"Not a bit of a pity; right now, I'm infinitely glad I can't speak."
Xia Zhiliao knew that if her mother had just said she could speak, mother and daughter alike might have lost their lives right here.
Wonderful, she had dodged bullet yet again, and the cannon fodder had lived another day!
Madam Xia Chen stroked her daughter's head. "Then we won't disturb you any further, Young Master."
*That's right, let's get out of here!*
"Goodbye," the young man said lightly, his smile as bright as the sun.
Xia Zhiliao squeezed out a smile while inwardly sharpening her knives.
*Never see you again!*
Curious to get to the bottom of all this, the young man deliberately said, "I feel a connection with this little sister. We're very likely to meet again."
*Are you kidding me? Who feels a connection with you? I have no desire to see you ever again.*
Madam Xia Chen was utterly confused. What was going on here?
Meanwhile, the young man stared thoughtfully at her retreating figure for a long time, until his guard resumed reporting the matter that had been interrupted halfway.
"Master, about winning over the daughter of the Marquis of Jing'an's mistress, should we still..."
The young man waved a hand. "Leave that for later. Come on, let's go check out what was going on with that girl just now."
"She... she didn't hear a thing, did she? Master, you..."
"Did you honestly not hear her speak just now?"
The man shook his head, baffled as to why his master would ask such a thing. "Isn't she mute? Didn't her mother say so herself? If you're worried, Master, I'll just go take care of them!"
"No need to rush!" A playful smirk tugged at the corner of the young man's lips.
Xia Zhiliao, panic-stricken, glanced back several times. Only when she saw the two men were not giving chase did she finally set her mind at ease.
The fate of cannon fodder was truly fraught with peril; one slip of the foot and you're a gononer.
As the young man and his guard walked down the street, a crowd of running children suddenly darted out. The young man stepped aside to let them pass, yet still instinctively reached out to touch his chest with a look of lingering concern.
Then, he cautiously fished out a silk pouch containing a jade bracelet.
Just as Xia Zhiliao and her father were heading to the Jinyi Workshop, they ran into him once more.
*What the meow kind of coincidence is this? Wait, that bracelet... Is that... my jade bracelet?*
The young man tilted his head and looked over. Hers?
When on earth did it become hers?
Xia Zhiliao couldn't care less about that now. Since they were out in the open, even if her master and servant wanted to murder her to silence her, she charged forward anyway to see if that was indeed her ancestral jade bracelet. In her excitement, she grabbed the young man's arm.
She froze stiff!
Chapter 26: The Big Boss Appears
Flashes of imagery crossed her mind, every single one of them concerning the young man right before her eyes.
Frightened, she pulled her hand back, and the visions vanished right along with it.
"Zhiliao, what is it? Are you excited to see the little big brother? Well, that young master really called it—we're meeting again!" Madam Xia Chen said with some surprise.
Yet right then, Xia Zhiliao and the young man locked eyes, each harboring inexplicable doubts.
"Wife, come quick! Boss Su wants you to press your thumbprint!"
"Oh... coming! Zhiliao, stop running around!"
Because of the young man's words and actions earlier, Madam Xia Chen took him for a good person and wasn't worried about her daughter staying near him.
*Strange, why is his face covered in blood? Oh my, his hand is hurt too. Serves you right, retribution for evildoers! You wanted to kill me, and now someone's finally sorting you out!*
The young man instinctively checked his hand. There wasn't a speck of blood on it.
*Aww, what a pity. Why didn't it go a bit deeper? He's about to lose his index finger. Let's see how he points at people in the future!*
Xia Zhiliao was thoroughly baffled. Why had she seen those glimpses of the young man? Did he and the original owner know each other? Were those memories from the original owner being awakened?
Never mind that; she wanted to get a look at that bracelet. From a distance earlier she hadn't seen it clearly, but why did it look so much like hers?
The young man stared at Xia Zhiliao, noticing her fixated gaze on his prized bracelet. "Want a look?"
Xia Zhiliao nodded. The young man sneered. "Well, you can't!"
*Hey now, brat, are you messing with me? Just let me check if that's mine, let me take a look!*
Xia Zhiliao hopped up to get a better view, but nearly lost her footing, instinctively grabbing the young man's arm to steady herself.
And yet, the visions in her mind appeared once more.
*What's going on here? Why am I seeing him covered in blood again? Just how many bad things has this guy done, getting himself covered in blood all day long at such a tender age?*
Xia Zhiliao collected her wits. With her quick thinking, she swiftly figured it out: both times she had seen those visions of the young man, it was because she had touched him.
Sure enough, when she touched him a third time, the imagery returned.
*Too bad, he didn't die. Heavens are truly blind!*
The young man understood Xia Zhiliao's muttered rambling less and less. All this talk of dying and killing—could she have been frightened out of her wits by Ling He?
Xia Zhiliao lost all desire to keep looking and instead shifted her focus back to the matter of the bracelet. She looked at the young man with a pitiful expression, simply begging for a look.
