Liao Tingyan sat listlessly in front of the table, and two servants cleared away the barely touched dishes. Lus mother saw that her daughter hadnt eaten much and worriedly advised: "Girl, you should eat a bit more, if you dont eat anything, how will your body hold up?"

  "I cant eat." Liao Tingyan still felt a lingering fear from yesterdays scene, and she even had a nightmare last night. How could she possibly eat? Moreover, most of the food in the mansion was meat-based, with relatively few vegetables. It would be strange if she could eat at a time like this. Whether it was her past life of over 20 years or the eight years she spent here after crossing over, this was the first time she had seen such a cruel and bloody scene. At the time, she was busy escaping for her life and didnt have much of a reaction, but once she returned home safely, she threw up.

  Lus aunt knelt down beside her, "Otherwise, Ill go get some goats milk for you?"

  At this moment, the steward of the mansion entered the room and said to Liao Tingyan: "Miss, the thank-you gift we sent was not accepted by Mr. Chen, nor did he accept the gold you specifically instructed."

  Liao Tingyan slightly headache, ah right, the male lead is like this, early on very just and principled, refused to accept thanks, the original text seems to have some too.

  "Thats it." Liao Tingyan didnt want to talk about this anymore. After the steward left, she stood up and said: "Prepare the carriage, Ill go visit Cui Niangzi."

  Cuis daughter, was a close friend of Liao Tingyans in the boudoir. In this dynasty, entertainment was scarce, and it was very troublesome to go anywhere. Except for visiting temples and relatives, there was only socializing with nearby misses to pass the time. Cuis daughter was one of the best ones who got along with Liao Tingyan.

  On the way to the Chui familys house by ox cart, Liao Tingyan inadvertently saw a figure setting up a stall on the street through the gap in the curtains.

  The male lead Chen Yun? He was indeed a hunter who made a living by hunting in the early days, but as the situation became more and more turbulent, he gathered many people to revolt together.

  Liao Tingyan thought for a moment, then summoned Lu to instruct: "That person over there, after all, is also a lifesaver. Since he refused our gratitude gift, let the servants in the mansion keep an eye on him. From now on, whenever he comes to the city to sell his hunting spoils, well buy them all up, thats also a way to repay him."

  "Yes, young lady."

  Liao Tingyan was satisfied, put down the curtain and didnt think about it anymore. She didnt want to talk about romance with the male lead, but since he had saved her once, she should at least show some gratitude.

  Arriving at the Chui residence, he saw Miss Chui. The two sat down in the room and Miss Chui chattered on about Liao Ting-yens affair of the previous day. "You dont know, your affair has spread everywhere! I was worried to death! It is said that Liao Shi-jun led a large contingent of government soldiers to suppress the mountain bandits yesterday. Has he returned now?"

  "Father wont be back until this afternoon." Liao Tingyan said helplessly: "Dont say these things again, my head is hurting from listening. Say something interesting instead."

  Cui Niang sat beside her, pulling her hand: "Alright, lets not talk about that. Speaking of interesting things, hey, do you know? That Wei Daolong who has been chasing you all the time was ordered by his father to go to the military camp for training. This is great, this annoying guy cant come to bother you again. How does it feel, are you a bit happier?"

  Thats indeed delightful, this annoying Dai Yu is basically the catalyst for the male and female leads emotional development in the original work. As long as he appears to cause trouble, it can make the male and female leads emotions reach a new level. A standard arrogant, brainless, and lecherous second-generation rich kid, Liao Tingyan also doesnt want to see him.

  "Ah, by the way, the other day, my uncle and aunt came to our house. I heard theyre planning to move from Luoyang to our river town too! My two cousins will also come with them, so well have two more playmates then." Cui girl laughed happily, but Liao Tingyan listened with a different mood, her smile gradually disappearing.

  Without Cuis naivety, Liao Tingyan was well aware of why these people moved away from Luoyang. Most of them had young unmarried daughters at home and were afraid that the Emperor would take a liking to them and summon them into the palace, so they chose to move far away from Luoyang to avoid disaster.

  The current Emperor, Sima Jiao, loves beautiful women and has many beauties in the palace. If he were just lustful, that would be fine, but hes not. This emperor likes to appreciate beauty, but often goes crazy, and yesterdays favorite beauty might be killed today with a wave of his hand. It is said that he is a violent and ruthless master. Not only are the beauties in the harem not spared, but also the high-ranking officials of the previous dynasty who are not pleasing to him are killed at will.

  This king of a fallen country, Sima Jiao, is actually the original male supporting character. This is the real reason why Liao Tingyan felt a headache.

  From the perspective of a former reader, the second male lead Sima Jiao is undoubtedly a psychopath. This "psychopath" refers to his brain being truly ill, at least suffering from manic disorder, with symptoms such as irritability and inability to think clearly. The scene that left a deep impression on Liao Tingyan was in the original work where he suddenly ordered the skinning of one of his favorite beauties during a grand banquet for officials, and then had her skin tanned and sent to her father, allegedly scaring the official to death.

  Since he is the second male lead, the female lead naturally has contact with Sima Jiao. It was after she had a fight with the male lead and ran out, only to be encountered by the emperor who was on patrol. He was amazed by her beauty and took her with him. Honestly speaking, even though Sima Jiao is very scary, he didnt harm the female lead in the original novel. On the contrary, he always doted on her. But this doesnt matter, anyway, the male lead later came to rescue the female lead and killed Sima Jiao.

  Sima Jiao, this male supporting character, is more of a headache for Liao Tingyan than Chen Yun, the male lead. If she didnt want to get entangled with Chen Yun, Liao Tingyan could have directly avoided him, but Sima Jiao was someone she couldnt avoid!

