Chapter 5: Untimely Death

Why didn’t he stand up for her?

Actually, it was because of Gao’s Sister-in-law. Gao Shaolin was driven to the brink by her antics, as she insisted on marrying him. If Gao Shaolin didn’t agree to marry her, he wouldn’t be able to marry anyone else, and she even threatened to cause a scene at his workplace. Left with no choice, Gao Shaolin had to compromise and marry her.

Even after marrying Gao’s Sister-in-law, Gao Shaolin still couldn’t forget Tan Yanlu. He knew that Tan Yanlu had come to the countryside for him, and as a man, his vanity swelled at the thought. But now that he was married, Tan Yanlu would never belong to him, and this filled him with resentment. He didn’t want Tan Yanlu to be taken by another man.

Moreover, he didn’t want to lose his job over his romantic entanglements, so he deliberately chose not to stand up for her. This way, Tan Yanlu was branded as “Gao Shaolin’s woman.” If he couldn’t have her, no one else should either!

Tan Yanlu was in deep pain. She felt she had loved the wrong person, but a voice in her heart kept telling her that Gao Shaolin was her savior. She believed she should forgive Gao Shaolin for his actions, as he was forced into a difficult situation. If he had stood up for her, his job would have been at risk, and he had a family to support. He couldn’t afford to take that risk.

Under the influence of this inner voice, Tan Yanlu unconsciously forgave Gao Shaolin and endured the barrage of gossip and slander alone. Her reputation in the village was utterly ruined. A beautiful female educated youth with a tarnished reputation naturally attracted the attention of some unsavory characters.

Then, Tan Yanlu received a letter from home. She wrote a reply and set out to mail it in town. On the way, she was harassed by some local hooligans, who tore her clothes. Gao Shaolin appeared just in time to play the hero and rescue her. However, with her clothes damaged, Tan Yanlu couldn’t go out in public. Left with no choice, she followed Gao Shaolin’s suggestion to go to the hospital and borrow some thread and needles from the nurses to mend her clothes.

But Gao Shaolin’s wife happened to bring their child to the hospital to ask him for money to support the family. She discovered Tan Yanlu there and heard from the nurses that Gao Shaolin had brought her, claiming her clothes were torn and she needed to borrow thread and needles. Under what circumstances would a man and woman alone end up with torn clothes? Gao’s Sister-in-law’s imagination ran wild, and she concluded that Gao Shaolin had done something unfaithful.

Unable to contain her anger, Gao’s Sister-in-law rushed forward and slapped Tan Yanlu twice, leaving her stunned. Gao Shaolin and his wife then got into a heated argument, which escalated into a physical fight. Even after the truth came out, Tan Yanlu’s reputation was completely destroyed.

The female educated youths at the village’s educated youth point despised Tan Yanlu. They not only isolated her but also frequently mocked her with cutting remarks. Outsiders didn’t understand the situation between Tan Yanlu and Gao Shaolin, and some at the educated youth point harbored malice toward her. Faced with this relentless hostility, Gao Shaolin still didn’t step forward to defend her. Tan Yanlu felt she couldn’t endure it any longer.

Even though the voice in her heart kept hypnotizing her to forgive Gao Shaolin, Tan Yanlu was determined to stay away from him. Even though this decision caused her heart to ache unbearably the moment it surfaced, Tan Yanlu still acted on her own to prove her resolve.

Tan Yanlu used her tears to cultivate over a dozen ginseng plants. She kept two for herself and planned to give the rest to Gao Shaolin, along with a bottle of tears she had cried for a whole day and night.

Such precious items were enough to repay Gao Shaolin for saving her life.

Tan Yanlu brought the items to the town, found a child to call Gao Shaolin out of the hospital, and then handed the ginseng and tears to him. She endured the intense pain in her heart and completely severed ties with Gao Shaolin.

After saying those words, Tan Yanlu almost fainted from the pain, but she forced herself to endure it and walked away.

Tan Yanlu took the two remaining ginseng plants to the town’s purchasing station to sell them for money, planning to use the money to find a way to relocate to a different rural area.

She wanted to start anew in a place where no one knew her, but she never expected that selling the ginseng would bring her a catastrophic disaster.

On her way out of the purchasing station, Tan Yanlu was robbed. Unfortunately, her striking beauty made the robbers develop lustful intentions after the robbery. Tan Yanlu resisted fiercely, but she had shed too many tears, and her body was already weakened.

Moreover, her insistence on cutting ties with Gao Shaolin had repeatedly stressed her heart, leaving her physically frail and no match for the tall and strong robbers.

In the end, Tan Yanlu did manage to preserve her chastity, but she lost her life in the process. After her death, Tan Yanlu finally remembered that she was a little Koi Spirit who had come to repay a fisherman’s kindness.

It was also at this moment that Tan Yanlu realized that the fisherman from back then didn’t need her repayment. The little Koi Spirit, naive at the time, would circle the fisherman’s boat whenever he fed her fish food.

In reality, that was the Koi clan’s way of blessing him. The fisherman’s life of wealth and peace was undoubtedly influenced by the little Koi Spirit.

The karmic debt between the little Koi Spirit and the fisherman had long been settled, but she had been deceived by the Weasel Spirit.

Because Gao Shaolin was not the reincarnation of the fisherman—he was the Weasel Spirit that the little Koi Spirit had encountered after taking human form.

The fish scale patterns on Gao Shaolin’s neck were also a deception, formed from the little Koi Spirit’s scales. The little Koi Spirit could sense her own scales, so she was naturally drawn to Gao Shaolin when she saw him.

Gao Shaolin had done all this because he wanted to seize the unique Koi Luck from the little Koi Spirit, which was why he had deceived her.

Moreover, before the little Koi Spirit reincarnated, he had taken advantage of her unpreparedness to plant a suggestion in her mind, constantly hypnotizing her to be good to Gao Shaolin.

Tan Yanlu’s tears were formed from her Koi Luck. The more tears she shed, the more her luck was continuously weakened.

Tan Yanlu used her tears to cultivate ginseng in one go and even gave Gao Shaolin a bottle of tears, nearly depleting her Koi Luck in the process.

Coupled with the malice from those around her, Tan Yanlu, who had lost her luck, ultimately met a tragic end on the streets.

Meanwhile, after obtaining Tan Yanlu’s tears and ginseng, Gao Shaolin lived a smooth and prosperous life, thriving effortlessly.

After Gao Shaolin’s death, his true form emerged, absorbing Tan Yanlu’s Koi Luck and causing a qualitative leap in his strength.

Tan Yanlu was merely a stepping stone on his cultivation path. However, having lost her fortune, Tan Yanlu could not return to her original body and became a wandering spirit, drifting aimlessly in the mortal world, nearly on the verge of dissipating.

This was Tan Yanlu’s memory, the protagonist of a tragic story, and also the first task given to Jiang Pan Yu by the Gossip System.

As Tan Yanlu was Heaven’s Darling of the Great World, the so-called protagonist, although her experiences before death were tragic, she was indeed the main character.

However, this protagonist was somewhat too naive. The Great World originally thought that although Tan Yanlu was deceived, it was also a test for her. After all, isn’t there a saying that a carp leaping over the dragon’s gate?

If Tan Yanlu could survive this calamity, her path to immortality would surely be smoother. Yet, it was unexpected that Tan Yanlu was tricked to death at such a young age.

The will of the Great World was extremely disdainful, but Tan Yanlu was a native Heaven’s Darling of the Great World. Even if their own child was disliked, they couldn’t just discard her. After a bit of cleaning, she could still be useful, which is why the Gossip Civil Servant System came into existence.