So soon, her husband already felt he’d been cuckolded?
And this Charm Value—who did she get it from?
Cang Shu?
Xie Yushu glanced at Cang Shu in confusion.
The tall, thin attendant’s face was mostly hidden by his bamboo hat, making it impossible to see his expression.
Only his lowered gaze was visible, fixed on the blue handkerchief in his hand.
He paused slightly before taking it and said,
“Cang Shu dares not sully Madam Pei’s handkerchief.”
He wanted to return it to her, but realized the soft handkerchief was already stained with rainwater and dirt.
“It’s just a handkerchief. If it’s dirty, just throw it away,”
Xie Yushu said casually, though her mind was on the System interface.
Cang Shu seemed to say something else to thank her, but she didn’t catch it.
The carriage rolled out of the alley.
The System explained to her,
“Charm Value is also gained from Pei Shilin. He feels you’re seducing the attendant Cang Shu, and since Cang Shu accepted your handkerchief, he believes he’s been tempted by you, so you’ve gained 1 point of Charm Value.”
Xie Yushu understood.
When he feels the green hat on his head, isn’t it just that he thinks she’s attracted another man?
“Yes, so when you gain Green Hat Value, you might also get Charm Value,” the System added, asking if she wanted to exchange it.
Sitting in the carriage, Xie Yushu decisively converted all her Green Hat Value and Charm Value into Life Value—her life was more important.
Her current Life Value became: 3 points.
She immediately felt her body lighten.
The constant tightness in her chest and shortness of breath eased.
“Your current Life Value is equivalent to 30 days,” the System told her.
“Once your Life Value exceeds 50 points, you’ll feel no more pain or sickness.”
That’s easy to farm.
Xie Yushu couldn’t wait to max out her Life Value and exchange it for 50 million!
The carriage sped through the rainy night.
Even in the rain, Bianjing’s night was lively, with many shops and vendors still open.
Cang Shu avoided the bustling main streets, taking side roads toward the Xiangguo Mansion.
In less than a quarter of an hour, the carriage stopped at the back gate of the mansion.
The little maid Jinye helped Xie Yushu down from the carriage.
Four sturdy attendants led them into the courtyard.
The courtyard was large and eerily quiet.
As soon as they entered, frightening dog barks echoed, sounding both like wolves and wild beasts.
Jinye clutched her mistress’s hand in fear, not daring to breathe loudly.
Xie Yushu wrapped her arm around the girl’s thin arm, signaling her not to be afraid.
This Xiangguo Mansion was far scarier than the ones portrayed in short dramas—lush woods, vast and deep, and they didn’t see a single maid or old servant along the way, only stern, sword-bearing attendants at certain corners.
The barking of dogs rose and fell without pause.
In the original script, Song Jie kept many sighthounds and a fierce Tibetan mastiff.
The supporting female, Xie Yushu, was brought here for the first time and screamed at the sight of the lion-like mastiff.
The beast nearly pounced on her and bit her, and the damn Song Jie even unreasonably said,
“You startled it, so of course it attacked you.”
So this time, as Xie Yushu entered the Main Courtyard, she covered Jinye’s mouth in advance.
A massive, jet-black, lion-like dog stood at the doorway, staring at them with green eyes.
Jinye whimpered in terror, dropped her umbrella, and clung to Xie Yushu, trembling.
“Don’t be afraid. The more you fear it, the fiercer it’ll be,”
Xie Yushu soothed, gently patting Jinye’s small back.
Cang Shu looked over at Xie Yushu.
In the drizzle, her hair was quickly soaked, yet instead of scolding the little maid, she comforted her like an older sister.
Seeing that the maid was truly frightened, he let her wait in the small pavilion outside.
Cang Shu picked up the umbrella and held it over her head.
“Madam Pei is kind to her servants.”
“My mother was a servant too,”
Xie Yushu said without any hesitation.
This surprised Cang Shu.
He’d thought this concubine-born daughter of the Yongan Marquis Manor would avoid mentioning her birth mother and only acknowledge the Marquise, since rumors said she would do anything to climb up to the Marquis Manor.
He led her up the stone steps.
