A Shocking Dream

Once, she thought that after enduring countless hardships, she would finally be able to peacefully endure the passage of time and die naturally, bidding farewell to this troubled world. However, fate, like a cruel executioner, extinguished the glimmer of hope she had just ignited and once again threw her into this endless cycle of reincarnation, where everything had to start all over again.

She recalled her past life's experiences, each one like a sharp knife, leaving deep scars on her heart. And during her time in Linzhou, the terror of the epidemic, the imperial court's intervention, and the fickleness of human nature had left her physically and mentally exhausted. Now, faced with this predicament that felt familiar yet fraught with uncertainty, she felt powerless and lost.

"Sometimes I really don't want to live anymore," she murmured to herself. She knew that death might be a relief, but deep down she still had a lingering attachment to what was left of this world, or a reluctance to leave things unfinished. She feared the darkness and silence of death, yet she despaired of a life filled with suffering.

"What are you thinking? How can you take your own life lightly?" Qin Ruoyu frowned when he heard her mumbling, with a hint of scolding and heartache in his voice.

Lin Wunian slowly raised her head and looked at Qin Ruoyu's excited expression, with a bitter smile on her lips: "You won't understand, I'm too tired. For so many years, I have been struggling and enduring, but I can't see the end." Her voice was weak, as if every word had exhausted all her strength.

Qin Ruoyu tightly grasped Lin Wunian's shoulders and shook him vigorously: "I don't care what you have been through, you only have one life, if you give up, you will have nothing. You have saved so many people in Linzhou, and you still have the Wunian Sect that needs you to revive, how can you give up so easily?" His eyes were burning with anger, which was anger at Lin Wunian's contempt for life and indignation at the unfairness of fate.

Lin Wunian gently pushed Qin Ruoyu's hand away and looked out the window with empty eyes. At this moment, the scenery outside the window seemed to have lost its color in her eyes, just a blur of light and shadow.

"You are crazy. This is your home, not mine. Do you know what it feels like to be in a foreign country? Do you know how frustrating it is to have a home but not know how to go back? Do you know how helpless it is to wake up every day and see this world?" Her voice trembled, and every word seemed to be squeezed out from the deepest part of her heart, filled with endless pain and confusion.

Qin Ruoyu was stunned by her sudden outburst. He stood there blankly, staring at Lin Wunian's thin yet stubborn figure. He opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but found that his throat seemed to be choked by something, and for a moment he was speechless.

Lin Wunian continued to talk to himself, as if he was confiding, but also as if he was questioning: "I am in this strange place, like a rootless duckweed, drifting here and there. I look at everything around me, and I feel out of place. Every night, I miss my distant home, but I can't find the way back. That feeling of powerlessness is like countless hands tightly grasping my heart, making it almost impossible to breathe."

Tears welled up in her eyes, but she stubbornly refused to let them fall. She was afraid that if she cried, she would completely collapse and lose the last bit of strength she had left. Qin Ruoyu listened silently, and he began to realize that the woman before him had hidden too much pain deep in her heart that he had never touched.

"Miss Lin, I... I may not be able to fully understand your feelings, but I want to help you." Qin Ruoyu finally uttered these words with difficulty, his eyes full of pity and sincerity.

Lin Wunian turned her head slightly and glanced at him with a hint of suspicion and disdain in her eyes: "You help me? How can you help? Can you take me home?" After saying that, she turned her head away again and fell into her own sadness and helplessness again.

"A foreign country? Miss Lin is from Yun Country?" Qin Rongchen was startled, his eyes instantly becoming complicated, with both surprise and a hint of doubt. He carefully studied Lin Wunian, as if trying to find traces of Yun Country in her expression and temperament.

Lin Wunian didn't respond, but continued to stare out the window with a blank gaze, as if lost in her own world, oblivious to Qin Rongchen's questions. Her thoughts drifted back to distant China, a land with familiar mountains, rivers, customs, and people. There were her childhood laughter, the footprints of her growth, and even the family and friends she couldn't bear to leave behind.

Seeing that Lin Wunian did not answer, Qin Rongchen said softly: "Although Yun Country and our country have exchanges, the journey is long and full of dangers. If Miss Lin is from Yun Country, why would she come here alone?" As he spoke, he slowly approached Lin Wunian, as if afraid of disturbing her thoughts.

Lin Wunian frowned slightly, as if Qin Rongchen's words had pierced a chord deep within her. After a long pause, she slowly spoke, "I didn't come here of my own free will. Fate has trapped me, far from home, in this strange place. I've tried countless times to find a way back, only to return disappointed." Her voice choked with emotion, each word carrying the weight of her longing for home and her yearning to return.

"Didn't Miss Lin say she was from Linjiang that day? How come..." The more Qin Rongchen listened, the more he felt something was amiss. Suspicions clouded his mind, and the image of the Liu family's mansion emerged in his mind. That was where he had gone that day to inquire about the whereabouts of a girl named Yuanyuan.

When Lin Wunian heard Qin Rongchen's words, her body stiffened slightly, and a subtle panic flashed in her eyes, but she quickly regained her composure. She was silent for a moment, as if thinking about how to respond.

"Excuse me, Miss Lin, do you know a girl named Yuanyuan?" Qin Rongchen stared at Lin Wunian closely, not missing any change in her facial expression.

Qin Ruoyu was startled when he heard this. Could it be that the uncle had seen through it? He looked at Lin Wunian nervously, his heart instantly in his throat. Lin Wunian's expression was calm, and she only lowered her eyes slightly, making it difficult to read her thoughts at the moment.

At this moment, Lin Wunian slowly removed the veil she had been wearing, her movements light and decisive. As the veil fell, a stunningly beautiful face was revealed. Her skin was whiter than snow, her eyes were like stars, her eyebrows were like distant black ink. Her delicate features seemed to be carefully carved by heaven, a beauty that was breathtaking.

Qin Rongchen's eyes locked onto her face, and the suspicions he had long harbored in his heart were instantly magnified. He had secretly wondered countless times if Lin Wunian was actually Lin Bingshuang, but now, with this face so vividly before him, his breathing couldn't help but pause.

Lin Wunian looked directly into Qin Rongchen's eyes and said calmly: