It was early spring in Dasu Town. Bits of snow were still hanging on the withered and yellow trees in the forest. As the wind blew, fine snowflakes would fall down from the tree.

In the bleak wind, there were a few whispers from the old maidservants.

“The second daughter of the Su family has been thrown out!”

“She deserves it! I heard that she destroyed the prospect of the first young master of the Su family. She’s lucky she didn’t get killed!”

“Tut tut!”

…

The sky emitted a dull glow. On a mountain road, a bent-over old woman made her way through the cold air. Every few seconds, she wiped the frost from her eyebrows When she reached a shabby and airy hut at the foot of the hill, she opened the door and squeezed in. Then she closed the wooden door as if it could keep out the cold.

The charcoal fire inside the hut went out a long time ago. The old woman frowned, her webbed face full of distress. She took a few steps to the bed, uncovered the iron-hard quilt and revealed the little girl whose face was purple with cold.

“What a sin! The Second Madam is so cruel to do such a thing to the second daughter of the Su family!”

The old woman wiped her tears. From under her shawl, she brought out a bowl of steaming rice soup to feed Su Erya. She made a charcoal fire for the hut, held Su Erya in her arms to warm her for a while, and then left in a hurry.

In a few hours, the Third Miss would get up, and she had to go back and take care of her.

Even though she knew that the Second Miss would not live through the early spring, the old lady still kept a trace of hope in her heart. So, she sneaked out every morning to take care of her.

Not long after the old woman left, Su Erya, who remained motionless on the grass couch, suddenly got up. Her eyelids trembled, revealing a pair of dull eyes.

The charcoal fire continued to burn. As time went by, Su Erya’s eyes moved, then her little head turned slightly, and her eyes focused on the fire.

In her previous life, her face was destroyed by a charcoal fire.

“Nanny Li…”

Su Erya murmured. She pulled the thin quilt tightly around her and struggled to get out of bed, finally leaning on the edge of the charcoal brazier. She felt the sharp chill receding a little. A small heap of charcoal was piled in the corner of the hut. She knew that they were stolen from her third sister’s room by Nanny Li. Her third sister was their mother’s favorite daughter. Her mother distributed about 100 pounds of charcoal to her in winter, which she couldn’t possibly use up.

Looking at the tender shoots on the bare branches outside the hut, Su Erya’s eyes grew confused. But the confusion was fleeting and quickly turned into a bottomless gloom. Scenes from her previous life flashed through her mind.

She had been the Second Miss of the Su family, but her life in Su’s mansion was no better than a servant girl’s. Her parents didn’t like her, and she wasn’t even given a proper name. Only when she was ten years old was she given her name, Su Li.

Previously in the Su family, only her oldest brother Su Qingtan and fourth youngest brother Su Qinghao gave her a reason to live. But since the disaster, even the oldest brother had distanced himself from her. Tortured by her mother, she had lived in hell every day.

Over the next ten years, due to her heavy workload, she suffered from many diseases. She was only in her twenties but looked like a woman in her forties. Compared with her third sister Su Zipei, who was one year younger than her, she looked more like her mother.

The Su family tried to find her a husband to get something out of her. But because her face was disfigured no one wanted to marry her. Finally, the Su family figured that she was no use to them. At Su Zipei’s suggestion, she married a lame poor young man.

Not as a wife, but as a concubine.

But it was the happiest day of her previous life. She was so frightened by her mother’s torture that she was glad to escape.

Her husband was surprisingly kind and even gentle to her. The next year, she gave birth to a son for him.

She thought she was finally out of her misery and had found a better place.

But within months, her husband was beaten to death in the street and her son was strangled to death. With that she was thrown into the worst part of the Army.

Later, she learned that all these changes were only because of the General’s wife Su Zipei’s simple words. “Even if she is my sister,” she said, “that would not erase the fact that her husband is a progeny of a traitor.”

In just a few months, she returned from heaven to hell.

Meanwhile, Su Zipei got a good name by placing righteousness above family loyalty.

Only after that was Su Li willing to become a devil and she secretly learned toxicology. She wanted to poison the Su family. But in the end, she accidentally poisoned her biological father…

Su Erya closed her eyes in pain and cried. When she had been executed, she dreamed of an afterlife. But she did not expect that God would send her back to being herself at fourteen years of age. A sound from her belly brought Su Erya back to reality.

She lived on rice soup from Nanny Li this month. It was okay when she was unconscious. But she was awake now and felt very hungry.

Su Erya wrapped up the quilt and opened the door. The dazzling sunlight made her narrow her eyes. She thought for a moment, put down the quilt and walked into the cold wind in a thin gown made from a single layer of cloth.

The cold air pierced her clothes. It penetrated her flesh and felt as if it would freeze her blood.

Su Li’s face was white, but her expression was calm. She gathered her strength, quickened her pace and ran into the bamboo forest in the mountain. A memory from her previous life animated her actions. She dug up two winter bamboo shoots. Holding the bamboo shoots in her arms, she ran to a pile of clam shells by the river and picked up the largest one.

