Chapter 146

Another Qingming Festival had come around, with spring winds and the setting sun carrying their sorrow.

Liang Xi went alone to the hilltop to burn paper offerings and incense for her grandfather. Then she stopped by a fruit shop to pick out a basket filled with assorted fruits, bought a case of milk, and boarded a coach bound for her best friend’s parents’ home.

At the thought of something, a shadow passed over her eyes.

When the coach reached the stop, Liang Xi followed the familiar road for another ten minutes or so. An old house, clearly built many years ago, appeared before her.

She replaced her somber expression with a bright, welcoming smile, knocked on the door, and handed over the things she was carrying when it opened.

“Uncle, Auntie, I could smell the delicious food from outside. Let me guess—another pot of soybean-and-pig’s-feet stew?”

The middle-aged woman, her eyes crinkled with wrinkles, smiled. “That’s right. We knew you were coming, so we also made your favorite stir-fried beef tendon and beer duck. Go wash your hands and get ready to eat!”

The taciturn middle-aged man immediately bent down to take the gifts. “Don’t bring anything next time. We’re not short of anything at home, and it’s heavy to carry.”

Liang Xi smiled. “You may not be short of things, but my thoughtfulness has to be delivered.”

The three of them sat down to eat. The middle-aged woman asked Liang Xi warmly whether work was going well and whether she had found a boyfriend.

Liang Xi gave vague answers and changed the subject, asking instead whether the two of them were in good health. Now that they were getting older, they should take it easy. Telephone scams were rampant these days, so they had to be careful not to get cheated.

The three of them chatted and laughed, putting food into one another’s bowls. Everything was warm and cozy—until the television beside them, which was playing the popular drama Northbound, Southbound, suddenly uttered this line:

“Please, ​​‌‌​‌‌​​‌‌​​​​‌​‌‌​​‌​‌​‌‌​​‌​‌​​‌‌‌​​‌​​‌‌​‌‌‌​‌‌​​​‌​​‌‌​​‌​​​​‌‌​​​‌​​‌‌​​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​​‌‌​​​‌​​‌‌​​‌​​​​‌‌​‌‌​​​‌‌​​‌​​‌‌​​‌​‌​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​​​‌​​‌‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​​‌‌​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​​‌‌​​‌‌​‌​​‍I’m begging you! Where in the world is my daughter? Is she alive or dead? Please, I’m begging you!”

Du’s father and Du’s mother froze, their chopsticks suspended in midair. Liang Xi also went still, her gaze instinctively drifting toward the empty bowl and chopsticks on the right side of the table.

This scene played out every time she visited Du’s father and Du’s mother during the holidays.

Fourteen years ago, sixteen-year-old Lingling had disappeared. It was as if she had vanished into thin air. No matter how hard Liang Xi, Du’s father, and Du’s mother searched, no matter how much help they begged from society, they could not find her.

Over those fourteen years, Du’s father and Du’s mother had searched nearly the entire country. The map of China they carried with them was covered in red dots. They had sold their home, their car, and nearly everything else they owned, spending their entire modest fortune on the road.

The only thing they had never sold was the old family house. They had also refused to change their phone numbers, afraid that one day Lingling might come home, only to find that she could no longer reach them or did not know how to find her way back.

Over the years, while traveling across the country, the couple had helped thirty-two families find their missing children and rescued forty-six women who had been trafficked into mountain villages.

Yet they alone had never found their own daughter…

Du’s mother secretly wiped away her tears and put the last piece of pork knuckle into Liang Xi’s bowl.

“Eat more and put on some weight. The job market is so difficult these days. If you’re having any trouble or feeling unhappy, you have to tell us.”

Du’s father and Du’s mother felt a pang of heartache when they saw how thin Liang Xi had become.

Xiaoxi and Lingling had grown up together.

When Xiaoxi was little, her family had been in poor circumstances. Her parents had divorced and started new families, leaving her to be raised by her grandfather. Every day after school, she would squat alone outside the house and play. She often went hungry, and most of her clothes were hand-me-downs that other people no longer wanted.

Seeing a child the same age as their daughter, Du’s father and Du’s mother had taken pity on her. Whenever they cooked, they called her over for dinner, bought her new clothes, and supported her education.

Little by little, Xiaoxi and Lingling became inseparable friends.

