Chapter 99
Chapter 99
As a child, Ding Fufu saw other children with fathers and once asked her mother why she had none.
Her mother’s face always filled with sorrow. When Ding Fufu grew older and heard that her father had died, she stopped asking.
She never knew she was actually Master Ding’s daughter, born to live in luxury as a young lady of Ding Manor. Only Master Ding’s first wife prevented her from acknowledging her ancestry.
It was one thing for Master Ding to amuse himself outside. An illegitimate child was another matter entirely, for other children threatened the status of Madam Ding’s own.
Madam Ding would never permit it, and Master Ding knew her methods were formidable. After Madam Zhao became pregnant, he endured his longing and rarely visited her. Madam Zhao likewise feared suspicion and never revealed her daughter’s father.
When Ding Fufu first awoke in Ding Ling’s body, she had felt lost and guilty for taking another person’s body and identity. Now, learning that she too was Master Ding’s daughter, she felt that guilt had been a joke.
“I was born a young lady of Ding Manor too! Some of this glory belonged to me. You… You ruined me and killed my mother!”
She clutched the bars of the golden cage, but could not escape.
Her beautiful body could only remain trapped there like an exquisitely carved doll, displayed for endless admiration.
Unable to accept that fate, Ding Fufu hated the man who had driven her into it.
“Ding Yanyu, you’re a murderer!”
Ignoring her hysteria, Ding Yanyu took Ding Ling’s hand and left the secret chamber.
“You’ll pay for this! Ding Yanyu, you will pay!” Ding Fufu screamed.
The door closed, extinguishing the last light. Ding Fufu collapsed, covered her face, and sobbed.
She had never committed any terrible crime. Why was heaven so unfair to her?
The warm light of the Glazed Lamp possessed a wondrous power that nourished souls.
Ding Yanyu bent down and gazed tenderly at the girl’s face. “Lingling, I have killed people, but don’t fear me. I will never hurt you.”
An unconscious plea entered his gentle voice.
Ding Ling said, “Brother, I didn’t know you had done so much. The past ten years must have been difficult for you.”
Ding Yanyu’s eyes flickered. “You were the one who suffered most.”
She feared both darkness and loneliness, yet had been trapped in that mountain temple for ten years.
Ding Yanyu often gazed at Ding Fufu, trying to find within the stolen body the soul that should have matched it.
Every additional glance deepened his hatred for Master Ding.
He and Lingling had already lost their mother. They had only each other left. Why had the father meant to protect them torn them apart?
Fortunately, everything was improving. Ding Yanyu had killed, taken revenge, and stained his hands beyond cleansing, yet his heart felt free.
Ding Ling asked, “Will Brother help me return to my body?”
Ding Yanyu smiled. “Yes. Lingling, look. This is the Glazed Lamp, a ritual artifact I spent years searching for. It can help you enter a body, and then you will no longer be a homeless ghost.”
“Once you return, I’ll take you to eat delicious food and buy anything you want. Whatever you wish to do, I’ll accompany you. Together, we’ll recover every moment we lost.”
“Lingling, no one will ever hurt us again.”
“Will Brother return me to my own body?”
Her question halted his beautiful vision of the future.
The girl’s clear eyes remained fixed on him. “Brother, will you return me to my own body?”
Ding Yanyu’s lips moved. He smiled faintly. “Lingling, this body may not be as beautiful as yours, but it is still clean.”
He led her to the unconscious Wuniang and spoke earnestly, almost eager for praise. “You know I would recognize you in any form. Your greatest beauty lies in your pure soul, not your flesh. No matter what you become, Brother will always love you.”
“But if we do this… how are we any different from Father?”
Ding Yanyu saw mist gather in Ding Ling’s eyes and froze.
Her father had arranged the first soul exchange. Now she could return to her body, yet her brother’s selfishness would prevent it.
Everyone closest to her seemed to have unavoidable reasons of their own. Timid, fragile Ding Ling had always been the one pushed forward without a choice.
Ding Yanyu forced a smile. “Lingling, have you forgotten? Long ago, you said you wanted to remain beside me forever.”
Back then, the young boy had stroked his sister’s head. “All right. Brother will care for you forever.”
But the girl shook her head. “No. Mother says I must marry when I grow up, and Brother must take a wife. I can’t cling to you forever.”
The boy tapped her forehead. “Then why doesn’t Lingling marry Brother?”
“No! We’re family, so we can’t marry. You’re so much older than me. How do you not know that?”
Now, after the blank gulf of ten years, Ding Ling found the brother before her strangely unfamiliar.
Ding Yanyu’s tone brightened. “Lingling, once you have Wuniang’s body, we will no longer be siblings. Even worldly law cannot condemn us. We share the same blood and should remain inseparable through every life. No one else will ever come between us.”
A sick fervor filled his black eyes. His possessiveness spilled free at last, oppressing the very air.
Ding Ling trembled. “Brother, I don’t want this.”
Ding Yanyu gripped her arm. “Don’t be afraid. You needn’t think about anything. Leave every decision to me.”
He dragged her step by step toward Wuniang’s body.
Ding Ling resisted, but could not overcome his strength. “I won’t steal another person’s body! I don’t want to become someone else!”