Suddenly, a girl's cold voice came from beside him: "Because I have to spare your life."

Chu Yuning rubbed her throbbing head and shook it vigorously before looking up at Shen Yuan.

The girl before him had a cool and aloof expression, and her gaze held a deep and unfathomable meaning.

Chu Yuning couldn't understand it.

He held his head, feeling a terrible headache that left him too weak to argue with Shen Yuan any longer.

Chu Yuning thought it was because he was still sick, so she quickly went to her bedside and lay down.

Shen Yuan frowned slightly upon seeing this.

Not long after dark, Xiao Ling arrived at the ancestral hall.

Shen Yuan hurriedly got up and walked to the entrance of the ancestral hall. Xiao Ling stood outside the door and nodded to Shen Yuan. Shen Yuan knew that Chu Qiuyue had been found!

She told the villagers in the ancestral hall to keep a close eye on Chu Yuning, and then left the ancestral hall with Chu Yuning.

Shen Yuan followed Chu Yuning, and the two climbed up the mountain along the path outside the ancestral hall. After reaching the top, they descended the mountain from the other side, making several turns, and finally stopped in front of a cave about half a person's height at the foot of the mountain.

Xiao Ling parted the weeds beside the cave, gesturing for Shen Yuan to go inside.

Shen Yuan then bent down and crawled inside.

The cave looked small from the outside, but once Shen Yuan crawled inside, she found it to be extremely spacious, nearly ten steps long and wide, about the size of a farmer's bedroom.

Chu Qiuyue was tied up inside the cave.

Shen Yuan took out a tinderbox and lit it. Chu Qiuyue, who was inside the cave, noticed the light and opened her eyes to look at Shen Yuan.

Upon seeing Shen Yuan's face clearly, Chu Qiuyue writhed on the ground like a madwoman, desperately trying to break free from the ropes binding her.

She made muffled sobbing sounds, and because her mouth was stuffed with gauze, Shen Yuan couldn't hear what Qiu Yue was saying, but Shen Yuan knew that it was definitely not something nice.

Shen Yuan held up a tinderbox and walked up to Chu Qiuyue. The faint light flickered on the cave wall, illuminating two figures.

Chu Qiuyue glared at Shen Yuan standing in front of her, her eyes filled with hatred.

She finally managed to get the money from her brother's phone and planned to stay in the mountains for a few days until she found an opportunity to escape the village.

Once she left the village, she went to the largest clinic in Jian'an City to see the most famous doctor, determined to cure her illness.

As for whether her illness is contagious to others, what does that have to do with her?

She just wanted to take the money and escape to make a name for herself!

However, she had only been hiding in the mountains for less than a day when she not only failed to find a chance to sneak out of the village, but was also caught and knocked unconscious by the mute man next to Shen Yuan.

When she woke up again, she found that her hands and feet were tied up and her mouth was stuffed with a rag, so she couldn't even shout for help!

Chu Qiuyue was filled with regret at this moment, regretting that she had sneaked out.

She glared at Shen Yuan resentfully, a hint of fear lingering in her heart.

Shen Yuan hates her so much, she definitely won't call her brother to help her. What will she do with her?

Will he... kill her?

The firelight magnified the resentment and fear on Chu Qiuyue's face.

As Shen Yuan looked at Chu Qiuyue curled up on the ground, the image in her mind suddenly overlapped with the scene before her eyes.

It was the same cave, only the person who was tied up had changed to her.

At that time, she had been a slave in the princess's mansion for half a year and had been tortured for half a year. She gradually understood a principle: as long as she did not resist or struggle, she would bark like a dog when Xiao Yunyan told her to. Xiao Yunyan liked to see her thrashing around in the pig cage, so she learned to shout for help in the water like a person who was afraid of death and begged for mercy.

The servants in the princess's mansion bullied her, so she shrank back and worked cautiously. They forced her to eat swill, so she obediently held the swill bucket and poured it into her mouth. They dumped the excrement bucket that Xiao Yunyan had used on her, so she slept in clothes covered in excrement...

She lived like a walking corpse, and Xiao Yunyan gradually found her numb and boring, and no longer bothered to waste time tormenting her.

The servants in the princess's residence also found her dirty and disgusting, and wished they could stay as far away from her as possible.

Shen Yuan could finally catch her breath.

Six months later, Xiao Yunyan accepted Chu Yuning's invitation to go to the mountains to admire chrysanthemums. The princess's trip was a grand affair, with most of the servants of the princess's residence accompanying her, including her.

When they arrived at Baiyun Mountain outside the city, Shen Yuan learned that not only Chu Yuning had come, but also his mother and two younger sisters.

Chu Yuning probably wanted to take this opportunity to let her mother and sister interact more with Xiao Yunyan.

However, Chu Yuning did not know that royal marriages were different from those of ordinary people. Zhao Juxiang could not put on airs as a future mother-in-law in front of Xiao Yunyan, and Chu Chunhua and Chu Qiuyue could not be the princess's sisters-in-law.

They were all lowly people in front of Xiao Yunyan, and Xiao Yunyan couldn't be bothered to pay attention to Chu Chunhua and Chu Qiuyue, these two country bumpkins who had never seen the world.

Chu Chunhua and Chu Qiuyue got no advantage over Xiao Yunyan and even got a slap in the face, so they turned their attention to her instead.

They took advantage of her unpreparedness and had her tied up.

After Chu Yuning became the top scholar in the imperial examination and entered the court as an official, Chu Chunhua and Chu Qiuyue transformed into the young ladies of the Chu family. When they went out, they were followed by two maids and two servants.

Chu Chunhua and Chu Qiuyue, along with their maids and servants, overpowered Shen Yuan. She was bound and thrown into a cave in the mountains.

At first, Shen Yuan thought that the brother and sister were just in a bad mood and wanted to vent their anger on her. They thought that tying her up was just a way to beat and scold her.

Shen Yuan was already used to being beaten and scolded, so she was not afraid of them.

But Chu Qiuyue ordered the servants behind her, "Strip her clothes off!"

Shen Yuan's expression changed upon hearing this. She retreated in fear, but behind her was only a stone wall and no way out.

Following Chu Qiuyue's instructions, the servant rushed forward and yanked open Shen Yuan's collar.

Shen Yuan was dressed in the clothes of a low-ranking maid in the princess's mansion. The style was very simple, with only one layer of clothing. After the collar was pulled open, the plain-colored bodice and most of her skin were exposed.

Chu Qiuyue still felt it wasn't enough, "Strip her naked!"

Upon hearing those two words, Shen Yuan's face drained of color, and her eyes were filled with resentment and fear as she looked at Chu Qiuyue.