Chapter 3

Chapter 3

That night, I lay in bed, unable to fall asleep.

Remembering Liang Xi’s expression during the day, remembering what he had said-“With me, it is”-left my feelings in turmoil.

Although I knew Liang Xi had always been generous and kind, I never would have guessed that, in his heart, even something this serious could be smoothed over as long as I acted a little spoiled.

After coming to Wu County, I rarely thought about the past.

But Liang Xi’s appearance forced me to think about it again.

When I was sixteen, my stepmother planned to arrange a marriage for me.

The man she had her eye on was the son of Vice Minister Gao of the Ministry of Revenue.

This Young Master Gao came from a prestigious family, and his looks could even be considered handsome.

It was just that he neglected all proper pursuits, lingered in brothels, and would hit people when he was drunk.

Of course I didn’t want to marry someone like that.

But at the time, I had no ability to resist.

I went to my father. Not only did he refuse to help me, he even advised me:

“Young Master Gao is only young and ignorant. Once he has a family, his temper will naturally improve. Just wait peacefully to be married.”

I begged my stepmother, swearing that from then on, I would obey her in everything.

She smoothed her hair and looked down at me with disdain.

“I don’t need you to obey me in everything from now on. I only need you to behave this once.”

At the time, my younger sister, Xu Mingyi-the daughter of my stepmother and my father-was standing beside my stepmother, idly playing with a jade pendant.

I had already fallen into despair, and for one instant, the thought of mutual destruction even crossed my mind.

Yet when I saw the jade pendant in her hand, I suddenly remembered something from the past.

Two months earlier, my sister had gone to Songshan Temple to pray for blessings. On a small path outside the temple, she had saved someone.

That person had been gravely injured and unconscious. If no one had helped him, he surely would have died.

My sister had gone there to pray for blessings to begin with, and seeing him near a temple, she had saved him with the thought of forming a good karmic connection.

However, she did not personally show herself. She merely ordered her attendants to carry him to a clinic for treatment and take careful care of him.

The next day, that person left.

Before leaving, he left behind a jade pendant and promised that if my sister ever encountered any difficulty in the future, she could go to Prince Rui’s Mansion to find him.

I knew all of this because when Xu Mingyi’s attendants brought the jade pendant back, our whole family was having a meal.

When my stepmother learned that the person my sister had casually saved was Prince Rui, delight showed plainly on her face. She took my sister’s hand and said she was a little lucky star, then asked:

“Does Prince Rui know that Mingyi was the one who saved him?”

The attendant said, “He knows. This servant told him that the one who saved him was the young lady of our Xu family.”