The charcoal fire burned brightly in the dining room.
On the table were her favorite steamed sea bass, steamed egg custard, and several delicate side dishes.
Gu Wangchuan personally ladled a bowl of hot soup and set it in front of her. “Drink it while it’s hot.”
It was a black chicken soup with angelica root, meant to replenish her qi and blood.
When she had first arrived at Heartless Valley, she had been covered in wounds. Gu Wangchuan had prescribed medicine for her to take internally and apply externally, and before long, the wounds had scabbed over and healed.
After that, he had people prepare a variety of nourishing tonics for her.
“Tomorrow, I’ll be leaving the valley for a while,” Gu Wangchuan suddenly said halfway through the meal.
Shao Yutong’s hand paused around her chopsticks. “For how long?”
“Five days at most, three at the least.”
She lowered her head, an inexplicable emptiness spreading through her heart.
“I’ve already arranged everything in the valley. If you need anything, go directly to Granny Chen.” His tone remained as calm as ever.
Granny Chen was the confused old woman who had mistaken her for the young mistress.
Shao Yutong asked with feigned concern, “Has Granny Chen been following you for a long time?”
Gu Wangchuan looked at her for a long while before suddenly smiling.
“From now on, she belongs to you.”
Shao Yutong’s heart skipped a beat. What did he mean by that?
“After I leave, remember to close the windows properly. The wind is strong at night.”
“Don’t dress too lightly just because you’re trying to keep cool. Be careful when you go out in the snow—the roads are slippery.”
“If you can’t sleep, have one of the maids light a stick of calming incense.”
He gave her one instruction after another, his deep, pleasant voice causing Shao Yutong’s heart to tighten with every word.
“Gu Wangchuan.” She suddenly interrupted him.
His hand stopped. “Hmm?”
She turned around and looked up at him. “Why are you being so good to me?”
He had treated her wounds, given her the best care, and indulged all her little tempers.
Gu Wangchuan’s fingertips brushed lightly over her cheek. “Why do you think?”
She had no answer.
It was impossible for him to have fallen in love with her after only a few short days. And it was even less likely to be hatred—she had never had any connection with him in the past.
“Because you’re like me,” Gu Wangchuan said, emotions surging in his eyes. “You’re very much like the person I was many years ago.”
Shao Yutong gazed at him in confusion.
“We’re the same. We’d do anything for someone, even when that person isn’t worth it at all.”
Her heart sank. “What does the Valley Master mean by that? My fiancé treats me very well. I’m willing to do anything for him.”
The words were out before she could regret them. Gu Wangchuan hated hearing her mention Gu Li!
Afraid he would lose his temper, she nervously added, “I was the one who insisted on following my elder cousin into exile. He couldn’t do anything about it, so he secretly sent guards to protect me. They were simply killed by Cheng Yao—that doesn’t mean he wasn’t worth it.”
Gu Wangchuan raised an eyebrow, neither agreeing nor disagreeing.
He did not get angry, nor did he say anything more. He merely bent down and pressed a kiss to her forehead.
“Go take an afternoon nap.”
Gu Wangchuan turned and left, leaving Shao Yutong sitting there in a daze.
…
The following day.
Not long after Gu Wangchuan left, Shao Yutong had someone summon Granny Chen.
She no longer vehemently denied her supposed identity. Instead, she played along with Granny Chen’s claims, speaking in the tone of a young mistress and pretending to have lost her memory. With cautious curiosity and vague references to the past, she began fishing for information.
Seeing that she was being obedient and no longer shouting about escaping, Granny Chen became more talkative.
Through her fragmented account, interspersed with her own emotions and memories, Shao Yutong finally pieced together that long-sealed story.
It turned out that Granny Chen’s young mistress was named Shen Xiyue, and she had been Gu Wangchuan’s childhood sweetheart and fiancée.
The two of them had once seemed like a match made in heaven, and Gu Wangchuan had loved her deeply.
Yet at some point, Shen Xiyue had secretly fallen in love with Gu Wangchuan’s close friend, Murong Han.
At the time, however, the Medicine King’s only daughter, Zhu Rongrong, had been madly infatuated with Gu Wangchuan. She had even gone so far as to drug him with an extremely potent love poison, resulting in the two of them becoming intimate.
