Chapter 63: I want her to live

[Host, Host, wake up!]

Liu Qiu woke to the system’s urgent shouting.

She opened her eyes, and the blinding sunlight made her squint instinctively as she slowly came back to her senses, remembering that she should already be dead.

Lowering her head to look at her body, she found that she wasn’t some hazy, translucent figure like in television dramas, but exactly the same as usual.

Liu Qiu felt bewildered—hadn’t she died?

[System, did I fail to die?]

The system let out a wicked cackle.

[Host, you’ve been dead for three days already. Why don’t you try walking through a wall?]

Who knew what drama it had been watching this time to learn such a bizarre laugh.

Liu Qiu glanced around.

The courtyard was a sea of white, steeped in an air of deathly stillness and desolation.

There was no need to test a wall.

She drifted into the courtyard and walked straight toward the bamboo fence.

Her body passed through it effortlessly.

Turning back to look at the intact fence, she finally realized that she had truly become a ghost.

She raised her hand and spread her palm under the sunlight, clearly seeing the lines across it.

After a moment’s thought, she wondered whether ghosts could fly.

The instant the thought appeared, her field of vision abruptly rose.

Looking down, the ground grew farther and farther away.

What a marvelous sensation.

Her eyes widened.

[System! I’m flying!]

Excitement, rare for her, colored her voice.

The system chuckled.

[Host, in this world, you can keep flying until the mission is complete.]

She experimented with moving forward, then left, then back again.

Her flight responded to her mind as naturally as her fingers did.

Pressing her lips together, she smiled, two deep dimples appearing.

[This is wonderful.]

Freed from that frail, sickly body, she felt refreshed and invigorated.

Now that she was gone, the plot should proceed automatically.

She only needed to watch each day.

She floated around the courtyard once before drifting toward the main hall.

Just as she was about to enter, the door suddenly opened.

Fang Lian stepped out.

For a moment, it felt as though their eyes met.

Liu Qiu’s form stilled.

“Mother.”

But Fang Lian could neither hear nor see her.

She walked straight through Liu Qiu.

With a soft sigh, Liu Qiu drifted behind her and saw that Fang Lian was washing the clothes she had been wearing before her death.

The bloodstained fabric quickly turned the clear water murky.

Fang Lian stared at the garment and began to cry again, her voice hoarse.

“Qiu girl, how could you be so unfilial, making us white-haired ones send off the black-haired.”

Liu Qiu crouched beside her and whispered, “I’m sorry.”

Fang Lian was likely the one suffering the most.

The pain of losing a child was something few could bear.

Though she hadn’t been in this world long, she had truly felt Fang Lian’s affection for the original host.

After Fang Lian finished washing the clothes and walked toward the courtyard gate, Liu Qiu followed.

The moment she stepped past the gate, a powerful force yanked her back.

Startled, she watched Fang Lian’s retreating figure grow distant.

She tried again, but every time she crossed the threshold, she was pulled back just the same.

[System, I can’t leave this courtyard.]

Confusion filled her.

She was already a ghost.

Shouldn’t she be able to go wherever she pleased?

The system replied, [Host, could it be the world consciousness? Perhaps it’s trapping you here and preventing you from going elsewhere.]

When the system put it that way, it did seem possible.

After all, her sudden death had likely been the world consciousness’s doing.

This world’s consciousness didn’t seem particularly fond of the female lead.

It seemed to favor Su Li more.

Liu Qiu sighed.

If that was the case, she wouldn’t wander recklessly.

She might as well see what Su Li was doing.

Drifting along, she returned to her room and passed through the wall.

The bright red wedding characters and decorations had all been removed, leaving the room tidy yet cold and empty.

Su Li sat at the desk, looking at something.

Liu Qiu floated over and glanced down.

It was a portrait of her.

This seemed to be a gift from Liu Feng.

It was painted beautifully.

“Liu Feng is really talented,” Liu Qiu murmured in admiration.

Without noticing Su Li’s tense posture, she shifted angles to admire it further.

“Am I really that pretty?”

“Like a fairy.”

“Wife Lord, you are the most beautiful.”

Hearing Su Li’s voice, Liu Qiu jumped and abruptly turned her head toward her.

All she saw was Su Li’s lowered gaze fixed on the painting.

“Even Wife Lord’s painting is enough to make one lose oneself.”

“Wife Lord, why did you abandon me?”

Su Li spoke one sentence after another, her eyes never leaving the portrait.

Liu Qiu exhaled in relief.

So she was talking to herself.

For a moment, she had thought Su Li could hear her.

“I didn’t abandon you. I just changed the form in which I exist.”

Her hand passed through Su Li’s shoulder without resistance.

Su Li’s body trembled faintly.

“Wife Lord, I miss you so much.”

“We had just gotten married, and you died.”

Liu Qiu raised her hand and rested it above Su Li’s head.

“It wasn’t your fault. What is destined cannot be changed.”

She hadn’t expected Su Li to be this heartbroken.

With a soft sigh, Liu Qiu suddenly saw Su Li tilt her head.

For an instant, their eyes seemed to meet, and Liu Qiu felt as though she had been seen.

But when Su Li stood and walked straight through her toward the door, Liu Qiu realized she had imagined it.

