Chapter 10: Following You to the Ends of the Earth

Song Huan stared at Pei Yan, whose face flushed a deep liver-red, lips pale… Does this not hurt?

Alright then.

If that’s the case, don’t blame her for being unkind.

Song Huan grabbed the left collar of his clothes and suddenly tugged downward with force… Her pupils trembled sharply, and her hand froze.

Pei Yan groaned in pain. The blood flushed from his face instantly, his jaw clenched tightly, cold sweat broke out on his forehead, his complexion turning frighteningly pale.

Song Huan stood stunned for a long moment.

Pei Yan’s clothes were half torn off, revealing most of his back and chest—his body was covered in scars.

Some deep, some shallow, some fresh, some old.

One after another, deeply etched into Song Huan’s eyes.

It seemed Pei Yan never received even a bit of favor.

He had a handsome exterior, but also countless scars.

Ten years on the battlefield—just a few simple words to her. But to Pei Yan, it was a real, lived experience.

Song Huan’s heart swelled painfully, as if something was blocking her chest, making her uncomfortable.

Forget it.

This guy hasn’t had an easy life. Since their lives were now tied together, she might as well treat him better.

“Is there a pair of scissors in the room?”

Pei Yan’s voice tightened, “What are you going to do?”

Song Huan: “Cut off the clothes with scissors, then treat the wounds. Otherwise, it’ll hurt too much.”

The wound on Pei Yan’s arm wasn’t deep—a shallow scratch breaking the skin—but it was long, slanting from elbow almost to wrist bone.

The white undershirt was soaked through with blood, stuck tightly to his skin.

The undershirt had only just been peeled off a finger-width at the elbow. He was stubborn, but Song Huan didn’t have the habit of tormenting people.

Pei Yan’s breathing grew uneven. “In the medicine box, next to it, there’s a dagger.”

A dagger would do.

Song Huan glanced at Pei Yan’s fierce scars, thoughtfully pulled his clothes back on, then turned to fetch the dagger.

Pei Yan’s eyes darkened slightly.

Holding the dagger, Song Huan wasn’t very skillful, afraid she might accidentally cut him again while cutting the clothes.

He already had enough scars—she needed to see him later; no need to add another.

So just cleaning the wound took Song Huan nearly half an hour, then she applied medicine and bandaged it. By the time she finished, the sun had already moved away from the horizon.

“All done.” Song Huan tied the gauze with a neat bow. “Perfect.”

Pei Yan twitched his mouth. “Take it off, it looks ugly.”

Song Huan: “…Ugly? It’s so cute.”

Pei Yan looked at her coldly.

A death glare.

Song Huan blinked. “Okay, if you don’t like it, I’ll tie it differently.”

She untied it and made an ugly knot.

Pei Yan looked at the ugly knot and slightly nodded. “That’s acceptable.”

Song Huan: “…” His taste must be off.

Just then, the door was knocked on. “Master, I have urgent news to report.”

Pei Yan’s voice was stern. “Come in.”

Song Huan felt relieved—finally a valid reason to leave. “You’re busy. I’ll return to the recuperation ward first.”

Pei Yan nodded faintly.

As Song Huan left, Pei Chen was entering. Seeing Song Huan, he stopped and clasped his fists. “I pay respects to madam.”

Song Huan smiled lightly in reply and walked out.

…

Outside Ming Song Hall, Jin Yue waited at the gate. Only when she saw Song Huan leave the hall unharmed did the anxiety in her eyes ease. “Madam, are you alright?”

Song Huan looked at her worried expression and said, “I’m fine. Was it Pei Chen who took you away just now?”

Jin Yue shook her head. “No, madam. It was the marquis who ordered me and the Pei guard to leave.”

Song Huan: “…When?”

Jin Yue’s face flushed slightly. “You… you and the marquis…”

“Ahem,” Song Huan lightly cleared her throat, cheeks warming. “He didn’t say anything then.”

Jin Yue: “The marquis gave a secret signal to me and the Pei guard.”

“Secret signal? What kind of signal?”

Jin Yue made a hand gesture. “Pei guard told me it meant retreat. So… we left first.”

Song Huan: “…” Pei Yan really is a scheming dog!

Back at the recuperation ward, little Jin Le was pacing anxiously, glancing expectantly at the door. When she finally saw Song Huan and Jin Yue return, she almost withered away. “Madam! Sister! The food is already cold!”

Hearing this, Song Huan rubbed her empty belly and whimpered, “Ah, I’m hungry too.”

She’d only had a few bites of food at Pei Yan’s—how could that be filling?

Song Huan decided to warm up the egg feast, but going to the kitchen again was too much trouble. Her gaze fell on the copper brazier in the room. Slowly, a mischievous look crept into her eyes.

She removed the pointed lid of the copper brazier, then had Jin Yue and Jin Le find a large iron plate to place on top… to heat the food.

Jin Yue and Jin Le were amazed by Song Huan’s operation.

So, the copper brazier could also warm food…

She combined lunch and dinner into one meal. When dinnertime came, she didn’t bother sending Jin Le to the kitchen again.

