SGEIRS -Chapter 198 Two Debts of Life

On the official road, the carriage moved at a steady pace. The wheels rolled rhythmically, kicking up clouds of dust behind it.

Inside the carriage, Madam Sun leaned against a soft cushion, fast asleep. The slight jolting of the carriage did not disturb her at all, showing just how exhausted she was. As long as she had nothing urgent to do, she could fall asleep anytime, anywhere.

Nanny Qiao glanced at Madam Sun, then lifted the curtain and leaned out to look ahead. When she saw a figure in the distance, she lowered the curtain again and braced herself, preparing not to be jolted.

Suddenly, the carriage shook violently and came to an abrupt stop.

Nanny Qiao cried out, “Madam!”

Madam Sun jolted awake. Her body pitched forward, and before she could steady herself, she crashed into the carriage door with a loud bang. Her forehead struck the wood, and she sucked in a sharp breath of pain.

Nanny Qiao hurried to help her up and asked anxiously, “Madam, are you all right?”

Madam Sun hissed in pain, frowning as she pointed at her forehead. “My head… my head hurts.”

Nanny Qiao checked her forehead and said gently, “There’s no bleeding, Madam. Don’t worry.” Then she raised her voice angrily, “Chen Er, what’s going on? Why did you suddenly stop? Do you know you frightened Madam? If anything happened to her, could you take responsibility?”

Chen Er replied hastily, “The wheel is damaged and needs repairing. Please step down first, Madam and Nanny Qiao.”

With no choice, Madam Sun and Nanny Qiao got out of the carriage. The smaller carriage behind them also stopped, and two maids and an old woman stepped down and came forward to ask what had happened.

At that moment, an elderly man with graying hair, kind brows, and a small goatee approached. He wore a half-worn Daoist robe and carried a banner with the words “Divine Fortune Teller” written on it, beneath which was a Bagua diagram.

He was clearly a fortune teller.

As he passed by, he suddenly stopped and stared at Madam Sun.

Madam Sun had never been stared at so rudely by a man before. She frowned and said displeasedly, “What are you looking at?”

The fortune teller seemed to realize his rudeness and quickly withdrew his gaze. “My apologies. I was being disrespectful,” he said. Then he glanced at her again and spoke frankly, “I found Madam’s physiognomy rather unusual, so I looked a bit longer. You must have encountered something troubling recently.”

Madam Sun’s expression tightened. “How could you tell?”

The fortune teller replied, “Meeting Madam today is fate. I won’t charge you for reading your face. But may I ask—are the people around you trustworthy? If they are, I will speak plainly.”

Among the servants, the only one Madam Sun truly trusted was Nanny Qiao. She waved her hand, signaling the others to move farther away, leaving only Nanny Qiao behind.

“Please speak, sir,” she said.

The fortune teller said bluntly, “Your forehead is dark, and black mist surrounds your body. You are being entangled by something unclean. It has been following you for quite some time.”

Madam Sun was horrified. Her eyes widened as she stared at the unremarkable old man. She had said nothing, yet he had seen through everything. He truly had some ability.

Her voice trembled. “Is there… is there a way to resolve this?”

“May I know Madam’s birth date and time?” he asked.

Without hesitation, Madam Sun told him her eight characters.

The fortune teller calculated with his fingers. After a long while, his expression turned solemn.

“Madam, what is haunting you now is a debt-collecting ghost. If this is not handled properly, there will be bloodshed—and it may even harm your children.”

Bloodshed… and harm her children?

Madam Sun’s pupils shrank sharply. She thought of Concubine Du’s ghost threatening her the night before, demanding repayment with her child’s life. She had not taken it seriously then, believing a ghost could do nothing.

Now, hearing this, fear surged through her.

She asked hurriedly, “Sir, what should I do?”

The fortune teller replied, “Since it has returned from the underworld to collect its debt, you must find a way to satisfy it. Let it let go of past grievances and return peacefully. Then the disaster will be resolved.”

Madam Sun’s expression turned complicated. If she could satisfy Concubine Du, would she have been haunted for so long? She was already on the verge of collapse, while Du only grew more demanding.

After a moment of silence, she asked, “Can I invite a master to subdue her?”

The fortune teller shook his head lightly. “It’s difficult. Her resentment is too deep. Ordinary masters cannot handle it. True experts are hard to find. Moreover…” He paused, then said gravely, “From your destiny, you are fated to have more than one debt-collecting ghost. Before long, a second one will appear.”

Madam Sun’s heart tightened. “A second one?”

He nodded. “You owe her a life. Because of her heavy resentment, she cannot reincarnate and has returned for revenge. The one haunting you now is also here because you owe her a life.”

A life debt.

A debt-collecting ghost.

Madam Sun silently repeated these words. Her body swayed, and she nearly collapsed. Fortunately, Nanny Qiao caught her in time and steadied her.

She knew very well who the second ghost likely was.

It was Meng Dongyuan’s first wife—her former rival, Madam Zhou. Madam Zhou’s death had been caused by her.

In her lifetime, she owed four lives.

One was Concubine Du’s eldest son, Meng Chengyu’s.

One was Madam Zhou’s.

The remaining two belonged to her former trusted maid, Cui’er, and Cui’er’s unborn child.

It was Cui’er who, under her orders, had slipped medicine into Meng Chengyu’s drugs. Later, after Cui’er married, Madam Sun no longer had control over her and felt uneasy. She sent her large amounts of tonics, which eventually caused a difficult childbirth. The child could not be delivered, and mother and child both died.

Cui’er had never come to haunt her—probably because she never discovered her intentions. If she had, wouldn’t she have returned, heavily pregnant, to seek revenge?

After a while, Madam Sun asked, “May I ask, sir… how can I satisfy them?”

The fortune teller replied, “That I do not know. Only Madam herself knows the entanglements between you and them.”

Madam Sun fell silent.

Then the fortune teller added, “Madam, I did not charge you for reading your face just now. But for calculating your fate based on your birth data, I must take payment.”

Seeing that he was capable and unwilling to offend him, Madam Sun asked, “How much do you charge?”

“I charge according to fate,” he said. “Since I have a connection with Madam today, you may give whatever you wish.”

Madam Sun gave Nanny Qiao a look.

Nanny Qiao immediately understood. She took out a ten-tael silver ingot from her purse and handed it over.

The fortune teller accepted it and said solemnly, “Madam, you must handle this matter carefully. Otherwise, great disaster will befall you.”