11
After that day, James Brooks never appeared before me again.
My stepmother handed me an invitation and said that my mother’s death anniversary was approaching. She wanted me to accompany her to pray at a temple outside the city for a few days.
I happily agreed.
My younger half-sister was coming with us, too.
Avery Brooks looked at me with hatred in her eyes, but my stepmother kept smiling gracefully and said:
“I should pay my respects to your mother, too.”
I obediently lowered my head.
“Whatever you say, ma’am.”
Seeing how obedient I was, my stepmother smiled with satisfaction.
“Such a good girl.”
Halfway through the chanting, a young monk came to tell me that the abbot wanted to see me.
I was a little suspicious, but I didn’t dare keep him waiting.
I stood and followed the young monk.
The abbot had a kind face, and his hair and beard were pure white.
“Benefactor Vu, I’ve come at someone else’s request to offer you a warning: be careful of the benefactor Avery Reed beside you.”
“In particular, be careful about what you eat and drink.”
Patron Avery Reed must be my stepmother.
But who had asked the abbot to tell me this?
I collected myself, smiled at the abbot, and asked carefully:
“Could it be… my husband?”
The abbot kept smiling and raised his eyebrows slightly.
I understood, and felt much more at ease.
When I returned to the meditation room, my stepmother was already waiting inside.
I glanced around, but didn’t see Avery.
My stepmother still had a smile on her face as she set down her teacup.
“You’re back, Annie. Sit down and have some tea with Mother.”
I lowered my head and replied, “Yes.”
There were two cups of tea on the table, one for my stepmother and one for me.
I picked up my teacup, and my stepmother watched me closely.
“Go on, drink it. How could Mother ever hurt you? I only thought your mouth might be dry.”
I smiled faintly and used my other hand to hide what I was doing.
I poured all the tea into my sleeve.
My stepmother saw the empty teacup and looked extremely pleased.
Then she found an excuse to leave the meditation room.
When my stepmother returned, she found Avery Brooks unconscious in the room, lying beside her beloved nephew.
Unfortunately, several of her fellow disciples happened to witness the scene.
They hadn’t even left the temple before word of it had spread throughout the capital.
12
What happened at the temple left both the Wu family and the Avery Reed family utterly disgraced.
Taking advantage of the two families’ panic, I brought the token James Brooks had given me into the palace.
I slipped into the palace unnoticed.
The token belonged to the inner palace.
James Brooks had said that the Empress and his mother had been friends since they were young. If I gave her the ledgers and letters, we’d have a fifty percent chance of success.
As for the other fifty percent, I’d be punished, but I wouldn’t die.
I chuckled. “How thoughtful of you to leave me a chance to live.”
James Brooks sheepishly rubbed his nose and said nothing.
I was teasing him, but I understood.
This was our only way forward.
He wanted revenge for his parents and younger sister, while I wanted revenge for my mother.
Fortunately, James Brooks had been right to trust. The Empress’s expression changed as soon as she saw the ledgers and letters.
She immediately sent someone to summon the Emperor in secret.
The Emperor silently turned over the evidence in his hands. After a long while, he finally asked in a low voice:
“How did a weak woman like you come by these things?”
I knelt and pressed my forehead to the floor.
I told him the story of my mother and me.
As for Avery Anderson’s letters, I said I’d bribed someone to steal them.
I could tell the Emperor was suspicious, but he had no proof.
Only after a long while did he allow me to leave.
13
The Emperor acted with great decisiveness. First, he arranged for someone to expose the private affairs between the Wu family and Avery Reed’s family.
While the court was still in an uproar, he accused them of embezzling military provisions—not only delaying the affairs of state, but also wiping out the family of a loyal official.
My father and Avery Anderson fell to their knees, weeping and crying out that they had been wronged.
My father truly believed he had been wronged, because he thought the evidence had already been burned.
The Emperor gave a cold laugh and ordered me summoned to the palace.
“The evidence of embezzlement was submitted by the witness, Avery Hill. Minister Wu, do you have anything to say for yourself?”
My father stared at me in bewilderment. I smiled at him.
In an instant, he understood. So the evidence was real after all.
And so he could no longer claim he’d been wronged.
Avery Anderson stood beside my father, glaring at me in fury. I couldn’t have cared less.
