Brocade Begonia - Chapter 1

Chapter 1

I never imagined that as a mere lingering soul, I could still be seen by anyone.

Even less did I expect that the person who could see me would be the long-lost True Miss of the Marquis Mansion.

Six months ago, when the Marquis Mansion was bringing her back, they passed through my little patch of land.

The carriage stopped beneath the peach tree nourished by my skeletal remains. An impatient old maidservant, clutching her backside, lunged into the tall grass to relieve herself.

One person stepped out of the carriage-Meng Jin, the daughter the Marquis Mansion had finally tracked down.

When that tiny, palm-sized face met my gaze, she instantly turned deathly pale with fright.

I didn’t die a pretty death.

That wench Zhu Huan had gouged out my eyeballs and slashed my lotus-like face-the very face that had once left Shen Chong utterly infatuated.

Even my hands, which once wielded a blade with such skill, were brutally hacked off and tossed into the fish pond in the backyard of the Prince’s Mansion.

With my bones pinned here in this mass grave, I was bored to tears.

Every day, I would hang upside down from the crooked peach tree like a swing.

As a gust of yin wind blew, my bloody head happened to drop right in front of Meng Jin.

Her large, dark eyes went wide and round.

My invisible blood dripped steadily onto them.

Baring my fangs, I blew a breath of cold air into her face.

“Give me a sniff of your rations, and I’ll spare your life.”

She trembled and fumbled for a long time before holding out two cold mantou buns.

I was utterly disappointed.

“Are you trying to brush off a beggar? I want to smell the good stuff. Like that.”

I extended my long tongue, pointing toward the dried pork jerky held by the servants and the carriage driver not far away.

She followed my gaze, and her expression immediately became embarrassed. Her fan-like lashes lowered, and her voice was as faint as a mosquito’s buzz:

“I haven’t officially rejoined the family yet. The Yongyi Marquis Mansion doesn’t support idle people. I brought my own rations.”

My three-foot-long tongue froze, and then I slowly retracted it.

The Marquis Mansion had vast wealth and estates; even the buns they threw out to feed the dogs were finer than what she held in her hands.

Over a decade ago, I had seen the adopted daughter at a palace banquet. Draped in gold and jade, she looked like a celestial child, hardly falling short of the imperial princesses.

Back then, the Marquis’s Wife had even shed tears in public when mentioning her lost daughter.

“Only the solace before me keeps me from feeling like every day is a year.”

Yet, in just over ten years, she had forgotten and neglected her biological daughter to such an extent.

For someone who isn’t loved, the family couldn’t even be bothered to send someone proper to fetch her home.

I was merely lying on the treetop lamenting the coldness of the world when Meng Jin’s heart softened.

“Here!”

Summoning her courage, she asked the driver for half a piece of gnawed jerky. Holding it up, she was so timid she didn’t even dare to raise her head:

“Don’t cry.”

“I’ve thought of a way for you.”

I froze, only then realizing that blood was once again streaming from my empty eye sockets.

“I’m not…”

*Slap!*