TGCFNM -Chapter 389 The Rain Has Stopped

Chu Ling suddenly stopped hitting him—because she heard crying.

She lowered her clenched fist, turned around, and spoke earnestly, “I mean it. This screen is really beautiful.”

Fu Qingyu also looked over. “It’s a ‘Children Playing by the Stream’ scene. Several children are by the river—some are catching fish, some are holding branches and peering into the water, some are roughhousing, some are climbing trees…”

Chu Ling walked closer and gently brushed her hand over the screen. “It looks like someone embroidered this based on an already finished painting.”

Fu Qingyu replied softly, “Perhaps. I’m not sure.”

Chu Ling withdrew her hand and looked at him. “Whose place is this? It’s clearly abandoned, but it feels quite clean.”

“I don’t know who it used to belong to. But now it belongs to me. I had people come clean it up. It’s a place where I rest and relax temporarily,” Fu Qingyu said slowly.

Chu Ling let out an “Oh,” then turned back and sat down.

Wan Sanjin pulled Fu Qingyu to sit as well. “My lord, what happened to you just now?”

“Got drenched in the rain. My whole head went fuzzy,” Chu Ling replied irritably.

Wan Sanjin suddenly understood. “So there really is something wrong with this rainwater?”

Chu Ling shot him a glare, then looked at Fu Qingyu again. “Young Master Fu, could you tell me—from whom did you buy this place?”

“A merchant. He was leaving the capital, so I bought it at a low price.” Fu Qingyu paused, then asked curiously, “My lord, do you really like this house?”

Chu Ling shook her head awkwardly. Not really!

Meanwhile, Cui Xi helped the woman sit down, and Bai Su stood beside her, comforting her gently. “Have you always been here? And your An’er—your child—has he also always been here? Is there anything we can help you with?”

“My An’er… he left. His father took him away.” The woman wiped away the bloody tears at the corners of her eyes and gazed resentfully through the open doors at the curtain of rain outside.

“I only wanted to see An’er one last time. I only wanted to see him… to see whether he was doing well. But I can’t see him anymore. I’ll never see him again.”

Bai Su looked toward Ghost Scholar.

Ghost Scholar sighed. “It seems your lingering obsession is to see your child one last time.”

The woman nodded sorrowfully. She missed her child deeply.

Bai Su glanced at Chu Ling beside her. “What is your son’s father’s surname? His name? Does he reside in the capital?”

The woman hesitated, as if wanting to speak but stopping herself. In the end, she shook her head sadly. “Forget it. I won’t see him.”

Bai Su froze. “How can you just decide not to see him? This obsession is what keeps you in this world, unable to enter reincarnation. Such a deep attachment—can it really just vanish like that?”

“If I see him, it won’t end well. So… better not to see him.” The woman curled her hands tightly and stared at the heavy rain outside, lost in memory. “The day An’er was taken from me, it was raining like this too.”

Fu Qingyu glanced outside. “It’s been a long time since we’ve seen such heavy rain.”

Chu Ling also turned her head to look. “The rain came quickly. It’ll probably stop before long.”

Ghost Scholar looked at the woman. “You are a ghost now. Even if you see him, nothing will happen. No one can see you except our lord here.”

Bai Su nodded in agreement. “You must completely resolve your obsession before you can enter reincarnation.”

Hope flickered briefly in the woman’s eyes, but it quickly shattered. Fearfully, she shrank back. “No. That man is very clever—very formidable. No one can defeat him… And I am merely an outer woman. If I were to implicate An’er, what then?”

“An outer woman?” Bai Su exclaimed in surprise. “Whose outer woman?”

The woman shook her head and refused to speak further. She only said, “Not exactly an outer woman. His lawful wife has been dead for over a decade. I am merely an unacknowledged outsider.”

Bai Su frowned. “But you bore him a child. He never took you back with him?”

The woman looked at the few ghosts, then at Chu Ling. “She’s the only living person here. Aside from her, only you can see me and hear me speak… is that right?”

Bai Su immediately nodded.

The woman seemed to let out a breath of relief and slowly began recounting her past:

“…I was nothing more than a maidservant by birth. To have met him at all was already the blessing of three lifetimes. I never dared to hope for anything more. Even after I became pregnant, I didn’t dare tell him—I chose to leave instead… When he came looking for me that day, to be honest, I felt secretly delighted. I thought I would finally be able to return openly and honorably.”

“But that wasn’t the case. He despised me. He thought I wasn’t worthy. He even wished he could kill me… Yet when he saw An’er, his attitude suddenly changed. He took An’er away, forbade us from meeting, and confined me here, saying I was not to leave this place even in death.”

“You… couldn’t seek help from anyone, could you?” Ghost Scholar asked.

The woman shook her head. “His power is too great. I was afraid of implicating An’er… He said that only if An’er and I were separated could we both survive.”

“But I miss my child so, so much. I just want to see him once. Just once.”

As she spoke, she covered her face and broke down in tears.

Chu Ling glanced at Ghost Scholar.

Ghost Scholar sighed softly. “Then can you tell me how you died?”

The woman slowly raised her hand to her neck… Beneath her collar was a deep gash, the blood-mark stark and brutal. It was clear how ruthless the attacker had been.

Seeing the wound, Ghost Scholar frowned. “If you wish to let go of your obsession and enter reincarnation, you can only report the case, investigate the killer, and then see your child once.”

Bai Su also persuaded gently, “Don’t you want to see your child? You couldn’t see him in life—must you also not see him in death?”

The woman shook her head in anguish. “I can’t harm him.”

Chu Ling sighed helplessly. Even in death, she still looked forward and back in fear of implicating her child—while the one who had taken the child had no such scruples.

“My lord, why the sigh? The rain’s almost stopped,” Wan Sanjin said.

Chu Ling slowly rose and walked to stand beneath the eaves. The rain had softened into fine threads, the air fresh and clean. She felt her mind clear considerably.

Fu Qingyu also stood and stepped outside. “The rain is about to stop. We can leave.”

Chu Ling looked toward the lively group of scholars in the front hall. “Young Master Fu, you worked hard to have this place cleaned up. It’s probably going to be a mess again.”

Fu Qingyu shook his head lightly. “It’s fine. This house has lacked liveliness for a long time. This is a good chance to gather some.”

Wan Sanjin squeezed out from behind them. “Qingyu, the scenery here is really lovely. Can I come play here in the future?”

“You may. Come whenever you like,” Fu Qingyu replied with a gentle smile.

Su He called from behind, “Young Master Fu, you’d better think that through. That’s Wan Sanjin—you’ll regret it when he wrecks your place.”

Wan Sanjin spun around and leapt back—only to collide with the woman, passing straight through her.

He was just about to speak when a chill ran through his body. “Did I catch a cold?”

“No,” Su He said calmly. “You’ve gone mad.”

The woman slowly walked out into the fine drizzle. Then she turned around, bowed respectfully toward Chu Ling, and gradually faded away.

Chu Ling instinctively reached out as if to grasp something. “Why did she leave just like that?”

“Who left?” Fu Qingyu turned and asked.

Chu Ling gave an awkward smile. “The rain. The rain didn’t even say goodbye before stopping.”

Fu Qingyu suddenly burst into laughter, as though he had never heard anything so amusing.

Chu Ling abruptly widened her eyes and pointed at Fu Qingyu’s neck. “You’re bleeding!”

“What bleeding? That’s a blood mole!” Wan Sanjin said in disdain, looking at Chu Ling. “My lord, you’ve really gone silly from standing in the rain.”

Chu Ling clenched her fists and stormed inside. Today, she was definitely going to give Master Wan a good beating!