Chapter 58

Why did the young master have to return just one day late?
A delay of one day shouldn’t have mattered.
The young lady passed away yesterday.
The young lady is already dead.
Dead.
Jian Yu'er’s persuasion when they departed from Jinling, his own hesitant agreement, the devastating news of Yan Yiming’s departure, these thoughts echoed in his mind over and over, relentlessly, unable to be escaped, avoided, or shaken off.
He still vividly remembered Yan Yiming’s serene expression before he left, how she stood in the snow, cloaked, seeing him off. He had called out loudly, telling her to wait for his return. Jiang Yi reached out, wanting to grasp her hand, but in an instant, everything shattered. Suddenly, all he could see was a pitch-black coffin.
And the relentless, haunting refrain.
Dead, dead!
Already dead.
Breaking out in a cold sweat, Jiang Yi jolted awake from the nightmare. Opening his eyes, he realized it had all been a dream and was about to breathe a sigh of relief when his gaze once again met the small white flower tucked in the maid’s hair.
Jiang Yi's hand hidden beneath the quilt trembled uncontrollably, yet he maintained a gentle smile on his face. His voice was soft and tender, as if asking the most ordinary question, “Why are you wearing a white flower in your hair...?”
“Young master,” Yin'er collapsed to the floor weeping, “The young mistress has passed away, have you forgotten?”
“Silence!” Jiang Yi roared, his face turning deathly pale as his chest heaved violently. “She promised she would wait for me to return! What nonsense are you speaking!”
Yin'er had never seen Jiang Yi lose his composure like this before. She stumbled backward in fear, her body trembling uncontrollably as she sobbed, “The young mistress truly has departed. She was gravely ill, unable to even swallow her medicine these past days. The physician said each additional day she persisted was another day of suffering. She truly wanted to wait for your return...”
She had indeed exhausted all her strength waiting for him, enduring the torment of illness day after day. She had said that even if it were her dying breath, she wanted to see him one last time.
But fate played its cruel trick, he had finally returned, while she had departed forever just the day before.
Only one day apart.
Yet he clearly could have returned one day earlier.
He clearly could have seen her one last time.
He should have raced back on horseback as he had promised her that day, yet he had arrived just this one day too late.
Jiang Yi's entire body convulsed, even his breath trembling with despair. The veins on his tightly clenched hands bulged prominently. This newly crowned top scholar, who should have been enjoying his glorious moment, knelt on the bed weeping bitterly, his throat producing heart-wrenching cries.
Yin'er had never seen Jiang Yi shed a single tear before, but the Jiang Yi now appeared like a pitiful soul stripped of all hope.
When he lifted his head again, those beautiful eyes had lost all vitality. In that instant, it was as if life itself had been drained from him.
When the household heard that Jiang Yi had finally awakened, Lord Jiang personally led others to visit. Suppressing his grief, the lord called out to him, but Jiang Yi seemed not to hear anything. Walking past everyone, his steps heavy and numb, he slowly made his way out.
After a moment, a young maid whispered through her sobs, “The young master has gone to the funeral hall.”
Everyone fell silent. Lord Jiang watched from afar as Jiang Yi, shrouded in an aura of death, walked further away, and suddenly burst into tears.
Yan Yiming had passed away yesterday. Her coffin now rested in the Jiang family's funeral hall.
Two rows of pale white candles flickered with dancing flames. The stark contrast between the black coffin and the overwhelming whiteness made the scene even more chilling. Everyone watched him approach the coffin step by step, watched him lift the coffin lid.
No one stopped him.
All that was improper became forgivable because of Jiang Yi's numb expression.
The sound of the coffin lid sliding open was heavy and sorrowful. Inch by inch, that familiar face was once again exposed before his eyes. She lay quietly in the pitch-black coffin, eyes closed, motionless, as if asleep.
“Wake up,” Jiang Yi's trembling hand slowly reached toward her cheek. “I'm back.”
I'm back, A’Ming. Wake up.
“Look at me...”
“Are you angry that I was delayed a day, so you refuse to see me...”
“A’Ming, it's my fault. Open your eyes and look at me...”
Jiang Yi's pleas grew increasingly desperate, yet the person in the coffin remained utterly still. Her eyes stayed shut, her lips didn't part, and even her eyelashes didn't flutter in the slightest.
Lady Jiang, standing at a distance, covered her eyes and left weeping. Even Old Madam Jiang, who had never liked Yan Yiming, blankly wiped her eyes.
