Chapter 2

Chapter 2

I never expected Li Kuo to own a house in Qingzhou.

The two of us had been betrothed when we were five. When we were ten, his entire family moved to Cangzhou.

After that, we never saw each other again.

When I returned to Qingzhou, I heard he had become an aide.

Naturally, I immediately wanted to cozy up to this bargain-bin fiancé of mine.

So I bought him an expensive outfit and sent it over, hoping to rekindle a little affection.

If he hadn’t been wearing the clothes I had so carefully picked out when he was reduced to a criminal slave,

I might not even have recognized him.

And what did that brat do? He turned around and sent me a letter breaking off the engagement.

Thinking of that, I ground my teeth. There was no way I was letting him off that easily.

I had just finished bathing and changed into fresh clothes when I heard a strange noise from the kitchen.

I held my breath and drew the specially made dagger from beneath my pillow.

I crept silently toward the kitchen and saw two men in black holding Li Kuo hostage.

Judging by the way they moved, they were definitely well-trained killers.

Li Kuo was only an aide in a prince’s estate.

Yet someone had followed his trail all the way here.

Clearly, he was carrying some enormous secret.

I quietly pressed myself against the corner of the wall.

Honestly, I didn’t really want to save him.

In these chaotic times, staying alive myself was already hard enough.

How was I supposed to shoulder someone else’s fate too?

Just then, one of the men in black said calmly, “Go deal with that woman.”

Heh. Deal with.

Two words, tossed out so lightly, so casually, and so damn insultingly.

Son of a bitch.

What, did he think I was some salted fish lying there waiting to be gutted?

Did he have any idea how hard I had worked just to survive until now?

If you want me dead, then you can die first.

When my dagger sliced open his throat,

his eyes went wide with terror, as if he couldn’t believe he would die at the hands of a salted fish.

As for the other one, his corpse was already nearly cold.

A poison-coated needle, blown straight into his carotid artery, had paralyzed him in an instant.

One slash, and he was dead.

I looked at the two bodies and said gloomily, “Would it kill people to be friendly? Why does everyone have to spend all day fighting and killing?”

Li Kuo seemed not to have come back to his senses yet. He stood there without moving.

I looked at his bare upper body. It was covered in scars.

Some were from whips, some from branding irons, and some had even been stabbed in by blunt instruments.

A few of them looked familiar.

After all, I had once endured the same.

Some, though, I didn’t recognize.

I wiped my blade and said irritably, “What are you standing there for? Go get rid of the bodies and the evidence.”

Li Kuo looked at me and said thoughtfully, “With martial arts as formidable as yours, why are you willing to live such an ordinary life?”