Rose Inn 25

Just then, Mother came rushing up, dragging Su Yuye by the arm. Li Xing stumbled along behind them.

His left arm was injured, and the hand clamped over it was soaked in spreading bloodstains.

If Mother had not suddenly appeared and wounded him, he would never have let her take Yuye away.

“Huihui! Huihui!” Mother called anxiously twice. Then, taking in Su Man and Kang Fu’s condition, she more or less understood what had happened. Her Huihui had failed.

She shoved Su Yuye toward Lin Hui. “Huihui, don’t worry. Mother has brought Yuye to you. You can have a body now.”

Su Yuye staggered from the push. Li Xing anxiously tried to rush forward and protect her, but Mother, fiercely shielding her own child, shoved him away with all her strength.

“Get away! This is our family’s business!”

Lin Hui was still crying, seemingly deaf to Mother’s words. Mother helped her up and comforted her in a gentle voice.

“Huihui, it’s all right. Mother will help you. It’s all right. Even if no one else stands by you, Mother will. You like that man, so Mother will help you win him. Huihui, Mother truly cannot live without you.”

Su Yuye stood to one side, staring blankly.

Her mother had never spoken to her with such tenderness. The gentlest thing her mother had ever said to her was probably, “Yuye, could you help Huihui?”

Lin Hui remained unresponsive, and Mother kept talking until Lin Hui finally broke down and screamed, “Nothing is possible anymore! None of it is possible! I ruined everything!

“I have lost Kang Fu, and I have no body!”

“How could you have no body? Mother brought Yuye to you.” Mother continued soothing her, treating it as nothing more than an outburst born of despair.

Lin Hui said nothing. She only sobbed in Mother’s arms, repeating in a faint murmur after a long while, “It’s gone forever. Everything is gone.”

Helplessness flickered across Mother’s face. Instinctively, she looked to Su Man for help, but the moment she met Su Man’s emotionless, assessing gaze, she came to her senses and lowered her head in regret.

Su Man, however, glanced once more at Su Yuye and finally saw what was going on.

The old woman apparently did not know that Su Yuye was already dead.

Lin Hui, on the other hand, seemed to have known for some time. That was why she had spoken with such certainty.

Su Man thought she had guessed the truth, but she still needed confirmation.

So she said, “Su Yuye is already dead. How could she possibly become your precious daughter’s body?”

Then, as though merely voicing a doubt, she added, “Though perhaps that isn’t entirely accurate. Yuye’s situation is rather unusual. She is dead, yet still trapped inside that body. Can you make use of a body like that?”

“What nonsense are you talking about? I took Yuye to the hospital yesterday!” Mother retorted in furious disbelief. “How could Yuye possibly be dead?”

She angrily turned toward Su Yuye. “Yuye, tell her yourself. Nothing happened to you, did it? Didn’t I take you to the hospital yesterday?”

That was Huihui’s body. Of course she would never have stood by and let it die.

She glared at Su Man. “Don’t even think of driving a wedge between Huihui and me!”

Then she turned back to reassure Lin Hui. “Huihui, Mother will take good care of your body. I didn’t abandon it.”

Lin Hui continued to cry. At those words, she suddenly clutched Mother tightly and began apologizing over and over.

“Mom, I was wrong. I really was wrong. I shouldn’t have been jealous of her. Mom, I’m sorry. I was wrong. I know I was wrong now. Mom, I’m sorry.”

Mother’s heart lurched.

What was her Huihui saying? She understood every word, yet when they were put together, she could not understand them at all.

She looked at Su Yuye again and shouted, “Yuye, tell her! Tell her nothing happened to you!

“I took you to the hospital! Huihui couldn’t do anything outside the inn. How could she have been the one to do it?!”

She simply refused to believe it.

Two lines of tears slid down Su Yuye’s face. The truth was, she did not even know how she had died.

She remembered only running out of the hospital, wanting desperately to return to the inn and see it one more time.

If Su Man’s attempt to kill Li Xing had not shocked her into awareness, she might never have realized that she was already dead.

“Instead of asking her, you might as well ask your Huihui,” Su Man said mockingly. Lin Hui had not confessed outright, but her attitude had already revealed everything.

Lin Hui was the killer.

She had killed out of jealousy.

“What were you jealous of, Lin Hui?” Su Man asked. “Were you jealous because your mother loved Su Yuye?”

Before Lin Hui could answer, Mother hurriedly denied it. “No, Huihui. Mother doesn’t love Yuye.”

“You do love her!” Lin Hui screamed, interrupting her. Her emotions collapsed once more. “You’re always lying to me! You do love her! Her head was bleeding—you could have just left her there to bleed! Why did you have to take her to the hospital yourself?”

“Was it because I died and could no longer do anything for you, so you wanted to keep your precious daughter Yuye around to look after you in your old age?” she demanded in a shrill voice.

“No, Huihui. Mother never thought that...”

“You did!” Lin Hui screamed again. “Why are you lying? I clearly heard you say that you were going to leave the Rose Inn to Su Yuye!”

Mother froze.

She remembered the day Su Yuye had returned. She had indeed said those words. But what she had meant was that she knew she would not live much longer. The inn contained Huihui’s soul, and she needed someone she knew and trusted to watch over it.

She had never imagined that Lin Hui would misunderstand.

“Huihui, listen to Mother...”

“Don’t say anything! I don’t want to hear it!” Lin Hui shrieked, cutting her off. Her eyes were bloodshot. “Yes, I killed her! I killed Su Yuye, right there in the hospital!”

That day, Lin Hui had followed her mother out on a whim. She had watched Mother care for Su Yuye throughout the journey, repeatedly apologizing to her. She had even heard Mother say things like, “Once Huihui has fulfilled her wish with that man, I’ll return your body to you.”

She had also heard Mother say, “I can’t say these things in front of Huihui. She would be furious.”

And yes, Lin Hui had been furious.

She had taken over Su Yuye’s body and had never once intended to return it.

Standing outside the hospital room, she watched as Mother tucked the blanket around Su Yuye. Her jealousy reached its peak. Even the thought of using Su Yuye as her body faded away. She wanted only one thing: for Su Yuye to die.

Perhaps because she had once occupied Su Yuye’s body, Lin Hui discovered that she could attack Yuye even outside the inn. So, after Mother left, she killed Su Yuye without the slightest hesitation.

She felt no guilt. Only exhilaration.

At last, Mother had only one daughter left.

“Mom, you have only me now. Aren’t you happy?” Blood tears streamed from Lin Hui’s eyes.

“Mom, you don’t have to pretend anymore that you don’t love Su Yuye in front of me. Aren’t you glad?”

She cried and cried, then suddenly burst into laughter, like a madwoman.

Mother stood rooted to the spot, unable to utter a single word.

Only after a long while did she find her voice and speak with difficulty. “Huihui, it isn’t what you think...”

“Wait. What are you talking about?” Li Xing suddenly spoke, his voice filled with absurd disbelief. “What do you mean, Yuye is dead?”

He turned toward Su Yuye and tried to force a smile, but tears began to fall instead.

“Yuye, didn’t you say your strange abilities were because of the six-pointed star?

“What are they talking about? I can’t understand any of this.”