It's Better to be the Empress Dowager Chapter 139

Chapter 139 Extra: Previous Life 2 – Can you see me?
Tang Shishi did not expect that she would see Jing Wang, Zhao Chengjun. It was just that he looked very young at the moment as if he was only twelve or thirteen.
Tang Shishi was shocked. In her lifetime, Jing Wang was completely unattainable in the prince’s mansion. While the few beauties suffered terribly among them, no one dared to provoke Jing Wang.
Tang Shishi did not even dare to look directly at Jing Wang’s face. She and Jing Wang met only a few times, all at the family banquet. Later, Jing Wang became busier and busier and could not be seen at all after the war.
Tang Shishi could hardly remember when the last time she saw Jing Wang. She only remembered that it seemed on one winter, which was also New Year’s Eve, she was secretly plotted against by Zhou Shunhua and accidentally broke into the resting place of Jing Wang after being calculated by that shameless Feng Qian. Tang Shishi was too frightened to breathe. However, the unattainable Jing Wang looked very approachable and let her go back without punishing her. Knowing that her bracelet was broken, he also gave her a luminous pearls bracelet.
Tang Shishi liked that bracelet very much and wore it all the time. She wanted to find a chance to say thank you to Jing Wang, but she did not expect Jing Wang to become busier and busier later and never met Jing Wang by herself. Then Jing Wang died, and not long after, she died too.
The luminous pearls bracelet broke was on the ground and could never be found again.
There was no regret in Tang Shishi’s heart, but she had many unfulfilled wishes. Jing Wang was just one of the small ones, nothing more than just a thought. Tang Shishi did not expect that when her soul stranded in the Imperial Palace after her death, she saw the young Jing Wang.
Tang Shishi was instinctively afraid of Jing Wang, but she thought about it again that she was already dead and what was she afraid of? So, Tang Shishi increased her courage, floated in front of Jing Wang, and leaned closer to look at his face carefully.
She truly did not expect that when Jing Wang was young, he would be so fair and handsome?
Tang Shishi could not take her eyes off. Not knowing whether it was her illusion, she always felt that Jing Wang seemed to dodge backward.
Tang Shishi was not very clever when she was alive, and even more lazy to use her brain after her death. She felt that Jing Wang’s actions were a bit strange. However, she thought that since she was dead, why should she care about the living people? Thus, Tang Shishi happily put aside her doubts, found a comfortable place to sit, and looked at Zhao Chengjun while swaying her legs and propping up her chin.
It was really strange. One hour earlier, how could Tang Shishi dare to think that she would dare to stare at Jing Wang? The wonderful thing about life was that one would never know what would happen next.
The eunuch said a lot, but Tang Shishi did not listen, and Zhao Chengjun did not pay much attention. Zhao Chengjun was a little helpless. Did this female ghost just die? However, he seemed to have not heard of any death of an imperial concubine in the palace recently, and it was unlikely that she was without status based on her appearance.
Was she that woman who died in vain outside the palace? That should not be the case as there were barriers in the Imperial Palace and the blessing of the imperial energy. According to reason, the lonely ghosts outside could not float into the Imperial Palace.
Of course, none of these matters. What mattered was why she kept starring at him as if she knew him. Zhao Chengjun did not remember seeing this woman before, and the ghost was too vivid and clear this time.
Zhao Chengjun felt light when he was young. He could often see blurred dark shadows which were the same as a cloud of mist and could not see the specific facial features clearly. When he was seven years old, his psychic eyes closed, and could no longer see ghosts. However, the problem of not sleeping well when he was a child, has been persisted.
After a long time, Zhao Chengjun had forgotten that he could see ghosts when he was a child. If it had not been for Tang Shishi floated in this time, he would not be able to remember these things.
After the eunuch left, Zhao Chengjun asked people to close the door and continue reading quietly. Sitting on the seat in Chonghua Palace, Tang Shishi looked at Zhao Chengjun unscrupulously and was astonished while watching, “It turns out that you’ve caused my death.”
Zhao Chengjun’s eyebrows moved, bowed his head to read as before, and remained unmoved steadily. The more Tang Shishi thought about it, the angrier she became. She relied on no one could see her after her death and float closer. Later, she simply sat on Zhao Chengjun’s table, trying to grasp the brush holder while scolding him, “It’s all your fault. If it weren’t for you, how could I be killed at a young age? You’re still a Wangye. You owe me a life. How should you repay me?”
Tang Shishi was too engrossed in her scolding without realizing she had exerted too much force in her hand and knocked the brush holder to the ground with a bang. Tang Shishi was stunned at that time. The eunuch outside asked, “Fourth Highness, what’s the matter?”
“Nothing.” Zhao Chengjun put down his book and said calmly, “A cat ran in and knocked down the brush holder. You don’t have to come in. I’ll deal with it myself.”
Cat? Liu Ji frowned while looking at the tightly closed doors and windows, and said, “Will do.”
Liu Ji’s footsteps went away. After he left, Zhao Chengjun turned over a page of the book and said softly, “Don’t you pick up the things yet?”
At that time, Tang Shishi shouted in her heart “Good gracious!”, sprang up from the table. Because she sprinted too fast, she accidentally hit the bookshelf behind and covered her head in pain.
Zhao Chengjun sighed, “You are so stupid when you became a ghost. Did you die from stupidity when you were alive?”
