After finishing her breakfast, Mi Yao found her usual sheltered spot on the boat to read, half her face nestled in snow-white fox fur. She gazed at the snow-covered green mountains in the distance, admired the migratory birds fishing up close, and listened to the crisp sound of the tower boat cutting through the river and breaking the thin ice. Occasionally, she glanced down at her leisure book, yawned, and began her afternoon nap.
After waking, she read for a while longer until the steward came to notify her that the boat would dock in a few hours. They would stay at a post house tonight and switch to land travel tomorrow to reach Kuizhou. Only then did she show any intention of getting up.
Mi Yao felt neither anticipation nor fear about how soon she would meet the male lead.
She simply knew that upon docking, she would endure the jolting of a carriage tomorrow.
She opened her maintenance diary and moved tomorrow's hair care routine to today.
After drinking a bowl of hair-nourishing soup made from black beans, black sesame, walnuts, and mulberries, she returned to her room when the time was right, let down her hair, and began applying a hair care ointment blended from fleeceflower root and floral oil.
Shuang Hua massaged the acupoints on Mi Yao’s head, while Shi Ya applied a pearl powder beauty cream to Mi Yao’s face and neck.
Before she returned, the room had already been warmed with smokeless silver charcoal. Upon entering, a warm, fragrant air enveloped her, and Mi Yao felt drowsy again.
Since she felt like sleeping, she closed her eyes and dozed lightly for the time it takes to drink half a cup of tea.
When she woke, the ointments on her face and hair had been cleaned off. Shuang Hua and Shi Ya were drying her hair, while Yu Xiu had used the remaining beauty cream on her own face. Sitting on a small elm stool beside Mi Yao, Yu Xiu immediately offered her fragrant tea to rinse her mouth upon seeing her open her eyes.
"Why are you staring at me like that?"
Noticing Yu Xiu’s gaze fixed intently on her, Mi Yao reminded her, "The mask on your face is drying. Go wash it off."
Yu Xiu touched the gradually drying white paste on her face, thinking of the precious herbs it contained, and felt it was a waste to remove it so soon. She stood up but hesitated to go wash her face.
"Elder Sister, do you think Brother-in-law will like me?"
Hearing Yu Xiu mention Xiao Chu twice in one day, Mi Yao figured it was because the boat was docking and they would soon reunite with Xiao Chu, making the young girl nervous and prompting her to bring him up repeatedly.
Recalling that during her usual skincare routine, Yu Xiu would either watch from the side or help pound herbs, but today she had unusually applied a mask herself.
Mi Yao had no intention of interfering with the characters’ actions in the book. She had planned to wait until Yu Xiu faced setbacks as in the plot, becoming too intimidated to provoke the male lead and staying obediently by her side.
But hearing Yu Xiu repeatedly express her desire to win Xiao Chu’s affection, Mi Yao couldn’t help but speak up: "Why do you need him to like you? You’re my sister. You’ve relied on me before—do you not wish to rely on me in the future?"
"Of course I want to rely on you, Elder Sister, but…"
Yu Xiu lowered her eyes, fidgeting with her fingers, stammering and unsure how to continue.
Seeing her like this, Mi Yao could guess her concerns: "I married Xiao Chu, so depending on him for food and shelter is my affair. You don’t need to worry about that. Just continue as you did before."
Mi Yao laid out the food chain: previously, she was at the forefront of Yu family’s hierarchy, but now that she was married, her forefront had shifted to Xiao Chu.
This change had nothing to do with Yu Xiu. If Yu Xiu wanted to rely on her for protection, everything could remain as it was.
But after she finished speaking, Yu Xiu still seemed full of unspoken words, unsure whether she hadn’t understood or if she wanted to bypass Mi Yao as the middle link and connect directly with Xiao Chu, the upstream source.
Waking to the chill morning breeze, Mi Yao finally understood: Yu Xiu hadn't failed to comprehend her meaning. The reason she'd stared was because they were about to part. The anxiety in her eyes held both reluctance and the unease of not knowing how to reconnect with the upper echelons now that this middling stream was being swept away.
"E'e, you're awake?"
Huan Guanbin, who had been studying Mi Yao with hungry eyes from his seat in the carriage, immediately seized her hand in delight upon seeing her open her eyes. "From now on, no one can tear us apart!"
His abruptly enlarged face made Mi Yao frown and shift backward. "That's hardly good news."
She surveyed her surroundings, her gaze sweeping over the greasy black grime in the carriage corners, the worn-out reed blinds that wouldn't stay in place, and Huan Guanbin's half-new dark green satin robe.
With the original host's memories, she knew this garment had been made by the original host the previous year.
Under the pretext of making clothes for her own brother, the original host had secretly kept considerable fabric and cotton to craft this brocade-padded robe for Huan Guanbin.
This garment had practically been Huan Guanbin's winter skin last year. Judging by the worn cuffs, he likely hadn't worn it any less this year.
Had it been the original host, she might have thought Huan Guanbin treasured her gift.
But from her current perspective, Huan Guanbin was simply too poor to afford more presentable new clothes.
A scion of a declining family with no steady income, his talents limited to composing a few sentimental poems—neither capable of passing imperial exams to secure an official post nor willing to lower himself to menial work like copying texts or teaching, all while clinging to his perceived status and lineage.
He lived in a thatched cottage on the outskirts of the Yu residence, lent to relatives seeking favors, patching together a living by borrowing money here and taking handouts there.
No status, no wealth, with looks that could barely be called fair and refined.
She had only inherited the original host's memories, not her mindset. Initially, she couldn't comprehend why the original host would engage in a romance with Huan Guanbin.
She'd thought love truly was an incomprehensible thing.
