Gu Qiurong's heart pounded anxiously as well, but she gripped Qingzhi's wrist tightly. "Don't worry, it certainly has nothing to do with us."
Crouching down, she pulled Qingzhi deeper into the alleyway.
Just as they rounded a corner, her foot caught on a wheel, causing Gu Qiurong to stumble and fall headlong toward the ground.
Before she could even see what had tripped her, she closed her eyes in a panic, bracing herself for the impending impact—
The expected pain never came. Instead, Gu Qiurong seemed to fall into a wide, sturdy embrace.
She opened her eyes in astonishment, and the first thing that came into view was a bizarre, ghastly mask with fangs.
The terrifying mask, so close it was right in front of her, turned Gu Qiurong's face pale with fright.
She hurriedly struggled to back away, but her slender waist was firmly gripped by the man's large hand.
"Don't make a sound."
Sheng Fengxiao lowered his gaze. In the clear moonlight, he distinctly noticed that the frail, slender waist in his palm had stopped struggling.
He raised his eyes slightly to look at the delicate, exquisite face that resembled a lotus emerging from the water.
However, the young lady was excessively thin, with deep-set eye sockets. At this moment, she was likely terrified, her shoulders drawn in and trembling slightly.
An indescribable sense of familiarity washed over him, and the color in Sheng Fengxiao's eyes deepened a fraction.
Seeing her young mistress held captive by a man in a wheelchair, Qingzhi felt her heart flutter with panic. Subconsciously, she was about to tell him to let go of her mistress when a man dressed in black burst out from the night.
A long sword flashed from its scabbard.
The cold light was biting.
The icy blade pressed against her neck, and all the words Qingzhi was about to blurt out were swallowed back in a tremor.
Gu Qiurong's breath caught.
The mask on the man before her was exquisitely crafted, and his garments were smooth and expensive—at a glance, one could tell he was no ordinary person.
Offending such a man would lead to no good end.
Lowering her dark eyelashes to conceal her expression, she kept her eyes filled with calculation and caution beneath the surface.
Yet when she raised her eyes again, nothing remained in her gaze but panic.
Both her wrists and her waist were restrained; she could not struggle away.
Knowing that her life was at stake, Gu Qiurong's eyes reddened, her long eyelashes drooping as moisture dampened them.
The young lady wore a naive and pitiful expression, her eyelashes wet with fear.
Sheng Fengxiao stared intently, the sharp, piercing edge beneath his mask returning to calm.
After searching the area and finding nothing, the guards left, holding torches.
"If you know what's good for you, forget everything you saw tonight. Otherwise... your heads will be lopped off and thrown into the mass graves."
The guard raised his long sword, and with a swift flash, a lock of Qingzhi's hair was sheared off and fell to the ground, causing her to shiver slightly.
Still pressed against the man's chest, Gu Qiurong heard these words, and the thin layer of mist covering her dark eyes finally broke, tears spilling down.
Her sobs still trembling, the young lady in his arms stammered, "We didn't see anything, we didn't see anything at all..."
Sheng Fengxiao glanced down at her and released his grip.
The wheelchair turned and left, gradually disappearing from view.
Once they had gone far away, Qingzhi collapsed to the ground, utterly drained of strength, and raised a hand to wipe the cold sweat from her brow. "Miss, who was that person? And that guard beside him... such an overwhelming presence!"
Having just been pressed against his chest, Gu Qiurong could feel how hard it was; he must be someone who practiced martial arts year-round.
People who used wheelchairs generally had impaired legs, and those with disabled legs struggled just to survive—let alone practice martial arts. This could only mean that his disability had occurred within the past two years.
Thinking of the prominent figure in the capital who had become disabled over the last two years, her pupils trembled slightly. As realization dawned, her breathing tightened. "Matters that don't concern us, don't ask about, don't ponder, and certainly don't meddle in."
"Let's return to the estate first."
Gu Qiurong turned decisively and hurried toward the Pingding Marquis Estate.
-
With the prescription provided by Elder Chu, Gu Qiurong no longer worried about the state of her health. Although she did not know the extent of Elder Chu's medical skills, he was clearly more trustworthy than the estate's physician.
