Chapter 438: Luo'er's great dream of parting returns, back to her previous life!

After discovering she could move, Li Qingluo hurriedly moved her hands and feet, feeling that her whole body was still light and airy.

But she still didn't understand what was going on when a glimmer of light suddenly appeared ahead.

She strode toward the light.

Until that light completely engulfed her.

When she opened her eyes again, she stood in the vast snow.

Around her was a wild forest.

The ground was blanketed in white snow.

This snowstorm was as heavy as the one last winter.

And in her previous life, she had died in this very snowstorm…

She thought that having been reborn, she had survived that winter and could now live a long life.

Yet she never imagined she would still be unable to escape fate's tricks.

Could it be that the heavens have withdrawn their favor from her?

Thinking of this possibility, her heart felt heavy.

Standing in the snow, Li Qingluo felt no trace of cold.

She looked around, still not understanding what was happening, when two figures suddenly appeared ahead.

As the figures drew near, she could see they were Zheng Wanxiu and Zheng Lingzhou, brother and sister?

How could it be them?

She hurried toward them, and then a strange scene unfolded, followed by another.

They actually passed right through her!?

Li Qingluo looked at her own body and saw she was still wearing a tattered, dirty thin shirt.

Her arms were covered in bruises and frostbite.

She touched her face, which had grown thin and sunken.

She also saw her skin remained dark.

She finally understood completely.

She was a ghost.

This was her appearance after death in her previous life.

The clothes she wore were still those she had on just before death in her previous life.

Li Qingluo recalled the strange words Jin Yi had said.

Could it be…… she had returned to before her rebirth?

Was the so-called rebirth really just a dream of her own?

The true reality was still her tragic death.

Everything in the dream was nothing more than a beautiful dream she had…

Grandmother and Duan Rongshi.

Que'er, Deng Mama…

Also Luo Ye and Master.

So many people, in reality, did not know her at all.

Even those revenge schemes and conspiracies were merely her fantasies?

Was it her unwilling resentment and hatred that made her have this dream?

Li Qingluo could not quite accept this fact, and she huddled on the ground, holding her head.

Yet, besides feeling sad, what else could she do?

Indeed, when a person dies, it's like a lamp going out.

In truth, there is no such absurd myth as being reborn…

She gave a bitter, miserable laugh.

Li Qingluo, Li Qingluo.

This is your fate.

You died long ago.

Only in a dream could you have those feelings and that revenge.

Now that you've awakened, you should accept reality.

Reality is that you are still that orphan girl who froze to death on a snowy night, never loved by anyone.

Li Qingluo lay dazed in the snow, bursting into tears.

But ghosts have no tears.

She felt her dry, rough face, and suddenly heard someone else crying.

Who was it?

She lifted her head from the snow, followed the direction, and saw where Zheng Lingzhou and his sister had disappeared.

Were they the ones crying?

Wait!

If rebirth is merely a dream.

But if the people she saw in the dream are the same in reality?

Li Qingluo thought of that soul-transfer technique.

She suddenly, compelled by some ghostly impulse, rose to her feet and headed toward Zheng Lingzhou and Zheng Wanxiu.

She wanted to know what they were going to do.

In the snow, Zheng Wanxiu and Zheng Lingzhou knelt on the ground burning yellow paper, and before them loomed a huge tomb.

Who were they burning paper for?

Who had died?

Zheng Wanxiu wept bitterly, and even Zheng Lingzhou's eyes turned red.

Li Qingluo turned in another direction, walked over, and then saw clearly that the tombstone read: "Tomb of the Beloved Son Jingchuan."

Was it Li Jingchuan…?

He… died?

"Little Chuan, it's all Mother's fault."

"It's Mother who harmed you."

"Mother shouldn't have forced you to do that—"

"But how could you be so heartless as to abandon Mother—"

"If you truly didn't want to exchange Li Qingluo's life for yours, you didn't have to end everything by suicide—just tell Mother clearly, and she will accept it!"

"Foolish child, you ended your own life to keep Mother and your uncle from harming her!"

"How foolish you are, Little Chuan…"

"Qu Shi harmed your younger sister, ruined Mother's life, and also harmed you."

"Why would you willingly sacrifice yourself rather than harm a sister you've never even met?"

"But do you know?"

"Actually, she died too."

"She died in that manor. It's said she froze to death."

"Little Chuan, Qu Shi made Mother suffer terribly, killed who knows how many of your brothers and sisters, and gave you this body."

"I never expected that all of this would be revenge visited upon the daughter that wicked woman cared least about."

"Little Chuan, you say all this—how unfair it is!"

Zheng Lingzhou: "Older sister, stop crying."

"Since Little Chuan is gone, from now on we'll only think about how to take revenge."

"The deep, bloody feud of my Zheng clan must be settled with that dog emperor!"

……

Li Qingluo staggered, and suddenly she appeared at the Jiangjun Fu.

The Jiangjun Fu, not yet raided, remained as lively as before.

The courtyard's servants attended to the three masters.

Lanterns and banners were everywhere, hung with red silk.

What were they celebrating?

It turned out that Prince Yun's Mansion had come to propose a marriage.

They wanted to marry Li Qingzhu as a concubine of Prince Yun's Mansion.

The Jiangjun Fu's eldest daughter, even as a concubine, would be wronged.

