Chapter 273

Xie Yu ultimately still couldn’t bear to harm Zhou Yimei.

“Ah Yu, save me!”

Gu Zhaozhao, not having time to think, cried out, tears streaming down her face.

“She’s gone mad! Zhou Yimei—”

Before she could finish speaking, a sharp pain struck her abdomen, and blood sprayed out like a spinning showerhead.

—Zhou Yimei dared to hurt her right in front of Xie Yu!

Though Xie Yu had some feelings for Gu Zhaozhao, seeing her injured, his brow furrowed in anger.

But before he could speak, Zhou Yimei coldly cut him off: “Take one step forward, and I’ll kill her.”

She wasn’t lying.

The long sword was poised at Gu Zhaozhao’s throat, and for a sword cultivator, killing was as swift as a blink.

With both sides locked in a standoff, the situation grew tense.

“Speak,” Zhou Yimei said emotionlessly.

“Who prepared the medicine for him back then?”

Gu Zhaozhao’s eyes widened in fear, her voice trembling as she shouted, “It… it was me! Ah Yu, save me—ah!”

A strand of sword energy pierced through her right hand without mercy, the pain excruciating.

“Last chance,” Zhou Yimei’s tone remained flat.

“Who prepared the medicine for him back then?”

Gu Zhaozhao, sobbing uncontrollably and almost gagging from her tears, cried out, “I’ll tell you! Please, don’t kill me… I’ll tell you everything! It was the young lady! She prepared everything and had me deliver it!”

Xie Yu trembled violently.

Zhou Yimei slightly raised her chin, as if discussing a trivial matter, her voice even carrying a hint of laziness.

“Continue.”

Xie Yu, that useless man, was completely unreliable!

Gu Zhaozhao, furious yet terrified, had no choice but to keep confessing under threat: “Everything… was prepared by the young lady. I lied… I’m willing to atone for my sins by serving you forever! Please forgive me, young lady!”

The sword at her neck pressed closer, causing sharp pain.

Zhou Yimei said, “Continue.”

“The elopement… I was the one who betrayed you! I’m sorry, I’m sorry, it was all my fault!”

Gu Zhaozhao didn’t dare to meet Xie Yu’s gaze.

She stared at the ground, but even so, she could feel the overwhelming murderous intent enveloping her — the aura of a demon.

Zhou Yimei paid no attention to either Gu Zhaozhao’s tearful pleas or Xie Yu’s shock.

She asked calmly, “Do you have anything else to say?”

She didn’t kill her!

Gu Zhaozhao’s eyes lit up instantly.

“Young lady, please spare me! I’ll spend the rest of my life making amends. Don’t kill me, please!”

Zhou Yimei replied, “Oh.”

Zhou Yimei added, “I forgot to mention — those were your last words.”

Gu Zhaozhao’s face, already pale, turned even more ghastly, as if she’d swallowed a fly.

She wanted to curse out loud.

But before she could, the sword at her neck flashed, and the pain was so intense that her whole body went numb.

Her mind blanked out; she couldn’t think of anything.

Gu Zhaozhao collapsed weakly to the ground.

Zhou Yimei looked up, glancing at the man nearby, wiping the blood off her sword.

“Understand now?”

All the light in the sky had faded away, leaving behind only an overwhelming darkness.

Xie Yu’s face was ashen.

The white-robed sword cultivator with a cold and ethereal demeanor continued speaking as if nothing had happened: “The medicine was sent by me, the technique was given by me, the plea was made by me — didn’t you ever wonder how a mere servant girl could have such power?”

Of course, he had doubted before.

There were too many inconsistencies in Gu Zhaozhao’s words.

But once he followed that line of thought, the truth behind it frightened him, preventing him from thinking any further.

—What had he done?

The once-gorgeous young man trembled, his eyes bloodshot as he took a step back.

He asked himself repeatedly: Xie Yu, what have you done?

Xie Yu, from the moment he was born, was destined to have no future.

As a lowly slave, he was used to being beaten and scolded — no one ever showed him the slightest kindness.

The young masters and mistresses of the Zhou family were like distant moons in the sky.

It was difficult enough to even catch a glimpse of them, let alone have any interaction.

His encounter with Zhou Yimei was quite mundane — the young lady dropped her jade pendant while out admiring flowers, and the slave boy found it, nervously approaching her with a pounding heart.

He timidly said, “Miss Zhou.”

And then Zhou Yimei turned and smiled, thanking him warmly.

That night, Xie Yu tossed and turned, unable to sleep for a long time.

Normally indifferent to his appearance, he found himself thinking over and over, wishing he had wiped the dirt off his face at that moment.

No one had ever been that kind to him before.

When she smiled, it was as if all the light in the world gathered around her.

He began carefully following that light.

Even though the young lady didn’t care much for him and was often hot and cold, for Xie Yu, just seeing her once a day made him happy.

When Zhou Yimei agreed to leave Chongling with him, Xie Yu was so overjoyed it felt like a dream.

Being cornered by the Zhou family’s servants in a dark alley felt like a dream too.