Jintang
CHAPTER 1
1
I never imagined that even as a lone wandering soul, someone would still be able to see me.
Even more unexpected—
The one who saw me was the real daughter of the Yongyi Marquis Manor who had been lost.
Half a year ago, when the Yongyi Marquis Manor brought her back, they passed by this little patch of land where my bones lay.
The carriage stopped under the peach tree that had grown from my remains, and an anxious old maid rushed into the bushes clutching her rear, releasing a torrent.
Someone fell out of the carriage—it was the long-lost daughter, Meng Jin.
The moment her palm-sized face met my gaze, she turned deathly pale in fright.
I died terribly.
That bitch Zhu Huan gouged out my eyes, slashed up the hibiscus-like face that once drove Shen Chong mad with desire.
Even my hands, skilled in wielding blades, were chopped off and thrown into the fish pond behind the prince's residence.
My skeleton was nailed down in this mass grave, and I was bored out of my mind.
Every day, I hung upside down on the crooked peach tree, swinging.
When the ghostly wind blew, my bloody head just so happened to swing in front of Meng Jin.
Her wide, dark eyes opened even wider in shock.
My invisible blood dripped, drop by drop, right onto her face.
I bared my fangs and blew a breath at her.
“Let me smell your rations, and I’ll spare your life.”
2
She trembled for a long while before finally pulling out two cold steamed buns.
Utterly disappointing.
“Are you trying to feed a beggar? I want to smell something good. Like that.”
I stuck out my long tongue and pointed toward the pork jerky in the hands of a nearby servant and coachman.
She glanced over, then her expression turned embarrassed. Her eyes, like feathered fans, drooped as she whispered like a mosquito:
“I haven’t officially returned to my family yet. The Yongyi Marquis Manor doesn’t feed idlers. The rations I have, I brought myself.”
My three-foot tongue paused, then slowly retracted.
The Yongyi Marquis Manor was wealthy and grand—what they tossed to feed the dogs was better than the dry buns she held.
Over ten years ago, I saw that adopted daughter at a palace banquet—decked in gold and jade, like an immortal child, not inferior to any royal princess.
Back then, the Marquise even shed tears in public when mentioning her lost daughter.
“The comfort before my eyes is the only thing that keeps me from feeling each day like a year.”
Yet barely a decade later, she had neglected her own flesh and blood into such a pitiful state.
A person unloved—no one even spared the effort to properly bring her home.
As I lay atop the tree lamenting the coldness of the world, Meng Jin suddenly softened.
“Here!”
She mustered her courage to ask the coachman for half a piece of already-bitten pork jerky, held it up in her hand, and timidly didn’t even dare to lift her head:
“Don’t cry anymore.”
“I thought of a way for you.”
I froze, only then realizing that blood was once again dripping from my empty eye sockets.
“I wasn’t…”
Pa!
3
I hadn’t even finished speaking when the old maid’s ruler swept through my head and smacked her hand.
“As a young lady, you must behave like one. The Yongyi Marquis Manor is a noble house—how can you eat food offered out of pity? Just a piece of jerky and you’ve brought shame to the household. Vulgar and lowly—you must be punished.”
The meat jerky fell to the ground, picking up dirt.
The servant and coachman stepped on it, hands on hips, flanking the old maid with mocking tones:
“With that demeanor, she’s not even on par with the maidservant, Cuizhu in the lady’s courtyard. A ‘miss’? Please.”
“If it weren’t for the marriage alliance needing her, who’d want to bring her back? The Marquis and Madam went to see her five years ago and left her because she was ignorant and uncultured—not presentable.”
“You act like a young lady, but you don't even look at your background. An orphan who grew up cleaning dung buckets will never be able to wash off the stench of feces.”
Meng Jin clenched her sleeves tightly, head bowed in shame, unable to lift it.
The three of them grew even more arrogant, spitting venomous insults and ridicule.
The old maid’s discipline with her ruler and the coachman and servant’s gleeful jeers were deafening.
It reminded me of the days when I killed.
“Have you ever seen a human swing made of flesh?”
Tearful, Meng Jin froze.
“Today, you’re going to see one.”
I stretched out my long tongue—wrapped the old maid and flung her onto the peach tree. A forked branch locked around her neck. With a breath from me, she began to swing, creaking back and forth.
