In the Underworld, there was no rotation of sun or moon. For new ghosts like Ajiao, it was truly difficult to judge the passage of time.
This was especially true at the construction site of the planned Reincarnation Hall.
Since arriving here, there had been nothing but endless labor. Ajiao had no idea how long she had been there. She only knew that the moment she stopped, the whip of a ghost messenger would come to greet her.
*If this spirit body of mine had skin, it would surely have grown much tougher by now,* Ajiao thought silently.
However, during this time, Ajiao had also figured a few things out. For instance, as long as she kept thinking to herself that she wasn't tired, she really wouldn't feel tired. Looking at the ghosts around her who worked without pause, Ajiao suspected she wasn't the only one who had realized this.
Whenever Ajiao dragged a stone to its destination, a ghost messenger would come over to help her untie the ropes.
The structure here already had a base that looked like a circular platform. Several ghost officials were manipulating the placement of these stones. Observing their dress and manner, Ajiao surmised their rank was likely not low—at least on the same level as Lord Shen Zhi.
Ajiao quietly withdrew her inquisitive gaze, but suddenly felt her body grow light. By the time she regained her senses, she was standing inside a room.
Ajiao couldn't help but tighten her grip on the rope in her hand!
"Aha, it’s you!" someone laughed.
Ajiao found the voice somewhat familiar.
Yun He couldn't resist patting Ajiao on the shoulder. "To meet again is fate."
Ajiao looked the person over several times. Oh! This was the ghost official from when she had handed over her credentials before!
Just as Ajiao was about to speak, she was interrupted again: "Don't be afraid. I summoned you here today for official business. Today is your First Seventh. According to the rules, you may return to the mortal realm to visit your old acquaintances. Go on, go on!"
The First Seventh!
So she had only been dead for seven days! She had thought it had been much longer. Ajiao thought to herself as her entire body was pulled into the air by Yun He, drifting along.
At the entrance to the Yellow Springs Road.
Yun He handed a command token to the ghost messenger guarding the entrance. The messenger verified it and handed him a talisman, laughing. "Yun He, why are you doing the work of a ghost runner? Did you lose another bet? This is the several-th time now. Why don't you just take a part-time job as a messenger?"
"Shoo, shoo, it’s nothing like that. This time, Shen Zhi actually asked me to go in his stead. Part-time work is too exhausting; I won't do it." Yun He took the talisman, slapped it onto Chen Ajiao’s forehead, and then gave her a push onto the Yellow Springs Road, instructing: "Go. Once twelve double-hours have passed, I will come to fetch you."
Watching Chen Ajiao set off on her way, Yun He turned back to the two ghost messengers. "By the way, who is this Chen Ajiao? Back then, Shen Zhi specifically swapped shifts with someone just to go fetch her, yet after only a few days, he doesn't even care about her First Seventh. Tsk, tsk. Could she be Shen Zhi’s little lover? Did they have a falling out?"
The gatekeeper shook his head. "I don't know. It shouldn't be! Lord Shen hasn't even been to the mortal realm lately!"
Yun He clicked his tongue, his heart itching with curiosity.
Ajiao walked along the Yellow Springs Road. She remembered that once she crossed it, she would be in the mortal realm!
From their conversation just now, that ghost official must be named Yun He. She just didn't know why Lord Shen, who was supposed to send her back to the mortal realm for her First Seventh, hadn't come and had instead entrusted this Yun He.
Why didn't Lord Shen come? Could she have offended him somehow?
That shouldn't be right. She had no memory of it. Ajiao suddenly felt uneasy; having just arrived in the Underworld, to offend an official was no small matter!
Once she crossed the Yellow Springs Road, Ajiao felt as if she were being guided, drifting in a certain direction.
Yes, drifting!
She could walk perfectly fine in the Underworld, yet the moment she reached the mortal realm, she could only drift. She felt as if she might be scattered by the wind at any moment.
There was no sense of security at all!
It was the fourth watch when Ajiao finally reached the city of Chang'an!
She probably hadn't been here for decades.
Following her old memories, she headed toward Princess Guantao’s Manor. The manor was deathly silent, without a single soul in sight. That was right—after her mother passed away, this princess's manor should have been reclaimed by the palace, waiting to be bestowed upon someone else.
In Ajiao’s memory, she had lived with her mother in the Princess’s Manor.
Her eldest and second brothers lived with her father in the Manor of the Marquis of Tangyi. Her mother and father were not close; except for the New Year festivals, her mother never took her to the Marquis’s manor.
Even her brothers were not very close to their mother. As for the reason, her mother had never told her. Whenever she asked as a child, her mother would hold her and say that the two of them were the only real family. Even without a husband or father to rely on, she would ensure their lives were better than anyone else's.
As she grew up, she gradually came to understand that the rift between her parents was not just because of her father’s mediocrity and her mother’s pride, but also because when her mother first married into the Chen family, the Chens had used the pretext of filial piety to make her suffer time and again. It just so happened that her maternal grandfather was a man who valued filial piety deeply. During those times, her father always criticized her mother for using her status as a princess to ignore filial piety and contradict her elders. Her mother hadn't even been allowed to raise her two sons herself.
Her maternal grandmother said that by the time her uncle ascended the throne and her mother no longer had to swallow her anger, her brothers were already very distant from her mother, and they too would criticize her. At that time, her grandmother sighed, saying that her mother was a woman of strong temperament—even with her own sons, if they did not like her, she would not love them a fraction more.
When Ajiao was born, her mother had forcefully taken her to the Princess’s Manor to raise her alone.
Unfortunately, she had still caused her mother so much grievance. Ajiao raised her hand to wipe away her tears, only to touch her own ice-cold face.
