“That’s right,” the prison guard replied, nodding as he thought about the divorce letter in his hand.
Instantly, everyone in the cell looked at Third Master Liu with envy, assuming that his wife had also sent him food.
Third Master Liu thoroughly enjoyed being the center of attention. He straightened his clothes and proudly asked,
“Sir, where’s the thing my wife sent? Why don’t I see it?”
“This is it.”
The guard pulled a sheet of paper from his robe and handed it to him.
Third Master Liu stared at the paper in shock, unable to react for a moment. The guard couldn’t be bothered to waste words on him, so he simply tossed it into the cell and quickly left.
Everyone then watched as the paper floated to the ground.
Across it, in large bold characters, were the words:
Divorce Agreement.
Tsk, tsk.
They were brothers, yet one received fragrant meat pies while the other received a divorce letter from his wife.
Truly, different people had different fates.
At that moment, everyone in the prison was united in thought and filled with sympathy for Third Master Liu.
Naturally, Liu Qingyu had no idea that Third Master Liu had just been thoroughly humiliated. She was lazily stretching.
“Wake up! Time to eat!”
A prison guard arrived carrying food.
The previously listless prisoners immediately perked up, eagerly waiting for their meal.
“Hmph! So what if you have meat pies? We don’t care about eating them anyway!” the Liu family’s second young master said resentfully, glancing toward the opposite cell.
Old Madam Liu also regained her spirits. She glared fiercely at Tian Chunzhu and her daughter in the corner before straightening her clothes and waiting for the guard.
“You expect this young master to eat this kind of thing?!”
Liu Sichen stared in disbelief at the bowl before him. The bottom was clearly visible through the watery porridge, with only a few scattered grains of rice floating on the surface.
The guard had always looked down on spoiled young masters. Hearing this, he sneered.
“What? Do you still think you’re the young master you used to be? You’re lucky to have anything to eat at all.
“Still being picky? Since you don’t want it, then don’t eat.”
With that, he took the bowl away, shut the cell door, locked it, and left.
Liu Sichen could only helplessly stretch out the hand that had wanted to keep the bowl, then slowly let it fall.
Having witnessed his fate, the women of the Liu family didn’t dare say a word. The moment they received their bowls, they quickly drank down the “porridge.”
Then they looked at the dry, rock-hard steamed buns in their hands and had no idea how to eat them.
Old Madam Liu was simply too hungry. She cautiously took a bite.
“Ah!”
She immediately spat the bun out.
Along with the bun that landed on the ground was one of her front teeth.
“When will this miserable life ever end?” Madam Jiang sighed weakly.
Liu Qingyu watched the scene with a face full of black lines.
Had these people been so thoroughly pampered that they’d lost all ability to think?
Couldn’t they just tear the bun apart and soak it in the watery porridge until it softened?
Why drink the porridge first?
Forget it. It had nothing to do with her anyway.
She should get some proper sleep.
Tomorrow, the exile arc would officially begin.
Yawning, Liu Qingyu leaned against her mother’s shoulder and drifted off to sleep.
At the northwestern frontier, in the Prince Gong Manor.
The manor’s servants were running around in panic. An elderly man carrying a medicine box was practically dragged in from outside by a servant.
“Divine Doctor Xue, hurry! If you’re any later, my master won’t make it!”
The servant anxiously looked at the old man, who was panting heavily. After a moment’s thought, he simply hoisted him onto his back and ran toward the main courtyard.
The anxious servants in the main courtyard immediately opened the doors when they saw Divine Doctor Xue being carried in and hurriedly invited him inside to treat their master.
As soon as Xue entered, he saw the person lying on the bed.
It was a handsome man dressed in dark embroidered robes, with an arrow lodged in his chest.
Divine Doctor Xue immediately checked his pulse. Then he let out a small breath and calmly wrote out a prescription, instructing the servant to fetch the medicine.
“It’s nothing serious. The arrow missed his vital organs. I’ll remove the arrowhead first, and you go prepare the medicine.”
When the servant heard that his master was fine, the burden on his heart instantly lifted, and he happily went to get the medicine.
First, Divine Doctor Xue used silver needles to seal several major acupoints on Bu Qingchen’s body. Then, finding the proper angle, he gently pulled and removed the arrowhead, afterward applying a special healing ointment to the wound.
Only after finishing everything did he notice the pair of dark eyes on the bed.
Bu Qingchen was awake.
“Uncle Xue?!”
Bu Qingchen looked at him in disbelief.
The previously sage-like Divine Doctor Xue seemed to cast aside his dignified façade and replied in a carefree tone,
“If it’s not me, then who else? You’re just like your father—always getting injured in the middle of the night. These old bones of mine can’t take being tossed around like this too many times.”
As Bu Qingchen stared at the old man who was still grumbling away, his heart trembled.
It was real.
He had truly come back.
That woman…
He would never let her off.
In his previous life, he had realized that whenever he encountered that woman, he ceased to be himself. It was as though he had become a puppet on strings, manipulated by someone else.
Even though he had later struggled to break free, he had still ended up with his body torn apart and a miserable death.
This time, he would take precautions before disaster struck.
He would strike first.
“Uncle Xue, it’s getting late. You should go rest. I still have matters to handle.”
Bu Qingchen knew Uncle Xue’s talkative nature. If he let him continue, the old man could chatter all night.
Seeing that Bu Qingchen’s wound had stopped bleeding, Divine Doctor Xue collected his silver needles and left the room in a carefree manner.
As he walked away, he continued muttering,
“You brat are just like your rotten father—cross the river and then destroy the bridge behind you. Next time you call me, I’ll sprinkle salt directly into your wound.”
After watching him leave, Bu Qingchen called out toward the room,
“Dark One.”
“This subordinate is here.”
With a whoosh, a man dressed entirely in black appeared inside the room.
Dragging his injured body to the desk, Bu Qingchen picked up a brush and painted the portrait of a woman.
“This mission—you’re going together with Dark Nine.”
Dark One accepted the portrait.
With another whoosh, he disappeared, as though he had never been there at all.