Su Niao wanted Xie Chenyan dead!
She had deliberately bought a mountain of goods on the street earlier and ordered most of her guards to hide in the shadows, purposely making herself look like a fat target—all to lure out the bandits lurking along this road.
She knew the mountain pass leading from Yunzhou Prefecture to Jining County was frequently infested with bandits, so she hit upon the idea of using them to kill Xie Chenyan.
Sure enough, the bandits came, and her newly acquired servant, Xie Chenyan, indeed stepped up to face them, except that those dozen-plus bandits were no match for him alone.
Even the guards behind the carriage, who had been instructed in advance to slack off and stall, were dumbfounded, staring in astonishment at the man clad in coarse cloth.
Born in the countryside, yet possessing such formidable martial skills!
Su Niao was equally stunned. She watched helplessly as Xie Chenyan used a fallen bandit’s broadsword to slay five of them, sending the remaining gang fleeing in terror. Her plan to kill with a borrowed knife had crumbled to pieces. A fleeting thought crossed her mind: *Order the guards behind me to move in, kill Xie Chenyan right here, and pin the blame on the bandits.*
But the very next second, she snapped back to her senses. These guards belonged to the Su family. If anyone ever found out she had mobilized a whole squad to murder a commoner, it would spark suspicion—an endless source of trouble that would dig her own grave. Besides the guards the Su family assigned to her might not even be Xie Chenyan’s match! How could she have entertained such a foolish thought just now?
Su Niao looked out at Xie Chenyan through the carriage window, her fists clenching tightly in secret. Back then, a single cup of poisoned wine from him had claimed her life. Yet now, he was so infuriatingly hard to kill!
Su Niao let the carriage curtain drop and retreated inside, her face cold as ice.
Believing her mistress was terrified out of her wits, Lichun hurriedly offered soothing words without pause.
Throwing aside the broadsword, Chen Yan returned to the carriage, only to hear the maid inside cooing as if comforting a child: “It’s alright, it’s alright now, don’t be scared, Miss…”
That reminded him—when the bandits had appeared earlier, a pair of eyes had peeked out from behind the slit in the curtain, watching everything outside, like a frightened little animal.
A moment later, the man’s calm voice sounded from outside the curtain: “May I ask how I should address you from now on?”
As a servant, asking his master’s preferred title was entirely normal.
Su Niao hadn’t bothered telling him earlier, assuming he wouldn’t live through the journey anyway… yet here he was, alive and well.
She gritted her teeth in silence. Taking a cue from her mistress, Lichun spoke up: “The master’s family name is Su. Do not pry into what you shouldn’t.”
As the sun sank below the horizon, the carriage pulled into Ping’an Lane in Jining County. Only then did Chen Yan realize that the Su Garden this Miss Su was heading to sat obliquely opposite his own home, just a stone’s throw away.
A few days prior, people had arrived to tidy up that opulent estate occupying more than half of Ping’an Lane, saying the owners were coming to stay for a while. He never expected it to be her.
Once the carriage halted in front of Su Garden, under the distant, curious gazes of the neighbors in the lane, Chen Yan hopped down. He asked Su Niao if he might take the blood ginseng home first to prepare medicine for his aunt, then return to await her orders.
“My house is just across the way, not far from here,” he said.
Su Niao glanced over through her veiled hat and let out a light “Oh.”
“Go ahead,” she replied. “Be quick about it. You are a servant of the Su family now; don’t even think about slacking off.” With that, her gaze lingered on the rag wrapped around Chen Yan’s arm—a wound sustained during the earlier encounter with the bandits.
Having failed to kill him, and given his formidable skills, Su Niao pondered for a moment. When Lichun produced the blood ginseng, Su Niao reached out and snapped off a small piece with a crisp snap. “Consider this compensation for your injury. Take it back to medicate your family.”
A worthless piece didn’t matter; winning him over first was essential to buy time for her next move.
Chen Yan looked at the piece of blood ginseng, paused for a moment, and reached out to accept it. “Thank you, Miss.”
July evenings were precisely when people gathered to catch a cool breeze. Su Niao entered the courtyard and took a brief look around, reasonably satisfied with what she saw.
Though she wasn’t the Su family’s biological daughter, they had raised her for over a decade. Now that she had voluntarily stepped back, coupled with their guilt, her adoptive parents wouldn’t mistreat her in terms of material comforts.
Servants and guards stood around the courtyard. Su Niao quietly tallied them up—though there were over thirty of them, combined, they likely still weren’t a match for Xie Chenyan.
