The Entire Harem has Transmigrated - Chapter 35

How could this be?

Ruan Qingqing stared at her delicate palm, the lines clear and distinct, yet she couldn’t discern her fate. The more she tried to decipher it, the more her vision blurred, as if her eyes were shrouded in a thick fog, everything hazy and indistinct.

“No, no…” The slight pain in her fingertips snapped Ruan Qingqing back to reality. Zhuo Yi was still desperately trying to divine her fate. “Why is this happening? If my calculations are correct, you should already be dead…”

Ruan Qingqing: “……”

She had been foolish to believe her unreliable master’s nonsense.

With a scornful smile, Ruan Qingqing leaned toward Zhuo Yi, her voice dripping with malice. “You said I’m already dead, right?”

Zhuo Yi suddenly felt a bone-chilling wind swirl around her, and she began to tremble uncontrollably. Backing away, she stammered, “Miss, are you… are you human or ghost?”

“Me?” Ruan Qingqing leaned closer, raising her hand and curling it into a claw shape to intimidate her. “I’m actually your nemesis from a past life, here to collect my debts. Miss Zhuo, are you scared?”

“Aaaaaah! A ghost!” Zhuo Yi screamed, scrambling to flee. But Ruan Qingqing grabbed her by the back of her collar and yanked her back, pinching her cheek.

“Feel that? I have flesh and bl00d, and my body is still warm,” Ruan Qingqing said, releasing her grip but unable to resist rolling her eyes.

It had always been like this. Whenever demons or ghosts appeared, Zhuo Yi would bolt faster than anyone else, often wailing hysterically. Invariably, it was Jiang Li who ended up protecting her.

“I was just teasing you earlier. I’m not a ghost, but a living person,” Ruan Qingqing said, seeing Zhuo Yi’s lingering fear. She decided to stop teasing her.

Zhuo Yi was still catching her breath. Once she’d calmed down, she punched Ruan Qingqing’s shoulder, her voice trembling with lingering fear. “Why did you scare me like that?”

For a moment, she’d almost believed it. Then she remembered it was broad daylight—what kind of powerful ghost would dare cause trouble at this hour?

Ruan Qingqing settled back onto Zhuo Yi’s small stool, tapping her cheek with a finger, her eyes filled with nostalgia. “Master is still the same as ever—utterly useless.”

Zhuo Yi: “……”

Zhuo Yi sat down stubbornly, reached out to Ruan Qingqing, and said, “Let me look again. I’ll keep calculating for you.”

Ruan Qingqing didn’t even lift her eyelids, merely playing with the divination coins as she rested her chin in her hand. “You’ve already calculated me as a ghost. How can I trust you?”

Zhuo Yi persisted relentlessly. “Maybe I misread earlier. Let me take another look. I might be able to calculate you back to life.”

Ruan Qingqing was torn between laughter and exasperation.

In the end, she extended her hand to Zhuo Yi.

Zhuo Yi held her breath, concentrating intensely as she calculated Ruan Qingqing’s fate. But before long, a bewildered expression returned to her face.

“How can this be?” Zhuo Yi murmured.

Ruan Qingqing smiled and urged, “What’s my fate? Tell me already.”

Instead of answering directly, Zhuo Yi lifted Ruan Qingqing’s face and studied it carefully for a moment before slowly speaking. “Your fate is… peculiar. On one hand, the purple aura of prosperity rises from the east, indicating innate wealth and nobility, suggesting you were born destined for great honor. On the other hand, the presence of calamity stars and solitary spirits in your destiny marks you as an exceedingly rare Heavenly Solitary Star…”

Ruan Qingqing listened to her rambling nonsense.

She tilted her head, her posture languid, and asked in a slow, drawling tone, “Then tell me properly, Master, what kind of Heavenly Solitary Star am I?”

“Your early life was peaceful and smooth, but your later years will be filled with turmoil and upheaval,” Zhuo Yi said, calculating with her fingers before elaborating. “As a child, you lived well. Though your parents were gone, you were meticulously protected and cared for, nurturing a naive and gentle nature. Yet these tranquil years lasted less than two decades. Fate took a sudden turn when unexpected tragedy struck. From then on, the family you cherished like treasures died one after another, all in their prime. Your temperament transformed, becoming utterly cruel and tyrannical…”

Ruan Qingqing thought she must have misheard. She pointed at her own nose and asked Zhuo Yi, “My… my family died young? And then I became cruel and tyrannical?”

“Yes,” Zhuo Yi replied solemnly, her usual flippancy gone. She spoke each word with grave emphasis: “For revenge, you stained your hands with bl00d, gradually losing your true self. Over a decade, you slaughtered nearly a million souls. Corpses piled high, tainting the grass with their stench; rivers ran crimson with bl00d. You had created such chaos that one more kill would have elevated you to the path of a god of slaughter. Yet you abandoned it. As for the reason… I cannot fathom it.”

