WBSGVS Chapter 188 V1

Qingli quickly patted her younger brother’s back to comfort him and said gently, “Don’t be scared. I’ve got a way to make sure she doesn’t dare feed us that stuff again.”

Her little brother tilted his head in confusion, still clutching tightly to the hem of Qingli’s sleeve. His lips were pursed, clearly not convinced.

After all, his sister hadn’t been able to do anything about Nanny Dai before. Every time they were forced to eat food that gave them stomachaches and diarrhea, she would secretly cry and try to stop him from eating.

But not eating meant going to bed with a stomach that burned from hunger. In the end, he always ate it, only to throw it up later—but even that was better than starving.

Sometimes, he even dreamed their mother might come back for them.

Qingli smiled softly and whispered, “That’s because Mother is watching over us. If someone bullies us, she’ll come back and help us get revenge!”

“Really?! Mother will come back?” Sima Yan’s eyes lit up, his fear instantly forgotten. “Then I won’t sleep tonight! I’ll wait for her.”

But Qingli shook her head. “Mother doesn’t like children who don’t sleep. Even if you’re asleep, she’ll still come to see you. But if you stay awake, she might get angry and not come at all.”

“Huh?” Sima Yan pouted, looking at her with pitiful eyes.

Qingli could only shrug helplessly, silently telling him she had no say in how their mother did things. Sima Yan lowered his head and leaned against her shoulder, mumbling, “But I miss Mommy so much…”

Qingli felt a sting in her nose and tried to cheer him up. “If you fall asleep, you’ll see her in your dreams~”

Luckily, Sima Yan was still pretty easy to console. As soon as Qingli said that, he didn’t insist on staying up to wait for their mother anymore.

Qingli let out a sigh of relief. After cuddling with him for a bit, she went to retrieve some of the medicine she had hidden away.

Thankfully, when she first arrived, Nanny Dai had fallen ill, and only Xiling was left to deal with. That made things easier. If the two of them had been working together, Qingli would’ve had no choice but to take a more dangerous approach.

According to the original host’s memories, those two were the main culprits behind her and her brother’s suffering. Xiling was just an errand girl.

It was still unclear why someone like Nanny Dai, who had already reached such a high position in the palace, would bother tormenting two seemingly harmless children stuck in the Cold Palace. But she was certainly serious about it.

She constantly scolded them and barely let them eat. Xiling had picked up her harsh attitude and followed her lead in treating the children cruelly.

Ten days ago, Nanny Dai’s chronic back pain had flared up, and it got so bad she couldn’t even get out of bed. Normally, a palace maid in that situation would be left to die, but thanks to her status, she was allowed a few days off to recover.

She didn’t care that Sima Yan and Qingli looked like they were on the verge of death. Before she left, Qingli had overheard her giving strict instructions to Xiling to follow her methods exactly.

Now that their situation was improving, Nanny Dai definitely wouldn’t be pleased.

So this nanny… needed a serious lesson.

Meanwhile, Xiling was stewing over the scolding she’d received. If it weren’t for that woman Bai suddenly showing up, she wouldn’t have been reprimanded at all.

She could accept a failed mission—something that minor wouldn’t get her in trouble with the nanny.

But a ghost? That was something else entirely!

Bai had seemed so gentle and soft when she was alive, but after death, she had turned vicious. She even summoned a snake to bite her!

The bite mark on her wrist still hadn’t fully healed—it was still throbbing faintly.

So, when Nanny Dai summoned her to her room, Xiling immediately dropped to her knees and grabbed the woman’s leg, crying, “Wuwuwu… Nanny, I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to—there’s a reason!”

Nanny Dai’s sharp features gave her a naturally harsh look—thin lips always pressed tight, prominent cheekbones on a thin frame, and a cold, bitter expression. She didn’t move a muscle as Xiling clung to her. Her eyelids drooped slightly in irritation as she said:

“I don’t care what your reason was. All I know is that you called a doctor. If you hadn’t, our mission would’ve been complete. It’s just a single princess left—no big deal. We could’ve left this godforsaken place by now!”

Sniffling, Xiling rolled up her sleeve. “But there was a reason! Look at this bite mark!”

Nanny Dai took a closer look. On the pale skin of Xiling’s arm—untouched by sunlight—were two small, clearly visible red puncture scars.

Her brows drew together. “What happened here?”

It didn’t look like a human bite.

“A snake!” Xiling exclaimed. “That day, the Sixth Princess and Baizhu begged me to call for a physician. I refused and said the Fourth Prince just needed to sweat it out. But later that night, when I brought over their food, the Sixth Princess said she had seen Bai!”

“Ridiculous!” Nanny Dai snapped, kicking Xiling away and sitting down in a huff. “You believe in ghosts now?!”

Xiling climbed back up with tears in her eyes. “I didn’t want to, but… the Sixth Princess—her expression was so strange, like she saw someone. She even said I’d bullied her and that Bai would send a snake to bite me!”

Nanny Dai, who had seen more than her fair share of the world, scoffed. “Pfft.”

Xiling continued quietly, “I didn’t believe her either. But it was eerie. That night, the Sixth Princess lit a lamp, and the smoke… it rose in the shape of a snake!”

As she recalled the terrifying scene, her face twisted in fear. “I shut every door and window tight, but the snake still got in. It bit me, and I couldn’t shake it off no matter what. Baizhu heard my screams and saved me. The Sixth Princess was just sitting at the door, waiting.”

Nanny Dai’s frown deepened. “Maybe she caught the snake herself.”

Xiling whispered, “Do you think she’d dare? A five-year-old who’s been locked away her whole life, with no one to teach her anything?”

Nanny Dai didn’t respond. But clearly, she wasn’t convinced either.

If evildoers truly believed in karmic retribution, they wouldn’t do evil in the first place. If ghosts were real, she’d have died eight hundred times already.

Just then, Xiling said, “After thinking about it, I realized—other people die and don’t become ghosts. But Bai did. Nanny, do you remember what Bai was before she entered the palace?”

“Hiss…” Nanny Dai sucked in a breath and gripped her handkerchief tightly, a chill running down her spine.

She remembered now—before entering the palace, Bai had been a Taoist priestess. Her master was a well-known wandering mystic.