“I’m hungry. Why isn’t the food ready yet?” Wenjie came pattering into the kitchen, tilting his head up to look at Nan Chu.

Nan Chu used her sleeve to wipe away her tears, crouched down, and gently stroked his little head. “Can you wait just a little while?” she said softly.

Wenjie slapped her hand away, kicked at Nan Chu’s legs with his small feet, and shouted loudly, “I want to eat right now!”

Nan Chu was knocked off balance by his kick and tumbled to the ground. She covered her mouth and began to cry.

She missed Xie Yan. He had never once let her be wronged.

“A’Chu, why are you sitting on the ground? Get up quickly.” Wenjing came forward and helped her to her feet.

“Wenjing, Elder Brother.” Nan Chu’s aggrieved tears fell without stopping.

“A’Chu, don’t cry, all right?” Wenjing said, his eyes red-rimmed. “It pains me to see it.”

“Wenjing, Elder Brother.” Nan Chu opened her arms and pulled him into a tight embrace.

Wenjing’s heart lurched. “A’Chu, don’t do this — Xiaojie is still here.”

Wenjie stared at them for a moment, then stomped his feet hard against the floor and hollered, “I’m going to tell Mother!”

Wenjing shoved Nan Chu away. Caught off guard, she was pushed back against the cutting board, her back knocking against it with a sharp, painful jolt.

“Xiaojie, be good — you mustn’t tell Mother.” Wenjing’s heart leapt into his throat.

Nan Chu’s heart was a tangle of conflicting feelings. Why had Wenjing, Elder Brother become like this?

She missed the days at Qingyu Stronghold. She hadn’t needed to do anything, could throw a tantrum at any time, and Xie Yan would always coax her. And now, in just these few short days……

She lowered her gaze to look at her own hands, wrinkled and waterlogged from soaking, and her tears fell steadily, drop by drop.

As long as Xie Yan was willing to come and take her back, she would definitely go with him.

“Nan Chu! What are you standing there spacing out for? Where’s the food?” Bai Xiao poked her on the forehead.

The corners of Nan Chu’s mouth drooped slightly. Her fingertips pinched the hem of her clothes. She missed Xie Yan so much……

“Wenjing, Elder Brother, I want to go back.” Nan Chu bit her lip and quietly sniffled.

The color drained from Wenjing’s face. If she went back, where would he find the money to hire a maidservant?

“Go back?” Bai Xiao gave a contemptuous laugh. “Go back to hold memorial rites for Xie Yan?”

Nan Chu’s eyes trembled faintly. “You……what are you saying?”

“What am I saying? You didn’t know?” Bai Xiao spat with disdain. “The three medicine packets that Yan Shiyao got from Wenjing — didn’t you give them to Xie Yan to take?”

The corners of Nan Chu’s eyes reddened. “I……I did.”

But weren’t those meant to put someone into a deep sleep?

“You gave them to him — so go back and hold memorial rites for Xie Yan.” Bai Xiao said it viciously.

Back then, Xie Yan had given them a hundred silver taels. This was something only Xie Yan, she herself, and Wenjing knew about.

When the silver went missing she had been so furious that she gave Wenjing a beating, but once her temper cooled and she thought it over carefully, Wenjing hadn’t had the nerve to do it.

That left only Xie Yan, who must have secretly taken it back.

Shameless creature — no sense of integrity whatsoever.

She had never imagined that three years later, a woman would turn up at their door, and in doing so give her the perfect opportunity.

Nan Chu’s mind rang like a struck bell, and her thoughts became hazy. Xie Yan, Xie Yan he……

“Nan Chu, you may as well know — back then, when your Wenjing, Elder Brother was planning to marry you off to a wealthy household as a concubine, it was Xie Yan who couldn’t stand to see it and took you up the mountain.” Bai Xiao yanked the hairpin from Nan Chu’s hair and pinned it into her own. “A thing this fine — you don’t deserve it.”

Nan Chu spun around sharply and looked at Wenjing, barely holding back her sobs. “Wenjing, Elder Brother — is that true?”

