Chapter 60

Chapter 60

The System had no answer and did not know what else it could say.

Feeling that he had won the argument, Liu Che puffed up with triumph and was just about to add something when his vision suddenly blurred. By the time he came to his senses again, searing pain was spreading across his back.

“Hiss!” He sucked in a cold breath, his cheek twitching. A tearing pain followed. When he reached up to touch his face, his hand came away hot and bloody. His sudden movement had ripped open the wounds on his face before they could scab over.

Damn it. How hard had he been beaten?!

Anger smoldered in Liu Che’s heart. He shifted slightly, only for unbearable pain to lance through his back. After pausing to catch his breath, he rolled his eyes around to examine the room.

The furnishings were ordinary, and the room was not large, but everything looked neat. A desk stood on the eastern side with several worn books stacked on top. A bow, arrows, and a saber hung on the wall, all bearing obvious signs of heavy use.

It made sense when he thought about it. The original male lead had risen from a fallen household to rule as a sovereign. He could hardly have done so without martial skill on horseback.

The original host’s memories had yet to arrive, so Liu Che could only analyze the situation from that brief synopsis of the world. Drawing sharp breaths, he told his old companions in the space, “Whatever happens later, I cannot stay with the Li Family. Who knows when Li Jiangxue will be reborn, or whether rebirth will leave her with even more holes in her brain? I am a grown man. Surely I can find a place for myself anywhere!”

Emperor Gaozu nodded. “That much is true. Before you establish your own power, stay away from fools. They act on every passing whim. You never know when one of them will trip you up.”

Li Shimin said hesitantly, “Was Yan Hongguang not taken in by Li Jiangxue’s father? Should you not tell him before leaving? Otherwise, if some new dispute arises, he may make trouble for you.”

Ying Zheng gave a scornful laugh. “Li Jiangxue is deranged, and I doubt her father is much better. In an ordinary household, even insulting a guest would be a serious offense requiring strict discipline. Yet Li Jiangxue had her cousin humiliated and beaten nearly to death for no reason, and even now the Li Family has offered no explanation. In my view, either her father is incapable of managing his household and blind to everything around him, or he is a treacherous hypocrite who cares only for his reputation. Either way, he is not a man with whom one can make plans!”

Zhu Yuanzhang said darkly, “Perhaps he simply loves his daughter, the way Lady Tan loved her younger brother…”

Liu Che replied politely, “Thank you. That was revolting.”

They talked for a while, and Liu Che gradually adjusted to the pain in his back. Bracing himself on his arms, he slowly pushed himself upright. Just then, the door opened.

“Oh! Young Master Yan, why are you getting up?”

A young maid entered carrying a tray that seemed to hold salve, bandages, and other medicines for staunching blood and reducing swelling. Seeing that he had already sat up, she hurried toward him in alarm. “The physician said your injuries are severe. You must not move around!”

Liu Che wondered who this little maid was.

The original host’s memories had not arrived. He did not recognize anyone!

Though he grumbled inwardly, he obediently lay facedown again.

Fortunately, Yan Hongguang had always been like this, taciturn and disinclined to speak, so the maid noticed nothing strange. She set the tray beside the bed and said with a faint blush, “Young Master Yan, may Tingyu tend to your wounds?”

So her name was Tingyu.

Liu Che turned his head to look at her and said in a deep voice, “Thank you.”

Meeting his deep-set eyes, Tingyu blushed even more deeply. She pressed her lips together in a smile, then carefully eased the loosely draped outer robe from his upper body. After wiping away the blood and pus seeping from his wounds, she began applying the medicine with the lightest of touches.

“Eldest Young Lady went far too far this time. Look what she did to your back. Your flesh is torn everywhere…”

Tingyu shuddered at the sight of the crisscrossing wounds across the man’s back. With no one else in the room, she could not resist voicing her resentment. “You are still her cousin, and your father once did Master a great service. How could she do this to you? If Master finds out, even with Madam pleading for her, Eldest Young Lady will surely be scolded!”

Liu Che: “…”

Wait.

So the original host was not some impoverished relative who had come begging for favors. His father had done Li Jiangxue’s father a great service, and that was why the Li Family took him in?

Damn it. That made the Li Family even more despicable!

You let your daughter abuse the son of your benefactor like this. Do any of you possess a shred of humanity?

Do you even know how to spell ingratitude?!

Fury flared in Liu Che’s heart. At that moment, the original host’s memories flooded wildly into his mind.

