“Waaah, Miss! This servant truly sees you again!”
“This servant knew it—once we reached the underworld, I would surely see you!”
Fuling threw her arms around Qin Guan and burst into loud sobs. “Miss, don’t be afraid. This servant has come to accompany you. With you gone, this servant had no reason to live either. Master and servant as one, we’ll keep each other company on the road to the Yellow Springs…”
Fuling’s wails echoed throughout the Western Courtyard. Mama Zhao’s eyes widened in shock, while the servants outside the courtyard were too stunned to speak. Hearing the commotion, Jiang Shi frowned and strode toward the courtyard gate.
Qin Guan patted Fuling’s back. “You’re not dead.”
Fuling’s crying abruptly stopped. She lifted her tear-streaked face and stared at Qin Guan in confusion. Qin Guan’s pale lips moved slightly as she said, “I’m not dead either.”
Fuling froze, then her mouth fell open in astonishment. Suddenly, she sensed something amiss and slowly turned her head—only to see the crowd gathered outside the courtyard. Her breath hitched, and she instinctively grabbed Qin Guan’s wrist.
“Miss… this… how did you…?”
“I merely had a fleeting pulse and exhausted breath—a near-death state often mistaken for actual death.”
Qin Guan looked at Fuling, her voice slightly raised so the words carried clearly beyond the courtyard gate.
A collective gasp of realization rose from outside.
Fuling’s eyes brightened. “Truly? Miss… Miss only had a fleeting pulse and exhausted breath? Fleeting pulse…” Her brows furrowed slightly, unable to comprehend what a fleeting pulse meant, but seeing Qin Guan alive before her was more than enough.
Then Fuling suddenly touched her own neck and turned to see the rope she had used to hang herself lying on the ground.
“But how did this servant…? This servant clearly…”
She had clearly hanged herself—why was she unharmed except for a sore neck?
Qin Guan studied Fuling, a flicker of calculation flashing in her eyes. How should she explain this?
“Ninth Miss returned from death and even revived Fuling…”
“She… she couldn’t be Buddha Possession, could she…?”
“Ordinary people don’t just come back to life like that…”
Witnessing Fuling’s unmistakable revival, the crowd outside couldn’t help but murmur again.
Qin Guan’s resurrection was already extraordinary, but her ability to bring Fuling back from death made it even more miraculous. Reviving the dead—wasn’t that the power of gods and bodhisattvas?
Hearing this, Fuling stared at Qin Guan in amazement. “Did Miss revive this servant?”
Qin Guan gave a slight nod. This maidservant who had served her for years would naturally know whether the original Qin Guan had any medical knowledge—and judging by Fuling’s bewildered expression, the answer was clearly no.
While Fuling remained dazed, a figure stepped into the courtyard.
Fuling shuddered and struggled to kneel. “Old Madam—”
Qin Guan turned her gaze and immediately met a pair of eyes filled with deep suspicion and hostility. Beneath the scrutiny lay unmistakable disdain. In an instant, Qin Guan lowered her head.
Jiang Shi in the courtyard was carefully examining Qin Guan.
At this distance, apart from being unable to clearly see Qin Guan’s dark eyes, everything from head to toe appeared as it should for a living person. But why? Was it truly as she said—a fleeting pulse and exhausted breath?
How would a young girl like her know such things?
Even stranger was how she had revived her hanged maidservant!
Seeing Jiang Shi’s intense scrutiny of Qin Guan, Fuling grew anxious. She tugged at Qin Guan’s sleeve and whispered urgently, “Miss, Old Madam is watching you. We mustn’t be discourteous…”
As guests living under another’s roof, they couldn’t afford to show disrespect to the Old Madam.Qin Guan met Fuling's worried gaze and sighed, "Old Madam."
As she uttered these three words, Jiang Shi's expression shifted slightly in the distance.
Jiang Shi scrutinized Qin Guan from head to toe without speaking, as if still determining whether she was human or ghost. Lin Shi followed up from behind, "Mother, should we call for a physician to examine her..."
"What need is there for a physician when we have the masters here?"
Jiang Shi spoke slowly, and Lin Shi pursed her lips, saying no more.