“This fool is still here, how could you leave first?”
Jiang Yi finally lost the strength to stand. His hand slid slowly down the coffin, and he collapsed heavily to his knees before it. The impact of his knees against the stone floor left a dull, cruel sound.
Someone had died.
And someone's heart had died along with her.
No one could have foreseen this tragedy. Everyone had believed that after all these years without a single episode, Yan Yiming must have been out of danger. Even Jiang Yi had thought so.
That was why he had left with peace of mind and returned with the same assurance.
This birth chart shows turbid energy and withered spirit, a sign of a short life.
Back then, it was just a false statement to win her back. Now, it had turned into a curse, brutally nailed to her fate and to his heart.
In his dazed state, Jiang Yi wondered why retribution hadn't fallen upon him instead. But it was already too late.
These thoughts came too late.
He had returned too late.
That one day became a wound on Jiang Yi's heart that would never fade. He dreamed nightly of her enduring the pain just to see him one last time, while he, at that moment, had granted Jian Yu'er's request to repay a childhood favor.
He had repaid a debt of gratitude but created the greatest regret of his life.
Every time he woke in the middle of the night, endless remorse washed over him. Though it was already the warming days of spring, it felt colder than that first night he had arrived at the Jiang residence.
There would never again be someone to add a layer of clothing, cover him with a quilt, or light a fire to warm him.
Tears fell silently once more. Jiang Yi curled into a ball but still felt not a trace of warmth.
That was the year and spring Jiang Yi could never forget, the year he achieved the top honors in the imperial examinations, and the spring he lost the one he loved most.
He had come with joy but left in desolation.
Everyone noticed that the once high-spirited top scholar, after returning to his former home, had lost all his former vitality. A black cloth strip was tied around his sleeve.
Later, people learned that the young top scholar had already been betrothed, but his wife had passed away early.
Some, seeing his youth and talent, still wished to have him as a son-in-law, but he coldly refused, saying he already had a wife.
When Jian Yu'er heard the discussions outside, her heart ached. She sought out Jiang Yi to offer her condolences, but the once handsome and gentle young man now looked at her as if she were a stranger.
“Miss Jian, men and women should maintain proper boundaries. Let us not meet again,” Jiang Yi said before turning to leave, leaving a stunned Jian Yu'er behind.
He had once resented Jian Yu'er. If she hadn't delayed him for a day, he wouldn't have missed his final chance to see A'Ming.
But then he smiled bitterly at the irony - if it weren't for his own poor judgment, how could he have ended up with lifelong regret?
Why blame Jian Yu'er?
He couldn't hold it against her, yet he never wanted to see her again. Just the sight of her would forever remind Jiang Yi of that one day he returned late.
That day which became his eternal regret.
Breaking away from that world once more, Yan Yiming finally left behind that sickly body, no longer having to endure unbearable pain. She stretched luxuriously, enjoying the comfort throughout her body. “After being a patient for four years, I almost forgot how healthy I actually am. By the way, has that body been buried yet?”
“No, it was cremated and the ashes were taken away by Jiang Yi,” Little A said. “That young man was utterly heartbroken.”
Yan Yiming sighed, “Ah, so tragic.”
Little A rolled its eyes at her, “Wasn't this your own cunning plan?”
“Jiang Yi thought I could wait that one day, but some opportunities, once missed, can never be recovered. Well, no need to dwell on the past.”
That day when the host saw Jian Yu'er delaying Jiang Yi, she had told it: if Jiang Yi refused her, she would see him one last time; if he agreed, then they would never meet again.
And Jiang Yi had chosen the latter.
Little A let out a long sigh, “Alright, alright, let's not talk about it. By the way, with this mission completed plus the diamonds from last time, we now have 8,700 diamonds total. And because of last time's maintenance, we get compensation, an extra 500 diamonds plus ten draw tickets, plus one probability UP.”
“That's all?”
“Ah...” Little A said sheepishly, “That's all.”
“So stingy,” Yan Yiming couldn't help but remark, “Even stingier than when playing games. I'd feel embarrassed to receive so little, yet you have the nerve to give it.”
It wasn't its fault, the system only compensated that much, and there was nothing it could do.
But after calculating, they found they could go on a massive drawing spree today, and since this was the last time, they could draw however they wanted. Yan Yiming finally felt a bit better.
109 draw tickets, plus probability UP - if she still couldn't draw Shao Jingyu's SSR card, Yan Yiming really felt her luck was beyond saving.
