Okay so I need to talk about this scene where Song Zhiyao finds out Weiwei can't speak. I literally gasped out loud. Like, she goes into that courtyard all happy and hopeful, right? She's brought gifts, she's made food herself, she's actually trying to be a mother. And then Su Xin just drops this bomb: "Little Miss… can't speak." Song Zhiyao's whole world stops. She immediately connects the dots—"Because of me?" And Su Xin doesn't even deny it. That silence? That's the author just absolutely destroying us.
What hits me hardest is the layered betrayal here. The person who's been occupying Song Zhiyao's body—tarnishing her reputation, clinging to Lu Jinyu, stealing her life—fine, that's one grievance. But hurting her children? That's crossing a line into something unforgivable. Song Zhiyao literally clenches her fists until her nails dig into her palms. She makes this vow in her head that she'll never forgive that person if they ever appear before her again. And honestly? I feel her. The plot has been building this slow burn of injustice, and this is where it finally boils over into something raw and personal.
The confrontation with Lu Jinyu earlier in the chapter also sets this up perfectly. She calls him out—"you're in your twenties, neither accomplished in literature nor martial arts"—and it's hilarious but also tragic because she's remembering who he used to be. The carefree boy she once loved versus this self-important man who fathered a child with someone else and can't even give her status. The parallel between Lu Jinyu's failures and the unknown person's cruelty creates this double layer of loss for Song Zhiyao.
And then Lu Yanzhi's line at the end—"Not every time someone falls into an icy lake can they be rescued in time"—chills me to the bone. He's basically saying some wounds don't heal. Some trust, once broken, is gone forever. The plot is setting up this impossible situation: Song Zhiyao has to rebuild relationships that may be permanently shattered, and the person who caused the damage isn't even her. That's some next-level narrative complexity right there.