The Village Bully wasn’t surprised Tang Qi was so savvy. He grinned, baring his yellowed teeth. “You’re the one who knocked us out that day, right? I’ll let it slide.”
Tang Qi started walking back without a word. They followed behind her, every so often their jeering voices about Luo Xu’s face drifting to the front.
The System was bewildered. “Host, you’re not really going to hand Luo Xu over, are you?” Surely the host wouldn’t cut the knot so decisively just because she didn’t want to fall in love?
“You can’t be so heartless and unprincipled! This is aiding a tiger in its rampage…” It jumped and yelled in Tang Qi’s mind, and was, without surprise, locked in the dark room.
Tang Qi didn’t say another word. She went straight to her doorstep. The Village Bully and his men grinned and mouthed to her: “Call her to open the door.”
Inside, Luo Xu had found a needle and thread to mend clothes. Hearing the knock, she walked to the door and asked warily, “Who is it?”
“Me!”
Luo Xu relaxed. She straightened her clothes and opened the door. A cold wind surged in, whipping up the stray hairs on her forehead, and giving her a clear view of the several vile-looking men standing behind Tang Qi. Though she hadn’t seen their faces before, the moment their chilling laughter entered her ears, she instantly understood—these were the ones who tried to assault her that night.
Luo Xu stumbled back in fright, trembling all over.
Several of them raised their eyebrows. The Village Bully sized her up like merchandise. “Nice figure. Come with me. Wear a veil from now on when you serve me! If the constables hadn’t said your old man’s a big official in the Capital, I’d really struggle to stomach that face.”
The others erupted in pig-like squeals of laughter. “And us too!”
Luo Xu’s legs went weak. Instinctively, she clutched her wrist. She couldn’t believe that Tang Qi, who had given her hope just yesterday, would now personally hand her over.
As expected, this was her fate!
No one to rely on, and no one who would truly care for her!
“These are the ones from the night before last.” Tang Qi stated the fact calmly. As Luo Xu fought her fear, frantically scanning for escape routes, she heard Tang Qi continue, “Look carefully. From now on, you don’t ever need to be afraid of them.”
As her words ended, the scimitar at her waist was drawn. The curved blade was incredibly fast; Luo Xu could hear the faint keen of the blade leaving the sheath, the flash of reflected light stinging her eyes.
When the screams reached her ears and she opened her eyes, the group was already on the ground clutching their left hands and wailing in pain. On the ground was a patch of bright, fresh blood.
The blood hadn’t even dripped from the tip of the blade…
Tang Qi walked up to the Village Bully’s side and ground her foot hard onto his wound. The man screamed like a stuck pig. Tang Qi looked down, expressionless. “This time it’s the tendon in your left hand. Next time…”
She applied a slight pressure with her foot. Luo Xu heard the sound of his bones cracking. The youngest of them screamed, leaping up to fight, only to be kicked flying by Tang Qi, coughing blood and fainting, his life or death unknown.
The Village Bully looked up to curse Tang Qi, but when he met her calm, unruffled eyes, he shivered involuntarily. He had the distinct feeling that Tang Qi truly wanted to kill him.
Fear spread through his heart, completely shattering his courage. “We won’t dare! We won’t dare anymore!”
Tang Qi handed the scimitar to Luo Xu. “Your turn.”
“Don’t hold back. This is a lawless zone.” Tang Qi saw no need for pity on these beasts. “Kill or maim, whatever pleases you.”
Scenes from the exile road flashed before her eyes: being forced to bark like a dog, eat like a dog, fight livestock for scraps. In this moment, all of it turned into the courage to act.
Luo Xu stepped forward. With swift cuts of the blade, she severed the tip of a little finger from each of them.
Tang Qi took back the scimitar, her tone still flat. “Get lost!”
The Village Bully scrambled up, dragging his companions as they fled in a tumbling panic. Tang Qi spoke again, “Wait.” The bully’s body trembled as he turned back in terror.
“Return my axe.”
“Yes, yes!”
Staring dumbly at the severed fingers covered in blood, Luo Xu snapped out of it and hurriedly threw them far away. Seeing her swaying as if she might collapse in the wind, Tang Qi pushed her inside and shut the door. “They won’t bother you again.”