The Yan Family had once been prosperous, but by Yan Hongguang’s grandfather’s generation, nearly all the family fortune had been squandered. Yan Hongguang’s father, Yan Gang, had little talent for scholarship but considerable martial skill. Hoping to restore the family’s standing, he joined the army with several friends.

Yan Gang was gone for three years without sending any news. Yan Hongguang and his mother, Lady Xue, had no means of supporting themselves and lived in desperate poverty. Before long, one of the friends who had enlisted with Yan Gang sent word that Yan Gang had died in battle. In an instant, half the Yan Family’s sky collapsed.

Their life had already been poor. With Yan Gang dead, Lady Xue and Yan Hongguang had now lost their last hope.

Lady Xue was still young and beautiful. Since Yan Gang was dead, matchmakers soon came to her door. After hesitating repeatedly and asking her son’s wishes, she finally agreed.

Lady Xue remained with the Yan Family until the mourning period ended, then took Yan Hongguang with her when she remarried into the Guan Family. His stepfather’s family was not difficult to live with, but Yan Hongguang was a son of the Yan Family living under another household’s roof, and he could never feel at ease. Before long, he bade farewell to his mother and stepfather, then returned alone to the Yan Family’s ancestral home to live with several old servants.
Six months passed before the Li Family finally came to his door. Only then did Yan Hongguang learn that his father had died saving a fellow soldier. The man he saved was none other than Li Dongshan, the eldest legitimate son of the patriarch of the Li Family of Lingnan.

The moment Li Dongshan saw Yan Hongguang, tears poured down his face. He gathered the boy into his arms and wailed, blaming himself for arriving too late and causing his dear nephew to suffer so much. He beat his chest and stamped his feet in the deepest remorse.

Hearing him speak of his late father, Yan Hongguang also grieved. The two wept together and poured out their hearts for a long while. Li Dongshan then took charge of his benefactor’s son and brought Yan Hongguang back to the Li Family.

Yan Hongguang had still been a young adolescent at the time. His father’s early death and his mother’s remarriage had made him sensitive, but he had seen too little of the world to understand its treachery. With Liu Che in his place now, the flaws in the story were obvious at a glance.

When had Yan Gang died?

A long time had passed between his death and the delivery of the news. After Yan Hongguang and Lady Xue learned of Yan Gang’s death, another long stretch passed before Lady Xue remarried and Yan Hongguang returned alone to live in the Yan Family’s ancestral home.

Yet throughout all that time, Li Dongshan, heir to the headship of the illustrious Li Family of Lingnan, somehow failed to find his savior’s wife and child or offer them any care?

It was absurd beyond belief!

Yan Hongguang had been young then. When he first entered the Li Family, Li Dongshan treated him protectively, hired renowned masters to teach him martial arts and scholarship, and asked about his studies every day. As time passed, however, Li Dongshan’s attitude gradually changed.

He seldom saw Yan Hongguang anymore. The masters hired to teach the boy were reassigned to other Li Family children. Yan Hongguang, the son of Li Dongshan’s savior, seemed to be forgotten by everyone in the household. His status steadily declined until, in the end, he stood only slightly above the servants.

Yan Hongguang had lived under another household’s roof before. Though hurt and dejected, he remembered the Li Family’s kindness in raising and educating him and never complained. Liu Che, however, found the heart of the problem the moment he examined Yan Hongguang’s memories.

Li Dongshan’s father, Old Master Li, had died!

The journey from the Yan Family’s ancestral home to the Li estate took five or six days. After picking up Yan Hongguang back then, Li Dongshan had raced all the way home on horseback. By the time they arrived, Yan Hongguang had fallen ill.

He was dizzy and disoriented, and the moment he dismounted, he doubled over and vomited. Li Dongshan did not send for a physician. He merely offered a few patient words of comfort before leading Yan Hongguang inside to pay his respects to Old Master Li.

Yan Hongguang’s head had been spinning so badly that he remembered none of what Old Master Li said.

The old master had trouble walking and rarely went out. Although Yan Hongguang lived with the Li Family for several years, he did not see Old Master Li many times. He knew only that the elder was solemn and exceedingly strict. A heavy medicinal odor lingered in his rooms throughout the year, and every junior who entered fell silent as a cicada in winter, terrified of the family patriarch.

