When Mi Yao opened her eyes and felt the heaviness in her chest, she thought she had reloaded a saved file.
It wasn't until Yu Xiu tearfully handed her the medicine that she turned her face away in disappointment.
The first six months after transmigrating had been her most carefree period—spent either lounging about or contemplating how to pamper herself. Repeating that experience wouldn't have bothered her in the slightest.
Unfortunately, she clearly didn't possess the golden finger of resetting timelines.
"Elder Sister, you're awake…"
Yu Xiu sobbed as she placed the medicinal broth aside, gazing at Mi Yao with tearful, pitiful eyes. "I never imagined you'd fall ill. Had I known this would happen, I wouldn't have listened to Cousin Huan's words and let him take you away."
Realizing the chest tightness was due to wind-cold stagnation, Mi Yao propped herself up against the bedside. "Prepare some fragrant tea to cleanse my palate, and bring honeyed preserves to counter the bitterness."
Yu Xiu happened to carry preserves and tea leaves with her. After she arranged everything, Mi Yao drained the medicine in one gulp, swallowed some rice cakes, and only then turned her attention to the tear-streaked face before her.
As half-sisters, Yu Xiu bore some resemblance to the original host—both had almond-shaped eyes. However, Yu Xiu's square jawline made her appear less clever, carrying instead a hint of foolish obedience.
In the original host's memories, Yu Xiu wasn't particularly bright either. She had once secretly schemed to release the Li Nu that scratched the original host because she couldn't bear to have it killed. After being discovered, she knelt before the original host for two days, terrified of losing her protection.
Having treated everyone around her as NPCs in a vacation game, this was the first time Mi Yao carefully observed Yu Xiu and pondered what she might truly be thinking.
The book never elaborated on Yu Xiu's specific motivations, so Mi Yao couldn't tell whether Huan Guanbin's successful abduction was due to Yu Xiu's unintentional actions or deliberate scheming.
Watching the continuous stream of tears welling in Yu Xiu's eyes, Mi Yao feared she might cry endlessly and finally spoke: "When Huan Guanbin sought your help, why didn't you tell me?"
Hearing Mi Yao's illness-hoarsened voice, Yu Xiu replied guiltily: "Cousin Huan said you only agreed to marry into Shu for Father's peace of mind. He said you'd never leave with him no matter how miserable you were, for the Yu family's sake… so we had to act without your knowledge…"
Seeing Yu Xiu too choked up to continue, Mi Yao finished for her: "So you've been by my side daily—did you think I was suffering?"
This?
Yu Xiu's eyes widened in stunned confusion, her mind turning into complete chaos at these words.
"I eat whatever I want, drink whatever I desire, have endless silver at my disposal, servants attending my every need—I don't even have to wash my own face. Which part of this seems like suffering to you?"
"But… Elder Sister loves Cousin Huan."
"Loved him before or love him now?"
"…Before."
"You understand the reasoning perfectly well. Stop pretending to be foolish with me."
As the words fell, Mi Yao watched Yu Xiu—still kneeling on the floor—bow down and kowtow, striking her forehead forcefully against the ground with repetitive thuds, as if determined to crack her skull open.
"What good does your kowtowing do me? Do you think bleeding from the forehead will make me pity you? Make me think you've suffered enough to forgive you for maliciously letting a villain abduct me, nearly getting me killed by exposure to cold winds?"
The pounding kowtows ceased at Mi Yao's words. Yu Xiu lifted her pale face, a bruised swelling already forming on her unbroken forehead.
"Elder Sister…"
"I have no use for groveling and kowtowing. To me, people are only useful or useless. Since you've caused me loss, even if you kowtowed until your head split open, it would bring me no benefit."
After speaking, Mi Yao coughed several times, lost interest in further conversation, and lay back down to rest with closed eyes.
Kneeling on the floor, Yu Xiu watched Mi Yao fall asleep and anxiously pondered her words.
She could clearly sense that her current elder sister was different from before.
Her former elder sister had adored Huan Guanbin. Though she never mentioned him to outsiders, she frequently told her personal maids about what Huan Guanbin said and did, and how she delighted in his unconventional ideas.
But after falling ill half a year ago, her elder sister never mentioned Huan Guanbin again. Instead, she collected numerous ancient recipes, becoming obsessed with enhancing her beauty.
She stopped binding her chest and restricting food, growing increasingly satisfied with her graceful, curvaceous figure.
It was precisely this awareness of Mi Yao's transformation that had begun to frighten her.
