Waiting for You for a Long Time, But You Haven't Arrived - Chapter 46

The remains of Ming Yishu are… gone.

In the dead of night, the Prime Minister’s manor was ablaze with lights. Jiang Qionghua’s shrill, mournful cries had awakened everyone in the household.

Bo Lu rushed into the room at the first possible moment, finding a Jiang Qionghua on the brink of madness. Blood dripped from a wound on her arm. She stared at the bloodstains with crimson eyes, appearing as if possessed by an evil spirit, completely devoid of reason as she held a blade, intent on ending her own life.

“Prime Minister!”

Bo Lu stumbled forward, Limping and crashing his way to her side. Together with the secret guards, he managed to seize control of the knife in Jiang Qionghua’s hand.

“Prime Minister, you must not do such a thing to harm yourself! Please, calm down, put down the knife…” Bo Lu was terrified, pleading urgently, “If you are suffering, do not stay here. Let this old servant accompany you to the Plum Garden for a walk. Perhaps your mood will improve there.”

Jiang Qionghua heard nothing. She spoke only to herself in a repetitive trance: “She left so quickly. What point is there for me to remain alone in this world?”

Bo Lu trembled as he tried to persuade her: “Miss Ming would not want to see you like this. Please, do not do anything foolish.”

“Bo Lu,” Jiang Qionghua said, staring numbly into the void ahead. “Do you think there is any meaning left for me to live in this world? For a person like me, everyone—except her—wishes for my death. It would be better to follow her; then everything would be settled once and for all.”

Bo Lu was frightened to his core. He was forced to invent a desperate lie on the spot: “Prime Minister, I found that sorcerer today. Miss Ming is not dead.”

“What?”

Only these words could summon back Jiang Qionghua’s reason. The despair in her eyes slowly receded, replaced by a flicker of disbelief.

“What did you say? Are you lying to me?”

“The sorcerer said that Miss Ming has been resurrected, though her mind is somewhat frenzied and disorganized.” Bo Lu knew exactly where Jiang Qionghua’s heart lay, so he applied the remedy to the specific wound. “Prime Minister, do you remember? Back then, in the carriage, Miss Ming asked you if she went mad, would you still protect her…”

Jiang Qionghua remembered. She had always remembered.

Her shoulders shuddered violently as she turned her bloodshot eyes toward Bo Lu. “Where is my Yishu now? I must go find her.”

This…

Bo Lu had not yet figured out how to continue the fabrication.

He could only steel himself and say, “Miss Ming’s whereabouts are temporarily unknown, but we can send men to search for her.”

Jiang Qionghua fell silent for a moment. Suddenly, she spoke in a flat tone: “You aren’t lying to me, are you? I do not believe Ming Yishu would be willing to be resurrected back into this world.”

It was indeed a lie, but Bo Lu knew how to make her believe it a little more. He said, “The Prime Minister can go and dig up Miss Ming’s coffin to see if her remains have vanished into thin air, just like Tang Guangjun’s did back then.”

As the saying goes, one does not settle scores with the dead. Funeral rites were highly regarded in the current world. Even bitter enemies would not dig up a coffin to lash a corpse, for opening a buried casket would disturb the departed soul and prevent the deceased from finding peace in reincarnation.

Bo Lu was convinced that Jiang Qionghua would never do such a thing, which was why he had dared to make the suggestion so boldly.

Jiang Qionghua: “You are right.”

Bo Lu:

He was momentarily speechless. He never imagined that their Prime Minister would actually accept the proposal, completely disregarding funeral etiquette and the propriety of such an action.

“I did not go to see her when she was buried. It was my fault. I want to go and see the place where she rests again.”

Prompted by Bo Lu’s reminder, Jiang Qionghua had a better idea. She stood up and looked at the shattered jade hairpin on the floor. Suddenly, she felt that such objects were too fragile and easily broken. It would be better to have something else to remember her by.

For example, her bones.

Her Yishu was beautiful. Even if only withered bones remained, they would surely be delicate and lovely. Jiang Qionghua stood in silence for a long time, concluding that digging up the grave was a viable course of action. If Ming Yishu’s remains had vanished, she would send men to find her. If the remains were still there, she would bring them back to the manor and watch over them daily. That, too, could be considered a form of companionship.

The moment Bo Lu saw Jiang Qionghua’s expression, he knew she truly intended to open the coffin. He immediately thought of stalling her so he could go ahead and remove Miss Ming’s remains first. That way, when the Prime Minister arrived, she would believe that Miss Ming truly hadn’t died—that she had truly been resurrected. The Prime Minister would feel better and would not spend her days in desolation and her nights in self-torture.

“Prime Minister, do you still remember that old woman with the mental affliction who once blocked our carriage?”

Bo Lu said, “That day you asked me why her madness had been cured. After I went down, I inquired about the matter and learned the truth. The old woman was originally mad; she had been mad for many years, relying on her only daughter to take care of her. Later, her daughter suffered an accident at the Hongyu Pavilion and became crazed. Instead of staying mad, the mother recovered. When I asked her, she said—”

“If she didn’t care for her daughter after she went mad, the girl would end up like her, eating scraps from the streets.”

“She couldn’t afford to be mad anymore. She couldn’t allow her daughter to be like her—a humiliated wretch, a madwoman cursed by others.”

These were simple words, but upon hearing them, Jiang Qionghua’s eyes grew moist.

She thought that just like the old woman Bo Lu spoke of, she could not go mad either. If her Ming Yishu had indeed been resurrected into this world, helpless and suffering from madness, she needed to be there to protect her. She could not let the Yishu who loved cleanliness so much wander the streets like a mad girl eating rotten vegetable leaves.

