"Then do you remember what... relationship we had?"
If she hadn't drunk the Meng Po Soup, Di Yao would have been more delighted than surprised to see the man before her.
But now, Di Yao remembered nothing. Faced with this handsome gentleman, she was mostly astonished.
The man stood only two steps away from her, which was a bit too close. When Di Yao had just stood up, she nearly collided with him.
"Sorry." Di Yao stepped back and turned sideways, her gaze sweeping over his straight nose bridge, then landing on his thin lips.
He didn't seem inclined to speak. Di Yao glanced at the narrow path beside her, realizing he wasn't just passing by.
So he had deliberately stopped here?
"May I ask, sir, are you..."
"Yao'er."
After a brief awkwardness, they both spoke at once. But Di Yao, hearing him call her name so intimately, had already guessed the answer halfway through her sentence.
"Master... Wei?"
She had lost her memory and didn't know how to address the man.
Wei Xunzhou hummed in acknowledgment, his brows slightly furrowed, and stepped toward the courtyard.
Di Yao looked again at the plaque hanging on the fence and followed him inside.
Her stride was wide. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of her bright red skirt hem, then touched her hair bun and casually removed a hairpin. The pin was in the shape of a golden phoenix, its beak holding a tassel of gold thread, with a smooth round red agate bead dangling at the bottom.
She knew she rarely wore such vivid red in daily life. So this extravagant outfit could only be... a wedding gown.
She looked at Wei Xunzhou, who was opening the windows to air the room. He wore a loose cloak over black clothes.
Nothing like a groom. Then what did that plaque outside mean? According to Judge Cui Jue, only those buried together in the same grave would be assigned to the same residence...
Something was wrong, definitely wrong!
But what kind of relationship between a man and a woman could allow them to be buried together without being married?
There was none, probably...
Di Yao lifted her skirt and trotted to the window outside the house, testing the waters: "Do you... remember who I am?"
Wei Xunzhou was about to walk away, but stopped at her words. He looked down at the dust on his fingers and casually rubbed them together.
"Yao'er." Her name was on the plaque outside the door, but that didn't prove anything.
"Do you know where my home is?"
Di Yao was about to clarify that she meant her home while alive, but Wei Xunzhou answered: "You lived in the center of the Capital City and also in Lingxi Town."
Although Di Yao herself didn't remember, the fact that he answered so confidently and directly suggested he did know her.
"Then do you remember what... relationship we had?" Di Yao probed again.
Wei Xunzhou seemed to find the question strange. He looked at Di Yao, his expression somewhat serious. His eyes were very dark, reflecting the faint, fragmented light from outside the window.
Di Yao appeared calm on the surface, but her pink fingertips unconsciously pinched her own finger pads.
"Husband and wife," Wei Xunzhou said, looking at her wedding gown.
So they were indeed husband and wife... Although she had mentally prepared herself, Di Yao still felt strange inside. She didn't know how to view her relationship with Wei Xunzhou now.
Her mind was blank, she remembered nothing, and she saw Wei Xunzhou as a complete stranger. Even though she liked his appearance, her fondness was limited to that.
She knew nothing about Wei Xunzhou. But she knew that most marriages in the world were arranged by parents; couples who were mutually in love and ended up together were as rare as phoenix feathers. She didn't know which category she and Wei Xunzhou fell into.
Until she figured this out, she needed to manage the boundaries of their "husband and wife" relationship.
"Husband, did you not drink the Meng Po Soup?" Di Yao tried to make her tone natural.
Wei Xunzhou paused in his movements, as if unused to her calling him "husband." He looked up. "No."
"Why?" Di Yao raised an eyebrow slightly, her hands resting on the windowsill, her palms gathering dust.
Wei Xunzhou looked away again. "When I was in the Underworld, I was found to have unfinished lifespan, so I was brought here directly."
Di Yao found it strange. She also had unfinished lifespan, but she only found out after drinking the Meng Po Soup. What about Wei Xunzhou?
She thought back to the King of Hell on duty at the Underworld court, who had been yawning continuously. Could it be that she had been overlooked, leading to her trip to Meng Po's Shop?
"Did you drink it?" Di Yao didn't expect Wei Xunzhou to ask her voluntarily. Her expression froze for a moment.
Without thinking, she blurted out, "No, I didn't!"
As soon as she said it, she felt regret. She knew that husband and wife should be honest with each other, but somehow, she didn't want to admit it. She needed a companion.
When she learned that she would have to spend a long time alone in the Underworld, Di Yao felt deeply melancholy. The environment was unfamiliar and perpetually dim; it would be a lie to say she wasn't scared. So when she heard Wei Xunzhou say they were husband and wife, a tiny bit of happiness emerged in her heart.
Because, in Di Yao's eyes, having someone with her was always better.
But she wasn't sure about Wei Xunzhou's true feelings for her. If he found out that she remembered nothing, would he treat her like a stranger, refuse to acknowledge her, and leave?
Although she knew she shouldn't deceive Wei Xunzhou, she had already denied it. For now, she would stick with her mistake and find a good opportunity later to confess to him.
Wei Xunzhou's expression remained unchanged. He turned around and surveyed the furnishings in the room.
Di Yao breathed a sigh of relief, stepped inside, and changed the subject: "Husband and I are the same then. Does husband know how many years of lifespan you still have? And that food ledger and such..."
Feeling a bit guilty, she proactively shared what she had learned from Cui Jue.
"No idea. We'll take it one step at a time," Wei Xunzhou said, pushing open the bedroom door.
Perhaps because the Underworld had plenty of land and few ghosts, their assigned residence had a front and back yard, with a main hall in the middle and separate rooms on each side. Such a layout, in the mortal world, would only be affordable by wealthy nobles. Yet in the Underworld, it cost nothing.
The furniture in the room was new, but the house had apparently been empty for a long time, as a layer of dust covered everything.
Wei Xunzhou covered his mouth and nose, his voice sounding a bit muffled.
"This place is quite big, huh," Di Yao said, following behind Wei Xunzhou and, like him, carefully examining the room.
Seeing that the main hall had wardrobes, a dressing table, screens, and everything, Di Yao was even more satisfied. However...
Something occurred to her. She left the main hall and checked the two side rooms, her smile fading somewhat.
There were plenty of tables, chairs, and cabinets, but only one bed.
Having drunk the Meng Po Soup and forgotten everything from her life on earth, Di Yao needed some time to adjust to her relationship with Wei Xunzhou. The thought of sleeping in the same bed that night felt strange to her.
She turned around and saw Wei Xunzhou had also followed. With a smile, she stepped forward and tugged at his sleeve: "Do you like it here?"
Wei Xunzhou's expression was blank. He looked down at the jade hand beneath the red sleeve and subtly pulled his sleeve back.
"It's okay."
That answer was midway between like and dislike, which to Di Yao felt colder than a direct "no."
"Actually, I quite like it. This place is big and fairly well-lit. After a while, we could plant some flowers in the yard, set up a stove and table—in winter, we could boil tea around the stove; in summer, grill meat and admire the moon. Oh, I wonder if the seasons here are the same as in the mortal world..."
Di Yao pointed at various corners of the yard, one hand on her hip, planning earnestly. Even though she still wanted to reincarnate as soon as possible, she was full of anticipation for her new life in the Underworld.
Such a big yard, all to themselves, where they could do whatever they wanted. Just thinking about it made her happy.
Di Yao was lost in her joy, not noticing that Wei Xunzhou was gazing at her intently.