The stream murmured softly, its gentle sound lingering in the air, intermingled with the cooing and chirping of birds in the mountain forest, making the surroundings seem all the more quiet and desolate.
Yuan Ning’s consciousness drifted in and out. Through her hazy awareness, she vaguely realized that she was deep in the mountains and had already escaped the danger of being pursued. This brought her some relief.
She tried to open her eyes fully, only to discover that she could not move at all, as though she were being restrained by some invisible force.
Just as she struggled, she suddenly heard the delicate sound of bells, breaking through the silence. The tinkling came closer and closer, as though someone were approaching this very place, each chime landing directly on her heart.
Could it be an illusion?
Yuan Ning instinctively held her breath and carefully tried to determine where the sound was coming from, afraid that it was merely an auditory hallucination caused by her dizziness.
In the blink of an eye, a figure dressed in purple suddenly appeared within her blurred vision. She could vaguely make out that the person was tall and slender, with silver ornaments adorning his entire body that glinted dazzlingly beneath the sunlight.
As the boy walked, the silver bells collided with one another, producing a clear, tinkling sound that reached her ears.
Who was he, and where had he come from?
Yuan Ning still had enough awareness to wonder about it.
The person crouched down in front of her. The moment his breath drew near, it carried with it a faint, almost imperceptible fragrance. Strands of his soft, silky hair fell beside her neck and lightly brushed against her skin, causing a faint ticklish sensation.
“Oh? She’s still breathing. You’ve got quite the life in you.”
She heard the surprise in his voice. It was the clear, melodious voice unique to a young boy, exceptionally pleasant to the ears.
He chuckled. “Meeting me means you’re lucky. Come back with me, then.”
That was the last thing Yuan Ning heard before she completely lost consciousness.
*
Outside the window, the moonlight was faint. Inside, the candlelight swayed gently, casting hazy shadows over the room and illuminating the girl lying on the bed, her face as pale as paper.
Yuan Ning seemed to sense something. Her eyelashes trembled before she finally opened her hazy eyes. Somewhat bewildered, she stared blankly at the canopy above the bed for a long while without moving. Only then did she slowly recall everything that had happened before she fainted.
She had fled from an arranged marriage, been pursued, and fallen off a cliff.
Someone had saved her, and the person who rescued her seemed to have been a young man dressed in purple.
Yuan Ning slowly sat up from the bed. Lowering her eyes, she examined her clothes. They were no longer the wedding garments she had been wearing when she fled. Instead, she was dressed in a simple, plain skirt and blouse.
Who had changed her clothes?
Confusion filled the girl’s almond-shaped eyes.
She intended to get up and go outside to take a look, but the moment her toes touched the ground, she heard the faintest movement outside the door.
Creak—
The door was pushed open. Before Yuan Ning had time to think, her gaze first fell upon a pair of slender, pale fingers. Moving upward, she saw an extraordinarily beautiful young man’s face.
His features were exquisitely refined. His dark eyes were like deep springs, containing emotions that were difficult to decipher. His nose was high and straight, while his lips were a vivid crimson, making his face appear strikingly beautiful and almost otherworldly. Half of his long hair was tied high, while the rest was braided into several small braids that hung over his chest. Each braid was adorned with matching silver ornaments in the shape of tiny, delicate spirit butterflies, dazzling to the eye.
Only now did she get a clear look at the boy’s clothing. He wore a dark purple robe of a peculiar and distinctive style, completely different from the clothing worn by men of the Central Plains.
Chu Jinyu leaned against the doorframe with his arms crossed, his gaze carefully examining the girl. She was doing the same to him. Their eyes met, and for a moment, neither spoke. The atmosphere became subtly strange.
“It was you who saved me.”
Yuan Ning spoke first. Her voice was soft and delicate, still carrying a trace of weakness.
“Who else could it have been besides me?” the boy countered. He raised an eyebrow and glanced at her, amusement evident in his eyes.
“Then… thank you.”
