Chapter 25: A Lifetime

"Hee... hee..."

The ghost giggled, its voice raspy, yet it sounded inexplicably and hauntingly familiar to Su Changling.

Clutching her long sword, she took a cautious half-step back, her palm, gripping the hilt, unconsciously slick with a thin layer of sweat.

Unexpectedly, the malevolent spirit, which had been avoiding her all this time, showed no sign of retreating. Instead, it lunged forward, grabbing her wrist—and then, for the first time in three days, it spoke with a human voice!

"What... do... you... think?" The ghost suddenly raised its head. The strands of hair that had been veiling its face swayed slightly to the sides, caught in a gust of chilling wind that had risen in the corner of the room. The hair parted to reveal a face—a cold, pale face exactly identical to Su Changling’s own!

"You... what is this?" Seeing the ghost’s appearance, Su Changling trembled involuntarily, a raging dark tide rising in her eyes.

Before this, she had imagined countless times what the face hidden beneath the malevolent energy of the spirit might look like... but now, as she truly peeled away the layers of obstruction, what she saw... was herself?

Su Changling’s pupils quivered uncontrollably. In the blink of an eye, the ghost before her vanished into thin air.

Panicked, she looked around, searching for its shadow. Suddenly, the world spun, the stars inverted, and the wedding hall she had just shattered with her sword restored itself in an instant, leaving her standing right in the center of it!

What in the world... what was happening?!

"Yo, why is the bride just standing there? Hurry up and go bow to the groom!"

The shrill, urging voice of the matchmaker suddenly rang in her ears. Her arms were inexplicably hoisted by young maids, and the sharp, pointed embroidered shoes on her feet felt as though they were crushing her bones.

Su Changling looked down in shock, only to find that her sword was gone, and she had somehow been dressed in a bright red wedding gown!

In just a fleeting moment, she had become the protagonist of this wedding, the bride about to bow to her groom!

"First bow to heaven and earth—"

"Kneel—"

The ceremonial master’s voice was sharp and piercing, seemingly tearing through the roof and drilling straight into Su Changling’s eardrums. She felt as if, from that moment on, her body had completely slipped from her control.

She watched, helpless, as she was half-supported and half-pushed to perform the grand ceremony with a strange man whose face she could not see, and then dragged and carried up to the high attic.

She was going mad... everything about this world felt insane!

Su Changling stared fixedly at the strange yet familiar face in the mirror, her head throbbing as if it were about to burst.

She recalled in a daze the story Cheng Yingxue had told her that day, silently counting the time in her heart.

After a scream so sharp it startled the birds in the forest, the joyful wedding music in the courtyard turned into a funeral knell. Her red, gold-embroidered wedding dress was forcibly stripped away, replaced by mourning clothes that wrapped tightly around her frame. With a loud "bang," the heavy wooden door was locked from the outside, and she finally set foot on that predestined path.

She knew they intended to starve her to death here, to trade her life for an "Arch of Chastity and Filial Piety" to bring glory to the Cheng family name.

But—why her? Why, of all people, had it to be "them"?

Su Changling stared wide-eyed into the bronze mirror. In an instant, she felt as if she had been turned back into a newborn infant, with countless fragmented, incomprehensible flickers of light floating before her eyes—

"Sigh! After all that effort, it's still just a girl!"

"Forget it, a girl is fine—when she grows up, we'll find her a good marriage; she won't be entirely useless!"

Why, as a woman, was her only path to "find a good marriage"?

"Go! What kind of girl climbs walls and trees all day? Go back to your room and copy the *Precepts for Women* and *Lessons for Women* fifty times! You are not allowed to come out until you finish!"

Why, as a woman, could she not follow her own nature and climb walls and trees?

"Hey! It’s just foot-binding, why are you screaming? So what if it hurts? Look out on the street—which young lady of a noble family didn't go through this? What, everyone else can endure it, but you can't?"

"Endure it! No crying!"

Why, as a woman... must she be bound with a pair of ugly, deformed, and painful feet? Those feet made every step feel like walking on the edge of a blade!

Su Changling clutched her head, staring intently at the shifting scenes in the bronze mirror. She saw how an unwanted girl grew from a playful child into a "praised," exemplary noblewoman under the suppression and discipline of the world. She wanted to wail and scream, but it was as if her throat had been throttled!

"Your father has arranged a wonderful marriage for you—to the sixth son of the Cheng family. I hear he is talented and handsome; he just took the autumn examinations this year and is very likely to pass."

The images in the mirror did not pause. She watched as the gorgeously dressed woman sat in the high hall, ceremonially reciting the fate already sealed for her.

"After you marry into the Cheng family, remember to serve your parents-in-law well... and produce heirs for your husband as soon as possible."

"Look, do you see the one in the green robe? That is your future husband."

The young girl, just coming of age, peeked through the screen at that tall, pine-like figure, a small spark of expectation rising in her heart.

"The bride is here—"

The red silk covered everything.

"Husband and wife bow to each other—bow—rise—escort to the bridal chamber—"

The ceremonial master’s chant echoed through the hall.

"It’s all your fault, you jinx!"

A sudden funeral bell tolled, and the wooden door was pounded rhythmically.

"You had only been married a day, and my son died suddenly on his wedding night... This must be because you are a jinx, born with a baleful star that克 killed him! Oh, my poor son... you died so unjustly!"

The grey-haired woman wailed, her endless curses flowing like a tide, engulfing her completely.

"Someone, lock this harlot in the attic—no food or water! I will use her life to trade for an Arch of Chastity and Filial Piety for my Cheng family... that will be a comfort to my son’s spirit in heaven!"

The door locked, and all the noise was shut outside. The wedding hall turned into a funeral hall in a blink.

So—was it she who killed the sixth son of the Cheng family? Why did she have to die?

Su Changling touched the dusty bronze mirror with trembling hands. In those few breaths, she had lived through the entire life of a woman—she suddenly could not tell if she was a disciple of the Buyun Ruins or that wretched woman from a century ago.

...So. Why must she...

"Clatter!"

The sound of something heavy falling interrupted her thoughts. Su Changling turned back to see a young maid, face full of terror, having knocked over a water basin.

"You... how are you still fine!" The maid’s lips trembled uncontrollably. "You... you, how are you still alive??"

"Monster... monster!"

"Old Madam... the young mistress is a monster who cannot be starved to death!"