Wanqing laughed wearily and poked her hard, sulking, “This is news to me. I don"t know where this “G.o.ddess of Medicine” acquired all her medical knowledge, but she sure is shameless.”

Xue Dongting stuck out her tongue and laughed, then said softly, “Big Sis, be careful!” She pointed to Wanqing"s belly. “You need to take care in every respect!”

Wanqing nodded and caressed her belly. “Once I have him my life will be much better.”

Xue Dongting looked at Wanqing and saw her eyes were clouded with tears.

Wanqing gazed at the flickering candle flame. “I don"t want to use him to topple Lady Yu, it"s just I won"t be so lonely once I have him. The squire is not just my husband alone. There"s so many people here in this house, yet there"s no one I can open up to. It really gets very lonely.”

Xue Dongting held her hand, her eyes set. “Don"t worry, Big Sis, I will protect this child and make sure he is born without any trouble.”

Wanqing nodded and wiped her tears. She laughed. “It"s late, let"s go to bed.”

That night the sisters slept in the same bed. Laying in bed, Xue Dongting thought back to her childhood when Mama Qiao had taken the three sisters to the seaside border town. It was winter and very cold and the three girls had slept in the same big bed under one big quilt and took turns holding onto their warm-bodies Mama Qiao. Those had been warm, simple days, but that was already a long time ago.

She had no idea that at this very moment, Song Yuming was fighting a dozen a.s.sa.s.sins sent by the imperial palace.

In the hazy predawn light, Xue Dongting left the Zhang family manor. She walked along the coast and suddenly came upon a reef near the coastline. An old man in blue scholarly clothes was seated there, fis.h.i.+ng.

The old man"s broad sleeves were flapping in the sea breeze and was making a mess of his gray hair, but the man sat firmly with a stately bearing, like he was some celestial immortal.

Xue Dongting saw old men fis.h.i.+ng off rocks overlooking the sea all the time, so she would normally pay it no mind. But now, for some unknown reason, it was as if the blue-clad old scholar had some kind of magical charm that made her stop and take notice.

She was wondering at this when the old man suddenly yelled and bolted to his feet and pulled a big fish out of the sea. It was sallow and wriggled on the line, glistening like crystal in the morning light.

The old man laughed and dropped the fish in the bamboo fish hamper next to him. Xue Dongting was about to leave when the old man turned and looked at her, smiling kindly. “Madame, would you be willing to acquire some good karma from me?”

Xue Dongting was stunned. The blue-clad scholar"s voice resounding in her ears seemed familiar, but she could not for the life of her recall where or when she had heard it.

“Good karma?” She frowned, mind whirling. “Who are you, sir?”

“Heheheh… Would you believe me if I told you I can see ten years into the future?”

Xue Dongting said nothing, just fixed her gaze on the blue-clad scholar, her mind much calmer now. After a while she said, “If you had said that to me before I likely would not have believed you.”

“Before?”

“Ten years before.”

The old man laughed. “So, it"s you!” he said slowly.

Xue Dongting laughed as well. “Sir, do you know about my previous life?”

He stroked his beard and smiled. “Yes.”

Xue Dongting"s heart trembled. Her calm mind was once again thrown into upheaval. “What do you want?” She was nervous. And faint thought formed in her mind—her rebirth might have had something to do with this old man. She even believed that this man could at any time he wanted take back everything she now had, including her life.

The old man smiled. “Like I said, I want to make some good karma with you. So there"s no need to be so nervous…”

“…What kind of good karma?”

“Next year, at the beginning of autumn, a young man will come here riding a donkey. He will meet a girl, and he will take her back to the capital.”

Xue Dongting"s heart felt like it had fell into a hold in the ice. Her voice quavered, “I… I won"t go…”

“The girl is not you.”

“Not me?” She was dumbfounded, not really understanding. In her previous life, in the autumn of her seventeenth year, Third Prince had come here and taken her away… Could it be that in this life things were different?

She collected herself and asked, “Then I…”

Just then, a clubfooted monk drifted over and stood on the reef of rocks, smiling at Xue Dongting. She s.h.i.+vered. She seemed to have seen this monk before when she was a child.

The blue-clad scholar"s eyes suddenly hardened and he asked sternly, “Fated to support a dragon, why would you want to be the wife of a fisherman?”

Xue Dongting stared blankly, then suddenly understood. She clenched her fist. “I… won"t leave this place… Song Yuming, whether a quiet, unknown fisherman or a battle-hardened general, I"m his. I will never leave him…”

The blue-clad scholar said nothing. He stared at her, then after some time said gravely, “Xue Dongting, if it"s peace you want then you must not defy the will of Heaven! Or else everything you have obtained will in the end vanish like a wisp of smoke!”

Xue Dongting was stunned. She quickly shot back, “I don"t want to defy the will of Heaven… I don"t want to go back and get revenge on Third Prince…” She couldn"t help but clutch her skirt tightly as she spoke.

The blue-clad scholar sneered, “No? You might not want to get revenge on Third Prince, but you absolutely do intend to defy the will of Heaven!”

Xue Dongting looked up at him, confused.

The blue-clad scholar snorted roughly. “Wanqing"s first child cannot be brought into this world. That is Heaven"s decree. Yet you have the vain hope of changing that. Is that not wanted to defy the will of Heaven!”

Xue Dongting stood rooted in place, at a loss.

The blue-clad scholar took up his fish hamper and made his way step by step along the seaside rocks, walking toward the smiling clubfooted monk.

As he pa.s.sed Xue Dongting, the scholar said softly into her ear, “Big changes are fast approaching, you must be careful.”

The blue-clad scholar and the monk flew off together. Xue Dongting clenched her fists and looked out at the vast ocean. The breeze off the sea chilled her to the bone, her sleeves flapping in the wind. She was like a drop in the ocean.

Suddenly, waves came on, a huge one cras.h.i.+ng down straight toward her, coming down right on top of her, and in an instant she was swallowed up in the rolling waves.

Xue Dongting cried out in alarm and sat up suddenly in bed, her forehead soaked in sweat. She was panting in the pitch-black darkness.

Wanqing was woken by her cry and she opened her eyes and called out, “Dongting, what"s the matter?”

Xue Dongting shook her head. Was that a dream just now? But it felt so real, so real she could see clearly every gray hair on the blue-clad scholar"s head, and every wrinkle on the clubfooted monk"s face.