“…Thank you!” Luo Xu had never imagined Tang Qi could be so formidable, nor that anyone would ever stand up for her like this.
She didn’t know how to express her thanks, and Tang Qi didn’t seem to care. Sitting down on a chair with slight weariness, Tang Qi accepted the cup of water Luo Xu hurriedly fetched for her, placing it on the table. After catching her breath, she asked, “What do you plan to do about your face and leg?”
If Tang Qi had asked this an hour ago, Luo Xu would have said nothing. Now… she was willing to trust Tang Qi.
“My father is the Minister of Works, Luo Huaimin. Since childhood, I was betrothed to Zhao Chengfeng, who was then the Prince of Leisure. Later, the Crown Prince fell from his horse and died, and Zhao Chengfeng became the new Crown Prince. The Noble Consort said the Crown Prince’s Mansion couldn’t be without a mistress, so she selected two secondary consorts for him. One was Nalan Xue, the Prime Minister’s daughter, and the other was my younger sister.”
“Five months ago, Nalan Xue suddenly invited me to admire the moon. When I arrived, she had already been poisoned, yet… no one believed my innocence. A month later, the Dali Temple convicted me. On the day I was exiled, I knew what a woman would face, so I found poisonous herbs to make myself look like this. My leg… was broken by the prison guards the day I left the Capital.”
Luo Xu could now recount all of this calmly, but the hatred in her heart couldn’t be dispelled. “If it had been a month or half a month, maybe my face could have been treated. Now, four months later, the poison has long seeped deep into my organs. For the rest of my life, I can only…” Her fingers trembled slightly. Even with her stubborn will to survive, a woman, after all, cared about her appearance. “…only be like this.”
Tang Qi pressed her lips together. Luo Xu smiled bitterly. “If I take good care of myself, maybe it will get a little better.”
The System jumped out of the dark room. “The Book of the World says she later returned to the Capital and her face was already healed. That means it can be cured.” Tang Qi focused. “You read the Book of the World?”
The System fiddled its fingers. “I just couldn’t help it.”
Now was not the time to dwell on that. Thinking of the question she wanted to ask, Tang Qi fell silent for a moment. She clasped her hands together; the faintly bulging veins betrayed her nervousness. “I can treat it. And I can treat your leg, too.”
Luo Xu’s eyes lit up. “How? As long as it can be cured, I’m willing to pay any price.”
“No price is necessary. I just want to ask you, on your chest…” Tang Qi’s voice went hoarse. She forced the words out one by one. “…is there some kind of birthmark?”
She didn’t know whether she should cling to this sliver of hope for the rest of her days, or cut the wishful thinking off now.
But if the planes were truly vast and boundless, if the other really was Luo Xue, and she really could see Luo Xue again, perhaps… perhaps there really was some kind of birthmark?
Perhaps Luo Xue remembered their promise, and had also come here across the billions of universes!
Luo Xu paused, stunned for a moment. Tang Qi’s heart slowly sank.
It was just a moment of hesitation, but to Tang Qi, the time stretched out terrifyingly long. Then, Luo Xu lifted her hands and began to untie her clothes, exposing the skin of her chest.
The long exposure to the elements had left her once-plump skin shriveled, like the dried trunk of a dead tree. And there, right over her heart, was a glaring blood-red mark, as if a single drop of blood had fallen and stained it.
In their last life, Luo Xue had wanted to tattoo her name on her body. After Tang Qi’s firm objection, she’d settled for writing it on her skin instead.
The ink Luo Xue had used was red. In the midst of their playful tussling, the ink had splashed onto Luo Xue’s chest, leaving a splash-like mark. Right now, this mark was exactly the same—down to the very detail.
The System’s non-existent eyes widened as it stammered incoherently, “Sh-sh-she… She’s Luoluo.”
Tang Qi couldn’t describe what she was feeling. She pressed a hand to her forehead and let out a low laugh. The System cried out in alarm, “It’s over, it’s over, the host has gone crazy.”
Luo Xu refastened her clothes, her face flushing slightly beneath the sores. She didn’t understand why she felt so bashful over this, since they were both women.
Thankfully, she hid her unease well. “Is there something wrong with my birthmark?”
“Nothing at all.” Tang Qi stood up. Luo Xu could feel that her mood had suddenly become very good. She was about to ask more when Tang Qi said, “It’s getting late. I’ll make dinner.”
