The Wandering Immortal

Chapter 9 Thank you, my lady, for saving my life.
Li Qing can't be blamed for this. Qinghe was born into a prominent family, a branch of the Cui clan of Qinghe, one of the Five Clans and Seven Noble Families. Her father was a local official of the sixth rank, but he offended a powerful figure in the capital and was exiled to the border, where all his female relatives were enslaved.

The Cui family of Qinghe was deeply entrenched, but they did not want to offend the bigwigs in Beijing for the sake of a minor collateral branch, so they refused to help.

Miss Zheng's father and Qinghe's father were classmates. They secretly bought this girl and named her Qinghe, intending for her to remember that she came from the Cui family of Qinghe.

Later, Qinghe's father died of illness at the border, and her family lost all hope of turning their lives around. A few years later, Master Zheng gradually forgot about the girl.

If Miss Zheng marries Li Qing, her two personal maids, Hongxiu and Qinghe, will definitely accompany her as part of her dowry, becoming her concubines. If they gain the master's favor, they might become his concubines.

Qinghe is beautiful, well-educated, and has a gentle temperament, which really surpasses that of Miss Zheng. Even before she has married into the family, Li Qing is already looking at her differently. It seems that she might rebel against the Heavenly Gang in the future.

Miss Zheng had finally found a way to get revenge, and she beat Qinghe for half the night.

Before dawn and before the boat had even docked, Miss Zheng was already clamoring to sell Qinghefa to a brothel.

Li Qing was also annoyed by the noise for half the night. Since he was always on his own boat, he had no choice but to inquire about it and interrogate Qinghe again.

Qinghe tearfully recounted that she had found the peach wood hairpin in a stream in the suburbs yesterday, and it was definitely not a token of love.

Li Qing made a move to pull out the hairpin for a closer look, but was stopped by the resentful look in Miss Zheng's eyes.

This was probably the closest Li Qing had ever come to a chance at immortality in his life, but he ultimately withdrew his hand.

Li Qing knew in his heart that his cousin's big fuss was just an act for him.

Since things have come to this, Qinghe can't be kept any longer. If there's a next time, she'll probably be beaten to death. It's better to sell her off to save her life.

When the Zheng family steward led Qinghe to sell her, Li Qing whispered a few words, "Don't let her really end up in a brothel, she's still an old friend of my uncle's."

The steward naturally dared not offend the young master, and also informed the broker that this girl came from an official family, was well-educated and courteous, and should not be treated rudely.

Qinghe was filled with resentment after picking up a hairpin and suffering such misfortune. Several times she wanted to throw it away, but she always felt that the hairpin was like a piece of her heart and could not bear to part with it. She just held the hairpin in her palm until it bled.

The red thread was soaked with fresh blood, and Jiang Yuan was nourished by the essence of a living person, which greatly benefited his spirit.

When the broker saw Qinghe, he also thought she was quite pleasing to the eye. If she dressed up, no one would doubt that she was a young lady from a wealthy family.

They called an old woman to lead Qinghe to the inner room for a physical examination. There was nothing wrong with her; she was still a virgin.

The old woman was just surprised that the girl had stripped naked but was clutching a hairpin tightly in her hand. She thought it was something valuable, but when she saw it clearly, it was just a crude peach wood hairpin, worthless, so she let it go.

After some haggling, the steward sold Qinghe to the broker for six thousand copper coins. The onlookers thought the price was outrageously high, but the broker was confident that he would make a fortune by reselling it.

The broker then instructed the old woman to tidy up Qinghe, throw away her blood-stained clothes, change into a clean blue dress, comb her hair, and insert a peach wood hairpin, making her radiant.

The broker found Qinghe increasingly pleasing to the eye and simply moved her to the front door as a facade.

As more and more people gathered, someone soon asked, "How old is this girl?"

Seeing that the person asking the question was dressed quite well, the broker patiently replied, "Fifteen, still a virgin!"

"Good, good, good! A woman three years older than her husband is a golden brick!"

Those around her who didn't understand probably thought Qinghe had struck it lucky and had been bought to be someone's wife.

