Chapter 43: It Was Him
“It wasn’t until I actually visited her village that the pieces began falling into place,” Yasi said, her expression darkening as a flash of pure hatred sparked in her eyes. “Zhou Xiaoyu’s parents suffered a fatal accident, Xiaoyu herself was brutally disfigured and blinded, and my own parents were left to die in destitution… So many horrific tragedies befell us. The only common thread connecting our lives is that we were both betrothed to Luo Qi. I refuse to believe it was a mere coincidence! Luo Qi deliberately orchestrated our downfalls, manipulating circumstances so we would destroy each other!”
Listening to Yasi’s grim deduction, Lu Yunxi’s brow furrowed tightly.
“Could someone truly be that monstrous?” Her hand trembled slightly, rattling the tea cup in her grip. “It wasn’t enough for him to systematically ruin both of your lives; he actively wanted you to tear each other apart?!”
If this Luo Qi had truly masterminded such a venomous plot, she would almost be impressed. The man clearly hadn’t invested much effort into his academic studies, yet he was an absolute prodigy when it came to malicious conspiracies!
“I can only assume the absolute worst of him now,” Yasi murmured, her eyes shaking with residual trauma. “It seems I never truly understood his character from the very beginning.”
Yunxi stepped forward and wrapped the girl in a warm embrace, gently patting her back to soothe her lingering agony. “I know. But the nightmare is over now. You’re safe, I promise.”
After a long while, Yasi’s erratic breathing finally stabilized.
Suddenly, a realization struck Yunxi, and her mind flashed back to the arrogant student who barged into the academy library every single day. If she recalled correctly, that man’s name was also Luo Qi, wasn’t it?!
She rested her chin in her hand, her eyes flickering with calculating intensity. Is it just a bizarre coincidence, or is this greaseball the exact same Luo Qi who destroyed Yasi and Xiaoyu?
Thinking of the illicit rendezvous he had demanded in the forest outside the city gates for tonight, a strange, menacing smile slowly spread across her lips.
“What?! There is a student named Luo Qi enrolled in your academy?! And he demanded you meet him in the forest outside the city walls tonight?!” Yasi’s stunned outburst suddenly snapped Yunxi out of her deep reflection.
Yunxi’s eyes widened. Oops! In her distraction, she had accidentally mumbled her thoughts out loud!
“Yasi, please don’t get ahead of yourself! The name might be identical, but this man might not be the same person who wronged you,” Yunxi advised hurriedly, attempting to manage the situation.
“No! I feel it in my gut—it has to be him!” A profound sense of intuition flared within Yasi’s chest. She was entirely certain that the individual Miss Lu described was the architect of her suffering. “Miss Lu, please… let me go to that clearing tonight in your stead!”
“Well…” Yunxi hesitated. But looking into Yasi’s tear-rimmed, pleading eyes, she simply didn’t have the heart to refuse. “Alright. But you must exercise absolute caution. If he brings personal bodyguards or hired muscle along, things could turn treacherous very quickly!”
Yasi nodded vigorously, whispering her heartfelt gratitude.
Later that evening.
Lu Yunxi sat alone in her quarters, a lingering sense of unease keeping her restless. To pass the hours and settle her nerves, she pulled out a scrap of embroidery cloth. After all, the high-tier needlework she produced could fetch a handsome sum of silver coins in the city market. It was the perfect distraction while she waited for updates from Yasi.
However, she had barely finished stitching the petals of a small flower when a thunderous BANG rattled the walls. The front door was violently splintered from its hinges, crashing heavily onto the floor boards.
What on earth?! she thought. What kind of incredibly arrogant thief just smashes through a front door in broad daylight?!
Startled, she executed a swift dodge, ducking securely behind the bed frame to evade the initial intrusion. Though she remained unscathed, the shattered door sent wood chips flying through the air, and a massive cloud of dust billowed up from the floor, making her intensely uncomfortable.
“See? I told you she wouldn’t be hiding out here…” a voice called out from the threshold. Before the speaker could finish the sentence, a violent fit of hacking coughs erupted from behind the bed, cutting the intruder off instantly.
Yunxi clamped a hand over her nose and mouth, the thick dust choking her until hot tears welled at the corners of her eyes. She glared at the invaders through bloodshot lids.
The intruders froze, completely speechless.
For a long moment, both sides simply stared at one another in profound bewilderment.
It took a few more aggressive coughs for Yunxi to fully gather her wits. She scanned the massive crowd packed like sardines into her modest room, her eyes finally locking onto a very familiar face. “Miss Gu? Is there some urgent matter you wished to discuss with me?”
This was spectacular. Had the refined noblewoman suddenly developed a deep, murderous vendetta against her, prompting her to launch a siege on her private residence?
Miss Gu seemed to register the utter confusion radiating from the librarian. A brilliant blush crept across her cheeks, and she looked profoundly embarrassed. After a long, awkward silence, she stammered, “I… I am so terribly sorry! We targeted the completely wrong address! Wait, so Miss Lu actually resides here?”
