Phoebe Huxley pointed at Felix Thorne indignantly and yelled, "Who’s the one who can’t stop thinking about Phoenix Golding? I say a few words about that bitch, and he takes it all out on me! Dad, don’t you just pin the blame on me!"

"Who can’t stop thinking about her..." Felix Thorne retorted with a sullen face, but he only got halfway through before Raina slapped him on the back of his head.

"That’s enough out of both of you! Eldest, if you ever give Phoenix Golding meat again, I’ll skin you alive, you good-for-nothing spendthrift!"

The moment Raina laid a hand on him, the entire room fell silent. This time, she was firmly on her daughter-in-law’s side, choosing reason over blind loyalty. A good-for-nothing spendthrift simply deserved a beating.

"How is Xiaonan?" Raina asked with concern.

Byron Thorne shook his head. "She’s lost her soul. We need to call it back."

"Stop crying. Phoebe, come with me outside to call back her soul," Raina ordered.

Byron Thorne wrote Tang Xiaonan’s eight birth characters on a piece of red paper and placed it on the kitchen stove. He set a bowl of clear water on the paper, lit some incense, and kowtowed. Then, he took out a grain dipper, covered it with a cloth, and had Phoebe Huxley hold it as she went out to call for her.

"Go a good distance. Xiaonan got a bad scare this time, so her soul has wandered far," Byron Thorne instructed.

"Got it. I’ll go call for her at the foot of the mountain."

Phoebe Huxley nodded vigorously, and Raina went with her. The two of them walked, calling out, "Xiaonan, come on home!"

Tang Xiaonan felt as if she were floating on water, surrounded by a formless chaos where she could see nothing. But there was a sliver of light in the distance. She struggled to drift toward it, only to see a funeral portrait. The girl in the photo had her hair in two pigtails, her large, round face puffed up like an over-leavened flatbread.

Still, one could make out the girl’s fine features; she would definitely be a beauty if she were thinner. This was the grown-up Tang Xiaonan, but she was already dead. The younger Tang Xiaonan had somehow arrived at her own funeral.

It was desolate and miserable, cold and deserted.

That was Tang Xiaonan’s only impression.

There wasn’t a single mourner. There was only a scruffy, middle-aged man sitting blankly on the floor. One look at him and you could tell he was down on his luck and utterly defeated by life. It was the grown-up Howard Thorne, the last surviving member of his family, who had barely managed to arrange his younger sister’s funeral.

"Xiaonan, your big brother is so sorry. I couldn’t afford a good urn for you... please don’t blame me." Howard Thorne cried like a fool, having already lost the will to live.

He was the only one left in his entire family. ’What’s the point of living on alone?’

Someone arrived. It was the tall, stately Clayton Xavier. Now a successful businessman, Clayton had acquired the domineering aura of someone in power, yet he hadn’t lost his refined elegance. He wore a black suit, his expression solemn as he offered incense for Tang Xiaonan. Howard Thorne didn’t react at first. After a long moment, he returned the gesture with trepidation, but his face soon became vacant again. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

"My condolences. Please accept this small token of my sympathy."

Clayton Xavier handed him a check. Howard Thorne glanced at it, then suddenly burst out laughing and shoved it away. The check fluttered lightly to the ground.

"You people killed Xiaonan, and now you’re using money to act like you’re the good guys? Bah! Ulysses Spann must pay for Xiaonan’s life with his own. If the judge won’t sentence him, then I’ll take him down with me. I’m done with living, anyway!"

Howard Thorne’s eyes were bloodshot, his face twisted into a ferocious snarl. He was on the verge of madness.

"Ulysses was indeed at fault. He shouldn’t have been driving drunk. So many things are unpredictable... no one knows why Xiaonan suddenly appeared there. I’m not trying to make excuses for Ulysses; he will receive the punishment he deserves. But no matter what, Xiaonan isn’t coming back. Brother Howard, you have to find a way to keep living," Noah Xavier urged with heartfelt sincerity.