Abruptly, the vivid images faded, and Mei awoke from her dream memory, fingers brushing the joint of her other hand, feeling the usual ache in the hollow place in her chest where her heart used to be.
She could feel Ling'er's gaze on her, and she could see the sympathy in her eyes. She gave her a smile to reassure Linger as she didn't like showing Ling'er her sorrow because she realised it also affected Ling'er as much as it did her.
Although Ling'er was always happy, she carried this air of melancholy around her, and Mei knew she used humour to mask the sadness behind her cheerful nature.
Although she met Ling'er only three months ago, she considered her a great friend and a younger sister.
She met Ling'er the moment she became a ghost after learning that her beloved husband orchestrated the fire that burned her to ashes. She saw a small white cloth peeking from the corner eavesdropping, and from that moment onwards, Ling'er attached herself to her.
She remembered when she was sad the first few days after her death Ling'er promised her she wouldn't rest until she helped her take revenge so she tried every single moment to trying to find a way to make life hard for them and although she didn't have any power she realized breathing chilly air at the back of their necks spooked them and she made that the mission she followed one day each breathing down the necks.
When she wasn't spooking the couple, she would be next who was now a shell of her former self with no reaction and would tell of her funny stories she experienced as a ghost and explain the names on her infamous "list" and that was what finally caught Mei's attention at first she wished for the earth to open and swallow her when she heard how her husband was the second last in the list but she learnt why she was in the rank the days to follow.
Although Mei was sad, it was this little girl she knew nothing of who tried so hard to make her feel better, which warmed her icy heart. Although she had sisters, they were from different mothers and were not close growing up, so they didn't treat her as nicely as Ling'er did before, which made her feel better.
She wondered how this lively girl passed away. Maybe she had trauma her, so she decided she would take it slow to learn more about her, but for now, she felt like she had a little sister she had never had, and she made a promise to always protect her.
She felt Ling'er float right in front of her to ask if she wanted to go to the brothel to watch, but Mei declined as she still wanted to stay in the palace, so Ling'er left, promising to come back.
The surroundings got quiet once Ling'er felt, and the empress had already gone to bed, so she left there and just drifted around the palace. She came to a small palace that was further away from the other buildings and less grand, and she felt a powerful pull as she was sucked into the building.
She came face to face with a beautiful woman dressed in palace clothes. She guessed she was one of the emperor's women, but was wondering what pulled her towards this building.
The woman had rosy glowing cheeks and was half sitting, half laying on a chair. Mei followed her hand to find her stroking her stomach, and then she saw a minor bump, which showed the woman was currently pregnant.
She felt her eye sting at the sight and she unconsciously touched her stomach remembering the time she was once the same she can never forget the feeling of her stomach growing bigger as the day went by and the flutter she felt in her stomach the day her baby started kicking her stomach the first time was permanently marked on her mind forever.
She touched her cheeks, expecting to find them wet with tears, but she remembered she was a ghost not capable of tears. She closed her eyes as she remembered the son she lost during childbirth two years ago as he had the umbilical cord wrapped around his neck when he was born. She still remembered the heartbreak she felt as she held his small, lifeless body in her arms.
It was a pain she would never wish on anyone but now she was glad her son died as leaving him alone in the world as her mother did would have killed her twice for least she had her grandmother to raise her but her baby would have suffered in the world alone and she wondered if she will meet of him the afterlife if she seized to be a spirit.
Mei looked at the woman, who had a gentle smile on her face and prayed for her earnestly. She wished the woman could hold her baby in her arms and watch it grow.
She tried to leave but couldn't physically, and she wondered if she wanted to leave so as not to expose the baby to her energy. She didn't know if it would cause any harm, but she didn't wish to risk it. Unable to leave, she sat there.
To pass the time, she remembered a routine of hers during her pregnancy, which was telling the baby a story, so to pass the time, she narrated the stories she used to narrate to her baby, and she felt a drop in her hollow chest as the woman jumped up.
Mei stared at the woman to determine if she was okay, and she heard the cheerful voice of the woman shouting the baby kicked. With the reaction, Mei knew it was the first time she was experiencing the feeling of that miracle.
She felt disoriented by the current situation, which left her unsettled. She wondered if all that was a coincidence, but everything from the pull to the baby kicking the first time after her story felt more than a coincidence. Mei didn't know how to handle that situation.