The broker knew perfectly well that wealthy families didn't buy maids as wives; in this dynasty, it was fashionable to arrange marriages in the afterlife. It must be that some young master had died without being engaged and they wanted to buy a maid to marry him.

The broker then persuaded the onlookers to leave and invited the guests into the inner room to discuss the matter.

Marrying a ghost was strictly prohibited by the imperial court, so it was a private transaction, and the price was naturally several times higher than that of an ordinary maid.

Qinghe was taken to the market and within two hours, the broker sold her to a wealthy family for 30,000 coins, making a hefty profit.

Two strong old women lifted Qinghe up, loaded her into a carriage, and quickly dragged her away. They had to hurry, because the young master of the Guan family had been dead for two days, supposedly drowned.

The Guan family lived more than forty miles away from Wuling County, in a small town with little reputation. They weren't too worried about the government investigating after they bought Qinghe.

Qinghe had no idea that she was being arranged for a ghost marriage. She was completely bewildered the whole way until she entered the Guan family home and saw the house full of white flowers and white cloth. Only then did she suddenly understand what was going on.

Qinghe struggled desperately, stabbing her heart with a peach wood hairpin, intending to end her life. Of course, she was tied up by the old women, forced to bow to heaven and earth, and then thrown into the inner room to wait for her husband to carry out the funeral.

Seeing how pitiful Qinghe was, an old woman whispered to her, "Even if you die, you will be buried with the young master. If you live, they will not dare to really kill you. Even if you live as a widow, you will still be the eldest daughter-in-law of the Guan family, who will serve you well with good food and drink!"

Qinghe was so tired from crying that she fell asleep in a daze. She had another dream. She was still the shepherd boy leading the water buffalo, playing under the peach tree. Suddenly, he jumped into the river. When he came up, he was holding a small fish in one hand and another in his mouth. Qinghe was overjoyed.

Suddenly, the shepherd boy transformed back into the dead young master of the Guan family. Ox-headed and horse-faced demons descended from the sky, bound the young master, and left. The young master cried out, "Wife, save me! Wife, save me!"

Qinghe was at a loss, and then the young master of the Guan family shouted again, "Put that hairpin in my hair."

Qinghe was startled awake and was even more terrified when she suddenly saw a dead face.

The two old women actually managed to get Qinghe and the young master of the Guan family into the same bed.

Qinghe stopped struggling. After a long while, with tears in her eyes, she said to the kind old woman, "I won't make a fuss anymore. Please untie the rope, my hands are about to break!"

"If you really stop causing trouble, I'll untie it for you myself."

Qinghe nodded with tears in her eyes. Seeing that she was weak and helpless, the old woman knew that she wouldn't be able to cause any trouble, so she untied the rope.

Qinghe sat up, rubbed her wrists to improve blood circulation, and then touched the peach wood hairpin in her hair.

Before she could even remove the hairpin, the old woman thought Qinghe was up to her old tricks again and reached out to snatch it away.

Qinghe gave a bitter smile, "I won't kill myself, let me take a good look at my husband."

After saying that, Qinghe lay down on her side next to the young master of the Guan family and stroked his cold face with her hand.

The two old women stared in disbelief. Had this young woman gone mad? She was even sticking her hairpin into a dead man's head to be buried with him. Did she really think he was her husband?

Qinghe held a dead body, tears streaming down her face, and then suddenly fell into a deep sleep.

The two old women were exhausted after a long day of fussing. Seeing that the young woman was indeed submissive, they sat down and took a nap.

The young master, who had been dead for three days, suddenly sprang up, coughed violently, and vomited a large amount of bitter fluid.

The kind old woman screamed and fainted from fright; the other tried to scream but couldn't, and wet her pants.

Qinghe was also terrified. She sat up and stared blankly at her husband, who was on the verge of death.

Someone pushed open the door and saw the young master of the Guan family reaching out to strangle Qinghe, which terrified him and made him scream.

"Ah, a corpse is faking its death, a corpse is faking its death!"

The Guan family, consisting of over a hundred people, suddenly erupted into chaos, running around frantically inside and out, crying and wailing.

Young Master Guan, however, held Qinghe's hand with deep affection, saying, "Thank you so much, my lady, for saving my life!"

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(End of this chapter)