Upon hearing this, Shen Miao smiled, but the smile did not reach her eyes, leaving only a chilling coldness: “Not as deep as the Marquis, who has been in contact with Northern Di for three years, even hiding it from the one who sleeps beside you.”
Xiao Jingyuan’s eyes darkened, a flicker of complex, indecipherable emotion passing through them: “What exactly do you want to do?”
“Marquis, go investigate yourself!” Shen Miao pushed him away abruptly, her tone indifferent and distant: “Marquis, please leave. I need to rest.”
“Shen Miao…” As Xiao Jingyuan left, the look he gave her was filled with many things Shen Miao could not understand.
Until…
Less than the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, hurried footsteps suddenly sounded outside the window.
Qing He rushed in frantically, her face deathly pale: “Madam! It’s terrible! The Marquis has ordered someone to bring an Abortion Potion, saying… saying your health is poor and you should not be pregnant!”
Shen Miao’s pupils contracted sharply.
She had only learned of her pregnancy today, yet he already knew and had not mentioned a word.
No wonder he looked that way when he left earlier. So that was what it meant!
Xiao Jingyuan, oh Xiao Jingyuan, you are so cruel!
To eliminate future troubles, to prevent her from using this as leverage, you would personally kill your own flesh and blood!
Two matrons had already barged in, a bowl of pitch-black medicinal liquid emitting a bitter scent.
“Madam, please,” the matron said with a false smile, her tone carrying a blatant threat: “The Marquis said, if you drink it obediently, you can still keep some dignity. If you refuse…”
Before she could finish, Shen Miao suddenly grabbed the medicine bowl and, under everyone’s astonished gazes, splashed the liquid onto the face of the leading matron!
“Ah—”
Amid the screams, Shen Miao grabbed the scissors from the corner of the table with her other hand, pressing them against her own throat, shouting sharply: “If anyone dares take another step forward, I will spill my blood right here! Xiao Jingyuan wants me dead, but I will not let him have his way!”
She retreated step by step toward the window, looking at the courtyard full of servants, and suddenly laughed.
She laughed at her own three years of foolish infatuation, laughed at this Marquis’s Mansion that devoured people.
“Tell Xiao Jingyuan…”
She leaped out, jumping into the South Lake outside the window. Before falling into the icy water, she left her final vow, each word dripping with blood:
“If I, Shen Miao, do not die, I will surely make his Jing’an Marquisate suffer eternal damnation!”
…
The icy lake water, wrapped in a bone-chilling cold, engulfed Shen Miao entirely.
A tearing, intense pain came from her lower abdomen, warm blood mixing with the lake water and spreading around her.
She knew her child was gone.
As her consciousness blurred, the jade bracelet left by her mother on her wrist suddenly grew hot. A gentle yet firm warmth flowed through her veins, spreading throughout her body, protecting her last breath.
Countless fragmented images surged in her mind—
It was her being rescued from the lake, only to be slandered by Xiao Jingyuan for losing her chastity, cast aside like worthless trash with a letter of divorce.
It was her being exiled to the Northern Frontier, gnawing on roots in the icy wilderness, enduring endless humiliation.
It was her gritting her teeth and struggling, starting from the very bottom, gradually accumulating wealth, becoming a merchant who commanded awe across the land.
It was the night she had meticulously planned her return to the capital for revenge, when a black-clad man broke through the window, a long sword piercing her heart, blood staining the snowy ground red.
So, this was not the first time she had lived this life.
So, she had already walked through such a tragic and desperate life once before.
She had been reborn.
Or rather, she had awakened.
Awakened to all the memories of her past life.
In her previous life, she was infatuated, she was foolish, she waited, she endured, and even in death, she did not receive a shred of pity.
In this life, since Heaven has allowed her to return with her memories, she would no longer be the pitiful soul to be trampled upon at will.
Xiao Jingyuan, Su Manrou, the Jing’an Marquisate…
What they owed her, she would reclaim it all, principal and interest, one by one.
