Chapter 1

Chapter 1

A low, rasping old voice rasped right beside her ear.

Then sharp nails scraped across her cheek—twice.

Ling Jin Sui kept her eyes closed.

She lay still, listening, letting the darkness settle.

This wasn’t a hospital. Her instincts told her that much.

When you couldn’t see the whole picture, impatience was the quickest way to cut yourself.

Another voice cut in—shrill, sharp enough to sting.

“Ten? My niece is a young lady from an official household! Not less than twenty, or we don’t sell.”

The old woman gave a cold laugh.

Footsteps thudded closer. A middle-aged man spoke in a tight whisper, as if afraid the walls might hear.

“Forget it. What if Old Master Ling comes looking tomorrow?”

The shrill woman snapped back, venom dripping from every word.

“Old Ling is heading to the Yan Lands to find his grandson. He’ll dump this curse on our doorstep. If we don’t sell her far away, you want to invite trouble and burn with it? If you can’t bear to part with your niece, then you go sit in prison with her. Don’t drag me and the children down.”

The man glanced toward the bed and sighed, pity softening his voice.

While they traded those few sentences, broken flashes began to strobe through Ling Jin Sui’s mind—memories that weren’t hers.

What made it hateful was this: Uncle Jiang You Zhi and Madam Zheng had sworn promise after promise in front of Grandpa Ling that they would care for her.

The moment Grandpa Ling left, Madam Zheng turned her into a maid.

The food was thin.

The words were thinner—nothing but scolding and sharp edges.

In early March, with spring still biting cold in Shen City on the Central Plains, they drove the young miss into the fields before dawn to do farm work.

She had been raised in comfort under her grandfather’s protection. She had never tasted this kind of humiliation.

Before two days had even passed, she fell ill.

Then news came that Father Ling had been executed.

Jiang You Zhi and Madam Zheng changed their faces at once.

They brought in a slave broker and planned to sell her to Jiang Nan, to the painted places that reeked of smoke and flowers.

They didn’t know the gentle, obedient little miss they meant to dispose of—the one they used to soothe Grandpa Ling’s heart so he would dare travel north to search for the mother and the brother—was already dead.

Fragrance scattered; jade shattered.

Her soul had returned to the underworld, leaving her body an empty shell.

And that shell had been taken by someone from a thousand years later.

Ling Jin Sui. Same name, utterly different nature.

Dream or not, she refused to be cornered.

So she waited in silence, listening for her uncle’s choice: a soft moment that spared her, or a hard heart that sold her.

She didn’t wait long.

Jiang You Zhi spoke, pity in his tone, firmness in his intent.

“Fifteen taels. Give us fifteen, and you take her away right now.”

Madam Zheng’s delight nearly rang.

“Husband, you finally grew a spine. Back then I only agreed to keep the girl because I wanted her to marry our eldest son. Now we sell her and use the silver as bride-price. Our eldest son can marry a proper girl.”

The old slave broker ground her teeth.

“Fine. One price. But if she wakes and starts talking, it’ll ruin everything. You’ll have to force her to drink mute medicine.”

A chill curled through Ling Jin Sui’s chest.

Very good.

Dear uncle. Dear aunt.

If you had no mercy, she wouldn’t waste any on you.

She chose her moment.

When the broker put the drug into Madam Zheng’s hand, Madam Zheng ordered Jiang You Zhi to fetch water.

Ling Jin Sui let out two faint, weak moans, like someone only just waking from fevered sleep.

Madam Zheng hurried the broker out.

“Quick—don’t let her see you.”

The broker lowered her voice.

“I’ll have people guarding outside. Once you’ve fed her the drug, tie her up. When it’s dark, we leave overnight.”

Jiang You Zhi returned with water, his face full of worry and tenderness.

He performed his false kindness perfectly, down to the last glance.

He even told Ling Jin Sui, newly “awake,” to take her medicine and rest, and promised she would never have to do farm work again.

Ling Jin Sui thanked him in a weak voice, then lowered her lashes with practiced shyness.

“Uncle, could you step outside first? Sui Sui aches all over. I want Aunt to take a look.”

Jiang You Zhi flicked his eyes at Madam Zheng—a quick signal.

The broker would be ready.

Do it now.

The moment he left, Madam Zheng closed the door and came closer, all warmth on the surface.

“Sui Sui, where does it hurt? Let Aunt see. But first, drink the medicine.”

She turned her back—

And froze.

Ling Jin Sui was already standing, smiling at her.

It wasn’t the meek, obedient smile Madam Zheng expected. This one was teasing, cold, almost amused.

For a heartbeat, Madam Zheng’s stomach dropped.

Had the girl heard everything?

“Su-Sui Sui,” Madam Zheng forced out, “what’s wrong with you?”

Ling Jin Sui extended a hand, her smile gentle as silk.

“Aunt wants me to drink medicine. Where is it?”

She opened the packet slowly. One light sniff was enough.

Poison—the kind that burned the throat raw and left a person mute for life.

She gave Madam Zheng one last chance, her voice soft.

“Aunt truly wants Sui Sui to drink this?”

Madam Zheng nodded quickly, her expression never shifting.

“Drink. Drink and you’ll get better.”

Ling Jin Sui kept smiling.

Then she moved.

Before Madam Zheng could even inhale, Ling Jin Sui surged forward. One hand clamped around Madam Zheng’s throat. The other forced the drug into her mouth.

Madam Zheng’s eyes went wide. She tried to scream.

A sharp blow landed at the back of her neck.

Darkness swallowed her whole.

Ling Jin Sui didn’t waste time.

She forced water down Madam Zheng’s throat to make sure the poison took.

Then she worked fast—swapping their clothes, lifting the limp body onto the bed, pulling a thin blanket up to cover the face.

She wrapped her own head with a rag, leaving only her eyes exposed.

The room was narrow and miserable, almost empty. On the table sat a small oil lamp.

She slipped it into her sleeve.

When she opened the door, the sun was sinking and the moon was rising.

In that dim in-between, faces blurred with distance.

Jiang You Zhi hurried in from the main room.

Ling Jin Sui copied Madam Zheng’s manner and snapped her hand up in a quick warning—don’t come closer.

Jiang You Zhi didn’t suspect a thing.

He turned back inside, wearing a lonely, wounded look, as if selling his niece had torn his heart out.

Bile rose in Ling Jin Sui’s throat.

She despised Madam Zheng’s cruelty, but she loathed Jiang You Zhi’s cowardice even more.

The slave broker waited at the courtyard gate.

Outside stood a big blue-gray donkey hitched to an old cart, a sturdy driver holding the reins.

Ling Jin Sui decided in an instant.

She pinched her throat.

In her past life, she’d learned to mimic voices from an old neighbor—a useless trick, unless you wanted to become a voice actor.

Tonight, it was worth more than silver.

In Madam Zheng’s voice, she barked, “Hurry. The girl’s tied up.”

The old broker grinned, flashing a silver tooth, and waved at the driver.

“Carry her out.”

Ling Jin Sui stepped forward and held out her hand.

“The silver.”