That evening, Ming Lingyi had little appetite. She only ate a bowl of plain noodles and drank a bowl of medicine before lying back down in bed.
Her hands subconsciously rested on her lower abdomen, and she was struck by the realization that the belly that had once been habitually swollen was now flat.
'I wonder how that child is doing.'
She could force herself not to think about the man in the Imperial Palace, but she couldn't stop herself from missing the Little Bun she had been separated from at birth.
Ming Lingyi knew it was now the Seventh Year of Jing'an. To most people, she had been dead for five years. But to her, death felt like it had only happened yesterday. Everything was still vivid in her memory, especially her swaddled child.
Ming Lingyi gazed at the green gauze bed curtains. 'I've never used something so simple before, but I'm getting used to it surprisingly well.'
'No matter what, I have to survive first.'
Only by living could she see her child again.
Xiao Chun slept on the soft couch in Ming Lingyi's room.
There used to be servants' quarters in the back courtyard, but ever since the Ming Family's restaurant ran into trouble, Xiao Chun had moved into Ming Lingyi's room.
That shameless Ming Fanjiang had previously taken everything of value from his cousin's private chambers and sold it all off.
Ming Lingyi couldn't sleep. Her mind was a mess of thoughts, and she tossed and turned in bed.
"Miss, what's wrong?" Hearing the movement, Xiao Chun shot up from the soft couch beside her and asked with concern.
Ming Lingyi shook her head. "I'm fine."
She just couldn't fall asleep.
"The weather is getting colder. The new year must be soon," Ming Lingyi said casually.
"Yes," Xiao Chun yawned and rubbed her eyes. "The restaurants will all be closing in a few days."
Ming Lingyi asked, "So early? Isn't there still some time before the new year?"
Xiao Chun replied, "Have you forgotten, Miss? For the ten days before New Year's Eve, everyone in the city must eat cold food and abstain from meat. The restaurants can't do much business, so we always close around this time every year and don't reopen until after the new year."
Ming Lingyi was extremely surprised. She had never heard of such a rule in the Capital City before.
"Why?" she asked.
Xiao Chun sighed. She felt that ever since her miss had a brush with death, she seemed to have forgotten many things.
"It's been this way for a few years, because of the..." Xiao Chun whispered, "After the Empress passed away, the Emperor issued the order..."
The moment Ming Lingyi heard Xiao Chun's words, she froze. The blood in her veins seemed to stop flowing, and her entire body went rigid.
Caught completely off guard by the mention of people and events from her past, she couldn't process it.
Ming Lingyi pressed her lips together, then turned over. "Go to sleep. The hour is late, and we have things to do tomorrow."
The next morning, when Ming Lingyi woke up, she felt much lighter and had more strength.
Xiao Chun had gone out early to run some errands. Ming Lingyi tidied herself up and left through the small gate in the back courtyard.
The East Market truly lived up to its reputation as the most prosperous part of Shangjing City. Early in the morning, the market was already bustling with activity.
Ming Lingyi walked along the nearest market, looking at the steaming wonton soup pots by the roadside and the bamboo steamers stacked more than ten layers high. The rich aroma of dough mixed with the smell of meat filling wafted through the air. Without even lifting a lid, one could imagine the fluffy steamed buns inside.
Ming Lingyi entered a mutton soup shop and ordered a bowl of mutton soup and a flatbread. She broke the bread into pieces, soaked them in the savory broth, and ate until she was full.
When she first left the house, Ming Lingyi was wearing a veil hat.
She wasn't quite used to walking through such crowded and lively places as the market, but gradually, she seemed to be adapting.
After paying and leaving the mutton soup shop, she simply took off her veil hat and took a deep breath.
After entering the Imperial Palace, she never thought she would see the outside world again.
Although she had only spent two short years in the palace, it was enough time for her to abandon the extravagant hope of returning to the Great Desert.
'People are so strange,' she sometimes thought. 'Years ago, when I followed my disgraced Grandpa to the remote Great Desert, I spent every moment thinking about when I could return to the bustling Capital City. But after putting down roots in the Great Desert, I actually found it quite wonderful. There were vast grasslands, endless yellow sands, and a young general who was always by my side. After coming to the Capital City, all of that was gone.'
Shaking off her thoughts, Ming Lingyi headed toward Yongxing Square.
The Ming Family's old residence was in Yongxing Square, right at the foot of the Imperial City.
A sense of unease grew in Ming Lingyi's heart as she walked. To her, it felt like only yesterday that she was within the palace walls, separated from her parents and brother for just a few months. But to the Ming Family, she was someone who had been dead for five years. And what's more, there was her current appearance...
When she woke up today, Ming Lingyi had deliberately sat before a copper mirror to carefully examine her current face.
Bright eyes, pearly teeth, almond-shaped eyes, willow-leaf brows, and lips the color of summer cherries—it was seventy or eighty percent similar to her former appearance. The only real difference was that back then, as the Empress, she was ultimately the Queen Mother. Despite her kindness, after so many years by Li Yun's side, she had picked up some of his habits, and her aura was one of inviolable dignity.
But now, she was no different from any other young woman who had just come of age.
'This business of "rebirth in another's body" sounds like mad ramblings. I might even be driven away as a fraud or a lunatic.'
Just as Ming Lingyi, her stomach churning with anxiety and nervousness, reached the main entrance of the Ming family residence in Yongxing Square, she froze.
The "Ming Mansion" plaque still hung above the main gate, but the entrance was covered in a layer of fallen leaves, a clear sign that it had not been tended to in a very long time.
'If this were a normal residence, how could it have fallen into such disrepair?'
Ming Lingyi didn't approach rashly, choosing to observe from a distance.
'What's going on?'
Ming Lingyi's mind was in turmoil. Yesterday, she had instructed Xiao Chun to arrange for helpers, merely as a last resort so she could stand on her own two feet and survive. But her main plan had been to visit her father and brother today. She and her brother shared many little secrets that only they knew; she was confident she could find a way to convince her family that she was the same Ming Lingyi who had died in the Imperial Palace five years ago.
But what was this situation now?
Ming Lingyi turned on her heel and walked toward a breakfast stall.
Although she was already full, she still handed over a few copper coins and bought a large, fluffy steamed bun.
"Ma'am, may I ask you something?" Ming Lingyi asked, putting her veil hat back on. She remembered this old woman who ran a stall not far from her family's home.
"What is it?" the old woman replied enthusiastically.
Ming Lingyi pointed in the direction of the Ming Mansion. "I came to the Capital City a few years ago and remember this place being very lively. How is it that this time, it looks like no one has lived here for a long time? Don't they say land in the Capital City is worth its weight in gold? How could such a fine courtyard be unoccupied? Could it be... haunted?"
Ming Lingyi lowered her voice for the last word.
Her demeanor was no different from that of a naive young girl.
When the bun-selling woman heard this, she quickly raised a finger to her lips. "SHHH—" She paled in alarm. "You can't say such things!"