Shao Yutong never expected that her good intentions would be met with such rough treatment.
She froze, her large eyes instantly veiled by a layer of tears, her face full of hurt. “Ninth Cousin, you’re hurting me.”
“I’m sorry…” Zhan Haochen let go of her. “You should leave.”
Otherwise, she would discover his elder brother’s secret.
His coldness left Shao Yutong at a loss. “Ninth Cousin, did I do something wrong?”
“No. We’re just not close.”
Shao Yutong lowered her eyes, her long, curled lashes trembling. “I understand. Ninth Cousin hates me.”
Zhan Haochen was growing impatient. “Yes. I hate you.”
Shao Yutong abruptly raised her head, her face filled with disbelief and hurt.
Then she bit her lower lip, her voice trembling. “Then I… won’t disturb you anymore, Ninth Cousin.”
She wiped at the corner of her eye and turned to leave.
Her small figure looked heartbreakingly lonely.
For no reason he could explain, Zhan Haochen’s heart gave a sharp pang. He almost rushed forward to coax her back.
But for the sake of his elder brother, he forcibly suppressed that impulse and the discomfort it brought, turning his gaze away.
Cheng Yao had been watching the entire exchange from the moment Shao Yutong approached.
As the heroine of the novel, Shao Yutong was exceptionally beautiful and remarkably intelligent. During the journey into exile, she helped the group overcome one crisis after another, earning everyone’s admiration.
She was kind to everyone, especially the two brothers, Zhan Haoting and Zhan Haochen. She was considerate and attentive, taking meticulous care of them.
In their desperate circumstances, the brothers were shown such devoted care by a woman that they developed a helpless dependence on her and fell hopelessly in love.
In the original story, Zhan Haoting’s injuries had not been as severe, though he had still been beaten until he was covered in wounds. His ability to rise again and turn the tables against all odds had owed a great deal to Shao Yutong.
Unfortunately, the person she loved was someone else.
She had merely recognized the brothers’ potential and kept them in her orbit, turning them into stepping-stones to help her beloved rise to power.
That was how the original story had been written. Thus, in front of Zhan Haoting and Zhan Haochen, Shao Yutong came with a built-in halo. To the brothers, everything about her seemed wonderful.
But just now, Zhan Haochen had barely exchanged a few words with her before the two of them had parted on bad terms?
How strange!
Cheng Yao was curious, but she could not be bothered to ask.
She had already brewed pot after pot of ginger soup, and the heat had left her entire body drenched in sweat.
Hongxiu “weakly” struggled to sit up and said in a small voice, “Sister-in-law, let me do it.”
Cheng Yao did not argue. She handed over her place, wiping away her sweat as she walked outside to get some fresh air.
The chief constable was drinking from a gourd, while the yamen runners were cutting up horse meat.
A fire had also been lit beside him, with more than a dozen skewers of meat roasting over the flames and filling the air with a rich, savory aroma.
When he saw Cheng Yao, he picked up a skewer of meat. “Have some?”
His gesture of goodwill caught Cheng Yao slightly off guard.
She smiled politely and waved her hand. “The chief constable is generous, but I’ve already had dinner. I’m not hungry.”
The chief constable said nothing and continued drinking by himself.
Just as Cheng Yao turned to leave, he suddenly said, “Madam Zhan, did you foresee what would happen today? Is that why you wouldn’t let General Zhan ride in the carriage?”
She paused for a moment before realizing that “Madam Zhan” referred to her.
“Not exactly…” she replied thoughtfully. “I just felt that the journey wouldn’t be peaceful. After all, there are too many people who want the general dead. A carriage would be too conspicuous, and if something happened, there would be nowhere to escape.”
That was indeed the case. Anyone who wanted to climb higher would inevitably make enemies and offend many people.
No matter how upright Zhan Haoting was, there were still plenty of people who disliked him or wanted him dead.
The chief constable nodded thoughtfully.