Yan Hongguang was bold and did not fear him, but he seldom had an opportunity to see the man. Had he been more observant, he would have noticed that he received favored treatment only while Old Master Li was alive. The moment Old Master Li passed away, that treatment deteriorated. Before long, no one paid him any attention at all.

Liu Che analyzed the information in Yan Hongguang’s mind and quickly reconstructed the truth of those years.

Yan Gang had indeed died saving Li Dongshan, but Li Dongshan had never taken the matter to heart. After returning home, he carried on with his life as usual. Only when Old Master Li learned what happened and reprimanded him did Li Dongshan take some men to the Yan Family’s ancestral home and bring back Yan Gang’s son, Yan Hongguang.

How old had Yan Hongguang been then? An adult had dragged him along for five or six days of hard riding until he was barely conscious. Li Dongshan ignored his condition, did not even summon a physician, and first took him to report to Old Master Li. Clearly, that trip to the Yan Family had been made solely on Old Master Li’s orders, and every privilege Yan Hongguang later received had also been granted at the old master’s command.

What followed was simpler still. Old Master Li died, and Li Dongshan no longer needed to keep up appearances. As for the so-called son of his benefactor, giving the boy food to eat was already kindness enough. Li Dongshan could not be bothered with anything more!

Liu Che reviewed the old events in his mind and sneered without end. Calling a man like Li Dongshan an ungrateful beast would not be the least bit unfair!

It was true that the Yan and Li families were related through their ancestors. Even if they had shared no kinship at all, Li Dongshan’s cousin had died saving him on the battlefield. Li Dongshan was not poor. Would it have killed him to send someone with a little money to care for the man’s widow and orphan?

But he had not. He had done nothing at all.

Without Old Master Li’s order, he might never even have remembered that the cousin who died for him had left behind a wife and child.

What a piece of filth!

Yan Gang had died to save someone like that, leaving his wife to remarry and his son without support. What a damned waste!

Liu Che continued cursing inwardly. Beside him, Tingyu had finished tending his wounds and was carefully wrapping them in bandages. “Half of this salve has been used. I will leave the rest here and come back tomorrow to apply it again.”

Remembering the instructions her mistress had given before she left, Tingyu hesitated, then said, “You are so badly injured that the physician says you must remain in bed for ten days or even half a month before you can move around. Eldest Young Lady has always targeted you, and instead of changing, she has only grown worse. You should speak to Master about it. Your father’s service to him must still count for something. No matter how much Master dotes on Eldest Young Lady, surely he will reprimand her!”

Liu Che wanted to throw back his head and laugh three times. She herself had said that Li Jiangxue had been bullying him for more than a day or two. Was Li Dongshan both blind and deaf? Had he truly heard nothing about it?
He did not believe it for a moment!

Li Jiangxue made no effort to hide what she did and grew more vicious every time. That alone revealed exactly what kind of people she and her father were. Expect Li Dongshan to uphold justice for him?

Perhaps when pigs learned to climb trees!

Tingyu’s mistress was Li Dongshan’s daughter by a concubine, the Third Young Lady of the household, Li Jiangyue. Her birth mother, Lady Yu, was related to the Li Family’s old madam through her natal family. By the family hierarchy, she addressed Li Dongshan as an elder cousin.

Though Lady Yu was a concubine, the arrangement had been registered with the authorities, a bride-price had been paid, and she had been formally welcomed into the household. She was exquisitely beautiful and alluring, and she held Li Dongshan’s heart securely in her hands. Her belly had served her well too, bearing Li Dongshan two sons and a daughter. Her influence in the Li Family’s inner household now stood second only to that of his principal wife, Lady Wei. Even the servants respectfully addressed her as Madam Yu.

Lady Yu, the favored concubine, and Lady Wei, the principal wife, were natural enemies. It followed that Madam Yu’s daughter Li Jiangyue and Madam Wei’s daughter Li Jiangxue were bitter rivals as well. Li Jiangxue was spoiled, overbearing, and had a poor reputation, while Li Jiangyue was gentle and considerate, with a good name beyond the household. Li Dongshan favored his eldest daughter considerably out of regard for the Wei Family and Madam Wei, but when his two daughters stood side by side, he still preferred his third daughter.

One could hardly blame him.

Both were his daughters. One was obedient and sensible, always remembered to ease her father’s burdens, and never caused him trouble. The other was unruly, willful, vicious, and domineering, regularly causing scandals outside that damaged the family’s reputation. Which would you prefer?

It was only human nature.

Of course, an impoverished cousin hardly merited a personal visit. Was it not enough to send a maid?