Later, after reading the original host's journal entries, she roughly understood that the original host had been as contrary during her youth as she herself had been.
Except while she had been preoccupied with earning money during her own impoverished youth, the original host had chosen an utterly inferior man to flaunt her own refinement—to show she wasn't as materialistic and wealth-obsessed as others assumed, seeking to climb social ladder through her looks.
After transmigrating, she had never intended to entangle herself with Huan Guanbin. Learning that the original host held no genuine affection for him only solidified her resolve to cast him from her mind.
Who could have predicted that despite avoiding the original plot of eloping with her lover, this paramour she hadn't seen for half a year would still manage to collaborate with Yu Xiu to smuggle her out of the relay station?
"Take me back."
"E'e, what's come over you? These past months, you've become like a different person."
Mi Yao's cold words upon waking cooled half the fervor in Huan Guanbin's heart. Recalling her avoidance over the last six months, he urgently grasped her hand, only for her to pull away again.
"E'e, you can't possibly actually want to marry that brute Xiao Chu! He has no family background, no education—illiterate! He merely got lucky saving the Jiannan Jiedushi and became the military governor's adopted son. Aren't you afraid of being laughed at by the world if you marry him?!"
"So instead of marrying him, I should marry you and birth a string of poor brats, all clinging to my maiden family, begging for their alms?"
The carriage was filthy, cold, and reeked of animal musk mingled with male sourness. Mi Yao was thoroughly impatient. "Take me back. It's been half a year—haven't you grasped that I look down on you?"
"No, I don't believe it. E'e, I know you. You're different from those vulgar women. Gold and silver are mere filthy objects to you—how could you possibly care about such things?"
Huan Guanbin’s expression was flustered, as if he believed Mi Yao’s words, yet unwilling to accept that the honors proving his uniqueness had vanished.
Mi Yao couldn’t care less whether he believed her or not.
All she wanted now was to escape this place.
Pushing aside the tattered curtain stained with grime, Mi Yao tried to call for the coachman to stop, but before she could speak, Huan Guanbin yanked her back into the carriage.
“E’e, don’t be difficult. Our priority is to leave Jingzhou. Once we seek refuge with your aunt, you won’t have to worry about your engagement to Xiao Chu anymore.”
“She’s my aunt, not yours. You had the nerve to abduct someone but nowhere to go, and now you want to hide at the woman’s relative’s home?”
Mi Yao knew he was referring to her aunt in Chizhou. Disgusted by his presumptuous tone, she frowned.
“I’m not joking or speaking in anger. I genuinely despise your poverty, your mediocre looks, and your lack of talent. If you truly care for our past affection, send me back.”
“I know you’re putting on this act because you’re afraid of implicating me or facing Lord Yu’s wrath. How could you willingly marry that brute Xiao Chu!”
It was clear Huan Guanbin’s pride was wounded—he refused to admit that the lover he’d lucked into had finally come to her senses.
Mi Yao felt weary.
Lazing around all day hadn’t given her extra energy; it only made her body accustomed to prolonged rest.
She had no desire to waste breath on a fool.
Recalling how, in the original plot, Xiao Chu had easily captured the pair after the protagonist eloped with Huan Guanbin, Mi Yao resigned herself to waiting for Xiao Chu to find them.
They weren’t far from Kuizhou. She hoped he would track her down quickly and spare her further suffering.
“Get us a clean, spacious carriage. This one reeks and jolts unbearably. You might endure it, but I can’t.”
Knowing Huan Guanbin had no money for a new carriage, Mi Yao opened the bundle beside her—clearly her own.
Untying the satin knot, she lifted the lid of the rosewood box and scoffed. “You’re such a hypocrite—preaching disdain for wealth while stealing my most valuable possessions.”
The three-tiered box was filled with her most precious jewelry.
Stung by her sarcasm, Huan Guanbin flushed red. “A’Xiu packed these belongings. It has nothing to do with me.”
Mi Yao cast him a sidelong glance, her eyes swirling with disbelief.
“E’e, how have you become so unreasonable? Has someone been whispering lies to you these past six months?”
While she was unconscious, he had marveled at her beauty, thinking her more radiant than ever—once possessing only a hint of charm, now blooming like an orchid, ethereal and unreal.
But now, awake and spewing scorn, she made it impossible for him to appreciate her loveliness.
“So, finding you unworthy makes me unreasonable?”
Mi Yao tightened the white fox fur cloak around her, fearing she’d fall ill in this wretched cold.
The Great Xing dynasty favored voluptuous beauties, yet the original host admired the refined elegance of the Wei-Jin era, believing true beauty lay in slender, fairy-like delicacy.
Born with a naturally curvaceous figure, the original host had bound her chest until breathing became labored and starved herself until weakness confined her to bed.
Like her current self, the original host seldom left her bed, but for different reasons: Mi Yao out of laziness, the original out of self-inflicted deprivation.
Since arriving, Mi Yao had cherished her health deeply. Even in the harsh winter, she hadn’t so much as sneezed. Now, she dreaded catching a severe chill from this misfortune.
And it's always what you fear most that comes to pass.
A few hours later, Mi Yao woke up dizzy.
Huan Guanbin had some backbone, but not much. Annoyed by her sharp tongue, he had drugged her unconscious again.
He didn't go so far as to abandon her on the roadside in revenge, but he did throw away her jewelry box reeking of money.
The carriage had been swapped too—from a filthy horse-drawn cart to an ox cart lined with straw and covered with a canopy.
Feeling her throat begin to dry and burn, Mi Yao truly regretted not carrying a knife with her, so she could stab Huan Guanbin to death with one blow: "What the hell is wrong with your head?!"