Xie Tangwan thought she must be dead.
The burning sensation in her throat hadn’t faded, and in her ears echoed the music and revelry from the night the Xie family was granted the title of Duke of Ning.
She had been locked away for eleven years. It was finally over.
Then she heard voices.
“Master, will that method truly work?” A man lowered his voice, trembling with anticipation.
It was her father, Xie Chongshan, Vice Director in the Ministry of Rites.
Another hoarse voice spoke up: “Rest assured, Lord Xie. I have done this ten times before. Inscribe the Third Young Miss’s eight birth characters on a Luck-Locking Talisman, then raise her in a dark room from the age of five, never seeing the light of day. When she comes of age at fifteen, the talisman will be complete, and her good fortune will naturally flow to the Xie family.”
“Eleven years?” Xie Chongshan hesitated.
“Eleven years in exchange for generations of glory for the Xie family—is that not worth it?”
“It’s worth it,” Xie Chongshan said quickly. “It’s just that… Wanwan is my own flesh and blood, after all.”
“You have a kind heart, my lord.” The sorcerer chuckled. “Her life will not be harmed—the Third Young Miss will merely have to endure living there. She was born with the fate of a lucky star. Devoting herself to the family is her blessing.”
“You speak wisely, Master.” Xie Chongshan grew excited. “To be able to serve the family—truly, it is her good fortune.”
A storm swept through Xie Tangwan’s mind.
She had heard these words before. Before she was locked in the dark room at age five, she had heard them in a daze. She was simply too young to understand.
She wanted to open her eyes, but her body had no strength.
“Has she been settled?”
“She’s in the small coffin outside the hidden chamber of the ancestral hall, sedated with incense.”
Footsteps receded.
A chill crept up from her neck.
Xie Tangwan’s eyes snapped open.
She was lying in a narrow space, surrounded by rough wooden planks. The air was thick with the smell of mildew and sandalwood.
She looked down and saw a pair of hands. Very small, pale and tender, like freshly peeled lotus seeds.
These were not her hands.
Her sixteen-year-old hands had been pale and slender, with uneven nails. Absolutely not this pair of tiny hands.
The voices outside rose again.
“The talisman has been set. Come see her tomorrow morning and take her into the dark chamber to live. In eleven years, I will naturally come to collect.”
The footsteps faded away.
Xie Tangwan understood everything at once.
She had been reborn—her sixteen-year-old soul had returned to her five-year-old body.
In her past life, she had been locked away for eleven years and died without ever knowing the truth.
Her father had told her she was a Lone Star of Calamity[1]An ominous astrological fate traditionally associated with loneliness or bringing misfortune to loved ones jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_3699227_1_1').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_3699227_1_1', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });, destined to bring death to the entire family, and that he had no choice but to follow the sorcerer’s instructions and place her in the dark room.
She had been grateful that her family hadn’t abandoned her, that they gave her food to eat.
But it turned out that from the age of five, she had been a sacrifice—a blood bag supplying her fortune for the whole family to feed on.
No wonder the room had no windows. No wonder the person who delivered her meals never spoke. No wonder she had grown weaker and weaker at sixteen, until she finally died after drinking a bowl of “tonic medicine.”
Perhaps that bowl of “tonic medicine” had actually been poisoned wine.
She touched the cold Luck-Locking Talisman on her neck. This was the thing that had locked her for eleven years, forcing her to channel a steady stream of good fortune to those so-called family members.
Footsteps sounded outside again.
“My lord, Wanwan… will she really be all right?” A woman’s voice, choked with tears—her mother, Madam Liu.
“The sorcerer said her life won’t be harmed,” Xie Chongshan said dismissively. “She’ll just live there for a few years. Once the talisman is complete, she can come out.”
“Eleven years, my lord. She’ll be sixteen when she comes out. The best years of a young lady’s life spent in a dark room—what will become of her afterward?”
“Madam,” Xie Chongshan said in a low voice, “this is a woman’s misplaced compassion. Once the talisman is complete, the Xie family will soar. In the future, I’ll rise in rank and grow rich, Hongye will enter court, Hongli will pass the exams with honors, Wanru will marry high—all of this will be Tangwan’s contribution to the family. Once the Xie family prospers, would we ever treat her poorly?”
Madam Liu said nothing.
“Let’s go. Come back early tomorrow morning.”
Footsteps faded away.
Xie Tangwan’s tears slid down.
