14 Chapter 14: I will stay

Slowly and unsurely, she dropped her hand, and allowed her vision to adjust. The bright lights were gone, and left in front of her was the image of a young child she had seen before...

It was... herself - to be clear, it was the reflection of herself that she had seen in the mirror when she had the odd dream about the little girl. It amazed her how a pair of eyes could be so beautifully striking.

"...you...you're..." Yingyue uttered in her state of paralysed confusion.

"Yes, it is me, Yingyue. I'm sorry for bringing you here, but let me explain... To say it simply, we... we both died..." The young Yingyue looked down as moisture gathered in her eyes.

As if she wasn't already shocked, Yingyue's eyes widened at this statement. Her? A doctor who had saved lives, had died from nothing but a car accident? Impossible. Simply impossible...

Yet, soon after, reality dawned on her. The two headlights were the last things she saw before everything had gone dark... it was true... "I died from an accident..."

She suddenly realised that something didn't seem right... "But what about you? That dream I had... you were definitely alive... and I was in your body... but that was you..."

The young Yingyue met her eyes sadly... "It was my family... First the poison, then the beating... It was too much for my body when they locked me up. I died right where you woke up... on that cold, hard floor."

Yingyue opened her mouth but no words came out...

"I tried so hard not to learn even when it broke my mother's heart... Even when I was punished after the monthly tests, I didn't dare to! I never went near the other courtyards, and never fought for my father's favour. Yet still, I hadn't been careful enough..."

"That one day, I heard Yingyi and Yuxuan[1] insulting my mother to her face, and couldn't bear to see the shame in her eyes, so I pushed Yingyi, scratching her hand in the process."

*[1] Yuxuan is Yingyi's twin brother (children of Su Rushi)*

"After that, Su Rushi sent me soup, saying it was from my father. Who would have suspected she would even poison me..."

"My mother was forced to secretly beg someone to detoxify me and only barely managed to save my life, but it still left me weak. Of course, even if we had spoken up, my father would have turned a blind eye to it..."

"Not long after, Yingyi framed me for stealing a mere hairpin, but for her, I was beaten by my own father in a fit of his rage... And well, you already know what happened after that..."

Yingyue couldn't bring herself to imagine the scene of Jiang Zhenfeng savagely hitting this child, and the pain she must have felt on her flesh and in her innocent heart.

How could someone bring themselves to do something so evil to a child of their own blood?!

However, Yingyue was still left confused as to why she had suddenly appeared here.

"But what about me? I don't know if it was a dream, but I seemed to have woken up in your body that day..."

"It wasn't a dream... and I apologise for pulling you into my world, but I was so desperate to live... for the sake of my mother..."

Her words caught in her throat, unable to truly voice the pain and sorrow she felt after being forced to leave her mother alone in the world...

"At the moment I died, I saw a jade ring which pulled me into this space temporarily."

"From here, I saw you dying in your own world. Somehow, you had the same jade ring..."

Yingyue thought back to her world... What ring was she talking about...?

That's right! The jade ring that she wore around her neck was the family heirloom ring her mother had gifted her for her 21st birthday...

"I thought that it was fate giving me a second chance... To get revenge on the people who have brought misery to my mother and me." She spoke through gritted teeth.

"I was innocent to the evil that lived in people's hearts. How their own selfish desires were the reasons they used to justify the hurt they inflicted on us..."

Her beautiful eyes swirled with dark clouds, and there was nothing but coldness, that childishness gone from her face...

"It was a second chance to look after my mother... my mother who was left alone and unprotected in that world of hatred and envy." A tear slipped down her soft cheeks that should have been filled with smiles and laughter.

Yingyue felt waves of emotions hit her.

The world that had forced this young child to mature so quickly hadn't taken her humanity from her, but instead, given her the courage to face it for the sake of her loved ones. Too bad, such a life was so short-lived...

"My moment of desperation somehow gave me the ability to give you life again, but this time, a life inside my body and in my world..."

"Yingyue, I was wrong for forcing you into my body and making you face the world of worries and difficulties I only just escaped from. It was my own selfish desire... Being able to talk to my mother again... comforting her again... and having her comfort me..."

"My revenge may never be granted but I cannot trade an innocent person for a moment of greed... You may choose to leave now, and together, we will both walk through the gates, to the Temple of Heaven..."

"My body will die a peaceful death in sleep... Although my mother will be torn with grief, eventually... eventually, she will heal..." With these words, tears leaked uncontrollably from the young girl's dim eyes.

Yingyue's heart beat uncomfortably in her chest and her breath caught in her throat...

She had seen children brought into the hospital's emergency room, bruises covering their bodies, and seen their deceitful parents who showed off a human's face but had a beast's heart.

In her world, doctors were unable to do anything about those tragedies, so they were left trapped between their compassion and the inevitable legal complications that would arise if they were determined to demand justice for the young souls...

However, in this situation, how could she know of such evil and simply not do anything...

"No. I will stay." With one look, someone would be able to tell that those words were final, as the sharp glint in her eyes confirmed her decision.