Su Yu found a spot in the mountains to shelter from the rain. Only after the mountain wind had dried her drenched clothes somewhat did she finally head down the mountain.
Lingyin Village was not large, but from the foot of the mountain to Su Yu’s home, she would have to pass at least a dozen households.
By now, the rain had stopped. Keeping her head lowered, she hurried home. Unexpectedly, as she passed Second Uncle Su’s house, she ran into Su Yansong, who was coming out of the courtyard carrying a wooden bucket, apparently on his way to fetch water.
Su Yansong was originally surnamed Lin. He was the son Wu Xiu had with her former husband. Later, after Wu Xiu remarried into the Su family, he changed his surname to Su.
Su Yansong was three years older than Su Yu and could be considered her childhood companion.
The two had always been very close. Even when Second Uncle Su and Grandmother were at the height of their disputes, Su Yansong still secretly brought Su Yu little sugar figurines.
Before Su Yansong earned any academic distinction, Wu Xiu had hinted to Grandmother more than once that it would be nice if the two children became even closer through marriage.
Although Grandmother did not agree immediately, she also did not object. She had only said that the decision should depend on Su Yu’s own wishes.
Her wishes…
Su Yu did not understand matters of love. She only knew that Su Yansong treated her very well. She only knew that if she married him, she wouldn’t have to enter a blind marriage with a complete stranger. Yet just after she had shyly nodded to Grandmother and expressed her willingness, Wu Xiu suddenly changed her tune.
The reason was simple: Su Yansong had passed the county examination and become a xiucai. Combined with his outstanding appearance, he had caught the eye of the county magistrate’s daughter.
The magistrate said that if Su Yansong could also pass the provincial examination and become a juren, he would approve the marriage.
How could Wu Xiu still think highly of an orphan girl like Su Yu, who had neither father nor mother and possessed nothing but a pretty face?
Not only did her attitude change completely, but she even became eager to arrange a marriage for Su Yu, determined to sever any connection between Su Yu and her son.
As for Su Yansong, he was famous for his filial devotion. Although he had feelings for Su Yu, he could not withstand his mother’s tears and pleading. In the end, he could only stop seeing Su Yu temporarily, saying they would discuss everything after the provincial examination.
That temporary delay had already stretched into more than a month without them meeting.
Now that they unexpectedly ran into each other face to face, Su Yansong, who had always harbored affection for Su Yu, was immediately concerned when he saw her in such a bedraggled state. In two quick strides, he stepped forward, grabbed her wrist, and pulled her into the courtyard.
“You went up the mountain? Did you fall? Where are you hurt? Does it hurt badly?”
Su Yu was overwhelmed by the barrage of questions. Her wrist also ached from his grip. She reluctantly stepped back half a pace and freed herself, crossing her arms over her chest as she replied softly, “…I’m fine. I just got caught in the rain.”
Seeing how evasive she was being, Su Yansong finally took a closer look at her. The moment he did, his eyes darkened.
Although Su Yu’s clothes had partly dried, they still clung damply to her body, outlining her slender waist and the gentle rise and fall of her chest. A few strands of wet hair stuck to her neck. Water droplets trickled from the tips of her hair into her collar, disappearing into the pale skin half-concealed beneath the fabric.
Completely unaware of how eye-catching she looked at that moment, she kept her eyes lowered and her arms tightly crossed over her chest. Yet from his angle, those slender arms concealed almost nothing.
Realizing it was improper to keep staring, Su Yansong quickly looked away. “Wait here. I’ll get you a cloak.”
With that, he turned and headed into the house, only to nearly collide with Wu Xiu, who was coming out from the inner room.
“Song’er, didn’t I tell you to fetch some wat—” She got halfway through the sentence before catching sight of Su Yu standing by the gate. The rest of her words died in her throat.
In the brief moment of distraction, Su Yansong had already fetched a cloak and returned. He strode over to Su Yu, shook it open, and draped it over her shoulders.
“Sister Yu, wear this while you go home,” he said. After fastening the cloak around her, he pressed a box of medicine into her hands. “Put this on the wounds on your arms. It won’t leave scars.”
At first, Su Yu didn’t feel wronged. She had failed to find the Wufeng Grass. She had rolled through mud in the mountains, been scared out of her wits by the black python, and been soaked through by the rain. Through it all, she hadn’t felt the slightest bit aggrieved. But standing here now, looking at the person who had cared for her so attentively since childhood, she could no longer hold back. Her eyes suddenly reddened. Hadn’t he sworn, only recently, that he would marry her? Hadn’t he said he would come and formally propose once he passed the county examination? Why had he suddenly changed his mind? Why had he not come to see her for over a month? And why had he allowed his mother to busily arrange matchmaking prospects for her? Was it really only because he was filial, because he was afraid of upsetting his mother?
