However, the daughter who had fallen into such a long coma unexpectedly woke up completely normal this time. Her gaze was no longer dull; instead, it became sharp and radiant, swirling with various emotions.
She could speak out loud, though she was not quite versed in worldly tact. Being direct and straightforward, she would often choke them with a single sentence, making them wish she hadn’t spoken at all.
At the same time, she had also become intelligent.
They had indeed suspected back then whether some lonely wandering ghost had usurped Wang Zhaoming’s body.
Yet, after spending a few days with her under that suspicion, the affection, familiarity, and blood connection between family members proved everywhere that this was none other than their own daughter.
Therefore, everyone in the Wang family concluded that Wang Zhaoming had recovered because of this major illness.
However, after Qi Chunchun’s remarks today, they couldn’t help but feel suspicious of Wang Zhaoming once again.
Neither the Wang family nor the ancestors of the Wen family had ever produced anyone with this kind of skill.
“Mom, don’t let your imaginations run wild and scare yourselves.”
“This matter is a bit complicated to explain. To put it simply for you, perhaps something went wrong during reincarnation, resulting in the creation of two of me. One of me had only one soul and one physical essence residing in the body, which is why I was born foolish and grew up relying merely on the instinct to survive.”
“The other me was born somewhere else.”
“She wasn’t foolish, but she lacked one soul and one physical essence, causing her body to be extremely frail.”
Wang Zhaoming was not lying.
During reincarnation, she must have offended some deity, causing her soul to be split in two.
One soul and one physical essence remained in her current body, while her other soul was cast into a body in the modern world.
That modern body was a premature infant, sickly and frail right from birth, looking as though it wouldn’t survive at all.
Frailty combined with the fact that she was a daughter led her biological parents in that world to reject her, so they abandoned her.
Fortunately, a master practicing in a Daoist temple discovered her, took her in, and raised her by his side, so she grew up following the old Daoist priest and learning skills.
However, because she was missing a soul and a physical essence, her life had also been full of stumbling blocks.
Falling ill frequently was a minor issue; the main problems were poverty and extreme misfortune.
Without fail, whenever she stepped outside, she would return home looking thoroughly battered and disheveled.
When others caught chickens, she caught chicken feathers.
When others went fishing, she fished up a corpse.
When she ate a bowl of instant noodles, not only was there no noodle, but it was someone else’s used empty bowl.
Passing by a tall building guaranteed encountering falling objects from high altitude.
Any animal whatsoever would attack her upon sight.
Wang Zhaoming could practically open a class solely to lecture on the unlucky and dramatic incidents she had experienced.
To spare herself from too much suffering, she spent the majority of her time living on the mountain with the old man and rarely went down.
Normally, she would just help the old man with odd jobs and learn his signature skills.
As for matters outside, the old man never let her interfere.
Because the moment she took action, she would backfire and inadvertently boost the enemy’s strength.
The old man hadn’t failed to consider helping her find her lost soul and physical essence.
Yet, no matter what methods the old man tried, the existence of that soul and physical essence could never be found.
By the time she reached eighteen, the old man passed away peacefully of old age.
If not for his help in injecting merit to protect the Fengshan formation in the Daoist temple, her body would have rapidly withered away.
How could Wang Zhaoming be willing to die in such a cowardly and pathetic manner?
Thus, she took on a classified national mission—repairing the dragon vein that was nearly destroyed by overseas hostile forces.
Embracing a determination to die, Wang Zhaoming used herself as the anchor of the formation to assist others in jointly completing this arduous task.
Wang Zhaoming did not want to watch powerlessly as her body slowly rotted away from the inside out.
Therefore, she traded this path for a massive amount of merit, hoping that in her next life of reincarnation she could have a smooth life path and stop being so utterly unlucky.
Before her body tore apart piece by piece, Wang Zhaoming saw the faces of those who came to lend her a hand, filled with grief and regret.
Wang Zhaoming merely smiled in relief, facing death with composure while carrying the hope of a new beginning.
As it turned out, the development of events deviated from the preset track, turning out completely different from what she had imagined.
The soul and physical essence that she could never find had actually appeared and was living quite well.
She had parents who cherished her and loving siblings.
Even the younger generation in the family did not bully her for being foolish; instead, they showed her respect and protection everywhere.
