Chapter 45
Gu Chi x Li Zhi
Extra 1

The moment he fell into the river, poisoned and injured, Gu Chi’s only thought was that he couldn’t die. Whether it was drowning, bleeding out, or being caught and killed by the assassins, he refused to accept any of those fates.

He had to live. He needed to live.

As his blood spread in the rushing river, his mind drifted to a day he could never forget: the sounds of crying, screaming, and pleading for help filled his ears. As a child, he was pulled out of the Lin family home, and everywhere he looked, he saw the bodies of his family members who had been slaughtered. His father’s blood, still warm, was on his face…

Back then, he was too young to do anything. He had to wait for his brother to save him, who had to sacrifice his own life by drinking poison to get him out of the palace. Now that he was grown, he could achieve what he set his mind to.

For instance, right now, he wanted to survive.

His mother and brother still needed him…

Gu Chi used all his strength to crawl out of the river.

At that moment, he could barely see anything. All he could hear was the rushing water, and his body grew colder. He even wondered if he was already dead, and crawling ashore was just a hallucination before death until he heard a short scream.

It was a woman’s voice.

Opening his eyes, Gu Chi woke from his dream, knowing he had once again dreamed of the assassination and falling into the water.

That day, he was saved by a nun.

She bandaged his wounds, and he slowly regained some strength. With her help, he hid in an abandoned wooden hut outside Mingyue Nunnery.

The next day, when the remaining assassins came to search the hut, he left early. However, the effects of the muscle-weakening powder still lingered, and his injuries were severe. The kind-hearted nun had promised to bring him food, and he feared she might run into the assassins, so he didn’t go far and hid nearby. His worst fear came true when the assassins found the nun. He had to fight once more. Fortunately, these assassins were not as skilled as those he had killed in the teahouse. After a strenuous battle, he managed to defeat them but then collapsed, coughing up blood.

When he woke again, his brother had already brought him back to the King’s mansion. He learned that the nun who saved him was his sister-in-law’s second sister, the second daughter of the Li family, who chose to become a nun after being abandoned and refusing to remarry.

It was said that his sister-in-law thought of her second sister at Mingyue Nunnery, which allowed his brother to find him so quickly. Later, he recuperated at the King’s mansion for half a month. His brother, sister, and nephew often visited him, but his sister-in-law did not.

Gu Chi didn’t mind because he knew his sister-in-law was afraid of people, and his brother indulged her. Once, his brother said, “Your sister-in-law is very timid. This morning, she even asked if she should visit you. Please accept her goodwill.”

Gu Chi was speechless, realizing that the brother who casually said he would throw the fifth daughter of the Li family into prison before marriage was gone forever.

Since his sister-in-law was afraid of people, he didn’t ask her to thank the second daughter of the Li family on his behalf. He planned to wait until he was better, then personally visit with a gift to express his gratitude.

However, before he could do that, his brother fell ill.

First, they hid the news of his brother’s illness, then sought medical help everywhere, and also had to manage the triennial local officials’ pilgrimage. He was so busy that he forgot to thank his savior until his brother recovered after the New Year.

Gu Chi was not one to procrastinate. He asked the people his brother had arranged to protect the second daughter of the Li family at Mingyue Nunnery, learned the situation, and went to the river where she had saved him instead of entering the nunnery.

…

Li Zhi often went to the river to wash clothes in the afternoon. She lived alone, and the well in the nunnery was far from her place. Drawing water bucket by bucket was too troublesome. Since she hadn’t taken her vows yet and could leave at any time, the abbess, fearing her departure would affect others’ practice, intentionally or unintentionally kept her separated from them.

Li Zhi didn’t mind. After living there for a while, she discovered a small river behind the back door. It was more convenient to wash clothes there than to draw water, so she developed the habit of washing clothes by the river.

Before the New Year, she found her sister’s brother-in-law being chased by assassins by the river, which scared her from going there for a while, so she drew water from the well instead.

After the New Year, thinking it should be safe, she returned to washing clothes by the river.

The river was fast and icy cold. She pounded the clothes with a washing bat, her hands turning red and stiff from the cold. She accidentally let a piece of clothing get swept away by the river.

“Hey!” she exclaimed, quickly dropping the washing bat to chase the clothing. After a few steps, she saw a man in the distance skimming over the water and retrieving the clothing from the river.

Li Zhi’s heart skipped a beat, remembering the assassins who dared to chase even King Yan’s brother last year. She instinctively stepped back, tripped over the washing bat she had dropped, and fell to the ground, scraping her palm.

The man retrieved her clothes and walked over. Her cry for help was stuck in her throat, filled with fear and apprehension.

