Chapter 1: Return from Hell—Kill

Page 1 of 3

It was early spring, the second month of the year, and the chill was biting.

The ground was slick with damp, making it difficult to walk.

Lin Pianran lay upon the icy earth, her face deathly pale and her eyes tightly shut, looking no different from a corpse.

Lin Chuge shoved her hard several times, but she did not stir.

“Lin Pianran, are you pretending to be dead? I only gave you a light push. You were the one who fell and knocked yourself unconscious! Even... even if you died from the fall, you can’t blame me for it!”

When the girl on the ground still showed no reaction, Lin Chuge cautiously placed a finger beneath Lin Pianran’s nose. Her breath was exceedingly faint—so faint that it was almost impossible to feel, as though she might pass into the underworld at any moment.

A wave of panic swept over Lin Chuge. Her spine turned cold and her head began to swim. Abandoning the girl where she lay, she fled in terror.

After a long while, Lin Pianran awoke from the agony and suffocation of the white silk cord strangling her neck. Like a dying fish, she gulped for air, desperately drawing fresh breath into her lungs.

She looked around. It was the familiar imperial hunting grounds.

When she saw the small, tender hands before her, she knew that she had been reborn.

Reborn ten years in the past, at the time when the Lin siblings had tormented her.

Lin Pianran was the adopted daughter of Lady Su Qingfeng, the principal wife of the Lin household.

The Dowager Lady Lin had two sons and two daughters. Her eldest son, Lin Aodong, was a Vice Minister of Rites. Her second son, Lin Aosong, was a Director in the Ministry of Works. Her eldest daughter, Lin Aomei, had married into the Marquis of Changping’s household. Her younger daughter, Lin Aoshuang—also known as Consort De in the imperial palace—was one of the emperor’s consorts.

Su Qingfeng was Lin Aodong’s first wife.

Not long after their marriage, she had sustained severe injuries while saving Lin Aodong and had been rendered permanently incapable of bearing children.

Later, Lin Aodong took Su Qingfeng’s cousin, Zhao Yurou, as his equal wife.

Once Zhao Yurou entered the household, she proved extraordinarily fertile, giving birth in succession to two sons and three daughters.

She established herself firmly and became the true mistress of the Lin family.

Meanwhile, Su Qingfeng was pushed aside until she possessed neither status nor any sense of existence within the household.

As a result, Lin Pianran’s position was not only awkward but exceedingly low. The Lin children often bullied and beat her.

Today, the four Lin siblings had forced Lin Pianran to accompany them on a hunting outing, intending to take the opportunity to torment her.

In her previous life, they had tortured her until her body was covered in wounds and she had suffered beyond endurance.

They had even broken one of her legs, leaving her unable to walk for two full months.

Page 1 of 3

Page 2 of 3

The moment her leg recovered, her adoptive father, Lin Aodong, had forced her to become the aged Prince Jing’s junior concubine. He had done it solely to secure a splendid future for his eldest son, Lin Chumo.

At the time, Lin Pianran had pleaded without end, her cries filled with blood and grief, yet the Lin family had remained determined to have their way.

Her adoptive mother, Su Qingfeng, was gravely ill and had little time left to live; she had no strength to concern herself with anything else.

Alone and powerless, Lin Pianran could do nothing but allow the Lin family to manipulate and torment her.

Who could have imagined that on the night of the wedding, Prince Jing would accidentally fall into a pond and drown?

From then on, Lin Pianran bore the infamous titles of “husband-killer” and “jinx,” eking out a miserable existence in the Prince Jing’s household for more than a year.

Yet the Lin family still refused to let her go.

One day, Lin Chuyan of the eldest branch suddenly came to visit. Taking advantage of Lin Pianran’s unpreparedness, she stole the jade pendant Lin Pianran wore close to her body and assumed her identity.

Thus, she became the long-lost legitimate daughter of the Duke Protector’s household. Under the prestige of that illustrious identity, she married into the Prince Ping’s household as its principal consort.

