Su Mi was dead.
Her death was horrific.
She had aborted her husband, Huo Shenxiu's child, to seek out her ex-boyfriend, who was also her husband's nephew, Huo Lang, wishing to rekindle an old romance.
But Huo Lang told her plainly. He had no plans to get back together with her, even mocking her for her self-pity.
Just then, Huo Shenxiu appeared. Hearing of her abortion and plans to run away with his nephew, he was seething with anger and stormed away.
She felt abandoned by the world, wandering absently in the streets, only to be killed by a car that failed to brake.
The impact was harsh.
After the excruciating pain, she found her body becoming light, floating in the air.
She saw the driver who had hit her jump out of his car in panic, telling passersby, "…she was the one who bolted out, it's not my fault…"
Her spirit hovered in mid-air.
In the following days, she was witness to the truth about her brief life.
She saw her younger stepsister Su Lanyou meeting up with the hit-and-run driver, having giving him a considerable sum of money.
She saw her usually indulgent stepmother telling Su Lanyou, "That girl is finally dead. All these years of spoiling her, at least it wasn't in vain. Darling, you can now comfortably be with Huo Lang."
Only then did she realize that her whole life was nothing but a deceit.
After her mother's death to cancer, her stepmother—who was originally her mother's nurse and pregnant with her father's child—swiftly married her father, and gave birth to a younger brother for him.
The stepmother was better to her and her brother than she was to her own biological daughter, Su Lanyou, and her younger son that was born later. She pampered her brother to become an indulgent son, and spoiled her into an innocent and naive sweetheart.
She and Huo Lang had been together since they were young.
However, due to her father's business needs for a strong backer, she reluctantly married Huo Lang's uncle, the rich and powerful magnate of the business circle, Huo Shenxiu, when she came of age.
Huo Shenxiu was often seen wearing a mask due to a facial disfigurement. He had a peculiar temper and was an illegitimate son born to one of the old man in the Huo family's mistresses.
After their marriage, her relationship with Huo Shenxiu was poor, and she never considered him her husband.
Through the constant messages from her sister, she thought Huo Lang still liked her and was waiting for her to get divorced. She even harbored the ludicrous hope of rekindling their past relationship.
That was until she discovered she was pregnant. Sus instigated by Su Lanyou, she had an abortion, and went to find Huo Lang, only to realize that he was disgusted by her.
Her meet-up with Huo Lang was discovered by Huo Shenxiu, thanks to Su Lanyou's intentional tip-off.
Afterward, Su Lanyou arranged for a thug to run her over in what looked like an "accidental" hit-and-run.
Her death was of no concern to the Su family.
And Huo Shenxiu, once made a cuckold, would likely want nothing more than to strangle her with his own hands; he would also be unconcerned about her death.
In the end, her death could only be ruled as a common accident due to her careless actions.
Turns out, Su Lanyou was always jealous of her, and she was also always in love with Huo Lang.
Su Lanyou constantly stirred up conflict between her and Huo Lang, making him disgusted by her. She painted her as someone who wanted the power and wealth of his uncle, willingly chose to be with him, but still wanted to keep a foot in both boats and maintain a relationship with Huo Lang.
Su Lanyou wanted her to lose everything and wished for her to die horribly.
...
At the funeral, Su Mi, floating mid-air, watched as her stepmother and Su Lanyou, mother and daughter, faked their grief in front of the mourning friends and family.
Then, Huo Shenxiu arrived.
The man she had relentlessly rejected and resented, believing he obstructed her happiness…
Actually came to her funeral?
Could it be he was there to spit on her portrait? Or even to lash out at her corpse?
Just as she thought.
In her lifetime, she never cracked a smile at him, even miscarried his child and made a fool out of him, how could he possibly let her die peacefully?
Su Lanyou seemingly thought the same, behind the veil of her tragically crying face, a triumphant smile showed.
Yet unexpectedly, Huo Shenxiu's bodyguard behind him pulled closed the door of the mourning hall, then stepped forward, restraining the Su family couple.