If this were her former elder sister, as a concubine she might have gained some affection from the master. But the current Mi Yao, with her controlled temperament and goddess-like beauty – how could the master spare her a second glance?
This was why she had deliberately and inadvertently mentioned to Huan Guanbin that Mi Yao only agreed to the distant marriage out of reluctance to disappoint their father.
Huan Guanbin, however, had imagined far more than she intended, concocting his own narrative about Mi Yao's suffering.
She had helped Huan Guanbin administer the drug, believing he would truly elope with Mi Yao, leaving her as the sole bride heading to Yizhou. Who could have predicted Huan Guanbin would prove so incompetent, with Mi Yao returning within a single day?
Recalling Mi Yao's recent words, Yu Xiu couldn't stop trembling, unable to comprehend what could be useful if kowtowing was worthless.
Mi Yao remained bedridden for three days, consuming five or six bowls of medicinal soup. Only on the fourth day did she feel the illness recede and her body regain its normal functions.
During these days, Yu Xiu had been desperately trying to prove her usefulness. Whenever Mi Yao's other maids were absent, she attended to Mi Yao with extreme diligence, even wanting to chew food before feeding it to her.
"Where are Shuang Hua and Shi Ya? And where is this place?"
After days of lying in bed, Mi Yao finally began to wonder why she wasn't at the posthouse and where her maids had gone.
Yu Xiu had grown accustomed to this elder sister's casual, indifferent attitude toward everything and found it unsurprising.
"I don't know why you're here either, elder sister. My brother-in-law sent someone to bring me from the posthouse to care for you."
"Only you were brought?"
"The messenger asked who was closest to you. I said I was your biological sister, so they had me pack some of your clothes and brought me to you."
Yu Xiu pressed her lips together before sharing her speculation: "This should be my brother-in-law's private residence – a small two-courtyard house with only the gatekeeper's family available for service."
Mention of belongings reminded Mi Yao of the jewelry Huan Guanbin had discarded. Checking the dressing table, she sighed in relief to find the case undisturbed on the table.
The original host's reputation as Jiangnan's foremost beauty was merely superficial.
Her father held only a sinecure position, and with her biological mother deceased early and her father quickly remarrying, she wouldn't have been valued by the Yu family despite being the legitimate daughter, if not for her exceptional appearance.
Even being valued, the Yu family couldn't provide many truly valuable items for her dowry. Most jewelry in this dressing case came from the betrothal gifts Xiao Chu had sent.
After examining the four layers of jewelry one by one, Mi Yao found Yu Xiu rather peculiar. Though the girl seemed full of malice, she had packed nearly all the original owner's valuable possessions when preparing their luggage.
"Sister, could it be that Brother-in-law is angry with us?"
These past few days, aside from fearing Mi Yao's retribution, Yu Xiu had been anxious about Xiao Chu's behavior. She couldn't understand why he had abandoned them in this place without any concern. Could it be that he no longer intended to bring Mi Yao back to Shu for their wedding?
But since Mi Yao hadn't mentioned it, she didn't dare bring it up either. Only now did she finally voice her panic: "Has Brother-in-law never seen Sister's appearance?"
If he had, how could he possibly bear not to take her back to his residence?
"He probably has matters to attend to in Jingzhou."
The foundation for Xiao Chu's marriage proposal to the original owner was his military campaign to quell the internal rebellion in Jingzhou.
Jingzhou served as the grain supply transit point for several southern provinces and bordered Shu. She remembered from the book that Xiao Chu had invested considerable effort in Jingzhou – suppressing rebellions only to instigate new ones, thoroughly eliminating all major forces before securing this rich territory. Then he followed the Yangtze River upstream to capture Huainan.
Xiao Chu dumping them here was likely because he wanted to use her abduction as pretext to stir trouble in Jingzhou.
Now that she thought about it, her being taken away by Huan Guanbin must have provided him with the perfect opportunity. Even with urgent haste, traveling from Kuizhou to Jingzhou couldn't be accomplished in a single day.
Yet he had found her in just one day.
This proved he hadn't been waiting for her in Kuizhou at all, but was already within Jingzhou's borders.
Having figured this out, Mi Yao simply continued lying down.
But when noon arrived and mealtime came, she found she could no longer remain so complacent.
While recovering from her cold, she had no appetite, but now that her taste buds had returned, eating this coarse food became pure torture.
The Roasted Duck on the table carried a distinct gamy odor, the Steamed Meat Pie was burnt, and while the Napa Cabbage Soup was properly cooked, she couldn't be expected to survive on plain congee and cabbage alone.
