Orphan girl in a ruined temple
pain.
The pain penetrated deep into the bone marrow, as if the body was torn apart and then forcibly glued together.
Her consciousness drifted in endless darkness, and Ling Xiuqing thought her soul would be shattered, sinking into the underworld with a monstrous hatred. But gradually, the icy coldness receded, replaced by a suffocating hunger.
It felt like a ball of fire, burning wildly in her empty stomach, burning her internal organs.
Then, all the senses began to slowly recover.
She smelled a damp, musty, dusty scent, mingled with a faint hint of incense. In her ears, a cold wind whistled in through the dilapidated window frames, making a humming sound like the weeping of ghosts.
Are you conscious?
Ling Xiuqing used all her strength to slowly open her eyelids which were as heavy as lead.
What came into view wasn't the underworld, but a scene of desolation: cobweb-covered beams, crumbling walls, and a pitiful clay statue with half its head missing.
Where...is this place?
She moved her fingers, only to feel the cold, hard ground, covered with a thin layer of hay that offered no protection from the cold. She lowered her head and looked at her body.
There was no gorgeous wedding dress, no silk and satin.
She was wearing a piece of coarse cloth with several layers of patches, the original color had long been lost. It was thin and old, and could not keep out the cold at all. And this body was definitely not her own.
This was a body so thin that only bones remained, its skin sallow, its hands and feet covered in chilblains and dirt. These were the hands of the poor at the bottom of society, rough, cracked, with black mud embedded in the nails.
She...what happened?
At this moment, a memory that did not belong to her flooded into her mind like a tide.
The owner of this body, named Ah Xiu, was an orphan without parents. She had wandered the streets since childhood, surviving by begging and scavenging discarded food. Three days earlier, after days of being unable to beg for food and catching a cold, she finally succumbed to the cold and died of starvation in this dilapidated temple on a freezing winter night.
So, I am... reborn?
She came back to life through the body of an orphan girl named Ah Xiu?
This realization made Ling Xiuqing's mind go blank. The smug faces of the adulterous couple reflected in the river's water, and the biting cold and suffocating feeling before their death, instantly reappeared before her eyes.
Han Shaoheng! Chuntao!
Ling family!
A surge of hatred surged in her chest like magma, and she subconsciously clenched her fists. Her nails dug deep into her palms, sending a sharp pain through her, but this pain only made her feel incredibly clear-headed.
She is not dead!
Thank goodness, she didn't die!
"Hehe... Hehehe..." She couldn't help but chuckle softly. Her laughter was hoarse and dry, and it seemed particularly strange in this empty and dilapidated temple. As she laughed, tears rolled down her face uncontrollably.
She cried for the foolish and naive Ling Xiuqing in her previous life.
I also smiled at this hard-earned opportunity for revenge in this life.
“Gurgle——”
A loud growl of hunger interrupted her thoughts. Hunger was like the most ferocious beast, gnawed at her sanity. She knew that now was not the time to indulge in hatred; survival was the most urgent priority.
She struggled to sit up, but her body was too weak to do anything. Waves of dizziness made her vision black.
At this moment, she felt as if she was holding something hard in her arms, which hurt her.
She lowered her head with difficulty and took the thing out of her arms.
It was a piece of dirty, stiff, and worn embroidery cloth discarded by someone unknown, perhaps a waste material used by a wealthy family for wrapping things. It was stained with mud and oil, and the edges were frayed.
For Ah Xiu at this moment, this piece of cloth has no value at all. It cannot be eaten or worn.
But when Ling Xiuqing's fingertips touched the rough texture of the embroidered cloth, a strange warm current seemed to instantly run through her whole body from her fingertips.
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