A scorching pain burned in her throat, as if she had swallowed a mouthful of sun-baked sand. The hot, coarse grains seared and cut her trachea, accompanied by a suffocating sensation, like drowning.
Nan Fengluan coughed involuntarily, as if trying to expel her lungs from her throat.
"Lurou, tea!"
The violent coughing left Nan Fengluan's voice hoarse and low. Her command to the night-watching palace maid Lurou to fetch tea was tinged with a hint of cold anger.
After a long moment, there was no response. The surroundings were so silent that she could hear the cacophony of human voices, music, and the clatter of utensils from outside the window.
Nan Fengluan's brows furrowed. As she sat up abruptly, her eyes, now wide open, blazed with a thunderous rage. The sudden movement made her vision blur, and she almost fainted.
*Heh~*
She propped herself up with her hands, mocking herself softly. How much longer could this body hold on?
She was old, after all.
To think that she, Nan Fengluan, who had been so formidable in her life, was now merely a mortal clinging to life with a frail body, desperately seeking another.
The burning anger in her heart had finally subsided, leaving behind only a vast expanse of melancholy and unwillingness.
*"Clang~"*
Just then, another sound, like something falling, echoed from outside the room.
Nan Fengluan's eyes snapped open again. In her pupils, sharp as a unsheathed blade, flashed a streak of icy killing intent.
Though she was old, she was not dead. She was still the most noble and unparalleled Empress of the Great Yuan Dynasty. She wanted to see just which blind fool was so impatient to replace her!
However, upon seeing her surroundings, the murderous aura emanating from her entire being faltered.
Where... was this?
Nan Fengluan scanned the room. The three windows on the west wall were adorned with large, crimson "囍" (double happiness) characters. On a nearby table, red candles were lit. The bed beside her, the red bed curtains, the red brocade quilt, and the scattered red dates, peanuts, longans, and melon seeds on the quilt all indicated that this was a bridal chamber for a joyous wedding.
And she, Nan Fengluan, the Empress of Great Yuan, was now sitting on the cool floor, with a low stool carved from pearwood lying not far from her feet.
Her head lifted in a daze. A red bed curtain hung silently from the beam above.
A scene suddenly flashed through her mind.
It was a woman in her prime, dressed in the most festive crimson wedding gown, who had personally pulled down the bed curtain and hung it from the beam.
Hanging herself from the beam.
Nan Fengluan frowned. At that moment, a flood of memories, like a bursting dam, violently surged into her mind.
Nan Fengluan finally realized the unbelievable event that had transpired within her.
She had been reborn.
From the Empress of Great Yuan, she had been reborn as Nan Shiying, the illegitimate daughter of Nan Chaozong, the Prime Minister of Lin Yuan Country. A pitiful creature bullied and despised by all, a jinx who had been forced to marry in her sister's stead and driven to suicide.
And she remembered it all.
She, Nan Fengluan, was born in the fifty-sixth year of Chengping of Great Yuan Country and passed away in the twenty-eighth year of Fengli of Great Yuan Country, having lived eighty years and died of old age.
The last image in her memory was the pot of flourishing iris flowers placed on the table beside her bed in the Fengyang Palace sleeping quarters.
She had died, yet she had come back to life.
Reflecting on her life, and then observing Nan Shiying's life as if she were an outsider, as the memories no longer mingled, she had become her.
There was no longer a distinction between "you" and "I."
From then on, the world had lost an Empress, Nan Fengluan, and gained Nan Shiying, who had been completely transformed.
...
Nan Fengluan, no, Nan Shiying, sat up from the floor. She casually picked up a longan from the bed. Her fingers were slender and fair, the pads of her fingers tinged with a faint red, and even her fingernails had a delicate pink hue.
*"Crack~"*
Her fingers peeled the shell of the longan, revealing the fruit, which she placed in her mouth.
The fresh longan exuded a clean, sweet fragrance. She couldn't help but squint her eyes in comfort. Ever since her body had begun to age, she hadn't experienced such a youthful and vibrant body for a long time.
How nostalgic!
Even thinking about her current predicament didn't bring her any annoyance.
Just as she was savoring the joy of rebirth, with a *"creak~"*, the door was pushed open from outside. The sound of hurried footsteps drifted from afar into Nan Shiying's ears, followed by the appearance of a maidservant wearing a blue and white floral satin robe and with her hair in a bun.
Before she could muster a scream, the maid's tone changed upon seeing Nan Shiying seated on the bed.
The scream turned into an accusation.
"Why aren't you dead?"
Nan Shiying slowly raised her eyelids and glanced sideways at the newcomer. Who else could it be but the dog of her own cheap elder sister!
Her slightly upturned red lips bloomed like a magnificent rose, and she retorted indifferently, "Why should I die?"
"Why?" The surprise on the maid's face instantly turned to anger. She took three quick steps and rushed in front of Nan Shiying, shouting furiously, "Because this is your destiny! For the Nan family, for the young lady, for His Majesty the Emperor, you must die!"
"Alas~"
Nan Shiying looked at this loyal dog and sighed softly. She stood up from the bed and slowly walked to the stool, bending to pick it up and set it upright before gently stepping onto it. Her hand reached for the bed curtain hanging from the ceiling.
She lowered her head and asked softly, "The Nan family needs a dead person, correct?"
A hint of viciousness flashed in the maid's eyes. She nodded heavily and threatened, "Yes, Fifth Miss. If you don't want Granny Wang to suffer and die in the manor, then end yourself quickly!"
Nan Shiying chuckled softly. "Your Majesty... I understand."
The maid paid no attention to Nan Shiying's words, only concerned with ensuring the scheme remained undetected.
She said hurriedly, "Since Fifth Miss understands the stakes, this servant will take her leave. I will return later to collect the young lady's body."
As she spoke, she turned to leave.
Nan Shiying, however, had by then untied the bed curtain from the beam. She stepped down from the stool, walking towards the maid while wrapping the ends of the bed curtain around her left and right hands respectively.
Hearing the footsteps behind her, the maid suddenly turned around. Seeing Nan Shiying descending from the stool, her brows immediately knitted together, and she sternly questioned, "Fifth Miss, you..."
However, before the accusation could fully leave her lips, Nan Shiying pounced like an enraged leopard, appearing behind the maid in an instant. She used the bed curtain in her hands to tightly strangle the maid's neck. Then, she brought her red lips close to the maid's ear and whispered, "Since that's the case, then you shall die for me!"