How could she forget again? She was already dead. Fortunately, she had finally met her mother again in the depths. Once her punishment was served, they could be reunited!
Ajiao sighed with emotion and drifted elsewhere.
The Manor of the Marquis of Tangyi, the Manor of the Marquis of Longlü, and the Princess Longlü’s Manor were all cold and quiet, but at least old acquaintances still lived there. Ajiao went to look at those juniors she had hardly ever seen, but she didn't dare get too close, fearing she might bring something ill upon the children.
The sky slowly brightened.
Ajiao looked toward the center of Chang'an.
That place... should she still go?
Yang Deyì checked the time; it was time to wake His Majesty!
Liu Che had slept quite well these past few days.
As expected, as long as he returned the money his aunt had left for Ajiao, everything would be fine!
Ajiao wandered aimlessly through the Imperial Garden. The flowers and trees in the garden were growing well, appearing meticulously pruned.
As the daylight grew bright, Ajiao could no longer move about freely. She could not withstand direct sunlight.
She was trapped in a palace building beside a lotus pond.
The room was clean and tidy, but no one lived there; many musical instruments were placed inside.
Presumably, the people from the Music Bureau practiced here during the day.
Ajiao leaned against the railing overlooking the water, watching the surrounding scenery.
Weiyang Palace.
What she saw now looked like her memories, yet was different in every detail.
She remembered this lotus pond! Long ago, she had people build a flower trellis over this pond. In the evenings, she would sit inside and admire the lotuses by moonlight; it was quite delightful. In the early days, whenever Liu Che grew tired of reviewing memorials, he would come here to find her and complain to her.
Later, Liu Che stopped coming to find her.
Ajiao covered her face and submerged her entire body into the water.
Why were so many things she had previously forgotten slowly coming back to her today?
She remembered that it was already the fourth year of the Yuanguang era.
What happened that day?
Was it the imperial physician telling her she could not bear children? Or was it Chu Fu telling her she could obtain a child through spells and incantations?
Ajiao lay beneath the flower trellis, unable to stop herself from wanting to cry. She drank such bitter medicine every day, yet she still wouldn't have a child.
The female official beside her, seeing the Empress weeping incessantly, couldn't help but want to offer comfort.
"Get out!" Ajiao picked up the teacup beside her and threw it. "All of you, get out!"
Dignity, etiquette—suddenly, she didn't want to care about any of it.
Ajiao curled herself into a ball.
Suddenly, a hand rested on her shoulder. "Your Highness, Chu Fu has a way to let Your Highness have a child."
"As long as Your Highness obtains a lock of His Majesty's hair and knots it together with your own, then performs a ritual, Your Highness will surely have a son within three years."
"Your Highness, although Chu Fu is but a palace maid, I learned much sorcery at home. Otherwise, how would I know the secret words between Your Highness and the physician? Moreover, Your Highness, this method can not only seek a son but also ensure that His Majesty and you will be of one heart from now on, with no more rifts between you."
"Your Highness..."
"Your Highness..."
"Your Highness..."
After dismissing Chu Fu, Ajiao stopped crying.
She felt so tired.
She didn't want to drink those bitter medicines every day. She didn't want to think every day about how she couldn't bear a child. She didn't want it so that every time she wanted to do something else, someone would come to tell her not to do it, that bearing a son was what mattered!
She clearly knew that being unable to bear a child was something she should be sad about, yet she suddenly felt like laughing. If everyone knew about this, would people stop telling her every day to bear a son? Would she be able to do the things she wanted to do instead of doing so-called "exercises" every day for the sake of pregnancy? Would she no longer have to listen to Liu Che’s disappointed tone every month?
Ajiao only felt a fire rising in her heart, burning fiercer and fiercer!
She stood up and went directly to the edge of the lake, soaking her feet in the water. The icy lake water caused a layer of goosebumps to rise on her skin. Yet, it felt so refreshing.
She simply jumped straight into the lake. When the water surrounded her, a sense of unprecedented liberation swept through her entire body.
*It would be better if I just died,* Ajiao thought.
The lake water slowly rose over her nose and mouth.
Ajiao choked on a mouthful of water. Her nasal cavity was instantly filled with a stinging sensation.
No! No! No!
I cannot die!
Ajiao couldn't help but thrash about, barely managing to stand up by bracing herself against the stone bricks of the lake shore.
*If I die, what will happen to Mother? What will happen to Che-er?*
"Someone! Help!" *I cannot die. How can I just die like this?* Ajiao thought.
Upon hearing that Ajiao had fallen into the water, Liu Che rushed to Jiaofang Hall. At this time, Ajiao was still bathing.
Liu Che felt a nerve in his brain throbbing with tension and pain. The palace servants were all gossiping that the Empress couldn't stand being neglected and had jumped into the lake to commit suicide! In just half an hour, rumors were already flying through the palace. By tomorrow, when it reached the court, who knew what kind of talk it would generate!
The more Liu Che thought, the angrier he became, and he kicked over the low table beside him.
Ajiao felt that she had been very wrong these past two years. She was becoming more and more irritable, even moody. She didn't know why she wanted to cry all the time, why she didn't want to associate with people, and why, recently, the thought of wanting to die had even emerged...
She really had jumped into the lake today!
Ajiao let the palace maids dry her hair as she walked toward the bedchamber. As soon as she entered the door, she saw that man.
She so badly wanted to hold him!
She rushed over and embraced him.
"Che-er, I think I'm sick!"
***
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The Han Dynasty Empress is a Ghost | Chapter 7 | The First Seventh | Novela.app | Novela.app