*He’s lost his memories, yet he hasn’t forgotten his martial arts—what a complete bastard!*
After Su Niao washed up and changed her clothes, Lichun came in to report that neighbors had come by to pay their respects. When new neighbors move in, the warmer folks nearby naturally drop by to greet them. Su Niao was far too lazy to exchange pleasantries with commoners. Yet, knowing she would be staying here for a while, she needed to maintain her persona of a gorgeous, kindhearted noble lady. That way, when she finally killed Xie Chenyan, no one would suspect her.
With that thought in mind, Su Niao suppressed her impatience and went outside.
As expected, the neighbors were extremely warm, chattering enthusiastically around the front gate.
“We heard early on that the owners of Su Garden were from a high and mighty family. Seeing you in person today is truly an eye-opener.”
“I saw the young lady step off the carriage today. The fabric of that dress… I bet money couldn’t even buy it.”
Su Niao felt nothing but disdain, but the instant she took off her veiled hat, her face softened into a flawless smile as she stepped forward to greet them. The moment she did, the surrounding neighbors widened their eyes in shock!
“Heavens, how could anyone be born so breathtakingly beautiful?!”
“She instantly makes the Miss from the Jin family look completely ordinary. Even a celestial fairy couldn’t top this.”
Su Niao was long accustomed to people being awestruck by her face, yet hearing their praise still brought her immense satisfaction. *Uncultured as they are, at least they have good taste.*
Lichun led two young maidservants out, bearing exquisite fruits and pastries to distribute among the neighbors. Looking at the refined treats, the crowd showered her with yet another round of compliments, and some even enthusiastically brought out bright yellow preserved fruits from home to offer in return.
By the time Chen Yan returned to Su Garden after delivering the blood ginseng, he saw the noble lady bidding farewell to the neighbors and turning back into the courtyard.
The servant at the gate recognized Chen Yan as the attendant the young lady had taken in, so he let him in without question.
Yet the moment Chen Yan stepped inside, he saw the same Miss Su—who moments ago had been all smiles while soaking in the neighbors’ compliments—toss the preserved fruits the neighbors had given her into a nearby trash basket, her eyes brimming with disgust.
Chen Yan glanced at the preserved fruits in the basket—a treat the neighbors usually couldn’t bear to spend money on—and pulled his gaze back in silence. *A spoiled, delicate young lady through and through.*
Su Niao hardly lacked for hands to do work. Making Xie Chenyan her servant was half to bully him and vent her spite, and half to make it easier to find an opportunity to finish him off.
Having failed on her first attempt, she could only silently make new plans. Still, he had to die… and before that, she might as well take the chance to thoroughly vent her rage. So she deliberately ordered Xie Chenyan to fetch water to wash her feet.
Even with his memories lost, his earlier attempt to stop her from whipping the thief proved that his core nature remained unchanged. Noble and righteous? *Heh…*
Su Niao sneered inwardly, thinking to herself that being made to fetch washwater for her feet must feel utterly humiliating to him.
However, Xie Chenyan quickly brought the wooden basin inside and calmly placed the water on the floor, his face showing not the slightest hint of anger or humiliation.
Su Niao was suddenly reminded of her past life, when she had orchestrated his capture to play with and humiliate him. Even as a prisoner, he had dared to lecture her. Even when she had tortured him until his flesh was torn open and bleeding, he refused to utter a single word of pleading or repentance. Disgusted by his loftily righteous, self-possessed demeanor, Su Niao sneered and cleared the room of everyone else, then forced a potent aphrodisiac down his throat—she was determined to watch his high-and-mighty mask shatter to pieces. Yet even as the drug tortured him, driving his breathing into ragged rasps and sending his blood surging violently, he still refused to yield. He even cursed her for being absurd, frivolous, and utterly dissolute!
Enraged beyond reason, Su Niao had taken matters into her own hands, deliberately tormenting him while he was pinned fast by heavy chains, leaving him suspended in a living hell of agony and desire…
Yet even when his expression was twisted in extreme agony, and even when she maliciously taunted him that she would spare him if only he showed weakness, that man merely glared at her with bloodshot eyes—as if staring at a dead woman. In the end, she truly was poisoned to death on his orders.
It was infuriating that, despite losing his memories, he still retained his formidable martial arts and survived the bandit attack unharmed. Otherwise, should she try using poison on him too? Then again, if a perfectly fine man suddenly died of poison, an investigation could easily bring endless trouble. How utterly maddening…