Chapter 40: Pain, Pain, Pain, Who Will Save Me

Ah Bao woke up in the middle of the night and turned over, feeling the threads of spiritual energy she had been using disappearing.

As the ruler of the underworld, managing life and death, adding blessings and longevity was a small matter.

However, she was still young, and she had used up all the spiritual energy she had accumulated with great difficulty.

Ah Bao pouted, and Concubine De sensed Ah Bao was awake.

“Ah Bao must be hungry?” Concubine De picked up Ah Bao and breastfed her.

[Sweet and fragrant Mommy, I love it!]

Ah Bao nursed and gradually fell back into a deep sleep.

—

In the Yuxiang Palace.

In the middle of the night, Concubine Rou was jolted awake by a nightmare.

She sat at the head of her bed in a daze, her face pale, breathing heavily.

Her forehead was damp with a thin layer of sweat.

“Yuxue, Yuxue…” Concubine Rou called out several times to her maid, but no one came in.

Concubine Rou rubbed her brow, “This girl, she sleeps so soundly at night.”

Concubine Rou threw aside the quilt, got out of bed with bare feet, feeling thirsty and dry.

She poured herself a glass of warm water and drank it quickly, but then felt dizzy.

Annoyed, she lit a lamp. By the dim candlelight, she glanced at a string of prayer beads on the table and was so frightened that she stumbled backward.

“Is this… a… prayer bead?”

Concubine Rou looked as if she had seen a ghost.

The prayer beads had 108 beads, with the first one being a red bead, and she was very familiar with them. Wasn’t this the same string of beads that Concubine De dropped during the day?

Later, Concubine De had given the beads to the Queen Mother, and they ended up scattered on the ground, which had made the Queen Mother quite unhappy.

“How… how did it end up here?” Concubine Rou rubbed her eyes to make sure she wasn’t mistaken.

She took a deep breath, nervously walked over, picked up the string of beads, and examined them closely. “It really is exactly the same as the beads Concubine De had earlier.”

At that moment, Concubine Rou’s mind cleared up and her fear dissipated, feeling as if she was holding a protective talisman.

“This is strange. Wasn’t this string of beads supposed to be collected by Nanny Yun in Cining Palace? How did it end up in my palace?” Concubine Rou found the situation quite bizarre.

She remembered the Concubine De had said during the day that Concubine De might have taken the wrong beads.

“How could there be two identical strings of prayer beads from Huguo Temple? If the beads in Cining Palace were fake, then these must be real? This is terrible! Terrible!”

Concubine Rou was suddenly very frightened.

During the day, she had mocked Concubine De for taking fake beads, and now with the real beads in front of her, if others found out, they would surely think she had swapped the beads herself!

This was definitely setting her up!

Concubine Rou felt that this string of beads was like a hot potato.

After all, she was the only one who had touched Concubine De’s beads during the day. If it came down to investigating, the evidence was clear, and she wouldn’t be able to explain herself even with a hundred excuses.

Concubine Rou quickly put on her cloak, opened the door of her palace, and carefully walked outside. She picked up a hoe and began digging a hole under the sycamore tree in the courtyard.

She wanted to bury this string of beads!

If it couldn’t be explained, she’d rather not say anything. After all, she would not let anyone discover that she had Concubine De’s beads in her palace.

Just as Concubine Rou grabbed the hoe and was about to dig, she noticed a red thread wrapped around the sycamore tree.

Concubine Rou was stunned, “Strange, who tied a red thread around my tree?”

It was indeed red thread.

As soon as Concubine Rou touched the red thread, she suddenly heard a sharp scream in her ears, “Wicked woman! I want you dead! I want you dead!!”

Concubine Rou screamed in terror!

“Ghost—ghost!” Concubine Rou was shaking all over, and she even dropped the prayer beads she was holding, which fell right under the sycamore tree.

The scream in her ears suddenly became more piercing, “Ah! It hurts so much! Go away, go away! Ah ah ah!”

Concubine Rou was so scared she collapsed to the ground.