Then he lifted the wine jug and began pouring its contents into his mouth with a loud glug, glug, glug.
Cheng Yao jumped in surprise, wondering what he was trying to do.
Could there be something wrong with him?
The chief constable lowered the jug. Seeing the shock on Cheng Yao’s face, he paused before saying, “This is the ginger soup Madam Zhan made.”
Cheng Yao was speechless.
So why had he been taking tiny sips earlier? He had made it look as though he were drinking wine.
And besides, she had prepared that ginger soup for the yamen runners. Why had he drunk the entire bowl by himself?
As if he had seen through her thoughts, the chief constable added, “They don’t like drinking it.”
This chief constable was… rather strange.
Cheng Yao forced out an awkward laugh. “They don’t really need it to ward off the cold, either.”
On the third day, the rain still had not stopped.
The wind and rain raged like a dark omen, and the world had dissolved into a chaotic roar.
Muddy water wound down the mountainside, converging into streams of cloudy, churning water.
The mountain road at Duanlong Slope was a quagmire. Everyone slipped constantly as they walked, like dead leaves that could be swept away by a flash flood at any moment.
The air was saturated with damp cold and the stench of rotting grass, mingled with the suppressed groans of the wounded. The yamen runners cursed and swore, but it made no difference. The group remained barely able to move.
Around noon, they passed an abandoned house. Everyone was too exhausted to continue, so the yamen runners finally ordered them to rest for a while.
Second Madam Zhan had been carried there on Zhan Jinmo’s back.
Now, she was curled up in a corner with Zhan Jinmo beside her. Her forehead was burning, her lips dry and purplish, and her whole body shivering.
Her cough grew harsher with every breath. Each fit sounded as though it were tearing at her lungs from within. Anyone could tell that her condition was grave.
The Old Madam had also been carried into the house by Second Master Zhan.
She was already old and frail, and the injuries she had suffered the previous day were severe. Her entire body was covered in wounds. If she had not been forced to drink half a bowl of the ginger soup Cheng Yao had brewed, she would already have been dead.
Shao Yutong once again begged the yamen runners to find a physician for the old woman.
“She’s that old and injured so badly. Why bother getting her a doctor?”
“They’re all condemned wretches anyway. It would be better if she died and gave everyone some peace.”
Those words were enough to chill anyone’s heart.
Shao Yutong stubbornly continued kowtowing. “As long as she receives treatment, there’s still a chance she can survive. Constable, please, I beg you—save my grandmother. Please!”
Large raindrops pounded against the ground, splashing muddy water into the air.
One of the yamen runners shifted his gaze uneasily, then stood and walked toward her.
“If we find a doctor for the old woman, will you do anything I ask?”
“Yes.”
The young girl’s plain-colored dress was already soaked through, clinging tightly to her trembling body. Water dripped from the ends of her hair, sticking to her pale cheeks.
She clutched the yamen runner’s trouser leg, her knees sinking into the pooled rainwater. Her knuckles had turned white from the force of her grip.
“Please… save my grandmother… I’ll do anything!”
Her smooth forehead struck the slick stone floor again and again. Thin trails of blood mingled with the rainwater and ran down her face.
Anyone who saw her in such a state would be moved.
But the yamen runner’s gaze was lecherous. “All right, then. We’ve been traveling for two days, and my legs are a little sore. Come inside and massage them for me. If you make me happy, I’ll go to the village ahead and find a physician for her later.”
As he spoke, he started walking into the house.
Shao Yutong’s small face grew even paler.
Someone in the group shouted, “Don’t be foolish! Don’t go in with him!”
A woman also slapped her thigh and wailed, “What a beast! She’s only a child!”
“Yutong, don’t!” Zhan Yurong stepped forward and grabbed her hand.
Shao Yutong’s gaze swept over the group. At last, it paused briefly on the brothers, Zhan Haoting and Zhan Haochen. She allowed a trace of disappointment to show at exactly the right moment, then resolutely rose to her feet.
