It was too late for regret, this Sun Mingai already knew. She could not change what she’d done in the past. However, that didn’t mean she lived a peaceful life in the past. Since Jin and Meixiu’s deaths, everything went down the hill for her.
The nightmares persisted, keeping her awake until ungodly hours that she had to seek peace and solace when she was under the influence of alcohol and sleeping pills.
These painful memories… they’re just the same as nightmares. They vanished when she was awake, when she was right here in the present moment. Once she opened her eyes, let in daylight; they had no choice but to leave. However, she still couldn’t let in all the wonderful things around her.
Her world was gray and cold. It had been this way when the people who truly loved her died and left her. For the first time in her life, she truly found herself alone. She sat alone and utterly terrified in the darkness.
The dark consumed her frail form. Her sister wasn’t there to soothe her worries, neither was Jin who would tell her stories of his travels. It was just her, alone in a strange place with strange people.
When she was young, she really didn’t care about anyone but herself. However, after Meixiu’s death, she started to see how horrible of a person she was. Not only did she ruin her sister’s life but she also snatched away the happy family Lu Xinyi had.
“Yes, the only reason I came back was for you to destroy me…” Sun Mingai laughed lowly, with her head lowered and body curling as she waited for the fire to consume her.
By coming back, not only did she bring punishment to herself but also helped Lu Xinyi relieve the pain and hatred she’d been nursing all these years. Shutting her eyes closed, she hoped that all the hatred and misery would burn down with her.
It was like she was trapped in a void. A dark void. A never-ending dark void that consumed everything so she was left feeling nothing. Empty. Nothing to subside her hollow soul that crept in the shadows, away from any other human life… for its emptiness was so consuming it could not bear to pretend that everything was okay.
Nothing was okay. People could walk around this earth each day and pretend that everything was okay, and it always would be. Why couldn’t they all just admit that everyone was just hollow plastic dolls with a painted happy face, revealing no guilt, sadness, emptiness … or any kind of emotion?
“Xin’er, be free…” All these years, her guilt over Lu Sibai and Sun Meixiu’s death had been eating her.
As the fire continued to burn everything around her, Lu Xinyi knew it was dangerous to stay there any longer. She hardened her jaws as she pulled Sun Feiyan back on her feet.
“Stop this nonsense already. If you really want to repent for your sins, taking your own life isn’t the answer.” She hissed back at her aunt.
She then helped her cousin take the improvised rope to get down from the burning mansion. Below, one of Sun Feiyan’s bodyguards was waiting for her turn to escape.
“Go now! We don’t have enough time left!” Lu Xinyi told her cousin. She flinched as she felt the room getting hotter. Damn, just how did those people manage to burn the whole mansion in a short period?
She turned her attention back to her aunt, but Sun Mingai was nowhere to be found. Where the hell did she go? ρꪖꪕᦔꪖꪕꪫꪣꫀꪶ
Lu Xinyi was about to look around when Fu Shuren gripped her arm tightly, forbidding her to leave.
“Miss! Let’s go! There’s no time left!” he reminded her. None of them were willing to place their miss at such a dangerous situation—not when he and Fu Rui experienced how the Shen family disciplined their elite guards that committed mistakes.
“But my aunt!” she said in a panic.
The glowing embers leaped and twirled in a fiery dance, not giving Lu Xinyi a chance to look for her missing aunt. Fu Shuren dragged her outside forcefully as she tried to free herself.
“No! We have to save her!” She screamed, but her bodyguard would not hear any of it. The old woman had chosen her path; there was no time for them to convince her to change her mind.
While her nieces were busy escaping from the raging fire, Sun Mingai made her way to the hallways. Everything around her was burning, and she felt like she was walking on a path leading her to hell.
She covered her mouth with her hand as thick black smoke permeated to the air, making it hard for her to breathe. Her eyes stung with tears, but she forced her way out until she reached the stairs.
When she reached the foot of the stairs, she vaguely saw her sister’s dying form. She sat at the last step of the stairs and chuckled to herself. Within the mansion, the fire spread with ease, turning the once pretty first floor into a maze of flame.
“You were alone when I left you to die. Isn’t it surprising that in the end, I’ll also die alone, dear sister?”
This loneliness was a vice on her heart, squeezing with just enough pressure to be a constant pain. It killed her every day just a little bit more, taking what was once her inner light and replacing it with the darkness that overshadowed each moment. It was the fuel of her nightmares, and she dreaded to end this pain at once.
The fire devoured the mansion in a flash of scorching flame and soon began to burn the furniture it had been daubed on. Thick black clouds of smoke choked the air. The fire alarm stood useless. It was impossible to stop the inferno that engulfed the mansion with such ferocity.
The fire would be too quick, too ferocious for the firefighters to get there in time. In the afternoon glow, the house would be ash; and they would be free.
Outside, Lu Xinyi and Sun Feiyan anxiously watched and witnessed flames licking the concrete walls as the whole mansion was engulfed by the deadly fire. Tendrils of smoke reaching desperately into the sky as if trying to escape the blazing inferno below.
“Is it really over?” Sun Feiyan asked beside her, but Lu Xinyi didn’t know what to answer. Was it truly the end? Were they really free from the hatred that bound them to the Sun family?
It took the firefighters half an hour before they arrived at the scene. However, before any of them could notice the dead bodies of the arsonists, the Fu Siblings threw their bodies at the raging fire. Before that, they made sure to keep two survivors alive just in case the authorities questioned the arson that took place on the Sun Estate.
The fire had been no accident. The entire estate knew that, but they also knew the fire department wouldn’t class it as one. Not when several burned bodies were to be discovered later.
The blackened skeletons were so much more than a burnt-down house. It was the final resting place of the despicable Sun family. This also marked the end of Lu Xinyi’s misery.
As for Sun Mingai… Lu Xinyi could never understand her intention. However, she understood how painful it was to live alone and in despair but to end her own life? The thought never crossed Lu Xinyi’s mind.
Was justice served with Sun Mingai’s death? That, Lu Xinyi wasn’t sure.