In her past life, she had occasionally heard her mother crying outside the door when delivering meals. She hadn’t understood then. Now she did.
After crying, her mother would still make her stay in that little dark room.
Because her mother wanted that blessing too.
She raised a hand to wipe her tears, but her hands were too small, and she couldn’t wipe them clean.
She mustn’t cry. She was only five years old, and this body was too weak to run. The drugging incense had left her limbs limp.
But she could not be locked in there again.
She lay still, listening to the sounds outside. The night watchman’s call—it was the third watch.
In her past life, she was locked up for eleven years, and not a single person came to see her.
Her eldest brother, Xie Hongye, had been made a marquis and appointed a general, and had long forgotten her; her younger brother, Xie Hongli, had placed first in all three imperial examinations, and when he mentioned her, only called her “the one in the cellar.” Her sister Xie Wanru married high into the Changning Marquis’s household, and never once asked about her either.
Her father, her mother—everyone in the family knew she was in there.
Not one person came to see her.
In this life, she would not let them have their way.
She would not obediently live in the dark room again, would not be a blood bag again, would not be locked up for eleven years and then poisoned to death.
She would make them understand: she was not a tool, not a sacrifice.
She was a person.
Her hand touched the Luck-Locking Talisman. She couldn’t pull it off—it felt as if it had grown into her flesh.
Day broke, and footsteps sounded.
Someone pushed the door open.
“My lord, look—” Her mother put on a show of surprise.
“Why is Tangwan here?” Her father feigned bewilderment as well.
Xie Tangwan lay motionless.
She could feel someone leaning over her.
“Master, what’s hanging around her neck?”
“A talisman?” Her father was overjoyed. “How could there be a talisman? Could our ancestors have shown their power?”
Xie Tangwan sneered inwardly.
Their ancestors showing their power?
She opened her eyes and met her mother’s face leaning down.
Her mother had a young, pretty face, her eyes rimmed with red—the very picture of a loving mother who ached for her daughter.
Xie Tangwan blinked and said in a soft, sweet voice:
“Mother, I’m cold.”
…
The night before the ritual, Xie Tangwan was taken into that dark room.
It was said to be so she could familiarize herself with the place in advance. Madam Liu held her hand, speaking gently the whole way: “Don’t be afraid, Tangtang. There’s a blessing ritual tomorrow, and afterward you’ll be living here for a while. Mother is showing you now so you won’t be frightened.”
Xie Tangwan followed obediently, saying not a word.
The dark room lay in the most secluded corner of the ancestral hall’s back courtyard. From the outside, it was just a row of low, old buildings, with rusted iron locks hanging on the door panels. Madam Liu took out a key and struggled with the lock for a long while before finally opening it.
The moment the door opened, a musty, rotting smell rushed out.
Madam Liu lit the candlestick in her hand and led Xie Tangwan inside.
The candlelight flickered, illuminating the room’s interior.
The room was small and empty, with no windows—only a low cot and a worn-out chamber pot.
Cobwebs filled the corners, and thick dust covered the floor.
But Xie Tangwan wasn’t looking at any of that.
She was staring at the ground.
Carved into the floor were dense, intricate lines forming a strange pattern. At the center of the pattern was a groove, and around the groove were carved twisted symbols, like some kind of ancient script.
A formation.
This was the place where she had been locked up for eleven years in her past life. Yet she had never known there was something like this on the ground.
Back then, the room had been covered with a layer of dry straw, hiding all these symbols.
Xie Tangwan’s gaze shifted to the walls.
Paper talismans were pasted on the walls—yellow with red writing—one right next to another, covering all four walls completely.
“Tangtang?” Madam Liu looked down at her. “Why aren’t you saying anything?”
Xie Tangwan clutched Madam Liu’s sleeve, her voice small. “Mother, I’m scared.”
“Scared of what?” Madam Liu crouched down and gathered her into her arms. “Don’t be afraid. You’re just staying here for a while. In a few days, Mother will come take you out.”
Xie Tangwan buried her face in Madam Liu’s embrace and made no sound.
A few days? Heh.
She kept staring at the paper talismans on the wall over Madam Liu’s shoulder, memorizing the position of every single one.
Just then, footsteps sounded outside the door.
“Madam Xie.” The sorcerer’s voice rang out. “Why have you brought the young lady here?”
Madam Liu hurriedly rose to her feet. “Master, I thought I’d let her take a look first, so she won’t be frightened tomorrow.”
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