Zhuo Yi said blankly, “I only know that you died in the winter of the Gengzi Year. Heavy snow fell, blanketing your prematurely white hair as you vanished completely in a woman’s embrace. In the end, you didn’t meet a peaceful end.”

Ruan Qingqing fell silent.

Zhuo Yi was clearly lost in thought as well.

It wasn’t until a passerby approached, asking for a fortune reading, that Ruan Qingqing snapped out of her daze.

“This is ridiculous!” she accused Zhuo Yi, pointing at her. “What kind of fortune reading is this? It’s completely inaccurate!”

Hearing this, the passerby who had come for a fortune reading strategically retreated and eventually left altogether.

Zhuo Yi tried to salvage the situation, but it was too late. She could only knock Ruan Qingqing on the head and scold, “You little brat! How dare you ruin my business?”

Ruan Qingqing pouted unhappily. “You’re the one who started with the nonsense!”

Zhuo Yi looked bewildered. “Did I say something wrong?”

Ruan Qingqing: “?”

Ruan Qingqing, hands on her hips, retorted angrily, “You called me the Heavenly Solitary Star and claimed I’d slaughter nearly a million people in ten years! Look at my face! I can’t even bring myself to kill a living thing. I used to close my eyes in fear when watching chickens being slaughtered, and even scaling fish makes me sick to my stomach. I can’t bring myself to do it, let alone anything else!”

Zhuo Yi scratched her head, looking genuinely puzzled. “Did I say that? I can’t quite remember…”

Ruan Qingqing: “???”

Ruan Qingqing’s chest tightened as she asked in a trembling voice, “Zhuo Yi, do you have intermittent amnesia?”

Zhuo Yi shook her head vigorously. “Maybe your fate is special. Divining it would incur divine retribution, so… so that’s why I can’t quite remember…”

She took Ruan Qingqing’s hand and said with feigned seriousness, “Or should I try divining your fate again?”

After studying Ruan Qingqing’s palm, she added, “Even though I can’t remember clearly, I have a feeling your fate wasn’t very good before. But now, it seems you’ve transformed into someone destined for peace, longevity, and a lifetime of boundless love and affection. This is clearly a fortunate fate!”

Ruan Qingqing: “……”

Enraged, Ruan Qingqing grabbed Zhuo Yi by the collar and demanded, “You old hag! Which word out of your mouth is actually true?”

“A haggard old woman?” Zhuo Yi’s pupils dilated in shock. “I’m only 22, in the prime of my youth! How could I possibly be a haggard old woman?”

Ruan Qingqing retorted without hesitation, “Because you were a haggard old woman in your past life!”

Zhuo Yi found the girl’s anger surprisingly charming. Unable to stay mad, she simply smiled and said, “Believe what you want.”

Remembering Zhuo Yi’s earlier false claims about her family’s early deaths, Ruan Qingqing stormed off. But she soon doubled back, asking, “Some of what you said earlier about my past life aligns with my memories. But back then, I had a peerless and formidable protector who always found ways to safeguard me and my family. Even if unexpected events arose, how could things have ended so disastrously?”

Zhuo Yi packed up her small stall, glancing at her dismissively. “What peerless and formidable protector? If they were truly capable, why would they bother protecting you?”

“You don’t understand!” Ruan Qingqing snapped. “She would protect me unconditionally, without any reason.”

“Rely on yourself, not others,” Zhuo Yi said, slinging her bag over her shoulder. “Little sister, even if someone would protect you unconditionally, what if they’re not around when you need them? What if they happen to be away when disaster strikes? There are no guarantees. That’s why women must be strong and independent!”

Ruan Qingqing wanted to say she wouldn’t leave.

During their years together in the Qian Dynasty, Jiang Li had never been away from her for long.

Even during brief separations, Jiang Li always managed to return in time whenever Ruan Qingqing was in danger.

But what if?

The thought suddenly flashed through Ruan Qingqing’s mind.

She immediately recalled a conversation from just before her time-travel. Jiang Li had been coaxing her to sleep when she suddenly said, “Qingqing, I might need to go into seclusion for a while.”

Ruan Qingqing naturally snuggled into Jiang Li’s arms, asking how long “a while” would be.

Jiang Li replied, “I’m not sure. It could be quick, or it could be a long time.”

At the time, Ruan Qingqing hadn’t taken it seriously.

The longest she and Jiang Li had ever been apart was only half a month. To the Ruan Qingqing of that era, half a month felt like an eternity.