Huo Shenxiu, wearing a mask as thin as a cicada's wing, almost blending with his skin color, stepped forward boldly. With one hand forcing Su Lanyou's head in front of her portrait, he spat out two indifferent words sharp as a blade, shocking everyone:
"Apologize."
Everyone was stunned.
Su Lanyou, looking foolish for a moment, began to cry in fear, "Brother-in-law, I don't understand what you mean..."
Even before she finished her words, her head was aggressively slammed onto the marble platform of the portrait.
With a gash on her forehead, Su Lanyou was in a dreadful state, too gruesome to look at.
Suddenly, everyone held their breath.
Her father and stepmother screamed while the bodyguards pressed them down.
Huo Lang tried to interfere, but was kicked away by Huo Shenxiu’s bodyguard, falling several feet away. He gasped, “Second Uncle, are you insane? Everyone is watching!”
The man’s naturally cold and deep eyes held a fearless sarcasm.
He had anticipated all outcomes for today.
His only goal was to utterly ruin Su Lanyou’s reputation - let her reap what she sowed!
The bodyguard, receiving a nod from Huo Shenxiu, picked up a cloth and stuffed it into Huo Lang’s mouth.
Huo Shenxiu once more gripped Su Lanyou by the back of her neck. His chilly voice echoed throughout the hall, "Speak. Every single thing you did to her. Do not even think about concealing anything."
The stepmother, in fear that Huo Shenxiu would further harm Su Lanyou, knelt down and shrieked, "LanYou, speak up quickly, or you'll lose your life..."
At last, Su Lanyou, gasping for breath, confessed everything. Among the public, she confessed her jealousy towards Su Mi and how she plotted Su Mi’s death.
All the mourners present sucked in a cold breath.
Holland was also stunned. He didn't expect Su Lanyou to do such a thing.
It was Su Mi who was killed by her!
As soon as Su Lanyou finished speaking, she felt a sharp metallic object piercing through the wall beside her face.
The one holding the other end of the Swiss army knife is Holland Shanyou, who was trying his best to restrain his rage.
Only half an inch away, the tip of the knife would have hurt her face.
The color drained from her face, she was as limp as if her skin had been peeled and her bones extracted.
Holland Shanyou suppressed his towering rage and ordered:
"Call the police."
Surprised exclamations echoed through the hall, everyone in a state of chaos.
He seemed deaf to the noise and merely waved his hand.
The bodyguards escorted the mourning guests out one by one, and then escorted Holland, his stepmother, and Su Lanyou out.
As the mourning hall quieted down, the man wiped the blood from his hand and walked slowly to Su Mi's portrait, wiping a splash of blood that had accidentally sprayed onto her portrait with a clean slender finger:
"Revenge, I’ve avenged you."
Su Mi never would have expected that the man to avenge her was the one she had betrayed the deepest, and hurt the most.
After a while, she found herself crying.
"Huo Shenxiu, is it all for me?..."
She clenches her fists and slams them into his shoulder, desperate to wake him up.
But her actions are as ineffective as if she were hitting air.
In the end, she runs out of strength, squatting down on the ground. As she looks up again, she sees the man murmuring at the portrait of her:
"You've always wanted to see what I look like. Now, let me show you."
He removes his mask.
A perfect face is revealed to Su Mi.
With a high-bridged nose, deep facial contours, and stunning eyes that twinkle like the stars distributed under his thick eyebrows, he seems as cold and profound as the cosmos.
Every feature on his face appears to be finely sculpted by an artisan.
A sight to behold.
She can't believe her own eyes.
Her husband, the man rumored to have been disfigured in his youth and wore a mask for years, is not only not disfigured but is also one of the most handsome men she's ever seen—
Why…
She wants to ask him, but as she opens her mouth, her strength seems drained, and everything before her turn black…
Burning.
A wave of heat, too overbearing to utter, invaded every inch of her body.
Su Mi let out a sound, one that even she found bashful upon hearing.
Feather-like eyelashes fluttered open, and the man before her came into focus, transitioning from blurry to clear.
The man in the mask had fine beads of perspiration trickling down his forehead, and from his handsome face there was a faint trace of hidden forbearance.
She froze.
It was Huo Shenxiu...