Liu Che knew perfectly well that Li Jiangyue had done this to score a point against Li Jiangxue, with the medicine merely offered along the way. Naturally, he felt little gratitude. A faint smile appeared on his face as he said, “Thank you.” The moment Tingyu left, his expression turned cold.

His injuries had not healed. Leaving in the near future would be difficult, and once he left this place, where should he go?

Liu Che briefly discussed the matter with his old companions in the space and soon reached a conclusion. He could not remain with the Li Family for long. Once he recovered enough to move, he would bid this place farewell and seek his own road. As for what that road might be…

The structure of this world resembled the Wei, Jin, and Northern and Southern Dynasties. The Southern Dynasty prized scholarship, while the northern courts revered martial prowess. Several powers in the north and south waged endless war, presenting him with the best possible path to advancement.

With the original male lead’s extraordinary fortune and abilities augmenting him, Liu Che was no ordinary man, and he also had the help of several old companions in the space. How could he fail to achieve great things?

Once he left the Li Family, the skies would be wide enough for any bird to fly and the seas broad enough for any fish to leap. A whole world of opportunity awaited him.

With his decision made, Liu Che stopped entertaining useless thoughts. He closed his eyes and slept, conserving his strength.

…

Liu Che soon fell into a deep sleep. Li Jiangxue, however, was trapped in a nightmare from which she could not escape.

Her husband approached with a sword in his hand, while a bitter autumn wind shrieked in her ears. She trembled from head to toe and retreated step by step. Only when her back struck a bedpost did she stop, her face filled with despair. “No, do not, Husband! Please do not!”

Frost seemed to coat the man’s face. He showed no mercy to the wife he had married and shared his life with. With a vicious smile, he raised his sword and thrust.

A red line appeared across her snow-white neck. Li Jiangxue’s eyes widened in terror as she slowly collapsed. Faint gurgling sounds emerged from her throat, and her body convulsed endlessly on the floor.

Death drew closer, and her gaze began to lose focus. From the corner of her eye, however, she saw a curtain lift inside the room. A graceful young woman entered and cried out in fright at the blood covering the floor.

Li Jiangxue heard her husband soothing the woman in a gentle voice. “A-Yao, do not look. She is dead. Now we can be together forever…” More tender murmurs followed.

Li Jiangxue felt as though she had been plunged into an ice pit. Her eyes remained wide, her gaze venomous, as she died in despair and hatred…

“Ahhh!”

A sudden scream awakened the maid keeping watch through the night. She hurriedly lit a lamp, entered the inner chamber, and asked, “Young Lady? Did you have a nightmare?!”

Cold sweat poured from Li Jiangxue. Her underclothes were almost soaked through, and she clutched her chest as she gasped like a fish out of water.

The maid was startled and called again in haste, “Young Lady? Young Lady, are you all right?!”

Li Jiangxue followed the voice and turned her gaze to the maid’s face. Suddenly, she froze.

Sensing something, she lowered her eyes to her hands. Her ten fingers were slender and exceptionally fair, still soft from the pampered life she had led before marriage. She frantically surveyed the inner chamber and quickly recognized it as the room where she had lived before marrying.

Was this a dream?

Li Jiangxue pinched her thigh.

It hurt. This was not a dream.

Then this was reality?

She had returned to the time before her marriage?!

She seized the maid’s hand, excitement blazing in her eyes, and demanded with breathless urgency, “Where is Yan Hongguang? Is he still in the residence?!”

The maid found her behavior tonight exceedingly strange and grew more wary. When Li Jiangxue suddenly mentioned Yan Hongguang, the maid assumed she had devised some new way to torment him. After a pause, she answered, “Young Master Yan is still in the residence, but…”

Terrified that the future ruler of the realm might slip through her fingers, Li Jiangxue hurriedly pressed, “But what? Speak! Stop hemming and hawing!”

The maid knew her temper and dared not delay. “But Young Master Yan is badly wounded. The physician examined him and said he will need some time to recover…”
Yan Hongguang was injured?!

How had he been hurt?!

Li Jiangxue frowned deeply. As she recalled what happened in their youth, guilt suddenly crept over her.

In all likelihood, she was the one who had beaten Yan Hongguang into such a state.

But she could not be blamed. Yan Hongguang had always been like a rock in a cesspit, stinking and stubborn. He was hardly likable.

