Chapter 19: Chapter 19
Goddess Qiwan looked up at the misty skies of the heavens and sighed, her large round eyes bearing the regret which had tormented her for the last one thousand years. Perhaps only her former maid, the fairy Tang Jing, would know her situation. If she was still here.
She had loved a man silently for two thousand years, the ruthless Yingshang, the former God of Mischief and now God of War, feared by all.
When Yingshang was in the mortal realm, he had taken on Fang Yiqi’s identity, fooling Qiwan, who thought her true love was Fang Yiqi. She had made the mistake of falling in love with him in the human world and believing that he was the mortal Fang Yiqi. As she realised how mortals had a finite lifespan, she had created Xinran in her likeness and sent her to the human world to accompany the man she loved. Also, it was a sin in the immortal world for a goddess to love a mortal.
Thus, she had Xinran take her place in loving the mortal, while she drank down the amnesia potion and returned to her abode in the celestial realm, bringing with her the pain and desolation of the love that would never be.
A small figure came walking on her dainty legs. After spending thousands of years with her marriage, Tang Jing had finally returned to visit her former mistress.
"Tang Jing, do you think Xinran's outcome would be different if I had not sent her to the human world?"
"No, my lady. Perhaps, at least, you gave her a chance to experience true love."
"But Xinran never got to be with him in the end."
"That, Goddess, we have to attribute it with how much she takes after you in personality," a female voice said behind them.
Qiwan breathed a sigh of relief as she realised that the voice belonged to no other than the Lord of Destinies.
"What brings Lord Siming to the Eternal Heavens?" Qiwan smiled. Prior to attaining godhood, Qiwan was good friends and associates with Siming, who was now Lord Siming.
"The God of War wishes to see you again," Siming said with a poker face.
"After everything that's happened, he still wishes to see me?" a single tear rolled down the previously smiling Qiwan's flawless cheeks. As alluring as she was as a goddess, Qiwan possessed an extremely sentimental soul.
"He remembers the past. He remembers you, Goddess."
Qiwan wiped her eyes magically with a single flick of her fingers. "Does he have a way to help Xinran and Fang Yiqi?"
"They have reincarnated, my lady."
"What are their names now?"
"Shirley Yang and Jack Yue. Goddess, the affairs of the mortal world are not within our control. Lord Yama controls the underworld, and the five tutelary gods maintain peace in the human world. If destiny awaits them, they will be."
"Since you are the lord of destinies, tell me what they have ahead of them."
"As I said before, I cannot divulge the secrets of the heavens, my lady. You will know, in time to come."
She promptly handed Qiwan a jade bangle and a silk handkerchief before taking her leave.
"He remembers..." Qiwan gasped. Back in the mortal realm, ‘Fang Yiqi’ had gifted her the jade bangle, and she had in return presented him with the silk handkerchief, which she had embroidered with her own hands. Touching the items only caused her mind to be blasted with the hellish memories of her past, and how ‘Fang Yiqi’ had unrelentingly hurt her repeatedly. Even though it was simply a trial and a challenge to her to achieve her goddess status, the pain in her heart had hurt her so much, and in the end, she had selfishly tried to grant him happiness through Xinran.
Nothing could have stopped Yingshang from salvaging the items that were lost in the mortal realm, and he had done that almost a thousand years later.
Siming swiftly vaulted through the colourful multitude of clouds in the skies and arrived at Yingshang's new abode, the Infinite Heavens.
"Have you sent for her?" the pale-looking tallish god asked coldly.
"Yes, my lord. I have delivered the gifts."
"Thank you, Siming. Did she say anything else?"
"She asked if your lordship has a way to help Xinran and Fang Yiqi."
Yingshang lifted a long braid of his silky hair and sent it flying behind him in a mild tremor. He seemed rather unmoved by Qiwan’s concern about the two mortals.
"Shirley Yang and Jack Yue," he mumbled. "What are their destinies?"
"As your lordship instructed, I have left their destinies blank, and only written that of their childhood. At this time, they should meet," the deity confidently answered. Retrieving a folder from his sleeve, she presented it to Yingshang courteously with both hands outstretched. The folder had contained the destinies of the two.
"Shirley is twenty-one, and Jack Yue is twenty-five. A calamity will befall Shirley which she will suffer amnesia like her creator, and Jack will chase her endlessly," Yingshang murmured. "Siming, is this a drama I am watching?"
Siming nodded his head. "It will be one of the most classical modern fairytales you will ever hear of, My Lordship."