Song Huan went to bed early.

She opened the blocked system interface: “Where’s the original Song Huan?”

She had just sent the message when the system suddenly beeped with multiple notifications: “Romance target ‘Pei Yan’’s favorability towards you has changed.” “Favorability -50.”

Song Huan: “…Hmph.”

[target Pei Yan’s favorability towards you has changed. Favorability: 0.]

Song Huan: “…Huh?”

[target Pei Yan’s favorability towards you has changed.Favorability: +10.]

Song Huan: “…What the heck!”

[target Pei Yan’s favorability towards you has changed. Favorability: +30.]

[target ‘Pei Yan’s favorability towards you has changed…]

[Favorability +…]

“…”

Song Huan listened to the barrage of changes in disbelief. What was going on?!

“System, have you been infected by a virus?”

After all the fluctuations finished, the system finally responded.

[“Dear user, thank you for your concern. This system is functioning normally.”] 

[“The above are the real favorability changes of romance target ‘Pei Yan’ towards you. You may check details in the favorability interface.”] 

Song Huan opened the favorability page while asking the system, “Tell me about the original Song Huan? She didn’t take Pei Yan’s poison, and it was also me who was killed by the black-clad man on the wedding day. So how did she die?”

“…Or, did she even die?”

“If not, then where did she go?”

Song Huan wasn’t a saint, but if the original Song Huan died because of her, she might never be able to live in peace in her body.

The system did not reply immediately, making Song Huan uneasy.

…Could it be because of her?

No way.

Song Huan shook her head. No, no.

She was just a lonely little cabbage nobody cared about. How could she have such a powerful backer?

System: [“Dear user, don’t overthink. The original host has indeed died. As for the cause of death, if you want to know, you must investigate yourself, or you may spend 30 days of life value to exchange for the truth about the host’s death.”] 

Song Huan: “…Why don’t you just steal it yourself?”

Thirty days? She only had forty-eight days of life value left, no way she could afford that!

Wait… Song Huan suddenly remembered—she kissed Pei Yan today and earned three months’ worth of life value…

She checked her life value, seeing it change from bright orange 48 days to a tender green 143 days.

Looks like she had the capital.

But still, that was too expensive!

Song Huan: “Can you give a discount?”

System: [“Dear user, prices are fixed and transparent.”] 

Song Huan: “…Are there any other life-value earning tasks?”

Her current mission panel only had small tasks like kiss once, hug once… If those were the only tasks forever, when would she have a chance to get away from Pei Yan?

System: [“Dear user, you have a chance to trigger random missions.”] 

Song Huan’s eyes brightened. “How to trigger?”

System: [“Random missions trigger randomly.”] 

Song Huan: “…” Annoyed. Want to block.

System: [“But I can give you a hint.”] 

Song Huan: “What hint?”

System: [“To trigger random missions, you must complete all first-time tasks.”] 

Song Huan: “…” Broken system.

Wasn’t that just telling her, if she wanted to live well, she had to properly romance Pei Yan?

Song Huan closed the system chat and opened daily missions.

[Daily hug mission completed.]

[Get ten replies from target Pei Yan] mission was also completed and transformed into [Daily Chat] with a reward of half an hour of life points.]

Song Huan: System’s such a stingy little thing.

She scrolled down.

[The mission ‘Kiss the target Pei Yan’ has changed to ‘Daily kiss,’ life value reward… twelve hours!]

One kiss, live one day?

Song Huan recalled the feeling of kissing Pei Yan today, but nothing came to mind except the strong taste of blood.

He smelled strongly of blood.

Song Huan tapped the system again. “Can I check the life values of the Song family?”

System: “…” Silence is golden.

Song Huan: “You’re offline again?”

System: “…”

Song Huan: “Invest! Hurry and get investors!”

She remembered from the life value description that if relatives related by blood had less than a day’s life value left, even if they were not around her, the system would still notify her about their life values.

At that time, she rolled her eyes at this, since the Song family would die within a month of the original’s death anyway. It was basically useless.

But today when Pei Yan tricked her, she found this little feature somewhat useful.

Still, if it had nothing to do with the Song family, what about Pei Yan’s wounds?

Song Huan went to sleep with questions, but got answers early next morning.

***

An imperial decree arrived.

Pei Yan was rewarded for saving the emperor’s life.

Song Huan was called to Mingsong Hall by Pei Chen and a palace eunuch.

The eunuch said the Empress had an oral order for her.

Song Huan was nervous all the way—unsure if she should kneel when receiving the decree… Oral orders require kneeling? Probably not?

Song Huan, a non-native of this place, was very uneasy since she had never encountered this situation before and didn’t know how to act.

Pei Yan wore a crimson robe today, making his pale face look even whiter and more jade-like. Beside him stood the eunuch delivering the decree.

Before stepping into Ming Song Hall, Song Huan took a deep breath.

“Oh, so this is the marquis’s wife? What a lovely lady.”