After making several excuses for herself, Li Jiangxue gradually recovered from the shock and joy of returning to her youth. She rose from the bed and examined herself in the mirror. Her eyes were still shaped like almonds, her cheeks as rosy as peach blossoms, and her beauty impossible to conceal. Only then did she smile and order the maid to dress her so she could take medicine to Yan Hongguang under cover of night.

The Li Family might have been a great clan of Jiangdong, but its splendor was only skin-deep. After her grandfather died, no one remained to uphold the family’s standing. Most of its younger generation lacked ability, and signs of decline had already appeared.

In her memories, Northern Qi sent an army south seven years later. The Southern Dynasty suffered defeat after defeat and was eventually forced to beg Northern Qi for peace, offering vast quantities of silk and treasure in tribute. Its national strength declined further.

Misfortune never came alone. The following year, the rebel Dong broke through Jiankang. The court’s nobles and high officials were humiliated, while the Li Family and the dependents and servants of several other great clans were marched to the riverside and beheaded by Dong’s forces. More than ten thousand people were killed in a single day. The river ran red with blood, and severed heads rose in piles as high as mountains.

The Li Family of Lingnan, glorious for centuries, was destroyed. Only a few descendants who happened to be away from home and daughters who had married out survived, but they could no longer support the family name.

Li Jiangxue had been outside Jiankang at the time and naturally escaped the catastrophe. Yet with the Li Family destroyed, how could a daughter of the household remain unbroken when the nest itself had fallen?

Had she not lost the support of her natal family, how would that beast ever have dared to kill her?!

The lands of the Southern Dynasty were trampled and cries of suffering filled the realm. It was then that Yan Hongguang rose swiftly to fame.

He led a lightly equipped surprise force in a lightning assault on Jiankang and drove the rebel Dong back. He then won battle after battle and, as commander of the Southern Dynasty, defeated Northern Qi. Thereafter, he campaigned east and west. In no more than seven years, he united north and south and ascended the throne as emperor.

At the time, Li Jiangxue’s soul had followed beside him. She regretted and lamented without cease. If only the Li Family had kept him. If only she had befriended Yan Hongguang back then. If only she had even pleaded with her father to let her marry down to him. How prosperous would the Li Family be now?

If that had happened, when Yan Hongguang ascended the throne, she should have been the woman standing beside him on the high platform, receiving the worship of the entire realm!

Heaven had blessed her by allowing her to return to her youth. Yan Hongguang was a man on the verge of soaring into the sky, and this was wealth and honor beyond measure. She would seize him for herself and for the Li Family!

She dressed in haste. The maid had already fetched the finest medicine for wounds and carefully offered it to her, then hesitated and said, “Eldest Young Lady, Third Young Lady already sent someone to Young Master Yan today…”

“Who? Li Jiangyue?!”

Li Jiangxue remembered her old rival. Her effort to repair relations with Yan Hongguang had been preempted, and the new resentment piled atop the old until it was unbearable. “That wretch! Must she fight me over everything? She is nothing but a concubine’s daughter, yet now she dares climb over my head…”

The maid lowered her head and listened, not daring to speak.

Li Jiangxue had not expected an answer from her in any case. After cursing enough to vent the resentment accumulated across years, she composed herself. Concealed by the night, she quietly made her way toward Yan Hongguang’s courtyard.

…

Liu Che had already fallen asleep. Suddenly, Li Shimin’s voice called beside his ear, “Hey, buddy, wake up! The woman coming to cling to your coattails is here!”

He opened his eyes blearily and saw a shadow cast across the door. Judging by its outline, it appeared to be a young woman.

Liu Che yawned soundlessly and said with utter boredom, “My coattails are not particularly eager to have her clinging to them.”

Emperor Gaozu laughed. “You have not risen to power yet. If you openly fall out with Li Jiangxue and she decides to kill you at any cost, there will be nowhere to seek justice.”

Liu Che laughed as well. “Who said I planned to fall out with her?”

Ying Zheng’s brow shifted slightly. “Oh?”

“It is time to show you the Liu Family’s traditional arts.”

Resting his chin on one hand, Liu Che said leisurely, “For example, letting one’s father be boiled and asking for a share of the stew, kicking one’s own children out of a carriage, ordering one’s own son to commit suicide, ordering Consort Gouyi to die, or that old business with Yin Lihua and Guo Shengtong… If I do not squeeze every last drop of blood from the Li Family and Li Jiangxue, I will hardly deserve the surname Liu!”