Chapter 53 - Is This Real or Is This Fantasy? (1/2)

Chapter 53: Is This Real or Is This Fantasy?

Wanqing laughed wearily and poked her hard, sulking, “This is news to me. I don’t know where this “Goddess of Medicine” acquired all her medical knowledge, but she sure is shameless.”

Xue Dongting stuck out her tongue and laughed, then said softly, “Big Sis, be careful!” She pointed to Wanqing’s belly. “You need to take care in every respect!”

Wanqing nodded and caressed her belly. “Once I have him my life will be much better.”

Xue Dongting looked at Wanqing and saw her eyes were clouded with tears.

Wanqing gazed at the flickering candle flame. “I don’t want to use him to topple Lady Yu, it’s just I won’t be so lonely once I have him. The squire is not just my husband alone. There’s so many people here in this house, yet there’s no one I can open up to. It really gets very lonely.”

Xue Dongting held her hand, her eyes set. “Don’t worry, Big Sis, I will protect this child and make sure he is born without any trouble.”

Wanqing nodded and wiped her tears. She laughed. “It’s late, let’s go to bed.”

That night the sisters slept in the same bed. Laying in bed, Xue Dongting thought back to her childhood when Mama Qiao had taken the three sisters to the seaside border town. It was winter and very cold and the three girls had slept in the same big bed under one big quilt and took turns holding onto their warm-bodies Mama Qiao. Those had been warm, simple days, but that was already a long time ago.

She had no idea that at this very moment, Song Yuming was fighting a dozen assassins sent by the imperial palace.

In the hazy predawn light, Xue Dongting left the Zhang family manor. She walked along the coast and suddenly came upon a reef near the coastline. An old man in blue scholarly clothes was seated there, fishing.

The old man’s broad sleeves were flapping in the sea breeze and was making a mess of his gray hair, but the man sat firmly with a stately bearing, like he was some celestial immortal.

Xue Dongting saw old men fishing off rocks overlooking the sea all the time, so she would normally pay it no mind. But now, for some unknown reason, it was as if the blue-clad old scholar had some kind of magical charm that made her stop and take notice.

She was wondering at this when the old man suddenly yelled and bolted to his feet and pulled a big fish out of the sea. It was sallow and wriggled on the line, glistening like crystal in the morning light.

The old man laughed and dropped the fish in the bamboo fish hamper next to him. Xue Dongting was about to leave when the old man turned and looked at her, smiling kindly. “Madame, would you be willing to acquire some good karma from me?”

Xue Dongting was stunned. The blue-clad scholar’s voice resounding in her ears seemed familiar, but she could not for the life of her recall where or when she had heard it.

“Good karma?” She frowned, mind whirling. “Who are you, sir?”

“Heheheh… Would you believe me if I told you I can see ten years into the future?”

Xue Dongting said nothing, just fixed her gaze on the blue-clad scholar, her mind much calmer now. After a while she said, “If you had said that to me before I likely would not have believed you.”

“Before?”

“Ten years before.”

The old man laughed. “So, it’s you!” he said slowly.

Xue Dongting laughed as well. “Sir, do you know about my previous life?”

He stroked his beard and smiled. “Yes.”