Chapter 1 She didn't want to die

During the Lantern Festival, a light snow fell from the sky, and the thirteen streets directly opposite the Vermilion Bird Gate were brightly lit.

If someone stood atop the Tower of Babel within the imperial city and looked down, they could see the surging energy of humanity blending with the dazzling lights, forming intricate patterns that illuminated the sky and awed the entire land. Beneath the afterglow of these patterns, demons and monsters hidden in the darkness scattered and fled.

Some ghosts desperately tried to escape the city, while others were willing to risk their lives to rush in.

The city gates, which should have closed at the beginning of the Xu hour (7-9 PM), were still wide open. The city guards stared absently in the direction of the thirteen main streets, wondering if they could still make it to the lantern festival with their families after their shift ended.

Just as they were distracted, a shadow flashed by, and the nine dragon lanterns hanging on the city gate flickered. When they lit up again, not a single shadow could be seen in the area illuminated by the lanterns.

Only a few drops of dark blood remained in the shadows of the city gate.

Meanwhile, a young girl dressed in a thin, plain white jacket and skirt stood alone at the side gate of the Marquis of Jinyang's residence. Fine snowflakes fell from the sky, and a thin layer of snow clung to her eyelashes, concealing the bewilderment and unease in her eyes.

The gatekeeper returned hurriedly about fifteen minutes later, followed by a middle-aged woman with a cold and stern face.

When the woman saw Ji Chan, she frowned slightly, stepped forward, and said in a very cold tone, "Young lady, what brings you here?"

"Aunt Qian, today is Father's birthday, and I think..."

Before she could finish speaking, Madam Qian interrupted her, her tone clearly impatient: "Young lady, you know perfectly well that today is the Marquis's birthday, why have you come to disturb us? Do you intend to disrupt the Marquis's birthday banquet?"

Ji Chan choked up and said softly, "I just want to see my father and say a few words to him."

"No need, young lady. Please remember your place. You have no connection whatsoever with our Marquis's mansion. The Marquis will never see you." She finished speaking and was about to leave when a round-faced maidservant appeared opposite her.

Ji Chan remembered this maid; she was the personal maid brought by the stepmother, Madam Xue, and her name seemed to be Chunhe.

Chunhe walked up to the two of them, looked Ji Chan up and down a few times, and then turned to ask Qian Mama, "What is Qian Mama doing?"

With a forced smile, Madam Qian explained, "She's not a young lady yet, but she insists on seeing the Marquis. How could the Marquis possibly have time to see her now?"

"I see." Chunhe glanced at Ji Chan out of the corner of her eye before speaking, "The Marquis is indeed very busy today, but I can bring you into the manor first and then inform you. If the Marquis is unwilling to see you, you can only take a look from afar and kowtow. This way, the long-standing father-daughter relationship between the Marquis and you can be considered fulfilled. Is that alright?"

Ji Chan bit her lower lip, but felt no pain. She heard herself answer, "Okay."

Chunhe smiled, then turned around and said to Qian Mama in a suddenly stern tone, "The eldest daughter in this mansion is our daughter, not someone else. Qian Mama, you should be more careful in the future."

"Yes, yes, look at this old servant's brain, it really doesn't work well." Madam Qian lowered her head and smiled obsequiously, not daring to say anything more.

Ji Chan watched this scene in silence. To this day, she still doesn't understand how she ended up in this situation.

Just over ten days ago, she was still the eldest daughter of the Marquis of Jinyang. But in the blink of an eye, a woman claiming to have been her mother's personal maid eighteen years ago came to her door, saying that she was not the Marquis's bloodline, but rather a surrogate mother born to the late Marquis's wife through an affair many years ago.

Her father did not believe it at first, and only had the so-called maid driven away, until Madam Xue persuaded him to find out the truth so as not to tarnish the late Madam's reputation.

They first had someone verify the maid's identity, and then, with the maid's guidance, they found the midwife who delivered her mother's baby. The midwife insisted that she was born prematurely, but there were no signs of premature birth.

Based on just a few slanderous words from these unknown people, her father's face immediately changed color.

Little did she know that her mother's premature birth was due to the shock she felt upon learning of his attack on the battlefield.

Later, they managed to find several servants who had worked in the mansion before the family's decline. These servants swore they had seen her mother having an affair with another man before her marriage.

These people acted like actors in a play, one after another, each saying a few words, easily ruining her mother's reputation.

As the legitimate daughter of the Marquis's family, she became evidence of her mother's infidelity to the Marquis.

Five days ago, she was expelled from the Marquis's mansion. Before leaving, Madam Xue looked down at her and said that her father, out of consideration for her years of upbringing, was unwilling to pursue the matter further and hoped that she would always remember the kindness of the Marquis's mansion.

Ji Chan could not bear such a heavy blame for her mother no matter what. She thought that today was her father's birthday. In the past, her mother had always accompanied her father on his birthday. Perhaps today he would remember his relationship with her mother and investigate the matter again.

Qinghe led her to wait in the garden corridor, then headed straight for the brightly lit part of the garden.

As Ji Chan gazed at the distant lights, she suddenly remembered that last year, the garden was also filled with lanterns, and her mother, at her request, accompanied her to guess lantern riddles.