"Can you actually eat this food?"
Mi Yao looked at Yu Xiu. Though Yu Xiu wasn't particularly favored, she had always accompanied the original owner and had never been reduced to eating such poor fare.
"The meals are prepared by the gatekeeper's mother. I've spoken to the old woman about it – she agrees verbally but still cooks like this. I originally thought she genuinely couldn't prepare meat dishes, but these past few days, whatever you didn't eat, she would recook with ample oil and spices until it smelled delicious, then serve it all to her own family."
While Mi Yao was ill, Yu Xiu had been too fearful to confront the gatekeeper's family. Now that Mi Yao had brought it up, she immediately took the dishes to confront them.
Yu Xiu marched off with fierce determination, returning empty-handed moments later, but accompanied by an old woman.
The old woman wore a gray-brown cotton jacket without patches, but her appearance was utterly slovenly. Her hair was greasy and tangled, her collar and cuffs stained black with grime, and she carried a peculiar odor even before drawing near.
Her filthy appearance alone was bad enough, but when the old woman saw Mi Yao, she narrowed her eyes and scrutinized her up and down, clearly trying to intimidate her from the first meeting.
Remembering Yu Xiu's account of how the old woman deliberately cooked the food poorly, Mi Yao covered her mouth without hesitation and retched dryly: "Don't tell me the medicine and food I've been consuming were all prepared by her?"
"Don't worry, Sister. I prepared the medicine myself, the gatekeeper's wife cooked the congee, and only the meat dishes were handled by this old woman."
Mi Yao immediately felt grateful she hadn't eaten any meat these past few days.
"How dare you handle my food looking like this! How could Xiao Lang keep your family here to serve!?"
Wu Nao froze for a moment upon seeing Mi Yao’s true appearance. Mi Yao had been brought over overnight, and the garrison commander had only instructed Wu Nao’s son to keep a close watch on Mi Yao and her sister, forbidding them from wandering off, without giving any further orders.
Usually, Yu Xiu did not allow Wu Nao to approach the main house, so she had no idea that the young lady recuperating inside was as beautiful as a celestial being, with such an imposing and arrogant demeanor—clearly not of common birth.
Wu Nao had intended to act fierce to deter Mi Yao from causing trouble, but upon hearing Mi Yao’s sharp questioning, she instinctively knelt on the ground.
“My lady, you may not know, but my son originally served under the garrison commander. After he was injured in battle, the commander took pity on him and assigned our family to guard his residence…”
“I assumed Xiao Lang gave your son this estate out of pity. Since you’re merely housekeepers, why are you telling me all this? Do you think I’ll be intimidated just because your son serves under the commander?”
Mi Yao sneered. Now that her illness had subsided, the lack of appetite she had felt over the past few days surged back, and she cut off Wu Nao’s incessant rambling. “Enough nonsense. The sight of you disgusts me, and I can’t stomach the food you cook. Bring out the gold and silver the commander left, and have someone take my sister to buy me something edible.”
“The garrison commander ordered us to keep a close watch on you and not let you wander off.”
Seeing Wu Nao puff out her chest and regain her confidence, Mi Yao snorted. “A beauty like me naturally shouldn’t wander around. Otherwise, what’s the point of having servants like you?”
With Mi Yao backing her up, Yu Xiu also found her footing and glared at the resentful Wu Nao. “Why aren’t you obeying? Do you want my brother-in-law to throw your entire family out when he returns?”
Wu Nao muttered under her breath about the garrison commander’s orders and how highly her son was regarded by him. After dawdling and grumbling for a while, she noticed Mi Yao’s beautiful eyes raised arrogantly, not even deigning to look at her. Reluctantly, she fetched the silver for Yu Xiu and had her daughter-in-law take Yu Xiu to buy food and drinks for Mi Yao’s midday meal.
After eating her fill, Mi Yao debated whether to take another nap or have Yu Xiu find her some light reading to pass the time. As she hesitated, she happened to hear a commotion in the courtyard.
Slipping on her shoes and socks, she pushed open the door and looked up, her gaze immediately meeting the man walking toward her.
This time, the man was not wearing the leather mask that had covered his face that night, revealing his pale, thin lips. Yet, she recognized him by his cold, wild phoenix-like eyes and the imposing, murderous aura surrounding him.
She took a few steps forward, her almond-shaped eyes glistening with a mix of adoration and reproach as she looked up at him. “Xiao Lang, you know well that a delicate flower needs careful nurturing. How could you treat me so harshly?”