The name "Falling Pear Blossoms" sounds like a type of wine, or perhaps a sweet yet not cloying dessert.

At first glance, it evokes poetic imagery.

Pear blossoms bloom, spring brings rain. Pear blossoms fall, spring sinks into the mud.

But only one person knows, it is actually a poison.

Chu Liuxue is a prodigy in pharmaceuticals; she has concocted numerous potions in the village to save the Scholar.

Falling Pear Blossoms was merely an accidental failure. She tasted it once, fainted for half a day, and never touched it again.

Later, the old servant left, and the Scholar passed away. Left alone and desolate, she thought perhaps no one should live, and rummaged through her things to find it again.

There was an old hen in the yard, and Chu Liuxue, disregarding the hen's wishes, decided to take it along.

On the first day, the hen drank a sip of the potion, and so did she. The hen didn't faint, but she did, though she survived by luck.

On the second day, the hen drank one sip, and she drank two. The hen was fine, but she fainted for three days straight, yet didn't die.

This continued for several days until the hen died.

Chu Liuxue discovered that the poison was actually slow-acting, taking effect gradually, and drinking it a few times wouldn't kill.

However, once the limit was reached, the poison would act, and there would be no turning back.

With this new discovery, she tilted her head back, preparing to take another swig from the bottle, planning to die in a few days.

At this moment, the sun was setting outside the window, and she glanced at the grand pear tree in the yard, flourishing like a cascade of snow.

When she was young, the Scholar often held her under the tree, counting the pure white blossoms.

She thought, if she died, she would never see the pear blossoms in full bloom again, which would be a pity.

Such serene and beautiful pear blossoms.

With this thought, the white porcelain bottle in her hand felt as heavy as a thousand pounds, impossible to lift.

Forget it, she thought, I'll wait a bit longer to die.

But pity the poor hen.

She got out of bed, just as her adoptive parents entered the yard to take her to her new home.

Chu Liuxue took nothing with her, except for that bottle of Falling Pear Blossoms tucked in her bosom.

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She later recounted these events to Tao Mian: the death of her adoptive parents, and her encounter with Chu Suiyan.

At that time, Chu Liuxue was a person who was brutally honest with herself, repaying kindness and seeking revenge. She knew that the current Chu Suiyan was just an innocent child, and the grudges of the previous generation should not, or rather temporarily should not, be inherited by him.

But she couldn't help it; her heart was filled with hatred for the Tan family.

One moonlit night when Chu Suiyan was six, Chu Liuxue, with trembling hands, poured Falling Pear Blossoms into a kettle and handed it to Chu Suiyan.

The boy trusted his only relative completely, smiling as he took it with both hands and drank it down in big gulps.

As expected, he began to faint, his face and lips turning as white as snow, his body trembling and convulsing uncontrollably.

Chu Liuxue sat quietly by her enemy's son for three hours, listening to him call out her name even in his unconscious state.

Her face was expressionless, but her hands tightly clenched her pants, her palms sweating continuously.

Before the rooster crowed, she angrily pinched her own thigh, got up, and went to make the antidote.

The slow-acting poison required repeated doses to take effect.

Chu Liuxue spent two days concocting the antidote and fed it to Chu Suiyan. Fortunately, it was only the first dose, and everything was still in time.

When Chu Suiyan finally endured the torment of illness and opened his eyes to look at her in a daze, Chu Liuxue couldn't help but shed tears.

Why was she crying?

Was it regret for not successfully killing her enemy's son, or joy for saving her unrelated brother?

Chu Liuxue didn't know.

It was her first time feeling such inner confusion, avoiding the questions in her heart.

In the years that followed, she poisoned Chu Suiyan with Falling Pear Blossoms more than once. Each time, she would regret it and use the antidote to save her brother.

Over time, Chu Liuxue became adept at balancing the doses of poison and antidote, and it became a habit.

Chu Liuxue didn't want this habit; she even loathed herself, loathed her wavering heart.

Once, unable to endure the inner torment, she decided to end it all by drinking half the bottle.

She couldn't do anything about Chu Suiyan, so she thought it better to die herself.

Chu Liuxue thought this way.

Perhaps due to her body's resistance to poison, she didn't have much of a reaction after drinking it and remained conscious.

Her brother was hungry, his voice weak. They hadn't eaten for three meals.

Despite feeling unwell, Chu Liuxue still took Chu Suiyan's hand and went to the street.

From a distance, she saw a young cultivator. He seemed inexperienced in the bustling market, unaware of being overcharged by the vendors, holding a heavy purse.

Chu Liuxue's eyes were fixed on that purse. As he took the sugar cake from the vendor, she seized the opportunity, swiftly snatching the brocade bag from his hand.

She heard the person behind her exclaim, "Hey," but he didn't curse like the young masters usually did.

It was probably his first time encountering a theft, and instead of shouting for help, he first handed the change to the vendor to buy the sugar cake.

Then he leisurely looked in the direction the thief had gone.

Though she guessed his cultivation was deep, being caught so quickly was beyond Chu Liuxue's expectations.

She thought she was going to be beaten, thinking it was no big deal, just endure it.

Luckily, she had left Suiyan at the street corner, otherwise, the two of them—

Chu Liuxue felt both numb and fortunate, then heard a child's cry behind her; it was Chu Suiyan catching up.

Her brother's small body covered her back, saying not to hit Liuxue, it was his fault for being hungry, hit him instead.

The boy spoke incoherently, crying as he spoke, leaving the man at a loss, not knowing where to place his hands.

"Oh dear, let me say something! I haven't even done anything yet, and you two are already putting on a full act!"

This was the first encounter between Chu Liuxue and Tao Mian, a desperate thief, and a "penniless" Immortal.

Tao Mian's appearance was one of the few salvations in Chu Liuxue's tragic life.

She thought, besides the old servant and the Scholar, there were still good people in this world.

Then don't die.

She and her brother followed the Immortal back to Peach Blossom Mountain. As she took her first step onto Peach Blossom Mountain, Chu Liuxue made a promise to herself.

As long as Chu Suiyan didn't leave the mountain, didn't return to the Tan family, she would let go of her hatred and live her life with the mountain.

Naturally, she also carefully put away the Falling Pear Blossoms. Having made a promise to herself, she no longer needed to be confused.

Chu Suiyan had been frail and sickly since childhood, not only because he had been wandering outside but also due to the Falling Pear Blossoms.

He fell seriously ill several times on Peach Blossom Mountain, forcing the Immortal to seek medicine everywhere. At that time, Chu Liuxue felt guilty.

She felt guilty, yet couldn't help but think, it would be better if Suiyan died, clean and simple, and she wouldn't have to endure the inner torment.

Naturally, she wouldn't survive alone.

She thought she was truly a despicable and cowardly person.

"Later, when you decided to leave the mountain, I no longer had to keep my promise. Being able to regard you as an enemy openly, without hesitation, was my fortune. To be able to avenge my grievances and see you die before my eyes was another fortune."

Chu Liuxue spoke calmly, watching as the color drained from Tan Fang's face, turning as white as a pear blossom. The cups and dishes on the stone table were accidentally knocked over, shattering on the ground.

The poison acted fiercely, and Tan Fang could no longer maintain a normal tone, gasping and coughing uncontrollably.

His fingers clutched the edge of the stone table, barely keeping himself from falling, a smile tugging at his lips.

"Liuxue... since it's a fortune... why... shed tears."

Sitting on the stone bench, Chu Liuxue's face was serene, without any extra expression, her demeanor calm.

Only tear after tear slid from the corners of her eyes, like a jade statue weeping, mournful and poignant.