Chapter 1 — My Husband Criticized Me For Destroying Dung, I Changed My Face To Another Face

The day I was destroyed, my husband knelt before my hospital bed and swore:

“Chieu Ninh, no matter what you turn into, I will marry you.”

Later I learned that the fire that burned half of my face that year was set by him personally. He married me not because of his deep love, but because of the thousands of thousands of assets my mother left me. He personally applied medicine to me every day, not to cure the wound, but to make my face rot forever, never to be able to heal. The day I was destroyed, the whole capital was waiting to see my joke. Everyone said that no matter how beautiful the First Lady of the Song Palace was in the past, she is now even more pitiful. Half of his face was burned by fire to the point that his skin peeled off and curled, and under his left eye, there was still a terrifyingly fierce scar. Even the bravest maids in the palace, when they see me, don't dare to look straight for too long. When Tham Nghien's farewell card arrived, I was still lying on the bed recuperating. Father sat outside, sighing heavily.

“Chieu Ninh, the Tham family also needs face.”

Hearing that sentence, I suddenly burst out laughing. My face has been destroyed. Therefore, their dignity no longer has room to accommodate me. That night, Luc Hoai Can arrived. He knelt beside my bed, held my hand, his eyes were red and said:

“Chieu Ninh, I don't blame you.”

“As long as you are willing, I will marry you.”

At that time my whole body was in so much pain that I was unconscious. Hearing these words, I truly thought that God still left a way for me to live. Three months later, I married into the Luc family. There are no ten miles of red pages. There was no bustling sound of gongs and drums resounding in the sky. I wore a thick red veil and was quietly taken out of the Song palace through the back door. When Luc Hoai Can helped me down from the palanquin, his palm was still warm. He softly lowered his voice and spoke in my ear:

“Don't be afraid, from now on I will protect you.”

I trusted him for two years straight. Until that night, when passing by the study room, I accidentally overheard a conversation between him and my younger sister, Tong Minh Chau. Tong Minh Chau smiled sweetly and softly:

"Brother-in-law, can you really bear it? Don't you feel disgusted when you have to look at my sister's face every day?"

Luc Hoai Can's tone was light:

“Close your eyes and don't look.”

Tong Minh Chau asked again:

“Are you still taking that medicine?”

“Still using it.”

“In another half year, the other half of my sister's face will be completely destroyed, right?”

Luc Hoai Can laughed softly.

“It's good that it's canceled.”

"If she's completely cured, won't she be able to go out and show off everywhere?"

I stood outside the door, feeling cold all over my body. The blood in his body seemed to have frozen in that moment. Tong Minh Chau lowered his voice:

"If you hadn't stopped me that year, I really wanted to burn her to death."

Luc Hoai Can replied:

"She's dead, the dowry that Lady Song left behind will no longer fall into my hands."

Right in that moment, we understood. The person we always think saved us from the abyss. It turns out that from beginning to end, he was the one who pushed us into the sea of fire. That night, the wind was very cold. After returning to the room, I sat down in front of the bronze mirror for a long time. The woman in the mirror covered half of her face with a thin scarf. The right half of the exposed face is still as delicate and gentle as before. But underneath that veil, there is a wound that people intentionally let rot every day. When Tieu Dao walked in carrying the medicine and saw me sitting motionless in front of the mirror, she softly asked:

“Madam, are you in a lot of pain?”

I raised my eyes to look at her.

“Tieu Dao, who sent this bowl of medicine?”

She was momentarily stunned.

“Of course it's Doctor Liu whom you invited.”

I raised the cup of medicine and placed it near my nose to smell it. Beneath the strong bitter smell of medicinal herbs, there is also an extremely faint smell of rotten wood, so faint that normal people can almost not detect it. Just how stupid were we before? Such a clear taste, yet I have never had any doubts. When my mother was alive, she was very good at making medicine. When I was young, I hated the smell of bitter medicine the most. Every time I smell it, I hide in someone's heart and act like a spoiled person, refusing to drink it for life or death. Mother immediately reached out and gently pinched the tip of my nose, smiling and saying:

"Chieu Ninh, medicine can save people, but it can also harm people. You must learn to distinguish clearly."

At that time, I absolutely refused to study. Now that I think about it, I'm forced to remember little by little. I picked up the bowl of medicine and poured it all into the flower pot next to it. Less than half an hour later, the leaf tips of the potted orchid that had been cared for for three years began to turn black. I looked intently at that black spot and spoke softly:

“Tieu Dao, find the medicine box that my mother left behind for me.”