TLDPCRM 61: Unbearable Misery (Patreon)

Chapter 61: Unbearable Misery



"Miss, did the Empress Dowager give you a hard time?"

Qingxing had been restless in the room, fearing that Gu Yunru would be harassed by the Empress Dowager. But when she heard that prince Zhao was accompanying her, her restless heart finally felt relieved.

"It's okay, my poor little one. You've already been injured like this, so don't worry about me. The fact that I can come back safely means that the Empress Dowager didn't do anything to me. It's just that there's more trouble for me to deal with now. If I had known, I wouldn't have meddled in the Princess's affairs."

Thinking of the troublesome Princess, Gu Yunru felt powerless.

"I heard that the Princess was punished by the Empress Dowager and is under house arrest in the Daxiong Palace until she finishes copying a thousand words of Buddhist scriptures. It seems that she won't be able to leave for some time. Did the Empress Dowager ask you to settle the matter with the Princess?"

Qingxing's almond eyes widened with excitement when she heard about the Princess's situation. Gu Yunru placed the egg drop soup on the table and touched her hand, saying, "It's about the matter between the Princess and the musician. If they truly love each other, no one can tear them apart. But if they can't withstand the tests, then this matter will be resolved in my favor."

Gu Yunru was also unsure, so she sent someone to investigate whether Chu Ziqiao was capable of handling daily affairs.




  Qingping Temple.


  Every day, Gu Junyao had to climb the mountain to collect firewood, which the nuns had arranged. If she couldn't collect two baskets of firewood, there would be no dinner. This made her sleepless and caused her body to weaken.

  "Cough cough..." Gu Junyao was sweating profusely and wiped the sweat from her forehead with her dirty and old sleeves.

  "Miss, why don't you rest for a while? It's still early before sunset."

  Lan'er looked at Gu Junyao with a look of heartache. When had she ever done so much work? She spent her whole day either collecting firewood or carrying water. Was this how a person should live?

  "I'm fine. I'm just thinking about when my mother will remember me and bring me back, and when the prince will let me go." Whenever Gu Junyao thought about this, she became emotional and tears welled up in her eyes. She felt as though she had been forgotten in a deep abyss, and no one remembered her.

  "Miss, it's been half a month already, and no one from the Gu family has replied..." After half a month of living in Qingping Temple, Gu Junyao had had enough. She clenched her lips tightly, squinted her eyes, and thought, "It's all because of Gu Junru. If it weren't for her, how could I have fallen to such a situation?"

Gu Junyao stood up and shook the soil off her hands. She had been collecting firewood on this mountain every day, and had become numb to it. Without paying attention, she had fallen down the entire mountain. Laner looked at her in fear but dared not go down the mountain to find her, so she hurried back to the temple to call for help.

"Sisters, please help save my young miss. She fell down the mountain while collecting firewood." Several nuns who had just finished lunch looked at Laner's anxious appearance and frowned. "What's the big deal? The mountain isn't too high, and falling down won't kill anyone."

"But... but my young miss has never suffered like this before. If no one saves her, she will die." The nuns rolled their eyes impatiently. "Alright, stop shouting. After we finish eating, we will take people to search for her."

In the evening, the nuns led the people from the temple to search the mountain with torches, but they could not find her after a long time. Laner forgot where she fell from the mountain, and the lush vegetation at the foot of the mountain obscured the terrain, making it unclear what was at the bottom of the mountain.

"There's a shoe here, come and see!" A cry caught everyone's attention.

It was an embroidered shoe. Laner held the shoe and cried uncontrollably. "It's Miss's... it's Miss's shoe." The others' expressions became strange when they heard her.

"She must have died falling from such a high mountain. Let's notify the Gu family to come and collect the body." Laner shook her head in despair. "Please, sisters, go down the mountain and check. Maybe my young miss is only unconscious and will be fine."

The nuns looked hesitant. It was not that they did not want to save people, but the terrain at the bottom of the mountain was complicated. If they ended up sacrificing their lives, what would happen?

After weighing their options, they decided to go back and inform the Gu family with a letter.

On the other side, when Master Gu and Madam Gu received the news, they almost fainted. Gu Junyue couldn't believe it and looked at the servant who brought the letter. "Is this true? Did something really happen to my sister?"

The servant nodded tremblingly. "Yes, the people at Qingping Temple said so. They asked Master to bring people over to collect the body."

"Yao'er..." Master Gu vomited blood in shock. He had just recovered his health these days, but he did not expect to receive such bad news. Madam Gu wept as she helped Master Gu to sit in a chair, grieving and wailing.

The next morning, the members of the Gu family rushed to the mountaintop to find Gu Junyao's body, but they couldn't find her. On the other side, Gu Junyao woke up on a small, old boat.

The wind was strong on the sea, and she was shivering from the cold. The man at the bow of the boat, wearing a straw hat, seemed to be throwing a fishing net. He had a broad back, but was also a bit hunched over and seemed to have difficulty moving.

The man noticed someone behind him and slowly turned his head. He had an ugly face that Gu Junyao would never forget.

The man spoke with some self-consciousness and lowered his head, "Miss, you're awake. I'll be pulling up the fish soon, so don't worry." Gu Junyao screamed in fear, but found that the man did not do anything to her, and her nerves finally calmed down.

The man was skilled and quickly stripped the scales off the fish. There was a small fire on the boat for cooking the fish. The boat was far from shore and the wind was strong, making Gu Junyao shiver. The man seemed to notice and draped his cloak over her.

"Thank you... who are you?" Gu Junyao only remembered losing consciousness after falling down from the mountain and waking up on his boat.

"Just call me Ah Chou." The man spoke little, but Gu Junyao could tell that he had extremely deep internal strength despite his clumsy movements.

"Ah Chou... are you the only one here?" Gu Junyao couldn't figure it out. Why would someone have such a strange name? But when she saw his face, which was mostly covered by a birthmark, she understood. He really was very ugly.

"Yes, I'm the only one. I found you when I was gathering firewood at the bottom of the mountain. Since you were still alive, I brought you back here," Ah Chou said as he handed her the grilled fish. Gu Junyao's hands trembled as she took the fish. She still couldn't bring herself to look at his face directly because he was really too ugly.

She had never seen anyone like Ugly before. One look at his face made her nauseous. She had grown up in a sheltered environment and thought that people should all look like her.