Seven Unfortunate Lifetimes

Edited by renderedreversed

Chapter 30 part 1

Ding dong, ding dong.

The sound of the blue stones on the riverbed kept ringing in my ears.

I opened my eyes and saw a sharp knife-like stone pointing at me. It looked like it was about to fall down and crush me into powder. I was so scared by this scene that my heart immediately turned cold and I sobered up. I was sitting down on the ground. Slowly, the memories from before I lost consciousness came back to me: falling into the river, getting rid of the armor, sharing breath…

I didn’t have time to feel shy about Chu Kong sharing breath with me. When I thought about him getting rid of my golden armor, my heart filled with hatred. If I managed to survive this ordeal, how would I continue to live without money?! It was all for naught if I didn’t run away with expensive to pawn! Chu Kong wasn’t aware of the distress that came with being poor. Before returning to Heaven, I really didn’t want to taste the pain of wanting to eat meat but not being able to eat it.

Even though it was a hateful thing to do, it couldn’t be helped. The fact of the matter was that it had been done, and now I could only accept it. I rubbed my head and looked at the environment around me. This seemed like a deep, secluded cave. Everywhere I looked was  stalactites on stalactites on stalactites… Wasn’t this really strange? I remembered it clearly: I was dragged down by a strange chain into the river. Why was I now in a place like this? And...where was Chu Kong?

I held onto one of the stalactites and tried to stand up. Suddenly, I felt a sharp pain in my lower abdomen, like a needle had pierced through and was now coming back the other way to finish the stitch. I strongly endured it for a while, but the pain only intensified. It was like there was a razor in my womb. I curled into a ball from the pain. I tried to clench my teeth, but I couldn’t close my mouth.

This time...did someone try to poison me again...

“Xiao Xiang Zi.”

Someone tapped me on my face.

“Hey, hold it for moment.”

Someone grabbed my shoulder and shook it.

Still in pain, I opened my eyes and looked over. In the dim light of the cave, I could barely see his face. I kept staring. I hadn’t yet had the time to be surprised when I felt another cramp, forcing my body to arch like a shrimp. But despite it all, I still tried to break away from that person. It was futile. My arms didn’t have any strength. I gasped: “Ghost...ghost...”

This person actually had “Chu Qinghui’s” face!

“Chu Qinghui” frowned and said, very unhappy: “Your uncle is a ghost. Xiaoye is Chu Kong.”

I gasped: “How come...how come you look...look the same as me now?”

Hearing my own voice was an even worse shock. Why were the sounds coming out of my mouth so delicate? Recently, I’d gotten used to a man’s voice. Of course I would be shocked by suddenly hearing a woman’s voice!

Chu Kong was very dissatisfied and said, “Who looks like you? Go look at yourself.”

In a blink of an eye, he grabbed my hand and set it in front of my eyes. I took a closer look. It was a delicate hand, soft without the knobby jut of bone a man would’ve had. This...this was obviously a woman’s hand. I slowly moved the fingers, and only when they followed my directions did I realize that this was actually my hand. I was shocked. I felt the pain again and suddenly made another realization: “We...we changed bodies?”

Chu Kong nodded. “Although I don’t know what happened, it seems that we really swapped bodies.”

I flew into a rage. “Child’s play! Nonsense! Absurd!”

After exploding, I clutched my stomach for a while. It took a moment to recover enough strength to continue: “Placing a soul into a body is a rule of reincarnation. It is prescribed by the Heavens and the Netherworld. Only in the Well of Reincarnation can a soul enter a body. Even if it’s a god’s will, he can’t exchange a soul. Who dared to exchange us?! Who dared to break the rule?! He needs to be executed!”

Chu Kong narrowed his eyes and said, “You just don’t like being in the princess’ body.”

I held my belly and hatefully spat, “Who would want to suffer this pain?”

My belly was a well of pain. Would this princess’ body survive for twenty more years, even if no one harmed her? I was really doubting it now! Previously, Chu Kong was the one who suffered. Although I sympathized with him, I hadn’t experienced it personally, nor did I expect to.

So...the pain of periods was more painful than breaking the egg...

My stomach suddenly felt warm. Chu Kong was rubbing my belly. I stiffened a little at the unexpected gesture. Then I heard Chu Kong say: “I know you’re angry now because of the pain, but this wasn’t xiaoye’s intention. Why did we change? How did we come here? I’m also confused now. But it is strange that we swapped souls. If I find the reason...”

Chu Kong lowered his voice. “Then if you still find it painful, we can change back.”

I didn’t know what sort of feelings passed through my heart then. I tilted my head and looked quietly at Chu Kong’s face in the dim light of the cave.

He twisted his head as if he didn’t know where to look. My eyes were too hot for him. It burned his face. His eyes flickered, glanced at me once, then looked away again and said, "Hmph...! Don’t be mistaken! Xiaoye just felt like since I reincarnated like that, then I should just follow Heaven’s will. Should...”

He couldn’t find any more words to say. I continued to look at him with shining eyes. Chu Kong endured it for a while before finally, he stood with inexplicable anger.

“In short, we should just change back! Don’t stare at me!”

Hypocrite that he was, he turned and stared ferociously at me.

I acquiesced, turning away so my vision was no longer filled with him. Instead, my eyes fell on the big palm resting on my belly. The warmth of that hand, the blood flowing through it, suddenly felt like fire, scorching whatever it touched.

I covered Chu Kong’s hand and said, “You have to remember! We have a deal! You said that!”

Chu Kong stiffened. His eyes fell on my face. He looked for a long while and then gritted his teeth. “Yes, ah. I said that...My mouth is cheap!”

Another stab of pain pierced my abdomen. I tolerated it for a while and then said, “Let’s first look at our surroundings. Staying here isn’t the answer.”

I grabbed Chu Kong’s hand and stood up.

“It’s not so painful anymore. Let’s go look around this place.”

Chu Kong glanced at me once and walked in front of me.

"Hmph, you’re the one who suggested it. Don’t come crying to xiaoye later and say you’re tired.”

While I walked, I looked around. I discovered that this cave was really strange. Obviously this cave was surrounded by stones; there was nowhere light could sneak in, but it was still possible to see things with the naked eye. The stalactites also did not seem natural. They were more like hidden weapons, waiting for an intruder to step on the trap. Then they would fall, probably killing whoever tripped it. The deeper we went into the cave, the more we thought that the intention to kill any intruders was obvious.

“Hey,” I couldn’t help myself from calling Chu Kong, who walked in front of me. “It’s really strange here.”

“Shh, be quiet.”

Chu Kong suddenly stopped. I hurriedly ran to him and stayed as close to his back as humanly possible. Only there did I feel safe enough to panic and look around.

“What? What’s happening?”