She could not bear to see such a scene; it would be more painful than death itself.

“I promise you, I will not go mad before I find her,” Jiang Qionghua said. “I am not at peace regarding her, whether she is alive or dead.”

Bo Lu paused, then naturally voiced his proposal: “Prime Minister, it is still dark now, and you are exhausted in mind and spirit. Why not bring that sorcerer and the old woman here to speak with you first? I will go to Miss Ming’s grave first to have men prepare. It won’t be too late for you to go when dawn breaks tomorrow.”

Jiang Qionghua seemingly didn’t think much of it and nodded in agreement: “Go and see to it.”

Bo Lu felt as if he had been granted a great reprieve. He left in an extreme hurry, desperate to hide Ming Yishu’s remains before she arrived. He walked until his silhouette vanished completely from Jiang Qionghua’s sight.

Jiang Qionghua sat there, the corners of her mouth twitching coldly. She was not a person of good fortune; she knew that such a wonderful thing would never happen to her. Her Ming Yishu was dead, and dead was dead—how could she be resurrected?

Bo Lu was lying to her; she had seen through it. He had left in such a hurry because he wanted to hide the remains first.

She would not allow that to happen. Once the coffin was opened, she would be there to personally bring Ming Yishu’s remains home.

What “sorcerer”? How could such words be spoken just at this critical juncture? Everything Bo Lu said was merely to stabilize her emotions; Jiang Qionghua knew this.

But she did not expose him.

Beside her rare moments of cold reason, she also harbored a tiny, hidden speck of hope—what if, just what if, Ming Yishu really had been resurrected?

Bo Lu led a group of trusted subordinates through the night to dig up Ming Yishu’s coffin. His movements were frantic, fearing that his Prime Minister would collapse upon seeing the withered bones.

He had to be earlier, faster, to hide Miss Ming’s remains.

Bo Lu silently bowed toward the coffin that was about to emerge from the earth, apologizing for his transgression and hoping the deceased Miss Ming would forgive his intrusion.

The coffin was finally lifted out. Bo Lu held his breath and looked around, suddenly spotting torches approaching in the distance—Jiang Qionghua had arrived, much earlier than expected.

Bo Lu’s heart nearly jumped out of his chest. He repeatedly urged his men to open the coffin quickly so he could hide the remains.

“No need to rush anymore, I know what you are trying to do.” Jiang Qionghua had, in the end, arrived a step ahead. Before the coffin could be opened, she stood before Bo Lu. “You did it for my own good. I will not hold it against you. Step back. I know she will not be resurrected; I am here to bring her remains home.”

Bo Lu was about to kneel and confess his guilt, but he was hauled up by a secret guard on either side. They moved him away from the vicinity of the coffin, leaving Jiang Qionghua to walk toward it alone.

“Prime Minister, do not look. You will be heartbroken.” Bo Lu’s voice sounded as if it had aged another ten years; his opening words were full of sorrow. “You couldn’t bear to see her when she was buried. Now that she has become decayed bones, seeing her will only cause you more pain.”

Jiang Qionghua ignored him. She stood there in solitude, watching as the coffin was slowly pried open.

As the lid moved, she felt as if a guillotine were hanging over her head, slowly descending in sync with the opening casket. Everything was about to be settled. She would finally be unable to deceive herself any longer; once the coffin was open, all her illusions would shatter.

Jiang Qionghua had already decided: after bringing Ming Yishu’s remains back, she would wipe every bone clean, arrange them, and eventually be buried together with her.

—The coffin opened.

Holding no hope, Jiang Qionghua raised her torch and stepped closer to look.

The interior was illuminated by the firelight—there was no one inside.

The remains of Ming Yishu were gone!

Jiang Qionghua’s legs gave way, and she knelt before the coffin. She gripped the edge of the wood violently, her eyes wide with shock as she confirmed it again. There were indeed no traces of skeletal decay; aside from the funerary objects, it was completely empty.

“Bo Lu! Her remains are gone! Did you take them?” Jiang Qionghua’s voice was trembling. She looked back at Bo Lu, who was also wearing a look of total disbelief, staring toward the coffin in astonishment.

Bo Lu said, “I… I didn’t have time to take them. This coffin was opened for the first time. No one has been here since the burial; the grave was overgrown with grass and trees.”

“She’s gone, just like Tang Guangjun back then!” Even though Jiang Qionghua did not know where Ming Yishu was, she could not suppress a surge of joy, as if she herself had come back to life. She clapped her hands and stood up, immediately ordering her men to search for any trace of her. “Everyone, go search! Search quietly, do not disturb her—I am afraid of scaring her.”

It was wonderful.

Jiang Qionghua was so overjoyed that her entire body was trembling slightly. She felt she had never been this happy in her entire life. This hope of recovering what was lost suddenly made her feel vivid again, casting a bright light over the grey and desolate period she had endured.

She would go find Ming Yishu, find her personally, and protect her properly without frightening her.

If she had gone mad and no longer recognized her, she would start over with her.

Back to how they were when they first met.

This time, she would definitely protect her properly. No one would take Ming Yishu from her hands. Ming Yishu belonged to her!

Jiang Qionghua had never believed in gods or spirits and detested talk of the supernatural. After Tang Guangjun appeared, she had not hesitated to summon Taoists and exorcists to suppress that “evil ghost.” Yet now, she was so profoundly grateful that such mysterious and inexplicable things existed in the world, allowing her Ming Yishu to live once more and giving her a chance to beg for forgiveness.

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