Song Huan hadn’t even reached Pei Yan when the eunuch turned to look at her, then spoke mockingly, “A month ago, Princess Shangjia was furious when she heard you’d arranged a marriage with the Song family girl, saying the Song girl’s status was too low to match the marquis.”

“But today, seeing the marquis’s wife, we finally understand the reason. A brave man like the marquis deserves a wife as beautiful as you.”

Song Huan endured the sarcasm.

She kept her expression steady and even widened her smile, saying, “Eunuch, your words are inappropriate. That sounds less like praise for me and more like an insult to Princess Shangjia. If those words get out, I’m afraid Princess Shangjia won’t be pleased.”

The eunuch’s face stiffened. “Madam marquis, you misunderstand. We didn’t mean that.”

Song Huan: “Everyone here understands your meaning, but if it somehow reaches Princess Shangjia’s ears, who knows how it will be twisted…”

The eunuch’s face darkened. His jowls drooped as he fell silent, refusing to respond further.

“We are here to deliver the imperial decree and the empress’s oral order. Please accept them.”

Song Huan glanced at Pei Yan. Seeing he hadn’t moved, she stayed still and straightened her back purposely.

The eunuch’s expression sharpened. “Marquis Pei, we will read the decree.”

Pei Yan’s expression was indifferent. “The emperor has granted me the honor of not kneeling before him for my meritorious service.”

The eunuch looked at Song Huan. “Madam marquis, do you have the same privilege?”

Song Huan looked at Pei Yan.

His face was calm, no sign he intended to speak for her.

Song Huan saw a [Favorability +15] pop up over Pei Yan’s head and thought it must be fake…

“I… I’m not used to this…” Song Huan lowered her head, voice suddenly weak.

The eunuch sneered disdainfully, about to order her to kneel when Song Huan added, “But I understand the saying ‘marry a chicken, follow the chicken, marry a dog, follow the dog.’ My husband doesn’t kneel, so I won’t kneel either.”

Eunuch Zhao: “…” This woman, arrogant with Pei Yan’s favor, is utterly foolish!

He wanted to see if she’d still be smiling after accepting the decree.

Neither knelt, but the decree had to be read.

Though furious, Eunuch Zhao could only return to the palace to complain to the emperor and empress, but he dared not touch Song Huan in Ming Song Hall.

“By the mandate of heaven, the emperor decrees: Marquis Pei saved the emperor’s life and is specially awarded ten thousand taels of silver, one thousand taels of gold, and one hundred bolts of Shu brocade…”

The more Song Huan listened, the brighter her eyes became. She was going to get rich.

Pei Yan seemed to be shining.

“Also, the empress instructed me to deliver an oral order: Tonight the palace is hosting a send-off banquet for Marquis Pei. He must bring madam marquis to the palace.”

Pei Yan frowned lightly. “Is this the emperor’s wish or the empress’s?”

Eunuch Zhao: “It is the empress’s wish, and also the emperor’s.”

Pei Yan said, “I understand.”

“Pei Chen, see Eunuch Zhao off.”

Without looking at the eunuch’s face, Pei Yan turned and entered the room.

Song Huan: “…” So powerful.

She silently followed behind Pei Yan, waiting for the eunuch to leave before returning to the recuperation ward.

Pei Yan noticed her steps, and a faint smile unconsciously curved his lips.

He went to the bedroom.

Song Huan, blinded by thoughts of wealth, followed Pei Yan into the bedroom unaware.

When Pei Yan stopped, she realized she had just jumped out of the frying pan into the fire… Could she say she wanted to leave now?

“Come here.” Pei Yan’s face was serious, his voice cold.

Since that day when Pei Yan failed to sweet-talk her, he hadn’t been kind to her.

Song Huan: …What a practical man.

“What is it?” She was calm.

Since she was here, she might as well do the mission.

Pei Yan extended his left arm. “Change the dressing.”

Song Huan sighed in relief. “Alright.”

She went to the low table beneath the window to retrieve the medicine chest and noticed a pair of scissors had been added.

Looks like Pei Yan had someone prepare it.

“Actually, the wound hasn’t fully healed yet. Frequent dressing changes could hinder its recovery,” she remarked.

Song Huan checked the [Daily Chat] task, noting the progress at [2/10.] As she removed Pei Yan’s outer robe, she said, “I suggest changing the dressing every three days. What do you think?”

Pei Yan: “No need.”

Song Huan persisted earnestly, “…Changing it daily really isn’t good.”

Pei Yan frowned. “Just change it once today. Enough talk.”

System: [Daily Chat – 4/10.</] 

Song Huan slowly removed her inner robe. “I’m just worried about you. If the wound gets infected, it’ll be bad.”

“Infected?” Pei Yan’s gaze was as deep as the sea. “Song Huan, who taught you medicine? You’ve actually learned quite a bit. When Chen Ji returned to the manor yesterday, he examined the wound you dressed. Though the bandage was a bit bulky, the technique was excellent.”

“I’ve rarely seen Chen Ji praise anyone like that.”

Song Huan calmly unwrapped the gauze. “…Practice makes perfect. After enough injuries, you naturally learn how to bandage them.”