They attended the same elementary school, the same middle school, and the same high school. On the day they graduated, Du’s father and Du’s mother gave them some money to travel and relax.

The night before their trip, the two girls had slept in the same bed, excitedly chatting and planning their futures. When Xiaoxi woke up the next morning, Lingling had vanished into thin air.

Xiaoxi was a grateful and loyal girl. Crying as she comforted the two older adults, she rallied their classmates and appealed to the internet and society for help.

After the summer passed, Xiaoxi went off to college, but she continued posting appeals for help online. Whenever a lead surfaced that might point to Lingling, she accompanied Du’s father and Du’s mother to investigate it.

Other people’s college years were spent having fun, studying, enriching themselves, doing internships, and looking for work. Xiaoxi spent hers searching for Lingling and accompanying her parents.

Because of this, Xiaoxi had found a less-than-ideal job after graduation, one that barely kept her fed. All these years later, she still had not found a suitable partner.

Du’s father and Du’s mother saw all of this and felt both moved and guilty.

“From now on, you don’t have to keep searching,” Du’s father said suddenly. “Let this go and find yourself a good man. You need to take care of your own life, too.”

The tears Liang Xi had been holding back finally spilled over. She prodded the pork knuckle in her bowl with her chopsticks and choked out, “Uncle, Auntie, back then, everyone tried to persuade you to have another child. They all said Lingling had disappeared at sixteen, in this modern age with the internet so well developed, and that she was probably already…”

“Didn’t you refuse to give up looking for her?”

“If you haven’t given up, then neither will I.”

Du’s father and Du’s mother fell silent. Du’s mother could not hold back her sobs, and even the usually stern Du’s father’s eyes reddened.

Fourteen years had passed, yet this remained the deepest pain in all three of their hearts.

Whenever it was touched upon, the sorrow was impossible to conceal.

Just then, the house began to tremble slightly. The three of them assumed it was an earthquake. Without time to dwell on their grief, they hurriedly stood up and prepared to rush outside.

But in the very next moment, huge boxes began raining down from the sky.

They landed throughout the living room and the bedrooms with loud crashes. In no time at all, nearly every inch of space was filled, leaving them nowhere to step.

The three of them stared wide-eyed, their mouths forming perfect O’s, frozen in place.

What appeared the moment after that left them even more utterly dumbfounded.

A woman adorned with red and green jewels from head to toe descended from the sky and landed neatly on the chair beside the dining table. Her entire arm was covered in jade and gold bracelets, and all ten fingers were stacked with jade thumb rings.

Du’s mother nearly fainted from fright at the horrifying sight. Du’s father hurriedly pinched her philtrum, his lips trembling with disbelief.

“That person… that person’s face…”

Liang Xi also stared intently at the dazzlingly beautiful and flamboyant figure. Her heart clenched.

“You…”

Finally home, Du Luoling could no longer contain her excitement. She threw back her head and laughed.

“Fourteen years in the east of the river, fourteen years in the west of the river—never look down on a poor girl!”

“Dad! Mom! Xixi! I, Du Luoling, have finally come home!”

“Get ready for me to take you across the class divide, feast on delicacies, and live the dull, tedious life of the wealthy!”

The shock of the scene was simply too much. All three of them promptly fainted.

It took Du’s father, Du’s mother, and Liang Xi a full three days to digest the truth: Du Luoling had been transported to another world, where she had first become a commandery princess, then the Imperial Consort, and finally, after rendering a great service, had been sent back by the national preceptor.

Of course, Du Luoling did not say a word about the hardships she had endured.

Du’s father and Du’s mother trembled as they pointed at the boxes. One of them had toppled over, spilling gold, silver, and jewels all over the floor.

“These… all of these…”

They desperately wanted to ask their precious daughter, Did you rob some emperor’s tomb?

To that, Du Luoling replied proudly.

I Suffered in Another World for Fourteen Years and Rendered Great Service—It’s Fine to Make a Little Fortune, Right?

“Dad, Mom, you’ve worked so hard all these years. I’m sorry I haven’t been a filial daughter. From now on, I’ll stay by your side forever.”

Du Luoling then reached over and ruffled Liang Xi’s hair. “You should quit that job where you only make four thousand yuan a month while your boss works you to the bone. From now on, be my full-time best friend and do nothing but eat, drink, and have fun.”

