Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Vicious Female Side Character

Gu Yan Qing blinked once, then refocused on the page.

Gu Yan Qing.

Those three words still hovered before his eyes, like a challenge.

“She’s in the capital,” he thought. “Of course she knows about me.”

Ever since this strange diary appeared, Gu Yan Qing had found himself reading it whenever he had a spare moment. He’d gone through those dozen entries until he could almost recite them.

In his mind, the owner’s outline had taken shape—young, female, living in a harmonious household of four. A brother who had just sat this year’s imperial exams as an exam candidate.

Still vague. Still incomplete.

Gu Yan Qing disliked vagueness.

He had grown used to everything staying within his grasp. People, events, even luck—he preferred it all measurable, controllable.

Perhaps the exam results list, once posted, would give him a thread to pull—

Creak.

The study door opened.

A pretty figure swept in, cheeks pink from the cold, wrapped in a blazing red embroidered cloak.

“Brother!” Gu Yan Huan’s voice rang bright and warm. “You’re hiding in here reading again this early?”

She walked right up beside him, eyes shining. “Brother, did you forget what day it is?”

“What day?” Gu Yan Qing set the book down with calm care, then raised his eyes to her. His expression was gentle, perfectly composed.

“Today is Brother Cheng An’s triumphant return!” Gu Yan Huan nearly glowed as she said it. Just speaking his name seemed to fill her with foolish hope and trembling shyness.

Liu Cheng An.

Gu Yan Qing’s mind produced the image at once—bright clothes, fast horse, a young man full of swagger and momentum.

A rare sort in the capital.

But the Liu family… that old clan had deep roots and sharper teeth than most.

Gu Yan Qing’s thoughts moved quietly, but his smile stayed mild. “Oh? Has my Yan Huan reached the age where love stirs?”

“Brother!” Gu Yan Huan flushed, then—just as quickly—her gaze dulled. “Brother Cheng An is the capital’s Little War God. I heard… the Liu family and the Chu family arranged a childhood betrothal.”

Her hands tightened around the edge of her cloak.

“Even if the Chu family’s eldest daughter has gone mad and become a laughingstock… the Chu family’s second miss… people say she’s talented, gentle, and beautiful.” Gu Yan Huan’s voice sank lower with every word. “I… I wouldn’t dare hope. I’m not worthy of him.”

It wasn’t false modesty.

For all her brother’s power, they had risen from poverty. The noble ladies who smiled at her did so out of fear of Gu Yan Qing, not respect for Gu Yan Huan. And behind her back, those same lips mocked her origins.

Worse, Gu Yan Qing had made enemies at court—more than she could count, even if he never spoke of it to her. Gu Yan Huan knew enough to be afraid.

With her usual soft, self-doubting temperament, she truly didn’t want to burden her brother.

And yet…

She liked Liu Cheng An.

No—she was obsessed.

Two years ago, at a banquet, she saw him for the first time and fell for him at first sight. She couldn’t even say what she liked about him. She only knew that somewhere deep inside, a voice kept urging her, again and again:

Get him.

Be with him.

No matter the cost.