"Rongrong, Mother knows your nature isn't bad. All these years, you were led astray by that wet nurse. As long as you are willing to change and turn toward kindness, the Pingding Marquis Estate will not hold your past actions against you."
Chen Wenjin’s gaze softened slightly. "Rongrong, sign the confession. Once your father and brothers see it, their anger will dissipate, and we will be a family again."
They had sent her to the imperial prison for three years, and yet it hadn't been enough to quench their fury. It turned out that their feelings for Gu Lingwei were truly that profound.
"Since Father and my brothers care so much about her, why bother bringing me back to the estate? Don't you find my presence here unlucky?" Gu Qiurong’s mocking smile made Chen Wenjin’s heart ache even more.
She assumed Gu Qiurong was resentful because they had been cold toward her for three years and had never come to visit her in prison. Chen Wenjin felt as though her heart were breaking, and her tone grew firmer. "Rongrong, you are of the Pingding Marquis Estate’s bloodline; we would never leave you to drift outside."
***
It was just like in the dream.
Gu Qiurong had been dragged into the carriage. She was taken to the Villa, scrubbed clean of all the filth on her body, and appeared before Chen Wenjin looking brand new. Wearing a brocade jacket with auspicious patterns, her frame was excessively thin, her cheeks so gaunt that her eyes looked disproportionately large.
Chen Wenjin took a white jade hairpin from a brocade box, walked over to Gu Qiurong, and tucked it into her dry, brittle hair. "Rongrong, you are so beautiful."
After securing the hairpin, she took out a jade bracelet to put on Gu Qiurong. The girl’s wrist was so thin it seemed it might snap at a touch. Chen Wenjin held it with pity and lifted it slightly, causing Gu Qiurong’s sleeve to slide down.
Chen Wenjin’s expression darkened. "Where is your Shougongsha?"
Gu Qiurong’s eyes flickered.
"When did your Shougongsha disappear? Did someone in the imperial prison…?" Chen Wenjin’s face changed entirely. Her look of pity vanished, replaced instantly by disgust. "How could you be so shameless? You were actually seducing men even while in prison? Who on earth taught you these things…?"
"You truly are a base, lowly thing. As a young lady of the Pingding Marquis Estate, do you have no sense of self-respect?"
Chen Wenjin, overcome with rage, brought her hand down hard across Gu Qiurong’s face. "You have disappointed Mother so much!"
Qingzhi was so frightened she turned pale. She knelt on the floor. "Madam! My Young Miss suffered terribly in prison. The jailers tried to force themselves on her during interrogations. They… they knew she was a lady of the Marquis Estate and still a virgin, and they wanted a taste. It was only to protect herself that my Young Miss carved away the Shougongsha!"
Qingzhi said this in a voice that was nearly hoarse. Chen Wenjin’s pupils shook violently.
"Madam, this servant can swear that my Young Miss’s purity is still intact! She was never violated; I have always been there to protect her!" Fearing that Chen Wenjin might misunderstand Gu Qiurong, Qingzhi kowtowed repeatedly, her head striking the floor with dull thuds until it was soon stained with blood.
Gu Qiurong lowered her eyes and reached up to gently touch her stinging cheek. She frowned slightly—the only shift in her emotions, and only because of Qingzhi.
The people of the Pingding Marquis Estate were truly just like they were in her dream: cold, unfeeling, narrow-minded, and selfish.
"Qingzhi, don't hurt yourself," she said softly, comforting her and wiping away the blood seeping from the girl's forehead. Even if the Marquis Estate knew the truth, they wouldn't care. In their hearts, from beginning to end, there had only ever been Gu Lingwei. Saying any more was just debasing herself.
Chen Wenjin’s eyelashes trembled violently. Her chest felt tight and suffocated, as if a heavy hammer were pounding against it. "Rongrong, it is Mother’s fault. I shouldn't have slapped you."
"Mother thought that since those jailers knew your identity, they wouldn't dare harbor such delusions. I never imagined they would be so lawless…"
She stepped forward, wanting to touch Gu Qiurong’s reddened cheek. But before her hand could make contact, she was forced to freeze in mid-air by the cold, icy glare in Gu Qiurong’s eyes.
