Having stayed awake all night, Lin Ruochu remained clear-eyed without a trace of fatigue even as the carriage sped away from the Marquis Estate.
As a mere concubine, she was only entitled to a single-horse carriage with a cramped interior. Sitting alongside Jinyu made it somewhat crowded.
Leaning sideways to rest was out of the question. Knowing that Lin Ruochu had knelt all night, Jinyu had thoughtfully prepared a quilt and pillow in advance, placing them against the carriage wall for her to lean on.
Lin Ruochu hadn’t expected Jinyu, usually so quiet and reserved, to be so considerate.
When her body had been controlled, her impression of this young maid was faint. The female ghost in her body had loved bantering and chatting with Jinque the most, followed by the sweet-talking Jinlan. Jinyu always seemed to be the one working silently in the background.
Seeing the bedding and pillow Jinyu had specially prepared for her, Lin Ruochu couldn’t help but reach out and pat her head.
“Good child, I’ve wronged you, making you suffer with me. If it becomes too much, tell me anytime, and I’ll find a way to send you back to the estate.”
Jinyu was both flustered and honored, bowing her head in panic. For a moment, she even forgot to reply, her face flushing as she clumsily straightened the quilt.
“Th-this servant will tidy things up properly for the Concubine…”
Lin Ruochu smiled and helped tuck in the quilt before lifting the cloth curtain to look outside.
A concubine was not permitted to leave the estate without reason. She hadn’t seen the bustling traffic of the capital for two years. Now, everything seemed just like yesterday—every brick and tile still resembled the scene when her father and brother had taken her to see the lantern festival during Shangyuan.
Alas, the people were no longer the same.
When she had insisted on leaving with Shao Mu, her father and brother had issued harsh words, declaring that from then on, they would consider her dead—that the Lin family no longer had a youngest daughter who had been showered with boundless affection.
Her mother, coughing up blood, had overturned the medicinal broth, her tear-filled eyes blurred as she swore never to see her again.
Never to see her again.
I wonder if Mother has recovered from her illness by now? Has her health returned to what it was?
Do Father and Brother still despise and resent her?
Or have they long since dismissed her as a hopeless, rotten piece of wood and cast her from their minds?
He must have been utterly disappointed in her.
Gazing at the bustling crowd on the street, Lin Ruochu’s tears fell like broken pearls, uncontrollable, pattering down one after another.
Three years had passed. At last, she could shed tears for herself, with her own body.
A few meters away, on the second floor of Fan Lou.
Leaning against the window, Mo Xiangbei watched with some amusement as the carriage passed below, remarking to the servant beside him:
“Whose young lady is that? So young, yet her sorrowful face resembles that of an eighty-year-old woman. Crying by the window like that—was her heart broken by some playboy?”
The servant glanced over and replied, “Sir, that’s the carriage of the Yong’an Marquis Estate.”
Yong’an Marquis Estate…
Mo Xiangbei studied the carriage’s specifications, and a hint of mockery crept into his smile as he pondered.
“So it’s not a young lady, but that little concubine of Shao Mu’s, the one who’s always melodramatic about life and death. She does have a pair of captivating eyes, though.”
…
By the time the carriage entered the mountains, the sky had darkened completely.
White Cloud Temple was situated on a hill in the outskirts of the capital. Thanks to its flourishing incense offerings and the protection of the Marquis Estate, the estate’s servants stood guard at the foot of the hill, ensuring no bandits posed a threat. Lin Ruochu followed the carriage as it ascended.
Jinyu, after all, was young and had never left the estate. Soon, she joined Lin Ruochu in lifting the curtain, curiously observing every plant and tree outside. Her little face flushed red from the wind, yet she remained unaware.
By the time the two finally reached White Cloud Temple, night had already fallen.
The temple master, a renowned Taoist priest, did not think highly of her and merely dispatched two disciples to guide her carriage through the small gate at the back of the mountain.
Passing through the small gate and turning down a corridor, they arrived at the living quarters of the female disciples.
Most women practicing cultivation in the temple came from prominent families and were referred to as Kun Dao.
