Spoiled Eldest Miss x Two-faced Madman

CHAPTER 28: Is She Having An Online Romance In Ancient Times?

 

　　The Medicine King Valley is located at the bottom of a valley hidden in the mountains and forests in Shu County. Shu County is rainy all year round, and there is no sunshine. The valley is even more humid and cold. 

　　The Medicine King Valley in winter is incredibly cold, and the dampness is like a maggot in the tarsal bone, sticking to the skin, drilling into the flesh and blood, making the child's two numb and stiff legs swell and fester. 

　　The little child, wearing thin clothes, lay huddled against the wall, gazing out. His small, thin, and sallow face held two large, black eyes that looked out at the world with curiosity. 

　　The courtyard was desolate. A willow tree grew by the wall, its leaves all gone, leaving only bare, thin branches that danced in the cold wind. 

　　The child had discovered the hole in the wall under the willow tree, nestled among the weeds. 

　　Since the child could remember, he had lived in this small courtyard. The only person who cared for him was an old servant who never spoke to him, remaining as silent as a tree stump. 

　　The old servant brought him food three times a day, taking away the empty plates after he finished eating. 

　　No one taught him to speak, and the child, at the age of three, couldn't say a single word. When he was hungry or thirsty, he would make a few “ah” sounds towards the old servant, who would silently bring him food and water. (T/N: Damn you, Pei Zhou! 🤬)

　　On the same day every month, the child would fall ill. He didn't understand why, but he knew that on that day, he would be in excruciating pain. 

　　He rolled on the ground in pain, holding his head and banging it against the wall, wishing he could die. The old servant was watching from the side, and when he saw him banging his head, he would hold him back to prevent him from really dying. 

　　Every day after the pain, the old servant would bring him a bowl of bitter water and let him drink it. 

　　After drinking it, the pain would ease slightly, but not much. The next month, the pain would return as scheduled, like an inescapable nightmare. 

　　The three-year-old child had never seen the world. All his memories, from birth to the present, were filled with this small courtyard. 

　　He thought that this courtyard was everything. He thought that the pain was something everyone had to go through. 

　　Then one day, he heard voices outside the courtyard. 

　　Someone had moved into another courtyard not far away. They made strange sounds, and the child didn't know they were speaking. He was simply drawn to them, and when the old servant left, he slipped through the hole in the wall to see the world outside.

　　The old servant wouldn't allow him to leave the courtyard. Every time he went out, he would lock the courtyard gate from the outside. 

　　Only then could the child gain freedom. 

　　He lay on the ground, peering through the hole. He saw three or four people laughing and talking under a porch in the distance. Their voices were rhythmic, and their faces were full of smiles. 

　　The child watched for a long time. It was the first time he saw people outside and how people communicated. 

　　The child was clever. He took advantage of that little time every day to eavesdrop on the conversations of people in the neighboring courtyard and learned to speak little by little. 

　　But he never told the old servant, because the old servant never spoke. 

　　The child gradually learned that the family next door had come to seek medical treatment. Their master had fallen seriously ill and had come to the Valley of the Medicine King, and the whole family had moved here for treatment. 

　　This was the Valley of the Medicine King, and the valley master was a highly skilled physician. They called him Doctor Pei. 

　　So this was a valley, and there were even bigger and wider places outside the valley. 

　　The child didn't want to stay in the courtyard anymore. He wanted to sneak out and see the bigger world! 

　　Spring arrived, and the family next door who had come for treatment recovered and decided to leave. 

　　While the old servant was away, the child quietly slipped through the hole in the wall and used his two small hands as legs to crawl into the neighboring courtyard. 

　　The little child hid in a corner and squeezed into the carriage that was transporting the family's luggage, wanting to escape from the courtyard that imprisoned him. 

　　He was not yet four years old at the time. 

　　The carriage traveled smoothly to the entrance of the Valley of the Medicine King, but the guards there noticed him. 

　　They pulled him out of the carriage, and many people surrounded him, saying, “How did a child get here?” 

　　It was the first time the child had seen so many people. Dozens of eyes all stared at him. 

　　He screamed in terror. Although he could understand human speech, he still couldn't speak himself because no one had taught him. He could only scream and crawl on the ground, baring his teeth at the people surrounding him. 

　　“Oh, he's even a cripple! Is he a little beggar from somewhere?” 

　　Then someone walked over, and everyone made way for him. They called him “Valley Master.” 

　　The Valley Master was a man in white robes, with a pale and indifferent face. He was tall and slender, with a thin face. Standing in the sunlight, his tall figure almost completely enveloped the child. 

　　The Valley Master's dark eyes looked at the child, and after a long silence, he said, “He is my son.” 

　　The child was taken away. He was very young, but he was much smarter than ordinary children. 

　　He knew that the man in white robes was his father. 

　　It was the first time he had seen his father, and there was no joy or excitement, because his beast-like sharp intuition told him that his father did not like him.　 

　　When the white-robed man's cold and indifferent eyes fell upon him, there was no trace of care or warmth, only a heavy complexity and hatred. 

　　The ‘father’ brought the child to a larger and more luxurious courtyard. There were many people moving about, and the child also saw the old servant who had taken care of him. The old servant knelt before the ‘father,’ kowtowing and apologizing for his negligence. 

　　The father sat in a chair and said coldly to the child, “Since you survived, your name will be Pei Ji from now on.” 