But Li Qingzhu, seeing the courtyard filled with jewels, gold and silver everywhere, seemed to go mad with joy, darting in and out among them.

When they reached a deserted spot, Li Qingluo saw her kneeling sincerely before heaven, saying: "This day has finally come!"

"I can finally marry the one who truly loves only me, Li Qingzhu, as I wished."

"Not because of her, Li Qingluo, but because of myself… I wish to stay long with the prince, and hope that one day I may become the principal wife."

However, a clamor came from outside Ziwei Tang.

It was Zhuang Wei arriving.

He noisily demanded to see Li Qingzhu.

"Zhuer—"

"Zhuer, you cannot marry into Prince Yun's Mansion!"

"What's so good about Prince Yun's Mansion?"

"Zhuer—have you forgotten our past affection? Zhuer—"

Li Qingzhu's expression panicked; she immediately took her maid and left.

At the sight of Zhuang Wei, a look of reluctance appeared on her face.

"Sanlang, we are fated to meet but not to stay together."

"Besides, you're already engaged to Luoluo, and the one originally betrothed to you was her—what are you still holding onto me for?"

"From now on, our marriages are separate; don't come looking for me."

She said this, eyes red, turned away, looking utterly resigned yet aggrieved.

After she ran off again, Zhuang Wei was already being pinned hard to a tree by the men Li Kechuan brought.

"Zhuang Sanlang, don't spurn the toast and force the penalty drink."

"Everyone knows Zhuer was saved by Prince Yun; to protect her reputation, she can only marry into his mansion."

Zhuang Wei sneered repeatedly, questioning Li Kechuan: "Do you really bear to let her become a mere concubine?"

"Li Kechuan, you aren't the one who dotes on Zhuer the most? Now your family, for the sake of your own sister, refuses to let Zhuer be my wife, instead favoring that Li Qingluo—"

"And Li Qingluo?"

"I want to see her!"

"I want to make her give up this idea entirely! Although Zhuer wasn't killed by her, how much injustice has Zhuer suffered because of her?"

Li Kechuan looked impatient: 'Enough!'

She's still locked up beside the stables—go see for yourself if you want!

Li Kechuan strode off impatiently, leaving Zhuang Wei alone, miserably and irritably heading toward the stables.

The snow gauze blew onto his face in the cold wind, icy enough to make Zhuang Wei shiver.

In the empty, dilapidated house, where was Li Qingluo?

However, he soon raised his eyebrows high again.

How could she be locked up here?

At the very least, she is the Jiangjun Fu's own daughter; besides the house leaking wind everywhere, how come there isn't even a quilt on the bed?

Zhuang Wei had also been to the small courtyard where Li Qingluo lived after returning to the Jiangjun Fu.

It was the most remote and dilapidated, not to mention dark and damp to the point of being deadly.

She had fainted in the Ancestral Hall then, and it was Zhuang Wei who saved her life.

After that, he told Li Kechuan that her lodging was too dilapidated to endure, fearing she couldn't even make it through the day.

Li Kechuan clearly said then: 'It's her own doing—she brought it on herself!'

'Did we force her to live there?'

'Moreover, Zhu'er is dead, yet she lives—what more do we want?'

Zhuang Wei was dazed.

Only then did he realize: how could the Li family be biased against Li Qingluo?

Because of Zhu'er, they—even they themselves—must have taken out their anger on her.

His mind slowly regained a bit of reason, and Zhuang Wei also felt a hint of shame.

Then let's calmly tell her that we two should still call off the engagement.

Because in his heart, there is only Zhu'er.

'And Miss Li?'

Zhuang Wei summoned the slave guarding the stables.

The slave jumped in fright, then became stammering.

'Could she have gone back?'

Zhuang Wei was speculating when he saw the lady of the Jiangjun Fu, Qu Shi, also walking this way.

Her face was full of impatience: 'Haven't we already asked her several times?'

'Really, giving her face!'

'Since Zhu'er has returned, these misunderstandings should naturally be resolved, yet letting her come out she still puts on airs. See how I'll properly discipline her today—'

Qu Shi saw Zhuang Wei, and her expression paused for a moment.

She then replaced it with a gentle smile.

'Sanlang, you've come.'

'How come, you're also here to see Luoluo?'

'This girl made a mistake a few days ago, and her brother punished her more severely.'

'The day Zhu'er returned, we sent people repeatedly to invite her, but she just threw a tantrum and refused to come out.'

'What can I do as a mother?'

'If we don't come in person to give her a word, the family still ought to live well, right?'

But actually, seven days have passed since Li Qingzhu returned.

Li Qingluo thought, today might as well be her own seventh-day memorial?

No wonder she could come back.

She must have come to see, before leaving this mortal world, her final lingering place.

She suddenly wondered, could it be that they still haven't realized she's truly dead?

Just how has this been concealed?

I'm really worse than a dog—dead for so long, and they still don't know.

But Li Qingluo no longer cares at all.

Because she knows that even if they learned the truth of her death, they certainly wouldn't be grieved.

However, when Qu Shi saw the dilapidated house before her leaking wind everywhere, and inside not only lacking a quilt but also lacking Li Qingluo's presence, her eyes still twitched sharply.

She even felt an involuntary panic in her heart.

'Come here!'

'And the Second Miss?'