Moreover, Jiang Li hadn’t actually left her before she was swept into the temporal vortex.

“It can’t be true,” Ruan Qingqing reassured herself. “Master was unreliable in her past life, and she seems even more unreliable now. How could everything she says be true?”

Despite her attempts at self-comfort, Ruan Qingqing remained restless and returned home.

She summoned Ye Shiyu and Fu Yeqiu, and also sent video calls to Yu Yunfei and Li Qianxuan, asking them for details about the time before her disappearance and what exactly happened after she vanished.

“Your Majesty publicly announced your abdication, gifting the throne to someone completely unrelated to you,” Yu Yunfei said after taking a bite of her apple. “Not only were we shocked, but historians are still baffled. No one understands why you would do such a thing.”

The system of abdication had been unique to primitive societies.

By the time of the Qian Dynasty, where Ruan Qingqing reigned, hereditary succession had been the norm for centuries. Unless a bloody dynastic change occurred, no ruler would willingly relinquish the throne to an outsider.

Moreover, by that time, Ruan Qingqing had already turned the tide, transforming the Qian Dynasty into a thriving empire.

However, Ruan Qingqing’s supposed turnaround was merely an illusion perceived by outsiders. In reality, the Qian Dynasty’s transition from turmoil to prosperity was entirely due to Jiang Li’s extraordinary brilliance.

Ruan Qingqing herself had always been clueless about governance, relying entirely on Jiang Li’s guidance.

“While dynastic transitions inevitably involve bloodshed, the shift from the Qian Dynasty to the Min Dynasty was likely the least bloody in history,” Yu Yunfei concluded, then turned to Ruan Qingqing and asked, “Speaking of which, Your Majesty, why did you do that back then?”

Ruan Qingqing pressed her lips together, saying nothing.

It wasn’t me who did it.

She had been suddenly swept into a temporal vortex, with no time to prepare anything. Only Jiang Li could have orchestrated such events.

“What happened to you all afterward? Are you alright?” Ruan Qingqing asked anxiously, her fingers clenching tightly.

“We’re not alright,” Ye Shiyu replied, slowly waving a palm fan.

Ruan Qingqing’s heart pounded. She grabbed Ye Shiyu’s arm and pressed, “What’s wrong? Are you struggling, or…?”

Or did you really die young?

“Don’t worry,” Ye Shiyu said, a faint smile tugging at her lips. “You have good taste. The New Emperor is a decent man. He didn’t mistreat us. After receiving your letter of divorce, we all returned to our respective homes.”

Ruan Qingqing released her grip, a hint of reproach in her voice. “Then why did you say you weren’t alright when I asked earlier?”

“We’re not alright,” Ye Shiyu sighed. “Ever since Your Majesty left without a word, we’ve been heartbroken, wasting away day by day. How could that be considered alright?”

“I’m sorry,” Ruan Qingqing said, offering a brief apology before asking, “How did you all end up here?”

“Nothing remarkable,” Ye Shiyu replied. “We simply stayed in our homes for several years, and one by one, we were transported here.”

Without warning or reason, some were reading, others were sleeping, and still others had forgotten what they were doing. By the time they realized what was happening, they had already arrived in this era, reborn as wailing infants.

After hearing their stories, Ruan Qingqing secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

The sisters she cared about hadn’t suffered any hardships or met any tragic ends. They had simply crossed over in an uneventful manner.

This further reinforced her belief that her Master’s fortune-telling had been completely inaccurate.

Yu Yunfei teased, “Could it be that we were drawn here by Your Majesty’s presence?”

Ruan Qingqing calmly punctured her theory. “You all arrived before me. If anyone was drawn here, it would have been me.”

Yu Yunfei then pointed out, “We were all reborn, but Your Majesty crossed over entirely intact. Isn’t that rather strange?”

It was indeed strange, but none of them could come up with a plausible explanation.

Li Qianxuan looked listless and drained, perhaps due to family troubles. Noticing her silence and exhaustion, Ruan Qingqing refrained from pressing her further and let her rest.

Soon, everyone dispersed.

That night, Ruan Qingqing finally picked up a history book, but the records of the Qian Dynasty’s final years were frustratingly vague.

Her name wasn’t mentioned at all, leaving later generations to speculate wildly. The origins and names of figures like Fu Yeqiu were also obscured, described only in the most concise terms. As for Imperial Preceptor Jiang Li, not even a single word could be found about her.

In the historical records, Jiang Li seemed to have vanished without a trace.

How could this be?

Ruan Qingqing paced back and forth, her heart churning with inexplicable anxiety and resentment.

Finally, under the perfect moonlight, she pulled out her phone.

In the chat box, she typed: I miss you.

Then, without hesitation, she sent the message.