Chapter 1: No One Can Save You

In the early spring chill, plum blossoms trembled on their branches.

A thousand miles from the capital, wisps of cooking smoke rose from Xilin Village.

Just as dawn broke, Yu Tingwan slipped into the kitchen.

She was fair-skinned, dressed as a rural girl. A triangular headscarf wrapped around her head, and she kept her eyes downcast daily, intentionally hiding her beauty and reluctant to go out. Yet her beauty was unmatched for miles around. Her eyes were like autumn waters, her lips a vivid red, and a beauty mark at the corner of her eye added to her alluring charm.

In these times, grain was precious. Not daring to use much, she grabbed a few handfuls of broken rice, washed them clean, and started a fire to make porridge.

Behind her, Madam Wang wore a stern expression, her gaze critical, showing extreme harshness toward this niece.

She spoke with disgust: “The Hu family took you in, not for you to entangle yourself with Er Lang. If you want to marry him, you should consider whether you’re worthy.”

Yu Tingwan’s movements paused slightly, her expression filled with disbelief: “Aunt, what do you mean by this?”

Madam Wang proudly straightened her back: “My Erlang is a precious scholar, favored by the teacher. He’ll surely achieve great things in the future. It’s no surprise you want to climb this high branch.”

She shot Yu Tingwan a sharp, contemptuous glance and spat: “Give up that idea.”

What use was good looks? Just bewitching. One look and she was just like her mother who died early – not a proper person.

The cold seeped through the seams of her clothing, making Yu Tingwan shiver.

If her parents hadn’t died early, and if she hadn’t been concerned about the chaos and bandits everywhere, with no money to rely on and being too beautiful, why would she have come to the Hu family to seek refuge with her uncle, enduring Madam Wang’s contempt?

She smiled faintly. “Last time, before my cousin left for the academy, he said he had chosen me.”

Madam Wang’s reaction was immediate—she placed her hands on her hips, livid. “You must have seduced him! Shameless harlot!”

“He said he’d been fond of me for a long time and wanted to make me his wife.”

Madam Wang’s eyes widened in fury, her breath catching in her chest. “I absolutely will not allow it!” She grabbed a kitchen broom, ready to strike.

But Yu Tingwan remained perfectly calm, neither flinching nor dodging. Her eyes lowered slightly, concealing a hint of pity as her red lips parted to utter four words.

“I turned him down.”

Madam Wang froze mid-swing, her face twisted in confusion. “What?”

“But he won’t give up.”

“Just ignore him.”

Yu Tingwan’s doe-like eyes fixed on Madam Wang, her tone earnest. “It’s really quite bothersome.”

Madam Wang felt a surge of anger so intense it nearly made her cough up blood. Yu Tingwan’s words made perfect sense yet left her completely baffled.

How dare she look down on Erlang, how dare she!

Breathing heavily, her chest heaving dramatically, Madam Wang let out a cold laugh. “You’re just pretending!”

“Mother!” A pregnant Xiao Xu hurried in from outside. “I heard from the neighbor that heavy snow has blocked the roads ahead. It seems Father, Erlang, and Dalang won’t be able to return for several days.”

Madam Wang panicked, pacing in circles. “What should we do?”

“It’s freezing cold, especially at night. The farmland might be damaged, and how many people have frozen to death already? The Master and Dalang are hardy—they might endure it. But Erlang is precious! How could his delicate body bear this?”

‘This old witch!’ Xiao Xu was internally seething. Only her Erlang was precious? Everyone else was worthless?

If it weren’t for Madam Wang being unwilling to let her precious scholar son walk from the town academy, insisting that Father and Dalang take the ox cart to fetch him, would her husband have to suffer like this?

But she swallowed her resentment, knowing better than to voice it. After all, who didn’t want the glory of being associated with a scholar?

“Father is resourceful,” Xiao Xu offered tentatively. “Seeing the situation, he probably returned to town to wait for news.”

Madam Wang relaxed slightly. “Yes, yes, you’re right.”

But then she frowned, pacing. “The town’s expenses are high—food, lodging, everything costs money. They didn’t specifically bring travel funds.”

With New Year approaching, the academy was closed. If they had to rough it out… how could her precious Erlang endure such hardship? Xiao Xu’s eyes flickered, and she fell silent. The weather was bitter—her own face was already chapped with chilblains. Before her husband left, she had gritted her teeth and given him her secret savings of half a year to buy face cream.

That fool better not have handed it over to his father for lodging expenses.

While the two women fretted, Yu Tingwan spoke calmly as she tended the fire. “They brought money.”

Madam Wang’s head snapped toward her. “How do you know?”

Because she had reminded them. Yu Tingwan had known the mountain would be blocked, and for a month at that. Before her uncle’s departure, she had subtly suggested carrying extra silver in case of emergencies, since they had no relatives in town.

She also knew…

Yu Tingwan slowly lifted her gaze, her eyes dark as she stared at Madam Wang. She knew that Madam Wang, greedy for money, would take advantage of her uncle’s absence to forcibly marry her off to the sixty-year-old local Scholar, Mr. Dong.

Marriage was too generous a word—it was more like selling her.

Xilin Village was remote and impoverished, with few customs to speak of. As long as they received the bride price and held a few tables of wedding feast, the man could take his bride away.

Sure enough, greed flickered in Madam Wang’s eyes. She had long resented her husband’s protectiveness over Yu Tingwan.

Perhaps…

Suppressing her wildly beating heart, Madam Wang gritted her teeth and retrieved two eggs from the locked cupboard. Passing Yu Tingwan, she gave her a hard shove, finding her presence offensive.

But Yu Tingwan seemed to have anticipated this and stepped aside smoothly. Madam Wang pushed at empty air and nearly twisted her waist.

“You!”

“Oh, my mistake,” Yu Tingwan responded, her tone polite yet somehow dismissive.

The embarrassed Madam Wang choked on her breath, unable to either release or swallow it, her entire face turning red. She glared fiercely at Yu Tingwan before storming out.

Left alone with Xiao Xu, the latter dropped her submissive façade. Such a miserly person, yet she took eggs with her! Xiao Xu, who bullied the weak but feared the strong, proudly stuck out her round belly and demanded, “Do you know where Mother went?”

Yu Tingwan stared at the dancing flames in the stove, her eyes half-closed. Memories flooded back—her desperate pleas as she knelt before Madam Wang.

«Aunt, please have mercy on me. I won’t marry him. I won’t.»

She had lowered herself completely, but the other maintained her superior expression, eager to crush her last hope.

«I’m doing this for your own good. How could I harm you? Why aren’t you grateful? Yes, Mr. Dong is old enough to have grandchildren your age, but older men know how to cherish people.»

And Xiao Xu had toyed with the golden hairpin from the Dong family, laughing with unbridled joy.

«This snow is perfect! With the mountain blocked and Father unable to return, no one can save you. You’ll marry him whether you want to or not.»

«What good is beauty? You’re just like your mother, meant to be ruined by men.»

Neither of them was innocent.

Yu Tingwan felt as if she had stepped into an ice cellar, her entire body frozen numb and stiff. She remembered how her arm was seized, and the balding Mr. Dong had tossed a bag of silver to Madam Wang, dragging her away.

She had struggled frantically, violently resisting, but this only angered Mr. Dong, who raised his hand and slapped her hard.

«Want to bet I’ll take you right here?»

The fire crackled, and Yu Tingwan’s lips curled into a faint smile. She stirred the porridge quietly, her eyes unreadable.