Deep in the lake, Shen Miao slowly closed her eyes. When she opened them again, there was no trace of infatuation left—only a cold, ice-like determination.
Just as she was completely engulfed by darkness, she saw a figure in white leap into the lake, swimming swiftly toward her direction.
…
Meanwhile, at the Jing’an Marquisate after Shen Miao jumped into the city moat.
Xiao Jingyuan stared at the empty clothes salvaged from the bottom of the lake, his knuckles turning white from the force of his grip.
His voice trembled, yet carried an undeniable ferocity: “Find her! Dig three feet into the ground if you must! I want to see her alive or dead!”
He himself couldn’t explain where this near-maddening anxiety in his heart came from.
She had clearly threatened him.
She should have died.
Yet when that bowl of Abortion Potion was sent to the West Annex Courtyard, he had sat alone in his study all night, until he heard the news of her jumping into the lake…
Su Manrou, sensing his distress, tearfully approached him: “Jingyuan brother, don’t be like this, I’m scared…”
Xiao Jingyuan suddenly raised his hand, gripping her neck tightly, his eyes bloodshot and filled with overwhelming malice: “Su Manrou, you’d better pray she’s dead.”
Su Manrou’s face instantly turned purple-red. She frantically beat his hand, struggling to speak: “Jingyuan… brother…”
He slowly released his grip, his voice so soft it was chilling: “Otherwise—you will be the one to die.”
Freed, Su Manrou clutched her neck, staring at him in terror. Yet, after catching her breath, she gritted her teeth and cursed inwardly: Shen Miao, you’d better be dead for good.
Otherwise—no, there is no otherwise.
She must be dead.
…
The one who rescued Shen Miao from the water was none other than Zhao Chengyu, the Water Transport Guild Young Master, who happened to be passing by the riverbank.
After pulling Shen Miao onto the boat, he noticed the bloodstains on her lower abdomen and the unusual state of her body. He immediately ordered the physician accompanying him on the boat to examine her.
After taking her pulse, the physician quietly reported to Zhao Chengyu: “Young Master, this young lady appears to have been about one month pregnant. She caught a chill from falling into the water and suffered severe trauma. The child is already gone, and her body is severely weakened. She needs careful recuperation.”
Zhao Chengyu’s eyes darkened as he looked at Shen Miao, pale and unconscious on the bed. At this moment, she resembled a fragile porcelain doll.
He instructed: “Take good care of her. Use the best medicine.”
“Yes, Young Master.”
After an unknown length of time, Shen Miao slowly opened her eyes. Her wet clothes had long been changed, and the gentle rocking of the cabin, with the rhythmic rise and fall of the water, instantly told her she was on a boat.
The emptiness and dull ache in her lower abdomen reminded her of the loss of her child. A single, clear tear silently slid from the corner of her eye.
Pushing herself up, she calmly scanned her surroundings, her gaze finally settling on a wooden chest nearby, on which was branded a distinctive emblem…
She faintly recognized it as the unique mark of the Water Transport Guild.
“Young Master, the young lady is awake.”
The boat curtain lifted lightly and fell, then lifted again moments later as a figure in white stepped inside.
The man possessed an extraordinary, almost ethereal beauty, dressed in snow-white robes, his features refined like an immortal’s, yet with a hint of the sharpness of a martial artist about him.
Shen Miao rose and looked at the newcomer, nodding slightly, her voice hoarse from just waking: “Thank you for saving me, sir. May I ask where we are now?”
“Five days ago, my boat happened to pass by the riverbank. Seeing you fall into the water, I intervened to rescue you.”
Five days. So she had been unconscious for five days.
In her past life, it seemed she had not been saved by the person before her now.
Zhao Chengyu’s gaze fell upon her pale face, pausing briefly before deliberately avoiding her abdomen. He then continued, “You were deeply unconscious, and I was in a hurry to transport goods southward, so I had no choice but to bring you aboard the ship.”