The mastiff immediately circled her skirt, sniffing suspiciously.
She wasn’t afraid, stopping to let it sniff her.
When it looked up, she held out her hand for it to smell and quietly asked,
“Your name is Pangpang, right?”
The mastiff tilted its head in surprise at hearing its name.
Cang Shu was also surprised.
How did she know Pangpang’s name?
From inside the dim room came the sound of movement, a slender figure flickering behind the bamboo curtain.
“Jianing?”
The weak voice was soft and low, as if not daring to believe, afraid that speaking too loud would shatter a dream.
The person stood behind the curtain, not daring to step out.
“Xiangye,”
Cang Shu quickly saluted,
“You’re awake?”
The mastiff turned and wagged its tail at the figure behind the curtain, its huge tail swishing against Xie Yushu’s skirt.
Oh ho, the number one money tree has appeared.
Xie Yushu lifted her head, looking at the silhouette behind the curtain with the angle most like Xie Jianing, and asked,
“Should I call you Prime Minister, or Daoist Novice?”
This was the very line the female lead, Xie Jianing, said to Song Jie in the script after discovering his true identity.
Sure enough, with the weight of that line, the person behind the curtain looked even more dazed and directly lifted the curtain, holding onto the door frame as he stepped out.
“Jianing…”
Song Jie reached out in a daze and grabbed the arm of the person before him, almost believing she was really Xie Jianing.
She raised her eyebrows and said,
“Prime Minister, you’re mistaken. I am Xie Yushu.”
A breeze blew in through the rainy night.
Song Jie suddenly seemed to wake up, let go, and started coughing violently.
His loose black hair fell over his shoulders, his thin body swayed, and he coughed up a mouthful of blood.
“Xiangye!”
Cang Shu hurriedly supported him and anxiously wiped away the blood with a handkerchief.
The mastiff pressed close to Song Jie’s leg, whining.
Looking at Song Jie’s pale face and blood-stained lips, Xie Yushu had to admit—even when coughing up blood, this sickly villain, famed for his beauty in the original drama, was heartbreakingly stunning.
But as he coughed, he collapsed.
Did he faint?
Xie Yushu jumped in fright.
“Xiangye!”
Cang Shu caught him and carried him horizontally into the room.
Standing outside the door, Xie Yushu heard the clatter of water being poured and other hurried sounds.
Then came Cang Shu’s anxious voice: “Xiangye, please open your mouth and take the medicine. If you don’t, how will you get better…”
The mastiff whined and nudged the curtain outside the door, wanting to go in but not daring to push too hard.
Kindly, Xie Yushu lifted the bamboo curtain for it.
The mastiff gave her a knowing look, but before it could go in, Cang Shu quickly came over and quietly invited Xie Yushu inside.
“Madam Pei, please help feed the medicine to Xiangye.”
The scent of herbal fragrance lingered in the air.
Though it was Eternal Summer, the windows were closed, making the room stifling hot, and the bitter scent of medicinal herbs mixed with sandalwood, as if someone had just burned incense.
Only one lamp burned by the bed.
Song Jie, thin as paper, lay shivering on the bed, teeth clenched tight.
In the original drama, Song Jie’s “chronic illness” was actually the result of being poisoned by the Bone-Eroding Ice Toad at age twelve.
Every time the poison flared up, his whole body turned icy cold, he’d fall unconscious and cough up blood.
Though saved by Laodao Shi Xuan Zhen, the residual poison remained and he’d relapse several times a year, relying on Xuan Zhen’s medicine to survive.
“Could you…could you pretend to be Miss Xie Jianing and feed the medicine?”
Cang Shu, for some reason, seemed a bit guilty but had no other choice.
“When Xiangye is ill, he only responds to Miss Xie Jianing…”
So that’s why she was invited here.
Xie Yushu knew: Song Jie and Xie Jianing first met when Song Jie was recovering at a Daoist temple during a poisoning episode.
Xie Jianing thought he was a Daoist Novice and would often talk to him, even personally feeding him medicine, which moved Song Jie deeply—he’d never had a mother, and she was the first woman to ever feed him medicine.
