The Twenty-First Chapter

"Where is this? Who are you?"

Lady Xiao Lin was still conscious. She remembered being nailed into a coffin. When the nails were driven in, her body felt like it was burning, causing unbearable pain.

This torment continued until one day, she smelled a cool, refreshing incense. The scent soothed the burning pain in her body, and her muddled consciousness gradually cleared.

Then, she found herself in this unfamiliar place, with a white fox before her.

"You don't need to know who I am. Do you remember how you died?"

The fox, sitting on a stool like a person, suddenly spoke.

Lady Xiao Lin tried hard to recall. She remembered that during that period, she had been in a daze, unable to sleep soundly at night, and had experienced terrifying hallucinations.

She saw that the child she was carrying in her belly was not a child at all, but a strange fish that wanted to cut her open.

She was so terrified that her mind couldn't think at all. She somehow found a dagger and cut open her own belly.

After that...

Lady Xiao Lin clutched her head, her scream sharp and piercing.

She remembered. She was dead.

After her death, her soul had not left her body. She heard Zhao Ming say that he had a child with another woman.

Her death was planned, all to ensure that the child he favored could legitimately return to the Zhao family.

He had also found someone to seal her soul in the coffin, tormenting her day after day.

Countless thoughts flashed through her mind, and black energy began to emanate from Lady Xiao Lin's body, her resentment almost uncontrollable.

"I remember, Zhao Ming killed me," Lady Xiao Lin's voice was hoarse, filled with deep hatred. "They killed me—the Zhao family!!!"

"Then go get your revenge," A Chan looked at Lady Xiao Lin, her beast eyes indifferent.

"Revenge? Yes, I want to go get revenge on him." The resentment on Lady Xiao Lin's face dissipated, revealing her pure black eyes and pale face.

"Tomorrow night, at midnight, the incense on your body will dissipate. When the incense disappears, you will transform into a vengeful spirit. Then you can seek justice for your grievances and revenge for your hatred. You will only have that one night. At dawn, I will send you to the underworld."

"Why are you helping me?"

"Because you helped me once too, even if you only saw me as Ji Chan." A Chan closed her eyes, not answering.

When she opened her eyes again, her consciousness had returned to her body. She was still sitting in the pitch-black room.

But A Chan knew that Lady Xiao Lin had been here.

Now, she was gone.

The first incense stick had burned out. A Chan lit the second one. Tonight was another sleepless night.

Lady Xiao Lin didn't know how she appeared on the street, just as she didn't understand why she had been in that strange place moments ago, seeing a talking fox.

She didn't need to think about it so much, because she was already dead.

Her body was like a wisp of mist, drifting through the darkness. The buildings in her sight became increasingly familiar until a vermilion gate blocked her path. The plaque on the gate was inscribed with "Zhao Manor."

At some point, door gods had been pasted onto the gate.

Lady Xiao Lin looked at the glowing door god images before her, hesitating to step forward. Just then, a clear and refreshing incense scent wafted over, enveloping her body. Borrowing that wisp of smoke, she actually passed through the gate.

Looking back, the door gods were still there.

This was the home she had lived in for over a decade. Yet, after being gone for only a few days, it seemed completely different from before.

Lady Xiao Lin drifted through the Zhao Manor. She first went to the main courtyard. The gate to the main house was sealed with paper. She passed through the door and entered the room. She clearly remembered where she had died.

The scent of her blood still lingered here.

She wandered in her own room for a long time and even sat at the dressing table for a while. The dusty bronze mirror reflected nothing.

Then she went to Zhao Ming's study.

She was illiterate, so she rarely went to the study.

She remembered once, a maid who served in the study had developed improper thoughts, which she discovered. Before she could act, Zhao Ming had already dismissed the maid.

She asked Zhao Ming why he hadn't kept the person. He said he didn't need "Red Sleeve Adding Incense."

At that time, Lady Xiao Lin thought there was no better man in the world than Zhao Ming.

In the inner room of the study, she saw the man she had once deeply loved. Now, another woman lay in his arms.

She naturally recognized this face: Su Yao, a concubine Old Madam Zhao had once chosen for Zhao Ming, his distant cousin.

Lady Xiao Lin sat at the head of their bed, watching the two intimately embracing until dawn.

When Zhao Ming woke up, he suddenly felt a chill and couldn't help but shiver.

"What's wrong?" Su Yao rubbed her eyes and sat up as well.

She was only wearing a bellyband, and her exposed skin was covered in red marks.

"Nothing, don't catch a cold," Zhao Ming picked up the inner garment beside him and thoughtfully helped her put it on.

Su Yao got up and helped Zhao Ming put on his official robe, then tied his sash. The two lingered intimately by the bed for a long time before finally parting.

Neither of them knew that Lady Xiao Lin had been sitting by the bed, watching them.

In the past, when Lady Xiao Lin was in a good mood, she had also helped Zhao Ming put on his official robes, but she never got to the step of tying the waist sash.

But she remembered that Zhao Ming would always subconsciously lift his arms, as if waiting for her to tie the sash.

So, it was his dear cousin who had cultivated this habit in him.

During those days when he went out with friends and didn't return home at night, did he stay with this woman?

That's right, they even had a child, and that child was also in the manor.

