Chapter 442: Each in their proper place, Li Qingluo sees the Noble Consort Yue!

Zhu'er, save us——

Save us, ah, Zhu'er——

We are your natal grandparents and parents, ah! We gave you this blessed, prosperous life—how could you not even have a day to repay us, and just drag us into receiving the death penalty——

Zhu'er——

One after another, shrill wails; once the rope was around their necks, they all fell silent.

Because, their Zhu'er was also powerless.

Soon they were all hanged together on the execution frame.

That day, the West City Gate's market entrance was filled with hanging corpses.

They all died in the seventh seven-day period after Li Qingluo's death.

This truly is a fine offering that Duan Rongshi sent for himself.

But it's strange that, although I am also a dead soul, I cannot see the souls of those who were executed.

Even Li Qingluo, wandering around Jinling these past few days, has not encountered another ghost.

Why, am I the only one still wandering the world?

She stood at the market entrance; although she was a ghost, she felt a chill all over her body.

Li Qingluo clearly felt her body becoming increasingly transparent.

She thought, if even she could no longer see herself, would that be the time for her to completely fade from this world?

Fortunately, the punishment meted out by the General's Manor did not implicate her grandmother.

Li Qingluo didn't understand what Duan Rongshi had done, but her grandmother indeed never appeared.

Li Qingluo then felt relieved.

As for the Liu family, only one survivor remained.

It was Sui'er, sitting in the carriage, sobbing with hiccups.

She was taken away from Jinling in secret by a merchant caravan.

The entire Liu family, even the aunt Liu Jinzhi who had married into a butcher's household in Jinling, was implicated and sentenced to hanging.

Only Liu Sui'er, who had fallen into a brothel, was suddenly redeemed and taken away from this place of right and wrong.

Such a departure is fine; go start a new life.

Li Qingluo followed Duan Rongshi all day.

Because she discovered that, after he went to the General's Manor on the day of her seventh-day mourning and had Qingyangzi perform a ritual, she could not stray far from him.

If she went beyond a hundred meters, she would be immediately pulled back to his side by an invisible force.

So she could only follow Duan Rongshi all day, going wherever he went.

Watch him judge cases.

Accompany him as he rushes east and west.

Accompany him into the palace.

Accompany him walking in the Dali Temple's prison, sitting in the study in a daze.

Li Qingluo gradually no longer wanted to leave.

Apart from Duan Rongshi automatically keeping his distance while bathing, even when he slept she would lie beside his bed.

And he would sleep each day at the innermost part of the bed, leaving the outer half empty.

Even more strangely, he would set out an extra pair of chopsticks when eating.

Then he would fill those chopsticks with Li Qingluo's food.

He would also light a stick of incense in the room.

Only when Li Qingluo could feel that the food also filled her own stomach with satiety did she realize that this food was offered to her.

He has always been making offerings for her.

Besides continually receiving his incense offerings, she also had a steady supply of food each day, and even newly burned clothes.

She quietly watched everything he did.

Watching him guard a coffin, murmuring all day long.

This coffin was placed in Osmanthus Garden.

He never returned to Prince Su's mansion again.

Li Qingluo even dared not look at the bones inside the coffin.

She knew they were her own.

It is said that, on the day before she returned to this world, Duan Rongshi went mad‑like and suddenly ran off to the mountains and fields.

He did not know how he learned where her corpse had been abandoned.

So he personally gathered her remains.

Her bones had already been gnawed beyond recognition.

It was difficult to piece together a complete skeleton.

But he nonetheless carefully wrapped each piece, bringing them back home without complaint.

Moreover, despite his fastidiousness, he endured the stench each day just to speak with her.

"Luò'er, those who bullied you—I, the prince, will settle accounts with each of them."

"Have you seen it? Does it make you feel relieved in your heart?"

Li Qingluo beside him said: "I feel relieved."

"Thank you, Ah Shi."

However, aside from what he himself had done, the thing he said most each day was still: "Luò'er, come back……"

Did you hear that? Luo'er.

I will always wait for you, wait for you to come back……

From then on, he returned home every night to chat with the skeletal remains.

During the day he went out and slaughtered in all directions.

He first destroyed all the strongholds of the Lotus Sect belonging to Princess Qinyu.

Then he exposed the collusion between the Crown Prince and Princess Qinyu to the world.

Then, with the speed of thunder before one can cover one's ears, he threw the Pei family's conspiracy into utter chaos.

Even Emperor Yan was left stunned.

Of these matters, he knew some, but others remained unclear to him.

Emperor Yan hadn't even had time to react, and before he could strip Duan Rongshi of his office again, he had already begun a killing spree everywhere.

Throwing the entire DaLiang into utter chaos……

Emperor Yan only felt that he had gone mad.

In his fury, he finally decided to call him to account.

But Duan Rongshi entered the palace once with the blank imperial edict left by Consort Yue, after which Emperor Yan remained silent and never interfered with him again.

……

Li Qingluo knew that if this continued, he would truly go mad.

So, seeing her own body becoming ever more transparent, she instead breathed a sigh of relief.

If she were to leave completely, he should be able to sense it, right?