“Shall we start drawing now?” Little A said.
“Let's begin,” Yan Yiming rolled up his sleeves, laughing heartily as he got into position.
Card drawing was absolutely the most enjoyable part of this game, especially when luck was on your side.
On Yan Yiming's first eleven-draw, by the third card, the first shimmering golden SSR card had already appeared. Although it was Jian Yuyan's, it didn't dampen Yan Yiming's good mood.
But the real surprise came later. On the last card of the first draw, the familiar golden glow flashed once more. Yan Yiming gasped in excitement, flipping the card over to reveal another SSR, and it was Jian Yuyan again!
“Do Jian Yuyan and I have some kind of fate???”
The first SSR he'd ever drawn was Jian Yuyan's, and now he'd pulled two in a row?
“Don't worry, there are plenty more,” Little A reassured him. “Two SSRs and three SRs out of eleven cards, you're on a lucky streak!”
Yan Yiming, initially comforted, felt a surge of joy. After such a long dry spell, his luck had finally turned. Even if it wasn't the SSR he wanted, a golden card was still a golden card. “Keep going!”
But perhaps he'd used up all his luck on the first draw. In the subsequent rounds, he pulled plenty of SRs, even Shao Jingyu's rare SR made an appearance, but no more SSRs surfaced.
It wasn't until the sixth draw that Yan Yiming finally pulled his third SSR. After the golden glow faded, a handsome image of Nan Gongxuan appeared before his eyes. Nan Gongxuan, wearing an imperial crown, looked utterly majestic, with the words “Reign Over the World” emblazoned across the card, impossible to ignore.
“Reign Over the World?” Yan Yiming was taken aback. “He ascended the throne?”
“...Yeah,” Little A replied, not understanding why he'd asked.
“Didn't you say before that he wouldn't ascend?”
“I, I said he wouldn't ascend smoothly. Not smoothly!”
Yan Yiming: “...”
He sighed and examined the card. It was an extreme single-stat card, with decision-making power off the charts. But the other three stats, even the previously passable intelligence and action power, were low, and the already abysmal emotional intelligence...
“0????”
Little A covered her face in embarrassment. “I don't know either. How is it so low?”
Horrifying. Yan Yiming felt grateful that the previous card had at least had an emotional intelligence stat of 22!
He continued drawing cards. With so many cards, the process gradually lost its excitement. But since he still hadn't pulled Shao Jingyu's SSR, Yan Yiming held onto a sliver of hope.
Finally, on the last draw, after the golden glow, Shao Jingyu's wild black hair suddenly appeared. Yan Yiming and Little A both gasped in unison.
‘Unrivaled on the Battlefield!’
The single-stat action power card that all Shao Jingyu fans dreamed of, the hardest to pull!
Yan Yiming was satisfied. He chuckled happily, examining the card over and over before discussing with Little A, “After we go back, can you give me this one?”
“Once you return, Host, you can try drawing again. Who knows, you might pull it once more.” This was a matter of principle, no compromises.
If I could pull it, I wouldn't be asking you.
“Alright, alright, no more drawing. This is the one.” No need to deliberate, it was the only Shao Jingyu SSR card. Yan Yiming didn't need to think twice.
“Okay,” Little A nodded. “What about the face?”
“No need to customize. Just pick one randomly from the database. The one you guys made last time was pretty good. Just add a red mole for me.”
Little A chirped, “Okay!” and soon pulled up a face from the database. Yan Yiming looked it over, made a few adjustments, and finally nodded in satisfaction.
Everything was finally ready, and the fourth conquest began once again. It wasn't until the familiar fragments of time and space echoed in her ears that Little A seemed to remember something and reminded Yan Yiming, “Oh, right, because the location this time is special, we made a slight adjustment to this body.”
Yan Yiming: I have a bad feeling about this.
“What do you mean?”
“Well... you'll know when you get there.”
In the 59th year of Chenxia, the Mongol and Tatar tribes in the northern regions beyond Beiping grew increasingly active, and the imperial court finally began paying more attention to the northern border defenses.
Inside a small tent in the Northern Camp, Yan Yiming listened to the thunderous snoring around her in the middle of the night, touched her flat chest, and finally understood what Little A meant.
“Since you need to blend into the military camp as a man, for the sake of your life, the system has slightly reduced your chest size. Your understanding is appreciated.”
Yan Yiming: ...