There was nothing else that Sister Mai Na could do to persuade Xia Ling to walk away.

Sister Mai Na guessed that she was withholding more information from her, and bristled in agitation. “Just tell me what you are hiding! I can help you to think of a way out! We can call in the cops, or go to the media… or wait for Boss to return and rely on the Li family backing to get you out of this. We can find a solution to this problem! Don’t keep things to yourself! Unless… you really want to remain by Pei Ziheng’s side forever?!”

She did not. But, so what?

“Thank you for coming to see me.” Xia Ling gave Sister Mai Na a forced smile. “He did not force me. I was willing to do this. If Li Lei returns, tell him not to come to look for me.”

“How can he possibly not try to find you?”

“Tell him… I fell for somebody else.” Xia Ling pulled the amulet around her neck off and handed it to Sister Mai Na. “This was a gift from him. Please help me to return it to him. If he doesn’t want it, ask him to give it back to the master that he got it from.” Her cold fingertips brushed Sister Mai Na’s hand as she pressed the amulet into it.

Sister Mai Na was shocked internally, but she merely closed her hand around the amulet with a grave expression.

“Xiao Ling, you’re really cruel.” Sister Mai Na said. “I will return this to Boss for you.”

With that, she stood up and left the ward.

Xia Ling watched her as she left, before taking a deep breath.

She had been thinking all these days about how to break that death vow. The only person that she thought could perhaps help her was her preceptor brother, Xia Moyan. She would not give up until she had found Xia Moyan.

She asked Sister Mai Na to pass Li Lei the amulet in hopes that he would understand her message of asking him to look for Xia Moyan. The ward was bugged, and every word uttered between Sister Mai Na could be heard by Pei Ziheng. She could only send a hidden signal to Li Lei this way.

She hoped that he would understand and everything would go as planned.

Pei Ziheng came to visit her in the evening.

He brought her a gift — a pale purple pearl necklace in an exquisite box. Each large, round, natural pearl shone under the room lights, and she could tell that it was an expensive piece.

“Try it on. Do you like it?” He asked.

“Why are you giving me this so suddenly?” Xia Ling did not reach out to accept it.

Pei Ziheng took out the pearl necklace from the box himself. Unlatching the catch, he helped to put it around her fair neck. “It’s much prettier than that amulet.” He remarked after admiring it for a while.

Xia Ling understood that the entire conversation with Sister Mai Na in the afternoon had indeed been recorded. She returned the amulet to Li Lei, so he decided to give her a necklace in replacement. What was this? A reward?

Xia Ling felt uncomfortable and reached out to remove the necklace.

“You don’t like it?” He stopped her from removing it.

She felt insults ready to burst out of her mouth.

Yet, she controlled herself after she saw the deep frown on his forward. It was better not to agitate him right now. It wasn’t without difficulty that she finally managed to contact Sister Mai Na to send the message to Li Lei. Perhaps Li Lei would find some way to locate her brother. And maybe her brother would know a way to break that death vow? What she needed to do now was to wait patiently and not create any further drama.

Hence, she lightly said, “I’m just not used to wearing such expensive jewelry.”

The frown on his forehead smoothened out. “You’ve been through hard times in these two years. When you’re discharged, I’ll buy you anything you like. Many of the jewelry that you liked in the past are still in the house — bangles and earrings and everything else.”

She had piles of jewelry in her past life, almost enough to open a museum. They were also all luxurious and expensive, every piece almost priceless. In this life, she lost all interest in these material toys. Hearing Pei Ziheng expound on his riches only elicited a soft “mmhmm” from her.

Pei Ziheng reacted as if he finally found something that could make her happy. “Your clothes, shoes, and hats are all intact as well. Those haute couture gowns, casual dresses, heels, sunglasses, purses… Specialists are caring for them in every season, and they are in the same condition as before. However, you’re skinnier than you were before, and shorter as well. The sizes likely will not fit you anymore. We can get a tailor to take them in. Or if you want new ones we can go buy new ones.”

Xia Ling quietly listened to him speak. She wanted to tell him that he did not need to buy or alter anything. She was just a puppet in his hands right now, what use was it to dress up so beautifully every day?

He spoke at length for a while, but seeing that she was not so enthusiastic, he stopped talking.

She was much harder to please in this life. In the past, everything he did would be met with her reverence and adoration. And now? He could pile gold and silver right in front of her, and she wouldn’t even give him a smile. Pei Ziheng knew that he deserved all of this, and was prepared to use all his life to compensate for the pain he caused her.

Luckily, he had all the time in the world.

He accompanied her for dinner and helped her to peel fruits, watching over her until she was sleeping soundly.

He switched off the main lights in the ward, leaving a dim night light on in the corner, before covering her with the soft blanket and bending over to kiss her on the lips. This had been his routine every night. There were many things that he could tolerate, but this did not include her rejection of his kiss. This ritual he did every night was akin to a declaration that she was his.

And every night, Xia Ling would be terrified, and her body would tremble in fear.

She could see the flames of desire in his eyes as if it was ready to burn everything down. She was aware beyond a doubt that Pei Ziheng still wanted her entirely as he did in her past life. He wanted her heart, her body… She guessed that if it were not for her injuries, perhaps Pei Ziheng would not have let her be for so long.

This made her extremely paranoid.

Her heart was now Li Lei’s, and she could not accept another man claiming her for himself. Pei Ziheng was no exception. However, she did not know how long she would be able to remain untarnished in front of Pei Ziheng’s firm resolve.

If he wanted her, there was no way that she would be able to protect herself.

No way at all.

She did not sleep well, night after night.

Her injuries were recovering slowly, but Xia Ling was relieved that this was the case. Pei Ziheng would not try anything on her when she was still unwell. She wished that she could stay in the hospital ward forever.

Yet, as her body got better, the day that she was to be discharged arrived.

Pei Ziheng came personally to fetch her from the hospital. He stretched out his hand to her in front of all the doctors and nurses and said as he did many years ago in front of the orphanage, “Xiao Ling, come, let’s go home.”

They got onto his Rolls-Royce and went back to the house they stayed in before.

It was not the place that he imprisoned her in her past life. It was the house that they shared when they were deeply in love. Every plant, furniture, and display piece had been chosen by Xia Ling painstakingly. She had spent countless hours decorating this house. However, as she stood in it now, she felt nothing.

It felt like that was just a dream from a long time ago.