Chapter 3
Edward Quan ·
But by then, I could no longer tell whether the pounding in my ears was Xiao Hei’s heartbeat or my own.
When we got home, my parents were furious to hear that Qi Yu had harassed me again. They cursed him without stopping.
After learning that Xiao Hei had driven Qi Yu away, Mom took his hand and chattered on and on. Xiao Hei listened patiently and answered every question seriously.
At dinner, Dad invited Xiao Hei to share a couple of drinks with him.
After three rounds, Dad’s eyes were red. “You’re a good kid. You can protect Sisi. Unlike me—I’m so useless I couldn’t even protect my own daughter.”
Tears sprang into my eyes.
I knew.
I had always known that none of us—not me or my parents—had ever truly let go of what happened back then.
14
I’d planned to stay at home for a few days and then return to the city. But after everything that happened, I suddenly wanted to spend a little more time with my parents.
At first, we worried Qi Yu might use some dirty trick to cause trouble.
But he made no further move, and little by little, our tense nerves relaxed.
Xiao Hei and I never defined our relationship, but we gradually grew closer, until everything between us felt ambiguous.
One day, we went on a date.
After the movie, I wanted cotton candy.
Without a word, he squeezed into a crowd of children to buy some for me.
I took a big, satisfied bite. Xiao Hei couldn’t help smiling. “Is it good?”
Feeling playful, I took another bite, then slowly rose onto my toes and leaned toward him. “Try some.”
Normally, Xiao Hei would have blushed and dodged me by then.
This time, he didn’t move away. Instead, he obediently lowered his head.
We drew closer and closer. I could clearly see my own reflection in his dark eyes.
Just as our lips were about to meet, Xiao Hei suddenly put an arm around my waist, pulled me one step closer, and turned me around with his other arm.
Our lips met at once. The sweetness of the cotton candy lingered between us.
I was just about to laugh when I tasted something metallic beneath the sweetness.
With a heavy thud, Xiao Hei collapsed to the ground.
The person who had stabbed him ran away immediately.
Panicking, I pulled out my phone and called 120.
Then I knelt beside him, my hands shaking too much to touch him. I could only sob. “No, no… You’re a werewolf. You can’t die, right? Xiao Hei, answer me!”
But Xiao Hei had already stopped breathing.
All I could touch was his still-warm body and hands covered in blood.
For some reason, an image suddenly flashed through my mind:
A white wolf standing guard beside a woman covered in blood, letting out a mournful howl.
But the image vanished too quickly for me to grasp it.
When the ambulance arrived, I hurried with the medical staff to get Xiao Hei to the hospital.
On the way there, the doctor pronounced him dead.
I insisted they check again.
Deep down, I still clung to a secret hope. Xiao Hei was a werewolf—surely he couldn’t die so easily.
But the medical report clearly said that he was dead.
Stubbornly, I brought his body home and placed him in the bedroom. I wouldn’t even eat. I just sat beside him and kept watch.
Before long, the police had their answer. It hadn’t been an accident. Qi Yu had hired someone to deliberately kill Xiao Hei.
Qi Yu was arrested and sent to prison.
But I had no interest in any of that.
I couldn’t take my eyes off Xiao Hei. I kept hoping he would come back to life, smile at me, and say he was all right—that he’d only been trying to scare me.
But even when his body began to give off a faint odor, he still showed no sign of moving.
I was utterly hopeless.
My Xiao Hei would never come back.
There would be no one to buy sanitary pads and painkillers for me, warm my freezing hands and feet, or squeeze through a crowd to buy me cotton candy.
I packed a few things and decided to hold a funeral for him.
It rained heavily on the day of the funeral.
Only my parents and I went to see Xiao Hei off.
At the cemetery, I reached out and traced the words on his headstone: “Tomb of My Beloved Husband.”
Afterward, I returned to the city where I worked and moved into a different apartment.
My parents never urged me to get married again.
15
Another day of torrential rain—just like the day Shu Huan and Yi Ping broke up.
I hurried home with an umbrella and suddenly caught sight of a familiar figure.
My heart trembled. I ran after him.
In my haste, I didn’t watch where I was going and tripped over a puddle.