“Of course,”
Xie Yushu agreed readily, but didn’t take the medicine bowl yet.
She added,
“Since I agreed to come to the Xiangguo Mansion, I know what you want. But I have a request too.”
“I understand,”
Cang Shu nodded.
“Master Pei wants Xiangye to help with the Case of the Second Young Master of the Pei Family…”
“That’s Pei Shilin’s request, not mine,”
Xie Yushu interrupted, stating plainly,
“I just want silver.”
“Silver?”
Cang Shu didn’t get it.
“Two thousand taels of Wen Yin for playing Xie Jianing once.”
Xie Yushu was determined to profit.
Pei Shilin was broke, but Song Jie had plenty of money.
Two thousand taels wasn’t much; she wasn’t going to feed medicine for free.
“You can write an IOU first. When Xiangye wakes up, send me the silver.”
Cang Shu was stunned.
“Haven’t you heard? As a concubine-born daughter, I’m said to be greedy for wealth and status,”
Xie Yushu said.
Cang Shu had never seen anyone so frank.
For a moment, rather than dislike her, he admired her…
Two thousand taels was nothing to the Xiangguo Mansion, so Cang Shu immediately agreed.
Only then did Xie Yushu take the medicine bowl, walk to the bedside, and switch to the girlish voice of the female lead, softly calling,
“Daoist Novice?”
She reached out and touched his face with the back of her hand, worriedly saying,
“Why are you so cold? Don’t scare me, Daoist Novice.”
Cang Shu was stunned.
This was exactly the scene of Xiangye being fed medicine by Xie Jianing for the first time!
Every word, every tone was identical!
How did she know all this?
On the bed, Song Jie seemed to hear her.
His brows furrowed and he mumbled in a daze,
“Jianing? Jianing…”
“It’s me.”
Xie Yushu, ever professional, took his cold hand and perfectly recreated the scene from the script, gently rubbing his palm.
“I’ll warm you up. When I was little and my hands got cold playing in the snow, my mother would do this for me. Do you feel better?”
Jianing…is it really Jianing?
In his delirium, Song Jie felt a warm hand tirelessly rubbing his palm, just like the real Jianing used to do.
Was she really back?
He struggled to move his fingers, trying to grasp that lost hand, but felt the thin calluses on it…
Did Jianing have calluses on her hand?
“Still so cold,” her voice sounded again by his ear, each word and tone overlapping with his memories of Jianing, making him confused.
Was it really Jianing?
Who else could know their past?
That hand pulled his, pressing his icy palm to her cheek.
“Is it warmer now?” she asked.
In his cold palm, it felt like he was holding a piece of soft, warm jade—so gentle, so comforting.
This was something Jianing had done for him before, but her cheek now was even warmer, like a small heater warming his hand.
Is it really Jianing?
She’s not dead, she’s come back?
He struggled in his haze, trying hard to open his eyes.
After several attempts, he managed to open them a crack and saw a face in front of him—drooping eyes, full lips…wasn’t that Jianing?
“Jianing…”
He tried harder to see, wanting to call her name.
A spoon was brought to his lips, as if to feed him something.
He tried to turn away, but that small, warm hand cupped his face.
“It’s medicine, Daoist Novice,” she said gently.
“You have to drink it to get better. It’s not bitter.”
He knew she was lying, but her hand was so warm, and he was so cold, he couldn’t bear to let go.
He let her feed him a spoonful of bitter medicine, frowning at the taste.
That hand gently brushed his lips with its fingertip, wiping away the medicine, soothing him.
The thin calluses on her finger made him itch.
He faintly heard her chuckle, and her touch turned mischievous, as if teasing him.
“The next spoonful won’t be bitter,” she lied again, prying his mouth open and feeding him another spoonful of bitter medicine.
This isn’t a dream.
Jianing really has come back, hasn’t she…
In his daze, he clutched her hand, wishing he could use all his strength to hold on and keep her there.
“Don’t go…Jianing…”
She gently squeezed his hand in return and softly told him,
“I won’t go. I’ll always stay by your side.”
Song Jie woke up to find the sky had fallen.
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