Seven Unfortunate Lifetimes (Love You Seven Times)

Chapter 10

My mouth twitched. Is this really the renowned Yanwang? He must be a replacement. He looked like a white ball of dough and his behavour was like a wretched uncle. The magistrate beside him helplessly sighed.

“It’s the Cloud Fairy that caused a disruption in the Netherworld twenty years ago.”

“Oh,” Yanwang’s eyes lit up. “It’s you, ah?! You did well, girl. The Netherworld was very lively then. It was very amusing! Haha…”

The magistrate next to him coughed. Yanwang pressed his lips together to refrain from laughing, and then he said with a serious look: “Well, what do you think we should do, magistrate?”

“Twenty years ago, Celestial Star Chu Kong was punished for five years, but Cloud Fairy Xiang Zi went to reincarnate and fled to the human realm. That’s a very evil thing to do, so I think her punishment should be tripled. I ask Yanwang to make her work for fifteen years in the Netherworld. This will also let the ghosts know that the Netherworld is a strict place. Even a slight mistake will receive a heavy punishment.”

Yanwang nodded: “Good, let’s do it as you say.”

After saying that, he went back to sleep in his chair.

They decided on this sentence as easily as they chose what to eat at noon: scrambled eggs or fried eggs.

Outside of Yanwang’s palace, the little ghost took me to the bridge. Just as in the past, there was a neat line of ghosts waiting there. The little ghost pointed at the big pot and said: “In the future, you’ll be making soup as Madam Meng’s replacement. Don’t let the soup spill over the pot. After fifteen years of soup duty, you can go and be reincarnated.”

I thought for a while and felt that fifteen years was not a very long time. Chu Kong needed to live for at least fifteen more years. I felt relieved at that thought, and picked up the ladle and began making soup.

In the Netherworld, there was no day or night. It was always dark here. From the spot where I made soup, I could see the people coming down from the reincarnation circle. All kinds of people came here, but they all had the same desolated look. When I first saw them like that, I felt for them, but over time, I turned numb to their expressions. Whether they were sad, crying, or laughing, I would only use a few words to grab their attention and give them a gentle reminder: “Stand in line. Here’s your soup.”

Without knowing it, twelve years had passed. Seeing that I only had three years left, I proudly kept my head high and continued to make soup. But fate played a big joke on me.

It happened on a normal, gloomy, Netherworld day. At the other end of the reincarnation circle, I saw a very familiar figure appear. For a moment, I was stunned: so stunned that the ladle I was using fell into the soup pot. After I regained my wits, I pointed a single trembling finger at him in disbelief.

“Lu Hai Kong!”

Originally, I thought that I’d never see him again. Originally, I thought that we broke the synchronization of our next six lifetimes together…

Distressed, I said: “I calculated everything, but I didn’t count on you living a short life!”

The Netherworld was a quiet place. Everyone could hear me sighing through gritted teeth. The ghosts looked at me blankly. Lu Hai Kong on the other side of the road also hesitated for a moment. His gaze fell onto me. After that moment of hesitation, his eyes squinted dangerously and he walked towards me. The speed was very fast. I had a bad feeling about this.

Now that this guy was in the Netherworld, he had all his memories back. He was no longer the Lu Hai Kong who loved me dearly, but now one of the twelve Celestial Stars, Chu Kong. Even if he remembered his experience as Lu Hai Kong, in his eyes that was just one episode of his life. In the present Chu Kong’s eyes, I’m a madman who had bitten his shoulders, fought with him, and  even scratched him. A shrew who didn’t care about face and would fight him regardless of whether I won or lost. The jinx who framed him and let him be punished for five years in the Netherworld. Now he must’ve want to cut me into pieces.