After faking my death, the male lead’s cousin went crazy - Chapter 2

Perhaps because it had rained last night, the soil in the forest carried a faint dampness. Shang Rongyue lifted her ruqun and ran forward, one step deep, one step shallow.

The original owner had been forced north all the way to the edge of a cliff. To preserve her purity, she had no choice but to jump off the cliff and die.

Then she would do the exact opposite and head south.

This mountain was not very tall, and with trees and forest covering it everywhere, it was the perfect place to hide.

Right now, she had already put all the valuable items from the dowry on her body. Once she survived this crisis, she could rely on the money she carried to get by for a while. Then, when the original owner’s father, Old General Shang, returned victorious from war, she would be able to go home smoothly.

When that time came, she would settle this debt properly on the original owner’s behalf.

Behind her, she faintly heard Wang Wu and the others’ voices. It seemed they had chased after her. Shang Rongyue quickly lowered her body, hid behind a tree, and carefully looked back at the situation behind her.

The original three people had split up. One of them was searching in her direction.

This person was not Wang Wu. From the look of him, he was not skilled in martial arts. The way he held his knife was no different from how one would hold a kitchen knife, with the handle standing upright. At a glance, he was clearly an ordinary farmer.

As long as she hid well, the other party should not be able to find her.

Clutching her chest, Shang Rongyue tried her best to calm her thumping heartbeat. When she came back to her senses, she realized that beside the tree trunk her hand was resting on, a two-inch-long caterpillar was wriggling right next to her fingertips.

In the next second, it was about to touch her skin.

Shang Rongyue was so frightened that she hurriedly withdrew her hand, then fell sitting on the ground. As she moved, the dangling hair ornament in her hair swayed slightly, making a tiny, fragmented sound.

It was precisely this sound that alerted the coachman.

He fixed his gaze on the tree in front of her and approached step by step.

Shang Rongyue held back her fear, removed the hair ornament, and tucked it into her sleeve before retreating backward.

Suddenly, her shoulder struck something hard.

Shang Rongyue turned her head and looked back. That person was standing in the direction of the setting sun, the fiery red evening glow gilding her silhouette in gold. With her plain skirt embroidered with subtle dark patterns, she even carried a somewhat heroic, wandering-swordswoman air.

Yes, it was a woman. Shang Rongyue saw it very clearly. There was also a long sword hanging at her waist.

The woman looked sharp and imposing. She stood there with her hands behind her back, her clothes gently brushing in the breeze. Her cold brows and eyes held an innate authority even without anger, and she was born with a heroic aura.

That person looked at Shang Rongyue, then lifted her chin to gesture in the coachman’s direction.

“Looking for you?”

Before Shang Rongyue could speak, she finally noticed that in the trees behind them, many “recluses” were hiding there. Their gazes, without prior agreement, were all fixed in the direction of the woman in front of her.

Clearly, they were a group of people who obeyed her orders.

Shang Rongyue’s mind rapidly reviewed this part of the plot.

At present, the political situation was chaotic and filled with war. The neighboring country, Gaoji, was repeatedly invading. This was also the reason Old General Shang had led troops out on campaign. Even a local tyrant and bully could dare to oppress the General’s Estate—this was truly an age of turmoil.

And against such a background, the people hiding in the forest were plainly dressed, each carrying weapons. With this kind of formation…

Could they be bandits?!

“I’m asking you a question!” The woman’s tone was filled with impatience. “Who are you, and what are you doing here?”

Shang Rongyue steeled her heart. Fine. Bandits it was, then. Either way, they were still better than the man-eating tiger before her.

Besides, no matter how one looked at it, they were both girls. Without a doubt, this woman was currently her best choice. No matter what, the important thing was to survive this crisis first and keep her life.

It was at this moment that a pair of crystalline tears slipped from the corners of her eyes. Her pale, delicate fingertips gently clutched the other woman’s clothes, and Shang Rongyue choked out softly, “Sister, save me.”

The moment the person below her cried, Gu Wan instantly became interested.

Although she had not deliberately dressed as a man, there were quite a few people who mistook her for one. Yet this girl had actually seen at a glance that she was a woman.

Moreover, this person could instantly switch to another expression. Whether she cried or not depended on a single thought, and both her expression and appearance were so lifelike. If Gu Wan had not been prepared, perhaps even she would have felt pity.

Mm. There was something about this girl. She was very likely the person Gu Wan was looking for!

Seeing this, Gu Wan crouched down and raised her hand to wipe away the tear stains on the girl’s face. But just as she wiped them away, new tears fell again.

“You don’t even know what kind of person I am, yet you dare ask me for help so easily?” Gu Wan was in no hurry. After patiently wiping away the new tears, she asked with great interest.

Shang Rongyue fluttered her lashes twice and carefully spat out two words.

“A bandit?”

Gu Wan’s fingertip, which had been wiping away her tears, paused and froze in place.

Could it be that the code word for the transaction was “bandit”?

She neither nodded nor corrected her, and simply continued standing there, staring at the tearful girl in front of her.

Her expression carried a hint of surprise. After a long moment, the corners of her lips lifted slightly. Clearly, she was very interested in Shang Rongyue’s words.

But this tiny movement took on an entirely different meaning in Shang Rongyue’s eyes.

It seemed she had guessed correctly.

Since she already knew the other party’s identity, then the other party’s purpose was not difficult to guess. Bandits—female bandits, at that—could only be after money.

Shang Rongyue took out the dangling hair ornament she had just hidden in her sleeve. As she moved, she pushed the pair of dragon-and-phoenix bracelets on her wrists farther back to avoid being discovered by the other party. Then she offered the hairpin with both hands and said sincerely, “This young woman is willing to give Sister all the dowry on her body. I only beg Sister to save my life.”

