The wet nurse at the side began wiping away tears again. Although her young miss’s words made her heart jump with fear—if word got out, Miss would surely be completely ruined—but her poor Miss was suffering in her heart…

“Yanyan, yesterday I asked you whether you might have made a mistake… At that time, you very confidently told me that you had seen Young Master Lu and were certain he was the young man who saved you ten years ago.” Shi Fa Ke held her hand and spoke carefully.

Zhu Yanyan’s mood calmed down slightly, and she nodded gently. “Mm.” Then she became nervous again, hesitating before asking, “Is there something wrong?”

“Have you considered that it’s been ten years since that incident? People’s appearances will definitely change drastically. You… might you have mistaken him for someone else?”

Moreover, Zhu Yanyan had only been eight years old at the time. Could an eight-year-old child’s memory really be reliable?

Zhu Yanyan was stunned and instinctively shook her head in denial. “No, I couldn’t have mistaken him.”

“You said Young Master Lu saved you, but how old was Young Master Lu ten years ago? And to be able to rescue you from the hands of vicious bandits, that young man must have been highly skilled in martial arts, right?” Shi Fa Ke pressed her lips together, looking at Zhu Yanyan as she revealed everything about the previous incident. “Since this matter concerns your reputation, I didn’t directly ask Young Master Lu about what happened back then. I only tested him first. Young Master Lu seems… not to know martial arts.”

He was just a frail scholar with no strength to truss a chicken!

He couldn’t even catch a falling dish!

The wet nurse, hearing this, immediately showed a grateful expression. When Miss had specifically asked to find this Miss Shi as a matchmaker, she had disapproved in her heart, thinking Miss was being willful and unreasonable. But since Miss had always been obedient and rarely willful, she had let it go. However, now seeing that she could consider her Miss’s reputation and act so cautiously, she truly lived up to being the daughter of the official matchmaker Madam Tao. Perhaps she could indeed inherit her mother’s and maternal aunt’s legacy and become a great matchmaker of her generation.

But Zhu Yanyan sat there in a daze, speechless for a long time.

Could she… have truly mistaken him for someone else?

She sat motionless, and in a trance, she seemed to fall into that terrible nightmare again, with sounds of fighting and screaming in her ears.

Eight-year-old her was viciously dragged out of the carriage by that terrifying scar-faced man. That man pressed her down like an evil ghost into a pool of blood on the ground. Everything she could see was crimson blood, but… she wasn’t afraid at all, because she knew her hero would come soon.

She gritted her teeth and endured.

At the moment when she seemed about to die, everything before her eyes suddenly twisted, and that evil ghost pressing down on her was silently flung away like a dead dog.

She lay on the ground in a daze, looking at the young man who appeared against the light.

Her hero had come.

“Are you alright?” He extended his hand to her.

An extremely long and beautiful hand. She saw that on the inside of his wrist, there was a strangely shaped tattoo, like a dragon but not a dragon, like a snake but not a snake.

His voice was also clear and pleasant.

He said, “Tsk, little girl, are you scared silly?”

No, this time she wasn’t scared silly. She had this nightmare over and over again, using her eight-year-old eyes to look at that young man, wanting to see his appearance clearly.

He said, “What a beautiful little girl.”

So, do you like my beauty?

He said, “Oh, she’s mute.”

No, don’t feel such regret. I’m not mute, but I didn’t even have a chance to tell you this.

He said, “Don’t be afraid. Your family has come looking for you. Stay here obediently and wait. I’m leaving.”

Eight-year-old her saw him getting up to leave and somewhat frantically reached out to grab his hand. His hand was as warm as she had imagined…

He turned back to look at her. “What’s wrong?”

In the distance, a young man’s voice called out, “Look how much this little girl likes you. Why not take her home to be a bandit chief’s wife? Anyway, this world is so harsh to women. After what happened to her today, her reputation is ruined, and no one will want her when she goes home.”

Her hand trembled slightly… Yes, marry me. Even if you’re a mountain bandit, I’m willing to follow you and be a bandit chief’s wife.

“Don’t listen to his nonsense.” The young man turned back to glare at that person, then used his other free hand to feel around his body. Finally, he pulled out a jade pendant from his sleeve and stuffed it into her hand. Then he raised his hand to pat her head, saying softly, “This is my territory. I didn’t expect some blind bandits to cause trouble here and involve you in this fright. I heard that the world below the mountain is harsh to women. If you can’t marry in the future because of today’s incident, bring this token to Feiqiong Stronghold on Thousand Cliff Mountain to find me. I’ll marry you.”

After saying this, he broke free from her hand and ultimately still left.

…

The wet nurse saw her Miss suddenly sitting there motionless with vacant eyes, and was so frightened her soul nearly flew away. She rushed forward to embrace her, crying, “Miss, Miss, please look at your wet nurse. Don’t frighten wet nurse… My poor Miss…”

In the wet nurse’s cries, Zhu Yanyan’s eyes finally moved. She exhaled and slowly reached out to grasp the jade pendant she always wore at her chest, murmuring pitifully in a low voice, “Wet nurse, how could it not be him…”

That had been her greatest nightmare. She had been trapped in that nightmare for so long, unable to escape, night after night, always waking up startled in the middle of the night… She had even become more timid because of it. But gradually, for her… it was no longer a nightmare.

She even began to look forward to nighttime, to look forward to dreaming.

Because in that dream, he was there.

She repeated that dream over and over again. She kept the token he had given her. He had said he would marry her…

Zhu Yanyan finally couldn’t help but cry quietly. Why wasn’t it him? Why had she mistaken him for someone else?

His surname was also Lu. He came from Feiqiong Stronghold on Thousand Cliff Mountain… Why wasn’t it him?

He had promised to marry her. Even if he was a fat man with a full beard, broad back, and bulging muscles, she would still be willing to marry him and be his bandit chief’s wife!

The wet nurse looked at her Miss’s lost and dejected appearance and felt extremely heartbroken. “My poor Miss!”

She had just gained hope, had started eating well and taking care of her body, only to be struck such a blow, told that the person she had been waiting for was the wrong one… How would her Miss cope in the future!

Looking at the master and servant crying their hearts out before her, Shi Fa Ke felt somewhat of a headache.

“Although Young Master Lu isn’t the person you’re looking for, I will help you inquire…” she said somewhat dryly.

But this time she didn’t rashly promise to definitely help her find the person. After all, so much time had passed and there were so few clues. The greater the hope, the greater the disappointment, and she couldn’t bear Zhu Yanyan’s tears…

“Really… really?” Zhu Yanyan hiccupped from crying.

Shi Fa Ke immediately felt enormous pressure, but under the wet nurse’s intense gaze, she nodded with difficulty.

“A’Ke, you’re so good.” Zhu Yanyan finally stopped crying. After a pause, she said with wild imagination, “A’Ke, I want to watch you prepare meat.”

She was still thinking about the meat…

She had probably been genuinely curious earlier but hadn’t pursued the topic out of a young lady’s modesty. After crying for a while, she had apparently completely let herself go and stopped caring about propriety…

The wet nurse struggled for a moment, but seeing Zhu Yanyan’s eyes swollen from crying looking truly pitiful, she ultimately didn’t dare to dissuade her further.

Thus, Miss Zhu entered a kitchen for the first time in her life.

And it was the Shi family’s small kitchen…