Chapter 3 — Her Road Is Still Long

On the third day after getting married, he moved into his own study room. Every time a servant makes a mistake and is punished or has something to report, they ignore me and go directly to "Young Master Bieu". I don't even have the right to handle a woman in the palace. The third year after I married Tham Thanh Tu, he welcomed Chu Uyen Nhu through the door. It was clearly just a concubine, but he did it to the point where it was more solemn than getting married. He personally went out to welcome him, the palace was decorated with lanterns and flowers, and red silk stretched from the main gate to the main courtyard. That day, Chu Uyen Nhu wore the red uniform that only the official wife is qualified to wear. According to the rules of noble families, concubines can only use the color pink or peach to distinguish the hierarchy. I just gently remind you that this is not polite. Tham Thanh Tu immediately said:

"Uyen Nhi can wear whatever she wants to wear."

When Chu Uyen Nhu offered tea to me, the smile on her lips was still as sweet and docile as ever. She said:

“Sister, let's serve our husband well in the future together.”

That night, I vomited all night long. I lived all the days of my previous life, day by day. Every day, we think. If we don't drink that cup of wine that day. If there is someone standing outside the door to stop Bich Dao. If Tham Thanh Tu will believe me just once. If at that time we dare to say the word "no". The moment the water filled my lungs, my heart felt strangely calm. It's not resignation after extreme despair. It is a true kind of peace, a kind of peace that has been away from us for too long. From the age of seven to the age of twenty-seven, I lived by living in the Tham residence, always in fear, careful of every detail. Even when picking up another chopstick of food, we have to look at the other person's face first before daring to move our chopsticks. After marrying him, my life became even more like a little mouse living in fear, feeling uneasy every day, never having a moment of peace of mind. But now there's no need anymore. The moment complete darkness fell, I suddenly wanted to laugh. Tham Thanh Tu. In this life, the first sentence you said to me... I can't hear it anymore. A hand grabbed my collar. That person's strength was amazing, and in just a blink of an eye, he pulled me up from the bottom of the water. The cold water made a splashing sound everywhere, I was grabbed by the back of my collar and lifted up, as if pulling a sack that had just fallen into the water. I coughed out a mouthful of water, then coughed another mouthful, my chest aching as if a knife had been gouged through it. Someone is patting me hard on the back.

"Spit the water out! Don't hold your breath!"

The urgent and panicked voice rang right next to my ear, making my eardrums vibrate. I vomited mouthful after mouthful, my nose filled with the fishy smell of lake water mixed with the bitter taste of gastric juice. My whole body was soaked, kneeling on the stone steps. A cold wind blew past, making me tremble like a sieve being shaken violently. Someone half knelt next to me, one hand supporting my shoulder, the other hand continuously patting my back. That hand was large and warm, even though it was separated by a layer of wet clothes, I could still feel the heat coming from it.

“Okay, okay, spit it all out and it's fine.”

I gasped gasped and raised his head. Under the moonlight, there is a face very close to me. Sword eyebrows, deep eyes, straight nose bridge, lips pressed tightly into a straight line full of tension. His whole body was as wet as mine, his hair stuck to his forehead, looking extremely miserable and disheveled. Tham Quy Bach. The eldest son of the second room of the Tham residence, the younger brother of Tham Thanh Tu. In my previous life, there was almost no interaction between me and him. I only briefly met him from afar a few times. He spent many years traveling abroad, either studying with his teacher or traveling with friends, rarely returning to the palace. Occasionally when he returned to the palace, he would just kowtow to his maternal grandmother and then leave. Among the men of Shen Palace, he is the only one who has never frowned at me. Just never frowned. At that time, no one paid attention to this. But now he noticed. He knelt next to me, water dripping from his body to the ground. The worry was clear on that face, not like pretending at all.