Chapter 5: Two Lifetimes

Gu Yanfei, inside the carriage, lowered her eyes slightly, sipping her tea with elegant movements. A faint, almost imperceptible smile played upon her naturally upturned lips.

Once, Fang Mingfeng had also been a knot in her heart that troubled her for many years.

She did not understand why he liked Gu Yunrong, or why it had to be Gu Yunrong of all people.

Since he did not like her, why not simply call off the engagement? Why did he have to attempt to take her life, and later, ruin her reputation so that the Gu family, out of shame, would take the initiative to break the betrothal, allowing his Fang family to occupy the moral high ground from a position of superiority?

She had done nothing wrong; the one in the wrong was Fang Mingfeng. If the engagement was to be broken, it should have been her choice to do so.

Beside her, Juanbi looked at Gu Yanfei with a complex expression. Originally, she had been worried that Young Master Fang might have some misunderstanding about her mistress and Young Master Chu, but she had not expected that her mistress did not think highly of Young Master Fang at all.

Her mistress was so clever, with eyes as sharp as torches; this Young Master Fang was likely nothing more than gold on the outside and rot on the inside.

Yes, that must be it!

The carriage slowly passed through the city gate, the sound of whips cracking outside.

The hand Gu Yanfei used to hold her cup suddenly paused, and ripples spread across the tea.

She set the cup down as if nothing had happened, though a weight like a boulder pressed against her chest, making it hard to breathe.

This feeling was very familiar...

Gu Yanfei casually lifted a corner of the curtain and looked out of the carriage.

The sun had half-set, dyeing the western sky a rouge-like red.

On the other side, the southeastern sky was unusually dim, with layers of black clouds pressing down over the city, as if a storm were coming, exuding an ominous aura.

Gu Yanfei’s other hand, hidden in her sleeve, began to calculate rapidly...

But before her thumb had even brushed past two fingers, the oppressive feeling in her chest intensified, and a sweet, bloody taste rose in her throat.

She swallowed the blood back down before it could spill from her lips.

She retracted her hand calmly, her pupils hidden beneath lowered lashes. Only she knew that her heart was twitching with pain.

She was already very familiar with this feeling; she had once again been suppressed by the laws of this small world.

From that last divination, she could only barely discern that Danyang City would face a great disaster, with less than three out of ten people in the city surviving!

After passing through the gate, the carriage began to accelerate.

Gu Yanfei absentmindedly lowered the curtain. When she looked at Young Master Chu again, she was slightly startled.

A wisp of gloomy black energy lingered between his handsome brows, refusing to dissipate.

Gu Yanfei’s eyes were as deep and unfathomable as black pools, her gaze lingering on the center of Young Master Chu’s forehead.

When they first met, she had noticed a faint greenish-black aura between his brows. She had not expected that after entering the city, this black aura would become even more concentrated.

In physiognomy, this meant "dark clouds covering the summit."

"Young Master Chu, thank you for the ride." Gu Yanfei reached into her sleeve, took out a red silk pouch, and placed it on the table. "Please accept this peace talisman."

From the not-quite-tightened opening of the pouch, one could see a folded, beige slip of paper tucked inside.

"..." Young Master Chu pressed his right fist against his lips and let out a low chuckle, his brows relaxing.

"Hua'an Street is here!"

Outside, Xiao Shi’s rough, bright voice rang out again, and the carriage came to a steady stop outside a residence.

Juanbi stepped off the carriage first. Her originally pale and dim face lit up, and she felt completely at ease.

Xiao Shi looked at Gu Yanfei with a strange expression, thinking this beautiful young lady was truly bizarre. She had actually given their young master a peace talisman—did she think it was because of this talisman that she had survived the fall from the cliff?

Just as Gu Yanfei was about to step off the carriage, she saw Young Master Chu unfasten the short sword at his waist and hand it to her.

"I return this sword as a gift to you, Miss." He stared steadily at Gu Yanfei, his smiling eyes filled with a hint of intrigue.

