Yue Lan looked around. Her face turned pale and she said, “Miss, no matter how difficult things have been, you’ve never had to fall so far as to stay in a room like this. How could anyone live in a house like this? There are bugs everywhere. We’ll be bitten to death at night! Why don’t we just set up a tent in the courtyard? Camping would be better than staying in this room.”


  Ning Shu sighed. When Mu Yanmeng had been disfigured, she had to live in this kind of place while facing Wen Ruhua’s constant ridicule and jabs. Later, she even had to help do the chores while satisfying Wen Ruhua’s lust. The original host must have suffered so much to survive. It was no wonder she decided to just throw herself in the river after she got stabbed and had yet another miscarriage.

  Death was more appealing compared to a life like this.

  Ning Shu facepalmed as she said, “Then let’s just set up a tent in the courtyard. It’s not worth staying here and being bitten by bugs.” There was no way she would make things unnecessarily hard on herself.

  They worked together to set up a tent while Wen Ruhua watched with a dark expression. He said coldly, “Since you can’t bring yourself to stay in my house, why did you come look for me? Don’t you have a lot of money? You can just go look for a better place.”


  Ning Shu glanced at him out of the corner of her eye and said with disdain, “Cousin, could it be that you’ve never thought about why I didn’t marry you?”


  “Ding, trauma points + 10. Current number of trauma points is 80. Aaah, Ning Shu, hurry up, go a bit faster, go harder!” 2333’s excited voice reverberated in Ning Shu’s brain.

  Ning Shu: Scram.

  “Why?” Wen Ruhua replied with a sneer, “Wasn’t it because you wanted to live a luxurious life?”


  Ning Shu waved her hand. “Oh, non, non, of course it’s not like that. If you want to know why, I can tell you.”


  “Although your looks are not bad, you can’t pay for a meal with your face. Although you’ve read plenty of books, you never went to take an imperial exam. You couldn’t even count as a candidate that was working on passing the exam, so the chances that you’d successfully pass and become a renowned scholar were moot. You’ve been studying since childhood, but when it came time to establish yourself, you didn’t make anything of yourself. The imperial exams must be taken level by level. With how long you were waiting and the many times you’d probably fail, by the time you finally passed the last one, I’d already be old. Even if I betrayed our promise, it had been worth it and it was a choice I don’t regret. The reason I came back now is to make things up to you so that you have the resources to take the imperial exam.

  “For better or for worse, you should still set a good example for the children in He Village and let them know that education is something that will allow them to stand out from their peers. You’ve studied for so long, but you’re living in such a crappy house and wearing such ragged clothing. You don’t even eat well. If the children at the school get the impression that studying would only lead to such a poor future, why would they bother to keep studying? With the way things are, do you have any influence and dignity in front of the children? Only the strong inspire respect. Influence, money, and ability are what makes the strong, strong. Cousin, do you feel like you have any of that?

  “I admit that I had betrayed you in the past, but what you gave me was a distant, indefinite prospect; an out of reach and elusive promise. From the start, a promise is something intangible and illusory. Could it be that I should’ve given up a stable and safe life for such illusory words?”


  Ning Shu peered at Wen Ruhua sincerely with her clear eyes. “Cousin, aren’t I right?”