Wen Xu looked at Zhao Ming seriously and said, " After seeing Xiao Li and hearing her lethal words, I realized how wrong I was. All along I cared for someone who was just using me against hating you while the one who always respected me and listened to all the scoldings from me, I kept hating her." she smiled bitterly.

  " You always worked hard for the harem but I kept pushing you away and embraced a snake. Zhao Ming, I……really did not know that it was Xiao Li who pushed you into the pond that day and even poisoned you. Now if I think about it……I have never treated you right."

  " I……drugged Ji Cheng's wine because of superstition but also poisoned you to not get……pregnant from it. I was afraid that just as the monk said, you might bring the dark energy in the palace, and the child birthed by you will only be cursed. That's why I was scared and did that……" she said while not daring to look into her eyes and just stared at her hands.

  Zhao Ming didn't say anything but her expressions were stiff. She felt uncomfortable upon thinking about the curse.

  " However, now I have realized. I was wrong all along. After Xiao Li was sent to the palace and you were unconscious, I kept thinking about my past actions and was feeling extremely guilty and bad for what I did. I know that my actions were not something to be forgiven just because I apologized for but I hope you can consider accepting my apology."

  Zhao Ming looked at her and realized that she has a similar face as Tan Xiu's mother. She remembered the warm words she had said to Tan Xiu in her dream. It was the first time that Wen Xu looked like a motherly figure to her. Although she has done so many bad deeds in the past at least she was apologizing. It might be late but she finally realized and apologized for her past mistakes.

  She is not a saint either. She has made tons of mistakes in her past life and has hurt so many people but never apologized to anyone. Although she didn't hurt them intentionally, she did hurt them emotionally with her words.

  " Mother……I can call you mother right?" Zhao Ming asked as her eyes watered while looking at Wen Xu. At this moment, Zhao Ming could see her mother's figure in Wen Xu and due to their similar faces, she felt a great level of intimacy with her.

  Wen Xu was surprised when she called her Mother and did not address her as Empress Dowager. Because she always addressed her with her royal title and never called her mother since she woke up from the coma.

  However, her words and the warm look in her eyes calmed her and made her a little bit emotional. This girl has always called her mother before but she was the one who always prohibited her from calling her that because she could not accept her as her daughter-in-law. However, in the end, the girl she pampered to the heart, pushed her away, and was even ready to kill her but this girl never hurt her no matter how angry she was.

  Although she went to the abandoned chamber because of her, the punishment was not as bad as she had expected. She knew that she has gone light on her for the punishment, compared to her crime.

  " Yes. You can call me whatever you want. In fact, from now on, you can only address me as Mother." Wen Xu said while smiling but seeing Zhao Ming's tears, her eyes started to water as well-

  After leaving the orchid pavilion, Zhao Ming made her way to Shen Jia's chamber. She was feeling better than before as they were able to solve their issues.

  No matter how much she hated Wen Xu or argued with her, it was hard for her to go hard on her with that face of her, which was similar to her mother's. Her face was still vivid in her memories even after so many years-

  Upon reaching Shen Jia's chamber, she was offered to take a seat and a maid served her some snacks as she didn't want to drink tea again. Shen Jia was not in her room so she sat there and waited for her.

  " When did you come here?" Shen Jia asked when she entered her chamber and saw Zhao Ming eating snacks.

  " A while ago. By the way, where were you?"

  " I went to pick some herbs to make medicine for you. After all, this action of yours had caused disturbance for everyone." Shen Jia said while placing her basket full of herbs and flowers on the table, for Zhao Ming to see herself.

  Zhao Ming frowned seeing the herbs as she knows that they're the reason of bitterness in her life.

  " So……you want to talk about it?" Shen Jia asked as she sipped on her tea while sitting opposite her.

  Zhao Ming pursed her lips and nodded-

  After telling her everything that happened after she went into a deep slumber while holding onto that hairpin and whatever she saw in her dream including the lady who cursed her and how Yang Hanying tortured her and her family.

  Her hands shivered as she recounted all the things to Shen Jia. She also told her how she woke up in a mysterious dark place and was stuck there with Xie Ming.

  After listening to her story, Shen Jia didn't say anything and stayed silent and sipped on her tea slowly and stared at the floor.

  Zhao Ming was getting impatient because of this suffocating silence and Shen Jia's calm expressions were making it even worse.

  " So……do you know anything about that mysterious place? I mean……it was the first time I saw something so eerie and it was scary to the point that I had a mental breakdown. If I haven't met Xie Ming, I would have died there while crying and shouting alone." she said and rubbed her arms with her palms remembering about the cold place.

  Shen Jia placed her teacup down and stared at her with indifferent expressions and finally said, " Before that Zhao Ming, you need to know that what you did was extremely dangerous and it could have put your and Xie Ming's lives in danger. Your spiritual energy is not on that level where you can carry out such rituals on your own. Didn't I tell you to not try that method to know about your past?"

  " If you hadn't used your brain and combined yours and Xie Ming's spiritual energy, you would have never been able to get out from that parallel space," she said which made Zhao Ming shiver at her words.

  " Parallel space?"

  Shen Jia nodded and explained, " According to what you have explained about that 'dream' and parallel space, it seems like it was not a dream. Due to you practicing that ritual without any right guidance, your and Xie Ming's souls must have gone into the past when everything happened. But rather than taking over Tan Xiu's body, your souls must have been wandering and that's how you were able to find out the things that even Tan Xiu was not aware of at that time."

  " Because if you guys have taken over Tan Xiu's body, you wouldn't have come back to life again and would have died with Tan Xiu. And if that had happened, the cycle of the curse would have continued causing you to be born again and suffer from the start."

  Zhao Ming's eyes widened hearing her scary words. She never thought about such things before but it was hella scary.

  " You should be glad that I was here and was doing rituals for you guys. This way you managed to come out of the parallel space after combining your energies. So from now on, don't even do anything that you don't know about. Your body is too weak to suffer another blow like this."

  Zhao Ming nodded seriously.

  [ Read this novel only on W e b n o v e l . c o m ( remove spaces). If you are reading this elsewhere, other than w e b n o v e l then this novel has been stolen. Support the original author by reading it on w e b n o v e l, not the thieves, and get the latest updates. Follow the author on Instagram for more: kamlyn_love. Regards Kamlyn]