Chapter 9 Forgive Me No matter what you do, I forgive you. ...
(Nine)
She remembered.
When they first moved to Xiaofushan, because Aunt Wang's son was almost attacked by a mountain leopard, Shang Xinglan was worried that wild animals would break into their home, so she killed all the wild animals in the mountains, exchanged them for a large sum of money, and even made her a fox fur coat by hand.
Since then, the hunters in the village have rarely come to Xiaofushan to hunt, leaving behind many abandoned hunting pits, and even this mountain path is overgrown with weeds.
She rarely walked this mountain path, never expecting to fall into this hunting trap tonight.
Chu Li held the baby in her arms, enduring the pain, and whispered to comfort her, "Mommy's alright, don't be afraid, where did you fall?"
The little boy threw himself into her arms and burst into tears, sobbing, "Mother protected me, I'm not hurt."
"That's good." Chu Li breathed a sigh of relief, struggling to get up. Her legs ached terribly, as if her bones were broken.
Fortunately, there were no spikes in the hunting pit, otherwise the mother and child would have been riddled with holes.
Looking up at the dark, starless sky, Chu Li took a deep breath.
With her legs injured, she couldn't exert any strength and it was unlikely she could climb up on her own.
The little boy was still crying. Chu Li cupped his face, wiped the mud and tears off his face, and said earnestly, "Don't cry, we'll definitely get out of here."
She would never die in a place like this.
There's no time to lose. If Nameless discovers their escape, it will be nearly impossible for them to escape again.
Chu Li tentatively moved her legs, and every slight movement brought excruciating pain.
This is nothing; it's not even halfway through the pain of childbirth.
After struggling for a while, Chu Li's back was already soaked with cold sweat. She gritted her teeth and sat half-upright on the edge of the pit. "Yinyin, climb up by stepping on your mother's shoulders."
The little boy wiped away his tears and obeyed her, stepping on her shoulders.
Chu Li groaned in pain, realizing that she hadn't even noticed her shoulder injury or the pain in her legs.
The cub struggled to stand on her shoulder, trying its best to reach the edge of the hunting pit, but it was still far from there.
"I can't reach it." The little boy's eyes were red and swollen. Even though his fingers were stretched straight, he still couldn't get a grip on the edge.
Chu Li took a deep breath and asked in a low voice, "How much more is needed?"
"a lot of."
Chu Li closed her eyes and whispered, "Okay, jump up and reach it."
The little boy paused for a moment, then asked worriedly, "Mother, what's wrong with you...?"
"I'm fine, silly Yinyin, hurry, Mother is running out of strength." Chu Li urged in a low voice, her fingertips almost drawing blood from her palms. "Only if you escape can Mother be saved, hurry!"
Upon hearing this, the little cub no longer hesitated, jumped with all its might, and finally managed to grab onto the edge of the pit wall.
Ignoring the sharp pain in her shoulder, Chu Li turned around and lifted his legs with her hands, her arms almost straight, pushing upwards. It was the first time she had realized that she had such great strength.
The little cub climbed with all its might and finally made it to the ground.
"Mother, I'll find someone to save you!"
Chu Li collapsed to the ground, utterly exhausted, her entire body feeling as if it had been crushed.
She leaned against the pit wall and caught her breath.
"Yinyin, run down the mountain."
The little boy knelt by the pit, looking at her, tears streaming down his face. After a long while, he clenched his fists and ran away without looking back.
"Mother, wait for me!"
Chu Li could no longer hear his voice clearly; her head was spinning, and she might have bumped her head.
These legs are probably ruined. They've been begging with her for over twenty years, and they've suffered terribly, constantly kneeling, rarely able to stand up straight.
Thinking about it carefully, she was always very unlucky.
The only stroke of good fortune in her life was marrying into a merchant family and becoming their young mistress, rising to a high social status. However, this kind of luck, which others envied, was stolen.
The so-called destiny of preordained yin is rumored to allow Shang Xinglan, the eldest son of the Shang family, to overcome the tribulation of ascension.
But no one knew that Chu Li was not actually born with a Yin destiny; he was just an ordinary beggar.
That winter, when the snow was falling heavily, she rescued a seriously ill woman from thugs and hooligans.
They too were homeless, begging for a living.
The difference is that the woman was the true one destined for Yin. She was kind-hearted, always smiling, and would often share the food she begged with Chu Li. She also affectionately asked Chu Li to call her "sister".
Her name is Achu.
As for Chu Li, she had no idea what her original name was. Perhaps no one had ever given her a name, and she was abandoned on the street after she was born.
The merchants went to great lengths to find Achu, but she died the day before they found her.
He died of illness.
Before she died, A Chu grasped Chu Li's hand and earnestly told her, "From today onwards, my surname is your surname, and you are a member of the Chu family. You must remember that."
Achu gave Chu Li her birthday gift, and also gave him the phoenix-patterned jade pendant that she had carefully hidden all her life. She carefully instructed him that no matter what happened, he must never sell the jade pendant.
Chu Li asked her why she did this, and Chu only smiled weakly.
“I cannot defy the will of Heaven. My life is coming to an end. This piece of jade is my way of thanking you for saving my life.”
Soon, she closed her eyes forever, never to live again.
The merchant's people arrived the next day.
If she had held on for just one more day, she might have been rescued by the merchants.
The group stormed into the beggars' den in the dilapidated temple, asking each of them their birthday.
Chu Li was taken away by them in a state of complete bewilderment, got into the bridal sedan chair in a state of complete bewilderment, and became Shang Xinglan's wife in a state of complete bewilderment.
Later she learned that it was all because of the preordained fate and the jade pendant.
Achu was once a highly respected holy maiden of a sect, but later, due to some unknown misfortune, she ended up on the streets and contracted a serious illness.
