I Resent the Moon for Shining on Others

The Forgotten River's upper god, Nan Huai, lived next door to Meng Po and often listened to her stories about the human world: family squabbles, romance, and all manner of everyday affairs. Nan Huai loved hearing them.

Nan Huai got so caught up in the stories that she decided to experience life in the human world herself. She could call it an inspection of the people's lives. After packing her bags, she prepared to leap from the Rebirth Cliff.

Meng Po was scared half to death. She hurried to report it to her superior, but her direct boss was too low-ranking to handle an upper god of the Forgotten River. With the situation so urgent, she went over his head and reported it to the ruler of the Netherworld, Zhaoling.

Zhaoling looked at Nan Huai, who was carrying a huge pile of luggage, considered it for a moment, then said, “All right.”

Nan Huai had prepared a whole speech full of quotations and arguments, ready to reason with Zhaoling and persuade him. She froze. “...That's it?”

Zhaoling gave a slight nod. “If you want to go, then go.”

It was what people couldn't have that made them restless. When something came too easily, Nan Huai hesitated. “Maybe I should spend three or five years getting ready. I don't know anyone over there, after all.”

Zhaoling replied coolly, “Don't know anyone? Then this is the perfect chance to get acquainted.”

“...Haha, is that so?”

She had heard that things in the Netherworld hadn't been going well lately. When Bai Wuchang chatted with Nan Huai, she even said she was worried she might get laid off.

At the time, Nan Huai had been glad she was a native and had connections of sorts. She did plenty of work for little pay, so surely they wouldn't lay her off easily...

Zhaoling's voice was as chilling as his name, with the cold air of a tomb about it. “What are you thinking about?”

Nan Huai jumped and blurted out, “I was thinking about how Xiao Bai said last month that she only got half her pay. She was going to sneak off and report it to the Heavenly Realm's Labor Bureau.”

Zhaoling glanced at her, his tone growing heavier. “Oh?”

I'm doomed... Sorry, Xiao Bai.

Nan Huai hurried to patch things up. “But I told her jobs are hard to find these days and everyone has it rough. Ox-Head and Horse-Face have worked a whole year without pay, so she's still lucky. We should all be grateful. Xiao Bai agreed wholeheartedly and said she would follow Ox-Head and Horse-Face's example and become a good underworld official who asks for no reward.”

Zhaoling's pitch-black eyes watched her silently. Nan Huai started sweating before he finally gave a slight nod. “Is that so? Very good.”

Nan Huai nodded. “Then I'll head back...”

Zhaoling cut her off. “Nan Huai, remember: your trip to the mortal realm is a trial. You must stay true to yourself, or you will fail the trial and lose your chance to reclaim your divine position.”

I never said I wanted to go through a trial...

In a daze, Nan Huai accepted the soup Meng Po handed her and listened as Meng Po casually complained about how hard business was these days and how she didn't dare raise the price of her reincarnation soup.

Nan Huai was just about to discuss how to upgrade the reincarnation soup industry and make it sustainable. One bowl later, she immediately forgot what she had wanted to say. Her vision went black, and she toppled off the Rebirth Cliff...

The first life, the story of the little fox and the Taoist, ends here. Now begins the second life: the story of a down-on-her-luck, universally adored princess and an ascetic national preceptor.

Legend has it that a favored concubine of Qi once accidentally swallowed a mermaid pearl. Afterward, she gave birth to Qi's only princess, named Nan Huai.

When the princess was born, brilliant light filled the sky and phoenixes cried out. The national preceptor of Qi declared that whoever won her would win the realm.

It was a time of war among the nations of the Nine Provinces. The Qi princess was breathtakingly beautiful, the most beautiful woman in all the Nine Provinces. Born beneath such a prophecy, she should have enjoyed the highest honors and favor.

Yet Qi did not prosper because of her. Instead, she became the cause of conflict among the nations, and the kingdom quickly declined.

With no other choice, Qi offered its princess in marriage to the mighty state of Chu, ostensibly as a diplomatic bride but in truth to beg for protection.

To show friendship and respect, Chu sent its national preceptor, Wen Zhao, to escort the princess.

But no one expected the Qi princess to secretly run away from her wedding.

She escaped, but she had no money.

Worse still, she realized she might be pregnant.

“I'm so unlucky, I could get pregnant just from drinking cold water,” she told the young nobleman who had just rescued her.

The young man was refined and handsome. As he took her pulse, his expression grew somewhat grave. He lowered his eyes and considered for a moment before saying, “Have the baby. I'll raise it.”

Nan Huai was surprised and confused. “Why? It's not yours.”

The young man's gaze was deep as he replied slowly, “All the more reason it can't be yours.”

Zhaoling: cold and aloof on the outside, but warm and doting within, and devastatingly handsome. Nan Huai: cute with a deadpan face, beautiful without knowing it, always ready with a quip, and perpetually unlucky.

First life: A powerful, aloof Taoist and a pure-hearted, kind fox spirit.

Second life: An ascetic national preceptor with an overwhelming possessive streak and a beautiful, down-on-her-luck princess adored by everyone.

Third life: The ruler of the Netherworld, the Venerable Wujian and incarnation of its laws, with Nan Huai, an innate spirit of the Forgotten River, upper god of justice and enforcer of the law.

Theme: No matter how many hardships and dangers I face, I will never forget my original purpose.