“I do,” Yunxi blinked, deliberately ignoring the subtle, frantic hand gestures Miss Gu was flashing to her subordinates to stand down. “I have always lived here. If you ever wish to pay me a visit, you are welcome to drop by anytime!”
The two girls awkwardly exchanged polite pleasantries amidst the completely bewildered stares of the surrounding crowd. Eventually, Miss Gu ordered her entourage to completely repair the broken door before leading the group away.
The crowd marched down the street with heavy, rhythmic steps. After tracking a safe distance from the property, the woman leading the vanguard suddenly halted.
“Is that the commoner you insisted Brother Luo was carrying on an affair with?!”
Hearing the cold fury in her tone, the subordinates behind her immediately scrambled to explain themselves.
“Miss, we swear the intelligence was verified! The master enters the library archives every single afternoon just to see her!”
“I overheard rumors from the scholars myself—Brother Luo is completely infatuated with that girl! She must be the seductress who beguiled him!”
“Miss, for the sake of your own martial standing, you should order us to ruin that peasant’s face! If she successfully worms her way into the estate later, you’ll be humiliated!”
The leading woman spun around, throwing a lethal glare at her entourage. Her voice dropped to a dangerously serious register. “Hold your tongues! I place absolute trust in Miss Lu’s character! If any of you dare to harm her under the hypocritical pretext of protecting my interests, you can consider yourselves permanently exiled from my service! Furthermore, I trust Brother Luo implicitly. He is a man of honor, not some undisciplined rogue who throws his affections at every passing commoner!”
Leaving them with that sharp rebuke, she turned on her heel and stormed away in a rage.
The remaining group stared after her retreat, their hearts swelling with resentment and petty jealousy as they muttered under their breath.
“Look at her putting on grand aristocratic airs! If she weren’t a high-born daughter of the prestigious Gu lineage, who would ever tolerate her volatile temper? Brother Luo would never have selected her as his primary fiancée!”
“Since the mistress refuses to take action, I’ll personally deploy my own agents to break that worthless Lu girl. How dare a mere janitor attempt to seduce Master Luo? She must be tired of living!”
Once the disgruntled crowd completely dispersed into the shadows, Lu Yunxi slowly stepped out from a dark alleyway. Her features were half-hidden in the gloom, and her lips slowly curled into a cold, dangerous smile.
So Miss Gu is actually Luo Qi’s high-born fiancée? This web of lies is getting spectacular.
The moment Yunxi returned to her quarters and prepared to sit back down, the soft cooing of a carrier pigeon echoed from the window sill. She unrolled the tiny scroll, carefully parsing Yasi’s message. The handwriting was remarkably bold and fluid, the sheer, manic joy of the writer bleeding through every brushstroke.
After reading the contents over and over, she finally grasped the full scope of tonight’s events. The student who had used threats and bribery to demand her presence in the clearing was indeed the exact same Luo Qi who had destroyed Yasi and Zhou Xiaoyu!
Yasi had concealed herself within the brush of the forest clearing, precisely executing the timeline Luo Qi had outlined. The exact moment the scholar materialized in the moonlit grove, she recognized his repulsive face instantly.
When enemies cross paths, the fury is absolute!
Yasi had erupted from the thicket and instantly bludgeoned Luo Qi into unconsciousness. She didn’t stop there—she immediately laid a specialized, localized curse upon his entity.
The terms of the blight were devious: for as long as Luo Qi harbored desires to exploit women or seduce his way into high society, his cognitive faculties would violently degenerate, causing him to become stupider and less capable by the day!
Following the initial assault, she dragged the blind, disfigured Zhou Xiaoyu into the clearing, asking if she wished to exact her own physical retribution.
Zhou Xiaoyu didn’t hesitate for a single second, beating the unconscious scholar within an inch of his life. As it turned out, Xiaoyu’s blindness and horrific facial scars were directly tied to Luo Qi’s machinations.
Years ago, after Luo Qi passed the imperial examinations and returned to his native village with his new status, countless local families had desperately tried to marry their daughters to him as concubines. To protect his public reputation as a loyal, upstanding scholar, he had refused the offers—but maliciously insinuated to the community that he wanted to accept them, claiming it was his tyrannical, jealous fiancée Zhou Xiaoyu who refused to permit it!
The desperate villagers believed his lies, concluding that Zhou Xiaoyu was the sole obstacle destroying their families’ chances of ascending to high society. The community grew to despise her, systematically ostracizing her family. When her parents suffered severe physical injuries, the neighbors actively blocked anyone from offering aid, leaving them to die. Eventually, a group of local thugs set upon Xiaoyu herself, permanently framing her and leaving her disfigured and blind.
It was entirely natural that Zhou Xiaoyu and Yasi harbored a boundless, murderous hatred for the man. Given a free opportunity to smash his bones into the dirt, the two girls hadn’t held back in the slightest.