Yuan Ning could hear the unusual meaning behind his smile, as though he were teasing her for asking such an obvious question. The tips of her ears immediately grew hot. Embarrassed and unsure of what to say, she hurriedly lowered her eyes and softly thanked him.
Chu Jinyu glanced at her bloodless face, taking in her nervous and helpless expression. For some reason, his heart softened, and he magnanimously stopped teasing her.
“What… what is this place?” the girl asked, deliberately changing the subject.
“Miaojiang. Wuling Cave.”
Yuan Ning understood. No wonder she had never seen anyone in the Central Plains dressed like this young man. So this was the mysterious land of Miaojiang she had only heard about in rumors.
“Tell me, why were you there?”
He straightened and walked toward the girl. The plain silver collar around his neck, the bracelets on his wrists, and the silver chains around his waist clinked together with crisp sounds.
Yuan Ning found the sound very pleasant and could not resist stealing a glance at him, only to quickly avert her eyes as though she had been caught doing something wrong.
Recalling what had happened before, she tightly twisted the hem of her clothes and pressed her lips together.
“I was running away from an arranged marriage.”
Chu Jinyu blinked. No wonder that when he had found her, she had been wearing such an elaborate bright-red wedding dress.
He slightly raised his chin, signaling for her to continue.
“My father wanted to marry me off to his superior for the sake of his career and wealth, making me his secondary wife.”
“Of course I wasn’t willing. I had no choice but to pretend to agree, then fled before the wedding. I accidentally fell off a cliff, and when I woke up, I found myself here.”
Chu Jinyu did not quite understand. “Was there something wrong with that man?”
Yuan Ning nodded repeatedly, tears welling in her eyes. “He… he’s old enough to be my father!”
“I don’t want to marry some rotten old man.”
The girl sniffed, her heart aching as she thought about what her father had done.
She and her eldest sister had both been born daughters of the Jiang family, yet she had never enjoyed even a fraction of the dignity and privilege afforded to a young lady of a wealthy family. In the end, her own father had intended to use her as a bargaining chip to advance his position.
It was simply too unfair.
Chu Jinyu’s gaze swept over the tip of her reddened nose. Seeing her desperately holding back her tears, her face full of grievance, he found her rather pitiful.
He did not know how to comfort people and had never comforted anyone before. Upon hearing her story, he merely said bluntly, “If it were me, I’d have killed them all.”
Only then could he vent his anger.
Yuan Ning’s almond-shaped eyes widened in shock, tears suspended on her eyelashes, neither falling nor disappearing. She secretly thought that although the young man looked so pure and harmless, he spoke of killing without even blinking, his tone so casual that it was frightening. His ruthless nature was completely at odds with his appearance.
Chu Jinyu took in her little expression. The corners of his lips curled carelessly, revealing the sharp tips of his small canine teeth between his pearly white teeth. His hidden wickedness gradually became unmistakable.
Under the candlelight, the boy’s smile shifted between light and shadow, making his entire presence seem mysterious and unfathomable.
Only then did Yuan Ning realize that something was wrong. Her body instinctively shrank back as she tried to put some distance between them.
Unexpectedly, the boy strode over, reached out, and pinched her delicate chin, forcing her to raise her eyes and meet his gaze.
They were… perhaps too close.
Close enough that she could clearly see his thick, long eyelashes. Close enough that she could smell the faint fragrance lingering on his body. Close enough that their breaths seemed to mingle. At such a short distance, all he needed to do was lower his head slightly, and then he could…
Yuan Ning lightly bit her lower lip and forced the inappropriate thought out of her mind.
Chu Jinyu was completely unaware of what she was thinking. He merely examined her porcelain-white face with interest, as though he had seen through something, and suddenly asked, “Are you afraid of me?”
The girl froze, then shook her head before nodding.
“What do you mean? Are you or aren’t you?” he pressed.
Yuan Ning cautiously made a tiny gesture with her fingers and answered, “Just a little.”
Indeed, only a little—about as much as the tip of a fingernail.