“Should I go faster?”
Meng Jin stood stunned.
The old maid was being strangled half to death.
The coachman and servant ran over, shouting, trying to help.
I cackled.
“Wanna see the spinning wheel of hell?”
The coachman and servant were snatched up by the branches and spun wildly like a whirlwind.
They screamed hysterically—urine and feces flying everywhere.
As they cried for their mothers, each of them rolled their eyes back in agony.
The little girl was so frightened—then suddenly, she laughed.
After the time it took for an incense stick to burn, the three unconscious bodies lay neatly on the ground.
“They soiled themselves. Who’s more disgraceful now?”
Meng Jin and I sat down, holding the jerky, feasting happily.
“What’s your name? When I return to the capital and save up money, I’ll help send you off.”
She couldn’t bear to touch my name.
Besides, I couldn’t be sent off.
“Don't waste your energy on someone who's been struck by the Soul-Suppressing Pearl. Moreover…”
I didn’t say it. Besides—I was almost completely scattered.
“Just say they were choked by a ghost. Looking like that, they’ll only dare say they saw a ghost in broad daylight.”
I swung myself back onto the tree.
“Live well—for the thing I wanted most was to live.”
To live and drag those bastards to hell.
She paused.
“You like the smell of meat. Next time I come, I’ll bring you roast chicken.”
She left with a solemn promise—but once she left, it was half a year before I saw her again.
4
“I know about the Soul-Suppressing Pearl. If you want freedom, it can only be exchanged life for life. I deliberately went to Huguo Temple to ask for talismans. As long as you nod, I’ll give you my life.”
Thunder rumbled, illuminating Meng Jin’s deathly pale face.
Unlike her vibrancy half a year ago, she now breathed faintly, collapsed beneath my peach tree, completely drained of strength.
“I didn’t forget you. I just couldn’t get away. I didn’t bring roast chicken—don’t blame me.”
“See? Even in death, I was thinking of you.”
She sought only death—anywhere would’ve sufficed.
But from the capital to here was a full thirty li.
She trudged through mud the entire night.
“Who pushed you to this? The Meng family?”
She smiled resolutely, and it was hard to tell whether it was rain or tears on her face.
In the next instant, a sharp dagger sliced open her wrist.
“It’s this world… I'm stupid and cowardly and not as good as others. This is my fate.”
Blood gushed out, soaking the damp talisman hidden in her chest—it lit up with golden light.
“Come here, come hug me. You’re the only one who’s ever protected me.”
“Oh—you don’t have hands. Then I’ll hug you.”
No matter how much I wanted to save her, it was in vain.
“I want to die. You want to live. Let’s switch, I beg you.”
When someone truly wants to die, no one can save them.
She tore the wound even deeper, and crimson blood, washed by rain, spread outwards, soaking my entire skeleton in its scent.
“Life’s already been this hard. Don’t let me die in vain. At least… if you’re alive, there’s still someone in the world who remembers me. Isn’t that enough?”
Her three souls and six spirits slowly drifted away, growing fainter, held together by a single breath.
I leaned closer to her.
“Do you have any last wishes? Tell me—I’ll do it. I’ll do everything.”
She smiled and hugged me tightly.
Buried her face deep in my arms.
“You must live well. I’ll reincarnate into a good family next life. We’ve both gained something, haven’t we?”
Gained?
Unless I drag all of them to hell with us, we both died in vain!
That night, the Yongyi Marquis Manor lost a true daughter nobody cared about—while in the mass grave, a ghost demoness was reborn.
The peach tree withered overnight.
I descended the mountain with Meng Jin's body.
I don’t know about the next life.
But in this one—I’ll repay every debt in blood.
5
Before returning to the capital, I made a trip to Huguo Temple.
There, an empress dowager had been eating vegetarian all her life, praying for blessings for her son.
She never liked me in the past. Once, she punished me by making me kneel, which caused me to lose my eight-month-old child; a near-birth baby.
But now, after I told her the truth about her son’s death, she couldn’t wait to jump aboard my pirate ship, ready to stir up a storm and fight our way back to Zijing City.
The deal was made.
