The mistress who remarried has returned.

Seeing that he hadn't touched the flower cake in his hand, Su Yunxi said, "You haven't finished your cake yet. Finish it first."

Qin Huai, as if he were completing a task under her watchful gaze, chewed down the flower cake from the roadside stall. The way he ate the seasonal flower cake from the roadside stall gave off the feeling of a young master from a wealthy family forcing himself to eat something he didn't want to do.

After completing his task, Qin Huai turned to pull the horse's reins. He tasted the sweet and slightly bitter flavor of winter flowers, and his mouth seemed to be filled with a forest of flowering trees.

Su Yunxi couldn't help but smile. "But I still don't want to go back. I want to stay here and look at the lanterns..."

"It's very late."

"Do you want to go back?" Su Yunxi asked.

"I'm fine, but I can't sleep when I get back. I haven't been sleeping well these past few days. Aren't you cold?"

Su Yunxi remembered that he suffered from insomnia because of his brother's drowning when he was young, but the insomnia could not be caused by her coming back to see him these past few days.

She was worried that he would be angry if he saw the cloak she had ruined. She was also worried that Qin Huai would leave in anger after the flower cakes were finished, leaving her to face Lord Su alone.

All that awaited her were bad things. She weighed less than 100 pounds, which was far too meager, and she was actually quite scared.

"Could we stay a little longer? Look how beautiful those lanterns are." Before Su Yunxi could finish speaking, the lanterns on the arched bridge were turned off when their time was up. "..."

"You're stalling for time because you don't want to return the cloak to me, is that it?" Qin Huai asked in a deep voice, lowering his hand to lift her chin and look into her eyes. "You don't want to return it; you want to keep it for yourself, don't you?"

Su Yunxi didn't hesitate. He had given her a way out, and any hesitation would be a disregard for that opportunity. So, she decisively said, "I don't want to return it to you. Can you give me that cloak instead? Qin Huai, we separated so suddenly four years ago. I don't have anything of yours with me... Let's keep it as a memory."

"You will definitely need to wear that cloak in a couple of days. The old man has already told me to, so I don't want to trouble him," Qin Huai said in a deep voice. "Once I get that cloak, I can take off this undergarment and give it to you."

Seeing that he couldn't delay any longer, and that night had fallen, with fifty miles still to go back to the Su residence, Su Yunxi decided that he had too many important matters to attend to each day and couldn't afford to be too preoccupied with them. He decided that he should face his actions honestly, offer a sincere apology, and explain why he had destroyed the cloak. He also explained that it wasn't entirely out of disrespect for Su Yunxi, and then see what he could do to make amends.

In short, let's take it one step at a time. When things reach the bridge, we'll see if things go straight or not.

When they returned to the Su residence, the moon was already high in the sky, and it was midnight.

The mansion was quiet; everyone in the front and back courtyards had retired for the night.

Qin Huai stopped the horse at the side gate.

The night grew increasingly cold. He had been wrapping Su Yunxi in his cloak, but now that he had dismounted, he had no choice but to open the cloak.

As soon as she opened her cloak, Su Yunxi gasped in cold air, but didn't say the words "it's so cold," as she was used to suppressing her feelings.

Qin Huai dismounted first. This time, Su Yunxi didn't wait for him to gesture her waist with his hands, lest she remember that he thought she was too skinny. She dismounted herself and took down her incense-making tools, food box, and the expensive clothes he had given her from his horse.

"Wait here for a moment, I'll go in and get you the cloak, and then bring it back to you."

"No rush, watch the road carefully."

Qin Huai nodded, casually tossed the reins off the horse, and a guard came over to help him lead the horse away.

Su Yunxi had gotten used to his elusive shadows. A big shot like him definitely needed shadows to follow him, because his non-partisan attitude had actually offended a lot of people. Everyone was just waiting for an opportunity to make their move, but he was an unyielding and straightforward official.

After Qin Huai nodded, Su Yunxi pushed open the side door.

Her mother and younger brother had left the door open for her, which saved her from having to call her mother to open the door and cause her any trouble or worry.

She comes back to the mansion from time to time these days, so the door is always left open for her.

After Su Yunxi returned, she placed the food box on the table in the outer room. Worried about waking her mother and brothers in the nearby room, she quietly returned to her bedroom and placed the incense-making tools and the clothes given to her by Qin Huai on the table.

After calming down a bit, I could vaguely make out the outline of the trash can.

She then went to her mother's and brother's rooms and peeked through the cracks in the windows. She could vaguely see that they were both sleeping peacefully, so they must not have been blamed by Su Yuanzhou. She was relieved, as there had been no action taken from them yet.

After checking on her mother and brother, Su Yunxi returned to her bedroom and lit a candle.

The room was illuminated by the dim light of a kerosene lamp.

She let out a breath before walking to the trash can, bending down to look at the large patch of indigo inside, and feeling a mixture of regret and admiration for her rashness.

He sighed several times.

It was a fait accompli, and she had no choice but to face it. She bent down and picked up the indigo cloak that she had cut up from the trash can. The cloak was still covered with rotten vegetable leaves that her mother had thrown in earlier. She quickly removed the vegetable leaves one by one from the cloak and carefully blew off the dust, although it was of no use.

She took the cloak in her hand and examined it. Holding it up to the candlelight, she saw that there were long tears at the collar, back, and hem, and even if they had been embroidered, there were still traces.

Since things have come to this point, we have no choice but to face it head-on; tonight is not going to pass any longer.

Su Yunxi took a deep breath and planned to go outside to return the cloak to Qin Huai and apologize. Since he didn't see her take the cloak out of the trash can, it was a little easier to explain.

However, as he passed by the bronze mirror, he vaguely saw that besides his own reflection, there was another person in the room, and his gaze fell on her.

She had just gone out to check if her mother and brothers were safe and sound. When she returned to the house, the lights were not yet on, and she did not notice anyone was there.

Suddenly she caught sight of a figure and was startled. Instinctively, she covered her face with her cloak. In the process, the cloak suddenly unfolded and hung from her hand to the ground. She pierced a few fingers through the tear and clenched it tightly.

She let out a soft gasp, her heart pounding wildly. She quickly turned around, intending to get a better look at the person. Could it be a bandit? Her gaze finally pierced through the tear in the collar of her cloak, and she could finally see the person clearly.

"Qin Huai..."

It was actually Qin Huai!

Su Yunxi's heart was pounding wildly; it felt more like she had stumbled upon a band of thieves...

We just kept looking at each other through the broken opening.

Qin Huai stood not far from the bronze mirror, beside her bed covered with light-colored sheets. His gaze fell on the indigo cloak in her hand, then on her dark-colored trash can, and finally on her face.

He knew exactly what he had been for those seven years. Trash.

Su Yunxi couldn't explain why, but she felt as if something had broken.

Qin Huai peered through the torn cloak at Su Yunxi's face hidden behind it, his question almost obsessive, "Is this what Master meant by cherishing my cloak so much and taking such good care of it?"