In the end, she became empress—the most honored woman beneath Heaven, unrivaled in nobility.

Lin Pianran’s own life, meanwhile, grew ever more difficult. Within the rear court of Prince Jing’s residence, his many wives, concubines, and children joined forces to oppress and torment her, making her existence worse than death.

At last, on a snowy, windswept night, they united to strangle her to death with a length of white silk.

After her death, her resentment transformed into a lingering spirit that drifted through the mortal world. Only then did she learn the rest of the truth.

She was the true daughter of the Duke Protector’s household.

Lin Chuyan was merely a thief who had stolen her identity.

And the reason the people of Prince Jing’s household had tormented her and constantly made trouble for her was that the Lin family had bribed them to do so.

She watched as every member of the Lin family basked in imperial favor, receiving noble titles and high office, their futures brilliant and boundless.

Only she had been drained of her blood and marrow by them before meeting a wretched death.

Her entire life had been so pitiful, like one enormous joke.

Thinking of the suffering she had endured in her previous life, Lin Pianran’s overwhelming resentment and hatred made her eyes bulge with fury, their whites flushed crimson.

In this life, the Lin family would never again use her bones as stepping-stones to climb higher.

Nor would she ever forgive them.

She would make them repay every debt they owed her a hundredfold, a thousandfold.

She swore to trample that nest of wolves and tigers from the Lin family straight into the depths of hell.

Her thoughts returning to the present, Lin Pianran slowly rose from the ground. When she saw the shocking welts left by the whip across the backs of her hands and along her arms,

Page 2 of 3

Page 3 of 3

an icy light flashed in her eyes.

Unable to restrain herself, she murmured, “Now that I have returned, it is time to settle every score.”

Suddenly, a woman’s shrill cry rang out.

“Lin Pianran, you really were pretending to be dead! You shameless little wretch! I’ll beat you to death! How dare you frighten me—just wait until I beat you until your skin is torn to ribbons!”

With that, she brandished her whip and charged forward, snarling viciously.

When Lin Pianran saw her, a strange and malicious smile spread across her face.

“If revenge must begin somewhere, it may as well begin with you.” Her soft whisper sounded like a death god’s chant.

When Lin Chuge was nearly upon her, Lin Pianran dodged aside and shouted as she ran, “You want to hit me? Then come and catch me if you can!”

She sprinted away at full speed, all the while goading Lin Chuge with taunts.

“You run slower than a tortoise, yet you still want to beat me? Keep dreaming! This is hilarious!”

Lin Chuge had a fiery temper. Her fury made smoke seem to pour from her ears as she cursed furiously.

“You little wretch! Once I catch you, I’ll whip you until your skin is torn and you’re screaming for your parents, begging on your knees for mercy!”

After running for a while longer, Lin Pianran suddenly stopped beside a pile of dead branches, panting heavily.

Lin Chuge soon caught up.

Seething with rage, she swung her whip wildly as she charged forward.

Lin Pianran nimbly evaded the blow, then abruptly shoved Lin Chuge hard in the shoulder. Lin Chuge toppled backward onto the pile of branches.

First came a tremendous thud.

Then came a shriek.

Lin Chuge had fallen into a hunting pit.

Her wailing rose from the bottom.

“Ah... ah... it hurts... it hurts so much... There’s so much blood... I’m injured...”

The pit was not especially large, measuring only a little over a yard in both length and width, but it was extremely deep—more than ten feet from top to bottom.

At its base stood numerous sharpened bamboo stakes, radiating a chilling menace.

Lin Chuge had fallen sideways. Several of the sharpened stakes had pierced deep holes through her body, and blood poured from the wounds without end.

Lin Pianran looked down gleefully. Seeing Lin Chuge drenched in blood, her face twisted in agony, she felt an exhilarating rush of satisfaction.

Yet her expression was filled with feigned concern.

“Seventh Sister, your injuries are so serious, and you’re bleeding terribly! This pit is far too deep—I have no way to pull you out. What are we going to do?”

Page 3 of 3