Chapter 1 The Little Child's Rebirth
Spring of the twenty-third year of Yongzhao, in the back garden of the Xie family mansion.
The weather is still chilly despite the warming trend, and the grass is growing and birds are singing. The trees and potted plants in the garden, which were pruned in winter, are sprouting lush green branches, creating a vibrant spring scene.
A small pink figure sat alone by the lotus pond; it was Xie Mianmian, the five-year-old youngest daughter of the Xie family.
The children, who should have been taking a nap with their nanny, secretly ran off to the garden to sunbathe while the servants were dozing off.
Xie Mianmian thought she didn't like taking naps; sleeping was so boring. She preferred looking at the blue sky, the tender green grass, and the swallows flying by.
The warm yellow sunlight shone on Xie Mianmian, who was wearing a pink, high-waisted ruqun (a traditional Chinese dress). Her little feet swung leisurely as she looked down at the baby in her hands and muttered to herself.
Only when you get close can you hear the childish voice, "These are the candies my eldest brother gave me before he left home. My second sister gets one, my third brother gets one, and I get one."
"No, no." Xie Mianmian shook her head, the coral bead chain wrapped around her twin buns swaying slightly. "One for Second Sister, one for me, one for Third Brother, one for me..."
The little girl was so engrossed in her own world of distributing candy that she was oblivious to her surroundings.
Suddenly, a pair of withered, thin hands shoved her violently. "Ah!" Xie Mianmian only had time to let out a short cry before she was pushed into the desolate lotus pond.
The icy pool water instantly submerged five-year-old Xie Mianmian. She struggled desperately, her little hands splashing on the surface of the water. The air in her lungs was exhausted, and the feeling of suffocation made her involuntarily inhale through her nose, only to be filled with dirty pool water.
The little head finally broke the surface of the water, but before it could even take a breath of fresh air, a thin, strong hand grabbed its head and pressed it back underwater.
Who is it? Waaah, I feel so bad. Someone please save her! Father, eldest brother, second sister, third brother… It's so cold…
Helpless, Xie Mianmian pushed against the large hand that controlled her fate, kicking her little feet with all her might, trying to use the force to break free of the water. But given the absolute difference in strength, the child's feeble self-rescue was futile.
The suffocating pain intensified, and her little hand slowly slipped down. In her hazy state of consciousness, Xie Mianmian thought regretfully, "I can't give the candy to my second sister and third brother today."
I hope they won't be angry.
Mianmian has done her best.
Xie Mianmian felt very sleepy. Before closing her eyes, she seemed to see a red koi fish swim past her and hear a sound.
"The Xie family's fortune has been devoured by Lin Ruoxue, and the entire family will surely perish within a month."
Xie Mianmian felt lightheaded, unable to understand anything, her mind was a mess, her consciousness came and went, and many images flashed before her eyes like a revolving lantern.
Her father, who usually disliked her, suddenly turned white-haired and collapsed beside her body.
The men in black broke into the house, ransacked the study, and found some items, which they claimed were a voodoo doll and secret letters from the Northern Rong.
Then, those bad guys kidnapped the three older brothers and sisters without saying a word!
She saw that her elder brother, Xie Linyuan, was imprisoned. The hand that would usually hand her candy was now holding a jade hairpin against his neck.
Blood splattered onto the elder brother's cheek.
She also saw a wicked woman use a prophecy to marry her second sister off to the Northern Rong.
The hand that usually peels grapes for Xie Mianmian was used to forcefully break a guitar string, which she then wrapped around her neck, causing her to bleed profusely.
Xie Mianmian hurriedly reached out to cover it, but she couldn't feel it no matter what she did.
She saw that her third brother, Xie Huaijin, had been exiled to the northern border and made an unknown soldier.
On the eve of victory in the great battle, Third Brother was framed by villains. They drew their bows and arrows, pointing the sharp arrowheads at Third Brother.
Xie Mianmian quickly spread her arms to protect her third brother, but a dense rain of arrows still shot towards her back.
Witnessing the horrific tragedy befalling her loved ones, Xie Mianmian cried out in anguish, "No!!"
Xie Mianmian felt a sharp, throbbing pain in her heart, her little hands stubbornly reaching forward, but she couldn't grasp anything.
Suddenly, a "ding" sounded.
"The Heavenly Dao Virtue System has been bound."
"Full resentment level detected. Reversal countdown initiated—"
A slight tremor ran through the air, and suddenly, the sun rose in the west and set in the east, the stars shifted, raindrops floated upwards, and plants shrank back.
In Xie Mianmian's eyes, the carousel had broken down and was actually starting to go backwards. She looked at all of this in a daze, her voice becoming incoherent and incomprehensible.
However, Xie Mianmian clearly saw the arrows fly back, the zither strings untie from her fair neck, and the jade hairpin be inserted into her black hair bun, her white hair gradually turning black.
Meanwhile, she was still counting maltose candies by the lotus pond.
Xie Mianmian opened her eyes and found herself lying on a canopy bed. The calming incense burned quietly, and warm yellow sunlight shone through the gauze window onto the floor. Granny Wang was dozing off beside her.
It was exactly the same scene as before when I secretly left for the garden.
She's back.
Her big, round eyes filled with tears, and with a blink, the tears slid down her cheeks like broken pearls.
Xie Mianmian dared not go anywhere this time. She pouted and burst into tears.
"Awooooo!"
"Oh dear, my little darling, what's wrong?" Granny Wang was startled by the crying and reached out to hug Xie Mianmian.
Xie Mianmian reacted as if she had seen some kind of monstrous flood, crying and shrinking into the bed, eventually hiding under the covers.
Waaaaah, there are bad people in my house.
She now sees everyone as a bad person except for her blood relatives.
Seeing that she was crying and wouldn't let anyone hug her, and wouldn't dare to pull the blanket away, Granny Wang was so anxious that she paced around in circles. "Someone, quickly go and inform the young master and young lady, and also, have Doctor Wang from the manor come over."
After a stick of incense had burned, Xie Mingyi, who had gone out to attend the spring poetry gathering, and Xie Huaijin, who had been riding horses and strolling through the streets with his cronies, both hurriedly returned home.
Inside the room, the heart-wrenching sobs had stopped. But Xie Mianmian, wrapped in a blanket and with her bottom sticking up, was hiding at the very back of the canopy bed.
No matter how much Wang Mama, Doctor Wang, and the servants tried to coax her in a low voice, Xie Mianmian stubbornly ignored them.
In the corridor, a bright and anxious voice rang out, "What's wrong with Mianmian?" Xie Mingyi, dressed in a moon-white fairy dress, walked quickly, her steps light yet elegant.
The dignified young woman walked on, not forgetting to scold the person behind her, "I told you to take good care of Mianmian at home before I left, but what did you do? You went off to fool around as soon as you turned your back!"
"Sister, you're my own sister! I know I was wrong!" The young man in red brocade robes with his hair tied in a high ponytail pleaded as he walked away. Their faces were eight parts alike; they were actually twins, a dragon and a phoenix.
Xie Huaijin rubbed his nose and muttered, "I was just watching Mianmian take a nap. Besides, we made plans yesterday to go see Lin Kaizhi's 'Ever-Victorious General'."
The ever-victorious general, a fighting cricket.
Xie Huaijin will never know that he once lost his beloved younger sister because he went to see a cricket.
Upon hearing her second sister's voice, Xie Mianmian poked her head out of the cicada pupa, her eyes red and quickly filled with tears.
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