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He watched as Lotus closed her eyes.

"Sleep peacefully." Ye Chuhan gazed at him with utmost tenderness, a smile playing on her lips. "I will make you the most perfect and flawless lotus in my hands. No matter what, you will always be my lotus."

Lotus stood amidst a blanket of snow, her fair face seemingly sculpted from snow, while her soft, dark hair cascaded over her fox fur coat, creating a striking contrast between black and white.

Ye Chuhan watched her silently.

It was like an illusion; the lotus flowers now resembled hibiscus dewdrops held in a pear blossom cup, crystal clear, yet they would shatter at the slightest touch of a finger...

Therefore, he never dared to touch her at all.

"Don't get too close to Zhan Yu."

A tender voice reached her ears; Ye Chuhan chuckled softly, "You know, even when it's about carrying out a mission, I still get upset..."

"……yes."

"Don't forget, I told you three years ago that everything here, including you, belongs to me."

Lotus stopped speaking, which meant she remembered.

"She's truly my lovely lotus flower." Ye Chuhan smiled and affectionately stroked her long, black hair, the smooth strands slipping from his slender fingers.

"I'll play the seven-stringed lute for you."

He wrapped her in a snow-white fur coat, walked to the incense burner filled with the smoke of incense, added a handful of benzoin, which has a calming effect, and then turned and walked out.

The door to the room closed gently.

A short while later.

The music of the seven-stringed zither drifted from afar, clear and pure like snowflakes, like the ringing of jade, sometimes soaring high, sometimes tender and gentle, like a chant from thousands of years ago, but for your sake, the frost remains unchanged...

Beside the hot spring pool, Ye Chuhan stroked the seven-stringed zither, and a melody of "High Mountains and Flowing Water" was played on the gentle strings...

Inside the house, the scent of benzoin filled the simple yet elegant room. The girl on the soft couch, curled up in a snow-white fur coat, closed her eyes and breathed heavily as the music of the seven-stringed zither played.

She finally fell asleep.

...

...

In June, lotus flowers bloom all over the lotus ponds in Jiangnan.

On the lush grass, an eight- or nine-year-old girl huddled beside a dying woman, her dirty face glistening with tears, pushing the woman lying on the ground with all her might.

"...Mother...Mother..."

However, the woman was already breathing very weakly, and no matter how hard she pushed, the haggard woman could not make a sound.

"...Mother...Mother..." The little girl cried so hard she could barely breathe, her whole body trembling. "Mother, wake up! Father said we have to run away. Mother can't sleep here..."

"...Xuan'er..." the woman lying on the ground uttered her last words, her voice trembling, "You must remember... never... tell anyone... your name... you must... live..."

The woman's presence was completely extinguished...

"Mother—!!" The little girl grabbed the woman's gradually cooling hand and cried out in terror.

However.

Across from the lotus pond in the wild, four figures stood there. These four people were strangely shaped, and each face looked indescribably lewd and terrifying, with a cruel and indifferent smile on each face.

"Who in the world can escape from the clutches of the Four Blood Shadows?"

"Of course, as long as we bring these two people back, we will naturally get the reward money. It's a pity that the young lady is dead, and I will have to trouble myself to carry her back."

The other man sneered, "Fourth brother is indeed a pig in a human head. Why bother with all this trouble? Let's just cut off her head and take it back!"

Someone clapped and laughed, a terrifying laugh, "It seems that among the four of us brothers, the second brother is still the most clever."

They looked around, laughing and saying such cruel things, showing no sympathy or pity whatsoever for the dead woman and the frail girl.

The frail girl knelt beside her mother's corpse. She looked up at the four people, her face streaked with tears, but her small hands gripped the short dagger in her bosom tightly.

His clear eyes burned with a fierce and resolute flame...

As long as she had a breath left, she wouldn't let anyone touch her mother's corpse!

unless.

She's dead!

In the lotus pond, lotus blossoms bloom, swaying gently in the misty rain.

The light rain, like mist, added a touch of desolation and helplessness to this deserted countryside.

...

...

Lotus suddenly awoke from her dream.

She touched her face and was surprised to find it was covered in cold tear tracks without her noticing.

Inside the golden beast incense burner, the benzoin had long since burned out. Outside the open window, night had enveloped the entire flower valley, and the valley was filled with fragrance, like a fairyland.

She slept for a full day and night.