Fortunately, as the person approached, Li Zhi recognized him—it was her brother-in-law, Gu Chi.

Gu Chi also saw the fear on Li Zhi’s face and stopped at a distance, waiting for her to get up and approach him before handing over the clothes.

Li Zhi said, “Thank you.”

“It’s me who should thank you,” Gu Chi said calmly, handing over the additional gift he had brought for Li Zhi.

Li Zhi didn’t accept it: “Saving someone is the right thing to do, Young Master Gu … Gu Benefactor, you don’t need to worry about it.”

Although Li Zhi had lived in the nunnery for a long time, she hadn’t gotten used to the monastic titles due to the lack of people to talk to.

Li Zhi took back her clothes and hesitated between “going back immediately” and “finishing washing the clothes before going back.” She ultimately chose the latter.

Since she was already there and her hands were numb from the cold water, she couldn’t just leave without finishing.

She washed the remaining clothes, and Gu Chi quietly left midway. Only after she finished washing did she notice he had silently left a gift.

Holding the basin, she looked at the gift on the ground, feeling a bit frustrated: This person, why didn’t he say anything?

Li Zhi thought for a moment and decided to take the gift back. When her younger sister’s maid came to deliver something, she would have the maid return the gift.

Having made up her mind, Li Zhi picked up the gift and returned to Mingyue Nunnery, unaware that the silent person was hiding nearby and only left when she was out of sight.

After returning, Gu Chi went to the Imperial Medical Institute to get a bottle of medicine. The imperial physician suggested, “If the injury is severe, it’s better to come for a check-up. If it’s inconvenient to enter the palace, I can see you outside the palace.”

Gu Chi recalled, “It’s not severe.”

The imperial physician: “Not severe?”

Gu Chi: “Just a minor scrape.”

The imperial physician wanted to take back the medicine and give Gu Chi a regular one, but seeing Yan Wang’s brother’s stern face, he decided against it.

Two days later, Gu Chi went to the river again.

Li Zhi, who was washing clothes, saw him from afar, dried her hands, and stood up. When he got closer, she said, “Wait a moment. I’ll get the things you gave me the other day for you to take back.”

Gu Chi: “No need.”

Li Zhi: “But…”

Gu Chi walked towards Li Zhi: “You saved my life.”

He bent down and placed the medicine in Li Zhi’s washing basin, even though her scraped hand was already healed: “Those things are nothing. If you don’t accept them, I’ll have my sister-in-law send them again, which would be more trouble.”

Li Zhi found Gu Chi’s behavior unreasonable and domineering, feeling somewhat displeased. However, she wasn’t one to argue, so she remained silent and continued washing her clothes. After finishing, she saw him leave quietly like the day before, feeling even more frustrated: Why is he upset with me?

They weren’t close, and they wouldn’t meet again. She thought she was overthinking. She decided to finish copying the Buddhist scriptures she hadn’t completed the previous night before the evening class, putting Gu Chi out of her mind.

That night, Li Zhi had a strange dream that made her feel suffocated as if a heavy stone was pressing on her chest.

In the dream, she saves Gu Chi, but unlike in reality, King Yan doesn’t find him quickly. After Gu Chi killed the assassins in the wooden hut, she took him to her place to recover.

In the dream, she had already shaved her head and was very quiet. Even when she suddenly found Gu Chi missing one day, she continued her daily routine as if nothing had happened.

The following spring, dream Gu Chi came to thank her as before. Dream Li Zhi said nothing, didn’t take the gift he left, and walked away without looking back, leaving the gift by the river.

On the other side, Gu Chi also had a strange and uncomfortable dream. In the dream, Li Zhi saved him, and his brother found him a few days later, taking him back without Li Zhi knowing.

In the dream, his brother hadn’t married his sister-in-law, and his poisoning happened earlier than he remembered, and he didn’t survive the winter, passing away.

His brother’s death caused turmoil in the court. After things had settled down, he remembered Li Zhi and thanked her with gifts.

In the dream, he chose the river, but Li Zhi in his dream was different from the second daughter of the Li family he knew.

Dream Li Zhi seemed dead, an empty shell with nothing left inside. Nothing could stir her emotions. Even when the water swept away her clothes, she just stood up slowly and didn’t chase after them, quietly watching without any expression. She only said thank you when he returned her clothes.

She didn’t show any frustration or liveliness when she saw the gift he left, just walked away without lingering, her thin and desolate figure seeming to disappear with the wind…

That same night, both woke up from their dreams, one in tears, the other with a pale face, unable to remember what they had dreamed.