The voice differed slightly from her memory, seeming much younger.
Lin Ruochu had no time to ponder further and immediately responded: "I am a female relative sent by the Yong'an Marquis Estate to cultivate at Baiyun Peak. Ten years ago, I shared a cup of tea with Miaoheng Zhenren. I've come now hoping to request another cup from the Zhenren. May I ask if this is convenient?"
The person behind the door fell silent for a moment upon hearing this, then opened the door for her.
With a creaking sound, faint candlelight spilled into the room.
Behind the door stood a teenage Kun Dao girl.
"Female benefactor, my religious name is Xuan Ling. Miaoheng Zhenren is my master. My master left to travel the world several years ago and has not returned since. I'm afraid there will be no chance for tea with the benefactor this time."
Lin Ruochu's eyes trembled, the light in them suddenly dimming.
For the first time, anxiety and urgency appeared on her usually calm face.
"Did Miaoheng Zhenren mention when she would return? Or is there any way to send her a message?"
The thought of that female ghost emerging from the so-called "dimension" in two days to reclaim her body made it difficult to suppress the fear in her heart.
Seeing her such urgency, Xuan Ling guessed she hadn't come merely for tea. She opened the door wider and stepped aside to invite her in.
Lin Ruochu followed and took a seat by the stone table in the room, her heart uneasy. She thought Xuan Ling might have a way to contact Miaoheng Zhenren by letting her in.
But Xuan Ling sighed softly and still said: "My master travels the four seas without fixed residence. We don't know where she is now, and truly don't know how to contact her."
The hope in Lin Ruochu's heart was completely extinguished. She sat on the chair, her face ashen with despair.
Xuan Ling observed her for a while, then asked: "May I ask the benefactor's name?"
Gathering her spirits, Lin Ruochu revealed her identity: "I'm not afraid of being laughed at by the Daoist – I'm just an insignificant concubine from the rear courtyard of the Heir Apparent of Yong'an Marquis Estate. My surname is Lin, given name Ruochu."
Xuan Ling was taken aback: "Could you be General Lin's only daughter, Lin Ruochu?"
Lin Ruochu hadn't expected anyone to still connect her name with the General Residence. Feeling both nostalgic and sorrowful, she nodded mournfully: "Yes, General Lin is indeed my father."
Upon hearing this, Xuan Ling suddenly clasped her hands and bowed to her, murmuring "The master's calculations are indeed never wrong."
She asked Lin Ruochu to wait briefly, then returned to the inner room. After sounds of cabinets opening and closing, she returned holding a wooden box.
Lin Ruochu sprang up from her chair: "What is this?"
Xuan Ling nodded, confirming her suspicion: "The master once sent a letter instructing that the benefactor might come up the mountain to seek her in a year or two. When that happened, I was to give you the contents of this wooden box."
As she spoke, she opened the box.
Inside the plain wooden box lay a vajra bodhi bracelet.
Lin Ruochu looked from the bracelet to Xuan Ling, and only when Xuan Ling nodded again did she tentatively pick up the bracelet with both hands.
It felt slightly cool to the touch. Holding it in her palm was like sweet rain and dew, instantly extinguishing all the anxiety and fear in her heart, calming her entire spirit.
The turbid energy that had been lingering in her heart seemed to slowly dissipate.
Miaoheng Zhenren must have foreseen her plight to leave such a bracelet for her.
This must be a magical treasure capable of suppressing the female ghost in her body.
Thinking this, filled with piety and gratitude, she put the bracelet on her left wrist. When she looked up at Xuan Ling again, her vision had already blurred.
As if having survived a calamity, she bent down and performed a layperson’s bow to Xuan Ling.
“I will forever remember the life-saving grace of you two Zhenren. In the future, if there is anything I can assist with, I will spare no effort.”
Xuan Ling returned the gesture with a smile and said, “There is no need for such courtesy, Benefactor. The Daoist teachings follow nature’s course—all unfolds within the great Dao’s transformations. Our meeting here is no accident but a matter of destiny.”
Lin Ruochu nodded and bowed again with deep reverence.
Xuan Ling continued, “Aside from this bracelet, my master left a message for you.”
Upon hearing this, Lin Ruochu immediately inclined her ear to listen.
In an almost ethereal tone, Xuan Ling spoke to her, word by word:
“If one is not burdened by form, Da Luotian lies before the eyes. If one can find the path of return, the childlike heart remains in primordial chaos.”
…
After bidding farewell to Xuan Ling, Lin Ruochu lifted her lantern and began her journey back.
The night road was pitch black, and the cold wind clawed at her exposed cheeks and fingers like a monstrous beast, yet her steps grew increasingly light and cheerful.
She repeated Miaoheng Zhenren’s words silently in her mind, feeling as though her heart had suddenly opened up. All the humiliation and anguish were cast aside.
What did it matter if she had become a concubine?
What did it matter if she had been defiled for three years?
The Zhenren was right. Since she had reclaimed her body, she still had the chance to atone for her mistakes and start anew.
Three years were but a fleeting moment—the next thirty, sixty years would truly belong to her.
She was determined to reclaim her own life.
Her feet crunched over dried leaves with soft, crisp sounds as Lin Ruochu fluttered through the biting wind like a butterfly, gracefully returning to her small courtyard.
With a light laugh, she pushed the door open cautiously, hoping to slip back into bed without disturbing Jinyu.
But the moment the door opened, a dark figure swept past. Before she could react, the figure seized her wrist and pulled her into an embrace.
The scent of grass mingled with the frosty night air assailed her senses.
Lin Ruochu clenched her fist, ready to strike at the person’s vital point, when a cold question sounded in her ear: “Sneaking around in the dead of night—where have you been?”
It was Shao Mu’s voice.
She looked up and met a pair of eyes as cold as a deep, frozen pond.
Lin Ruochu’s face turned deathly pale. Freed from the Female Ghost’s control, every pore in her body recoiled at Shao Mu’s touch!
Heaven knew how agonizingly she had endured those countless days and nights!
Now, all she wanted was to drive him out of her small room, as far away as possible!
Without even a contract, what kind of concubine was she? And what kind of husband was Shao Mu to her? With the bracelet suppressing the Female Ghost, she truly wished to flee—to escape far from the filthy mess the Female Ghost had caused!
But then she remembered: two years ago, she had entered Shao Mu’s rear courtyard in front of everyone. The world saw her as his concubine, and even without documentation, this was an unchangeable fact. If it came to a dispute in the magistrate’s court, she would only be forced to sign the contract.
Without a legitimate status, where could she possibly flee?
Return to the General Residence as a disgraced second daughter?
How could she let her family continue to bear shame on her account?
Lin Ruochu gritted her teeth, suppressing the urge to escape. She could not act on momentary impulse.
She would wait for a foolproof plan—one that would allow her to sever all ties with the past, once and for all.