GM Chapter1

Song Xiaozhou returned here for the third time.

 

A massive tree loomed before Song Xiaozhou, its dense canopy shutting out the sunlight. It was especially tall, with sturdy branches and abundant foliage. Two marks were already etched into its thick trunk, and gripping a stone, Song Xiaozhou carved a third with deliberate force. He then flung the stone away, sank onto a twisted root, and exhaled a long, weary sigh.

 

Song Xiaozhou was seventeen this year and had spent the past four years as a slave in the western market. His father had taught him some boxing and kicking when he was young, giving him a sturdy build and dark skin. With a plain face, thick eyebrows, and large eyes, he wasn’t the type to stand out, and no one had ever taken an interest in him. The manager said that if he wasn’t sold this month, he would either be cheaply sold to a brothel to be a panderer or sent to the palace to become a eunuch. Fortunately, three days ago, someone finally bought him.

 

The buyer turned out to be the Lu family, a well-known household in the city. For prominent families, purchasing slaves was nothing unusual, and Song Xiaozhou had been ready for it. However, he never expected that on the very night the Lu family took him home, they would put an odd red wedding dress on him and send him to the Jing’an Courtyard.

 

In this way, Song Xiaozhou married the Lu family’s eldest son. However, the Lu family’s eldest son had died three months prior. This was a ghost marriage.

 

Song Xiaozhou sighed again. The Jing’an Courtyard was very desolate. Besides him, there was only a slow-witted old nanny. For some reason, the Lu family had posted guards outside the manor and didn’t allow anyone to enter or leave. Song Xiaozhou remembered when he had first entered the Jing’an Courtyard in a daze and asked about it with a bewildered look. The Lu family’s head steward had glanced at him, smiled warmly and kindly, and slowly spoke while stroking his sleeve, “The Eldest Young Master passed away at a young age and was not yet married. The Second Young Master couldn’t bear the thought of his elder brother being lonely in the underworld, so he arranged this marriage to bring peace to the Eldest Young Master’s soul in heaven.”

 

Song Xiaozhou recalled the steward’s expression and couldn’t help but inwardly spit a curse. What did he mean, “couldn’t bear his elder brother being lonely in the underworld”? Song Xiaozhou had heard of ghost marriages, but who would arrange a marriage for their own elder brother with a man? Wasn’t that cursing someone to have no descendants? Besides, in this day and age, family status was paramount. For a renowned and wealthy family like the Lu family, the dignified eldest young master of the family, even in a ghost marriage, shouldn’t have been married to a slave as well.

 

After resting for a while, he saw dark clouds rolling in the sky and heavy mist in the mountains—it was going to rain. Song Xiaozhou held onto the tree trunk and stood up.

 

If he couldn’t find a way out, he’d have to spend the night on Mount Furi. The place was eerie and isolated, and just the thought of it sent a chill down Song Xiaozhou’s spine.

 

But no matter how long he walked, he kept circling the back mountain and couldn’t find a way out. Song Xiaozhou couldn’t help but feel a little anxious. He should have known not to rashly come to the back mountain to find a way out. Song Xiaozhou was not the type to meekly accept his fate. He had married a dead man, but he didn’t want to be trapped in Jing’an Courtyard, fearing that one day he would be buried alive to truly accompany the Lu family’s eldest young master.

 

The thick clouds had piled up, and although it was only late afternoon, the sky was already gray. Thunder chased lightning, suddenly striking with a loud rumble. Before long, big raindrops began to fall. Song Xiaozhou was soaked.

 

Song Xiaozhou crushed some leaves on the ground, muttered a few curses under his breath, wiped his face with his hand, and stared at the two paths that looked like trails. There was nothing else to do. He took off the old, yellowed beast tooth hanging around his neck, squatted down on the ground, touched the tip of the tooth, and said, “Come, baby, show me the way. I’ll go wherever you point.”

 

With that, he tossed the beast tooth into the air, his dark eyes fixed on it.

 

Before the tooth could land, a pair of finely crafted black boots appeared in Song Xiaozhou’s line of sight.

 

When Song Xiaozhou was in the slave market, he always looked up at the people who passed by. He stared at the boots for a few moments, then slowly raised his head and saw a person standing in front of him.

