Gu Yunjiao just felt like she couldn't breathe.
It was as if something heavy was pressing on her chest.
Gu Yunjiao remembered, it was an earthquake.
She was inventorying things in the herbal storeroom at home when the earthquake came without warning.
She recalled an entire wall-sized medicine cabinet falling towards her, was she crushed beneath it?
Gu Yunjiao opened her eyes, but it wasn't the darkness she imagined. The light was ample, and a man's face, enlarged, was getting closer to hers.
So close, the man's heavy breathing filled her eardrums, his eyes reddened with unabashed desire.
"Slap" — Gu Yunjiao smacked the man's face, pushing him away forcefully.
"Get lost—"
When the words left her mouth, Gu Yunjiao was startled. Her voice was hoarse and unpleasant, and speaking brought a burning pain to her throat.
At that moment, the man removed Gu Yunjiao's hand and reached over to clasp her neck.
Intense suffocation came over her, and Gu Yunjiao vaguely understood why her voice was hoarse. She clawed wildly with both hands, trying to pry the man's hands away.
However, the man's hands were like iron clamps, and Gu Yunjiao's strength was as futile as an ant trying to shake a tree.
The suffocation intensified, her brain almost unable to think. Gu Yunjiao's remaining consciousness told her if she didn't think of something quickly, she was as good as dead.
Suddenly, she let go, fumbling around aimlessly.
The texture beneath her hand brought Gu Yunjiao a glimmer of hope.
She was in the wild!
In the next instant, Gu Yunjiao closed her eyes, raised her left hand and flung a handful of dirt at the man, while her right hand swung a fist-sized rock at the man's temple.
"Ah—"
The man let out a howl, releasing his grip on Gu Yunjiao's neck.
Taking the chance, Gu Yunjiao used all her strength to push the man off of her.
With a roll, she got up and ran for her life.
Behind her came the man's voice, "You little bitch, how dare you hit me! Once I catch you, you're dead."
Gu Yunjiao glanced back to see a man with his hair tied up, dressed in a blue short coat, sitting on the ground rubbing his eyes.
She was momentarily dazed, an ancient person?
Meanwhile, a flood of information surfaced in her mind, making her head feel like it was about to explode.
As she ran, Gu Yunjiao endured the headache and sorted through the memories in her brain.
This girl, not yet fifteen, shared her name and looked much like she did in her own youth.
This was the Great Chu Dynasty, a place nonexistent in history. Today marked the seventy-second day since she was married to the Jiang Family for good fortune, and her husband Jiang Dalang had died the day she married in.
The man who just attempted to assault her was her deceased husband's cousin from a different branch, Jiang Erlang.
The three branches of the Jiang Family hadn't separated yet, all living in one courtyard, and normally Jiang Erlang was always trying to take liberties with her. She had just been picking firewood in the deserted land behind the village when Jiang Erlang came to harass her.
Perhaps due to this body being too frail, Gu Yunjiao couldn't run any longer after a short while.
She stopped, panting, and took the opportunity to look back.
What she saw frightened her.
Jiang Erlang was chasing after her, cursing and rubbing his eyes.
Gu Yunjiao quickly assessed the situation.
Currently, she was small and her legs were short, lacking strength. Given her physical condition, she certainly couldn't outrun this tall, long-legged man.
Also, she had never learned martial arts or anything like that, not Jiang Erlang's match.
She couldn't escape, nor win a fight, but sitting and waiting for death wasn't in Gu Yunjiao's nature. Her mind raced, a flash of inspiration struck, and she stood still.