And now, the scene in front of him really was a little strange.
Gong Yimo was sitting on the threshold at the entrance of the palace while there was some unknown object burning in front of her. He could see the red glow on her small face, but her eyes seemed a little dull.
And the Empress Dowager was sitting far away on the imperial carriage, her face pale as a ghost! She actually looked a little timid when she saw the look in Gong Yimo’s eyes!
What on earth happened here? What is that burning on the ground? And why did nobody put out such a big fire? And where did the burnt smell of meat come from?
The Emperor could never have imagined that Gong Yimo would actually burn up the corpse of a princess right in front of her own palace!
And what he expected even less was how none of the earlier anger the Empress Dowager had when he sent for someone to call the Emperor would come out now, as if she was being wrung around the neck.
And she was still someone who became an Empress Dowager, after all. She wouldn’t dare to do anything to Gong Yimo, so could she still save Long Hanyan’s body?
So, she stared at Gong Yimo with some fear, but kicked and ordered the people kneeling around her to put out the flames and save Long Hanyan’s body. But who knew that nobody would dare to move no matter how many she tried to kick!
How would they dare move? Gong Yimo was standing right in front of the fire. If they dared go over, then the Princess might just burn them alive!
And, Gong Yimo, seeing that the flame was about to burn out, faintly commanded.
“Go and get some firewood.”
Almost as soon as she said that, even though they knew they shouldn’t, the palace girls behind her quickly set off to carry firewood. Then, Gong Yimo told them to cast them in!
If she was going to burn it, then she better burn it well. Then, her soul would be light after her death.
What Gong Yimo did nearly made the Empress Dowager faint from anger!
And she really did faint! She was helped by some people back to the open imperial carriage, and finally came to after a bit, but she still couldn’t muster a single word!
Meanwhile, Gong Yimo watched as the fire grew bigger, and while staring at it, she actually began to chant, word after word, a complete reading of “The Sutra of Dizhang Pusa’s Vows”.
She looked solemn at that moment, as if the one burning was not her enemy, but her friend. It almost felt like her serious expression and calm voice could purify the soul, allowing the palace people to gradually forget their fears, and to forget that cremating a corpse was taboo, even forgetting that they were in the palace.
As the sutra was read out word after word, the gushing hostility of Gong Yimo’s body also disappeared. She looked at the flames with some compassion, and her eyes were clear.
She didn’t believe in heaven or god, and she didn’t even believe in rebirth. She just thought that whether she had transmigrated or rebirthed, that it was just the result of an intersection and confusion between the world and space-time, and not that there were spirits at work.
She had seen too many corpses buried in the earth, half of them being dug out after being affected by the flames of war, and their mutilated appearances.
Once a corpse is buried into the ground, their body will be affected by necrosis and rot away as they are eaten by worms. No matter how rich one was before death, all they had was the dirt around them after their deaths, so there is no afterlife, nor is there reincarnation. Those are all figments of people’s imagination, a miserable scam to escape reality! It is non-existent.
A person only had one life, one that is short and abrupt, and nobody will ever know when their days will come to an end.
But she also had faith. A human’s life in this world was too miserable. There will be more sad people than there will be happy people. If there really is a place where everyone who has suffered in their lives can live again, then she sincerely hoped that place exists.
