After Faking My Death, My Iceberg Ex-Wife Went Crazy for Me - Chapter 21

The cemetery was nearly deserted on Friday. Geng Xiaoxiao had unconsciously lingered for two or three hours, the sun growing increasingly intense, burning her skin.

It was time to leave.

Geng Xiaoxiao stood up, but a sudden wave of nausea surged from her empty stomach. Her legs felt weak, and her vision blurred into a white haze.

The world seemed filtered through a layer of snowy static. Sensing something was wrong, she reached out blindly, groping for something to steady herself.

“…Are you okay?”

Someone rushed over, a warm hand gripping her arm. The voice sounded muffled, like sandpaper against her ears.

Geng Xiaoxiao strained to focus, her voice barely a whisper: “I’m fine. Probably just low bl00d sugar.”

Before she could finish speaking, a chocolate had already been pressed into her mouth, its rich, bitter sweetness melting on her tongue.

The person helped her sit down. Geng Xiaoxiao swallowed the chocolate, her face pale as parchment.

She looked up to thank them, but her pupils widened slightly as she recognized the face.

“Ye…”

The woman had a face strikingly similar to Ye Ling’s, with the same bright, peach-blossom eyes now brimming with concern.

She looked like Ye Ling, but it couldn’t be her.

Geng Xiaoxiao blinked. Perhaps the chocolate was working; the snowy static had faded enough for her to see the fine lines at the corners of the woman’s eyes.

Swallowing the unspoken name, Geng Xiaoxiao said, “Godmother.”

Ye Yunzhen frowned and touched Geng Xiaoxiao’s forehead. “Feeling any better? Should we go to the hospital?”

“Much better,” Geng Xiaoxiao replied. “I probably just stood up too quickly.”

She ate two more pieces of chocolate until some color returned to her face. With Ye Yunzhen’s help, she slowly stood up.

Afraid of worrying Ye Yunzhen, she playfully added, “You’re here to see my mom, right? Go ahead, I won’t eavesdrop.”

“You…” Ye Yunzhen shook her head. Seeing that Geng Xiaoxiao seemed fine, she walked over to the nearby tombstone.

Yellow roses lay side by side, nestled together.

Ye Yunzhen lowered her gaze and clasped her hands, staring at the woman’s photo for a long time without moving a finger.

After a while, Geng Xiaoxiao noticed Ye Yunzhen subtly turn her head, her fingertip quickly brushing her cheek and tucking behind her ear, as if adjusting stray strands of hair.

Geng Xiaoxiao quietly moved away and sat on a nearby bench, gazing at the sky, the ground, the flowers, and the grass.

A white butterfly landed on a flower’s stamen, startled by footsteps, scattering pollen as it fluttered away.

Ye Yunzhen’s eyes were slightly reddened, as if stung by the wind.

“Godmother,” Geng Xiaoxiao called out from the bench. “Aren’t you going to talk to my mom anymore?”

“What’s there to say?” Ye Yunzhen replied with a bitter smile. “She probably wouldn’t want to hear it anyway. She might even scold me from down there for disturbing her rest.”

“…” Geng Xiaoxiao didn’t know how to respond.

Geng Xiaoxiao knew little about the relationship between Ye Yunzhen and her mother, Jiang Fufeng.

She only knew they had been close friends in their student days, but their friendship ended abruptly, so suddenly that even Jiang Yuheng didn’t know the exact reason.

The root of the conflict seemed to lie with the Ye Family.

Rumor had it that Ye Yunzhen was originally supposed to marry into the Su Family. However, for reasons unknown, she suddenly claimed to be pregnant and stormed her engagement banquet, waving an ultrasound image.

The engagement fell apart, and Old Master Ye was so enraged he fainted. Upon regaining consciousness, he denounced her as immoral and demanded she sever all ties with the family.

Ye Yunzhen readily agreed, knelt down, kowtowed three times, and left.

Later, because of the child whose father remained unknown, Jiang Fufeng confronted her. The two had a heated argument and parted on bitter terms.

From that day forward, they never spoke again.

If not for Jiang Fufeng’s sudden death, no one would have known how deeply Ye Yunzhen still cherished her memory.

“Let’s go,” Ye Yunzhen said, noticing Geng Xiaoxiao’s discomfort. She patted her shoulder and changed the subject. “I was actually planning to visit you today anyway. This saves me a trip.”

“Visit me?” Geng Xiaoxiao’s heart tightened.

“Yes, we talked about it just a few days ago. Did you already forget?” Ye Yunzhen chuckled softly. “I had Xiao Feng’s photos printed and bound into an album. It’s in the car. Come get it with me?”

“Okay,” Geng Xiaoxiao nodded.

Xue Jiqing’s impulsive punch had confined the news of Ye Ling and Shang Mi’er’s engagement to a very small circle.

Shang Mi’er had become much more reserved, and Su Yi, ever adept at reading situations, knew exactly what could and couldn’t be said. As a result, Ye Yunzhen likely remained unaware of the engagement.

After analyzing the situation, Geng Xiaoxiao quietly breathed a sigh of relief.

Having successfully retrieved the photo album and politely declined Ye Yunzhen’s offer to drive her to the city, Geng Xiaoxiao found a small nearby restaurant.

While waiting for her meal, she wiped the table clean with a wet wipe and placed the album on it.