Gu Yanfei was stunned, realizing he had misunderstood, but she accepted it gracefully.

This sword was quite handy. Gu Yanfei pulled it out two inches with satisfaction before sliding it back into the scabbard, kindly advising him, "Danyang City is not peaceful lately. If you have no urgent business, Young Master, it would be best to leave early."

"Farewell."

Gu Yanfei held the scabbard and bowed to Young Master Chu with a smile.

Young Master Chu arched his beautifully shaped brows, his eyes flashing with a deep light, and he nodded. "I will keep that in mind."

Gu Yanfei smiled slightly, knowing full well he would not heed her advice. He must have another purpose for coming to Danyang City, and he would not leave until he achieved it.

She had given him the peace talisman only to settle a debt of karma.

As she thought this, Gu Yanfei subconsciously rubbed the scabbard with her fingertips.

When she first saw Young Master Chu’s sword, she had remembered.

She had seen this sword before.

In her previous life, after she was rescued from the bottom of the cliff, she had spent most of her time unconscious. She had only woken up groggily once in a carriage and vaguely caught a glimpse of her savior.

At the time, she hadn't seen his face, only a blurry image of his sword.

She could be certain: this was the very same sword.

In other words, it must have been this Young Master Chu who saved her in her past life and brought her safely back to Danyang City.

Gu Yanfei sighed inwardly and stepped off the carriage, leaning on Juanbi’s hand. The taste of blood still lingered in her mouth, and her throat burned.

Inside the carriage, only Young Master Chu remained, along with the unfinished game of Go. The dense black and white pieces divided the board, evenly matched.

"Miss Gu, until we meet again."

Xiao Shi waved goodbye to Gu Yanfei, and their green-canopied carriage sped away along the wide street, soon disappearing into the heavy twilight.

The sound of hooves faded, and the empty street fell into silence; there were no more passersby nearby.

Gu Yanfei stood still, looking up at the dim sky.

The dark clouds in the air were thicker now, heavy and oppressive, as if they were about to collapse.

"Knock, knock, knock..."

Juanbi raised her hand and knocked on the side gate of the residence, calling out to the gatekeeper inside, "Old Li!"

A moment later, with a "creak," the side gate opened, revealing only a sliver of space. The sallow, aged face of Old Li appeared behind the door.

The door stopped moving. A sense of schadenfreude flickered in Old Li’s murky eyes as he scanned Juanbi and the Gu Yanfei behind her, saying with an ambiguous tone, "Oh, the Second Miss is back!"

"Mother Zhang, go tell Nanny Xu quickly." Old Li turned and shouted for the old woman to pass on the message.

Seeing the door only opened a crack, Juanbi frowned and urged, "Old Li, hurry up and open the door!"

Old Li pressed firmly against the door panel, sighing with a smirk, answering a question with a non-sequitur: "Nanny Xu said that for a young lady to be out early and back late is unseemly. She said if the Second Miss didn't return before the sun set, she wasn't to be let in."

Hearing this, Juanbi’s eyes widened in disbelief.

She and her mistress had lived here for three months, and while they were often slighted by these servants who were used to fawning over the powerful and trampling the weak, she had never expected them to be so excessive as to refuse them entry!

Juanbi was so angry that her round face flushed red, but the situation was dire; if Old Li insisted on not opening the door, there was nothing they could do.

She tried to explain patiently, "Old Li, we had an accident on the way back from Daxing Temple; the carriage fell off a cliff..."

"Juanbi, step back."

As Gu Yanfei’s calm, soft voice sounded, Juanbi obediently stepped back two paces.

"Shing!"

Gu Yanfei drew the short sword from its scabbard with a swift motion. The narrow blade flashed with a cold, chilling light under the setting sun, humming as it moved.

Gu Yanfei struck out with the sword without hesitation.

Her movement was light and graceful, like a mere flourish, yet the blade sliced through the door panel with ease, cutting the thick wood in two as if it were tofu.

The half of the door that had been severed tilted backward and hit the ground with a "bang," leaving only the other half hanging on its hinges.