“My wife said nothing wrong.” Wenjing smiled obsequiously at Bai Xiao.

“Ah!” Nan Chu clutched her head, breaking down. “Xie Yan……husband……I was wrong. A’Chu knows she was wrong.”

She had believed all along that Xie Yan had deliberately torn her away from Wenjing, and she had hated him for three years — but actually……actually she had misunderstood A’Yan. Why had she refused to listen to his explanation……

The soups she made for him were so terrible, yet he drank every last drop. The porridge she made for him went completely cold, yet he ate every last bite without leaving a single mouthful. Her A’Yan — how could he have been so foolish.

Wenjing deserved to die. Bai Xiao deserved to die as well. And she herself was guilty beyond forgiveness……

Nan Chu suddenly smiled. “Wenjing, Elder Brother, Madam — you must both be hungry. A’Chu will go make the meal right now.”

Bai Xiao rolled her eyes. “Then get to it.”

Wenjing pressed his lips together. Did she love him so much that even now, knowing the truth, she bore him no resentment?

“Madam, I noticed yesterday there was no salt left in the kitchen. A’Chu will go buy some.” Nan Chu’s smile was sweet. “Please wait for A’Chu.”

Wenjing watched Nan Chu’s retreating figure and felt an inexplicable twitch of his eyelid. “Madam, do you think Nan Chu might be up to something?”

Bai Xiao touched the newly acquired hairpin in her hair, and said dismissively, “What could she possibly be up to? Without Xie Yan, and having cut ties with her own parents, she has no one to depend on now but you.”

Wenjing laughed. “Madam is right.”

Six hours later, Nan Chu pressed a hand to her aching stomach. So this was how much it hurt to take a drug like that……had her A’Yan hurt this much as well?

She stumbled and staggered her way up the mountain, a smile on her face. A’Yan loved to see her smile — she wanted to go to him smiling.

Nan Chu wiped away her stubborn tears.

“A’Yan, A’Chu has avenged you. A’Chu will come be with you very soon.” Nan Chu’s complexion was deathly pale, yet her eyes were very bright.

She didn’t know whether A’Yan would forgive her.

The mountain path was difficult. She still remembered — back then, when she had deliberately miscarried their child, he had been down the mountain with the First-in-Command. When he learned what she had done, he climbed back up through a heavy snowfall one step at a time, his whole body shaking from the cold.

That time he had flown into a terrible rage — not because of the child……

But because he was worried about her body……

If that child were still alive, they would be calling out “Father” and “Mother” by now.

The more she thought, the more sorrowful she became. Nan Chu managed a labored smile and cried out in anguish, “A’Yan!”

She had been wrong. She should have listened to his explanation.

“A’Yan……” Nan Chu’s figure swayed, and she fell to the ground. Blood seeped from her nostrils.

The scorching sun shone down on her body, and in a daze she saw A’Yan kneeling on the ground to coax her into eating properly.

“A’Yan, I……I promise you……next life……I……I will love you first……” Nan Chu’s voice grew thread-thin.

“Ah!” Yan Yunning, still some distance away, caught sight of a white-clad woman lying on the mountain path with a face drained of all color, and was so startled she jumped.

“Why are you so faint-hearted?” Xuan Yanyu said with a half-smile.

Yan Yunning retreated behind Xuan Yanyu and swallowed. “I……I don’t want to go down the mountain anymore. I want to go back.”

She was frightened! Very frightened!

The man took hold of her hand, his lips curling faintly. “Don’t be afraid.”

“Can I stop being afraid just because you say so?” Yan Yunning’s teeth chattered.

How to put it — in the daytime it was fine, but the moment night fell, her mind would fill with the terrifying images she had seen during the day.

Xuan Yanyu’s knuckled hand covered her eyes, and he coaxed her quietly. “You’re not afraid anymore now — follow me.”

Yan Yunning: “……”

Did they really have to go down the mountain today???

Xuan Yanyu pressed his lips together. He was holding her hand, and even so he could feel the clamminess of her palm. It seemed she truly was terrified.

“I’ll go ahead and take a look first. You stay right here and don’t move.” The man’s voice was very gentle.