Chapter 147 My destiny is solely in my own hands…

Ming Er felt like his head was about to split open.

She went back to her room and lay down.

[Ming Er, Ming Er, wake up! Don't sleep!]

Ming Er had his eyes closed and didn't see the words floating in front of him.

Xiang Bei nudged her, but Ming Er didn't react. Her face was full of pain and resistance, as if she had seen something.

"System, what's going on?"

"Host, the world consciousness seems to be forcibly correcting the plot. It is disrupting Ming Er's memories and trying to turn her back into the Ming Er in the original story."

Xiang Bei slammed her hand on the table. "Master, is there any way to summon that world's consciousness?"

"It's no use, it can't be called out. Only Ming Er can hear its voice," the system sighed.

Moreover, the world consciousness found a loophole and hid inside Ming Er.

If it is forcibly driven away, it will damage Ming'er's sanity.

"Is there really no way?"

The system shook its head. "Only if Ming Er overcomes this on his own can he completely break free from the control of the world's consciousness."

At this moment, Ming Er felt as if he were having a very, very long dream.

She was clearly resisting the voice in her mind when everything went spun around her, and she found herself back in Mingjia Village.

She was extremely familiar with every plant and tree in the village.

Here, she is Ming Er, and only Ming Er.

There was no female tutor, no nine female teachers.

Because she had to support her older sister's schooling, she didn't have the money to support her, so she stayed at home until the Marquis's mansion found her and brought her back. Only then did she receive a formal name, Minghua.

She looked at Minghua, who looked exactly like her, as if she were looking at a stranger.

Watching her being taken back, and seeing her embarrassment in comparison to Mingxi; watching her humbly trying to please everyone in the Marquis's mansion; watching her beg so many people for help to get Ji Yun a chance to participate in the imperial examination.

She also saw that her eldest sister had an accident and her life was uncertain, and that her great-grandmother was critically ill. They wanted to see her, so they sent several letters to the Marquis's mansion, but they did not receive any news from her.

What was Minghua doing at that time?

She was trying to curry favor with the people in the Marquis's household, hoping to gain their approval.

But it shouldn't be like this.

“You are not Mingyang, you should be Minghua. You are the Marquis’s biological daughter. Are you going to just stand by and watch Mingxi take everything away from you?”

The voice appeared again.

This time it didn't use the female tutor's voice.

It sounds ethereal, and it's hard to tell if it's a man or a woman. It seems like it's far away from her, yet it also seems like it's right beside her.

"You must take all of this back. As long as you do as I say, your mother and father will definitely accept you, your sister and brother will acknowledge you as their older sister, and Ji Yun, your husband, will discover that you are the woman who loves him the most in the world."

The voice said disdainfully, "When they realize that you are the one who truly cares for them, they will regret it, kneel before you, weep and beg for your forgiveness, and even help you punish Mingxi for taking everything from you."

Ming Er, clutching his head which was throbbing with pain, couldn't help but chuckle upon hearing this.

The voice immediately became angry, "You don't believe me?"

"I don't believe it," Ming Er said through gritted teeth.

Why should she humble herself to please others? Even without the people from the Marquis's mansion, she still has family who love her.

No one wanted this baby swap to happen. Neither family knew about it and they both raised her and Mingxi as their own. They had already given their affections; they weren't objects that could be taken back just like that.

Her relationship with the Marquis's family was merely based on blood ties; there was no inherent affection between them.

That damned voice kept bewitching her in her mind, trying to make her do things that were humble and ingratiating to others.

She is a human being, not a puppet. Why should she be controlled by this strange thing?

She couldn't bring herself to fawn over the people in the Marquis's mansion. Before learning about her true identity, they were clearly unrelated people. She wasn't an ignorant child; she could get along with them if she could, and if not, she would just continue down the wrong path. It wasn't like she couldn't support Ah Zu and the others.

Ming Er groaned in pain and knelt on one knee.

The voice sounded angry. "What do you know? I say it's okay, and that's it. You have to do as I say, or I'll kill you."

Ming Er laughed. "You can't kill me, and you can't control me. If you could, you would have done it already."

"Hmph, you won't listen to reason, so you'll have to suffer the consequences."

Ming Er felt as if needles were pricking her head, and the pain made her dizzy in waves.