When Shen Xiyue found out, she used the incident as an excuse to break off her engagement with Gu Wangchuan. She eloped with Murong Han and disappeared without a trace.
Gu Wangchuan suffered the loss of the woman he loved. Moreover, because the Medicine King wielded enormous influence within the valley, Gu Wangchuan was forced to marry Zhu Rongrong.
But he hated Zhu Rongrong with all his heart. After their marriage, he never touched her again and treated her as though she were invisible.
Zhu Rongrong’s love went unanswered, and after suffering years of neglect, she eventually became depressed and mentally unstable, turning into the deranged, pitiful creature she was now.
The Old Medicine King and his wife also died in misery because of the matter.
Granny Chen remained in the valley, waiting for Shen Xiyue to return. As the days passed, she drifted through life in a daze, and her mind gradually became confused. That was why she had mistaken Shao Yutong, whose appearance bore a fifty- to sixty-percent resemblance to Shen Xiyue, for her own young mistress.
After learning all this, Shao Yutong suddenly understood everything.
So Gu Wangchuan had not been born evil. He was merely a pitiful man whose heart had been wounded by love, leaving his personality twisted and excessively possessive.
All his feelings for Shen Xiyue, along with the resentment caused by her betrayal, had been transferred onto Shao Yutong, who resembled her.
His tenderness and thoughtfulness were meant for another woman.
He was only treating Shao Yutong well because he regarded her as that woman’s substitute.
Heh…
She had known it. How could anyone in this world be kind to her without a reason?
Even Gu Li would never have taken an interest in her if she had not been skilled in music, chess, calligraphy, and painting, or if she had not possessed a clever, perceptive mind.
She had understood from a young age that people were bound to one another only by interests. There was no such thing as genuine affection.
To say she was not disappointed or hurt would have been a lie.
But along with those feelings, an uncontrollable ambition began to grow.
If she could maintain the proper balance, would she be able to control Gu Wangchuan?
Gu Wangchuan was highly skilled in martial arts and proficient in medicine and strange medical arts. If she could make him obey her every word, would the formidable power of Heartless Valley not fall into her hands?
When that happened, whether it was Cheng Yao, Zhan Haoting, or even the Marquis of Dingguo’s household, Shao Yutong would no longer have anything to fear!
That thought spread through Shao Yutong’s heart like a wildfire.
She looked at her own brows and eyes in the mirror, so similar to Shen Xiyue’s, and the corners of her lips slowly curved into a smile of absolute confidence.
…
The farther the exile procession climbed, the harsher the conditions became.
The weather grew colder with each passing day. The plants along both sides of the official road had long since withered, and the ground was beginning to freeze. The howling northern wind cut across their faces like knives, bringing a chill that penetrated straight to the bone.
The thin clothes everyone wore were completely inadequate against the cold. Many of them had lips that had turned purple, their entire bodies trembling uncontrollably.
Cheng Yao’s family had Hongxiu and Uncle Xiao supplying them with clothing. She also mixed the padded garments she had previously stored in her personal space among the supplies, so they had nothing to fear even as the weather grew colder.
She taught the people in the procession to stuff dried grass inside their clothes for insulation, which helped somewhat.
The harsh environment and extreme exhaustion caused more and more people in the procession to fall ill. Coughing and sneezing echoed one after another.
Fevers and chills ran rampant.
With little medicine available, they could only grit their teeth and endure.
It was fortunate that Cheng Yao prepared ginger soup every day. Otherwise, many of them would certainly have died from illness.
One day, they encountered another group of exiles. People in that group kept collapsing, never to rise again, and were hastily buried in the wasteland beside the road without even a gravestone.
The morale of the procession was at rock bottom, and Cheng Yao was at a loss as to what to do.
Seizing the opportunity, Zhang Dapeng began mocking her in a sarcastic tone.
“Well, look at you, Great Benefactor Cheng. Didn’t you swear up and down that you’d help everyone earn enough money to repay Constable Wang for his medical fees? Where’s the money? We haven’t even seen its shadow! At this rate, forget about making money—you’ll all be dead, every last member of your family.”
His words were like a poisoned thorn, striking at the deepest fears and doubts in many people’s hearts and making them bow their heads even lower.