The man who had followed the sound over immediately shouted loudly upon seeing Shang Rongyue in her wedding clothes, signaling the other two companions to come over.

But before he could finish speaking, several men in black pinned him down.

“You—who are you people?!”

Hearing the commotion, Wang Wu and the other coachman soon found their way over. What entered their eyes was the pinned-down coachman, a row of people behind him, and their own Second Miss kneeling before the woman at the very front, crying pitifully with a wronged expression.

Fortunately, Wang Wu reacted quickly. He immediately guessed the general situation before him and slapped his thigh.

“My dear young lady, even if you want to make trouble, there should be a limit!”

Wang Wu told Gu Wan a story. His family’s master had promised his daughter to someone whose family background was excellent. The other side had also agreed to marry their young lady as a legal wife rather than a concubine.

But simply because the other party was a little older, their young lady threw a tantrum, even going so far as to jump out of the bridal sedan and hide.

Wang Wu feigned grievance.

“My lady, when it comes to a woman’s marriage, what matters is the parents’ command and the matchmaker’s word. Look, if you were truly so unwilling, why didn’t you say so before leaving home? Now that we’ve reached this critical point, you suddenly cause such a scene. Aren’t you asking for this lowly one’s life?”

“Besides, the son-in-law is indeed somewhat older, but older men know how to cherish people, don’t they? What do those immature young lads understand? When the time comes, what matters is that he treats you well!”

As Wang Wu patiently lectured her, he cupped his fists and bowed to Gu Wan.

“This young master, my family’s young lady is young and ignorant. I hope you can be forgiving.”

As he spoke, he took out an embroidered pouch containing silver from his robes.

“This is a small token of my sincerity. Consider it wine money for all you heroes. I hope Young Master can be magnanimous and forgive my young lady’s rudeness.”

While Wang Wu was speaking, Shang Rongyue kept shaking her head. Now, she had cried until she looked like a person made of tears. She clutched Gu Wan’s clothes and refused to let go, her tears soaking a small patch of fabric.

“No, it’s not like that.”

Tears blurred her delicate face as Shang Rongyue softly called to her, “Sister, it’s not like that.”

“Oh? Then you tell me.” Gu Wan lifted Shang Rongyue’s chin and waited to hear the “story” from her mouth.

But before Shang Rongyue could speak, Wang Wu interrupted her first.

“Second Miss, one must speak with conscience. Have you ever seen a family use a young lady to repay a debt while also sending along a whole chest of dowry? This marriage was personally arranged by Madam. She is your legitimate mother. Could she possibly harm you?”

Gu Wan lowered her eyes, her thin lips pressing slightly into a straight line. No one could understand the emotions on her face.

At this moment, Shang Rongyue did not dare say too much at all, because she knew that no matter what she said, Wang Wu would expose her. If he directly revealed their identities, and if Wang Wu happened to use money to buy off this bandit, then she would be finished!

Right now, she had only one final card left.

After all, this person was also a woman. Shang Rongyue decided to take the gamble. Grasping this final chance, she called to her softly.

This time, it was no longer “Sister,” but another form of address.

“Chief.” Shang Rongyue wiped the tear stains at the corners of her eyes and continued softly, “I’ll give you all my dowry. I only beg you to take me away. Don’t hand me over to them, all right?”

Gu Wan did not receive the answer she wanted.

Strictly speaking, she did not receive any answer at all.

This “bride” only knew how to clutch her clothes and cry nonstop. Aside from that, she did not say a single word.

Suspicious. Far too suspicious.

Before the man came, she could still give a rough explanation, but now she refused to say even one word.

Why? Clearly because she was afraid that the more she said, the more mistakes she would make. If her lie were exposed in public, there would be no room for her to turn back.

Then what role did this man leading the group play? He was not allied with this woman. Instead, they seemed more like enemies. He was even trying by every possible means to take her away.

What would he do after taking her away? A double-cross? Seize the secret report on the woman’s body? Or perhaps something else of even greater value?

Of course, there was a third possibility: the terms had not been agreed upon, and someone had suddenly gone back on their word, causing this scene.

But regardless of what the answer was, this so-called bride was the most suspicious one.

Gu Wan pondered for a moment, her gaze sweeping over the money pouch the man had offered.

To the touch, it seemed like Floating Light Brocade from the Li family’s cloth shop in the eastern district of Shengjing.

The pouch was not large, and the patterns differed patch by patch. It was probably sewn together casually from leftover scraps after cutting clothes.

Gu Wan placed the silver in her palm and weighed it a few times before finally stating her position.

“If it delays the auspicious hour for the wedding, that would indeed be bad.”

Suddenly, Shang Rongyue’s heart felt like a stone falling into a bottomless well.

“Chief…” she murmured, but before she could finish, Wang Wu hurriedly called the two coachmen over, signaling for them to seize her.

“No, don’t!”

Shang Rongyue hid behind Gu Wan and clutched her wrist tightly, refusing to let go. Yet who would have thought that the woman before her remained completely unmoved? Not even her brow twitched.

It seemed she really had gambled wrong.

That was true. After all, this woman was a bandit. She usually robbed homes and plundered wealth, so how could Shang Rongyue have naively entrusted herself to someone like this?

But in that situation, Shang Rongyue had no other choice.

She could only blame her own bitter fate.

As the novel male lead’s white moonlight, perhaps she truly only had one path: death. Only by using her death to push the male lead into blackening could the later great male lead script begin.

Held up by the two coachmen, Shang Rongyue used the last of her strength to look back once more at the woman behind her.

She stood tall and straight, dignified and heroic, with her hands clasped behind her back.

When their gazes met, the woman turned her head aside, deliberately shifting her line of sight away.