The young man sheltering under the awning outside a supermarket caught me just in time. “Careful.”
“What’s your name?” I stared at the face I knew better than any other. I was so overwhelmed my voice shook.
“My name is He Xiao Hei.” The young man gave an embarrassed smile. “It sounds kind of old-fashioned, doesn’t it? I lost my memory. I only remember that my surname is He, and I can only remember the name Xiao Hei.”
16
Later, Xiao Hei recovered his memories.
He told me that his werewolf clan had three lives.
Each time they were reborn, they had to take a new body. Their appearance stayed exactly the same as before, but they temporarily lost their memories.
Those memories would gradually return with time.
I thought back over everything between us, bit by bit. The more I remembered, the more suspicious it seemed.
Especially what he’d once said: “I just wish I’d found you sooner.”
“So you weren’t injured from the start? The whole thing about your energy being weak and not being able to stay in human form for long was a lie! You deliberately got close to me!” I accused him.
“Only an idiot would believe that.” He affectionately tapped the tip of my nose with a finger.
I pretended I was going to hit him.
Xiao Hei laughed and wrapped his arms around me. “But luckily, you’re an idiot.”
Past Life
1
“Miss, please don’t run off. If the general finds out, he’ll punish us!”
“Oh, come on. We’re only sneaking out to have a little fun. Father won’t find out.”
“Yuzhu, look! There’s a puppy over there.”
“You’re so white. How about I call you Xiao Hei?”
“Xiao Hei, Xiao Hei~”
2
“I don’t want to get married, Father. You know perfectly well that the Second Prince is arrogant, depraved, and capable of every sort of evil. Why did you help make him Crown Prince, and why do you want me to marry him?”
“If he becomes emperor, what will happen to the country and its people?”
…
“Xiao Hei, I don’t want to get married. Let’s run away together—you, Yuzhu, and me.”
“We’ll find a place where no one knows us. It should have osmanthus trees growing all around.”
“Then the three of us can live together. I’ll make osmanthus cakes for you.”
“My osmanthus cakes are delicious.”
“I just learned how to make them yesterday. Yuzhu says even the imperial chefs can’t make cakes as good as mine. You haven’t tried one yet, have you?”
3
I ran away with Yuzhu and Xiao Hei.
But our whereabouts were discovered before long. Yuzhu was shot by a hail of arrows while helping me escape.
My father and the Second Prince, Qi Yu, sent a large force to search for me.
The guards caught up with us soon afterward. In desperation, I hid in a nearby forest.
“Second Prince, the General’s daughter is hiding in the woods. The terrain is complicated, and it’ll be difficult to search. What should we do?”
The man in black brocade silently watched the forest, then suddenly raised his bow and shot.
The sharp arrow flew with unstoppable force, cutting through the air with a whistling sound.
Just as it was about to hit me, Xiao Hei suddenly threw himself in front of me. The arrow sank into his back.
He groaned in pain.
Qi Yu ordered, “After them!”
The pounding of the horses’ hooves grew closer and closer.
I couldn’t run while supporting Xiao Hei, and more and more blood was pouring from his wounds.
In desperation, I ran off to hide nearby and watch what happened.
4
Qi Yu and his guards reached the spot. Seeing no one around, he said coldly, “If you can’t find the General’s daughter, kill the dog.”
I clapped a hand over my mouth. I couldn’t believe they would be so cruel.
Just as a guard was about to bring his sword down on Xiao Hei, I couldn’t take it anymore.
“Stop!”
“I’m here.”
I stepped out of the shadows. “You can’t—”
Before I could finish, an arrow pierced my chest.
Qi Yu had shot me.
He looked at me with a cold, poisonous smile. “At first, I thought you were only a woman. I could have a little fun with you and be done with it.”
“But the General wants to break his word for your sake and ruin this Prince’s great plan. I can’t let you live.”
Just before I lost consciousness, I heard him casually add, “As for that dog, it’s only a worthless dog’s life. Boil it and eat it.”
5
Xiao Hei didn’t die. He wasn’t a dog at all, but the Wolf King.
At the last moment, he suddenly unleashed a surge of power and broke free of the guards.
Then he teleported away with my body.