The three of them looked at Du Luoling, then at the boxes upon boxes of gold, silver, and priceless treasures filling the rooms of the hall. With a loud wail, they burst into tears.

This was what it truly meant to come through hardship and finally enjoy happiness.

Only after crying her heart out did Du Luoling remember to ask about her idol. “Fourteen years have passed. Did my idol get fat?”

Liang Xi wiped away her tears. “I don’t know whether your idol got fat. I only know that he went to prison and is now operating a sewing machine.”

Du Luoling wasn’t surprised. After all, her idol had always been notorious for his private life. She asked another question. “Did any man trick you over these fourteen years?”

Liang Xi replied, “I gave up being boy-crazy a long time ago. I didn’t even date anyone all these years because I was looking for you.”

Du Luoling burst into tears again, deeply moved.

Du’s father and Du’s mother bought her a new phone, and for the next half a month, she engaged in some serious revenge bingeing on electronic devices.

In one word: bliss!

Every night before going to sleep, she would hold her phone and plant a passionate kiss on it.

“Why are my eyes always brimming with tears? Because my love for electronic devices runs deep!”

“Mwah!”

But a new problem soon arose.

The four of them couldn’t help feeling rather uneasy about the endless mountains of gold and silver in their home.

Take the jade thumb ring sitting on the dining table, for instance. When they searched online, they found that a nearly identical one—whose quality might not even be as good as theirs—had sold at auction for twenty million yuan.

And treasures like this were everywhere in their home, as common as bags of rice in a wholesale market.

They didn’t dare spend any of it, yet they couldn’t possibly keep it all hidden forever. They were terrified that it would cause a sensation.

After a worried discussion, the four of them finally decided to tell the government and voluntarily hand over part of the collection.

Once the government learned of the matter, it caused a tremendous stir in both scientific and archaeological circles.

Du Luoling obediently cooperated, answering every question she was asked. In the end, the matter became an unsolved mystery and was sealed away in the nation’s classified archives.

Du Luoling had been so cooperative. Moreover, she was the first known person in the country with evidence proving that she had traveled through time and space. She had to be properly protected.

The government therefore erased all information about Du Luoling, Du’s father, Du’s mother, and Liang Xi from the internet, and created a new identity for Du Luoling.

When she was sixteen, she had been in a car accident and lost her memory. She was then abducted and taken elsewhere, eventually being adopted by a kind foreign couple. Before their deaths, the couple left her a massive fortune and told her about her true origins.

Du Luoling then returned to China to search for her biological family, reunited with her parents, and began living the life of a wealthy person alongside them and her best friend.

As for the treasures Du Luoling had brought back to the modern world, the government took away some of the pieces that would have caused a huge sensation if they entered the market, as well as those with significant research value. In return, it approved a reward of nine figures for Du Luoling.

The next day, Du Luoling bought a large mansion in the city center and moved in with her parents and her best friend.

Three floors of the house were used to store the remaining gold, silver, treasures, antiques, and calligraphy and paintings.

And so, the four of them began living the utterly ordinary life of wealthy people—with the main goal being to enjoy themselves!

After enjoying herself for a while, Du Luoling began to feel that the life of the rich was nothing special. It was no different from when she had been the Imperial Consort of Yan Chi.

Every day, she had to worry about how to spend all that money. It was quite a headache.

People needed to have some kind of pursuit in life.

So Du Luoling decided to put into action an idea she had long held in her heart.

Write a novel!

She would make Yun Yaoyao and Tu Shanjin the protagonists and share their glorious deeds with more people!

Once she had decided, Du Luoling completed the preliminary preparations and chose to publish her novel on Fanqie Novels, the most popular fiction platform at the time.

Throughout its serialization, the book remained neither popular nor unpopular, and Du Luoling didn’t care. After all, she wasn’t writing it for that paltry amount of money.

When faced with the occasional negative review, she didn’t care about that either. She simply thought, The Imperial Consort herself has written a novel for you. You should be secretly delighted!

Who could have guessed that once the novel was completed, it would become a hit—and she would become famous along with it?

She went from being an ordinary wealthy woman to a renowned online novelist.

Late one night, Du Luoling lay on a four-million-yuan bed and sighed.

Ah, life. It was always so full of surprises—and money.