Hui Feng quickly set down his beer bottle, left his seat, and walked to the door to help Xiang Yujie inside.
“Wife! Time to eat tangyuan—sesame filling.”
Xiang Yujie handed her purse to Hui Feng, stretched lazily, and tried to ease the exhaustion from her body.
“Today was so tiring… The customers just wouldn’t stop coming.”
Xiang Yujie complained about the day’s intense workload, feeling like her head was still spinning and a bit short on oxygen.
“Like the day before Lunar New Year?”
Hui Feng joked, placing her purse on the shoe cabinet where she usually kept it, then turned back to comfort her.
“You worked hard today, honey. Let’s eat.”
“Worked hard? It’s my own little shop, no one’s yelling at me, way more carefree than your job. If anyone in this family has it hard, it’s you, isn’t it? Big boss Hui, you’re the real backbone of this family~”
“I’m just a little cook who only graduated middle school—how could I compare to a college grad like you?”
After accepting her husband’s compliment, Xiang Yujie made sure to praise him in return.
“Enough talking, I want to go eat with my little Mengyi~️”
After saying that, Xiang Yujie took off her mink coat, hung it on the rack, and went to the dining table to sit next to Hui Mengyi.
The moment she saw the huge bowl of tangyuan, Xiang Yujie’s eyes sparkled with delight.
“So many!”
She quickly ordered Hui Mengyi, “Mengyi, go pour a few glasses of water. I’ll grab bowls so we each get a portion of tangyuan.”
“Okay, Mom.”
Hui Mengyi smiled at her mother—it was the first smile she’d shown all day, and it came from the smile her father had just given her.
Hui Mengyi got up from her seat and went into the kitchen, then rummaged through the cupboard to find two cups.
She walked over to the water purifier, turned on the tap, filled both glasses, and brought them back to the table.
Hui Mengyi handed one glass to her mother and placed the other at her own spot.
Hui Feng had also finished helping Xiang Yujie with her coat and returned to the dining table.
“For little Mengyi, for my husband, and for me,”
Xiang Yujie distributed the bowls of tangyuan to everyone at the table.
“Alright, let’s eat! Wishing our whole family togetherness and happiness in the new year!”
After her toast, Xiang Yujie raised her glass of water.
After his wife’s toast, Hui Feng followed up awkwardly to keep the rhythm: “Then I’ll wish for a peaceful and smooth year ahead.”
Hui Feng raised what was left of his half-empty beer bottle.
“Then I’ll wish for our family to be happy every day, with no worries and no sadness.”
Hui Mengyi gave her own blessing and raised her glass of water.
“Cheers!” x3
The Lantern Festival celebration marked the official end of the New Year’s festivities.
Under the light of the full moon and the thousands of sky lanterns released by families everywhere, it signaled that people were now ready to embrace a brand-new year.
After finishing the tangyuan, each member of the family went back to their own rooms to rest.
Hui Mengyi sat on the school rooftop, watching the bright morning sunlight.
Dressed in her simple school uniform, Hui Mengyi basked in the sunlight.
“I can see the whole playground from here.”
She looked down at the circular track below—a view she had never seen before.
In the past, she was never able to come up to the school rooftop, but today, for some reason, she found herself here.
Still, Hui Mengyi didn’t feel like thinking too much about it.
Since she was already up high, why not enjoy the view?
“Wait, why is there no one at school today?”
Hui Mengyi glanced around the campus, faintly sensing that something was off.
“A person who betrayed the one who once saved her… how could her world still have people in it?”
“Huh?!”
Hui Mengyi quickly turned toward the voice.
It came from a purple-haired girl sitting nearby with her eyes closed.
“You’re…”
Hui Mengyi stumbled back in shock.
When had this girl sat down beside her?
The girl didn’t respond to her, keeping her eyes closed as she began speaking on her own.
“In the deepest layer of the ninth hell, within the frozen lake known as Cocytus, lie the gravest of all sins—betrayal.”
“At the center of Cocytus, frozen in the ice, is the Demon King Lucifer who betrayed the entire world—and beside Him is you, the accomplice.”
“What… are you even talking about?!”
Hui Mengyi couldn’t take her whispers any longer.
“You… are… the Calamity?”
That last sentence came out very quietly.
She was scared, unsure.
Hearing those words, the girl opened her deep violet eyes, and in the next instant, the entire scene vanished, leaving only Hui Mengyi and the girl standing in a space of complete darkness.
“Calamity?”
The girl paused, seeming hesitant—then suddenly, she let out a soul-shaking scream.
“You self-righteous, delusional insects! Why is it only when divine judgment is upon you that you finally understand—it was your own hands that murdered hope!”
“Ah!!”
Hui Mengyi suddenly jolted awake in bed. Staring into the pitch-black room, she realized it had just been a nightmare.
The girl’s words echoed in her mind.
“I… killed… hope…”
“Ye Jinyi… Shifu…”
“Was it you?”
Hui Mengyi hesitated for a moment, then pushed off her blanket and climbed out of bed.
She turned on the light, found a set of clothes that were at least somewhat presentable, and put them on.
Then she turned the light back off and quietly walked to the entryway of her home.
“I’m sorry, Mom, Dad… I’m a bad child. I need to atone for my sins, so tonight… I won’t be coming home.”
After speaking, Hui Mengyi quietly closed the door to her home.
Once she reached the ground floor, she hailed a taxi.
“Yunhai Lake.”
With just those three words, the driver immediately started the car.
The driver had barely begun the trip when Hui Mengyi pulled out her phone and scanned the code to pay.
“You have received 30 yuan.”
The driver didn’t comment on the gesture, but he was a little curious—why was this young girl out so late instead of home in bed?
“Little girl, what are you doing going somewhere so far at this hour instead of sleeping?”
“Because of responsibility.”
…
The driver fell silent for a long time after hearing that.
“All right. I understand. I hope you return safely.”
“Thank you for your understanding.”
After that, neither of them said another word.
Much later, Hui Mengyi stepped out of the taxi.
Once she shut the door, the driver drove off.
Staring at the still, frozen lake in the distance, Hui Mengyi suddenly recalled what the girl in her dream had said: in the ice lake, the gravest sin of all—betrayal—is frozen.
In a daze, Hui Mengyi felt like she herself was the ice sculpture on that frozen lake, a sinner condemned for eternity.
“So this is… punishment?”
She pressed her hand against her chest, trying to push down the sadness for a moment.
“Ye Jinyi Shifu… I’m here.”
I really hope just use her blood to make the parallel world and never forgive her