The Living Ingredient - Chapter 1

For a moment, I stood dazed before the notice at the city gate. The chancellor was searching for his son again.

In my previous life, he had plastered the city with the same notices, offering a fortune to find the son who had gone missing as a child.

I’d only stopped to watch the excitement. A few days later, an enormous procession descended on Black Cloud Lane, where we poor folk lived.

They said my fiancé, Cheng Lang the fishmonger, was the chancellor’s long-lost son.

Cheng Lang stood rooted to the spot, unable to hide the excitement in his eyes.

The chancellor’s people were eager to take him home. Every neighbor, friendly or otherwise, was scrambling to flatter him and claim a connection. I was the only one who thought something was wrong.

How could Cheng Lang possibly be the chancellor’s son? He looked almost exactly like his father, who had fished for a living!

The man had been dead less than two years. Had everyone forgotten him already?

Cheng Lang himself was just a fishmonger.

Every day, he used to hang his biggest, fattest fish outside my door, then hide when I came out, too shy even to look at me. I thought him an honest, decent man. After two years, I agreed to marry him.

That was why, afraid he might be in danger, I spent all my savings having a letter delivered to him, asking him to meet me at the chancellor’s back gate.

What I hadn’t expected was for Cheng Lang to silence me for good.

Four or five burly men beat me until I was barely breathing. They shattered the bones all over my body.

Only as I lay dying did Cheng Lang emerge from the back gate in his fine silk robes. Covering his nose and mouth, he watched my death throes with disgust.

At last, he let out a breath of relief.

“Su Yunniang, oh, Su Yunniang. I’m the chancellor’s son now. I’ll marry a lady from a distinguished family someday. A lowborn wretch like you thinks she can marry that far above her station?”

So a person’s true nature could be buried that deep. Deep enough for him to deceive me for two years without my noticing a thing.

And it could lie so close to the surface, too. Dangle a little power before him, and he showed it all.

Fortunately, I’d been given another life.

This time, I saw the chancellor’s notice first. Without a moment’s hesitation, I pulled it down and ran back to Black Cloud Lane.

Cheng Lang had just returned from selling fish. He reeked of them.

At the sight of me, he hurriedly stepped back. “Don’t come closer, Yunniang,” he said bashfully. “I’m filthy. I’ll get the smell on you.”

So considerate. So unassuming. That act was how he’d fooled me so thoroughly last time.

I regarded him coldly, though my lips curved into a smile.

“Filthy indeed.”

Cheng Lang froze.

Before he could recover, I held up the notice. “Look! The chancellor is searching everywhere for his youngest son. He lost him years ago while fleeing for safety. Born on the third day of the fourth lunar month, a mole on his palm—doesn’t that describe you?”

His eyes went wide.

Forgetting to act humble, he snatched the notice and read it from beginning to end, excitement spreading over his face.

“Could it really be… me? I knew I wouldn’t spend my whole life in this wretched lane with a bunch of lowborn scum!”

In his excitement, he’d let his real thoughts slip out.

He caught himself and hurriedly checked my expression. I pretended not to have heard, looking just as delighted as he was.

“Go home, have a bath, and change. We’ll head straight to the chancellor’s residence.”

“Yes, yes! Right!”

Cheng Lang sniffed himself, grimaced at the smell, and hurried home.

Watching him go, I couldn’t help smiling.

He had no idea. The chancellor’s household wasn’t looking for a long-lost youngest son. It was looking for a living ingredient.

In my last life, before that meeting with Cheng Lang, I’d disguised myself as a servant and slipped into the residence to find him.

Everyone had been busy preparing a banquet to celebrate the young master’s return. By accident, I’d wandered into a secluded courtyard.

The chancellor and his wife, who should have been enjoying a happy reunion with Cheng Lang, were sitting beside a bed. On it lay a young man, deathly pale and unconscious.

“Hold on a little longer, my son. Your father has found the living ingredient. Once he swaps lives with you, you’ll recover.”

Terrified, I’d hidden in a corner. A servant came to summon them, saying Cheng Lang was asking for them.

The chancellor’s wife gave a cold snort.

“That lowborn wretch actually thinks he’s my son. If Master Xuanqing hadn’t said we must publicly treat him as our own child to fool Heaven into allowing the life swap, I wouldn’t even look at him. He makes me sick.”

Clearly, Cheng Lang was the living ingredient.

All the chancellor’s fanfare had been about finding someone whose life could be swapped for his real son’s.

Unfortunately, in my previous life, Cheng Lang had killed me before I could even tell him the truth. This time, I chose to respect other people’s choices.

Once he had put on his most presentable clothes, I took his arm and headed for the chancellor’s residence.

On the way, after much hesitation, he said, “Yunniang, I know you want to stay with me. But I’ve only just found my birth parents. If you come with me now, you won’t have any proper status, and your reputation might suffer. I couldn’t bear to put you through that. Give me a little time. Once I’ve found my feet, I’ll speak to my family and marry you with a bridal procession stretching for miles.”

He sounded so sincere. Every word was supposedly for my sake.

It made me want to vomit.

Ha. Couldn’t wait to get rid of me, could he?

Pretending to be touched, I nodded with perfect understanding.

“I understand. Don’t worry. I’ll only see you to the gate. I thought, if they have any doubts about your date of birth, I can vouch for you. Look, I even brought the birth-details card from our betrothal.”

Cheng Lang was overjoyed.

As soon as we reached the residence, I hurried up to knock.

“Open up! I’ve found your young master!”

Cheng Lang stood straight-backed at the foot of the steps, already putting on the airs of a young lord.

The chancellor soon came out. I pulled Cheng Lang forward with a smile. “My lord, does he look like your living ingre—oh, sorry. Like your son?”

The chancellor asked a few questions. Every detail of Cheng Lang’s background matched.

Beaming, he led Cheng Lang inside. I watched with tears brimming in my eyes, as though desperately hoping he would turn back and take me with him. Too guilty to meet my gaze, Cheng Lang wouldn’t even look.

Everyone crowded back inside. As the steward began to close the gate, I blocked it and held out my hand with a sweet smile.

“The notice promised a hundred taels of silver for finding the chancellor’s son. Where’s my money?”