Although the evidence was clear, the Court of Judicial Review still had to hear the case, so they couldn’t be sentenced yet.
For now, they could only be held in custody.
I returned to the marquis’s residence and told James Brooks everything.
He managed a strained smile, but he didn’t look happy.
He seemed worried, his face full of anxiety.
Perhaps because the final outcome was still uncertain, and he feared something might go wrong.
The Emperor pushed for a speedy resolution, and the case was tried quickly. Just ten days later, the verdict was in.
My father and Avery Anderson, the masterminds behind it, were sentenced to death by execution outside Meridian Gate.
The others were dealt with according to their crimes: some were beheaded, others exiled. My stepmother and stepsister were implicated as well.
I didn’t go to watch the executions.
James Brooks stayed at the marquis’s residence with me, too.
“Now that your obsession is gone, do you want to be reborn?”
For some reason, I felt uneasy. Unable to focus on the account book in my hands, I looked up and asked James Brooks.
James Brooks’s expression turned strange.
“Do you want me to be reborn?”
I fell silent. “I don’t want you to be reborn. Can you choose not to?”
James Brooks blinked. “It’s not impossible.”
His voice was so soft I couldn’t make out what he said.
For some reason, a commotion suddenly erupted outside.
To make it easier to talk with James Brooks, I’d sent the servants away to take care of other things.
Now there were only the two of us in the room.
The commotion grew louder and louder, but no one came to report what was happening.
Frowning, I got up, went to the door, and flung it open.
A flash of cold light gleamed before my eyes.
I had no time to react. All I heard were shouts of “Assassination!” and “Protect the young madam!”
I instinctively stumbled back a few steps.
Looking outside, I saw that the assassin’s sword had stopped in midair for some reason.
And the one who had shielded me from the sword was James Brooks.
14
James Brooks vanished before my eyes.
The guards who rushed over bound the assassin and handed him over to the authorities.
I stood rooted to the spot, dazed.
Jordan Miller looked at me anxiously.
“Young Madam, are you hurt?”
Coming back to myself, I shook my head.
“No.”
I opened my mouth, then closed it again.
I didn’t know how to ask Jordan Miller.
James Brooks had vanished. Could he be reincarnated now?
If I hadn’t opened the door then, would he have avoided dying a second time?
I couldn’t figure it out.
15
I shut myself in my room, thinking over and over whether there was any way to help James Brooks be reincarnated.
It took me five days to think of the abbot at the Great Buddha Temple.
My eyes lit up. “The abbot can see James Brooks, so he must know how to help him be reincarnated!”
I opened my door and saw Jordan Miller and Taylor Turner nearly beside themselves with worry because I hadn’t been eating.
As soon as they saw me come out, they hurried over.
“Young Madam, you finally came out! Please, eat something!”
I raised a hand to push them away.
“I’m not hungry. I don’t want to eat.”
“Jordan Miller, please have someone prepare a carriage right away. I have to go to the Great Buddha Temple!”
“I’ve found a way to save James Brooks!”
Jordan Miller stared at me, stunned.
“Save the young master? But hasn’t the young master already…”
“The young master is back! Jordan Miller, Young Madam, the young master is back!”
A young servant came running up, panting, and shouted to us.
His face was streaked with tears and a smile.
Jordan Miller and I exchanged a glance, then ran together toward the marquis’s residence gate.
Sure enough, two figures stood at the gate.
One was James Brooks, just as I remembered him.
The other was a graceful young woman, simply dressed but possessed of an extraordinary bearing.
I stopped and stood where I was, watching from a distance.
I watched Jordan Miller rush over and throw his arms around James Brooks, sobbing:
“Young master, my young master.”
16
James Brooks said that after he fell from the cliff, this woman, Miss Yun, had found him and cared for him.
Even though he remained unconscious for an entire year, Miss Yun never let up in caring for him.
When he woke up five days ago, he hurried straight to the capital.
To repay her for saving his life, he brought Miss Yun with him to the marquis’s residence.
After hearing this, Jordan Miller nodded again and again.
When he finished, James Brooks turned his gaze to me. His face was cold, and his expression was courteous yet more distant than ever.
“Jordan Miller, who is this…?”
Jordan Miller froze.