Chapter 7：Happiest Birthday

What selfish? Zhao Yan was being selfish? Then what were they?

Zhao Yan glanced between her cousin and her brother then to Tian Luo.

When Tian Luo saw her, he looked over her with undisguised lust and interest in his eyes. Zhao Yan shivered. She was so disgusted that she took another step back again.

He was even worse than the rumors.

But Wei Gao Xi kept a firm hold on her arm, her nails digging on her skin and glaring at her warningly.

"So this is Prince Li's fourth miss?"

Zhao Yan looked at Li Dabao, her eyes pleading at him. To her surprise, he ignored her begging look and happily approached Tian Luo.

"Brother Luo, this is Zhao Yan, my younger sister. I told you before that she's pretty even if she likes to wear simple clothes." He said, gesturing to her as if he was endorsing merchandise.

Zhao Yan felt like she had been slapped hard in the face when her brother ignored her wishes and continued to talk to Tian Luo. He and Wei Gao Xi even left her alone with Tian Luo while exchanging knowing looks.

"Don't worry, Yanyan. I'm sure Brother Luo would take care of you well."

Zhao Yan could only watch the two with a stunned expression. They left her alone so easily with another man. She was unmarried. It was not good for her reputation. What would people say?

Furthermore, they left her with a lusty fiend. What 'take care of you well' was her brother talking about? Tian Luo was already looking at her like she was some piece of meat, waiting to be devoured.

And this Wei Gao Xi would inform her father that Zhao Yan wanted to marry Tian Luo?

What kind of power did she have to say that? She was not in the position to decide Zhao Yan's marriage. Wei Gao Xi was just the Wei family's second daughter.

And Zhao Yan has repeatedly voiced out her protest and showed her disagreement.

Her brother really left her with this guy? He didn't even stop Wei Gao Xi!

Zhao Yan felt like all the things she had done had all been for naught. She was going to be ruined and her only brother never cared about her. Instead, he happily passed her off to a scumbag so he could benefit.

Zhao Yan felt her knees grow weak as tears lingered in her eyes then a second passed and she cleared her mind.

"Li Zhao Yan, was it? Come over, I want to get a good look on you." Tian Luo said with a lusty smile as he stared at her chest.

Zhao Yan felt revolted immediately.

When she didn't look like she was going to come closer, Tian Luo became irritated and ran towards her with her hands outstretched, presumably to grab her.

Zhao Yan narrowed her eyes, sidestepped his approach, and pulled out a needle from her sleeves. Without mercy, she stabbed the needle mercilessly at a certain point on his neck.

Zhao Yan watched his unconscious body fall on the floor before pulling out her needle, robbing his money and valuables then calmly walking out of the room like nothing happened.

Her eyes gazed at the direction of Prince Li's mansion and calmly came back. Both Li Dabao and Wei Gao xi had been shocked to see her unscathed.

"Li Zhao Yan! Where is Second Young master Tian Luo!" Wei Gao Xi demanded when Zhao Yan came home just a few minutes after they arrived.

"Yanyan..."Li Dabao looked dumbfounded.

Zhao Yan ignored them and went to her courtyard. She gathered her remaining money, stuffed the banknotes on her clothes, and packed a few of her tonics and small jewelry. She'd sell them later.

Zhao Yan changed into a servant's clothes, slipped outside her courtyard and away from Li Dabao and Wei Gao Xi's sight, just in time before the two stormed into her room with unjust expressions.

"Li Zhao Yan!" Wei Gao Xi screeched when she couldn't find her.

Zhao Yan had disguised herself as a male and tagged along with a merchant group. She went to the nearest country which was Zhao Country. She could have picked a faraway village or town in Tang Country but she no longer felt comfortable living in the same place as Prince Li's mansion.

She had steeled herself throughout the journey and only cried in silence during the night. She never showed her weak side in front of anyone and endured the tiresome journey.

It had taken their group a week to arrive at the borders and two more weeks before arriving at the nearest town which was Fan Hua.

Zhao Yan paid the money, rented an inn for the night, and roamed the town the next day. She had calculated immediately that it was unsuitable for her to stay here because there were more hoodlums than none so she moved to another town which was Jinglan.

There, Zhao Yan found a suitable house, settled herself in town, and sold some of her jewelry. She even changed her name to Lin Chunmei and paid someone to help forge an identity for her. With her medicinal knowledge and skills, she made a living by selling her tonics.

Eventually, because her tonic was high on demand, she bought a shop and hired workers and slaves to help her with her hard-earned money. Zhao Yan immersed herself in work for the past three months, forcing herself to forget what almost happened to her.

She was so busy with her shop, that she stopped caring about other things. Zhao Yan was determined to start a new life in Zhao Country's Jinglan Town. She treated a few patients while hiding in the identity of Lin Chunmei. Although many were skeptical of her at first, they were gradually convinced after experiencing her treatment firsthand.

Many people underestimated her for being a woman but because Zhao Yan was able to treat Hua Family's young miss, her good reputation gradually spread because of the good words of the young miss.

Still, Zhao Yan kept a low profile and tried to minimize the number of people who knew her abilities. She paid more attention to her medicine shop and increased the number of nutritional and medicinal tonics.

These tonics she made were so effective and popular that her business started booming. Zhao Yan didn't like publicity so she allowed Shopkeeper Liang to handle the shop. She made sure to tell the workers to keep a tight lip about her identity.

They know her as Lin Chunmei and not as Li Zhao Yan so she felt a bit assured.

Zhao Yan's tiresome days were much different than the days she had lived as the fourth miss of Prince Li's mansion.

Comparing the life, she lived before and the hardship she was experiencing now, Zhao Yan would still prefer her life now.

Atleast she didn't have to worry about her family coming after her. She was free from the burden of her title and in this Jinglan Town, Zhao Yan can live a normal life. She has a steady income that could provide her with three meals a day and although making tonics and medicine was a tiring job, she was satisfied.

Because it was the first time she was praised for her abilities.

It was the first time she had felt the happiness of being acknowledged.

Although her identity as a woman made people underestimate her at first, she gradually overcame this challenge and was able to establish a footing in Jinglan Town as Lin Chunmei.

Zhao Yan after staying three months in Jinglan Town sat down inside her house and enjoyed her birthday alone with a happy smile on her face.

Her 19th birthday was the happiest she had been for the past 19 years of her life.

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