At this time, Jiang Chan was already over forty years old. She had never married in her life, and when Jiang Dan wanted to adopt a child under her name, she refused.
As Jiang Chan put it, the whole family lived together, so was there really any worry that Jiang Dan’s descendants would be unfilial to her? Besides, Jiang Chan had money in her hands, so there was no anxiety in her heart. Whether she had children or not wasn’t that important.
Over the years, Jiang Dan’s career path had been relatively smooth, moving from a town to the capital. Jiang Chan’s dim sum shop also expanded along the way, following wherever Jiang Dan’s job took him, bringing new and innovative dishes wherever they went.
Whenever they arrived in a new place, the first thing Jiang Chan would pay attention to was the Charity hospital. After so many years, she had lost track of how many people she had helped. She didn’t intentionally do anything, she just lent a hand whenever she saw an opportunity to help.
Over the years, the children from the Charity hospital had carried forward the culinary skills Jiang Chan taught them. The most promising of them even made it into the imperial kitchen, and even the emperor knew that these dishes originated from Jiang Chan.
For Jiang Chan’s selfless teaching, the court had even issued a commendation, and her reputation grew even more.
As Jiang Chan grew older, her lifestyle became more Buddhist-like. At this point, Jiang Dan had become a grandfather, and his grandchildren loved to gather around Jiang Chan.
In her leisure time, Jiang Chan would play with the children, play the zither, play chess, write calligraphy, and paint, leading a very relaxed and pleasant life. Jiang Chan only formally left this world at the age of sixty-eight.
After Jiang Chan passed away, when Jiang Dan was organizing her funeral, many people who had benefited from Jiang Chan’s kindness came to mourn. People from all walks of life attended, and many women also came to pay their respects.
Perhaps their strength was still small, but Jiang Chan had shown them another path, that women, even without relying on others, can still live well by relying on their own abilities.
_____________________
Jiang Chan opened her eyes to see a wooden bed frame. It was a bunk bed, and in the orphanage, the top bunk was used to store small items. Jiang Chan lived alone, as she preferred to have her own private space.
Lying on her back in bed, Jiang Chan stared blankly at the bed board, her thoughts still immersed in past memories. To speak of the first task, except for the hardships at the beginning, the later decades were purely enjoyable.
Especially when Jiang Dan’s official position grew higher and higher, Jiang Chan gradually lived the life of an old lady of leisure, living in luxury. Now that she had suddenly returned, Jiang Chan felt a bit out of place.
She pursed her lips. The bed frame beneath her was extremely uncomfortable. As she turned over, the bed creaked. Jiang Chan’s lips twitched slightly. Although she had enjoyed herself later, it was still the real world that gave her a stronger sense of reality.
Later on, Jiang Chan worried that she would indulge too much in enjoyment and forget everything about this present world, so she could only desperately try to remember everything about it. She knew that no matter how comfortable life here was, she would always be an outsider. Her roots were forever in the modern world, and there were still many ideals and dreams she hadn’t fulfilled.
Fortunately, she had returned. Jiang Chan pressed her lips together and relaxed significantly.
She sat up and lightly tapped the cicada-shaped jade pendant on her chest, “Qingyuan Shangxian, are you there?”
A silver-white ball of light floated out from the cicada-shaped pendant. It bobbed up and down as if sizing up Jiang Chan, and after a few moments of silence, it said, “Little girl, I was right about you. You’ve done very well.”
With Jiang Chan’s return, all the experiences from this life appeared vividly before her. As Qingyuan had said, this world wasn’t particularly difficult, and the task was relatively easy to complete.
Though the first few days were a bit tough for Jiang Chan, the rest of it was a smooth journey. To Qingyuan’s surprise, Jiang Chan had even accumulated some merit along the way.
After a little thought, Qingyuan understood that it was from all the good deeds Jiang Chan had done over the years. It was a reward from the Heavenly Dao of that small world.
Of course, Qingyuan herself had a share of that merit. If it hadn’t been for her sending Jiang Chan to that small world, no changes would have occurred there. Though the merit she received was only a fraction compared to Jiang Chan’s, it was still something.
However, this also made Qingyuan satisfied. Merit was extremely important. With merit by her side, enduring tribulations in the future would be much easier.
Reflecting on it, Qingyuan realized she owed the young girl even more now. However, she quickly dismissed the thought. With only a fragment of her soul left, there wasn’t much she could do to repay Jiang Chan at the moment.
It would be better to rely on Jiang Chan’s help for now and wait until she returned to the cultivation world to plan how to repay her properly. For now, Qingyuan wasn’t too worried—she already had too many concerns.
Jiang Chan sat cross-legged, saying, “I only did what I had to. As for the Jiang Mu family’s fate, that was their own doing. I was merely a catalyst.”
“You’re being too modest. As a fourteen-year-old girl, you’ve done far more than most people ever could.” Qingyuan never held back praise when it was due.
“Tell me, what did you gain from this task? Has it benefitted you in any way?” Jiang Chan frowned as she looked at the light ball. After all, it didn’t seem like Qingyuan had changed in any way.
The light ball bobbed slightly, “This task was too simple, and the soul power it provided was weak, but better than nothing. In the future, as you complete more tasks, the accumulation will benefit me more.”
Jiang Chan nodded and lay back down. The light ball hovered above her head. After a moment of thought, Jiang Chan suddenly made a suggestion, “I spent over fifty years in that world. It felt too long.”
To be honest, in that first world, Jiang Chan had watched herself grow old step by step. She wasn’t afraid of aging but was more afraid of forgetting that she was just an outsider. To this world, she was merely a passerby.
“What are you trying to say?”
“Can I return as soon as I finish my tasks in the future? Then, let the original owners return to their bodies and live out their own lives? I’m just someone who helps them complete tasks; I don’t have the right to make decisions for them. Their true lives should be experienced by them.”
“In fact, if we take the first world as an example, I should’ve returned after Jiang Xing was abandoned. The task was essentially completed by then.”
Qingyuan was silent for a moment, then replied, “That can be arranged. After all, they’ve already entrusted their souls to me. Letting them experience a completely different life again wouldn’t be a bad thing.”
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