When Ji Yuying opened her eyes, she expected to be on her bed, but she was unable to see properly due to the steam around her.
All she felt was a large hand scrubbing her breasts gently. She could feel a soft scrubber, and a gentle, warm fragrance lingered in the surroundings.
It smelled like sandalwood and rose.
"Yinyin, if you lost control of your bowels, then you should have woken me up. See how dirty and smelly you've become," came a rough but warm voice from behind. She hastily looked up to see the unassuming, bearded face of Shunya, his dark black eyes narrowed in concentration.
Then she felt his large hand on her bare chest, scrubbing. She felt hot with embarrassment. She—a supreme immortal, a Heavenly Sovereign who had surpassed the Thirty-Three Great Heavens—was in such a disgraceful posture.
Her groggy yet ethereal face twisted into a rage of embarrassment. Her porcelain skin turned red with shame.
Out of nowhere, an invisible force shot out of her body, hitting Shunya hard.
Shunya crashed into the wall and fell unconscious.
"Lost my bowels?! That was the impurities expelled from my breakthrough, you oaf!!" screamed Ji Yuying mentally. Although, if she was honest, she was more embarrassed that Shunya had touched her breast and gazed at her bare body.
"Now this body is not of his mortal wife, but the body of the Supreme Immortal Sovereign of the Thirty-Three Great Heavens who happens to be his wife—hmph!"
She turned away after glancing once more at her husband lying on the wet floor and continued bathing.
She needed to figure out how her primordial soul had been healed.
Was it Shunya?
Is he an immortal cultivator too? No. She didn't feel any spiritual energy from him—nor any cultivation base.
She could already tell that in this world, spiritual energy was almost non-existent, so even if he was a cultivator, his cultivation wouldn't be high enough to hide from her senses.
Then... an anomaly? But what kind of anomaly could heal her primordial soul from just a mere wisp?
It was unprecedented.
She tilted her head to glance at Shunya, still unconscious. This time, however, her eyes held a hint of warmth.
"Whatever you are, you'll always be my idiot husband. That won't change, no matter what. But still, lying there after touching your wife's body without her permission...!"
She had lived for millions of years in her first life and twenty-five years in her second.
And this was the first time Ji Yuying felt... lighter.
Shunya had protected her, cared for her—not knowing what he was, or what she was.
He loved her simply as his wife.
So she would love him only as her husband.
There was a slight blush on her normally passive face and a small smile.
---
Suddenly, a loud crashing noise came from outside. An old pair of aging eyes snapped open. They belonged to an old woman with a round, wrinkled face, showing the signs of advanced age and a weakened body.
"What was that noise?" came the voice of an older man beside her. He had sharp features, but his eyes were turning white, showing that his sight was fading.
Their expressions turned grim.
"You stay here, old man. Let me go and see," said the woman with concern, fearing the worst.
"Did Yuying—"
She couldn't even finish the thought.
Her little granddaughter...!!
Why?
How much more must she suffer for no reason?
Her abandonment by her children was nothing compared to this pain. They had lost their eldest and most capable daughter, but they had lived on.
They had lived on for her final wish—to look after her daughter.
This old lady, Liu Mailan's granddaughter...
Ji Yuying, that poor child.
Since the day she was born, all she had faced was tragedy. First, she lost her mother during childbirth.
Born with a weak and frail body, she couldn't live like normal children.
Always thrown out of groups for being "useless."
She became an outcast—mocked as the "cheap daughter" because her mother was labeled a mistress.
Although they helped her as much as they could—her grandfather even teaching her traditional poetry and calligraphy—she was still denounced by her biological father's family and subjected to even more scrutiny.
This society, this world... preaches morals like saints. And yet, it made a child endure such things?
What morals?
Somehow, Ji Yuying had turned eighteen, struggling through life. But then, that bastard's family came again—like snakes hidden in the grass.
At first, they were happy that their Yuying would finally be treated for her congenital diseases.
But when Ji Yuying came back, she was devastated.
She didn't tell them what had happened at first. But from their so-called "kind" relatives, they heard whispers.
"Capital's slut."
That was what they called her.
Worst of all—their own children mocked her.
Both Liu Mailan and Ji Qingyuan, Ji Yuying's grandfather, were shocked and heartbroken.
Their granddaughter would never do something like that.
When they finally asked her what had happened, and she told them...
They had felt like murdering the entire Qin family.
Their "young miss" had created the scandal, and the illegitimate child—Ji Yuying—had taken the fall.
How could a human be so cruel? Even beasts don't eat their own young. Yet that man had forgotten that Yuying was also his child.
That bastard, Qin Ning.
To this day, this old woman cursed his name.
"I'll go and check it out," said Liu Mailan, though her voice carried hesitation—and a hint of fear. Sensing this, Ji Qingyuan said,
"I'll come with you."
Looking at the man who had fought against the burdens of time and a harsh life, she gently supported her husband of fifty years. Together, they slowly walked out of the room.
When they entered the hall and saw what lay before them—
They froze.
There, sitting at the dining table, was Ji Yuying, drinking soup elegantly.
Their beloved granddaughter—who looked more beautiful than the fairies in the heavens.
Like a masterpiece come to life, she sat there eating soup with such grace that it would put the so-called "noble" families to shame.
But more than anything else—Ji Yuying, who had been bedridden and on the verge of death just hours ago, was now sitting upright... calm, radiant, and alive.
A miracle!!!
---
Chapter Ends