บท 14: The Past: Disfigurement
บรรณาธิการ: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The prince's sudden visit made Feng Qingcheng so delighted. She started telling him all about the grievances she had accumulated in her heart over this period of time and didn't seem to have noticed that the prince was beginning to look a little impatient.
After a long time…the prince sounded slightly patronizing as he said, "Qingcheng, you don't have to think so much about it. Even if they're not nice to you and call you a good-for-nothing, I will still be good to you. Once you reach fifteen, I will take you as my official wife.
"All right now, I just came over to take a look at you, but I still have something going on, and I have to leave. I'm very busy of late, so I'll come and see you again after I'm done." Without waiting for Feng Qingcheng to say anything, he turned and left.
Feng Qingcheng's smiling eyes fell once more when she saw how the prince had scurried off.
On the other side, after Feng Qingling was abandoned by the prince, she stormed her way to where Li Xuerou was and told her mother everything that happened earlier.
After Li Xuerou listened to her daughter's account, she consoled Feng Qingling, saying, "All right now, the prince is just mesmerized by her good looks. She doesn't have her parents with her, and your grandfather is not going to make it either, so she's already of no value to the prince. As long as you continue to get along well with him, the position of his wife will be yours sooner or later.
"As for her face? Humph! Since I could turn her into a good-for-nothing, then, of course, I can also disfigure her." A dark glint flashed in her eyes, but it disappeared soon after.
Feng Qingling's lips curled into a smile as she said, "I will leave everything in Mother's good hands. I won't be worried about that Feng Qingcheng."
Some days later, a terribly shocking thing happened. The head of the Feng clan had passed away from his illness…
Feng Qingcheng was filled with pain and sadness, as she couldn't accept that another family member of hers had left her. She knelt in front of her grandfather's coffin for two days and two nights until she passed out.
By the time she regained consciousness, two days had passed, and she realized that she was neither in front of her grandfather's coffin nor inside her own room. She was in a very run-down room, and everything inside was damaged beyond repair. Even the blanket covering her was made from patchwork.
She had no idea what was going on at all. She barely managed to support her weak and frail body sufficiently to get out of bed. Her frail body and knees, swollen from kneeling on the ground for too long, made it difficult for her to even walk. She dragged herself out of the room and opened the door to find herself face-to-face with a completely dilapidated courtyard. There was actually nobody else around.
CREAAAAAK…
An ear-piercing sound filled the air as the main door of the courtyard, about to fall off its hinges, was pushed open by someone.
Two servant girls walked in when they saw Feng Qingcheng standing by the door to the room. They both shrieked, "It's a ghost!!" They were so frightened that the people behind them got the shock of their lives as well.
Feng Qingcheng immediately felt scared when she saw this happening and anxiously called out to them as her voice started to crack, "Don't go! Don't go! I'm very scared!"
The servants who had turned and were ready to run away felt that this voice was very familiar, so they trembled as they turned back and asked, "You… you're Second Young Mistress?"
"Yes, I am! I am… Where is this place? Please don't go. Take me along with you." She was so scared.
After they were sure of who she was, they regained their composure and walked into the courtyard. The two servant girls walked in first, followed by a servant boy with a bag of things.
Lastly, a lady in a long, white dress walked in with the air of the daughter of a wealthy family. Her sharp facial features included a pair of darkened eyes that didn't match her age, and those eyes were scanning the courtyard with disgust.
This person was Feng Qingling. When she first set eyes on Feng Qingcheng, she nearly screamed as well.
However, when she saw that Feng Qingcheng was clearly fearful but tried hard to act calm, a faint smile spread across Feng Qingling's face.
In an instant, she switched to a terribly worried face as she asked with great concern, "Qingcheng, what are you doing? You're not feeling well, so how could you get out of bed? This will adversely affect your health!"
When she saw Feng Qingling come in, Feng Qingcheng became worked up and started crying miserably. "Qingling, why am I here? I remembered I was in front of Grandpa's coffin, so why am I here now? I want to go home. I want to see Grandpa…" Her heart was very confused and extremely uneasy.
A dark glint flashed quickly in Feng Qingling's eyes and then disappeared. Her voice sounded rather sad as she said, "You were unconscious for two days, and yesterday, Grandpa… Grandpa has already been buried."
She seemed to sense that Feng Qingcheng had more questions, so Feng Qingling continued, "After you fainted, my parents were very worried about you, so they called a doctor to take a look at you. The doctor said that your heart was weak and so you fainted, and you'd be fine after resting for a couple of days, but…"
She paused for a moment before continuing, "But the doctor also said that you've contracted an extremely rare sort of disease. He was afraid that you might pass it on to the people around you, so he said that you must be quarantined by yourself. Otherwise, he couldn't be sure of the consequences. That's why…" Feng Qingling looked at Feng Qingcheng like she was put in a difficult position.
Feng Qingcheng could hardly believe it. "Grandpa has been buried? But I haven't sent him on his final journey… How did things become like this…"
Then she spoke up again, saying, "Qingling, you said I've contracted a disease? Why don't I feel anything? You're just joking with me, right? You're just joking…" Feng Qingcheng tried to push the corner of her lips upward, but this made her look even more horrifying to the people in the courtyard.
Feng Qingling was losing patience, so she called the servant boy over and said, "Pass the things to Second Young Mistress!"
The servant boy was equally terrified when he saw what Feng Qingcheng looked like. He didn't say anything and walked over to her, stuffed the bag of things he was holding into her arms, and quickly ran back to his original position.
Feng Qingling saw how confused Feng Qingcheng looked and said coldly to her, "Qingcheng, this is your clothing and other items. From now on, you will live here. The doctor says this is better for your recuperation process."
"Also, I will make sure that someone sends food to you every day, so you don't have to worry about that. Once you get well, I will take you away from this place."
She didn't look at Feng Qingcheng anymore and turned to leave. When she reached the door, she stopped and said, "By the way, there's a mirror inside that bag of things. You can take a peek at what you look like now, and you'll know if you're ill or not." Then she continued walking out.
A smug smile spread across Feng Qingling's face. She had specially prepared that mirror for Feng Qingcheng. She wanted Feng Qingcheng to see how awful she looked now and how Feng Qingcheng was going to snatch the prince away from her with this face. Feng Qingling was confident that the position of the prince's wife was destined to be hers.
In just a short while, the dilapidated courtyard was left with nobody other than Feng Qingcheng once more. She held onto the bag and didn't feel confused or panicky anymore. Her eyes were filled with loneliness and dejection.
She slowly walked back in and finally managed to get back to her bed. She opened the bag to find that these were all old clothing and not the clothes she used to have.
After searching through the items, she found a mirror. She thought about what Feng Qingling said before she left and brought it up to her face to look.
But…
"AHH!!!"
Thud.
The mirror fell back onto the bed.
She couldn't believe it! Her left hand trembled as she slowly and gently touched the left side of her face.
She wailed in disbelief, "What's going on? Why? How did this happen? No… no… this can't be true…"
She picked up the mirror again to look at herself in its reflection. The terrified and anxious feeling in her heart intensified, but she couldn't stop herself from trying to confirm what she saw in the mirror.
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