With her head lowered, Su Yu thought that if he truly didn’t want to marry her, he could have told her so directly. She was not the sort of person who would cling desperately to someone, nor would she use their childhood bond to pressure him.
Yet he neither rejected her nor agreed to marry her to put her mind at ease. Instead, he hesitated and delayed, saying they would discuss everything after the provincial examination. After the provincial examination? Discuss what? If he became a juren, would he marry the magistrate’s daughter, but if he failed, would he marry her instead? Or did he not know whether he could withstand his mother’s pressure, so he used the examination as an excuse and delayed things as long as he could?
Wrapped in his cloak, Su Yu suddenly shook her head. How could this be? It should not be like this.
“What is it?” Seeing that she remained silent for so long, Su Yansong, knowing he was at fault, spoke first. “I’ve been busy studying these past days and haven’t come to see you. That’s my mistake. Just wait a little longer. Once the examination is over…”
“Auntie.” Su Yu abruptly raised her head and looked toward Wu Xiu, who had been watching from beside the doorway curtain. “Auntie, could I borrow a woman’s cloak? It really isn’t appropriate for me to wear Cousin’s clothing home.”
The moment Su Yansong heard her call him “Cousin,” his expression changed. Normally, she always called him “Brother Yansong.”
He reached out to grab her wrist, but Su Yu didn’t even look at him. Instead, she walked toward Wu Xiu and politely added, “Sorry to trouble you, Auntie.”
Before long, Su Yu emerged wearing a plain-colored woman’s cloak. She properly thanked both Wu Xiu and Su Yansong, never once looking at Su Yansong again. Then she pulled the cloak tightly around herself and left the courtyard.
Watching the slender figure disappear into the distance, Wu Xiu immediately began lecturing. “She’s drawing a clear line between the two of you and refusing your kindness. Good. That saves me the trouble of saying more.”
“You should just stay home and focus on your studies. Once you pass the provincial examination, you can marry the magistrate’s daughter. Now that’s a proper future…”
Just as Wu Xiu was enjoying her lecture, she turned her head and saw her son standing by the courtyard gate, still staring longingly in the direction Su Yu had left.
“Mother,” Su Yansong interrupted, his tone irritated. “Stop talking.”
Wu Xiu froze. This was the first time her son had ever spoken to her in such a tone.
Before she could react, Su Yansong had already picked up the water bucket and walked out.
Wu Xiu stood in the courtyard. It took her quite a while to process what had happened. Then she shot a resentful glare toward the alley where Su Yu’s figure had long since disappeared. “What a sly little vixen, playing hard to get!”
Su Yu did not tell her grandmother about slipping down the hillside or her encounter with the black python. She only said she had met a young gentleman in the mountains who had been bitten by a venomous snake and that she had given him basic treatment.
The wounds on her arm were not deep. She applied some medicinal powder herself and changed into a clean, dry set of clothes. Her grandmother noticed nothing unusual.
After preparing lunch and settling her grandmother in comfortably, she began sorting the pile of dried medicinal herbs in the house.
These herbs were not particularly valuable, but once organized and taken to the county market, they could still be exchanged for a modest amount of money.
She spent most of the day on the task.
By evening, she had finally finished bundling the herbs into neat stacks.
After a day of work and such a fright, Su Yu went to bed early that night. But the moment she closed her eyes, those two cold golden slit pupils appeared in her mind once again. The fear she had felt during the day only grew stronger at night.
Su Yu did not know how long she tossed and turned before she finally drifted into an uneasy sleep. She dreamed of that mountain forest. Rain poured from the heavens. She knelt on a serpent’s tail, surrounded by coils of black, scaled flesh. Cold scales pressed against her back. She could not move and could only watch as the dark tail slowly wound around her, inch by inch. Something touched the back of her neck and slid down its side before resting at her collarbone.
It was the snake’s head. A cool, damp tongue lightly brushed the pulsing vein at her neck. With each gentle flick, her neck was soon left slick with moisture. She should have been afraid. She should have resisted. Yet she could not move. She did not know how much time had passed before she suddenly opened her eyes.
The room was dark and silent.
