The cold seeped from the cracks of her bones.
The bitter wind of the twelfth lunar month was like knives tempered in ice. It sliced through the tattered window paper of the Governor’s Mansion’s Side Courtyard with mournful howls, causing the tiny flame of the soybean oil lamp on the table to shrink violently, almost going out.
Qin Shu wrapped herself in a thin cotton jacket that had been washed so many times it had become stiff, its original color long since faded beyond recognition. Curled up in a creaking wooden chair beneath the window, she could barely hold onto the worn copy of Supplement to Materia Medica. The edges of its pages had frayed into soft fuzz, while her fingertips had gone completely numb from the cold.
This courtyard was the Governor’s Mansion’s shadow—a festering swamp hidden beneath its splendor and prosperity.
Five years ago, a shabby bridal sedan had carried her into this place. From that day onward, no one had cared about her again.
Towering walls enclosed a lifeless patch of sky. Beyond those walls lay Linjiang City, where Governor Xu Feng ruled with absolute authority. Within them existed only the scent of mildew, drifting dust, and her steadily withering breath.
Crack!
An enormous explosion tore apart the silent night without warning.
Then came a second.
A third.
Startled, Qin Shu shuddered, and the book slipped onto her lap.
She looked up blankly.
The pitch-black sky outside suddenly blazed with light. Fireworks exploded across the heavens in dazzling colors. Golden serpents danced through the air while silver waterfalls cascaded downward, illuminating even the old newspapers pasted over the broken window lattice with strange, shimmering brilliance.
The clamor followed immediately afterward.
Music thundered. Voices roared.
Near and far, it sounded as though the entire Governor’s Mansion had burst into life.
That joyous celebration struck Qin Shu’s long-numb heart like a piece of red-hot iron.
Supporting herself against the icy wall, she slowly rose to her feet and shuffled toward the window.
The light filtering through the torn window paper scattered mottled shadows across her face, so pale it was nearly transparent.
Hurried footsteps crunched across the frozen grass outside.
Bang!
The door flew open.
A gust of frigid wind carrying fine snowflakes rushed into the room, making the soybean oil lamp flicker wildly once again.
“Young Miss!”
Floating Cloud rushed inside, panting heavily. Her cheeks were bright red from the cold, but her eyes shone with an almost frightened excitement.
“The front courtyard… the whole place has exploded with activity! The musicians have been playing all day! The banquet stretches from the main gate all the way to the Second Gate! Every important figure in all of Linjiang City has come!”
Qin Shu did not move.
Her gaze remained fixed on the lively sky outside, illuminated by fireworks—a celebration that had never belonged to her.
The colorful lights flickered in her deep, still eyes, yet failed to bring even the slightest warmth.
Five years.
The Governor’s Mansion had never celebrated on such a grand scale.
Even when Xu Feng had married his Third Concubine, she, his so-called Legal Wife, had only heard a few distant firecrackers from this forgotten Side Courtyard.
“For whom?” she asked.
Her voice was as dry as sandpaper scraping against wood.
Floating Cloud swallowed hard. Lowering her voice, she answered cautiously,
“It’s… it’s the Governor… He’s marrying his Fourth Concubine.”
An invisible hand seemed to seize Qin Shu’s heart.
Her body swayed violently.
She gripped the icy window frame so tightly that splinters pierced beneath her fingernails.
The Fourth Concubine…
Xu Feng…
Closing her eyes, she saw the man’s gaze once again—cold and sharp as a blade.
Humiliating memories stabbed into her mind.
Every accidental encounter with him over the past five years had been the same. His eyes had been like poisoned icicles, chilling her to the marrow.
He despised her.
He regarded her as a stain upon his honor.
Her five years of imprisonment in this courtyard proved it.
And now…
He was bringing another woman into the mansion, preparing to stage another passionate romance beside the tomb where she still breathed.
“Who is she?”
She barely recognized her own voice.
It sounded distant, as though someone else had spoken.
Floating Cloud stared at Qin Shu’s bloodless profile. Her lips trembled, unable to form the words.
Rubbing her frozen hands together, she edged closer and whispered in a tearful voice,
“Young Miss… you… you have to stay strong… Everyone outside is saying… the new concubine… is… the Qin Family’s Second Young Miss…”
Boom!
Something exploded inside Qin Shu’s mind.
Her ears rang violently.
Darkness swallowed her vision.
Every sensation vanished.
The Qin Family’s Second Young Miss…
Qin Yan…
Her younger sister!
“Q… Qin Yan?”
The two words squeezed painfully from between her teeth, carrying the metallic taste of blood.
“…Yes.”
Floating Cloud’s voice broke into sobs.
“The bridal sedan came from the Qin Residence. An eight-man bridal sedan! Half the streets were covered in red silk! The Governor personally rode out on horseback to escort the procession! The whole of Linjiang City has been shaken! Everyone is saying… everyone is saying that the Governor has finally found the treasure closest to his heart…”
The treasure closest to his heart…
Qin Shu suddenly shoved the window open.
The freezing wind rushed inside, carrying with it the thick scent of gunpowder, the aroma of lavish food and wine, and the deafening sounds of music and celebration.
She immediately doubled over in a fit of violent coughing.
The icy air stabbed painfully into her lungs.
Clutching the window frame, she forced her eyes toward the Main Courtyard.