She put on the jade pendant, inherited Achu's surname, and became the daughter of Suyin.
Only Chu Li herself knows that she is a fake, a fake from head to toe.
A false Goddess of Destiny cannot help the true Chosen One overcome his tribulations.
Ah Chu probably had no idea that she could have lived a good life, without having to suffer from hunger and cold, without having to live in fear.
Shang Xinglan was kept in the dark until his death, marrying a woman who made him a laughingstock; he was truly pitiful.
Bringing her thoughts back, Chu Li chuckled self-deprecatingly.
She actually felt sorry for them, even though her own situation wasn't much better.
Her eyelids grew heavier and heavier, and drowsiness overwhelmed her. She gradually couldn't keep her eyes open, and her mind was filled with the faces of Shang Xinglan and A Chu.
They should have been husband and wife.
She was a thief, and she got to where she is today by stepping over their corpses. Even in the afterlife, she probably won't be forgiven.
"Achu!"
Um?
She thought she heard Shang Xinglan calling her. Was she going to die? No wonder her mind was filled with people from the past; it was the legendary revolving lantern.
Shang Xinglan definitely didn't come to take her across the Bridge of Helplessness; he came to take revenge on her and drag her into the deepest hell.
"Achu!"
The other person called out again, and Chu Li instinctively tried to hide in a corner, but instead fell into an embrace that was damp with cold dew.
The man held her tightly, which made her feel even more pain, and her consciousness returned slightly.
Chu Li barely opened her eyes. It seemed that some warm water was dripping down her forehead, and her eyelashes were covered by something sticky, so she couldn't see anything clearly.
She heard the other person gasp and cup her face in their hands.
"Bear with it."
Soon, a scalding heat covered her forehead, and Chu Li trembled all over from the heat, crying softly as if something had burrowed into her skin, causing her great discomfort.
"It hurts..."
The other person paused for a moment, but still did not stop.
"Please let me go, I promise I won't bother you again in my next life," Chu Li pleaded, unable to think clearly from the pain, pushing him away with barely perceptible force. "Please, please, forgive me for bearing your child..."
She had a bloody hole in her head, yet she was still thinking about her dead husband!
The vein on Wuming's forehead throbbed, but he didn't bother to answer her and continued to channel his spiritual energy into her wound.
After an unknown amount of time, he finally released Chu Li out of a sense of mercy.
Chu Li nestled in his arms, still sobbing intermittently, looking just like some kind of injured little animal, pitifully so.
"My husband, please forgive me, don't take me away, I'm scared..."
What on earth happened to scare her so much?
Wuming couldn't help but stroke her cheek and gently wipe the sweat from her forehead. "I know, I forgive you on his behalf."
Seeing that she was still crying, as if she was terrified and her heart was about to break, Wuming helplessly turned her face to the side, took a deep breath, and said gently, "No matter what you do, I will forgive you."
Upon hearing this, Chu Li finally stopped crying. As if relieved, she let go of all her strength and leaned on his shoulder.
It turns out she could also rely on others, but only on her husband who had died many years ago.
Wuming's eyes were deep and somber, a hint of unspeakable resentment welling up in his heart.
Why do you keep thinking about a dead person? Why do you care about him so much?
He carefully examined her entire body, his gaze lingering on her legs, a slight twitch at the corner of his mouth.
"If it hurts, bite down."
He stuffed a handkerchief into her mouth and placed his palm on her leg.
Two sharp sounds.
Chu Li completely fainted and lost consciousness.
*
When I woke up again, it was already broad daylight.
The little boy was whimpering softly by the bedside. Chu Li struggled to lift his eyelids and was startled to see his eyes, which were swollen like walnuts. "Yinyin, who hit you?"
Seeing that she was awake, the little cub cried even harder, but before he could cry twice, Gu Ye covered his mouth and carried him out. His little hands were still waving at her, and he looked extremely pitiful.
Chu Li hurriedly tried to get up to stop him, but as soon as she moved, a sharp pain belatedly swept over her entire body.
A soft voice sounded beside me.
"You need to rest. Let Yinyin go outside to cry first, and then bring her back in after she stops crying."
She looked up in a daze and realized that she had returned to the small house. Wuming was leaning against the bed, playing with the storage ring that contained all her belongings in her palm.
What happened? It's one thing that she was caught, but why was Yinyin caught too?
As if sensing Chu Li's confusion, Wuming whispered, "Yinyin came back last night looking for me to save you."
Chu Li listened in astonishment as he continued calmly, "He's smart. He knows you can't hold on for long, so instead of going down the mountain, he'd rather come back to me."
The little boy, covered in mud, knelt before him, begging him to save Chu Li.
If she had been any later, Chu Li would have bled to death. There were many stones in the hunting pit that hit her head and broke it, and she didn't even realize it.
When Wuming saw her, her face was covered in blood.
Chu Li listened to his words in horror, raised her hand to touch her forehead, and sure enough, it was wrapped in a cloth.
Did it roll around several times when it fell into the pit? Otherwise, how could it be so badly injured?
“I scared you. If you don’t want to get married too soon, I can wait.”
Wuming didn't ask her why she ran away, but just sighed and placed the prepared medicine on the small table next to her.
"Remember to take your medicine for pain relief."
Chu Li watched him turn and leave, her gaze falling on the steaming bowl of medicine, with two rock sugar pieces beside it.
She carefully picked up the bowl of medicine, blew on it to cool it down, drank it, and then put the two rock candies in her mouth.
The sweetness quickly dispelled the sourness and bitterness. Chu Li silently chewed the two rock candies and thought for no reason that at least she was lucky in one aspect: she always managed to survive a great calamity.
Next time, she will plan more thoroughly.
A note from the author:
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