Chapter 4 Looking Through River Lethe (II)
It was already bad enough for the princess to marry into a family of lower rank. Yet on the night of her marriage, the sixth lady who had been unconscious for three months suddenly woke up from her deathbed. Everyone claimed that the dead Mistress Qian wanted to bring bad luck to the Princess and must have begged the Hades to revive the sixth lady.
Some claims even had it that since the sixth lady of Gu family had a tough life that could curse her grandparents’ family and her birth mother to death. She could perhaps curse the princess to her death after a few years as well.
And when these rumors reached the princess’ ears, it made her so mad that she broke a vase right in front of the vast audience before feeling appeased.
“You want to curse my princess? Then you need to get past me first!” Granny Tan thought to herself.
Scared out of her wit, Yue Niang had no choice but to push the handkerchief into her lady’s collar. She then said with her teary eyes, “I’ll…feed my lady!”
“I’ll…eat it myself!”
Gu Qingwan snatched the spoon over from Yue Niang’s hand and stuffed the entire shrimp into her mouth as she giggled foolishly.
“My lady, you got to peel off the shell first!” Yue Niang exclaimed panicked.
Instead, Gu Qingwan was biting the shrimp heedlessly in her mouth. The hard and sharp shell of the shrimp was cutting into her beautiful lips, causing them to bleed.
However, Yue Niang could no longer see her lady clearly as balls of tears were rolling down her cheeks.
“Tasty…I want more!” Gu Qingwan said as she continued to munch on the shrimp. Shortly after, she had swallowed the entire shrimp, together with its shell and the blood in her mouth.
Granny Tan could only feel the pain in her throat.
Right before her eyes was the sixth lady in her silver narrow coat skirt embroidered with peonies, who was wearing a cheerful smile on her face. Though she was not tall for an eight-year-old girl, she was already looking beautiful and alluring.
However, it was a pity. Her actions were ungraceful and she even had troubles forming proper sentences. She did not know how to be cautious of people and had no idea what was good or bad. She was obviously a fool.
Why should the princess be cautious of a fool like her? All the princess needed to do is to give the signal and she could effortlessly torture this fool.
Granny Tan disdainfully took a quick glance at Gu Qingwan before she faked a polite smile on her face and said, “Please enjoy your meal, my sixth lady. I’ll take my leave now!”
Yue Niang endured her grievances as she sent them off.
Granny Tan turned around and stared at her coldly, “Make sure you take good care of your lady and prevent her from running around. If she were to piss off our princess, I’ll make sure you’re dead.”
“Yes, Granny!” Yue Niang lowered her head as she replied obediently.
Without turning her head, Granny Tan headed straight for the main door while instructing the two servants behind her, “Both of you better keep a close eye on her. Don’t get distracted.”
“Yes, Granny!” Both servants replied obediently as they bowed down in response.
…
As soon as Granny Tan stepped out of the courtyard, Qian Fu quickly limped his way towards Gu Qingwan and took her pulse.
“Don’t worry, Uncle Fu. I am just a fool to them. They probably don’t even think it’s worth to waste their poison on me.” Gu Qingwan said simply.
Qian Fu remained quiet as he attentively checked on her pulse. He then heaved a sigh of relief and said, “My lady, nothing is more toxic than a woman’s heart. I can’t be careless.”
Yue Niang patted on her own chest as she hurriedly fetched a basin of clear water and towel to help her lady rinse her mouth and clean her injured lips.
“You almost scared me to my death…my lady, your actions just now…made me think that…the previous lady had returned.”
Qingwan gave her a straight face while pointing out to the courtyard.
Yue Niang immediately understood what she meant as she covered her mouth with her hand and turned around to close the doors. She hesitated for a while before kneeling down in front of her lady.
“My lady…I’m sorry that I’m so useless. I can’t even protect you and have to make you suffer like this.”
“What are you saying?”
Gu Qingwan said gently, “Both of you are now my closest family in this world. I should be the one protecting both of you.”
“My lady!” Yue Niang exclaimed as she broke into tears again.
“Moreover, that granny is sly and cold-hearted. If she was to notice anything, it would be tough for you and I to continue surviving in this residence.”
Gu Qingwan said softly, “Remember what I’ve said. Do not protect me in front of outsiders.”
Yue Niang and Uncle Fu looked at each other and nodded in agreement.
Gu Qingwan smiled beautifully as an idea suddenly struck her mind, “Uncle Fu, there are no rules saying who should be using poisons. From today onwards, I’ll need you to teach me one more thing — how to use poisons.”
Qian Fu withdrew his hand and sighed, “When it comes to using poisons, the best person to go to is none other than our second lady. I only know the basics.”
Qingwan appeared delighted. Though she had experienced some unusual events, she was unclear of how those poisons, such as Heartbreak Grass, Thunder God Vine, Poisonfeather Toxin, Arsenic Trioxide and Devil’s Snare, were prepared or formulated.
As she carefully thought over them in her mind, she was subconsciously mumbling out the names of these toxic herbs.
Upon hearing them, Uncle Fu almost fainted.
“My lady — How did you come to know of all these?”
“Eh —”
Qingwan was quite taken aback by herself. She immediately shut her mouth as this was a secret that she had been hiding deep down in her heart.
At the head of Narakade Bridge in Hell.
She was so filled with hatred that she lingered around the head of the bridge, reluctant to consume the bowl of Forgetfulness Meng Po Tea.
Her aunt was holding onto her cousin’s hand as they walked towards River Lethe. Their eyes met each other. Her aunt pulled her tightly into a hug and cried without saying a single word.
Forget it.
After all, all hatred must come to an end. Just when she was about to drink that bowl of Forgetfulness Meng Po Tea…
“Do you still recognize me?”
Her heart was filled with doubts as she stared at Meng Po, whose face was blurry.
Meng Po sighed and said, “When you return to the mortal world this time, you’re required to experience another ten cycles of reincarnation…Ultimately, this is just retribution from the deeds you’ve done in your previous three lives…”
“Sigh…I am unsure of the reason. Why do you need to go through this…” Meng Po seemed to be mumbling to herself and her voice was slowly trailing off.
“Forget it!” Meng Po shouted as she gripped onto her wrist.
With no means of resistance, she took only one step and was immediately brought to River Lethe by Meng Po.
“Do look into the river…”
And with a single glance at the river, she was instantly flooded back with 27 years of memories from her previous life!
In her previous life, she was a skilled physician working in a city with tall buildings.
Having graduated from a medical university, she became an unfortunate victim of a terrible ordeal where she was stabbed to death by someone with scissors in the physician duty room…
But before she could react, Meng Po softly whispered by her ears, “Do you remember?”
She shook her head and nodded her head again. She seemingly understood what Meng Po meant.
And suddenly, a force pushed her from behind as she fell straight into River Lethe.
“My lady. My lady.” Qian Fu hurriedly called the lady when he noticed that she had fallen into a deep trance.
After Qingwan gathered herself back together, she said quietly, “It’s up to you whether you want to believe me. But it was Meng Po who had told me all these. ”
Both Qian Fu and Yue Niang stared at her intensively as they were lost for words.