She heard another woman’s ghostly scream.

Concubine Rou scrambled back into the palace, closing the door behind her.

The ghostly voice in her ears grew weaker, “It’s killing me! Just being kicked wasn’t enough, now there’s a whole string of big prayer beads. Ah ah ah, burning me alive, pain, pain, pain, who will come and save me!”

“Your Highness, Your Highness.” Yu Xue, hearing the commotion, quickly came out of the maid’s quarters and found that the palace door was tightly shut. “Your Highness, what happened?”

Concubine Rou was covering her ears, “There’s a ghost! A ghost!”

Yu Xue knocked on the door and forced it open, finding Concubine Rou disheveled on the floor, covered in dirt, with tearful eyes.

Yu Xue felt distressed and hurried over to comfort Concubine Rou, “Your Highness, did you have a nightmare? Don’t be afraid, it’s my fault. I overslept tonight.”

“Shh… Yu Xue, there’s a ghost outside. Did you hear it? She said she was kicked. I didn’t kick her.”

Yu Xue thought her lady might be a bit unhinged.

Ever since the Fifth Prince was demoted, Concubine Rou’s mind had often seemed clouded.

Now she was even talking about ghosts in the middle of the night.

This was Yuxiang Palace, which had been lived in for many years—how could it possibly be haunted?

“Wait, the prayer beads!” Concubine Rou suddenly seemed to realize something, pushing Yu Xue aside and rushing outside to the sycamore tree. She picked up the string of beads and began smashing them against the red thread wrapped around the tree.

“I’ll show you for scaring me! I’ll smash you to death!”

Indeed, the wailing continued in her ears.

It was still the ghostly woman’s voice.

But why did the ghost’s voice sound so familiar?

It sounded like the deceased Concubine Li.

Concubine Rou was even more alarmed!

She clutched the prayer beads tightly, not daring to let go, until the red thread was completely scattered by the beads. Only then did she sit down on the ground in fear.

The prayer beads were gripped tightly in her hands.

The moonlight shone on the first red bead, making it look like blood was flowing within the bead.

—

The next day.

The weather was pleasant and sunny.

Concubine De took Ah Bao to the Imperial Garden to bask in the sunlight.

Ah Bao lazily turned over in her cradle; it was indeed a beautiful day.

“Your Highness, that seems to be… Concubine Rou.” Zhilan, spotting someone in the distance, whispered to Concubine De.

Concubine De was playing with Ah Bao and followed Zhilan’s gaze.

Concubine Rou was walking towards them.

“De… Concubine De?” Concubine Rou was momentarily stunned upon seeing Concubine De.

“Concubine Rou, what’s… wrong with you?” Concubine De frowned. The last time she saw Concubine Rou was just the day before; she was fine then, but after just one night, Concubine Rou’s complexion was yellow, and her eyes were darkened.

Despite her elaborate makeup, it could not conceal her current state of exhaustion and disarray.

Concubine Rou, who usually took great care with her appearance and was always impeccably dressed, now looked far from her usual self.

Concubine Rou lowered her head and forced a smile, “I’m fine, really. I’m perfectly alright.”

【Concubine Rou must not have slept at all last night】

【And there’s even more evil spirit on her】

Ah Bao lay in the cradle, her big eyes watching the faint gray aura around Concubine Rou’s head.

【Hmm… but there’s also a hint of Buddha’s light on her that wasn’t there yesterday】

Concubine De picked up Ah Bao, feeling uneasy.

She wasn’t sure if Concubine Rou could be saved.

After she was sent to the Cold Palace, many of the concubines pointed fingers at her and added insult to injury.

But Concubine Rou was the only one who did not speak out.

Concubine De thought she should remind Concubine Rou to take better care of her health, and if necessary, consult Taoist Baiyun.

However, Concubine De didn’t know how to broach the subject.

Concubine Rou appeared anxious, holding a wooden box, and with some difficulty, placed it on the stone table, “Concubine De, this is…”

Just as Concubine Rou was speaking, a faint sound of crying suddenly came from a short distance.