She raised a hand and touched her neck. No snake, no scales, and no damp tongue rested there. It had only been a dream.
“It was only a dream.” Su Yu sat up in bed, breathing hard. It took her quite a while to calm herself. Only then did she realize the clothes on her back were already soaked with cold sweat. She couldn’t keep sleeping like that, so she got up to change.
Moonlight streamed through the window, casting faint outlines across the room.
Standing beside the bed, Su Yu removed her sweat-dampened garments one by one. After wiping the sweat away and putting on fresh clothes, she climbed back into bed.
The room gradually fell silent once more.
After a long while, a jet-black snake tail slowly slithered out from beneath the bed and stopped beside the chair.
Draped over the chair was the sweat-soaked inner garment Su Yu had just changed out of. The tail gently curled around the garment. A moment later, it silently retreated, disappearing into the darkness with the clothing in tow.
At daybreak the next morning, Su Yu rose from bed. After washing and hanging up the clothes she had changed out of the previous night, preparing medicine for her grandmother, and making breakfast, she finally set out toward the village entrance.
Only one ox cart in the village belonged to Aunt Wang. The county town was far away. Walking would take more than half a day, but riding Aunt Wang’s ox cart made it possible to return before nightfall.
Every few days, Aunt Wang would travel to the county town, taking the village women and children who also went there to sell medicinal herbs.
That was generally how things worked in Lingyin Village: the women gathered and sold herbs, while the men farmed and worked the fields.
Unfortunately, Su Yu’s father had died young, her mother had vanished without a trace, and Second Uncle Su was of little help. With only the two of them, grandmother and granddaughter lacked the strength to farm, so they relied entirely on gathering and selling medicinal herbs for a living.
Su Yu climbed onto Aunt Wang’s ox cart. As usual, she paid five copper coins for the ride. Then she, along with the other women and children, set off toward the county town.
Lingyin Village was indeed remote and poor, but the moment one entered Qingyang County, it felt like an entirely different world. The streets were broad, lined with shops on both sides, while peddlers along the road shouted their wares at the top of their lungs.
The group split up, each heading toward the pharmacy they knew best.
Carrying her basket of herbs on her back, Su Yu made her way to Huichun Hall in the western part of town. The shopkeeper there knew her well and never tried to force down her prices.
The only inconvenience was that the western district was rather far away. To avoid delaying everyone’s return to the village, Su Yu always took shortcuts through the side alleys. But this time, the moment she stepped into a narrow lane, two unfamiliar men blocked her path.
Startled, Su Yu’s heart skipped a beat. She had never met either of them before. Why were they stopping her?
Instinctively, she stepped back half a step. Just as she was about to ask what they wanted, she heard footsteps behind her.
Turning around, she realized three more people had appeared behind her, cutting off her retreat. A richly dressed young man led them.
The man’s gaze slid slowly from Su Yu’s face to her waist, then leisurely returned to her face. “So this is Miss Su Yu?”
“Indeed, a beauty. Even prettier than in the portrait. Though her temperament seems a bit too stubborn. My Zhao family sent people to invite her, yet she actually dared to refuse.”
Su Yu’s heart sank.
The Zhao family. The same Zhao family that had previously tried to take her away, only to be firmly rejected by her grandmother.
“My name is Zhao Li.” The young man cupped his hands in greeting. His manners seemed proper enough, yet his tone showed no trace of respect.
“I’ve long heard of your beauty, Miss Su. Since we’ve happened to meet today, why not pay a visit to my residence?”
At this moment, they were the only people in the alley.
Su Yu’s palms were already damp with sweat. She had no chance of outrunning them, and even if she cried for help, no one would likely hear her.
Meanwhile, Zhao Li’s gaze lingered on her in a way that made her uncomfortable. Remembering her grandmother’s warnings that he was lustful, cruel, and depraved, Su Yu suspected that he had come here specifically to block her path.
Forcing herself to stay calm, she thought that, at the very least, she needed to get out of this alley and into a place where others could see her before calling for help. Suppressing her fear, she lifted her head and met Zhao Li’s eyes. “Since Young Master Zhao has extended an invitation, it would be improper for me to refuse…”
She could hear the slight tremor in her own voice. “Please, lead the way, Young Master.”
Zhao Li raised an eyebrow at her, apparently surprised by her compliance. “How straightforward. My carriage is just ahead. Please, follow me.”
With that, he stepped aside and waited at the alley mouth for her to come forward.
Gripping the straps of her herb basket tightly, Su Yu walked toward Zhao Li.