To escape predators and avoid being eaten by humans, the Ginseng Spirit clan had mastered the art of earth-tunneling. With this skill, Shen Yiren and Xiao Ba easily arrived in the capital city of Yujing by dawn.
As they approached the General’s Mansion, they overheard servants who had been sent out to search for someone saying that the eldest young lady had already been married off, and if they found the second young lady, they were to quietly take her elsewhere and lock her up to prevent her from returning and ruining things.
They couldn’t return to the General’s Mansion—going back would be like a ginseng spirit entering a tiger’s mouth.
Shen Yiren grabbed Xiao Ba and turned to head for Duke Anguo’s residence, but she didn’t know where it was.
After the original body was brought back, she was not only forbidden from leaving the mansion but also from wandering around inside—either out of fear that she might pluck some precious flowers or that she might offend guests visiting the mansion.
Thus, the original body had stayed in a small side courtyard, waiting to marry Lord Cen, whom she had fallen for at first sight.
She had thought marriage would change everything.
If even her own family couldn’t be relied on, how much less could a man with no blood ties? Shen Yiren sighed softly and sent Xiao Ba to ask for directions.
Xiao Ba trotted off eagerly. The fair, chubby child was quite endearing when he smiled.
“You’re just a kid—you wouldn’t remember even if I told you. See that luxurious carriage over there? Prince Duan is close with the Duke’s residence and is surely heading to Lord Cen’s wedding banquet. Follow it, and you’ll find the place.”
Shen Yiren and Xiao Ba trailed the carriage furtively, following it as it turned into an alley.
Suddenly, two sharp swords were pressed against their necks.
Shen Yiren: “!!”
Xiao Ba: “!!”
They were nearly scared back into their original forms.
“Who sent you?” the guard Cang Xu demanded coldly.
Xiao Ba burst into tears, wailing loudly. Ignoring the sword at his neck, he turned and ran behind Shen Yiren, clutching the hem of her clothes and trembling.
Even though Sister Yiren had only just shape-shifted, she was the Ginseng King—a ten-thousand-year great demon!
Not only the guard, but even Shen Yiren was momentarily stunned. She blinked her bright, watery eyes and explained, “We siblings just wanted to follow you to Duke Anguo’s residence.”
“Tell the truth!”
“Cang Xu.” A weak voice came from inside the carriage. A hand with distinct, jade-like knuckles lifted the curtain. “Bring them over.”
Shen Yiren and Xiao Ba approached and looked up, meeting a pair of seemingly gentle yet profound eyes.
Even though it was already spring, this person was still wrapped in a fox-fur cloak.
He was enveloped in a thick aura of illness, yet surrounded by purple qi, bearing the fate of the nation.
Was he fortunate or unfortunate? Shen Yiren tilted her head.
Faced with two pairs of large, dark eyes, Prince Duan Zhou Jinyan paused and asked, “You are…”
“I’m human!” Humans afflicted with illness loved to eat ginseng spirits. Before he could finish his question, Shen Yiren blurted this out.
Xiao Ba also silently raised his hand. “Xiao Ba is human too!”
Prince Duan fell silent, simply watching them.
He gazed at the sixteen-year-old girl before him—her almond-shaped eyes wide open, her round face smeared with blood and mud, and her clothes stained with large patches of blood.
Strangely, he didn’t smell even a hint of blood. Instead, he caught a whiff of a peculiar herbal fragrance and couldn’t help but take a deep breath.
In the past, even a slightly deeper breath would trigger a coughing fit, but this time, it didn’t. Instead, he felt a sense of relief throughout his body.
Zhou Jinyan narrowed his eyes.
The siblings seemed too naive to be assassins, yet too peculiar to be ordinary humans. The younger brother was even holding a broken jar.
“What are you two siblings going to Duke Anguo’s residence for?”
Xiao Ba: “To find someone and report…”
Shen Yiren grabbed his hair, accidentally pulling out two strands. Seeing Xiao Ba’s eyes welling up again, she quickly covered his eyes with her hand.
Xiao Ba: “…”
Zhou Jinyan sat upright on horseback, his gaze drifting lightly toward the clever and bright-eyed girl.
He had heard it.
Revenge?
Repaying a favor?
“Get up here.” Zhou Jinyan didn’t care what the siblings were going to Duke Anguo’s residence for. At the moment, he only wanted to know whether the peculiar medicinal fragrance emanating from the girl was beneficial to him.
