For Yu Beizhou, his life was distinctly divided into two parts.
One was before his seventh birthday, and the other was after his seventh birthday.
Before the age of seven, everything was so beautiful.
He was the legitimate young master of the Yu family, who had high hopes for him. He made his first friend in life, his future was bright, and he was surrounded by flowers and brocade.
After the age of seven, all of this was shattered.
He was not the legitimate young master of the Yu family at all, but the real Third Prince of the Great Yuan. He was secretly replaced by the Yu family, his face changed with witch potion, and they planned to kill him secretly in a few years.
Yu Beizhou was a smart child from a young age.
Not only did the private school teachers praise him, but the martial arts instructors also said that his roots were rare in a century. There weren’t many people in the Yu Mansion who cared about him, and no one was there to care for him, so when he was bored, he read almost all the treasured books in the study.
These complicated issues might be too difficult for other seven-year-old children to understand.
However, for Little Yu Beizhou, understanding and comprehending the meaning of these issues was a simple matter.
After listening to this secret conversation, he returned to his room with an extraordinary calmness, covered himself with the quilt, closed his eyes, and stayed awake all night.
Even though he didn’t sleep all night, he got up at the usual time the next day, and no one noticed anything unusual.
After doing all this, Little Yu Beizhou knew that his condition was not good, so he calmed down for two days.
On the third day, he went out to find Zong Luo.
What no one expected was that the Great Yuan Proton, who had previously been very close to him and would come to play whenever he was called, was actually ill and bedridden.
Upon hearing this, Yu Beizhou didn’t say anything.
From then on, every day, he visited the Proton Mansion on time.
However, for an entire month, the doors of the Proton Mansion were never opened to him.
Even the family head and the mistress noticed something was wrong, summoned him, and interrogated him.
But no matter what they asked, Little Yu Beizhou answered without revealing anything.
Unable to get any information, they could only give up, only reminding Yu Beizhou to win the favor of the proton.
The bastard of the Zong family, of course, could not compare to the golden hen that could lay eggs for the Yu family in the future.
As time passed and the doors remained closed, Yu Beizhou realized something.
He no longer went to the Proton Mansion to find Zong Luo, but obediently stayed in the Yu Mansion.
It was on this day that a servant from the Proton Mansion came to report that the Great Yuan Proton had disappeared.
Unsurprisingly, another round of brutal beatings followed.
In the dark room where the sun could not shine, the family head personally whipped him with a whip soaked in chili water, coldly watching Yu Beizhou’s ugly state of self-harm when he was sick, repeatedly asking him where the Great Yuan Proton had gone.
“I don’t know, Father.”
Yu Beizhou let out a hoarse sound from his throat, full of sarcasm in his heart.
He had always thought that the Yu family was strict with him. When he finally woke up, he saw that these people were just wearing hypocritical masks, their expressions and words were all indifference and malice.
Of course, there was also the Great Yuan Proton.
Zong Luo. Zong Luo. Zong Luo.
Yu Beizhou chewed on this name, as if he wanted to chew it up and swallow it.
He even considered Zong Luo as his only friend.
He had deliberately calmed down for two days when he heard the secret conversation, repeatedly telling himself that Zong Luo was adopted by the Yu family, and perhaps he himself did not know.
In the end, it was all betrayal.
The next time they met was in the Ghost Valley.
After Zong Luo entered the Ghost Valley, he once sent a letter to the Yu family using the Ghost Valley carrier pigeon, asking them not to worry about his whereabouts.
In theory, since the Great Yuan had sent a proton, the proton naturally had to stay in the Proton Mansion of the Wei Country and could not run around. Otherwise, what was the point of being called a proton?
However, when a carrier pigeon letter came, as soon as they heard it was about Zong Luo, the Yu family immediately helped to arrange everything, and the entire Wei Country turned a blind eye to the Great Yuan Proton going to the Ghost Valley to learn arts.
Yu Beizhou went through a lot of hardships, inquiring about the news of the Ghost Valley everywhere, enduring hardships. During this period, he had to escape the Yu family’s pursuit when they noticed something was wrong, sleeping in the wild ditches, rolling and crawling, before he finally became the last disciple to close the door.
When he saw Zong Luo again in the Ghost Valley, Little Yu Beizhou smiled sweetly.
“Jin Yu, it’s so good that you’re okay.”
After more than a year of emotional precipitation, there was originally room for maneuver, but because of the unannounced departure, they completely turned against each other and even intensified.
The Ghost Valley had a rule that brothers cannot kill each other, so Yu Beizhou suppressed his hatred and often went to block Zong Luo.
Why did you leave? Why did you leave without saying goodbye?
He thought he didn’t care about the answer, but he actually cared very much about this answer, cared about the answer spoken from his mouth.
Even a single explanation would be good.
However, Zong Luo did not explain.
He just said coldly. “Only friends can call each other by their courtesy names. You and I have not yet reached the coming of age, and also are fellow apprentices of the same master. The times are different from the past, and the way we address each other should also change.”
