“No, it is bad for your health.”

“Zhi, enough. I have already decided.”

Xuan Zhi had no choice but to let her do what she wanted. But he was actually mad and worried, seeing how carelessly she treated herself. Tortured by these conflicting feelings, Xuan Zhi let go of Wu Xin and went back towards the carriage, telling Uncle Zhi to get ready to set off.

Wu Xin immediately sensed that Xuan Zhi was upset. Following him, she got into the carriage before it began to move forward slowly.

Xuan Zhi sat outside the carriage, and he obviously didn’t want to talk to her. Wu Xin was not in a hurry. If he ignored her, she could approach him instead. If he didn’t want to hold her, she would just put her arms around him.

She didn’t pay any attention to the girl Zuo Xin behind her, nor didn’t she care whether there was anyone else in the carriage. Because the man she cared for the most got upset. She opened the curtain on the side where Xuan Zhi was and pulled his upper body into the carriage. Leaning her head in his arms, she deliberately rubbed his chest with it.

“Zhi, you are mad at me.”

“No.”

“No? You don’t even want to give me a hug.”

“I’m mad at myself, ok?”

“Are you really not angry with me?”

“I want to, but I can’t.”

“But you are.”

“You don’t take your health seriously.”

“Don’t worry, I asked Uncle Zhi. Heat poison doesn’t harm your body. If you don’t believe me, just ask him.”

“Really? You’re not lying, are you?”

“No, I’m not. Trust me.”

While Uncle Zhi was sitting next to Xuan Zhi and listening to their conversation, his heart was pounding. Wu Xin was lying straight in his face. But he couldn’t say a word against her. After all, he didn’t want his master Xuan Zhi to feel terrible!

What Wu Xin just said really put him in a difficult situation. Where on earth could he find a harmless poison? In fact, the Heat Poison was especially strong. Those who took it could even be left with a life-long disease if they were in poor health, and women were likely to be infertile. Wu Xin was using her own health as a bet. After this, Uncle Zhi still had to find every way to cure her. Touching his remaining little hair, Uncle Zhi felt he was getting even balder because of the upcoming trouble.

Knowing that Uncle Zhi would not expose her, Wu Xin paid all her attention to Xuan Zhi. In her eyes, he was such a silly, cute guy. Then she squeezed his face. For the first time, she had the urge to kiss his cheek. However, the bumpiness of the carriage made her directly kiss Xuan Zhi’s lips.

All of a sudden, Xuan Zhi forgot to worry about the Heat Poison she was going to take. He was surprised that the woman he loved kissed him for the first time. Even if it was just a touch of their lips, it made him delighted and refreshed. Was she finally in love with him? But before Xuan Zhi had time to think about the possibility of their relationship, Wu Xin’s words shattered his hope, “Sorry, it was too bumpy just now. I-I didn’t mean it.”

But thanks to that kiss, they finally got reconciled. Since Zuo Xin was asleep, Xuan Zhi could only sit outside. Yet as soon as she woke up and sat straight, Xuan Zhi returned to the carriage, holding Wu Xin in his arms as always.

However, neither did they know that Zuo Xin had been keeping an eye on them all the way. Not only did she find how handsome and upright Xuan Zhi was, but she also noticed he was such a gentleman when he spoiled Wu Xin. Gradually, Zuo Xin began to have a crush on him. Meanwhile, she also felt jealous.

More than half a month later, a carriage slowly drove into Huaiyang City. In front of the carriage sat a coachman with a big white beard and an almost bald head. Vendors shouted to sell their goods along the road, which sounded quite noisy on such a tranquil spring day.

It had been almost three years since they left Huaiyang City. They saw hardly any change. Those familiar streets and shops still looked the same, as if they had just left yesterday. Maybe the only thing that had changed was people’s hearts.

Recently, near the mansion of Qi Yuan, the man who led the imperial guards of the Empire of Yun, there was always a woman in white walking around. She wore a simple pearl hairpin and had a pair of clear eyes. Those eyes were so gorgeous that no one could look away from them. Yet, just a glance at her face would shock people, for it was full of spots and red marks. What a pity that she was completely disfigured.

Because of her terrifying face, everyone who saw her stayed away from her. But she didn’t care about it and never covered her face. Although most of the passers-by found her quite scary, the women strolled on the street in front of the mansion of Qi Yuan every evening.

Bathed in the dim light with a golden tint of the setting sun, everything looked kind of surreal. Dressed in white walking on the street, the woman looked especially like a fairy from behind. However, once she turned around, the scary red-scarred face would convince anyone that they had just seen a monster.