After observing her carefully, he noticed she wore no hairpins or ornaments on her head and no sachet around her waist. Where exactly was the medicinal fragrance coming from?
The broken jar?
Zhou Jinyan looked at the jar Xiao Ba was holding, noticing him secretly putting something inside.
Suddenly, the girl moved, and he withdrew his gaze.
Shen Yiren took the ginseng root she had just plucked from Xiao Ba’s hand and held it up to Zhou Jinyan’s mouth.
Zhou Jinyan instinctively leaned back, raising a hand to block it. “What is this?”
“You helped me, and I won’t accept your kindness for nothing. Eat this—it’ll make you feel better.” Shen Yiren looked him up and down. “Your body seems pretty useless.”
Zhou Jinyan: “…”
He was momentarily speechless.
In his daze, the girl tried to stuff the thing into his mouth again. He pressed his lips tightly together, preventing her from succeeding.
For a moment, he felt like a chaste man being forced against his will.
Zhou Jinyan’s expression darkened slightly as he took the item from her. “This prince will eat it later.”
They had arrived at Duke Anguo’s residence. Shen Yiren had no time to worry about whether he would eat it or not. She stood up and rushed out of the carriage, with Xiao Ba hastily following, leaving the jar behind.
The gatekeeper, seeing the two descend from Prince Duan’s carriage, allowed them to pass.
Zhou Jinyan slowly stepped out of the carriage and handed the two ginseng roots he was holding to another guard. “Cang Ming, have a physician examine these.”
…
Duke Anguo’s residence was filled with joy.
The bride and groom were in the midst of the wedding ceremony.
Cen Liangxuan occasionally glanced sideways at Shen Qingrui, though the red veil blocked the face he longed to see.
Shen Qingrui’s appearance was actually not as striking as Shen Yiren’s, but the capital was never short of beautiful women. What he admired most about Shen Qingrui was her uniqueness.
And beneath that uniqueness, she would offer him her lips and admiration.
What man wouldn’t be captivated?
Moreover, he and Shen Qingrui had grown up together—how could Shen Yiren, an outsider, compare?
Besides, Shen Yiren had grown up in a remote, impoverished place. If he really married her, he would likely be looked down upon.
Once the ceremony was completed, they would be a legitimate husband and wife.
Shen Qingrui felt the same way.
So what if it was fake? The affection she had received since childhood was real, her status and wealth were real, and now, even her husband was real!
Shen Yiren would spend her entire life living in her shadow.
“Now escort the couple to…”
“Wait, wait, wait!” Shen Yiren finally arrived, rushing into the center of the wedding hall and smiling as she announced to everyone, “Wrong, wrong. I am Shen Yiren.”
“Shen Yiren?” The Duchess on the dais suddenly stood up, looking at the disheveled Shen Yiren and then at the bride in her wedding dress.
Cen Liangxuan turned sharply, his pupils trembling in shock.
Impossible!
How could Shen Yiren possibly return alive?
He had personally watched her being thrown off a cliff—how could she have survived such a fall?
“You…” Cen Liangxuan was dumbfounded, a chilling sensation creeping from the soles of his feet all the way to the back of his head.
“If you say you’re Shen Yiren, then who is the bride?” someone asked.
Shen Yiren looked at the bride, whose body trembled slightly.
She reached out and pulled off the red veil.
Shen Qingrui’s panicked and flustered appearance was exposed before the guests.
The true legitimate daughter of the Shen family was unknown to them, but the false legitimate daughter, Shen Qingrui, was famously unconventional in Yujing—who didn’t know her?
Everyone was stunned.
It wasn’t until Prince Duan arrived belatedly that the guests bowed in greeting: “We pay our respects to Prince Duan.”
“Shen Yiren?” Zhou Jinyan never expected that the girl before him, carrying a peculiar medicinal fragrance, was actually the true legitimate daughter General Shen had found.
Shen Yiren straightened her back: “Absolutely true!”
The guests snapped back to reality, discussing how it was Shen Qingrui who had been married off. And what was the story behind Shen Yiren being covered in bloodstains?
The Duchess spoke up, addressing the three: “What on earth is going on here?”
“You’re his mother, right?” Shen Yiren had seen many little spirits in Buxian Mountain tattling to their elders, and she followed suit, pointing at Cen Liangxuan and saying: “He wanted to marry Shen Qingrui, so he pushed me off a cliff! You better discipline him properly, or else I’ll have to step in.”
The leaves of a Ginseng Spirit can slap quite painfully.
Especially since she was the ten-thousand-year Ginseng King.