But she still bit her lower lip tightly, until it bled, without uttering a sound.

His vision gradually blurred, and Ming Er fell backward to the ground, panting heavily.

She felt her memories fading away little by little.

One by one, the people she knew disappeared.

Many figures flashed before my eyes, including my great-grandmother, my eldest sister, and my father.

The faces of everyone in her family appeared before her eyes, and then gradually disappeared.

There were also people from the Marquis of Jing'an's mansion. Mingxi's face appeared before her, looking at her with disdain. "Mingyang, are you admitting defeat already? You are not worthy to be my opponent. I am the one who will have the last laugh."

Finally, it was Xiang Nufu's turn.

She felt as if she had returned to the first time she met Ms. Xiang, when Ms. Xiang helped her take a bath and said she would scrub off the dirt for her, which hurt her a lot.

When I wash her hair, I feel like I'm going to pull her hair out.

As the female tutor's figure was about to disappear, Ming Er's nose tingled, and he couldn't help but say, "Female tutor, the first time you helped me scrub my back, it really hurt! You almost scrubbed my skin off. And my head hurt so much too. I saw you accidentally pull out my hair, and you secretly hid it and pretended it didn't happen."

The female tutor's smiling expression suddenly changed, and she glared at her angrily, "Ming Er, do you want to die?"

Ming Erdao said, "I don't want to die!"

"Then stand up. This is your body, and this is your world. This place belongs to you, and only you can control it. Don't be misled."

"Mine?" Ming Er murmured.

The female tutor had disappeared without her noticing; there was nothing in front of her, and everything around her was shrouded in a gray haze.

Her body was still unable to move; only her fingers could move slightly.

Ming Er felt like there was something next to him.

She moved her fingers and stroked it.

The moment he touched it, Ming Er recognized it as her bow.

It was the bow that Ninth Sister gave her.

“Ming Er, you must become Ming Hua again. You should not continue down this path. Ming Er, you must remember that you are Ming Hua. From now on, you must do as I say. Your destiny should be in my hands.”

"No, I don't want to!"

"What did you say?"

Ming Er grabbed the bow beside him, opened his eyes abruptly, and almost roared, "My destiny should be in my own hands."

Feeling as if he had regained some strength, Ming Er quickly got up and was about to nock an arrow when he realized that he only had a bow and no arrows.

The voice hovered above his head, vaguely coalescing into a human shape. It reached out its hand to Ming Er, "Ming Er! This is your fate. Accept it."

[With an arrow in one's heart, one strike will surely hit the mark.]

Seeing the familiar characters appear before his eyes, Ming Er suddenly smiled.

She picked up her bow and arrow, and as she drew the bow, an arrow radiating light suddenly appeared. She looked up, and the figure that had bewitched her transformed into a gray ball of light, hovering in the sky.

Ming Er looked at the ball of light and aimed the arrow at it.

"Do you think you can kill me? Ming Er, I am the master of this world. You must follow my will. Ming Er, I will never allow you to break the rules."

Ming Er said, "My destiny is only in my own hands. No one else can control my destiny, not even you."

As soon as he finished speaking, Ming Er decisively released the string in his hand.

The arrow flew out silently, its tail trailing a white light, leaving a trail of afterimages in the air as it swiftly flew towards the gray orb of light.

A whooshing sound rang out, and the voice that had been seducing her emitted a piercing scream.

"No, that's impossible!"

A loud bang rang in her ears, like the sound of something shattering. The light was so bright that Ming Er couldn't open her eyes. She raised her hand and held it in front of her eyes.

"Ming Er, Ming Er."

Ming Er was somewhat dazed, feeling as if she didn't know where she was. When she lowered her hand and saw the person in front of her, she was still somewhat incredulous.

"To the female tutor."

"Ming Er, it's so good that you're alright."

"Ming Er, you really scared me to death! Do you know how scared I was..." The system rushed out from behind Xiang Bei and was about to pounce on Ming Er when Xiang Bei pulled it back and covered its mouth.

The system glanced at Xiang Bei, who was shaking her head at it, and felt that the words she was about to say were somewhat ominous, so she swallowed them back.

"It's good that you're alright." Xiang Bei patted Ming Er on the shoulder.

I was also very emotional; in the blink of an eye, this child has grown up so much.

