Chapter 1: The Beginning Is Hell

With a 'Bang', a man panting heavily threw a girl with her hands and feet bound onto the ground.

"Third, be gentle. She's your future wife. If you break her, won't you have to pay?"

"I'm just out of strength. Aunt, are you sure this Seeing Liu Chuxue will agree to marry me?"

"She's right here. How could it be a lie?"

"You know this girl's temper. If she accuses me of harassment, I'll go to jail. I want a wife, yes, but I can't risk my life."

"You are my own nephew. I wouldn't harm anyone, least of all you. Just follow my plan, and soon you'll have a wife, children, and a warm kang bed."

Seeing Liu Chuxue woke from pain. When thrown to the ground, her hip had landed squarely on a protruding stone. In her daze, she heard the two's conversation.

Her head went 'Buzz': What's going on? Was she kidnapped?

She shouldn't have listened to her best friend's persuasion to go try gliding. Now look, she'd played herself into a corner.

Once the pain on her body eased slightly, just as she was about to check her situation, she heard the woman continue: "Let's hurry down the mountain before the villagers discover we left."

"Just leaving her here alone, what if she wakes up?"

"That sleeping drug cost me a fortune. Don't worry, she won't wake before tomorrow morning. Besides, her hands and feet are bound; even if she wakes, she can't run."

"As long as she doesn't return home tonight, her reputation will be ruined. Then you can pretend to find her on the mountain. With this connection, even if she's unwilling, with me, your aunt, mediating in between, I'll surely make your wish come true."

"Then many thanks, Aunt. In the future, your nephew will definitely take good care of you."

"Stop talking nonsense. Hurry and move some bigger stones over here to block this cave entrance. We must guard against wild beasts in the mountains ruining things."

"Alright, I'll do as Aunt says."

Ge Xiulan glanced at the person thrown on the ground, her face showing no shred of guilt: Don't blame me for being ruthless. Blame your bad fate.

Hearing their footsteps walking away, Seeing Liu Chuxue endured her physical discomfort, forced her eyes open, and tried to see clearly who had kidnapped her.

But when she used the light from the cave entrance to make out the two figures' backs, her mind became even more confused. What situation was this?

What era is this? The two were still wearing dull, patched-up clothes. Where had she been kidnapped to?

Before she could react from the shock, the two had already found stones to block the lower half of the cave, then hurriedly left.

She tried to break free from the restraints on her hands, but her hands were tied tightly behind her back; it was all futile.

Suppressing her fear and forcing herself to calm down, she knew she had to save herself.

After careful observation, she noticed a stone protruding from the ground not far from the cave entrance, with some rough edges she could use. Wriggling on the ground like a caterpillar, she finally managed to twist herself to that spot.

Then, after exerting the strength of nine oxen and two tigers, she finally used that irregular stone protruding from the ground to grind through the rope binding her feet.

With her feet free, she didn't dare rest and prepared to stand up and find a place to grind through the rope binding her hands behind her back, but she had overestimated her physical condition.

Perhaps the rope was tied too tightly, cutting off blood circulation. Losing her balance, she fell straight toward the cave wall.

With her hands bound behind her back, Seeing Liu Chuxue had no way to save herself.

At the critical moment, she strained to raise her shoulders to prevent her head from hitting the stone wall, but even so, her forehead was scraped open, drawing blood directly, and the pain made her cry out with an "Aaah!"