A Wish for Your Lasting Joy - Chapter 4

I’d left the Hall of Rapture, but I didn’t dare go far. On the day Xu Changhuan recognized me, he’d stuffed a poison pill into my mouth. Supposedly, if I went a certain distance away from him, I’d bleed from every opening in my head and die on the spot.

After hearing that description, I asked through trembling lips, “How far is a certain distance?”

An evil smile curled his lips. “I don’t know.”

“Perhaps half a step.”

That was why, for the past few nights, I’d stayed right outside his bedroom door while he slept. One careless move too far away and I might drop dead.

But I hadn’t been idle. Whenever I had time, I edged away in tiny steps, testing my safe range.

The male and female leads were inside exchanging sweet nothings now, which had nothing to do with me. I began inching forward again. I’d barely taken a few steps when footsteps sounded behind me. I turned and saw Jiang Hua approaching.

Wait. Xu Changhuan was that quick? What a shame. All looks and no stamina.

Jiang Hua walked toward me in a flowing gown, ethereal as an immortal. I nodded, then lowered my head and went on inching away.

“Don’t you want to know what Changhuan and I are to each other?”

I looked up in confusion. What else could they be? The male and female leads. I’d even shipped them back then. Hundreds of thousands of words had been devoted to their sweet romance.

She gave me a pitying look.

“Never mind. You only need to understand one thing before it’s too late: every woman in the Hall of Rapture is a substitute.”

A substitute for a lost love? But the heroine was standing right here. Why would Xu Changhuan need substitutes?

Jiang Hua conjured a scroll from thin air and handed it to me with a little smile.

“Looking at you now, you really do resemble the woman in this portrait. No wonder. Cui Xingfeng uses it to find every woman he sends to the Hall of Rapture.”

Curious, I unrolled it and examined the portrait from top to bottom. Disappointed, I interrupted her.

“That’s me.”

Just as I thought. What lost love could Xu Changhuan possibly have? It was all a misunderstanding.

Jiang Hua froze. She looked at me, then at the portrait.

“Impossible.”

I couldn’t say much for Xu Changhuan’s painting skills, but I could still recognize myself.

I pointed at the portrait, then pulled my collar aside.

“Look. This is the birthmark on my right shoulder.”

Her expression went rigid. She rushed up and caught hold of my clothes. From how agitated she looked, I knew she’d misunderstood. I was about to explain that this wasn’t some portrait of his beloved. Xu Changhuan had painted it to remind himself never to forget his enemy.

Then an icy voice sounded behind us, each word distinct.

“What are you doing?”

I turned to find Xu Changhuan wearing a thunderous expression.

Jiang Hua and I stood face-to-face, her hand gripping my collar and exposing my right shoulder. All this pulling at clothes, with mine half undone, did look rather improper.

Xu Changhuan looked at my collar, then at Jiang Hua. Murder surged from him. The surrounding air condensed into blades of wind and slashed toward us.

My heart lurched. Oh, no. Did he think I was seducing the heroine?

Jiang Hua reacted instantly. She released me and retreated several zhang. I was so frightened by that murderous aura that I froze where I stood.

Just before a wind blade could take my head off, a pair of hands pulled me into an embrace. Xu Changhuan’s voice sounded above me, thick with murderous intent.

“Jiang Hua, get out of the Three Thousand Realms. If this happens again, I’ll kill you.”