy she was, Fu Hanzhou raised his hand and rewarded each of the monks with one hundred thousand.

I remembered how, when I had once bought a piece of clothing that cost barely a thousand, Fu Hanzhou had accused me of spending money recklessly.

So it was not that my spending was unjustified. It was simply that I was not someone he considered worth spending money on.

“Brother Hanzhou, you don’t look well. Why don’t we go to Antique Street and buy some antiques to ward off the evil influence? I heard there are some excellent pieces there lately. Whoever arrives first gets them!”

Su Wanyue spoke with such conviction that, although Fu Hanzhou had not wanted to go at first, every time he closed his eyes, the gruesome sight of my death rose before him and terrified him.

He usually took a nap at noon, but after the nightmare the previous night, he decided not to sleep at all that day.

Instead, he went with Su Wanyue to stroll around the antique market she had mentioned.

“All right!”

This time, Fu Hanzhou deliberately avoided intimate contact with Su Wanyue.

Several times she tried to take his hand, but he evaded her each time.

“Wanyue, know your limits!”

Fu Hanzhou felt a chill creep up the back of his neck.

He had the persistent sensation that someone was watching him from behind. When he turned around, he saw nothing but passersby. Frowning, he turned back.

I gave a cold laugh. I was a lonely wandering ghost who followed him around twenty-four hours a day. No wonder he felt frightened.

Even if I could not be reincarnated yet, frightening this scumbag was something at least.

“We’re here!”

Su Wanyue’s voice brought me back to my senses.

I looked up and saw three grand characters written in sweeping calligraphy above the traditional Chinese entrance: Treasure Appraisal Pavilion.

What exquisite calligraphy!

As soon as they entered, Su Wanyue asked the shopkeeper, “Where is the bone pendant I commissioned?”

The shopkeeper had a shrewd gaze beneath his two drooping mustaches. The moment he saw Su Wanyue, he answered obsequiously, “Miss Su, how could I forget something you personally entrusted to me? Look, this bone pendant has just been finished. It’s still warm. Go on, touch it.”

Su Wanyue covered her nose, shot him a warning glance, and then smiled as she slipped her arm around the distracted Fu Hanzhou.

“Brother Hanzhou, I had this bone pendant specially made for you. It’s made from sacred bone that was enshrined in a temple for a hundred years and blessed by the light of the Buddha. It’s priceless! There’s nothing better for driving away evil spirits.”

Fu Hanzhou touched it half-heartedly. To his surprise, it was warm to the touch. Though hard, the bone had an exceptionally smooth texture.

His attention was completely captured by the white jade pendant.

Almost as if possessed, he said, “How much? I’ll take it.”

For some reason, the feel of the bone seemed strangely familiar, as though he had touched it somewhere before.

I leaned closer for a look.

There was a tiny nail embedded in the pendant. It was almost impossible to notice unless one examined it carefully, but I knew that nail all too well.

After Fu Hanzhou’s car accident, he had thrown a fit and insisted on going out to find Su Wanyue, who had gone abroad and married someone else. In his agitation, he had accidentally fallen from the third floor.

I had grabbed him in time, only to fall all the way down to the first floor myself.

Page 2 of 3

Page 3 of 3

My leg bone had shattered, and the doctor had used that very nail to secure it in place.

It felt as though lightning had struck me.

I stood there, dumbfounded.

This... this was my leg bone!

I remembered what the doctor had said before—that he would flay me and draw out my bones.

Could it be that not even a single bone of my corpse had remained?

The thought made me tremble.

“And what about this?” Su Wanyue asked with a smile as she carried over a white jade statue of the Goddess of Mercy.

The statue was snowy white and lustrous, its expression serene and compassionate. Ordinary white jade was white throughout, but this statue was suffused with a faint pink hue, like the delicate, smooth skin of a young girl.

There was something strangely beautiful about it.

Yet the moment I sensed the statue drawing near, gooseflesh rose all over my body and my scalp prickled.

I leaned closer and examined it carefully.

My pupils contracted violently.

I recoiled several steps in terror, my face deathly pale.

This... this was my cremated ash. My ashes had been mixed into this statue of the Goddess of Mercy!

The thought filled me with profound fear.

Who was it?

Who could hate me so deeply?

They had not even spared my corpse. They had used such a cruel method to grind my bones into dust, then painstakingly crafted them into an object to be given to my husband.

And the statue made from my ashes—who was it meant for?

Fu Hanzhou asked, “Who are you giving the statue to?”

He had asked the very question I wanted answered.

I fixed my gaze on Su Wanyue.

She smiled with innocent brightness, looking harmless to both people and animals.

“The clan matriarch will arrive tomorrow. I hope to present it to her as a meeting gift at the family banquet, so she will accept a child like me who has no blood ties to the family.”

Fu Hanzhou’s heart stirred. Seeing her cheeks flushed and her small face especially endearing, he took her hand of his own accord and said tenderly, “She will. The old lady is very open-minded. She even took a liking to a cold-hearted woman like Tang Xing. A kind girl like you will certainly win her affection.”

Page 3 of 3