Lin Ruochu had come to White Cloud Temple to cultivate alongside them.
After the temple master’s disciples escorted her there, two Kun Dao took over, leading her further into the courtyard.
Both women were in their early thirties, slender in build, with refined and elegant features. The fine lines on their faces, etched by years of weathering and labor, conveyed a sense of detachment from worldly affairs.
Along the way, they introduced themselves as Xuan Su and Xuan Qing. Lin Ruochu bowed reverently and followed them through the long corridor into a secluded courtyard deep within the grounds.
In front of the courtyard lay a small patch of muddy ground, a few square meters in size, scattered with crushed stones to serve as a pathway.
Inside, the room was divided into two sections, sparsely furnished: a single cabinet, a round table, a few stools, a round charcoal stove, and a mud-built bed. The paper-covered windows rattled noisily in the cold wind outside, letting in a steady draft.
Even Jin Yu, who usually avoided making a fuss, couldn’t help but frown at the sight.
After all, they were people from a marquis’s household. The incense offerings their family donated to the temple each year amounted to at least a million—how could they be assigned to such a humble, hut-like dwelling?
She tugged at Lin Ruochu’s sleeve, concerned for her health.
Lin Ruochu, however, understood perfectly well. Given that Zheng Shi and Zhang Jingwan had arranged her lodging, having a window that blocked the wind was already a small mercy.
After all, that Female Ghost had indeed grown far too reckless and lawless in the past. If she were Zhang Jingwan, she would have wanted to eliminate herself too.
She reassured Jin Yu, “It’s fine. We brought plenty of bedding. Let’s hang one quilt over the window and spread the rest on the bed. We can share one blanket and sleep close to keep warm at night.”
Jin Yu chirped an agreement and set to work alongside Lin Ruochu.
While they were tidying the room, Xuan Su brought them a vegetarian meal: plain congee and steamed buns.
At least the buns were made from refined flour.
Hungry and exhausted, the two ate everything clean and slipped early under the covers.
Once they had warmed up and Jin Yu had drifted into a light slumber, Lin Ruochu opened her eyes, rose quietly from the bed, wrapped herself in a cloak, picked up an oil lamp, and stepped outside.
Following a narrow path and relying on her memory, she made her way deeper into the back mountain. At the edge of the darkness stood a low, dimly lit cottage.
A surge of joy filled Lin Ruochu’s heart—it felt like spotting a glimmer of light in the dark. She quickened her pace, entered the courtyard, and gently knocked on the wooden door.
This was not her first time at White Cloud Temple.
When she was young, she had accompanied her parents to the temple to pray for blessings.
Back then, mischievous and restless, she had sneaked off to the back mountain and gotten lost. There, she encountered a Kun Dao who called herself Miaoheng Zhenren. The woman brought her back to her dwelling and offered her a cup of tea.
Miaoheng Zhenren had studied her face for a long moment before suddenly revealing a sorrowful expression. She sighed, saying that although Lin Ruochu was born with an auspicious fate, she was afflicted by an evil influence and would face a life-threatening calamity at the age of fifteen.
If she failed to overcome it, she would perish, and the disaster would extend to her family and clan. But if she succeeded, her future would be bright and smooth, free from worries for the rest of her life.
Young and frightened, Lin Ruochu had run off in tears to find her nursemaid and soon forgot the incident.
During those countless days and nights trapped in the dark prison, she never ceased to regret. If only she had stayed that day, listened a little longer, asked a few more questions—perhaps she could have obtained some techniques from Miaoheng Zhenren.
Perhaps she wouldn't have ended up like this—abandoned by all and forced to become someone's concubine.
She deliberately led Zheng Shi to send her to White Cloud Temple precisely to find that Miaoheng Zhenren from years past, seeking a method to deal with the Female Ghost inside her body!
"Knock, knock, knock"
The knocking sounded particularly abrupt in the bleak, cold night.
Lin Ruochu tightened her robe and listened carefully. She heard footsteps approaching from inside the room, stopping at the doorway, followed by an ethereal question: "Who is it?"