In her previous dream, she had been weak, terrified, and too afraid to anger Chen Wenjin.
Persuaded by Chen Wenjin, she had knelt before a crowd of noble young ladies and apologized to Gu Lingwei.
Little did she know that by kneeling, she was effectively admitting to crimes she never committed.
Later, when she tried to explain that she had never harmed Gu Lingwei, the reply she received was, "If you truly never harmed her, why would you feel a guilty conscience and kneel to her?"
Yet if she refused to go, Chen Wenjin would not let the matter rest.
Sure enough, Gu Lingwei pulled Gu Qiurong along and boarded the carriage.
Gu Lingwei's eyes were filled with smiles. "Sister, it is so wonderful that you can finally leave prison. After Third Sister married out, there was no one left in the Marquis Manor to keep me company. From now on, wherever you want to go, just tell me and we will go together."
Facing Gu Lingwei's expression of sincerity—so genuine that not the slightest trace of pretense could be seen—Gu Qiurong's gaze remained calm and detached.
She truly admired Gu Lingwei. How could anyone be so intimately affectionate toward someone they hated to the bone?
Gu Qiurong did not respond to Gu Lingwei, her brows wrapped in a faint, cool aloofness.
Gu Lingwei lowered her eyes in disappointment. Biting her lip, she said softly, "Mother, is Sister still blaming me? Because of me, she spent three years in prison and suffered so much. I know I have no right to ask Sister for forgiveness, but... but I feel so terribly distressed. Seeing her suffer, my own heart aches just as much."
The smile on Chen Wenjin's face froze. Frowning, she looked at Gu Qiurong. "Rongrong, both of you are Mother's children. Now that your sister is letting bygones be bygones, you should know when to stop and not make things difficult for Mother."
Chen Wenjin was just like before, most skilled at smoothing things over and blurring right from wrong.
Gu Qiurong reined in her expression, her gaze turning docile. "Yes, I will listen to Mother in everything."
Chen Wenjin let out a breath of relief and grasped Gu Qiurong's hand tightly. "Good child, you are Mother's good child."
The look she cast at Gu Qiurong was filled with tender affection. Thinking of how submissive and obedient she now was—all because she had endured such bitter hardship inside the prison—Chen Wenjin's heart was squeezed and twisted with anguish.
Her daughter should have been the treasured apple of the Marquis Manor's eye, yet she had suffered so much hardship all these years; she was determined to make it up to her properly.
With tears in her eyes, Chen Wenjin looked at Gu Qiurong with profound guilt. The more Gu Lingwei observed this, the more she felt that Gu Qiurong was different from three years ago, and the sense of vigilance in her heart grew steadily stronger.
Her eyes narrowed slightly, a chilling glint hidden within them.
Yet the moment Chen Wenjin turned to look at her, she instantly transformed her expression into one of forlorn helplessness.
Chen Wenjin held Gu Qiurong's hand with one hand and reached out to take Gu Lingwei's with the other. "You are both Mother's good daughters. From now on, our family will live together in peace and harmony."
Gu Lingwei's fingers clenched tighter and tighter.
Gu Qiurong had almost killed her, and yet Chen Wenjin actually had the nerve to speak of family harmony. In her heart, it seemed that Gu Qiurong's three-year imprisonment could simply erase the harm she had suffered. As expected, she was not her biological mother—her partiality was truly extreme.
They arrived at Pear Blossom Alley.
Pear Blossom Alley was the favorite haunt of the noble young ladies in the capital.
It was home to the finest ready-to-wear clothing shops, rouge shops, and jewelry stores, and even boasted renowned artisans whose custom-crafted jewelry required aristocratic ladies to pay a deposit and wait.
Begonia Pavilion was Gu Lingwei's favorite jewelry shop.
As soon as they stepped into Begonia Pavilion, the shopkeeper recognized Chen Wenjin and hurried forward respectfully, "I had no idea the Marquise was gracing us with her presence. Please forgive us for not coming out to welcome you."
Chen Wenjin smiled faintly. "No need for formalities. We are here today to pick out some jewelry for my younger daughter. Rongrong, see what you like."
