Tianyi Tavern.
Young Master Lang, clad in red robes with silver-white hair, reclined lazily on a divan, idly twirling a newly delivered glass lantern in his hand. "Was it you who leaked the secret?"
Below him knelt a man—or rather, what could barely be called a man anymore. Half his limbs had been severed, one ear sliced off, and an eye gouged out, leaving him more a broken husk than a person.
He lay on the ground, barely clinging to life. "I beg... I beg the Pavilion Master to grant me death..."
In his current state, death would be mercy.
Yet Young Master Lang merely scoffed. The portly shopkeeper standing nearby raised an abacus and smashed it down, breaking another of the man's fingers.
"Have you forgotten the rules of the Bai Xiao Pavilion? Only answer what the Pavilion Master asks."
The man lacked even the strength to scream, nodding frantically instead.
Young Master Lang narrowed his peach-blossom eyes, about to press further, when a servant rushed in. "Pavilion Master, the eldest Miss Chu is here—she demands to see you!"
Young Master Lang blinked. "Then let her in! Haven’t I said before she doesn’t need to be announced?"
The servant glanced fearfully at the mutilated figure on the floor, stammering, "She... she insists you come out to meet her..."
Young Master Lang laughed. "That little blind girl! She’s got more temper than skill, daring to order me around!" He rose, flicking his sleeves, then cast a disdainful glance at the spy. "Old Du, take him down for interrogation. Use whatever ginseng or herbs you must—just don’t let him die before he talks."
Shopkeeper Du hurriedly assented.
Outside Tianyi Tavern, Wang Tong, the Chu family’s usual carriage driver, was baffled. Why had the eldest miss come here in the dead of night instead of returning home?
Then he saw it—a flash of flamboyant red.
"Little blind girl, I’ve come as summoned. Will you now deign to step down?"
The voice was teasing, the silver-white hair stark against the night. But what truly shocked Wang Tong was the man’s face—handsome beyond measure, sharply defined, with those upturned peach-blossom eyes. In an instant, he was reminded of the portrait Lord Chu kept hidden in his study.
When no reply came, Young Master Lang frowned. Brushing past Wang Tong, he vaulted onto the carriage. The door was locked from within, but a single palm strike shattered it open.
Inside, Chu Ruoyan lay unconscious, her face deathly pale, frost clinging even to her brows...
"Little blind girl?!"
He swept her into his arms, wrapping her tightly in his crimson cloak. "Fetch Old Divine Doctor Qin—now!"
The old healer was roused from sleep, grumbling and ready to scold Young Master Lang—until he saw Chu Ruoyan’s condition. His expression darkened. "Boil water, fetch thick quilts, and seal every window and door—not a single draft!"
Young Master Lang’s chest tightened at his urgency. "Do as he says!"
Servants scrambled to obey.
Old Divine Doctor Qin loosened her collar, revealing skin nearly translucent with cold. Rolling up her sleeves, he found frost creeping up her arms...
"This shouldn’t be... I’d stabilized her cold syndrome..." Muttering, he checked her pulse—then exploded. "This reckless girl! I warned her a thousand times not to use that brat Wen’s martial techniques! And the heart-preserving pills and circulation aids I gave her—medicine is poison in excess! She swallowed them all at once? Has she no regard for her life?!"
Young Master Lang’s heart lurched. "Can you save her?"
"I can, but even if she lives..." The old doctor cut himself off, stomping his foot. "Enough! Come here and bleed—three times the usual amount. We’ll worry about the rest after tonight."
A dream...
Again, the dream.
But clearer than ever before.
She stood on a city wall.
Her father was dragged before Yan Zheng by soldiers...
"Lord Chu, long time no see." The man’s voice was icy, his gaze lifeless.
Her father sneered. "Not long enough. Just last night, I drank to your promotion to Grand Secretary. Who’d have thought you’d raise a rebellion tonight, slaughtering the imperial family... Have you no shame before the Emperor? Before the Yan family?"
"Don’t speak of the Yan family to me!"
The man’s face twisted with fury, his eyes like a demon’s. "The Yan family was destroyed by your precious Emperor!"
"Lies! The Emperor may have been ambitious, but he was no tyrant. He entrusted the entire military to the Grand General—where was the distrust? Yan Zheng, you’ve betrayed your ruler, murdered your sovereign, disgraced your father’s name—you’re the eternal traitor of Great Xia!"
"Traitor? Oh, Lord Chu, what act of loyalty is this?" Yan Zheng’s lips curled, his voice a venomous whisper. "And what of you? Chu Huaishan, are you any better? Your own daughter—"
Daughter?
What about her?
She strained to hear, but the words dissolved. All she saw was her father’s face flushing crimson, as if struck by unbearable humiliation—before he flung himself from the wall—
No!!
She jolted awake, her chest frozen, each breath laced with frost.
"Awake?"
Old Divine Doctor Qin’s face loomed close—only to be shoved aside by a far handsomer one, now creased with worry.
"Little blind girl? Can you speak?"
She managed a faint smile. "Thank you, Pavilion Master..."
Young Master Lang exhaled, straightening with a lazy shrug. "You scared me half to death. I thought you’d come to make me bury you!"
Used to his sharp tongue, Chu Ruoyan ignored it, turning to thank the doctor—only for him to snort. "Burial might be imminent... Girl, did you forget every warning I gave you?"
She froze, lips pressing together.
The old doctor jabbed a finger near her face. "How many times must I say it? No exertion! Especially not now, during the detoxification! You’ve not only undone all progress, but triggered a cold syndrome backlash. The poison has surged back—your body’s failing. Even if you grovel now, I can’t save you!"
Young Master Lang’s fists clenched. Chu Ruoyan blinked, then slowly lowered her gaze. "I understand..."
"Understand? Then why risk it? Have you a death wish?" The old man’s brows knotted in rage.
Chu Ruoyan smiled bitterly.
What choice had there been?
In that moment, if she hadn’t acted, both Yan Zheng and she would have died.
This way, at least he lived.
And she’d never imagined such a brief exertion would trigger so severe a collapse...
Or that it would be irreversible...
"Then, Divine Doctor, how long do I have?"
She’d prepared for this since childhood. Facing it now, fear was distant.
Only Yan Zheng...
He’d just avenged his family, just proposed to her.
How could she leave him now?
Old Divine Doctor Qin snapped impatiently, "How long do you want?"
"A year... is that alright?"
"You dare ask for a year?" Old Divine Doctor Qin laughed in disbelief. "Dream on! One month at most!"