The world's consciousness was pierced by her arrow, and it will no longer forcibly correct the plot or bewitch Ming Er in his mind.

Ming Er looked at the female tutor, then at the bow and arrow in his hand.

Xiang Bei didn't give Ming Er a chance to speak. She pressed her shoulder, turned her around, and pushed her away. "Alright, now that everything's alright, go back and rest. You must be exhausted these past two days. You need to get some rest."

Watching Ming Er being pushed out, Xiang Bei clapped her hands and breathed a sigh of relief, "Finally, it's over."

The system chimed in, "That's right, our million points weren't wasted."

Xiang Bei rubbed the system's head in a good mood, "You're not bad either. This time, we owe you a lot for coming up with a solution."

The system fidgeted with its fingers, then said sheepishly, "No, I'm not actually that good."

*

When Ming Er opened his eyes, he found himself lying on the bed. He was stunned for a moment before he realized what had just happened.

Before she could fully recall what she had just seen and heard, she sensed someone outside. Ming Er stood up and shouted sternly, "Who's there?"

When Ming Er saw who it was, he was stunned for a moment. "It's you?"

Mingyan hadn't expected Ming'er to be so vigilant.

She was still a little stunned when she met Ming Er's gaze.

Then, feeling awkward, he turned his face away and looked up at the sky. The moon was very bright and round, illuminating the ground.

She just didn't know why she couldn't fall asleep in bed, so she decided to go for a walk.

As they walked, they arrived at Mingyang's courtyard.

Looking back on everything that had happened, Mingyan was definitely not right. Even His Majesty said that she had handled Mingyang's matter poorly and had made some mistakes.

For some reason, Mingyan suddenly felt that she had indeed handled things unfairly today.

Now that she was meeting Mingyang's gaze, she had so much to say, but she didn't know how to begin.

He opened his mouth, but in the end, he only said, "You've been tired these past few days, so get some rest."

Watching Mingyan's departing figure, Ming Er couldn't help but furrow his brow.

It's gone.

Every time she saw someone from the Marquis's residence, the voice that used to bewitch her would disappear.

Ming Er couldn't fall asleep no matter what he did, and stayed awake until dawn.

To verify whether it was true or not, Ming Er even had breakfast with the people from the Marquis's residence.

Every time I'm with this group of people, that damn voice shouts especially loudly.

She doesn't feel that way at all now.

No one will try to persuade her to do anything humble or ingratiating to her family anymore.

Ming Er couldn't help but laugh. The people at the table immediately looked at her, especially Ming Tong and Ming Yu, who thought Ming Er was unhappy and was going to beat them up.

As a result, Ming Er simply put down his chopsticks and left.

Mingtong couldn't help but look at Mingyan, "Mother, has she gone mad?"

What greeted Ming Tong was a slap from Ming Yan.

"That's your older sister. Don't talk nonsense like that again."

Mingtong looked at her mother in horror, sensing that something was wrong, that nothing was right.

His Majesty ordered Ming Er to investigate the case, so she naturally didn't need to attend the morning court session. After leaving the Marquis's residence, she went straight to the top scholar's residence.

No one was home; the doorman said they had gone to the shop.

Mingsheng was very happy to see her arrive.

She didn't understand the ways of officialdom, but when she learned that Ming Er had returned, he made her a lot of food.

“While you were away, that person would come over occasionally.”

"Mingxi?"

Mingsheng nodded. "It was her. She came but didn't say anything. She just stood there like a wooden post for a while and then left. It was a bit strange. Later, your mother went to ask her if she wanted to come into the shop and get something to eat."

Mingren asked several times, but Mingxi never came in.

Later, for some unknown reason, Mingxi entered the shop once. Her family was watching her. After she finished eating, she left a silver ingot and left. She never came back after that.

"During my absence, did anyone cause trouble?"

"Yes, our family business is doing well, how could no one be envious?"

Some people came to cause trouble, but the government officials arrived quickly and arrested the troublemakers. After that, no one came to cause trouble anymore.

Mingsheng talked on and on, while Ming'er listened to him while eating.

"I don't know what that child was thinking. Maybe she saw that we were too polite to her, so she would come over occasionally and just glance at us from afar."

After they had eaten enough, Ming Er said, "Grandpa, I plan to move back in a couple of days."