Thus, he too should let go of his obsession with her……

Until that day, when corpses were hung at the West Gate vegetable market, Duan Rongshi suddenly took Li Qingluo out of the city.

Li Qingluo drifted to the Blue Pine Temple.

She finally saw her grandmother again!

Since returning, she had continually wanted to come to the Blue Pine Temple.

But Duan Rongshi did not come, and she couldn't even leave Jinling.

Although in this life her grandmother had never even seen her.

And felt no affection for her.

But in Li Qingluo's heart, no matter which world, she was her most beloved grandmother.

Duan Rongshi did not go to Pei Lao Furen's small courtyard.

But upon arriving at the Blue Pine Temple, Li Qingluo suddenly managed to free herself.

So she happily went straight to Pei Lao Furen's place.

She saw her grandmother sitting in the courtyard, with Zhang Mama and Deng Mama standing beside her!

Seeing the living Deng Mama, Li Qingluo smiled through tears.

At least, in the original world Deng Mama was still alive and well.

Thus, it wasn't really a bad thing, and she no longer found it so hard to accept.

"Old Lady, the executions over there…… have already ended……"

"Should we arrange for people…… to bury the dead?"

Pei Lao Furen closed her eyes in grief, holding the document of severing sect and clan: "Go."

After Zhang Mama went to give the orders and returned, Pei Lao Furen then let out a heavy sigh.

"What do you say, what exactly does Prince Su mean?"

"Since the Jiangjun Fu committed the grave crime of confiscating property and exterminating the clan, why would he alone spare me?"

"And still have someone first send me the document of severing sect and clan."

"He intends to release me, to cut ties between me and the entire Li family."

"What exactly does he want to do?"

Pei Lao Furen couldn't fathom it, and how could the several mamas know?

Li Qingluo could only stand aside and whisper: "Because he knows that if you, Grandmother, had seen Luo'er, you would dote on Luo'er……"

"Grandmother, in the previous life it was Luo'er's fault for not coming to pay respects to you first."

"If you had been there, Luo'er would not have met this fate."

"However, seeing you safe and sound puts Luo'er at ease."

"Grandmother, you must live a hundred years. Leave Jinling, go to the martial world, where the sky is wide and the sea boundless—anywhere is fine."

"Grandmother, if there is a next life……"

"Luo'er will still be your granddaughter……"

Having said that, Li Qingluo suddenly sensed herself becoming ever lighter and ever more transparent.

She again could not control herself as a force dragged her.

But this time she was not pulled back to Duan Rongshi's side.

Instead, with a 'xiu' sound, she returned to the Osmanthus Garden.

She fell into the skeleton inside the coffin.

In an instant, Li Qingluo fell once more into endless darkness……

Meanwhile, Duan Rongshi was still talking with Qingyangzi at the Blue Pine Temple when the bronze bell on the table suddenly exploded with a 'peng' sound.

Duan Rongshi felt the world spin and then collapsed……

After half an hour, when Duan Rongshi awoke again, his eyes had already changed.

Looking at the Daoist hall filled with talisman papers, Prince Su pinched his brow hard.

"Withdraw them all."

Qingyangzi shouted in disbelief: "Your Highness?"

"You couldn't have... come back, could you?"

Zhui Yu jumped in fright.

"Come back? What do you mean, come back?"

"Could it be that these past days, you really aren't our Highness?"

Qingyangzi gave Duan Rongshi a look that was hard to put into words.

Duan Rongshi: "Naturally, it's me, the Prince."

However, it's not entirely myself.

He clearly knew in his heart all that had happened these days.

He also understood that another self had taken over his body.

Because of the lesson from Qin Yu, Duan Rongshi did not find it so hard to accept.

He merely watched coldly as the other self went mad, and his anger slowly faded into indifference.

Gradually, he began to feel those feelings of 'himself'.

A piercing heartbreak, a rending loss.

Memories full of joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness.

Even now, a hint of envy arose in his heart.

It turned out he originally also had a chance to have such days...

But seeing the whole of Jinling thrown into chaos, Prince Su's brows furrowed tightly again.

He returned to Jinling and first buried Li Qingluo.

"In the next life, be reborn into a good family."

Li Qingluo hazily heard those words, then heard someone calling her.

"Luo'er..."

"Luo'er?"

"Luo'er, wake up——"

That voice was gentle, like a spring breeze.

It fell warm and soft upon Li Qingluo's heart.

She strained to open her eyes and saw a familiar face.

"A Shi!"

She joyfully rose and threw herself into his embrace.

But soon she sensed something was off.

Duan Rongshi would not have such a soft chest.

Moreover, the A Shi before her eyes looked even more delicate and beautiful.

She is...

Li Qingluo instantly sobered: "Are you the Moon Noble Consort?"

Zong Zheng Qingyue gave a faint smile.

That smile truly was beautiful enough to captivate the soul.

It turned out Prince Su's beauty was only eight-tenths of hers.

Zong Zheng Qingyue truly is the most stunning, peerless beauty in the world.

Seeing her gaze dazedly fixed on herself.

Zong Zheng Qingyue extended her slender finger and lightly tapped her forehead: "Silly Luo'er, haven't you remembered everything yet?"