After Zhao Ming's figure disappeared, Lady Xiao Lin followed Su Yao. She watched as the steward of the manor personally delivered food, addressing Su Yao as "Madam."

She had hand-picked this steward; he was indeed a qualified dog.

After Su Yao finished her meal, she got up and went to Hui'an Hall, the residence of Old Master Zhao and his wife.

At this hour, Hui'an Hall was very lively, filled with the sounds of children talking and the laughter of the elderly couple.

Upon hearing that Su Yao had come to pay her respects, Old Madam Zhao warmly called her in.

Lady Xiao Lin followed behind Su Yao, drifting into Hui'an Hall.

She saw her mother-in-law affectionately holding Su Yao's hand, asking if she had rested well.

Seeing Su Yao's flushed face, Old Madam Zhao teased her, telling her to try harder and give her another chubby grandson.

When Su Yao sat down, the little boy who had been nestled beside Old Madam Zhao leaned over and called out, "Mother."

"Qier, be good. Have you been studying diligently lately?"

"Yes," Zhao Wenqi nodded heavily. "Qier has been very diligent. Father said he would send me to study with Scholar Qi in a few days, and Scholar Qi has already agreed."

Lady Xiao Lin remembered Scholar Qi; he was a friend of Zhao Ming's despite the age difference. When Zhao Wensheng was ten, Lady Xiao Lin had wanted Zhao Ming to send their son to Scholar Qi, but Zhao Ming refused, saying Scholar Qi did not accept young students.

Su Yao was very happy. "Is that so? My Qier is truly amazing."

Zhao Wenqi said with some pride, "Scholar Qi said I am intelligent and sensible, much better than Father's useless eldest son."

Hearing her grandson mention Zhao Wensheng, Old Madam Zhao snorted, "It's early in the morning, Qier, don't mention that unlucky person, lest you dirty your ears."

"Aunt, you shouldn't say such things outside," Su Yao reminded her with a smile.

"I know," Old Madam Zhao looked at Su Yao and her son with great affection, sighing, "Fortunately, we didn't let you mother and son stay in the manor all these years, otherwise, you would have been worn down to death by Lady Xiao Lin."

Zhao Wenqi also said crisply, "The books say that evil deeds are met with evil retribution. She monopolized Father and caused our family to be unable to be together, so she deserved to die a terrible death."

"Oh my, my Qier knows so much, he even knows about dying a terrible death, hahaha."

Su Yao, however, patted her son's hand and reprimanded him with a slightly stern tone, "Don't say such things in the future, understand?"

"I understand, Mother, don't be angry," Zhao Wenqi quickly admitted his mistake. "Son will study hard. When I grow up and become an official, I will request imperial edicts for Grandma and Mother."

"My good grandson even knows about imperial edicts, he's so sensible." Old Madam Zhao was so delighted she couldn't close her mouth. She then said to Su Yao, "Qier was just speaking the truth, why did you scare him?"

In the eyes of their family, Lady Xiao Lin was already an extraneous and unsightly presence; dying a terrible death was what she deserved.

Lady Xiao Lin stood by the table, blood-red tears sliding down her face, dripping onto the ground without leaving a trace.

The day passed in a flash. Lady Xiao Lin wandered all over the Zhao Manor, but she did not go to see Zhao Wenyue.

She still remembered the words Zhao Wenyue had spoken before the coffin was nailed shut that day.

As the sky gradually darkened, the incense that enveloped Lady Xiao Lin grew fainter.

Zhao Ming finally returned to the manor, and Xue Mingtang entered with him.

Xue Mingtang was a cultivator of the Second Realm, with vigorous qi and blood. He should have easily sensed the presence of ghosts, but he did not detect Lady Xiao Lin, who was right beside him.

The two went to the study. Xue Mingtang seemed to have something on him that made her feel very dangerous, so she could only listen from afar.

She heard them mention the Forbidden Vault and the Lin Family, but their voices were low and intermittent, and she couldn't understand.

They didn't stay in the study for long. Xue Mingtang got up to leave. On his way out of the manor, he encountered Zhao Wenyue.

Lady Xiao Lin watched from afar as the shy Zhao Wenyue approached Xue Mingtang, and the hint of annoyance that flickered across his brow when she got close.

She had never thought before why Zhao Ming insisted on marrying his daughter to Xue Mingtang, and why Xue Mingtang, who clearly disliked Zhao Wenyue, was willing.

Her husband seemed to have many secrets she didn't know.

But it didn't matter. After tonight, there would be no more secrets.

Night fell.

Time trickled by. Lady Xiao Lin felt the incense that had kept her lucid gradually fade, and anger and hatred filled her consciousness.

She arrived outside a side room in Hui'an Hall and entered the room the moment midnight struck.

A child, about seven or eight years old, was sleeping soundly on the couch. Zhao Wenqi originally had his own courtyard, but Old Madam Zhao was worried about him being alone and insisted that he sleep in her courtyard.

Lady Xiao Lin hovered over this intelligent and wicked child. Her long hair fell beside his face as she looked at his peaceful sleeping visage.

What a lovable child he was, so young yet already thinking for his mother.

She would naturally spare this child. Not only would she spare him, but she would also let him live a long and prosperous life.

The next moment, Lady Xiao Lin's body seemed to lose control and fell onto the couch.

The Zhao Wenqi lying on the bed opened his eyes, his pupils pure black.