"You're leaving the Marquis's residence? Does your mother agree?"

“Grandpa, my mother is here.”

"Did they kick you out?"

"No, I want to go home."

Mingsheng moved his lips, but ultimately let out a sigh, "Why are you so stubborn, kid?"

Ming Er is stubborn by nature, and her words indicate that she has already made up her mind.

After finishing his meal, Ming Er didn't rush to leave.

His Majesty the Emperor gave a seven-day deadline, but Ming Er wasn't in a hurry. He talked with his family for a while before going home.

I told them to be careful lately, and to immediately protect their officials if anything seemed amiss.

Ming Er was still worried, so he asked the female tutor for a few amulets, saying they were gifts from the gods. His family accepted them without any hesitation.

Before leaving, he reminded Mingda to keep a close eye on his family and to tell him immediately if anything happened.

"Has something happened?" Ming Da, after all, was an official in the court and had heard some rumors.

If it really is related to the royal family, this case will probably be difficult for Ming Er to investigate further.

"It's alright, take care of the family." Ming Er smiled, waved to Ming Da, and turned to go back.

There are clues as to where the disaster relief funds went.

However, upon investigation, the obstacles involved are not insignificant.

On her way home, Ming'er was bumped into by someone who then thrust a dagger hidden in his pocket directly into her chest, intending to kill her.

Ming Er didn't take this level of assassination seriously.

He chopped the man off with a chop to the neck, then grabbed him and imprisoned him in the Dali Temple.

When they returned to the Jing'an Marquis's residence, they saw Mingxi standing there.

Seeing Ming Er walk past without looking to the side, Ming Xi finally couldn't hold back anymore, "Don't you know who's involved in the disaster relief funds? Are you going to continue investigating this case? Don't you want to die?"

"Damn it, we have to keep investigating this case."

"You really have no fear of death."

"No, of course I'm afraid of death, but I'm an official of the imperial court. Now that the people are suffering, it is my duty as an official to speak up for them."

Mingxi stared at her for a moment, then stopped as they passed each other and said, “Since you’re so fearless, go investigate here.”

Thank you.

"Don't thank me, you're the one who's asking for it."

After Mingxi left, Ming'er saw Mingyan standing not far away.

The two stood face to face, but said nothing.

Ming Er didn't care. Ever since that strange voice disappeared, things had been going strangely in the Marquis's mansion.

Actually, these people were quite strange before, they've just changed to a stranger way now.

Ming Er was only back to get a few changes of clothes. His Majesty the Emperor had given her seven days, so she planned to stay at the government office for the next few days.

Ming Er also interrogated the people who had been previously arrested and imprisoned.

Her interrogation methods were not harmful but very uncomfortable. Those people couldn't stand this interrogation method and vomited some more.

As for the places Mingxi mentioned, Ming'er went in to check them in the middle of the night, and when he came back, his expression was even more serious.

Until someone ran over and told Ming Er that Ming Si was missing.

She disappeared when she came home from school.

The journey, which usually takes fifteen minutes, ended before they returned, even as night fell. The Ming family went to the government office to report the incident and then came to inform Ming Er.

On his way there, Ming Er was suddenly confronted by a carriage, and he immediately drew his sword.

The other party lifted the curtain, revealing the Third Prince.

She was holding a child in her arms, Ming Si.

Ming Er took the child and said, "Thank you, Your Highness."

"It was I who dragged you into this case, so naturally I can't let you have any worries. Go ahead and investigate; I'll protect your family."

Ming Er watched the Third Prince leave before carrying the unconscious Ming Si home.

She didn't tell her family about it, because she was afraid they would worry.

"She was just targeted by kidnappers, but a kind person passing by rescued her. You all need to be more careful in the future. In a few days, I will send a few guards over to stay at home and escort Ming San and Ming Si to school."

If this hadn't happened, Mingsheng would never have agreed.

Since his granddaughter was almost kidnapped, he didn't refuse Ming'er's suggestion.

"You damned cripple, don't let me see you, or I'll chop her up with a kitchen knife!" Ming Sheng cursed angrily.

The rest of the Ming family also joined in the cursing.

Ming Laosan was holding his daughter, and he was really scared to death. She only had one daughter.

Ming Er told them to rest early, and then returned to the government office to connect the clues he had found.