 

The man calmly opened an umbrella. He was tall and slender, with a youthful, striking face unlike any Song Xiaozhou had ever seen. His hair was tied up with a jade crown, and his posture was noble and elegant. When Song Xiaozhou’s eyes met his smiling ones, his heart pounded fiercely, half in awe, half in shock. The man’s appearance was too sudden.

 

“…Who are you?” Song Xiaozhou snapped out of his daze and frowned. “You walk without making a sound, you nearly scared me to death.”

 

The other party smiled nonchalantly. “What are you doing?” The voice was pleasant, like fine wine.

 

Song Xiaozhou glanced up at the half of the umbrella the man held over him. With one finger, he hooked the beast’s tooth from the mud, wiped it against his clothes, and said, “I should be the one asking you that.” The young man stood up, looked at the person in front of him, and said threateningly, “This is the back mountain of Jing’an Courtyard. It’s the Lu family’s territory, you know!” He sounded like a fox borrowing a tiger’s might.

 

The young man laughed when he heard this and leisurely said, “Little brother, you’re lost, aren’t you?” He looked around and slowly said, “It’s easy to get lost in Mount Furi, and it’s getting dark. If you don’t leave soon, you won’t be able to leave anymore.”

 

“If you want to get out, follow me.”

 

Song Xiaozhou was taken aback. He clenched the beast’s tooth in his palm and hesitated while looking at the other man’s eyes. He noticed that this person’s eyes were particularly beautiful, with upturned outer corners, jet-black pupils, and long, clean eyelashes that looked very harmless.

 

By the time Song Xiaozhou realized it, his feet had already taken a step to catch up with the young man. The rain in the mountains was heavy and fast, and as the two huddled under a single umbrella, Song Xiaozhou caught a whiff of a pleasant, cool scent from the other party. Despite the heavy rain, the man’s clothes were spotless, without a speck of mud.

 

Song Xiaozhou asked, “What did you mean when you said if I can’t get out before dark, I won’t be able to anymore?”

 

The young man glanced at him and smiled, “Why is a child so curious?”

 

“…What child?” Song Xiaozhou mumbled, “I’m seventeen.”

 

The young man said, “Oh,” with an upward inflection at the end, and then added, “Seventeen-year-old children are very delicious. They’re a favorite of the things in the mountains.”

 

He said it like a joke, and Song Xiaozhou, feeling a bit bolder, smiled back, revealing two sharp canine teeth. “I’m rough and tough. The wild beasts in these mountains might not be able to chew through me.”

 

“You still haven’t told me why you’re on Mount Furi yet.”

 

“I live in the mountains.”

 

“Someone lives on this mountain?” Song Xiaozhou asked in surprise. The young man smiled noncommittally and suddenly said, “We’re here.” Song Xiaozhou was stunned. He looked up, and the white walls and black tiles of Jing’an Courtyard stood in the rain, just a few steps from the low wall he had climbed over.

 

He hadn’t expected to return so quickly. Thinking about it, he hadn’t actually gone very far, yet he had spent hours trying to find his way out. In that instant, Song Xiaozhou’s heart trembled with a feeling of dread.

 

Song Xiaozhou slowly turned his head. The young man was looking at him without changing his expression. Song Xiaozhou tried to calm himself down, scratched his head, and said, “Well, I, I’m going now.”

 

The young man smiled gracefully and said, “Go ahead.”

 

Song Xiaozhou nodded and took two steps into the rain. Remembering something, he turned back and shouted loudly, “Thank you so much for today! I haven’t asked for your name yet.”

 

The young man’s gaze fell on him. “Lu Heng.”

 

Song Xiaozhou blinked and said, “Oh.” He mumbled the name to himself, feeling that the two characters were very familiar, as if he had seen them somewhere before. Just as he was about to turn and run, he suddenly remembered where he had seen the name.

 

It was on a memorial tablet—the memorial tablet of the Lu family’s eldest young master.

 

The deceased eldest young master of the Lu family, whom he had married three months after his death, was named Lu Heng.

 

A chill ran through Song Xiaozhou, freezing him in place. He drew in a deep breath and slowly turned around, only to find no one there.