Therefore, the legend of the twilight ghost girl began to spread across the entire Huaiyang City. Many parents even used it to educate their children, especially the disobedient ones.

“If you are picky about your food, the twilight ghost girl will catch you.”

“If you don’t sleep well, the twilight ghost girl will catch you.”

“If you don’t listen to me, the twilight ghost girl will catch you.”

Suddenly, the twilight ghost girl became a nightmare of all children, and the legend kept spreading for many years.

Of course, this twilight ghost girl was Wu Xin, the woman who took the Heat Poison. After being disfigured by the poison, she kept appearing on the street, waiting for a man to eat her bait.

While most men favored beauty, Qi Yuan preferred disfigurement.

An owner of a mansion, Qi Yuan was a young and promising man with a handsome face, yet he treated people with utter coldness. Wherever he was, Qi Yuan always put on a sour face, as if showing the world that he didn’t want to be bothered. Whenever approaching him, people would feel a cold shiver down their spines. Since Qi Yuan didn’t like to get close to others, he had no friends.

In the past, Qi Yuan had always been a loyal personal bodyguard of Yun Su. After Yun Su became the emperor, Qi Yuan was promoted as the leader of the imperial guards. But his temperament had not changed. Except for work reports, he hardly even spoke. Actually, he was such a workaholic that people felt he was heartless. Because he was too devoted to his job, he even rarely went back home.

Qi Yuan wasn’t born this way. In fact, it was all because of what happened to his family. Growing up as a happy child, he had a father who was a Senior General and a mother from a well-known family. Although not quite beautiful, her mother was an elegant lady and a good wife.

Back then, Qi Yuan’s parents were arranged to get married. Before the wedding, they didn’t even have the chance to see each other. However, the respect between them compensated for the lack of love. With the birth of their only son Qi Yuan, there was more joy and hope brought to their peaceful but plain life.

Qi Yuan was absolutely happy when he was a child. As the only son of a Senior General, he was well taught and cared for by his parents. Without anything to worry about, he had a smile on his face nearly every day, enjoying his life as a naive boy.

Practicing martial arts with his father, Qi Yuan had always dreamed of following in the footsteps of his father to serve the king. However, the year before Qi Yuan reached 16, his father fell in love with a prostitute. Because of that woman, his happy family was destroyed.

Charming and proficient in all kinds of arts, the prostitute was a woman surnamed Meng, whose father was a guilty merchant executed by King Yun. After all, all of Master Meng’s concubines were stunning. His daughters naturally inherited their mother’s beauty.

As if hooked by the prostitute, Qi Yuan’s father was driven by the idea to prove the Mengs innocent, regardless of the safety of Qi Yuan and Qi Yuan’s mother and grandparents.

Old King Yun, at that time, had just unified the five kingdoms. To strengthen his position, he was slaughtering his siblings and the opposition. As a result, Qi Yuan’s father, Senior General Qi, had become one of King Yun’s first targets. In the end, the Qis were relegated to commoners. If it weren’t for his father’s military exploits and that he had nothing to do with the royal members, they would have been sentenced to death.

Qi Yuan thought since his father had no power, they could live a normal life. But infatuated with the prostitute, Qi Yuan’s father couldn’t stop visiting the brothel even after losing his job. The prostitute, however, didn’t bother to talk to him, for she had realized he was no use for her anymore.

Even though the Qis had already been broken, Qi Yuan’s father still waited for the prostitute at the brothel door every day. He wouldn’t go back home, nor did he make money to support his family. Disappointed by their son, Qi Yuan’s grandparents died, yet his father never changed.

Along with his mother, Qi Yuan barely made ends meet by doing hard labor. And his father would even snatch the money from them if they didn’t hide it well.

Until one day, the body of his father was sent back home. He was beaten to death. Mourning for him for a few days, Qi Yuan and his mother felt a sense of relief at the same time. However, suffering from overwork and sadness, his mother passed away soon after.

In less than two years, Qi Yuan had gone from Young Master Qi envied by everyone to a beggar who lost everything. All the relatives and friends became strangers at the moment his family was demoted to commoners, fearing that his family affairs would affect them. It was also from that time that Qi Yuan saw through the selfishness of human nature and no longer believed in anyone. He became a cold man, unwilling to bond with others and get hurt again.

Fortunately, he met Yun Su, who was then the Crown Prince, and he became his personal guard. Not only did his loyalty and efforts earn him his status today, but he had also become the person Emperor Yun trusted the most. Once he won his power back, the first thing he did was kill the prostitute who ruined his family.