Now, she saw the truth. Ma Zu Ting had never loved her.
He had only ever loved Lie Niu Er.
Lie Niu Er's voice broke through the silence, cruel and triumphant.
"See? Even your husband admits it. He can't stay away from me. He promised you he'd stop, yet here he is—because his heart belongs to me."
Like a serpent, she slid closer to Ma Zu Ting, wrapping her arms around his as she feigned fear.
"Bao bei, do something about your wife. I'm scared… she's frightening me."
Jia Yi Hua's face froze in disbelief.
And Ma Zu Ting, instead of pulling away, embraced Lie Niu Er protectively.
"Calm down, Er-er," he murmured. "I'll make sure she doesn't harm you. Our love was fated too late—but it's eternal."
Something in Jia Yi Hua's mind snapped.
Her world tilted, her breath caught in her chest. Pain shot through her heart like lightning.
"Zu Ting… what did you just say?" she whispered, voice trembling. "You call this eternal love? And what is our marriage, then? Four years together, two children — and you tell me your love belongs elsewhere?"
Her breathing grew ragged. The pain in her chest worsened until she clutched her heart, gasping.
But Ma Zu Ting did nothing.
He stood beside Lie Niu Er, watching helplessly as his wife collapsed to her knees.
Lie Niu Er's voice rang again, careless and cruel.
"I have wonderful news for you, Jia Yi Hua," she said, smiling. "You should be happy for us."
Her next words fell like a curse.
"I'm pregnant. Carrying Zu Ting's child. We're going to be a family — even if it means I'll only be his second wife."
Ma Zu Ting's eyes lit up in pure joy.
"Er-er… truly? You're with child? My child?"
Lie Niu Er nodded proudly.
"Of course. Who else could it be?"
He laughed, elated — and embraced her before Jia Yi Hua's eyes.
Thump!
A sharp pain struck Jia Yi Hua's chest.
Her vision blurred, her body trembling as her heart raced violently. She knew, then — her end had come. But she refused to die in silence.
In her final breath, as thunder roared and rain began to fall outside, she raised her trembling hands to the heavens.
"Ma Zu Ting! Lie Niu Er!" she cried.
"I don't know how Heaven will punish you for what you've done to me, but if tonight is the night I die—then hear me!"
Her voice rose above the storm.
"In the name of Heaven and Earth, I curse your happiness for eleven generations! May your bloodline carry your sin, until it destroys every joy you try to build!"
Lightning struck — loud and furious — as if the heavens themselves had answered.
The room shook. Ma Zu Ting and Lie Niu Er froze in terror.
Still, Jia Yi Hua's voice thundered on.
"Lie Niu Er! By Heaven, by Earth, and by the children who will suffer for what you've done—I curse you and all your daughters to live as beasts. This is my final judgment upon you!"
Another bolt of lightning ripped through the sky. The sound was deafening.
Then, silence.
Jia Yi Hua collapsed, lifeless.
Lie Niu Er stumbled back in horror.
"What happened to her? Is she—dead?"
Ma Zu Ting's face was pale as ash.
"She… she's gone. A heart attack."
Lie Niu Er's lips trembled. "How can that be?"
"She must have been ill," he murmured, hollow. "Her family never told me…"
Then came the question that haunted her.
"Do you think her curse will come true?"
Terrified, Lie Niu Er fled. She disappeared into the wilderness, hiding from the whispers, from her own guilt, from Heaven's wrath.
For months, she lived alone, fearing every thunderstorm. And then one night, under a full moon, the curse came to life.
Her breath caught, her body convulsed — and before she could scream, her form began to change.
Her skin shimmered, her bones twisted — until a silver fox stood where a woman once had been.
When she awoke the next morning, she was human again.
From that day onward, she lived in fear of herself.
Afraid that someone might see her transform — and burn her alive as a monster.
She hid deep in the forest, learning her condition, understanding when and how the curse took hold.
But fear and grief took their toll.
The stress broke her body — and she lost the child she carried.
She never saw Ma Zu Ting again.
Instead, she fled to City K, determined to start anew.
There, she met Huang Bing Qing, a kind-hearted weaver who saw her not as a sinner, but as a woman in need of peace. He loved her sincerely and married her two years later.
When she finally confessed her past, she wept in his arms.
"Forgive me, Lao Gong," she whispered. "Because of my sin, our descendants may bear this curse — a strange fate that none can escape. I'm so afraid."
Huang Bing Qing held her close.
"Wo de Lao Po, don't torment yourself. The past is gone. Whatever comes, we'll face it together."
They built a quiet, honest life.
But the curse endured — passed through generations of daughters who bore the name Huang.
Sometimes, decades would pass without a single girl being born into the family.
But when one finally came, she carried the mark of the curse — the blood of Lie Niu Er, now Huang Niu Er, the woman whose sorrow had rewritten her fate.
And thus, the secret of the Huang curse was passed down — from grandmother to granddaughter — until it reached the last of the line…
Nattalie Huang.
***