Danding Pavilion, Bedroom.
Previously, after being gravely wounded by that female thief at the Zhou family and falling unconscious, Gong Shangyu now slowly furrowed her brows beneath a veil of medicinal fragrance.
Clearly, Gong Shangyu was dreaming—a nightmarish dream so twisted and bizarre that it left her heart pounding with overwhelming terror.
In her dream, mist swirled around, and before her eyes appeared the familiar Broken Love Peak, or perhaps some other place entirely.
Suddenly, she saw the figure of her Master, Lu Li, his back still as cold and aloof as ever, but drifting farther and farther away from her.
Flanking Master Lu Li on both sides were none other than the charming and graceful Senior Sister Feng Lingshuang, and the Third and Fourth Junior Sisters—whom she had desperately sought for so long since her rebirth, but had never found.
Feng Lingshuang affectionately linked arms with Master Lu, her face blooming with smiles just as in their past life.
The Third Junior Sister seemed to be whispering some amusing story into Master’s ear, causing the corners of his lips to lift slightly.
And although the Fourth Junior Sister’s expression remained impassive, she silently draped a cloak over Master Lu’s shoulders with fluid, natural movements.
Gong Shangyu wanted to catch up, to push past them, to reclaim her usual spot closest to Master.
But her feet felt as if weighed down by lead.
No matter how she ran or shouted, it was as if Master Lu couldn’t hear her.
Those three slender figures firmly blocked her path, separating her from Master.
“Lu Li! Master! Look at me…”
“I beg you! I’m clearly the one who—”
Gong Shangyu stretched out her hand in vain, but her voice was swallowed by the thick fog around her.
Suddenly, the scene shifted abruptly.
Master Lu seemed to glance back at her.
But that gaze was cold and unfamiliar, tinged with a faint, unhidden disgust.
“Shang Baiyu? Why are you here?”
“Ah! No… Master, I am—”
Gong Shangyu scrambled to explain, desperate to tear away the false facade she wore, only to find the words stuck in her throat, no matter how hard she tried to speak.
Senior Sister and the Junior Sisters also turned around, their familiar faces twisted into mocking smirks, as if ridiculing her futility and foolishness.
Then they crowded around Lu Li and disappeared beyond her sight.
“No! Master! Don’t go! I beg you…”
“Don’t leave me! I don’t want to lose you again!”
***
Gong Shangyu jolted awake from the nightmare, overwhelmed by panic and a sensation of weightlessness, nearly bouncing upright from her elaborately carved bed.
The first thing she felt upon waking was the ache coursing through her meridians, especially the dull pain in her abdomen as if struck by a heavy hammer.
Yet compared to these physical wounds, the worst was the emotional trauma left by the nightmare—the lingering scene of Broken Love Peak and the icy, disdainful look in Master’s eyes.
That intense fear, dread, and unwillingness to let go instinctively drove her to reach out for the nearest object beside her, seeking a sliver of real comfort and security!
Without hesitation, Gong Shangyu collided straight into the broad, firm, and slightly rigid embrace radiating a crisp chill nearby.
Almost instinctively, her hands gripped tightly onto the smooth fabric covering the other’s chest, burying her face deeply as a frightened young animal would, trembling violently in that embrace while choking out incoherent sobs as if talking to herself.
“Don’t! Don’t leave! I don’t want to lose you…”
“Please don’t abandon me… I beg you…”
Hearing this, the person she clung to stiffened noticeably for a moment.
Then from above her head came a distinctly surprised and puzzled, cool voice.
“Uh… Gong Shangyu? You had a nightmare?”
Lu Li’s voice was like ice-cold spring water dousing her, instantly pulling Gong Shangyu from the chaos of half-sleep panic!
Ah!
That voice is… Master?!
Gong Shangyu suddenly raised her head, and the handsome, yet perplexed face of Lu Li came into view.
At this moment, Lu Li slightly furrowed his brows, looking down at the one almost clinging onto him—Gong Shangyu.
His gaze showed a hint of concern, but more so confusion about what exactly was wrong with this person in front of him!
Staring at the Lu Li she tightly embraced, Gong Shangyu’s mind went completely blank with a loud buzzing.
I… what did I just do?!
I hugged Master?!
And in that tone…
Ah… the Fourth Junior Sister isn’t here!
Ahhh… I’m probably about to be exposed!
Damn it… I was careless!
An overwhelming sense of shame and the panic of having her true identity revealed surged over her like a tsunami.
Suddenly, she let go as if burned, then scrambled backward in a panic.
However, her movement was too abrupt and triggered the pain in her abdomen, causing her to gasp sharply.
“Uh… Lu, Predecessor Lu!”
Despite the pain making her grit her teeth, Gong Shangyu ignored her wound and flusteredly tried to explain to Lu Li, her ears and cheeks burning as if aflame.
“Ah… right! Sorry, Predecessor! I… I didn’t mean it just now!”
Gong Shangyu’s mind raced, thinking quickly.
She immediately lowered her head, adopting a sorrowful tone, her voice trembling as she fabricated a story for Lu Li.
“Predecessor, you are right… I just had a terrible nightmare…”
“I dreamed of my…”
“Oh… yes! My brother… my brother!”
Gong Shangyu deliberately added a trace of choking emotion to her voice.
“Oh? Gong Shangyu has a brother?”
Lu Li looked at her with a puzzled expression.
“Yes, I have a ‘brother.’”
At this, Gong Shangyu’s cheeks flushed as her mind filled with the sweet memories of the past life spent with Lu Li.
“My brother was very kind to me, but… he passed away early…”
“I dreamed just now that he was leaving me again, no matter how I chased in the dark, I couldn’t catch up…”
“I was so scared… and I missed him so much that I got confused and mistook you, Predecessor, for my late brother…”
The lower Gong Shangyu’s voice grew, the more sorrowful her fake expression became.
After finishing, she couldn’t resist stealing a quick glance at Lu Li’s reaction before quickly lowering her head again and apologizing.
“Sorry, Predecessor, I offended you just now!”
“If I said anything wrong, please forgive me!”
Her words were half-truth, half-lie, but her emotions were very convincing.
This explanation perfectly covered up her earlier flustered and overly emotional behavior.
Lu Li listened to her story.
Though some doubt lingered in his heart, the awkwardness and strangeness on his face lessened somewhat.
“I see,”
Lu Li’s tone softened slightly as he spoke with sincere concern.
“The loss of one’s closest kin is indeed the deepest pain in this world.”
“To suffer a nightmare like that is understandable; you need not blame yourself too harshly.”
Seeing her fabricated excuse accepted by Lu Li and her true gender not exposed, the previously frantic Gong Shangyu finally let out a long breath.
However, neither Lu Li nor Gong Shangyu realized one important thing.
With Gu Qingying’s departure, the cognitive modification barrier she had placed on Lu Li gradually began to lose its effect.
This meant that the Lu Li who was just anxiously embraced by Gong Shangyu faintly sensed something unusual.
Recalling the supple, firm sensation against his chest at that moment, Lu Li’s brows barely knitted again as an odd thought involuntarily popped into his mind.
Hiss… has this Gong Shangyu from Danding Pavilion been eating a bit too well lately?
Or perhaps… has he been deliberately training?
Are his pectoral muscles a little overly developed…
Though puzzled, Lu Li dared not voice this suspicion outright.
Fortunately, the steward Wu—whom Gong Shangyu had assigned to impersonate the Danding Pavilion master—was not present at that moment.
Otherwise, Lu Li might have pulled her aside, his face full of curiosity as he asked,
“Master Shang, why are the Young Master’s chest muscles so exaggerated…”