Volume One, Chapter 159: Mother and Son Resolve Their Misunderstanding

Qin Yu did not belong here. If the underworld officials discovered her, the consequences would be unimaginable.

But before leaving, Qin Yu glanced at the River of Forgetfulness, which shimmered with a ghostly light.

Her eyes shifted slightly.

She took a carrot from the small bag she carried with her.

After a moment’s thought, she tossed it into the river.

In an instant, nothing happened.

Qin Yu’s deerlike eyes widened.

She knew it!

That rotten old man had tricked her again!

Clenching her fists, Qin Yu shouted, “You old bastard! Just wait until I find you! I’ll pluck out your beard one hair at a time!”

At the same time, Lin Changxiu, who was planting radishes in the courtyard, felt a chill run down his back and could not help shivering.

Who was thinking ill of him behind his back?

Beside the River of Forgetfulness, Lu Qihua pressed the fragment of torn paper against her heart. Memories of the days she had spent with her son came rushing back.

She had conceived Fulai during her second month in Jia Family Village.

In order to coax her into giving birth, the people of Jia Family Village had promised that they would let her leave as soon as the child was born safely.

Although she herself knew that the chances were slim, she had wanted to escape far too desperately.

So after the child was born, she transferred all the hatred she bore toward that family onto him.

She had thought she would hate him—hate him terribly. But when she saw the rosy cheeks of the baby in her arms and his innocent, radiant smile, her heart softened.

How could the child be to blame?

The real wrongdoers were those scum!

If she could not distinguish between those vile people and her child, would she not be just as monstrous as they were?

Once she had come to understand this, Lu Qihua devoted all her maternal love to Lu Fulai.

She even used the book she loved most to fold all sorts of little toys for him—frogs, foxes, rabbits, and even little dolls.

Fulai adored the things she folded and could never bear to put them down.

But later, Fulai caught her with another man in an intimate act, and he gradually grew distant from her.

It should have been the most unbearable memory of her life, yet as she recalled it now, there was still a trace of tenderness in it.

“Mother, I’m sorry…”

A voice brimming with remorse came from beside her ear.

Lu Qihua stared in astonishment at the source of the voice—the fragment of paper glowing with spiritual energy in her palm.

Through the fragment, she saw Fulai on the verge of death!

Although Fulai had grown up and his appearance had changed, Lu Qihua recognized him at a glance.

“Fulai!”

Lu Qihua cried out.

But Lu Fulai was already at death’s door. He kept murmuring, “Mother,” in broken fragments.

Then Lu Qihua saw the black line of fate across his face.

In an instant, she understood everything.

“Oh, Fulai, my Fulai! How could you be so foolish?”

Lu Qihua no longer hesitated. She pressed her lips against the fragment of paper.

In the next moment, she transformed into a beam of light and entered the fragment.

—

Lu Fulai felt a scorching warmth in his palm. Something within it was glowing.

With his fading vision, he struggled to look down at his hand.

A tiny silver flower was slowly emerging from his palm.

Water dripped from its unopened bud. It was water from the River of Forgetfulness.

Plop.

Plop.

Plop.

Three drops of the river water fell to the ground, leaving behind three pale pink spots.

Beneath the pink soil, something seemed ready to break through.

Slowly, three brilliant red flowers bloomed from the barren earth.

They were flowers from the Other Shore, blossoms meant to welcome the dead.

But what shocked him even more was the familiar face he saw among the flowers.

“Mother, is that you?”

Tears instantly filled his eyes.

Lu Qihua’s voice was stern with exasperation. “Fulai! How could you be so foolish? In this lifetime, you only needed to shield this village from one disaster, and you could have ascended to become an Earth Immortal!”

“Those people hurt you so terribly. How could you expect me to protect them from disaster? I couldn’t do it!”

Lu Qihua sobbed uncontrollably. “But you committed so many cruel and wicked deeds! Even after going to the underworld, you’ll have to endure the eighteen tortures! How could you possibly bear that?”

Instead, Lu Fulai smiled with relief. “I brought about those consequences myself, so of course I must bear them. I have no regrets!”

Lu Qihua’s tears fell in torrents, vanishing the instant they touched the flowers of the Other Shore.

“Why? Why would you destroy your own brilliant future for a disgrace like me?”

“Mother! You are not a disgrace! Having the honor of becoming your son is my pride! I only hate that I was too weak to protect you. And I hate that the blood of the Jia family flows through my veins, because that blood represents a lifetime of humiliation for you!”

Lu Qihua was stunned by his words. Her voice trembled.

“You… You didn’t despise me?”

Lu Fulai could no longer make any large movements, but he still tried desperately to shake his head, as though doing so could prove the truth of his words.

“No! Back then, I simply didn’t know how to face you. And I discovered that the closer I grew to you, the more that old woman would torment you. Keeping my distance was the greatest protection I could give you.”

Lu Fulai’s voice grew softer and softer, but Lu Qihua heard every word.

Her tears flowed like a faucet that could not be shut off.

“Fulai, I’m sorry! It was all my fault. I should never have left you alone in Jia Family Village when you were so young. It was all my fault! If only I had been a little braver, you would not have become the person you are now.”