Tang Shishi covered her head, stunned for a long time, and finally came back to her senses. She pointed at herself and said unbelievingly, “Can you see me?”
Zhao Chengjun did not answer. Tang Shishi turned around woodenly and looked outside of the palace where many people came and went, suspecting there was a ghost for the first time.
It turned out that people could see ghosts? Why did the storybook say that people and ghosts have different paths, and Yin and Yang were always separated? Did this not mislead people, and mislead ghosts?
Zhao Chengjun seemed convinced, sighed again, and said, “Only I can see, and they can’t. Who are you and why are you in my palace?”
When Tang Shishi heard the earlier sentence, she could not help to be relieved. When she heard the later part, she got angry again, snorted softly, and floated to sit on the wooden stool, “Who said this is your palace, this is clearly my palace.”
Zhao Chengjun raised his eyebrows. It turned out that a court lady was buried in Chonghua Palace? However, since the founding of the current dynasty, no imperial concubines had lived in Chonghua Palace. Zhao Chengjun only moved here because he liked the quietness here.
If she was not from the current dynasty, then was she from the previous dynasty? The previous dynasty was a bit troublesome. Her old friend has already passed away, and it was hard to get rid of her grievances. Perhaps, it would be hard to make her leave. Zhao Chengjun asked, “What is your name? How many years have you died? As long as you are willing to reincarnate, I’ll let someone dig out your bones and bury them again to resolve your grievances. What do you think?”
Tang Shishi smiled. She had never dared to talk to Jing Wang before, but she did not expect that now she has taken the initiative like never before, “Wangye, if you want to bury me, I’m afraid it won’t work.”
Zhao Chengjun felt something, raised his eyebrows slightly, and asked, “Why?”
Tang Shishi wanted to say that because she died after him, but when the words came to the tip of her tongue, she swallowed them back, “Because I live in your later life.”
Zhao Chengjun was interested in this strangeness. He closed the book and asked, “Which dynasty were you in?”
Tang Shishi said the nearest era of Zhao Zixun, “Tianshou.”
“Tianshou…” Zhao Chengjun restrained his eyes. He indeed has not heard of this era. Did this woman really come from later life?
When Tang Shishi saw that she had baffled Jing Wang, she suddenly felt that she was so awesome. She cheered up proudly and said, “You don’t know, right? I still know a lot of things that you don’t know. How many years have been in this dynasty?”
“Thirteenth year of Jiankang.”
Tang Shishi was about to reveal the thirteenth year of Jiankang so that she could face Jing Wang with high prestige for a while, but she was stunned when the words came to her lips.
In the thirteenth year of Jiankang… What happened?
Tang Shishi held her chin and thought about it carefully. She was only six years old in the thirteenth year of Jiankang. She only remembered that concubine Bai had another son when she was six years old. The days between her and her mother became ever more difficult. At Lantern Festival that year, she fell in love with the snow willow hair accessories but was snatched by Tang Yanyan and trampled on it.
Apart from this, what had happened in the imperial court?
Tang Shishi thought long and hard while Zhao Chengjun observed her. After he watched her for a while, he was certain and said, “Weren’t you were born in the era not far from the current dynasty, just during the Jiankang period?”
Tang Shishi was taken aback and blurted out, “How do you know?”
Zhao Chengjun thought to himself, how did she survive in the court? Oh yes, she did not survive.
She was dead.
Zhao Chengjun remembered what she had just said and asked, “You just said that I’ve caused your death. Why?”
Tang Shishi just relied on the fact that others could not hear her, and she was filled with indignation. Now she learned that Zhao Chengjun could see and hear her, she suddenly wilted and said vaguely, “It’s nothing. I just talk about it casually.”
Zhao Chengjun did not think she was talking about it casually. It was obviously true from the way she was angry just now. Zhao Chengjun also wanted to know what he had done to cause a woman’s death, who was not smart nor noble and apparently without any conflict with him.
The more Tang Shishi did not want to say it, the more Zhao Chengjun wanted to get to the bottom of it. Instead of asking directly, he changed his angle and asked, “Since I am sorry for you, then I should make up for you. Where do you live and what wishes do you have?”
Tang Shishi blinked. Although she was not smart, she was not brainless. Although she died in the first year of Tianshou, little Tang Shishi was still alive in this era.
If she told Zhao Chengjun her details, would not Zhao Chengjun come to settle the accounts with her later?
Tang Shishi was not stupid. She refused to say and said, “This little girl is not of high birth and dare not say it to pollute Wangye’s ears.”
She still has some brain. Zhao Chengjun smiled and asked, “Then you can always tell me your name, right?”
Tang Shishi knew that she would enter the palace in the future and also be sent to Jing Wang’s mansion. Was she crazy to tell Zhao Chengjun her name for fear that she did not die fast enough?
Tang Shishi still shook her head like a rattle drum, “My name is nothing remarkable. I dare not trouble Wangye to keep thinking about it.”
Zhao Chengjun raised his eyebrows and said, “You have said I let you down, but you’re not willing to neither say your hometown nor your name. How can I compensate you?”
Tang Shishi was stumped by the question. She propped her chin in distress and thought for a while. The more she thought, the more confused she became. She simply go through the motions and said, “Oh, forget it. I’ll tell you when I think of it.”