Su Erya squatted down by the river to wash the winter bamboo shoots and clam shells slowly. The water was frigid and reflected her little sickly face. Only her beautiful black eyes stood out.

For as long as she could remember, she had hardly eaten a good meal. She was fourteen years old, but she was as thin as a ten-year-old girl.

Su Erya touched her cheek and gave a beautiful smile. The scar was no longer there. She took all the things she had washed and went back into the mountain. It was about two hours before she came down from the hill and went back to her hut.

Su Erya put the clam shell filled with water on the fire brazier. She wrapped up the quilt and went to the corner to pick up some pieces of charcoal and threw them into the brazier. Soon the water in the clam shell was boiling.

Su Erya threw some of the peeled bamboo shoots into the water and continued to peel the others.

The aroma of the bamboo shoots filled the hut. Su Erya couldn’t help drooling and became hungrier.

She picked up the branches beside her and scooped up some of the cooked bamboo shoots. Ignoring the heat, she put bamboo shoots into her mouth. She chewed and swallowed them.

“So tender!”

Su Li’s eyes lit up. She looked at the bamboo shoots in the water. The bamboo shoots had no taste themselves, but she could taste the sweetness from the wild vegetables.

Su Erya moved fast as she picked up the bamboo shoots and ate them as soon as they were cooked.

She ate two bamboo shoots in less than one hour. She now felt full and had gained some strength.

After handling the clam shell carefully, she took out several herbs that she picked from the mountain.

These were supplements to improve her body. But she also knew that she was too weak to absorb all their benefits. Although she could control the quantity, she was still going to have a fever.

Soon, Su Erya had a burning feeling in her throat. This was the onset of a fever. She had been in the cold wind for about four hours and her body was too weak for that.

Su Erya put the herbs into her mouth and chewed. She wrapped herself in the quilt and lay down again. The supplements entered her bloostream and it wasn’t long before she fell asleep.

She didn’t know how long it took…

“Second Miss, Second Miss…”

Su Erya opened her eyes reluctantly. She felt as if she were in a stove, and even her brain was about to burn.

Her vision blurred and slowly cleared. She looked up at the old woman, Nanny Li.

“My poor Second Miss…”

Nanny Li’s rough hand was on Su Li’s forehead and her eyes were hazy with tears. She knew what a sudden fever meant.

“Is that Nanny Nanny?”

A faint voice was sounded. Nanny Li was startled and immediately said with surprise and joy, “Second Miss, you are awake?!”

Hearing Su Li’s unique name for her, Nanny Li felt a pain in her heart, but her face became softer. She bowed her head and touched Su Li’s face and whispered, “Second Miss, it’s me. It’s Nanny Nanny!”

Su Erya frowned in pain and said pitifully, “Nanny Nanny, I want to see my eldest brother. I didn’t steal the night-luminescent pearl. I want to see my eldest brother…”

After holding on to this sentence, she tilted her head and fell asleep again. She was not faking it. The medicine was too fierce. Even her strong will was no match for it.

Seeing that Su Erya fell asleep again, Nanny Li panicked. She shouted several times in a row, but Su Erya did not wake up. Her heart trembled and she let go of her hand.

Stupefied for a moment, Nanny Li’s eyes became firm. She stroked Su Li’s hot forehead gently and whispered, “Second Miss, Nanny Nanny is going to find your eldest brother!”

Without packing up anything, Nanny Li turned and ran to Su’s mansion.

…

As it was getting late, Su Qingtan put down his sword and took a long breath. He was about to go back to his room to study, but there was a noise outside the yard.

“I really have something important to tell the young master. Just one word…”

“How presumptuous! A poor nanny can’t come to First Young Master’s yard!”

The guard’s severe reprimand made Su Qingtan frown. He was not used to the domineering guards his mother had arranged for him.

He called a servant girl and said, “Let the nanny in.”

The servant girl’s face revealed a dilemma, “Young Master, my lady wants you to concentrate on your studies. Don’t…”

“Am I a young master, or are you a young master?” Su Qingtan said coldly, “Let her in!”

When the servant girl saw that the young master was angry, she got up quickly and went outside the yard to let Nanny Li in.

A smile lit up Nanny Li’s otherwise desperate face. She stepped into the yard without saying a word.

“So, it’s you, Nanny Li. What’s wrong with you?”

Su Qingtan asked doubtfully when he saw Nanny Li, who was in high spirits. Nanny Li was the nursemaid of his second younger sister when she was a child, so he was also familiar with her.

When Nanny Li saw Su Qingtan’s indifferent expression, her heart fell and her face grew pale. Perhaps the young master did not care so much for Second Miss.

But at this point, there was nothing she could do about it. She could only plop down on her knees and cry,

“Young Master, no matter how serious her mistakes were, please come to see Second Miss for the last time! This is her only wish before she dies!”

Su Qingtan’s body trembled violently, and there was a shocked look on his face. The teacup fell from his hand and shattered into pieces. He seem not to realize that some of the boiling tea had spilled on his hand.