Seeing her silly, innocent manner, Chu Jinyu could not help laughing. He snorted softly. “You’re quite adorably foolish.”
The girl did not argue, merely furrowing her delicate brows a little more tightly.
“What’s your name?”
“Jiang Yuan Ning.”
“That’s quite a nice name.”
Yuan Ning was slightly taken aback. He had actually complimented her name.
She hesitated before softly saying, “Thank you.”
The young man introduced himself. “My name is Chu Jinyu. I’m the one who saved your life, so you’d better remember that.”
Yuan Ning obediently replied, “Mm-hmm. I won’t forget.”
“I saved your life, so you have to repay me, don’t you?” Chu Jinyu looked into her clear eyes. The fingertip resting against the girl’s chin moved slightly, while an unusual glimmer passed through his eyes, carrying an almost bewitching quality.
The long, plain-silver tassel in his hair suddenly slipped down, lightly brushing across her slightly parted lips. A tingling sensation swept over her, making her heart tighten.
The boy did not notice at all. He merely frowned in annoyance and pushed the ornament back.
Yuan Ning: “…”
She drew a breath and said softly, “Yes. How would you like me to repay you?”
In that brief moment, she had thought everything through. She had been raised in the secluded inner chambers of her family since childhood. Now that she had fled her marriage, there was no way she could survive alone outside. If she returned to the Central Plains now, the Jiang family would likely find her again and drag her back to marry that old man. Rather than that, she might as well remain here for the time being and repay the young man for saving her life.
As long as she had somewhere to stay, she would be content.
Chu Jinyu hummed thoughtfully. After genuinely pondering for a moment, he said, “I haven’t decided yet. I’ll tell you in a few days.”
“That works too.”
Yuan Ning relaxed, thinking that as long as he did not ask her to murder someone or set fire to something, she could accept anything else.
The young man released her from his restraint. He had no intention of staying any longer, as he still needed to return and study his gu techniques. He said indifferently, “You can rest here.”
Yuan Ning obediently agreed.
Just as he turned to leave, she suddenly remembered something and timidly called out, “Wait.”
“Hmm?” Chu Jinyu turned back, not understanding what she wanted. He narrowed his eyes at her, his tone growing slightly impatient. “What else is it?”
His gaze made the girl’s throat tighten. She instinctively swallowed and asked in a small voice, “I wanted to ask… who changed my clothes?”
Seeing a faint blush spread across the other girl’s pale cheeks, Chu Jinyu savored the moment before letting out a low chuckle.
“Could it be that you thought I changed your clothes for you?”
Yuan Ning did not answer, lowering her head even further.
The only thing she could see was the pair of dark cloud-patterned boots beneath his feet, perfectly matching his robes.
“It was me… I called the auntie next door to change them for you.”
When he spoke the first two words, he deliberately drew out his voice, making the girl’s heart hang in suspense. Only after he finished the rest of the sentence did it settle back down.
He had been teasing her. His intentions were truly wicked.
“Thank you for telling me. I’ll be sure to thank that auntie.”
After a long silence, she finally spoke, her voice full of embarrassment.
Chu Jinyu wore an enigmatic smile, a strange sense of satisfaction lingering in the corners of his eyes. He said nothing more and simply turned around and closed the door behind him.
The door separated the two of them. Yuan Ning collapsed back into the quilt and buried her heated face beneath it, rolling back and forth in embarrassment, secretly annoyed at herself for asking such an embarrassing question.
Besides, the boy’s behavior really was awful. He had deliberately teased her and nearly frightened her out of her wits.
She patted her cheeks, forcing herself to calm down.
No. She couldn’t think about it anymore.
Her thoughts returned to what had happened before, and she let out a soft sigh. All she could do was take things one step at a time. One day, she would return to the Jiang family and demand an explanation from that cold-blooded, heartless father of hers. She wanted to know exactly why he had treated her this way.
Carrying a heart full of thoughts, Yuan Ning eventually could no longer keep her heavy eyelids open. Drowsiness swept over her, and she gradually fell asleep.