Lu Qihua repeated those words again and again, but Lu Fulai had already closed his eyes. He could no longer hear her.

Yet the smile at the corners of his lips was so satisfied, so full of release.

Perhaps, in the depths of his childhood memories, he had always believed that he was responsible for his mother’s death. That was why he had spent his entire life trying to make amends for the mistake.

The spiritual power Qin Yu had infused into the paper fragment vanished, and Lu Qihua was pulled back into the River of Forgetfulness.

But this time, something was different.

Her living soul had returned.

From that moment onward, every child she bore would be an ordinary human being.

Although she had waited a long, long time for this day, she did not hurry to be reincarnated.

Instead, she quietly waited beside the River of Forgetfulness for a very long time.

Until another group of newcomers arrived at the Bridge of Helplessness.

Among them was someone who had not even been qualified to step onto the bridge before being taken away by an underworld official from the Eighteenth Level.

Separated by layer upon layer of people, mother and son gazed at each other from afar.

Lu Fulai moved his lips, speaking without a sound.

Lu Qihua smiled through her tears.

She heard those five words.

—

The moment Qin Yu opened her eyes, she felt something rubbing back and forth across her face. Her willow-shaped brows drew together, and she lifted a hand and slapped the thing away.

“Ah!”

A scream rang out.

Only then did Qin Yu realize that she had not slapped some object away, but Lu Hualing, who had been wiping the sweat from her face.

The pain made Lu Hualing scrunch up his eyes and nose. But what hurt even more was his backside.

Rubbing the bottom he felt had nearly been split into three pieces, he stood up with a deeply aggrieved expression.

Frowning, Qin Yu looked around at the unfamiliar surroundings.

“How long was I asleep?”

The moment she asked, Lu Hualing became excited. He nearly gave Qin Yu a thumbs-up.

“As expected of a master! Even the way you sleep is different from everyone else! You slept for seven whole days and seven whole nights! My little uncle was so anxious, he nearly tore the roof off the hospital!”

Qin Yu’s eyelids twitched.

Was that something worth being proud of?

“Where is Lu Jinyuan?”

“He just saw off one of the hospital directors.”

Qin Yu: “…”

Lu Hualing raised a brow and leaned over with an exaggeratedly nosy expression.

“Master, there’s something I don’t know whether I should ask.”

Qin Yu: “?”

“If you have something to say, say it! If you have to relieve yourself, go do that!”

Qin Yu’s temples throbbed.

“What kind of relationship do you have with my little uncle? You have no idea how nervous my little uncle was when he carried you back that day! He looked as though he had completely lost his mind!”

Qin Yu frowned. “He has a profound respect for life. He couldn’t stand by and watch a living person die right before his eyes.”

“Is that really all it was?” Lu Hualing’s eyes narrowed almost into slits.

“What other reason could there be?”

Qin Yu rolled her eyes at him in exasperation.

Lu Hualing’s eyes lit up. “Master, do you think there’s a possibility—I mean, just a possibility—that my little uncle likes you?”

Qin Yu: “?”

Looking at Lu Hualing’s face, alight with the excitement of someone gossiping over snacks, she began to regret it.

She regretted not hitting him harder just now—hard enough to knock all those ridiculous thoughts out of his head.

Perhaps the murderous intent on Qin Yu’s face was too obvious. Lu Hualing gave an awkward little chuckle and took ten steps backward.

Qin Yu glanced speechlessly at the ceiling.

Did he really think she could not hit him from that distance?

To prevent Lu Hualing, that big-mouthed gossip, from spreading rumors everywhere, Qin Yu said, “Your little uncle already has someone he likes.”

“What?!”

Lu Hualing shrieked in shock, his jaw nearly dropping to his chest.

“Master, are you joking with me? There isn’t even a single female fly around my little uncle! Where could he possibly have found someone he likes?”

Even the secretaries in his office were ten strapping men, each over six feet tall!

Where could he have found someone he liked?

Could it be that the rumors outside were true—that his little uncle liked men?

He seemed to have discovered an astonishing secret about his little uncle.

Would his little uncle kill him to silence him?

Qin Yu watched Lu Hualing’s tense yet thrilled expression.

Internally, she could only sigh.

“Your little uncle has a normal orientation.” Qin Yu paused, then looked him over. “You, on the other hand, seem to have the potential to change yours.”

Terrified, Lu Hualing quickly covered his mouth with both hands.

“That absolutely cannot happen!”

Qin Yu looked at his coy expression.

Internally, she sighed again.

Still, Lu Hualing was only coy for a second before his desire to gossip about Lu Jinyuan overcame everything else.

“Master, what is the person my little uncle likes like?”

“I don’t know.”

“Are they tall or plump? Slim or short? Sexy or innocent?”

“Older than him or younger?”

“I don’t know.”

“Then what do you know?”

“I know that this relationship will come to nothing.”

Lu Hualing: “…”

No way.

The iron tree had finally blossomed after all these years, only for the result to be this tragic?

He inexplicably felt sorry for his little uncle.