Chapter 49: Life's Revolving Lantern

At that moment, everything between heaven and earth seemed to cease to exist, as I was pulled by the Cao Yu Clan into the phantom mirror, and I personally witnessed her life's revolving lantern.

On the inner room's window, silhouettes of men appeared, middle-aged and young, they continually probed, then withdrew in disarray amid the Cao Yu Clan's recitation of the Commendation Document.

At this moment, I suddenly understood the Cao Yu Clan's words——that is my fate! My death‑free gold medal! My……cover‑up!

I don't know when the Cao Yu Clan's chanting vanished.

In its place came the man's rough panting, the woman's wailing, the infant's cries……

My head buzzed, the tinnitus drilling into my eardrum like a needle.

After a sharp explosion, my vision went deathly white and the whole space fell silent.

Immediately after, a woman's monologue suddenly rang out.

I am Yu An, from Jingcheng, poor, and at five years old I was sold into the Cao Manor as a slave.

The Cao family has practiced medicine for generations; the family head, Lord Cao, is highly respected, not only skilled in medicine but also kind-hearted.

He bought me back with twenty copper coins to attend to the daily life of his just‑four‑year‑old grandson, Cao Houde.

Cao Houde lost his mother young, was frail and prone to illness; I not only attentively cared for his daily life but also picked up some medical knowledge through constant exposure.

I am capable, pretty, and by my teens I had grown into a graceful, slender beauty.

Cao Houde liked me very much; at age fourteen the family arranged for him to study abroad, and before he left he took my hand and said, "Yu An sis, wait for me to finish my studies and return—I will surely marry you."

That year, I was fifteen.

Fifteen—just the age for dreaming.

I waited and waited with my fingers, and by the end of the second summer I had not heard news of the Young Master's return from abroad, when the family head, Lord Cao, fell ill.

I was assigned to attend to Lord Cao in his quarters.

Lord Cao was already over sixty that year, his face showing age; he kept coughing blood, and no amount of medicine helped, which saddened me, for if he had not bought me with money back then, I would have long starved to death.

I served him wholeheartedly, but one evening after giving him his medicine, someone seized my wrist.

That medicine temporarily eased Lord Cao's discomfort, his greedy eyes roving over me as he murmured, "What a vibrant life! How wonderful!"

I was terrified, struggled to escape Lord Cao's room, and the latter half of the night was plagued by nightmares, feeling that something bad was about to happen.

Sure enough, the next morning I was told I had been chosen as Lord Cao's impromptu marriage bride, and was formally made the fourth concubine of the Cao Manor.

Can I resist?

Do I have the ability to resist?

I am nothing but a slave bought by Lord Cao for twenty copper coins!

He is my master; if he orders me to die, I must immediately smash my head against a pillar without complaint.

That evening I was dressed up and sent into Lord Cao's room, decked with lanterns and ribbons.

Lord Cao wore a bright red groom's robe, radiant as he took my hand, constantly stroking me, rubbing his wrinkled old face against mine, even putting his arm around my shoulders and kissing my cheek, whispering in my ear, "Xiao An, the Cao family has divine medicine; I can give you a child to rely on."

He shoved me onto the bed and lunged on top of me impatiently; my heart was dead ash, I shut my eyes tight, tears streaming, like a prisoner awaiting death by slicing.

But unexpectedly, Lord Cao, in his excitement, suddenly died on top of me.

The medicine he took, given his already frail body, added frost to snow and hastened his death.

The impromptu marriage turned into a funeral, and I became a widow.

I was ordered to stay in my own small courtyard on the west side, eating vegetarian and reciting sutras to mourn Lord Cao.

In the third year of mourning, a Commendation Document praising my chastity was placed in my hands; the Cao family erected a tall chastity arch for me, and from then on I was pressed beneath it for life—unable to remarry, bear children, until my natural death.

Actually, the days passed just like that, and for me it wasn't so bad.

A girl sold at five with a weed stuck in her head could now have her own little courtyard, free of want for food or clothing—something I never dared imagine before.

I stayed properly in my own small courtyard, rarely going out and avoiding men as much as possible.

But the tree may wish for stillness, while the wind does not cease.

That night, the Third Elder, drunk, burst into my room, stepping closer and closer, repeatedly saying, "Young lady, young lady, I have longed for you for years—tonight, submit to me!"

The Third Elder is the father of the Young Master, Cao Houde.

I could never have imagined that the Third Elder, who by day took pulses and treated illness with noble medical ethics, harbored such sordid thoughts toward me in private.

Backed into a corner with no retreat, in panic I recalled that Commendation Document.

It was the testimony the Cao family had requested to praise my widowhood fidelity and chastity.

I opened the Commendation Document and read it word for word in front of the Third Elder.

Each word and sentence of the Commendation Document struck like a slap, hard across the Third Elder's face.

He was ultimately a decent man; in the face of filial duty, he still drew back.

Yet his lustful heart would not die; in a few days he would burst into my room again and grope me.

I followed the same method, each time using the Commendation Document to drive him away.

But what I never expected was that the Young Master's overseas studies finally ended and he returned.

At the welcome banquet that day, the elders demanded that he kowtow before everyone and call me "grandmother."

I knew what they meant; they feared we could not restrain our youthful affection and would do something disgraceful to the family name.

Cao Houde stared at me with a stiff neck and red-rimmed eyes, as if I were a traitor who had broken our promise.

He was forced to kneel before me, yet he could never utter the word "grandmother."

After the welcome banquet, I returned to my small courtyard, sat on the bedhead in the inner room, and stared blankly for a long time.

A thousand words in my heart finally turned into a single sigh.

But I never expected that that very night Cao Houde sneaked into my room, embraced me, kissed me, and swore in my ear that if I yielded to him he would abandon everything of the Cao family and flee with me to faraway heights.

He wanted to take me abroad to show me the vast world beyond.

I shoved him away, lowered my head, and looked at my own small feet.

These three‑inch golden lotus feet make even crossing the Cao family's high threshold a struggle—let alone going abroad or studying overseas.

Even if I were willing, could Cao Hude bear the infamy of having abducted my grandfather to become a concubine?!

I cannot let such a thing happen!

Then I took out that commendation document again, and in front of Cao Hude, I read it word by word: "Jing City Cao Yu Clan, age sixteen, taken as a concubine of Lord Cao……"

Cao Hude looked at me in disbelief, as if looking at a complete stranger he had never met.

He shook his head desperately; obviously the content of the commendation document had harshly awakened him!

He stepped back out of my room step by step, then turned and ran.

I thought he would never come back, but a few days later he suddenly changed his ways; every morning he came to my courtyard to pay his respects, sat properly, drank a cup of plain tea, and chatted with me about the interesting things that had happened out there these past years.

I let my guard down around him, after all, he was the boy I once admired in my youth!

Until one night, the Third Elder burst into my room again; when I opened the drawer to fetch the commendation document, I discovered it… was gone…