Who knew if the estate physician might have been bought off by Gu Lingwei?
Gu Lingwei wished nothing more than for this Gu Qiurong to vanish from the world entirely.
In Rongan Courtyard, aside from Qingzhi, there were no other servants to wait upon her. Awakening early in the morning, Qingzhi bustled about preparing breakfast for Gu Qiurong and brewing her medicinal decoction.
She spun around the small kitchen in a flurry of activity. Unable to bear watching her work so hard, Gu Qiurong went over to help, but Qingzhi beamed and said, "Serving you, Miss, is what this servant ought to do. You are a person of noble birth and shouldn't do such coarse chores, lest those troublemakers mock you again for lacking the demeanor of a high-born lady..."
Seeming to realize that her words were improper, Qingzhi curved her lips. "This servant is willing to do anything for you, Miss! Just go and rest!"
Gu Qiurong quietly watched Qingzhi busy herself. The moment she turned her profile, her eyes grew slightly red. Qingzhi had endured three years in prison right alongside her; whatever injuries Gu Qiurong had suffered, Qingzhi had endured even more, yet she never complained a single time.
She and Qingzhi shared the bond of having been sold into the Marquis Estate together in their youth.
After all these years, they were long past being mistress and servant; they were family who depended on each other day and night.
Gu Qiurong walked out into the courtyard. The chill of late winter had faded, and the winter jasmine in the yard was in bloom—a brilliant, dazzling golden yellow.
She picked up a medical book to read, only to discover that she was illiterate.
Having been raised as a foot-washing maid since childhood, how could the Marquis Estate have ever given her the opportunity to learn to read?
When she was recognized and brought back to the Marquis Estate three years ago, Chen Wenjin had specially hired a tutor to teach her reading and writing. However, Gu Lingwei had claimed that Sheng Mochen disliked talented women, and even put on an act before Gu Qiurong of tearing up books in disgust.
At the time, Gu Qiurong did not know that this was all a performance specially staged for her by Gu Lingwei. Taking it for truth and wanting Sheng Mochen to care more about her, she became unwilling to follow the tutor in learning to read.
Now... Gu Qiurong truly regretted it.
Learning to read could not be accomplished overnight; she would have to take it slowly.
Right now, however, there were two more pressing matters.
In that dream, after returning to the Marquis Estate, Gu Qiurong was mocked by Gu Jundu at the welcome banquet for supposedly trying to seduce the Crown Prince. The reputation of her remaining unrepentant after three years in prison spread far and wide, and the rumors about her in the capital grew increasingly fierce.
Because of an incident regarding jewelry, Chen Wenjin took her out to purchase ornaments.
Yet while selecting pieces at the shop, they ran into the Prince of Jingnan's daughter, Princess Mingli, whose name was Zhu Mingyu.
Zhu Mingyu and Gu Lingwei were extremely close, having grown up together since childhood.
Unable to stomach Gu Qiurong taking away Gu Lingwei's status as a young lady of the Marquis Estate, Zhu Mingyu wantonly humiliated Gu Qiurong in the shop, forcing her to kneel and apologize to Gu Lingwei right on the street.
Later, at a consort-selection banquet hosted by the Empress Dowager for the Prince Regent Sheng Fengxiao, where the Empress Dowager commanded everyone to display their talents, Gu Lingwei secretly signed Gu Qiurong up for it.
Unable to read and lacking the mastery of zither, chess, calligraphy, and painting possessed by the young ladies of the capital's aristocratic families, Gu Qiurong was forced onto the stage and became the butt of many jokes.
One incident after another caused the great aristocratic families of the capital to look upon Gu Qiurong with increasing disdain and mockery.
Her reputation was completely ruined step by step, fulfilling the wishes of everyone in the Marquis Estate, who then gradually locked her away where no one paid her any mind.
After breakfast, Chen Wenjin indeed brought Gu Lingwei along to Rongan Courtyard just as she had in the dream, seeking out Gu Qiurong to go into the city.
"Rongrong, Mother will take you to the shops to pick out some jewelry, alright?"
Everything was a premeditated trap.
Taking her out to the streets, running into Princess Mingli, and letting those aristocratic ladies watch her suffer humiliation.