I returned to the Yongyi Marquis Manor on the day the fake daughter, Meng Xueru, held her coming-of-age ceremony.
In the midst of the joyous celebration, everyone crowded around her. Precious jewels and heirlooms were piled before her like they were free.
All congratulated her on growing up, advising her to be cautious and not to squander her future.
In this blooming, dazzling scene, everyone was basking in glory.
No one remembered—today was also Meng Jin’s birthday.
The Marquise pulled the dainty fake daughter into her arms, and more than ten large gift boxes were neatly stacked before her.
“These are from your grandmother’s dowry. I only received them after giving birth to your brother. I won’t give them to anyone else—they’re all for my dear Ru’er.”
Meng Xueru pouted, then dove into her mother’s arms, flashing an innocent yet sly smile:
“I knew mother loves me the most. Ru’er loves you sooo much too.”
The heir of the Yongyi Marquis Manor, Meng Yunting, stepped forward with a gentle expression and offered his treasure:
“Brother doesn’t have mother’s heirloom, but this five-colored agate bestowed by the emperor—this I got from the third prince himself. Naturally, it carries a different weight.”
The third prince?
Third in line—that's him, no doubt.
Heh. What a delightful surprise.
The Marquis, seated in a place of honor, stroked his beard with pride:
“My gift isn’t any worse. I shamelessly begged His Majesty. Once your coming-of-age ceremony is done, he will bestow a marriage between you and the third prince, so my darling girl can have what her heart desires.”
Meng Xueru’s eyes lit up immediately.
Yet she still stomped her foot and pouted at the Marquis:
“Father, you’re embarrassing me! Saying such things in front of everyone. I’m not speaking to you!”
Everyone roared with laughter, their words dripping with honeyed sweetness.
Only my body still bore the aching pain left by Meng Jin’s final touch.
A cold wind blew, chilling me to the bone. I shivered uncontrollably.
“You still know how to be shy? Haven’t you long been shameless?”
“Brother’s so mean! Mother, scold him!”
“Alright, alright, I’ll scold him now. Yunting, don’t bully your sister. As punishment, take her shopping tomorrow—and you’re paying for everything.”
Meng Yunting groaned:
“Mother, you’re torturing me! You know all my private savings are already spent on that little glutton.”
Meng Xueru stuck her tongue out and made a face:
“Serves you right! Nyah nyah~”
“And what about me?”
Amid the roomful of laughter, I stepped forward, spoiling the mood.
“What are you giving me?”
6
The laughter came to an abrupt halt.
Everyone’s faces clouded with displeasure, their joy spoiled.
Meng Yunting cast me a cold, sidelong glance:
“So you still knew how to come back. I thought you had some backbone. Turns out you couldn't survive out there and came crawling back, tail between your legs.”
“Do you have any idea how worried Xueru was because of your disappearance? She couldn’t eat or sleep for days.”
“Eloping with someone—do you even know what shame is? You’ve brought utter disgrace upon the entire Yongyi Marquis Manor.”
Meng Xueru froze for a moment when she saw me, but quickly tucked away the flash of hatred in her eyes.
She bit her lip, watery innocence welling up in her eyes as she tugged at Meng Yunting’s sleeve, looking pitiful:
“Brother, don’t say that.”
“I don’t blame Sister anymore. Even though she drove me out of the manor and nearly cost me my life… I’ve enjoyed years of wealth and comfort here—I’m grateful.”
“Perhaps she was just misled when she chose to elope. I'm sure she knows she was wrong now.”
Then she turned to me, wearing a face of sincere goodwill:
“Since Sister has returned, I think it’s time I gave back everything that belongs to her.”
“But Sister, you left without a word and caused Father and Mother so much worry. Don’t forget to apologize to them.”
The Marquise shot me a vicious glare and sneered:
“I don’t need her apology.”
“The last time she apologized, she pushed me into the water.”
“If she apologizes again, who knows, maybe these old bones of mine will end up buried too.”
“Besides, I have only one daughter—and that’s you, Xueru. Don’t let others insult me with false claims.”
Meng Xueru blinked her wide eyes at me, as if troubled:
“Sister, quickly apologize.”
Seeing that I stood motionless, the Marquis roared sternly:
“Kneel down!”
.jpg)
Comments
Post a Comment