Standing as a bystander watching another version of herself being cherished by so many people, Wang Zhaoming felt a sense of envy while also finding it hard to suppress a feeling of jealousy.
Yet she had never expected that soul and physical essence to automatically draw her in, taking advantage of her proximity to yank her into this body and forcibly initiate a fusion.
“I fell ill because of this reason. I wanted to wake up, but I couldn’t open my eyes.”
“After waking up, things turned into the current situation. I kept waiting for you all to notice something was amiss and ask me.”
Who would have thought that even with her behaving so obviously, not a single person had asked her?
“Following my master, I also learned some Jianghu tricks. I helped Qi Chunchun because I couldn’t eat her pancakes for nothing. In this trade, principles dictate that give and take must be mutual so that neither side owes the other, so I gave her a hand.”
After finishing her explanation, seeing that everyone was still in a state of shock, Wang Zhaoming added another sentence:
“If you don’t believe me, you can go find someone capable to verify my words. Anyone who understands these things can tell at a glance whether I’m lying.”
Wang Zhaoming’s mindset was very peaceful; she could accept any outcome.
Wen Caimei, however, pulled her straight into her arms. “Child, it’s all Mom’s fault. If Mom hadn’t failed to take good care of herself and taken random medicine while pregnant with you, you wouldn’t have suffered so much.”
Wang Zhaoming had already prepared herself to be suspected or even loathed by her family.
She had even figured out how to settle herself down if she were chased out of the house.
Therefore, throughout the entire narration, she had remained extremely calm.
Yet, she hadn’t expected that the first emotion she would feel from them was heartache.
Holding her tightly, Wen Caimei wept uncontrollably.
Hearing that her daughter’s life elsewhere made no mention of parents, Wen Caimei knew that her precious treasure must have been abandoned out of aversion because of her physical condition, which was why she was adopted by the master she spoke of.
Although the daughter who stayed by her side hadn’t lived the life of an elite, they had taken meticulous care of her, never letting her feel cold or go hungry.
What kind of life had the daughter who followed her master lived instead?
Thinking of how much her daughter had suffered in places unknown to her, Wen Caimei’s heart twitched with pain.
The other female members of the family also had their eyes reddened with heartache.
Buried in Wen Caimei’s embrace, Wang Zhaoming spoke in a low voice, “Mom, Master was very good to me; I didn’t live a bitter life.”
There were no halls filled with gold and jade, but there were simple meals of coarse tea and plain rice.
There were no exotic delicacies from land and sea, but she never lacked warmth and food.
“Tomorrow, I’ll go look for a good piece of timber and carve a memorial tablet for your master. During festivals, the first and fifteenth of every month, we’ll light incense and burn paper for your master so he can live a good life down below too.”
Wang Chengye said in a hoarse voice.
Wang Chinzheng sniffled. “Little Aunt, you won’t have to worry about anything from now on. Big Brother and I will both take good care of you.”
Zhao Guizhi took a deep breath, suppressing the urge to cry. “Dad, Mom, we must not tell outsiders about Little Aunt’s ability to foresee things.”
“I heard people say that those who foretell things for others get entangled in other people’s karmic retribution. Zhaozhao, as long as you are well, our family hasn’t reached the point where we need you to forecast fortunes for a living.”
Zheng Duowei chimed in: “As for Sister Chunchun, I’ll go talk to her tomorrow and ask her to help keep the secret. Let our family live a peaceful life.”
She had once seen an old woman who told fortunes; she had no children, suffered from eye trouble, and every time she told fortunes for someone, her body would encounter problems. In the end, she lay paralyzed in bed and was only discovered several days after she died.
When she was alive, she had helped so many people, yet when she died, she didn’t even have a straw mat and was simply thrown into a ravine.
Zheng Duowei didn’t dare to imagine what would happen if Wang Zhaoming encountered such a fate.
Probably everyone in the family would go mad.
Wang Chengye agreed profoundly. “Guizhi is right. Did you youngsters hear that? You must absolutely not go outside and talk about your Little Aunt’s affairs, understood?”
The children chorused together, “Grandpa, we understand!”
Wang Zhaoming stood there in a daze, listening to the family’s words filled with heartache and their arrangements to ensure her peace and security in the future.
She felt as though her heart had been soaked in warm water, completely enveloped in forgiving warmth.