  Because according to the original work, roughly half a year after the male and female leads met, Sima Jiao heard that there was a beauty named Liao Girl in the river below, and he issued an imperial edict ordering her to enter the palace to accompany the king. In the original book, the heroine of course refused to enter the palace, because the emperor had a notorious reputation, and at that time she and the male lead were already in love, so it was impossible for her to enter the palace, so she escaped from home to find the male lead, then Sima Jiao directly put the heroines father in prison.

  Considering the past eight years of getting along with her cheap father, Liao Tingyan didnt want to be like the original female lead and harm her father, so she could only choose a path opposite to that of the original female lead. When the time came, she simply went into the palace. After all, Sima Jiao wouldnt kill her, as long as she could keep her life without implicating others, it was fine. This way, she would completely deviate from the original book.

  In the not-too-distant future, entering the palace is almost certain. However, Liao Tingyan couldnt help but tremble at the thought of the cruel male lead, resigned to her fate and fearful of whats to come. The plot has now begun, signaling that she only has half a year left of good days. This countdown to death really doesnt make one feel at ease.

  Going out to clear her mind didnt relax her mood, but instead made her even more tense. Liao Tingyan returned home with a worried heart and found that her father had already come back. Liao Shijun saw his daughters expression and thought she was still frightened by the encounter yesterday, so he walked over with a serious face and patted her shoulder. "Dont be afraid, those wandering mountain bandits have all been eliminated, this kind of thing wont happen again in the future."

  Liao Tingyan looked at him, this was already the softest expression her father could show, although he wouldnt express concern for his daughter in a close way, but in his heart he actually loved this only daughter very much.

  So Liao Tingyan didnt quite understand why the heroine in the original novel would just run away without considering what might happen to her father.

  "Dad, Im fine."

  "Uh-huh, you rest well, Dad is here."

  The rare warm moments passed, Liao Shijun hurried away to attend to official duties, while Liao Tingyan remained idle as usual. At home, she was the only master, and the house was large, with nothing to do every day but eat and sleep.

  After staying at home for a while, Liao Tingyan decided to go and burn incense, and went to the temple to take a stroll. The temples outside the city were out of the question, fearing another accident, the temples inside the city had one with quite a lot of incense, but there were too many people and she was also afraid of causing trouble, in the end deciding to go to the relatively quiet Lian Shan Temple.

  It was originally sunny when going out, but it suddenly rained on the way to Lian Shan Temple, so I had no choice but to take shelter from the rain with Lus servant girls in a wooden pavilion in the mountains.

  Not long after they sat down, another figure hastily ran up the mountain path.

  Seeing Chen Yun again, Liao Tingyans first reaction was to recall the original work. Does the original work have this scene of the male and female leads meeting by chance while taking shelter from the rain? It seems not! Although it has been several years and she cant remember the details very clearly, there is indeed no such scene as meeting while taking shelter from the rain, so how did they add this to the drama?

  There was someone in the pavilion, still a noble lady. Chen Yun didnt want to enter, but the incense paper money and two lotus lanterns he was holding were meant to be offered on his parents case, and if they got wet in the rain, they would be useless. So he hesitated and asked: "May I put these things in the pavilion? Ill just stay outside the pavilion myself, and absolutely wont disturb the lady."

  Liao Tingyan silently sighed and said, "Please come in to avoid the rain, it doesnt matter."

  Chen Yun entered the pavilion, only to find that he had run into Liao Shikes daughter again. Lu Gong, whom he had met before, smiled and nodded at him, and he returned the courtesy, standing in a corner of the pavilion, keeping his distance from them out of propriety.

  Liao Tingyan adjusted her own hat, thinking that this male lead was indeed not bad. After all, he could be the male lead, and his character setting must be solid. Unfortunately, she didnt want to accompany the male lead in torturing his heart and lungs. The male lead had ideals and ambitions, was kind and principled in the early stages, but later became a ruthless and cunning hero who fought and killed without hesitation, and eventually became a deep and lonely person after palace struggles. The female lead had to accompany him all the way, changing one by one, and then giving birth to child after child for him, which was really tiring and troublesome.

  She thought to herself, unaware that Chen Yun was also thinking of her. These days, every time he hunted and sold his prey in the city, it would be quickly bought up by someone. After several times, he sensed something amiss and asked around, only to find out that the ones buying up his prey were all servants from the Liao household. Upon further inquiry, the person quietly told him that it was Miss Liao who had personally instructed them.

  Chen Yun was silent, because he refused to thank her, so Liao girl replied in such a roundabout way? Although the two did not speak, he had many good feelings about Liao girl in his heart. Such kindness must also be a kind-hearted woman who knows how to repay gratitude. He just didnt expect that the two would meet again here.

  The rain stopped quickly, and Liao Tingyans group prepared to set off first. She wanted to leave early, but unexpectedly the road was slippery after the rain, and Liao Tingyans foot slipped, her body leaning forward. Although she was narrowly supported, her canopy hat fell into the muddy ground.

  Liao Tingyan: "......" Is it a must-have setting for the male lead to take off his veil in front of him?

  Chen Yun, who had been avoiding them and letting them go first, happened to see this scene. The white veil fell off, revealing a stunningly beautiful face, and when those shining eyes looked in his direction, Chen Yun was almost stunned. Like clear water and lotus flowers, like white flowers and hibiscus, shining and sparkling, beyond words.

  Subconsciously taking a glance at the male leads reaction, Liao Tingyan: "......" What a vivid expression that wrote "surprise" in her eyes.