Su Li had not seen her.

Liu Qiu turned toward the doorway.

Su Li opened it.

Liu Huang stood outside.

Her expression was cold.

The whites of her eyes were streaked with red, dark circles shadowed beneath them, her lips dry and peeling.

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She looked utterly disheveled.

Su Li frowned slightly, her voice soft and pitiful.

“Little Sister-in-law, is something the matter?”

Seeing her like this, Liu Huang’s brows knitted sharply as she sneered.

“Stop pretending. She’s already dead. What’s the point of acting now?”

Su Li’s shoulders shrank.

“I—I’m not pretending.”

Liu Huang scoffed.

“Suit yourself. I just came to tell you that our family is moving away.”

“Mother will probably want you to come with us, but I don’t want an outsider joining.”

She took out a pouch of silver from her robe and threw it at Su Li with considerable force.

Su Li didn’t dodge and was struck squarely.

“Ah… that hurts.”

Liu Huang watched coldly.

This woman could easily deflect her strength, yet now she was putting on a show.

The fool who would have fallen for it was no longer here.

Even now, Liu Huang believed it was because this woman had forced Liu Qiu into that kind of act that she had died.

“Disgusting woman.”

Hatred filled Liu Huang’s face.

She couldn’t stay any longer.

If she did, she might truly kill her.

Su Li wore plain white garments, her slender figure even more fragile in contrast to Liu Huang.

Liu Qiu couldn’t help drifting in front of her.

“How can you bully her like this?”

Liu Huang saw that Su Li kept her head lowered and said nothing more.

She turned and walked away.

Liu Qiu felt a little angry.

How could Liu Huang vent her temper on innocent Su Li?

She floated after Liu Huang and then sprawled across her back.

Let her taste a ghost clinging to her.

Since ghosts existed in this world, they must have some abilities.

She would punish Liu Huang.

It was one thing to bully her, but now she was bullying Su Li too.

Pettily, Liu Qiu wrapped her arms around Liu Huang’s neck.

Seeing Liu Huang remain completely unaware, she smiled slightly.

She would make Liu Huang carry her weight.

What Liu Qiu didn’t see was that the moment she left, Su Li raised her eyes and stared fixedly at her departing back, a dark, obscure glint flickering in her gaze.

This human really was something.

Instead of clinging to her, she went to cling to someone else.

It was displeasing.

[Green Hat Value +1]

The sudden notification in her mind made Liu Qiu freeze.

Opening the task panel, she saw her progress bar had indeed moved.

But with the way Su Li and Liu Huang interacted, how could that possibly increase her Green Hat Value?

Could it be because she had touched Liu Huang?

But Su Li couldn’t see her.

Unless… Su Li could see her?

But with Su Li’s temperament, she would surely have been frightened.

The inexplicable increase left Liu Qiu utterly perplexed.

Lost in thought, she was carried along on Liu Huang’s back into Liu Feng’s room.

The moment she entered, she felt unprecedented exhilaration.

“Sister.”

At Liu Huang’s call, Liu Feng slowly turned her head.

A faint smile rested on her face, just as usual, as if she bore no trace of sorrow.

Liu Qiu stared.

She had known it—Liu Feng wasn’t sad at all.

Liu Feng’s gaze settled on Liu Huang, her smile deepening slightly.

Perhaps she had been right.

“Huang’er, what is it?”

Liu Huang pressed her lips tightly, her face pale.

“Sister, you once said that the sickly one would die soon.”

“Did you truly do nothing?”

Liu Feng’s expression did not change.

She stepped closer and lightly patted Liu Huang’s shoulder.

“Why would I need to?”

“As you said, it wasn’t to the extent of hating Sister Qiu to death.”

“This is Heaven’s will.”

Liu Huang’s fists slowly clenched.

She stared at Liu Feng’s smiling dark eyes.

Liu Feng had always been like this—calm, composed, as if everything were under her control.

But now that composure could not soothe her heart.

It felt as though her heart were broken.

Every time she thought of Liu Qiu coughing blood in her arms, her chest tightened painfully.

She had never imagined Liu Qiu would die so suddenly.

So suddenly that she still couldn’t fully comprehend it.

“Sister, I didn’t think she would die.”

Her voice was hoarse, as though she might cry, yet her bloodshot eyes revealed only endless violence.

“I regret it.”

“I shouldn’t have taken her horseback riding.”

Perhaps her body had begun deteriorating from that very day.

Liu Qiu slid off Liu Huang’s back and hovered a few inches above the ground, blinking in surprise.

She hadn’t expected Liu Huang to feel regret.

How strange.

She had thought the two sisters were simply rotten to the core.

Taking advantage of her invisibility, she flicked Liu Huang’s forehead.

“I forgive you for taking me riding.”

She was already dead.

What was the point in holding grudges?

Liu Huang lowered her long lashes, shadows falling beneath them.

“I want her alive.”

To hear Liu Huang’s confession after death was unexpected.

Liu Qiu smiled faintly and drifted out.

She didn’t want to listen anymore.

Next, she would find a place to watch television with the system.

In truth, she wanted more than anything to wander freely.

But she couldn’t even leave the courtyard.

It was as though she were imprisoned here.

Watching television was probably her only entertainment now.