Volume One, Chapter 5: Proud Plum Blossoms

"How could it be her?" Lu Changqing’s brow furrowed into a deep, troubled crease.

Why did the fated person have to be Madam Fang? He had just reprimanded her; if he were to beg a favor from her now, that woman would undoubtedly spare no effort to humiliate him.

Yet, Miaoyan’s illness could not be delayed. Watching his beloved suffer was more agonizing to him than death itself.

Xiuqiu knelt down in haste, kowtowing repeatedly. "I shouldn't have spoken out of turn! My mistress explicitly forbade me from mentioning this. It was my slip of the tongue—I deserve to die!"

Lu Changqing fell silent for a moment before asking, "Did the Divine Bird of the Medicine King Valley truly say that only the heart-blood of Madam Fang can cure Miaoyan’s heart ailment?"

Xiuqiu replied, "If it were not the absolute truth, I would not dare show such disrespect to the Second Mistress, even if I were granted a hundred times the courage!"

"Has Miaoyan known about this for a long time?"

Xiuqiu nodded, tears streaming down her face.

Lu Changqing looked at Xu Miaoyan’s sleeping face, feeling even more affection and reverence for her. To avoid harming Madam Fang, she had kept it from him all this time, choosing to endure the daily torment of her illness instead.

"Stay here and watch over your mistress. I will go and obtain the medicine for her." With those words, the man stood up, flicked his robes, and his elegant, handsome figure vanished into the doorway.

The family banquet had ended in discord due to Xu Miaoyan’s sudden heart attack. Fang Qianxue had returned to Plum Blossom Pavilion without having eaten much.

It was early spring, and the red plum blossoms in the courtyard had not yet fully faded. She leaned against the window, watching the flowers under the moonlight, remembering that those trees had been planted by Lu Changqing himself when she first married into the Xu family.

"Mistress, the Second Master is here!" Cuiqiong ran in, her face beaming with joy.

Fang Qianxue felt no excitement. She said indifferently, "Show him in."

Lu Changqing walked in, shaking the chill from his cloak.

Fang Qianxue did not rise to take his cloak as she once had, so he had to toss it to a maid.

"Cuiqiong, go prepare some hot water. I am staying here tonight."

"Yes!" The young maid lowered her head and retreated.

"What brings the Second Master here tonight?" Fang Qianxue remained leaning against the window’s daybed, raising her eyes to glance at him.

Lu Changqing was just thirty, at a man's prime. He was handsome and possessed a carefree grace; she had lost her heart to him the moment she first saw him five years ago.

In those five years, the couple had never once quarreled. They had raised their children like any ordinary couple, and he had once held their newborns, Yuan and Yao, with genuine joy.

Love is a troublesome thing.

"We haven't been together for a long time, not since you fell ill before the new year," Lu Changqing said, sitting on the daybed opposite her. He took his wife’s hand, his voice gentle. "I have thought about it carefully; I have neglected you these past few days."

Fang Qianxue was already hopelessly in love with him. He knew that if he showed even a hint of kindness, she would surely hand over her own heart-blood.

"It is quite unusual to hear the Second Master say such things today." Fang Qianxue lowered her eyes, a glimmer of moisture at their corners.

Before the new year, she had fallen ill with a persistent cough due to her grief over the Fang family’s affairs. Instead of offering comfort, Lu Changqing had used his busy schedule as an excuse to move into the study. Later, when her eldest brother met with misfortune in Jiangning, he had left for Jiangning immediately.

From that moment on, she knew this man was cold-blooded at his core. Even though she had given him her heart and soul and managed the household, he likely viewed her as a burden, wishing she would simply die of her illness.

"Qianxue, we have been apart for so long—don't you miss me?" Lu Changqing held her hand with one hand and stroked her cheek with the other. "I was too harsh that day. Let me make it up to you tonight."

Fang Qianxue pulled her hand away. "If you have something to say, Second Master, please speak plainly."

She had awakened; she knew exactly why he was here.

In her previous life, when she was confined, Lu Changqing had come to curry favor with her to obtain heart-blood for Xu Miaoyan. After a night of intimacy, the foolish Fang Qianxue had agreed to give the blood.

She had not known that the iron needle used to extract the heart-blood was as thick as a little finger and three inches long. Every morning, it was plunged into her heart. The pain was excruciating, and though she begged Lu Changqing to spare her, the man had only said it was just three drops of blood and that he would set her free in a month, telling her not to be so dramatic.

In the end, before a month had even passed—just twenty days later—Fang Qianxue had taken her own life, unable to bear the torture any longer.

A truly disposable, cannon-fodder first wife.

"What is this? We are husband and wife; is it not normal for me to come to your room?" Lu Changqing frowned, annoyed by her withdrawing her hand.

This woman—he had lowered himself to come and sleep with her, yet she wore a cold, icy expression that was truly off-putting.

"We are husband and wife, and we should be honest with each other," Fang Qianxue said, looking down and swirling the tea that had long since gone cold. "Your heart is now with that Miss Xu. Why not sleep with her tonight?"

"..." Lu Changqing was momentarily choked for words. He clenched his fists, forcing himself to remain calm. "Why must you harbor such hostility toward her? There has been no physical intimacy between Miaoyan and me. She is not the loose woman you imagine; she would never agree to anything unless it were a proper, honorable marriage."