Chapter 2

Chapter 2

It was a rainy night.

I had been beaten out of the Chancellor’s Mansion with clubs.

I was the true young miss of the Chancellor’s Mansion who had been found and brought home, yet in a mere six months, I was being driven out again.

The rain poured down in torrents, and every household had their doors and windows tightly shut.

No one saw how I crawled out of the Chancellor’s Mansion in such a wretched state. The blood trailing behind me was washed away by the rain, quickly disappearing into the gutters. The bluestone pavement was so clean it looked as if it had never been stained by filth.

I crawled to a street corner and waited to die in the downpour.

The icy rain lashed against my hypothermic body, and I felt a chill that seeped into my very marrow.

I had heard that before people freeze to death, they feel very warm and will instinctively strip off their clothes.

I wanted to die, but I didn’t want to die in such an undignified way. Trembling, I forced myself to sit up and struggled to tie the sash of my robe into a tight, permanent knot.

In the darkness, a clear, gentle voice spoke hesitantly by my ear.

“Miss, what has happened to you?”

I opened my eyes and saw Song Duhe.

In the rainy night, his bright eyes shone like stars under the glow of a lantern.

I was utterly exhausted and coldly spat out a single word: “Scram.”

No one was to disturb my death.

Song Duhe hesitated for a moment. He turned to look at the Chancellor’s Mansion not far away, then back at me, before turning to walk in the opposite direction.

I let out a mocking sneer and closed my eyes, resigned to my fate.

When I first arrived in the Capital, I thought it was a wonderful place. Everyone had a smile on their face, unlike in the countryside where everyone looked miserable.

Later, I learned…

Some smiles are weapons that stab into a person’s heart over and over again.

The fake young miss who had usurped my identity would smile while framing me. My elder brother would smile faintly while calling me a fool. And the Third Prince, who was kicking me out of the mansion, only had to sneer the words “beat her out” to turn me from the adopted daughter of the Chancellor’s Mansion into an outcast.

So, I wasn’t surprised at all when that scholar walked away.

He must have realized I was driven out of the Chancellor’s Mansion. He didn’t want to offend them; he was a smart man.

It’s better for the smart people of this world to stay alive. Unlike me-foolish, stupid, and easily bullied-it is just as well that I die.

But before long, Song Duhe returned.

He held an umbrella in his hand. Murmuring a low “pardon me,” he grabbed my arm and struggled to hoist me onto his back.

I didn’t cooperate; I told him to leave.

But Song Duhe didn’t listen. He was surprisingly strong, securing me firmly on his back. He clamped the umbrella with his neck, running toward a medical clinic in a manner that was both comical and arduous.

The slanted wind and driving rain lashed against us, soaking his face, hair, and clothes. Yet he seemed entirely unaware, focused only on tilting the umbrella toward me.

A mocking smile curled on my lips.

And here I thought he was a smart man. Turns out, he is a fool too.

I mocked him in my heart, yet droplets welled up in my eyes, mixing with the rain and falling onto him.

Song Duhe pounded on the clinic door and spoke urgently to the doctor. I couldn’t catch every word, but the gist was that he didn’t have enough money.

He reached into his collar and pulled out a Jade Bead. The bead was threaded on a string that was very old but had been kept very clean.

He hesitated before handing the bead to the doctor, saying to treat me first. He promised that once he went back and got the money, he would return to redeem the Jade Bead.

It was clear the Jade Bead was very important to him; he was loath to part with it.

But he was willing to trade it for my life.

I didn’t want to owe him anything, so I spoke softly: “I have money.”