The servant girl picked up a handkerchief to wipe it off, but Su Qingtan pushed her hand away. He grabbed Nanny Li and said angrily, “Take me there!”

On the way to the hut, Nanny Li’s hand was held painfully by Su Qingtan, but she was calm because at least the first young master still cared about Second Miss. But why didn’t he respond to what the First Madam had done? Didn’t he know what happened?

At this moment, Su Zipei sat at a table in an exquisite and luxurious room in the western yard of the Su’s mansion. She was so furious that a group of servant girls were completely silent out of fear.

There was an extinguished charcoal basin in front of her.

“Where is Nanny Li?”

Su Zipei was so angry that her voice changed. The charcoal basin in her room never went out in winter. But when she came back from outside today, she found it was very cold in the room. How could she live this way!?

Nanny Li had always been in charge of adding charcoal. The big servant girl Chun’er stood up immediately and said, “Miss, Nanny Li often went to the charcoal room secretly this month. She went out before dawn every day. I don’t know where she went.”

The expression of Su Zipei changed slightly when she heard her words. Then she smiled coldly, got up and put on her cloak, and hummed, “Chun’er, gather some strong nannies, and let’s go!”

The hut was not close to the Su’s mansion. Nanny Li had to walk for two hours on weekdays, but this time it took less than an hour.

Su Qingtan was stunned when he saw the dilapidated hut that could fall at any time.

Did his second sister always live in a place like this?

“What’s going on?”

He remembered what his mother had said. Although the second sister was kicked out of the mansion, she had gone to live with their relatives and would be able to come back when their father was not angry anymore.

He too had been angry at what his sister had done. Yet he didn’t think that his mother would lie to him.

Su Qingtan pulled the door open, and dust covered his white training suit. But he, who always loved to be clean, didn’t seem realize it. He rushed to the bed when he saw Su Erya huddled like a stray cat. His heart twisted in his chest. It hurt so much that he couldn’t even breathe.

His sister was thinner than ever before and hardly looked like a human being.

“Sister, wake up. Brother is here…”

Su Qingtan called softly. Su Erya frowned, but she didn’t open her eyes and murmured, “I did not steal the night-luminescent pearl. Brother, why don’t you believe me…”

Su Qingtan felt the pain in her whisper, and his heart trembled.

Her subconscious wouldn’t lie to him. Did mother incorrectly blame his sister?

There was no time to think carefully, Su Qingtan picked up Su Li, who was very light. He turned and said, “Nanny Li, go to town and find the doctor of Baicao Tang. I’ll take my sister back.”

Out of the corner of his eye, Su Qingtan saw Su Li’s arm under her burlap clothes. There was blood. His pupils shrank, and he lifted her sleeves with his right hand. He placed her back down.

There were cuts all over Su Li’s arm, old and new. A lot of the new wounds had fused to her clothes. Now these blood clots were pulled by Su Qingtan’s movement, and the wounds were torn open again. A dark red stream came trickling out.

Su Qingtan did not check her left arm. He took a heavy breath and was about to ask Nanny Li who did it, when he heard the sound of muffled footsteps outside.

Su Qingtan fixed his eyes and glanced at Nanny Li, who was in a panic. He thought for a moment and jumped out of the window.

Before Nanny Li could think, she heard the door of the hut swing open. Su Zipei, surrounded by four nannies and Chun’er, came in with a look of disgust on her face.

“Nanny Li, do you know what mistake you have made?”

Su Zipei’s faint words immediately frightened Nanny Li. Her face turned pale. “I had no choice but to do so, Miss. If there was no charcoal, Second Miss would have died! Please think of Second Miss’s life, Third Miss!”

“Hahaha…” Su Zipei smiled.

Her smile made Nanny Li bitterly disappointed.

“Second Miss?”

Su Zipei stared at Su Erya, who was in a coma on the bed, with her beautiful eyes. She went over and slapped Su Erya in her face!

“Nanny Li, did you miss something? My second sister has been kicked out of the Su family. I am the Second Miss of Su family.”

Hearing this crisp sound, Su Qingtan, who was secretly observing outside the house, was shocked. He couldn’t believe his eyes.

How could his gentle third sister act so rudely to her own sister!

He was about to rush into the hut and ask her, but a pent-up cough stopped him.

Su Erya was awakened by the slap and opened her eyes. When she saw who was coming, her body could not help trembling, and there was a look of fear in her eyes. She said in a trembling voice:

“Third sister, what…what are you doing here?”

Su Zipei’s eyes narrowed slightly. She smiled and said, “Sister, you are a bad girl. How can you call yourself the Second Miss of Su family? Our father was not joking when he drove you out of the mansion. It seemed that my dear sister has forgotten the feeling of being beaten by a cane… Nanny Zheng!”

“Yes, Miss!”

Nanny Zheng, who was standing behind Su Zipei, immediately took out a new and shiny cane. She grinned expectantly.