　　Ji, meaning silence and loneliness. 

　　At that time, he didn't understand the meaning of this name, but later he realized that this name was indeed not far from his fate.

　　—

　　A whistle sounded suddenly, not loud, the whistler clearly didn't want to disturb anyone. The sound was very soft. 

　　To most people, it would have sounded like the chirping of insects at night. 

　　However, Pei Ji woke from his sleep. He lay quietly in bed for a moment, listening to the intermittent whistle, disturbing his mind. Finally, he got up, went to the window, and opened it. 

　　Outside, there was a quiet night. 

　　The room was unlit, only a bright moonlight shining through the window, falling on the wooden floor, cold and desolate. 

　　Perhaps it was because he had talked about his father during the day that he had that dream at night. 

　　Pei Ji's childhood was monotonous. In his memory, his father, Pei Zhou, was always as cold as the moon. He hung high in the sky, never glancing at his son who was crawling in the mud. 

　　Even after Pei Ji left the small courtyard and was acknowledged by his father, his treatment didn't improve much. 

　　Because of his father's neglect, the servants who served him were harsh and bullied him, showing him no respect. 

　　If it were just that, it would be fine… 

　　“Woo~” 

　　Another whistle pierced his eardrums. Pei Ji stood by the window. After a moment of silence, he slightly opened his lips, and slightly exhaled his internal force, making a tone that ordinary people could not hear. 

　　After a while, the sound of flapping wings came, and a large black bird came in the night, landing on the windowsill in front of Pei Ji. 

　　The bird had two long feathers on its head, and its round eyes flashed fluorescent light in the dark. It made two soft “coo” sounds. 

　　It was actually a round owl! 

　　The whistle was not completely useless, but a tool used to summon owls. 

　　It's just that An Jiu always whistled during the day, and the Night Marquis (the owl’s name) was active at night. She didn't understand the secret code for summoning the messenger, so she couldn't call the owl. 

　　Pei Ji reached out and touched the owl's leg. With a flick of his finger, he took out a small bamboo tube. He went to the table, picked up a pen, dipped it in ink, wrote a note, put it in the tube, and then put the tube back into the ring on the owl's leg. 

　　“Go,” he whispered. 

　　The owl spread its wings and flew into the thick night. 

　　In the next room, An Jiu lay on her bed, idly whistling again. 

　　An Jiu had slept for a long time during the day and wasn't sleepy at all at night. But ancient people had no nightlife, so she was terribly bored. Thinking of the culprit next door who kept her awake, she started plotting revenge. 

　　The best thing would be to wake Pei Ji up. Since she couldn't sleep, he shouldn't be able to either.

　　She whistled at intervals, ensuring he would wake up as soon as he fell asleep, never able to sleep soundly. 

　　An Jiu thought triumphantly, just as she was about to continue, she heard two soft knocks on the window, as if someone were knocking outside! 

　　An Jiu was startled. Her heart leaped into her throat, thinking she had really lured someone with her whistle. 

　　She quickly got up, fumbled for a light, went to the window, and carefully opened it. 

　　She had imagined a masked man in black clothes outside the window, but when she opened the window, what she saw was an owl perched on the windowsill! A plump body, round eyes, covered in soft gray feathers, looking soft and cute. 

　　An Jiu: “!!!” Where did this cute creature come from!!! 

　　The owl cooed twice and tilted its head, pecking at its leg. 

　　An Jiu looked subconsciously and saw a metal ring on the owl's leg, with a small bamboo tube inside? 

　　Was it here to deliver a letter? 

　　How could someone use an owl to deliver a letter! It perfectly matched her cute preferences!  

　　Damn it! 

　　An Jiu suppressed the urge to pet the bird and took down the bamboo tube, taking out the rolled-up note. 

　　She opened the note, and several lines of writing were clearly visible. 

　　An Jiu read it carefully. The note mainly explained how to use the whistle to summon the owl to deliver messages, and then there were some words of concern, saying that he would help her find a way to get rid of the Gu, and that she could contact him with the owl if she needed anything. 

　　An Jiu thought about the letter coming from next door and suddenly had an idea. 

　　She took out paper and pen, wrote a new letter, and threw it out with the owl messenger. 

　　The owl flew almost silently, and An Jiu couldn't hear where it went, but she was sure it was the room next door. 

　　She and Pei Ji lived on opposite sides of the same corridor, and their windows were beside each other, meaning they couldn't see each other when their windows were open. 

　　An Jiu leaned against the window and waited for a while, and the owl flew back from the darkness, bringing a new letter. 

　　On the white paper, two lines of words were written. 

　　The top line was what An Jiu had written, in standard regular script. She had learned it in modern times, and her brush writing was quite good. 

　　Below was the reply, a line of elegant cursive script. 

　　[Fei Yi, are you asleep?]

　　[No.] 

　　An Jiu clutched the note, covering her face, almost bursting into laughter.

　　My goodness, is she having an online romance in ancient times?

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T/N: Okay, seriously, this chapter devastated me. Pei Zhou? Total scumbag dad award goes to him. Let's all yell at him for the unnecessary pain he's caused Pei Ji. Sigh, no wonder Pei Ji is so emotionally detached. It makes me wonder: how can someone love his partner so much and neglect his son just because his wife died? That behavior is completely unacceptable. If Pei Ji could choose his parents, heh, he wouldn't even want to choose him!

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