The Living Ingredient - Chapter 3

For days, they kept me shut inside under the pretext of building up my health, watching me drink the medicine every day.

On the tenth day, they finally decided to take me out.

Apparently, it was the chancellor’s son’s birthday, and the famous Master Xuanqing would be attending too.

They must have been eager for the priest to check how well their living ingredient was coming along.

As soon as we arrived, Fang Nian and the others went to speak privately with Master Xuanqing. I tried to follow unnoticed through the crowded confusion, only to run straight into Cheng Lang.

I hadn’t seen him for days. Now he wore sumptuous silk robes, with a scented pouch and a fine sword at his waist—the very picture of a young gentleman from a great house.

His face drained at the sight of me. Without a word, he grabbed me and dragged me somewhere secluded.

“Su Yunniang! How did you track me down here?”

I looked at him without speaking. At last, Cheng Lang stopped bothering to placate me. With a sneer, he shoved me hard.

“Have you no shame, you bitch? Now that I’ve made something of myself, you’ve come to cling to me? Let me make this clear: I’m going to marry a lady from a distinguished family. You sell tofu. What makes you think you’re good enough?”

It had only been a few days, and he was already paler than a three-day-old corpse. Dying on his feet and still strutting about?

I found it laughable.

“Everyone says you’re the chancellor’s son. But surely you know whether you really are?”

His expression changed. He seized my throat and snarled through clenched teeth.

“Shut up! My father is the chancellor! Not that stinking fisherman!”

“My lady!”

Chun’er arrived just in time, crying out in alarm.

Startled, Cheng Lang hastily released me.

“What did you call her?”

Chun’er stepped in front of me. “She’s the young lady of our household. Our master is Fang Nian, the Minister of Revenue.”

Cheng Lang gaped. I gave him a meaningful look.

“Didn’t see that coming, did you? I’m a lady from a distinguished family too.”

One look at his vicious expression told me he wouldn’t let this go.

He’d wanted me dead even when I had nothing. Now I had the means to oppose him and might even expose him as a fraud. He wouldn’t rest easy while I lived.

After the meal, Madam Fang took me to meet Master Xuanqing. The vile priest looked me up and down, then nodded in satisfaction.

A chill of revulsion swept through me. Claiming I felt unwell, I went to rest in a guest room.

I’d barely arrived when someone delivered a secret letter from Cheng Lang. He’d only lost his head for a moment, he wrote. In truth, he’d always intended to marry me. He wanted me to come out and meet him.

Already making his move?

With a cold smile, I burned the note and told the messenger to arrange a meeting behind the rockery.

When I’d passed through the rear gardens earlier, I’d seen several guards stationed there. Some important guest must have been having a conversation behind it.

Anyone given that sort of protection even in the chancellor’s residence was no ordinary person.

Cheng Lang relied on his status as the chancellor’s son. He had no idea he was worth nothing at all.

I wanted to see whether the chancellor would protect him once he caused trouble.

Sure enough, by the time I crept closer, chaos had erupted around the rockery.

Several men in black were fighting the guards. They had clearly realized something was wrong too.

“Didn’t Cheng Lang tell us to kill a woman?”

“Why is there a man here?”

“Run—”

Too late. More guards kept arriving. Someone shouted, “An attempt on His Highness the Crown Prince’s life! Seize them!”

The crown prince?

My eyes widened as I looked at the man in dark robes, his features stern and cold.

The desperate killers Cheng Lang had hired were ready to risk everything and take the crown prince hostage to fight their way out. Without thinking, I rushed forward and threw myself in front of him.

“Your Highness, look out!”

The blade sank into my back.

The pain was so fierce that my legs gave way, and I fell into the crown prince’s arms.

My heart pounded at the shock on his face.

Got him. My powerful protector!

All that life-swapping medicine they’d been feeding me had given me a touch of Fang Ruqing’s madness. A little madness didn’t seem such a bad thing now.

“Someone! Summon an imperial physician!”

At those words, I finally breathed a sigh of relief and forced out, “As long as Your Highness is safe.”

The crown prince’s brow was deeply furrowed. A guard reported, “Your Highness! We’ve captured all the assassins!”

He gave a cold snort.

“An attempt on my life in the chancellor’s own residence? I’d like to know who dared!”

Beside him, the chancellor went white.

Fang Nian and his wife arrived just then. Seeing me in the crown prince’s arms, they nearly buckled at the knees.

“Your Highness, perhaps you should entrust my daughter to me.”

At that, I rolled my eyes back and fainted on the spot.

The crown prince scooped me up. “She was wounded saving me. How could I leave her? I’ll take her to an imperial physician.”

Later, I heard that the assassins had confessed after barely any questioning. Cheng Lang had hired them to kill.

Whether they’d attacked the wrong person didn’t concern the crown prince.

An assassination attempt in his own residence left the chancellor with no way to escape responsibility. However hard he’d searched for Cheng Lang, his precious living ingredient, he had to save himself first.

So, in front of everyone, he performed a kinship test using drops of blood, proving Cheng Lang was an impostor and declaring that he had ordered the attack on his own.

Cheng Lang wet himself on the spot.

He dropped to his knees and begged the chancellor to save him. The chancellor slit his throat instead.

When I heard all this, I felt the trip had been well worth it.

I’d rid myself of that scum Cheng Lang and escaped the minister’s residence.

I was still considering what to ask of the crown prince in return for taking that blade when he suddenly decided to send me back. No amount of playing pitiful or pretending to be weak did any good.

“Miss Fang, your mother has fallen ill from missing you. Minister Fang comes to ask after you every day. Since you’re no longer in any real danger, you should return home.”

I clenched my fists, my mind racing.

If I went back like this, the life swap with Fang Ruqing would probably be complete within days. Then, like Cheng Lang, I’d be branded an impostor, my body dumped in the wilderness.

How could I keep them from touching me, at least for a while?