He tried to save me, but it was already too late.
He quietly brought Yuzhu’s body back and buried Yuzhu and me beside a small river lined with osmanthus trees.
Sadly, he could never again taste the osmanthus cakes I’d made with my own hands.
Side Stories
1
When I brought the new Xiao Hei home, my parents were quite alarmed.
Mom had recently become obsessed with the groveling-to-win-her-back billionaire romance genre. She secretly pulled me aside.
“Sisi, we don’t do replacement lovers in this family, okay?”
“Mr. He treats you so well. It wouldn’t be fair to him if you did that.”
“Though it’s all right if you really like someone else.”
I smiled helplessly. “Oh, Mom. I really do like him. He isn’t a replacement for anyone.”
After they saw us together with their own eyes, my parents finally felt reassured.
2
Xiao Hei and I went to the Civil Affairs Bureau to register our marriage. The clerk looked at both of our ID cards with an expression that suggested she was questioning reality.
“He Xiao Hei?”
“He Sijing?”
Xiao Hei and I answered loudly at the same time. “Here!”
The clerk couldn’t stop laughing. She congratulated us. “You two are a perfect match, made for each other. May you have a long and happy marriage.”
3
“Do you think we might be the male and female leads in some novel?” I suddenly wondered as we walked out of the Civil Affairs Bureau.
Xiao Hei coldly crushed my fantasy. “Have you ever seen a novel with a male lead named Xiao Hei and a female lead named He Sijing?”
4
Xiao Hei actually had lots of abilities, but the one I liked best was teleportation.
I asked him why he hadn’t teleported me away when we were in danger before.
He said he couldn’t use that ability in public. If he did, the power would turn back on him—and in a serious case, it could cost him his life.
I’d always wanted to travel around the world. First, I never had the time. Second, I didn’t have the energy. Third, I didn’t have enough money.
Most of all, I hated sitting on all sorts of transportation for long journeys.
But once I was with Xiao Hei, we could teleport anywhere we wanted.
We spent our days exploring places around the world and teleported home each night, saving even the cost of a hotel.
Xiao Hei and I became so fond of traveling that we went everywhere. We even turned our wedding into a honeymoon trip.
5
Besides teleportation, Xiao Hei could also turn invisible.
My eyes lit up when I heard that. “So if you went out to steal money, security cameras wouldn’t catch you?”
Xiao Hei was quiet for a long moment. “Baby, that’s a dangerous line of thought.”
6
I was pregnant.
I stroked my belly, feeling the tiny life that had only just begun to exist, and felt a little worried.
“Xiao Hei, we’re doomed. Tell me, is the baby in my belly going to be human or wolf?”
Xiao Hei thought for a moment. “It’s hard to say. There have been cases of werewolves and humans having children in our clan.”
“Some children are born as wolves, and some are born as humans. It mainly depends on whether the father’s or the mother’s genes are stronger.”
Only then was I reassured. As long as the baby wasn’t half-human, half-wolf.
7
I had a terrible time during pregnancy.
My back and waist ached every day. I threw up until the world spun, and I couldn’t even sleep well.
Once again, Xiao Hei showed me how powerful his abilities were.
He had a skill that could transfer my morning sickness to himself.
Then he was the one who felt awful.
After a grueling eight months, the baby finally arrived.
I nearly fainted when I saw what the baby looked like.
I’d given birth to a monster with a wolf’s head and a human body!
8
Xiao Hei comforted me, saying the baby had inherited his genes and was a werewolf.
Its energy was simply too weak to maintain a complete form yet.
The baby didn’t fully regain human form until it was two months old.
At last, I breathed a sigh of relief.
9
One night, I suddenly jerked awake, drenched in sweat, and leaned against the headboard, panting.
I’d had a dream.
A long, heavy dream.
Half asleep, Xiao Hei pulled me into his arms and gently patted my back. “What’s wrong? Did you have a nightmare?”
I shook my head. Tears filled the corners of my eyes. “Xiao Hei, I remember now. I remember everything.”
The room fell silent in an instant.
A moment later, Xiao Hei gave a soft laugh. His voice was a little choked. “You silly girl. You finally remembered.”
“I’ve waited so long.”
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