"If you truly think you were wrong to slap me, you should return that slap to your own face, rather than offering hypocritical, flimsy apologies."
Gu Qiurong’s gaze was too indifferent, like a needle piercing deep into Chen Wenjin’s heart, as if something had changed in the silence.
Chen Wenjin’s lips trembled. "Rongrong, Mother truly… Mother truly knows she was wrong…"
She gripped Gu Qiurong’s hand tightly and pulled her toward the carriage, unsure if she was speaking to herself or to Gu Qiurong. "Mother will make it up to you in the future. I really will make it up to you."
***
Pingding Marquis Estate.
Today was the day of Gu Qiurong’s release, yet there were few people in the main hall. The two young masters of the estate had to attend to their duties during the day and wouldn't return until evening.
"Marquis, the cleansing ceremony is ready," the butler bowed and whispered in the Pingding Marquis’s ear.
The Marquis frowned tightly. "Go and see where everyone is. Why is it taking so long just to pick someone up?"
As he spoke, the gatekeeper’s voice drifted in from outside: "Madam’s carriage is back—"
"She’s back!"
Hearing that she had been retrieved, the tension in the Marquis’s heart eased slightly. They all said the capital’s imperial prison was no place for decent people, but since she was still alive, it seemed the people there had given him face and taken care of Gu Qiurong.
"Hurry and get the pomelo leaves ready," the butler ordered, sending servants to the main gate with the leaves.
Chen Wenjin stepped out of the carriage first, with Gu Qiurong following close behind. Many commoners were watching from the sidelines, all eager to see what the Marquis Estate’s daughter who had been in the imperial prison looked like now.
For a woman to go to prison, there was usually no way out but death, and her purity was rarely preserved. And this Gu Qiurong was a daughter of the Marquis Estate! In the past, when daughters of noble clans committed crimes, they would end their own lives with a strip of white silk. Being sent to the imperial prison was a matter of total ruin, yet Gu Qiurong hadn't just gone in—she had come back out alive. This was a first in the capital.
Chen Wenjin turned, wanting to support Gu Qiurong. However, Gu Qiurong easily avoided her hand and stepped down onto the stool herself.
Looking at her own empty hand, Chen Wenjin felt a momentary sense of disorientation and an aching void in her heart. She remembered five years ago, the day Gu Qiurong was brought back, how she had cautiously and carefully held her arm, her eyes filled with nothing but the mother she had lost and regained. Now, it seemed she had no need for her at all.
The servants of the estate brushed the pomelo leaves against her. Mammy Li called out loudly, "The cleansing ceremony begins!"
Once finished, she led Gu Qiurong across the brazier. "Step over the fire, and all bad luck is banished!"
Qingzhi followed her every step. Seeing Gu Qiurong cross the fire, she did the same. She also wanted to cleanse herself of bad luck so that she could continue to accompany and take care of her Young Miss in the future.
Inside the main hall of the Pingding Marquis Estate, Gu Qiurong lowered her gaze. As she had three years ago, her posture was not quite as formal as it should have been.
The subtle sense of guilt in the Marquis’s heart evaporated the moment he saw her lack of improvement. "Is this the conduct you learned in the imperial prison? You can’t even stand straight. Who are you trying to impress with that hunched back and servant-like demeanor? You are a young lady of the Marquis Estate!"
Had this been three years ago, hearing such words would have left Gu Qiurong feeling miserable and suffocated, unable to eat, tossing and turning as she fretted over how to improve her manners to win her father’s favor. But the outcome of her life in that dream had left her thoroughly awakened.
No matter how hard she tried to please the people of the Marquis Estate, it would never earn their genuine affection.
Since that was the case, why bother making things difficult for herself?
Gu Qiurong raised her eyes, her gaze so cold it was near indifferent. "Since Father thinks so little of me, perhaps you should just give me a letter of disownment. From this day forward, this base, lowly servant will have no further connection with the Pingding Marquis Estate—"