The Old Lady Wants to Live

Scene One:

Concubine Li (angrily): I have two and a half enemies. You have to avenge me.

Gu Miao'er: Sure. Should I chop them into pieces or mince them? You decide!

Concubine Li (coughing up blood): It doesn't need to be so gruesome. Just make them suffer beyond endurance.

Gu Miao'er: Then should I break their legs or their arms?

Concubine Li (coughing up blood): No need for that either. Just make them heartbroken.

Gu Miao'er: Stabbing them through the heart might be hard to get right, but I can give it a try!

Concubine Li (coughing up blood): No need for that either. Just ruin their reputations.

Gu Miao'er: That can be done. I could storm into their mansions tomorrow, drag them out, strip them naked, and hang them from the city gate.

Concubine Li looked at her frail frame and died.

Gu Miao'er: I'm sorry, Auntie. I'm not the person I used to be.

Scene Two:

Gu Miao'er had wanted to die for many years. The loneliness of being invincible was too much to bear.

So she died.

But when she opened her eyes, she was still alive!

Good grief!

The old monster was alive, too, and had ended up in the body of a Gu family's illegitimate daughter. It was enough to drive her mad.

This body gasped for breath after every few steps and had to take medicine all year round. Yet she was wildly ambitious. Other illegitimate daughters kept their heads down and knew their place, but this one insisted on competing with her legitimate sister and schemed until she landed a fine marriage.

The fiance she'd snatched had quite a name: the Crown Prince himself. Unfortunately, he was as sickly as she was!

Only a few days after getting engaged, he fell gravely ill and seemed on the verge of death, which somehow summoned Gu Miao'er.

But summoning her was no use. On the second night after she came back to life, someone poisoned her, and she died again.

Good grief! She was sleeping soundly when someone strangled her with a white silk sash, leaving her half-dead.

Then her carriage was hit when she went out, and she nearly died again.

Wherever she went, she was bound to die.

Her family all thought she was too unlucky to live.

Good grief! In all her long life, the old woman had never encountered anything so bizarre. It finally made her furious! If she didn't want to live, that was her business. But if anyone else tried to force her to die, she'd make them go die themselves!

With trembling hands, she reached out of her coffin. "Father, I'm still alive!"

Her maid wept with joy. Her young mistress had changed; everything about her seemed wrong, and yet she loved every bit of it! At night, she secretly burned offerings, hoping her mistress wouldn't change back!

P.S. World-weary old monster VS younger, sinister Crown Prince. ("Old monster" is just a figure of speech, not an actual monster.)

Theme: Let the world be filled with love.