Chapter 1: You Are the Reason My Mother Died

“My condolences for your loss, Young Master Xu,” the physician stammered, kneeling in fear before Xu Mu in the clinic at Liangzhou City. Xu Mu, mind clouded with grief, suddenly found himself absorbing a surge of unfamiliar memories.

The experiences of his predecessor flashed before his eyes, stoking a fierce anger within him.

“Didn’t I give you money just yesterday? With enough for medicine, how could my mother still come to harm?” Xu Mu’s eyes blazed crimson as he roared, his voice stripped of the weakness that had previously characterized him.

The physician trembled. “Young Master Xu, what you gave was indeed enough to save your mother, but…” He hesitated, terrified to say more. After all, standing before him was the son-in-law of the magistrate’s granddaughter—a man no humble doctor could afford to offend.

“Speak!” Xu Mu slammed his palm on the table, sending another shudder through the trembling physician.

“Sir, the money you gave yesterday was taken back by your wife, Miss Su,” the physician finally confessed.

Xu Mu’s body quaked violently with rage. His mother had been sickly for years, her life sustained solely by medicine that had exhausted all his savings. Only yesterday, he’d scraped together his last ten taels of silver—his mother’s very lifeline—only for Su Hanwei to take it away.

Realizing this, Xu Mu hurried to his mother’s bedside, checking her pulse. It was gone. Even if he possessed the powers of the immortals, he could not bring the dead back to life.

“I did all I could,” the physician murmured.

Xu Mu could not blame the doctor. When he had brought his mother in, the physician had been clear: her illness was curable, as he had healed similar cases before, but the medicine was costly and could not be given on credit.

“May I leave my mother here for a while?” Xu Mu asked.

The physician hesitated; this was a clinic, not a mortuary. But he knew he had no right to refuse.

Xu Mu left, following the threads of memory back home. As he arrived, a young lady clad in fine garments, her skin fair and features beautiful, stepped out. This was Su Hanwei, granddaughter of the Liangzhou magistrate. Years earlier, when Xu Mu and his mother had first arrived in Liangzhou, the old magistrate had taken a liking to him and married his granddaughter to Xu Mu.

Reflecting on two and a half years of marriage, Xu Mu’s predecessor had always treated Su Hanwei with deference, while she had shown only disdain.

Su Hanwei, seeing the stormy look on his face, arched an eyebrow, annoyance etched across her features.

“Why aren’t you by your mother’s side?” she asked coldly.

“Did you take my mother’s medical money?”

“Oh, I forgot to mention—Brother Shucheng caught a chill a few days ago, so I used that money to pay for his treatment,” she replied airily.

Rage shot through Xu Mu, nearly blinding him. Brother Shucheng was Su Hanwei’s childhood companion, Liang Shucheng—the one she could never forget, her unattainable beloved. And this woman had taken his mother’s only hope of survival to cure her first love’s cold? She even spoke as if it was perfectly justified. Didn’t she know what guilt was? Did she have no sense of right and wrong?

Suppressing the urge to lash out, Xu Mu ground his teeth. “Did you know that was my mother’s only chance at life?”

“What chance at life?” Su Hanwei scoffed, utterly contemptuous. “Your mother’s been ill for ages. What difference would a few days make? Brother Shucheng’s health is frail; what if something happened to him?”

Xu Mu’s face darkened further. “You took my mother’s life-saving money. She died because of you.”

“Xu Mu!” Su Hanwei advanced two steps, her manner menacing. “Who are you trying to intimidate? Are you jealous of Brother Shucheng? Didn’t you always say you didn’t mind us being close? Turns out you’re just a hypocrite. How disappointing!”

Rage shook Xu Mu to his core. No decent person could utter such words. Su Hanwei was his mother’s daughter-in-law—yet all she cared about was her precious Shucheng, accusing Xu Mu of jealousy?

His poor mother had always insisted Su Hanwei was a good girl, even on her deathbed urging him to treat her well and never betray her kindness.

How laughable.

Was this what she called a good woman? Was this even human?

Xu Mu’s fist clenched so tightly his nails cut into his flesh.

Seeing his expression darken, Su Hanwei flared up. “You’re making such a face over ten taels spent on Brother Shucheng’s cold? Before you married me, you made endless promises; only after I wed you did I discover your household was barren. Where is your illustrious background? Your wealth? Now I’ve spent ten taels and you’re gnashing your teeth at me!”

“It’s not about the money,” Xu Mu bit out, each word laced with fury.

Su Hanwei slapped him hard across the face. “Do you even know what’s important? To treat Brother Shucheng, only the best doctor and medicine would do. Your mother’s illness—would ten taels have changed anything?”

Xu Mu’s rage made his vision swim. So that was her sense of priorities—his mother wasn’t worth ten taels.

Was this something a human could say?

“I’ll be looking after Brother Shucheng these next few days. You take care of your mother yourself,” Su Hanwei said, pushing past him and striding away.

Watching her recede into the distance, Xu Mu was overcome with desolation. His predecessor had always been weak-willed; if only he’d possessed a modicum of resolve, things would never have come to this. His mother would not be lying in a stranger’s clinic.

A cold sorrow seeped into his bones, his hatred growing ever deeper—it was she who had delayed his mother’s treatment.

He resolved that once he had laid his mother to rest, he would no longer play the fool. He would reclaim the dignity and everything else that he and his mother deserved.

Xu Mu went to the coffin maker’s and bought a coffin on credit, bringing his mother’s body home. Penniless, he couldn’t even give her a proper funeral.

Humiliation burned within him. All of this—every bitter drop—was Su Hanwei’s doing.

He would make her kneel and beg forgiveness at his mother’s grave.

“You always told me Su Hanwei was a good woman and urged me to treat her well. Now I have seen her true face, and I must go against your dying wish. All the suffering you endured, I will make her pay it back in full.”

Upon returning from his mother’s funeral, Xu Mu saw a man and a woman walking up together, chatting and laughing. He was just about to confront Su Hanwei, but she had brazenly brought her beloved into his home.