Seven Unfortunate Lifetimes Chapter 10 (1/2)

Chapter 10

The soul collectors took me to the nether world. I must’ve escaped the next six lifetimes. I sighed a long sigh. I want to laugh out loudly, but I don’t know why I couldn’t laugh at all. My lips still have the taste of Lu Hai Kong’s lips, making my heart sour.

He is still alive. In my life there will be no little fool called Lu Hai Kong anymore.

I looked back at the road to the netherworld. A feeling of loss came over me.

“Hurry up! Hurry up! Why are you so slow?! What tricks are you playing,”a ghost yelled with his tiny voice. He stared very alert at me.

I pouted: “Why are you so impatient? This time I will obediently drink the soup of oblivion.”

Temporarily forgetting these feelings is also a good thing.

That brat heard my words and laughed coldly: “Soup of oblivion? You still want to be reincarnated? First stay obediently for eight or ten years in the netherworld to pay for your sins, then we can talk.”

I asked: “Pay for what?”

The little ghost leads me deeper into the netherworld, but we’re not going into the direction of the bridge (where souls wait for their turn to drink the soup of oblivion and cross over the bridge to be reincarnated).

I suddenly tensed up and was nervous. Could they are dragging me to the pan?

The heaven and earth saw that I haven’t committed any serious crime, ah!

I was still lost in thoughts when the little ghost said: “Last time you and that celestial star Chu Kong caused a mess in the netherworld. Madam Meng took a leave of three thousand years. The netherworld already doesn’t have enough manpower. Now because of you it has less manpower. We’ve wasted a lot of time. That celestial star Chu Kong was polite. He obediently stayed here for five years to atone for his sins. But you, you just turned your b.u.t.t and went to reincarnate. Hmpf, hmpf, the netherworld doesn’t bother with the human world, but now that you’ve come back, we won’t go easy on you!”

I swallowed. How could I have forgotten that time?

The netherworld has many duties and they want to punish someone. Even if I have a thousand of lifetimes on me, I still need to suffer this punishment before I can go.

This this…this delay. If I get punished till Lu Hai Kong died, then would I need to be reincarnated with him again?

While I was still loss in thoughts, the little ghost led me to Yanw.a.n.g’s1 palace.

“Yangw.a.n.g, the cloud fairy has been brought.”

After the little ghost finished speaking, there was no reply. I looked up and saw two feet placed on top of a desk. Behind the desk, there was a man in black sitting on a chair. His face was covered with a book. He was in a deep sleep.

The little ghost shouted again: “Yanw.a.n.g! The cloud fairy has been brought!”

The man in the chair moved. The book on his face fell on the ground with a “pa”sound.

“Ah…en. Good good.”

He put his legs down, wiped his mouth and sat up. He turned a page of a book on the messy desk. With eyes still full of sleep, he asked: “Ah, that, what fairy? What crime did the fairy commit?”

My mouth twitched. Is this really the renowned Yanw.a.n.g? He must be a replacement. He looks like a white dough and his behavior is like a wretched uncle. The magistrate beside him helplessly sighed.

“Is the cloud fairy, who caused a disruption in the netherworld twenty years ago.”

“Oh,”Yangw.a.n.g’s eyes lit up. “It’s you, ah?! You did well, girl. The netherworld was very lively then. It was very amusing! Haha…”

The magistrate next to him coughed. Yanw.a.n.g pressed his lips together to refrain from laughing and said with a serious look: “Well, what do you think we should do, magistrate?”

“Twenty years ago, celestial star Chu Kong was punished for five years, but cloud fairy Xiang Zi went to reincarnate and fled to the human realm. That’s a really evil thing to do, so I think her punishment should be tripled. I ask Yanw.a.n.g to make her work for fifteen years in the netherworld. This will also let the ghosts know that the netherworld is a strict place. Even a light mistake will receive a heavy punishment.”

Yanw.a.n.g nodded: “Good, let’s do it as you say.”

After saying that he went back to sleep in his chair.

They decided this sentence as easy as choosing what to eat at noon: scrambled eggs or fried eggs.

Out of Yanw.a.n.g’s palace, the little ghost took me to the bridge. Ghosts are still standing in a neat line as in the past. The little ghost pointed at the big pan and said: “In the future, you’ll replace madam Meng at making soup. Don’t let the soup fall over the pan. After fifteen years of making soup, you can go and be reincarnated.”

I thought for a while and felt that fifteen years is not a very long time. Chu Kong needs to live for at least fifteen years. I felt relieved at that thought, picked up the spoon and began making soup.

In the netherworld there’s no day or night. It’s always dark here. From where I make soup I can see the people coming down from the reincarnated circle. All kinds of people come here, but they all have the same desolated look. At first when I saw them like that I feel for them. Over time I turned numb to those faces. Whether they’re sad, crying or laughing, I would only remind them when they’re distracted with a few words: “Stand in the line. Here’s your soup.”

Without knowing it, twelve years have pa.s.sed. Seeing that I only have three years left, I proudly kept my head high and continued to make soup. But fate played a big joke on me.

In the gloomy days as usual, at the other end of the reincarnation circle, appeared a really familiar figure. I was stunned for a moment that the spoon fell into the pot. I pointed my trembling finger at him in disbelief.

“Lu Hai Kong!”

Originally I thought that I’ll never see him again. Originally I thought that we broke our next six lifetimes together…

I said in distraught: “I calculated everything but didn’t count that you’ll have a short life!”

The netherworld is a quite place. Everyone can hear me sighing through gritted teeth. The ghosts look at me blankly. Lu Hai Kong on the other side of the road also hesitates for a moment. His gaze fell onto me. After the moment of hesitation, his eyes squint dangerously and he walked towards me. The speed is very fast. A bad feeling comes over me.

Now that this guy is in the netherworld, he has all his memories back. He’s no longer the Lu Hai Kong who loved me dearly, but one of the twelve celestial stars Chu Kong. Even if he remembered his experience as Lu Hai Kong, in his eyes that’s just one episode of his life. In today’s Chu Kong’s eyes, I’m a madman who has bitten his shoulders, fought with him and scratched him. A shrew who didn’t care about face and will fight with him regardless. The jinx who framed him and let him be punished for five years in the netherworld. Now he must want to cut me into pieces.