Luo Xu quickly tried to stop her. “I’ll do it…” but Tang Qi nudged her away, smiling. “You go rest.”
Tang Qi had been quite cold and indifferent these past few days. Seeing her smile now, Luo Xu was puzzled. She also didn’t understand why Tang Qi’s attitude kept changing so drastically.
Tang Qi guided Luo Xu to the side and sat her down. She wanted to reach out and pat her head, but remembering they were barely acquainted, she forcefully withdrew her hand. Turning away, she feigned a casual tone, “Let’s eat the rabbit we caught yesterday.”
Tang Qi’s cooking was skilled, and dinner was lavish: a large bowl of braised rabbit meat, a pot of rice with cured meat, and a pot of chicken soup.
The aroma of the food filled the small house. Luo Xu watched as Tang Qi arranged all the dishes, then served her a big bowl of the cured-meat rice, calling her to eat. “Time to eat. Try the taste.”
System: The host’s mood really does change on a dime!
Luo Xu took a bite. The sweetness of the rice and the saltiness of the cured meat perfectly complemented each other. Every grain of rice had soaked up the rich flavor of the meat—truly delicious. Washing it down with a sip of chicken soup, her whole body felt soothed.
“Is it good?” Tang Qi asked.
Luo Xu’s eyes were downcast. “Delicious.” It was a flavor she had never tasted before, yet it was incredibly delicious and familiar.
After the meal, Tang Qi insisted Luo Xu go to bed. She washed the dishes herself, then took out the Book of the World and began to read through it.
The protagonist of this world line was Luo Xu’s previous fiancé—Crown Prince Zhao Chengfeng. Compared to Li Chengyu, Zhao Chengfeng was more of a typical “male lead”: ruthless, stopping at nothing to achieve his goals, resourceful, and skilled at scheming in secret.
His mother was merely an unloved concubine, and he himself had been granted the title Prince of Leisure early on, with no right to inherit the throne. He seized the right moment to engineer the Crown Prince’s deadly fall and successfully rose to power. Afterwards, he allied with the Noble Consort, using her to draw in noble ladies from prestigious families.
He clearly knew Nalan Xue had framed Luo Xu, yet without a shred of mercy, had Luo Xu condemned and banished to the Western Barren Mountains. He even knew Nalan Xue had bribed soldiers to humiliate Luo Xu and still helped cover it up.
Most frightening of all, the one he had truly loved in his heart all along… was actually Luo Xu.
Once he successfully obtained the Prime Minister’s power, he overturned the case, divorced the Crown Princess Nalan Xue, and brought Luo Xu back to the Capital. After returning to the Capital, Luo Xu’s personality changed drastically. She opposed Zhao Chengfeng at every turn, became estranged from her family, and even stooped to poisoning others for her own benefit.
At the very end of the world line, Zhao Chengfeng could no longer tolerate the “wicked” Luo Xu and ordered her death by a length of white silk. And he himself found his one true love—Luo Xu’s younger sister, Luo Ping.
The Book of the World was told from the protagonist’s perspective, so Luo Xu’s experiences and sufferings were all dismissed in a few light strokes. After Tang Qi finished reading, the System pouted angrily. “That trashy male lead! Luoluo went through so much misery. When she went back, not only did he not care for her, he demanded she be as naive and innocent as before. Look at this inhuman line: ‘Xu’er, I pity your suffering, but I cannot accept you turning into such a vicious creature.'”
Tang Qi mulled over the contents repeatedly. Luo Xu’s case would be overturned one year after the initial incident. Counting the four months she’d spent in exile, there were eight more months until she returned to the Capital.
At the time of her return, her face and leg were fully healed, meaning the poison had been neutralized. But later on, the book also mentioned the poison had already sunk deep into her body.
She must have used a method of fighting poison with poison.
After spending a million Points to exchange for an elixir with the System, Tang Qi pondered the plot that was to come. Turning her head, she glanced at Luo Xu, separated from her only by the cabinet, and an unconscious smile curved her lips.
Since Luo Xue could become Luo Xu, it meant they could meet again in future worlds too. And most importantly, she didn’t have to endure that feeling of loss right now.
“Luoluo, I will protect you.” Tang Qi swore silently in her heart.