Beyond countless rooftops and sweeping eaves, the Main Courtyard blazed as brightly as daylight.
Huge red lanterns hung high overhead beneath the dazzling fireworks.
She could vaguely make out the crowds of elegantly dressed guests.
But the most blinding sight was the brilliant scarlet at the Ceremonial Gate of the Main Courtyard.
The magnificent eight-man bridal sedan came to a graceful stop.
A hand wearing pristine white gloves gently lifted the curtain.
A beautifully dressed bride was carefully helped outside.
She wore a brilliant crimson qipao embroidered with golden phoenixes that perfectly outlined her graceful figure.
The jeweled ornaments adorning her hair reflected cold, dazzling light beneath the lanterns.
Even from this distance…
Qin Shu recognized that face instantly.
The exquisitely painted brows.
The eyes overflowing with unconcealed pride and seductive charm.
It was indeed her half-sister—
Qin Yan.
Xu Feng stood beside her.
Tall and imposing in his immaculate military uniform, the insignia on his shoulders gleamed with hard, metallic light.
He was not looking at the bride.
Instead, he turned his face slightly.
His sharp jaw lifted ever so slightly as his hawk-like gaze seemed to pierce through the layers of darkness, crossing the entire distance before landing directly upon the Side Courtyard.
Upon this broken window.
Cold.
Evaluating.
And perhaps…
Mocking.
Qin Shu froze where she stood, as though that gaze had nailed her in place.
Every drop of blood in her body froze.
Then, in the next instant, it surged violently upward toward her head.
Her stomach churned.
Her organs twisted together.
A violent wave of nausea crashed over her.
“Urgh—!”
She bent over abruptly.
There was nothing in her stomach to vomit.
She could only retch violently as bitter bile burned its way up her throat and scorched her esophagus.
Her vision darkened.
The world spun around her.
“Young Miss! Young Miss, what’s wrong with you?!”
Terrified out of her wits, Floating Cloud rushed forward and caught Qin Shu’s trembling body before she collapsed.
“It’s fake… all of it is fake…”
Qin Shu clutched Floating Cloud’s arm so tightly that her fingernails nearly pierced the flesh.
Her voice emerged in shattered fragments.
“The substitute marriage… five years of imprisonment… so… so it was all for today… all to pave the way… for her…”
That snowy night…
Her mother’s swollen, tear-filled eyes.
Her father’s cold, heartless words.
“A-Shu, you’re the eldest daughter. You must think of the family. Ah Yan has a weak constitution. She can’t endure this suffering. Governor Xu specifically requested a daughter of the Qin Family. If you go, you’ll be saving the entire Qin Family.”
So…
When they had said that Governor Xu wanted a daughter of the Qin Family…
He had never wanted Qin Shu.
She had merely been a poor substitute.
A counterfeit whose deception had long since been exposed.
A disposable stand-in, kept only to buy time.
A toy for him to humiliate.
Now that the real woman had arrived…
She, the discarded chess piece, had even the last shred of dignity stripped away by his own hands.
Using her own sister’s wedding procession…
Using these fireworks that filled the sky…
Using the attention of the entire city…
He crushed her beneath his feet without mercy.
“Urgh—!”
Another agonizing fit of retching overtook her.
Cold sweat soaked through her thin undergarments, clinging damply to her back.
She trembled like a fallen leaf caught in the autumn wind.
Every breath carried the pain of someone on the verge of death.
“Young Miss! Please don’t scare me! Let’s go! We’ll leave this place!”
Crying uncontrollably, Floating Cloud desperately tried to pull her away from the window, away from that blinding crimson glow and the overwhelming celebration.
Leave?
The word pierced Qin Shu’s chaotic thoughts like a needle.
Leave?
Where could she possibly go?
Back to the Qin Family?
The very family that had personally pushed her into this pit of fire?
In this vast world…
Where could there be a place for a discarded wife despised by the Governor and abandoned by her own family?
Outside, the celebration reached its climax.
The master of ceremonies’ loud, piercing voice echoed through the night.
“First bow—to Heaven and Earth!”
Boom!
Another enormous firework exploded across the sky.
Golden-red light swallowed half the heavens, illuminating Qin Shu’s deathly pale face.
The light danced within her eyes.
Yet it brought not the slightest warmth.
Only endless, icy stillness.
Then—
At the brightest moment of that dazzling light…
Qin Shu suddenly stopped trembling.
She raised her hand.
Using every ounce of strength left in her body, she fiercely wiped away the icy tears on her face and the stains at the corner of her mouth.
The movement was rough.
Decisive.
Filled with the desperation of someone who had nothing left to lose.
She pushed away Floating Cloud’s supporting hands and straightened on her own.
Her back stood perfectly straight.
Like a spear on the verge of snapping, yet refusing to bend.
Dark brown medicinal stains and drying tears streaked across her pale cheeks like grotesque paint.
The eyes that had once been filled only with fear and numb resignation now stared unblinkingly toward the dazzling splendor of the Main Courtyard.
Deep within them…
Something that had slumbered for five long years finally stirred.
From the ashes of humiliation and betrayal, a faint light was born for the first time.
Dark.
Cold.
And poisoned.
The sharp splinters from the frozen window frame pierced deeply into the palm she had clenched into a fist.