The album was thick and heavy, even thicker than her university’s entrepreneurship textbook.

Geng Xiaoxiao opened it, and in an instant, she understood why it had taken four days to reach her.

The first photo showed a thirteen-year-old Jiang Fufeng, still awkward and wearing his school uniform, looking curiously and self-consciously at the camera.

Beside the photo, in delicate handwriting, was the date:

…X Month X Day. Xiao Feng was wrongly accused by the teacher of talking in class and had to stand as punishment. He almost cried.

As Geng Xiaoxiao flipped through the pages, she noticed that most of the photos were accompanied by handwritten notes, some long, some short, written in black permanent marker.

…Autumn outing. Xiao Feng lost the mosquito repellent, and the mosquitoes feasted on him. He shouted, “I’ll exterminate all nine generations of mosquitoes!” But the Mosquito Prime Minister defied the imperial decree.

After the college entrance exam, Xiao Feng insisted on one last wild adventure before senior year. We bought tickets and climbed Mount Tai.

It was so high and exhausting. Xiao Feng swore she’d never climb another mountain in her life, but the sunrise was breathtaking.

The crimson sun pierced through the clouds, truly magnificent. But the camera’s focus lingered on the figure with a loose ponytail, standing defiantly with hands on her hips.

Geng Xiaoxiao stared at the photo, a fleeting thought surfacing before sinking back into the depths of her mind.

She continued flipping through the album.

The photos were arranged chronologically. Senior year was hectic, and Ye Yunzhen seemed to have little time for photography, the entire year passing in just a few pages.

After the college entrance exam, the album filled with studio portraits.

Vibrant outfits, exaggerated makeup, and backgrounds that, from today’s perspective, looked strikingly artificial.

The girls posed for the camera, their youthful vitality practically bursting from the photos.

Ye Yunzhen’s caption for these photos was simple:

The studio staff upsold us after the shoot, demanding extra for all the photos. Xiao Feng was saving for our graduation trip and reluctantly refused. I secretly bought the negatives.

“So this kind of scam was already around back then…” Geng Xiaoxiao murmured.

“Miss, your order is complete. This drink is on the house. Enjoy your meal.”

“Thank you,” Geng Xiaoxiao said, looking up. The single-eyelid waiter blushed, gave a bashful smile, and left.

Geng Xiaoxiao used a tissue as a bookmark, tucked the photo album into her bag, and opened the food delivery app to check the price of the drink. She planned to pay for it along with the meal later.

The portion was small—one meat dish, one vegetable dish, and a bowl of rice. Feeling about eighty percent full, Geng Xiaoxiao put down her chopsticks and paid the bill.

Having only looked through half the album, she took a bus downtown and found a quiet café.

Opening the album, Geng Xiaoxiao removed the “bookmark” and continued flipping through the pages.

The dates grew more recent, and the photo quality became increasingly clear. Ye Yunzhen and Jiang Fufeng attended different universities, but her camera faithfully documented her.

Crying, laughing, making a fuss, pouting, or resenting.

It was as if she were the only scenery in her eyes.

The thought surfaced uncontrollably, and Geng Xiaoxiao suddenly understood.

If this was that kind of love…

No wonder Ye Yunzhen had so resolutely resisted the arranged marriage.

No wonder she and Jiang Fufeng had ultimately drifted apart.

Everything made sense now.

Turning the final page, Geng Xiaoxiao closed the album and exhaled softly.

Regardless, Grandma would surely be overjoyed to receive this album.

These were fragments of time she had never witnessed, yet they had been recorded, crossed the vast river of years, and returned to her side.

It was as if her daughter had come to the future and accompanied her for a while longer.

Geng Xiaoxiao placed the photo album in Jiang Fufeng’s room, in front of the two plush toys.

Jiang Yuheng regularly cleaned and aired out the room, changing the bedding.

If Jiang Fufeng discovered it herself, the joy of finding something lost and then recovered might be even greater.

Retreating to her bedroom, Geng Xiaoxiao turned off the lights and opened her phone in the darkness.

The photo in her private album was still there.

She used to criticize Chen Qiao for being weak-willed, but she herself had hesitated for so long that night, unable to bring herself to delete it.

Now, she had no choice. She had to leave the phone behind tomorrow.

Geng Xiaoxiao tapped the delete button and emptied the recently deleted album as well.

Come to think of it, she didn’t even know how she would die tomorrow.

In the original novel, “Geng Xiaoxiao” was merely a symbol, with no detailed description of her character or her death.

The book focused instead on Ye Ling’s guilt toward her, the depth of which fueled his love for the female lead.

How ironic.

Geng Xiaoxiao’s lips curved into a smile, but there was no warmth in her eyes, which glowed faintly in the darkness.

When she first transmigrated, she had repeatedly asked System 823 for predictions, but each time it claimed insufficient behavioral data for analysis.

With only one day left, it should have enough data by now, right?

She turned off her phone and mentally summoned the System.

Xiao Ba, have you calculated how I’ll die tomorrow?

Analyzing character model… Analysis complete.

90% probability: Cornered, the assailant breaks through the guardrail during the chase, dragging Geng Xiaoxiao into the sea to their deaths.

“I see…”

That sounded painful.

But it was fitting.

The waters of Hai City had brought her here; it was only right that they should take her away.