Chapter 6

Later, I heard his mother forced Xie Xun to propose to the Zhou family. He refused and said some foolish things.

I didn’t know exactly what. Only that someone had deliberately suppressed it.

It offended the Zhous. They refused the match outright.

People talked and speculated.

I had no attention to spare.

I was busy preparing my sister’s wedding.

She had her wish. She married the man she loved.

Unlike her false death in the previous life, she married in splendid style.

I was so happy I drank a few cups too many.

I intended to nap in a guest room. When I opened my eyes, jolting shook me fully awake.

I lifted the curtain.

Xie Xun was racing on horseback. Trees swept rapidly behind us.

“Have you gone mad?”

A sudden lurch threw me onto the carriage floor.

He pulled the reins and gradually stopped.

“What happened? Are you hurt?”

He was about to enter and examine me.

I pulled the gold hairpin from my hair and pointed it at him.

“Abducting an imperial official’s wife is punishable by law, even for a marquis’s heir. Release me now, and I can act as though this never happened.”

He laughed. Ignoring the sharp point, he seized it and wrenched it from my hand.

As though unable to feel, he let blood run without caring.

His unblinking eyes fixed on me.

“You liked me for so long. I don’t believe you feel nothing now.”

“It was my fault. I mistook childhood affection for your sister for love.”

“Neither of us would yield in the last life. Now we have a chance. Can’t we start again?”

“No.”

I refused without thinking.

“I don’t like you anymore.”

My sister once said loving someone was a happy thing.

You smiled without knowing it when you mentioned them. Being together brought joy.

In my previous life, I had received nothing but pain and humiliation.

The one little happiness left had been crushed by Xie Xun himself.

Hoofbeats seemed to sound in the distance. He composed his expression.

“It’s all right. We have plenty of time.”

10

He drove on, faster and faster.

Jiang Huaiyou’s voice came from behind.

“Jinxue!”

The carriage raced so fast I couldn’t keep my balance.

Something heavy seemed to land on its roof.

The horse startled, neighed loudly, and went out of control.

Jiang Huaiyou reached down from the roof, his expression frantic.

“The horse was hit by an arrow. It’s panicking. There’s a cliff ahead. Give me your hand!”

I seized it and climbed out of the carriage.

Only then did I see one of Xie Xun’s legs tangled tightly in the reins. He couldn’t free it.

His struggles made the horse still wilder.

A violent jolt overturned the carriage. It slid toward the abyss.

I was flung hard away.

Luckily, I stopped right at the edge.

Jiang Huaiyou hung from the cliff by one hand.

I held his hand and dared not loosen my grip at all.

But the gravel beneath me was slippery, with nothing to brace against. I was sliding toward the edge too.

Fortunately, help arrived in time.

Only after surviving and falling into Jiang Huaiyou’s arms did I hear a mocking laugh.

I turned.

Xie Xun’s legs were a bloody ruin.

“Just now, you never even looked at me. You only tried to save him.”

“I believe you really don’t like me anymore.”

I let out a long breath and pressed against Jiang Huaiyou’s chest, leaving Xie Xun only my back.

He had probably gone mad. Best not to entangle myself with him again.

11

Only when safely home did I learn what had happened.

Jiang Huaiyou had worried about me. As soon as I left, he followed to look for me.

The room arranged for me was empty.

He thought he had gone to the wrong place.

Then he spotted Xie Xun’s attendant slipping out of the back door.

He became alert at once.

To keep the occasion harmonious, the marquess’s wife had come alone that day. She hadn’t brought Xie Xun.

Jiang Huaiyou realized something was wrong.

That was why he had immediately alerted the officers and soldiers to pursue us.

Hearing it, my sister was terrified and blamed herself repeatedly.

I felt terribly guilty.