Chapter 6 Her Fate

He coaxed her calmly and pulled her closer to him to soothe her pain, and after a few minutes, she felt herself drifting into a deep slumber. To her astonishment, instead of merely falling asleep, her consciousness was fading away.

She appeared to be entering an unusual area, seemingly in another plane of existence.

She observed faces around her, many of whom didn't appeal to her, and heard voices calling out to her, using the name Xin Ran. She didn't know who was calling her, and then she paused when she saw one person who she was adamant that she knew. The woman was wearing a red gown in her dreams. The woman stared at her, appearing to be communicating with her using her eyes. Immediately, she realized who she was, Goddess Qiwan. She prostrated herself and paid obeisance to the goddess in her vision.

"Your humble servant Xin Ran pays her respects to Your Majesty."

"Ran'er, you may rise," the goddess kindly told her, and she got up to her feet, peering around her. A lavender-coloured mist enveloped her surroundings, and she presumed she was in a dreamscape. Perhaps it as a past that she was now looking at, that she had long forgotten?

"Thank you, My Lady," she said obediently, her eyes still pointed towards the ground, which comprised mainly patterned stones.

"Ran'er, how has your new life been?" the goddess inquired.

"I have been well. There's a lot of things I don't understand though, My Lady," she said in a slightly stunned tone.

"It will all eventually be revealed, Ran'er. Be patient. This is just the start of your many lifetimes that are yet to come."

Many lifetimes? Just how many lifetimes would she have to lead as a mortal woman?

"Your Majesty, why do I no longer have my memories?" she asked.

Though she didn't remember, she had been a creation of the goddess, moulded into a clay statue and given life by the goddess through her immortal energy and essence, which she had parted with in Xin Ran's formation. Qiwan named her Xin Ran, meaning 'glad, however' so that she would be happy in her task. Together with her surname Chu, which meant clarity, she had hoped Xin Ran would be clear and distinct in carrying out her mission but be glad. She hadn't expected that Xin Ran would meet with rejection by her mortal love. It was only with Xin Ran's death, did the stupid man regret his decisions and mourn her death.

"A lot of things on the mortal realm happen for a reason, Xin Ran. You can think of it as being more complex than the immortal realm," the goddess told her.

She bowed, and before she departed the scene, she asked, "My Lady, why did you send me to be reincarnated, and not bring me back to the immortal realm? Xin Ran would like to serve My Lady for eternity to repay your kindness."

"Chu Xin Ran, I wish that you shall not be doomed to a life of loneliness and desolation like mine," the goddess said.

"You have reaped great merits in your past life to be reborn in a human body, and may you gain liberation in your lifetimes to come. But to answer your question, you have an unaccomplished fate with Fang Yiqi. In this lifetime, you are predestined to be with him. Eventually, everything will be clear to you, and you will get to see who he is in the mortal realm. Then, you may realize your destiny with him in this lifetime."

"My Lady, does it mean that until I meet Fang Yiqi and fulfil my destiny with him, I will not be destined with anyone else?" she asked. The goddess nodded.

"You need to go back, Chu Xin Ran." The goddess touched her forehead gently, and she closed her eyes, feeling her consciousness slowly return bit by bit to her sleeping body.

When she opened her eyes again, her mind was empty once again, and the only memory she retained had been that of her name. She was also back at the hospital, and Jing Yue was hovering over her hopefully. "Miss Tang, are you alright?"

She looked a bit tired, and told him with her drooping eyes, "I'm just tired. I want to rest, Mr Jing."

He nodded. "I'll come by tomorrow." He took one last look at her before leaving.

He exited the hospital and entered his luxury saloon. As he turned the key in the ignition, he recalled how she had suddenly collapsed with no palpable pulse while the elevator had stopped. The elevator had returned to its full working condition shortly after she had fainted, which caused him to feel it was out of the ordinary. Although it had just been ten minutes when she had been out cold, and then her pulse had subsequently returned, he had been terrorized stiff by the abrupt halt of her heartbeat.

But how could that even be possible? Although he had heard of many stories of people using CPR to revive others, the phenomenon of her heartbeat disappearing all of a sudden and then returning out of the blue was queer indeed! But above all, what mattered was that she was safe and sound.

He retrieved his smartphone and looked at the message that had just appeared on the screen. "What are you doing right now?" the message read.

"I hope you are doing well," he replied.

"Same to you."

He smiled at the stickers that had just come into the social messaging conversation. At times when he was feeling down, he was glad that there would be someone who was there to speak to him, especially when he was disturbed by the fact

that Tang Ying Xue didn't remember him.

But hadn't she had a headache earlier before she had fainted? What were the odds of her recovering from her amnesia? It had been close to two weeks since the auto accident, and the neurologist had not been able to answer him clearly on his prognosis of Tang Ying Xue's situation and her chances of recovery. Everything was a blur right now, and the future between him and her was ambiguous.

He scrolled through the photographs stored in his smartphone, stopping at one particular picture of the girl looking into the distance, apparently concerned about something. He mouthed her name and then sighed deeply, before driving off into the darkness.