In just one year, her maternal grandfather's entire family was exiled, her mother died, and she had to stand in the Marquis's mansion waiting for someone to announce her arrival.

After hesitating for only a moment, Ji Chan strode towards the lights. The closer she got, the clearer the sounds of women laughing and joking became.

Ji Chan stopped by the artificial hill and saw her father, who was playing a riddle game with Xue Shi and her two children not far away.

Xue Zhao held a lantern in her hand and stood to the left of her father.

Xue Ying stood to her father's right, even affectionately linking arms with him.

The four people stood in front of the lanterns, chatting and laughing. Xue Ying called out "Father" repeatedly, as if they were a real family.

A family?

Ji Chan's heart suddenly clenched, and she stared intently at Xue Zhao and Xue Ying standing beside her father.

She rarely saw Xue's two children in the past, so she never noticed them. But now she suddenly realized that their profiles looked so much like their father's! Especially Xue Zhao.

Is there any other explanation besides the fact that they are biological father and daughter, that Xue Shi would allow Xue Ying to be so close to her father?

She finally understood why, only three months after her mother's passing, Xue was able to enter the household and bring her two children with her when she married into the Marquis's mansion.

Perhaps she should understand why she ended up like this. She even began to wonder if her mother's sudden illness and death after her maternal grandfather's family was truly due to a medical condition.

Ji Chan felt her body getting colder and colder, and she realized that she may have never really understood her father.

When she was little, she would ask her father to play with her, but he always said he was busy. It turned out that he wasn't unavailable, but his beloved daughter wasn't him.

Ji Chan didn't look any further and quietly left via the same route she had come from.

The words that had been brewing in my heart for so long before I came had all dissipated. What else was there to say? The accusations leveled against my mother were probably fabricated by my father for Xue Shi's sake.

About fifteen minutes after Ji Chan left, Qing He went to the corridor to look for her, only to find that she had disappeared.

She went to the gatekeeper and asked, only to find out that Ji Chan had already left.

She quietly informed Madam Xue, who was sitting in the stone pavilion watching her daughter guess riddles, of the news. Madam Xue's eyes flickered slightly, and she whispered a few words to her eldest son, Xue Zhao, who then got up and left.

Ji Chan walked out of the Marquis of Jinyang's residence, turning back to look at the tightly closed vermilion gates, her shoulders finally slumping. She asked herself, what use was it even if she guessed the so-called truth? What could she do?

Her maternal grandfather and uncle, who could have stood up for her, had both been exiled, and her mother was gone; she was all alone.

Even if she told the truth to the people in the capital, would anyone believe her? No one would believe her; she didn't even have any evidence.

The snow is falling heavier tonight.

Ji Chan walked through the bustling crowd like a zombie. Because she was dressed in thin clothes, her hands and feet were frozen, but she seemed oblivious as she walked toward Changpingfang.

After she was kicked out of the Marquis's mansion, she lived in a small shop in Changpingfang, a shop that her mother had given her the previous year.

When they left the Marquis's mansion, they didn't let her take any of her mother's belongings. If the shop hadn't gone through the government process and officially been registered in her name, she probably wouldn't even have a place to live now.

Changpingfang is more than half an hour's walk from the Marquis's residence, but fortunately today is the Lantern Festival, so there is no curfew.

Ji Chan crossed the brightly lit and bustling Tianjie Street, then passed through Yongpingfang, and finally gradually lost the noise of the crowd, only hearing the crunching sound of her shoes on the snow.

Before anyone knew it, the snow had covered the ground, leaving only her footprints along the long road.

The further I walked towards Changpingfang, the sparser the lights became. Fortunately, it snowed tonight, illuminating the path beneath my feet.

Once they passed through Anpingfang, they would see Changpingfang. Ji Chan stopped to rest, cupped her hands to her mouth and breathed a few breaths to warm her fingers, which had become almost numb from the cold.

After a brief respite, she continued walking towards Changpingfang. As she passed through a small alley, she suddenly heard heavy breathing. The sound was not far from her, seemingly coming from within the alley, like the panting of a wild animal.

Before she could think it through, a sharp scream pierced the night. From a house not far from her, a terrifying sound suddenly came, and then several figures soared into the sky, their blades flashing.

Ji Chan heard someone shouting, "That evil spirit went east."

The east side of that house was where Ji Chan was now. She was panicking and didn't know what to do when she felt a foul wind coming from behind her.

Following her were several arrows that flew like meteors, one of which pierced her chest straight through her back before she could react at all.

The next moment, the evil spirit changed direction and headed south, and the people chasing after it in the distance also turned and followed.

As she fell to the ground, Ji Chan vaguely saw a figure holding a bow linger on the roof for a moment, seemingly looking in her direction.

She heard someone say, "Lord Xue, that ghost seems to have escaped..."

The figure vanished in an instant.

Ji Chan lay on the ground, the excruciating pain almost driving her to despair. Her surname was Xue... It turned out they didn't want her to live at all, but she didn't want to die.

She gripped the ground tightly, inching her body forward. Ji Chan's mind was blank; she didn't know what the point of what she was doing, but she didn't want to give up.

She didn't know how long she had been climbing. The pain seemed to be subsiding, but she was so weak that she could no longer breathe.

As her body was enveloped in the darkness of the alley, she struggled to raise her head, only to meet a pair of blood-red, beastly eyes.