Little Yu Beizhou laughed until tears came out.
When they were still friends, the Great Yuan Proton was very considerate and accommodating to him. Suddenly, he left without saying goodbye and entered the Ghost Valley. He clearly hadn’t said anything yet, but this person seemed to have changed, carrying an extremely cold demeanor. The timing was just right when they were just seven years old. Saying that he didn’t know anything, Yu Beizhou himself didn’t believe it.
To be honest, after hearing the secret conversation, it couldn’t be simpler for Yu Beizhou to want revenge.
He could run to the Great Yuan at any time and tell Emperor Yuan the truth.
There were still remnants of immortal methods in the Great Wilderness, and the secret method of detecting bloodlines could be found if one was willing to look.
It’s just a matter of restoring his identity, Yu Beizhou had thousands of ways.
But seeing such a cold and silent Zong Luo, he only had one thought.
To retaliate against him fiercely, to tear apart his cold facade.
Hatred brewed the most bitter and sweet wine.
After ten years in the Ghost Valley, after graduating, Zong Luo peacefully returned to the Great Yuan to be his third prince.
Yu Beizhou sent Zong Luo away with a smile, turned his head and wasted a year, and then wiped out the Yu family.
He sat on the high hall, smiling as he watched the mansion turn into a bloody purgatory, his eyes full of pleasure.
There were scattered limbs and heads everywhere, the family head fell to one side, life and death unknown. The mistress was covered in blood, her fingers were all white bones, and her face was terrifying as if she was possessed by a fierce ghost.
“You madman, madman! Bastard! The bastard of the Great Yuan Zong family!”
She opened her mouth wide, her expression frightened. “You bunch of madmen! Tyrants! Bloody monsters!”
Many years ago, there was also a Great Yuan Proton who was a hostage in the Wei Country.
The mistress had a romantic relationship with him and privately decided to spend their lives together. Unfortunately, the proton was not favored and had no connections or power. Before he returned to his country, the mistress promised to keep her body pure, but she turned her head and married the young master of the Yu family who came to ask for her because of her beauty.
Who knew that after the proton returned to his country, he launched a bloody coup like he was desperate and successfully ascended the throne. After a long time on the throne, the harem was empty and no empress was established.
The mistress of the Yu family harbored a demon in her heart.
If she hadn’t married the young master of the Yu family back then, the position of the Great Yuan Empress would have been hers.
She loved power all her life, if not, she would not have firmly married the Yu family in the first place. Who would have thought that she was infertile, and after a lot of effort, she ended up with nothing.
The mistress began to resent.
She resented the Emperor Yuan for not coming to propose to her sooner after returning to the country, and for not simply taking her back to the Great Yuan. After self-hypnosis pushed all the faults onto the Emperor Yuan, she had a bold idea under the temptation of power, an idea that could gain both power and revenge.
Who would have thought that a seven-year-old child not only escaped the pursuit of the Yu family but also returned after learning?
Yu Beizhou looked down at the ugly crawling appearance of the mistress, his expression indifferent. “Does he know about this?”
The mistress didn’t answer, she laughed out loud. “I curse you, Yu Beizhou, I curse you!”
“I curse you to never get what you want, I curse you—”
Before she could finish her words, her head rolled to the ground, her eyes wide open in death.
After that, Yu Beizhou left Wei Country and went to the Great Yuan.
Having lost the halo of the Yu family’s young master, and even less comparable to Zong Luo, who was the Third Prince, he could only start from the bottom.
Fortunately, Yu Beizhou found that his luck had always been good.
After his childhood, he just wanted something, worked hard to do it, and could easily get it.
In this way, slowly, step by step, he approached the Imperial City, approached the central hub of power, and finally was granted a title, and once again stood in front of that person in the Golden Luang Hall.
“Senior brother, long time no see.” His smile was lingering, revealing no trace.
However, the prince in white was full of disappointment. “Yu Beizhou, the Yu family was so good to you, they raised you, yet you were so ruthless.”
“I really misread you, you are a downright madman.”
Yu Beizhou raised his eyebrows, his expression surprised.
The things he did in the Wei Country were very secretive, using the words that the mistress of the Yu family had said before, even if the secret guards of the Great Yuan came, they could not investigate him.
But Zong Luo broke the truth in one sentence.
Does he know or not?
If he knows, why can he enjoy all this so peacefully? If he doesn’t know, why can he always know some things that others don’t know?
“Senior brother, anyone can say this, but you can’t.”
But it doesn’t matter.
After so much time had passed, Yu Beizhou had long been unable to distinguish whether his hatred was because of Zong Luo’s unannounced departure, or because of the disdain that was contrary to others’ eagerness, or because he took what belonged to him.
Yu Beizhou didn’t know if he cared or not.
When he got sick every month, he just wanted to pull this person who was always high above like a banished immortal into the same painful mire as him.
After that, it was the Witch Sacrificial Ceremony.