Gu Qiurong had no interest in such things whatsoever, but since Chen Wenjin told her to choose, she would choose.
She casually pointed at a mutton-fat jade hairpin. "Just this one."
"Only one?"
Chen Wenjin shook her head. "Shopkeeper, take her to look around some more."
"Right away, madam."
The shopkeeper led Gu Qiurong to the very back of the shop and brought out the most intricately crafted and most expensive set of ruby and jade hair ornaments in Begonia Pavilion. "Miss Gu, this set is one of a kind in the entire capital. If you claim it, the other young ladies won't have the good fortune to own it."
Gu Qiurong simply looked at it calmly. "Then this one."
"And the mutton-fat jade hairpin from earlier as well."
The shopkeeper's eyes crinkled with smiles. "Right away! I'll have these delivered straight to the Marquis Manor for you..."
When she finished making her selections and returned, she saw that Chen Wenjin and Gu Lingwei had already stood up.
Standing before them was Princess Mingli, dressed in a sweeping red gown, looking peerlessly regal and dignified.
"It is rare for this Princess to come out for a stroll in Begonia Pavilion, only to run into such an ill-omened wretch who has just crawled out of prison. Shopkeeper, is your Begonia Pavilion going out of business? You let just any trash into the shop!"
Princess Mingli flew into a rage, and the shopkeeper did not dare to be negligent.
He hurried forward and bowed obsequiously, "I am unaware of how we have offended Your Highness. I beg... I beg Your Highness to speak plainly."
"I suppose you've been living too comfortably and forgotten how this Begonia Pavilion managed to establish itself in the capital in the first place? The patrons of Begonia Pavilion are the noble ladies of the capital. To invite a lowly maid who has just come from prison and reeks of bad luck inside—are you trying to smash your own signboard?"
Princess Mingli's gaze of utter disgust landed on Gu Qiurong.
"Either this Princess issues an order forbidding any noble lady in the capital from ever setting foot in your Begonia Pavilion, or you chase this lowly wretch out of the shop immediately! Lest she makes this Princess sick to her stomach looking at her."
Princess Mingli raised her hand, her expression of abhorrence directed squarely at Gu Qiurong.
The shopkeeper was caught in a difficult dilemma.
He had only just learned that the person before him was the Fifth Young Miss of the Marquis Manor who had been imprisoned, but after all, she had been brought here by the Marquise herself. Could he completely disregard the Marquise's face?
Certainly not!
The shopkeeper glanced at Princess Mingli, then at the Marquise.
Chen Wenjin wore a complicated expression. She raised her eyes to look at Princess Mingli. "Your Highness, Rongrong is, after all, of the Marquis Manor's bloodline. She is a part of our household."
"A part of your household?" Princess Mingli's eyebrows arched high in anger. "What kind of part is she? She hired a killer and nearly took Weiwei's life! Your Marquis Manor raised Weiwei all these years, surely there must be some affection between you? Yet you actually condone Gu Qiurong attempting such a murder against Weiwei—aren't you afraid of breaking Weiwei's heart?"
After dropping these overbearing words, Princess Mingli looked at Gu Qiurong with an increasingly fierce and malevolent gaze, determined to stand up for Gu Lingwei and settle this score.
Caught in the middle, Chen Wenjin was in a very difficult position. She offered an explanation on Gu Qiurong's behalf: "Rongrong was still young back then and indeed made a grave mistake, but she has already spent three years in prison and suffered every imaginable hardship..."
"Her spending three years in prison means Weiwei's suffering never happened?"
Princess Mingli's chest heaved violently with rage. "In this Princess's eyes, you people simply think Weiwei is easy to bully! The reason Weiwei is willing to forgive is because she cares about you as her family. Even if you are not blood-relatives, the affection built through all these years is real. She has compromised and swallowed her grievances for your sake, yet you protect Gu Qiurong at every turn without even giving her a formal apology!"
With that, Princess Mingli unhooked the whip from her waist and lashed out fiercely toward Gu Qiurong!
As her golden whip—as thick as a finger and tightly braided—hurtled forward to strike Gu Qiurong, Qingzhi's pupils constricted in terror, and without a second thought, she threw herself in front of Gu Qiurong to block it.