If Qin Guan had merely feigned death and revived, a physician should be summoned immediately. Yet Jiang Shi refused, insisting the masters present were sufficient—clearly, she believed Qin Guan's revival was likely the work of evil spirits.
After a brief pause, Jiang Shi continued in her measured tone, "Pass down my orders: the young masters and misses are not to approach the Western Courtyard. And as for the rest of you... Ninth Miss was merely ill. If I hear anyone spreading rumors, they will be sold off at once!"
The servants immediately bowed their heads in assent, not daring to glance up again.
Jiang Shi swept another glance at Qin Guan, her eyes filled with disgust as if looking at something filthy, then turned and walked away. "Lock this place up. No one is to open it without my orders! We'll decide further after the masters complete the ritual."
Though Jiang Shi's back was slightly hunched and her voice soft, every word weighed heavily on those present. No one in the manor dared defy her. As she left, Mama Zhao scrambled out in panic. The moment she exited, the courtyard gate was tightly shut from the outside.
Qin Guan frowned slightly. From the fragmented words she had heard while half-conscious, she already knew this Ninth Miss was unwelcome in Qin Manor. But the reality was even worse than she had imagined. Though not a legitimate child of the main branch, she was still a mistress—yet her living quarters resembled a servant's room, and Jiang Shi's attitude made her disdain unmistakable.
This Ninth Miss must have lived a pitiable existence.
"Wah—this is wonderful! Both you and I are alive, truly wonderful!" Fuling cheered through tears and laughter, clutching Qin Guan's arm and repeating the words over and over.
Seeing her like this, Qin Guan felt only confusion.
Being alive was good, but she was not the Ninth Miss.
"You must never be so foolish again, Miss! If Young Master Huo doesn't like you, so be it—you'll surely find a better husband. Please don’t do anything reckless for his sake again! Wuwu... If you abandoned me, what would I do?"
Young Master Huo? Qin Guan's brows lifted slightly. She had heard Mama Zhao mention that this Ninth Miss had drowned herself in a lake over this very man. Qin Guan pressed her lips together and nodded at Fuling. "I won't."
Of course she wouldn't. Why would she kill herself over a man?
Fuling beamed, utterly unfazed by their dire circumstances. Instead, she eyed Qin Guan's funeral garments with distaste. "Quick, quick—Miss, change out of these clothes at once! They're too inauspicious. Burn them! Those who survive great calamities are destined for good fortune—both you and I will have blessings ahead! Miss, let me help you change..."
Fuling fussed over Qin Guan with boundless care, but Qin Guan herself was distracted. Even though she had regained consciousness earlier, it was only now, after witnessing the household's reactions and saving Fuling, that she truly accepted she had come back to life.
With everyone gone, she suddenly felt lost and uncertain.
Her parents had died tragically, and she alone had returned to life. If there was any reason for her to keep living, it was only to seek justice and vengeance. But was this still the same Great Zhou Dynasty? Would she even have the chance to avenge them?Fuling didn't care that Qin Guan was in a daze. She pulled Qin Guan up and led her inside the house. Although the courtyard was simple and shabby, the interior was tidy and elegant. Fuling directly dragged Qin Guan in front of the bronze mirror.
"Change out of these, they're so inauspicious. They even set up an ancestral hall. At the time, I begged the steward to call a physician to save you, but they insisted you were already dead. Thankfully, heaven has eyes—I knew the people in this household couldn't be relied upon..."
As she spoke, Fuling removed the high-collared funeral garments from Qin Guan's body.
Once the funeral garments were off, Qin Guan suddenly felt cold. She instinctively glanced casually at the mirror, but then her gaze abruptly fixed on her own neck. Facing the mirror, she clearly saw several suspicious marks on her neck.
Qin Guan narrowed her eyes, examining them carefully. Then, her frown deepened.
Didn't Ninth Miss die by jumping into the lake? How could a drowned person have strangulation marks on their neck?!
Her breath caught, and Qin Guan instantly felt her hands and feet turn cold.
Or perhaps... Ninth Miss didn't die by jumping into the lake at all!
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