"Master, should we—"
The young man refused. "What do you want?"
*I don't want anything, Big Brother, just let me see if that's my bracelet! Just one look, let me touch it once!*
The young man gave a faint smile, intoxicatingly handsome, and then let Xia Zhiliao touch it.
Just once. Just like that.
Xia Zhiliao was instantly certain it was her bracelet, because the moment she touched it, she entered the bracelet's spatial realm—a space that only she could open.
Her books, her spirit spring water, her—
Before she had a chance to look around properly, she was pulled right back out.
Because the young man had already withdrawn the bracelet.
*It's mine, mine! No, please, I'm begging you, give it to me.*
The young man grew even more suspicious. This jade bracelet had saved his life, and here in Fancheng, this little girl didn't look like she had ever been to the Capital!
"You like it?" the young man asked again.
Xia Zhiliao nodded hurriedly. *My baby treasure, how could I possibly not like it?*
"Master, this girl isn't stupid at all. She knows to love a good thing when she sees one."
*Bah, you're the stupid one. Your whole family is stupid.*
The young man let out a chuckle, leaving the man beside him bewildered. "Young Master, you..."
"Do you suppose that expression of hers was meant to curse you as an idiot?"
*Spot on, it was.*
Though she thought this, Xia Zhiliao shook her head vigorously to deny it.
Little fox!
The young man thought to himself, "You like it, but why on earth should I give it to you?"
Xia Zhiliao found herself in an awkward spot. Buy it?
She had no money, and even if her father did, it probably wouldn't be enough.
To think her precious treasure was right before her eyes, yet out of reach! The crucial thing was, if she couldn't get it back today, where on earth was she supposed to find this fellow in the future?
Madam Xia Chen finished pressing her thumbprint and hurried back out. Seeing Xia Zhiliao hopping around the young man, she simply assumed her daughter was playing with him. "Zhiliao, why are you still clinging to the young master? Come back here!"
*Mother, hurry and ask what his name is, and where he lives!*
Madam Xia Chen looked at her daughter in confusion. The young man was very handsome indeed, but her daughter was still just a child.
*Mother, please ask him! Otherwise, we'll never find him again.*
Madam Xia Chen felt a slight twinge of awkwardness. "Dare I ask, Young Master..."
She really couldn't bring herself to ask. The main point was that they weren't acquainted.
The young man bowed like a modest gentleman. "Madam, my name is Xie Heng, and my home is in Fancheng."
*Good, good, good. You know what's good for you, offering your identity like that! Just you wait, once I save up enough money, I'll definitely redeem my baby. Little treasure, just hold on a bit longer, I'll buy you back very soon.*
"Young Master Xie, Zhiliao this child... she rarely acts like this with outsiders." Madam Xia Chen felt rather embarrassed, as her daughter's display of enthusiasm was a bit much. "She... she's probably just feeling close to you because of your help earlier."
"I also feel a affinity with this little sister."
Xia Zhiliao forced a smile that didn't reach her eyes.
*Xie Heng is it? I've memorized your name. Xie... Xie Heng? Isn't that...*
Xia Zhiliao stared at the young man in sheer terror. The... the... Big Boss!
A gentle and refined young master on the surface who appeared detached from worldly affairs, yet was actually dark-bellied and ruthless to the core. He... he also possessed a hidden identity: he was the emperor's illegitimate son.
At the age of ten, he had forced the aged emperor to announce to the world his status as an imperial prince, granting his deceased mother the position of chief among the four imperial concubines. Yet the old emperor held no affection for him, viewing him as a lifelong disgrace because he had brought public shame upon the imperial house.
And Wen Heng had not been idle either. While projecting an air of breezy detachment, he secretly pulled the strings behind the scenes, becoming the puppet master manipulating the struggles among the imperial princes.
Later... later... the ultimate villain naturally died; otherwise, it wouldn't fit the cozy reunion ending of wrapping dumplings.
How he died, Xia Zhiliao hadn't seen.
At present, he was still called Xie Heng, which meant he had not yet restored his status as an imperial prince.
Xia Zhiliao had no desire to get close to such a dark-bellied Big Boss, but her precious bracelet was in his hands! What was she supposed to do now?
She couldn't bear to leave her treasures behind in that spatial realm.
"Zhiliao, come back here. Young Master Xie is leaving!"
Xia Zhiliao snapped out of her reverie and found the young man watching her with keen interest, the corners of his lips curling into a smile that was gentle and warm. Yet she didn't believe a word of it; after all, the person before her was precisely the sort who used this harmless facade to deceive countless people.
Xia Zhiliao looked at the young man, squeezed out a smile, and thought: *Since we're both novel villains, let's just pretend we don't know each other, alright?*
Reluctantly, she cast one last lingering look at the bracelet and reached out a hand, but the young man deliberately tucked it away inside his robes."My bracelet! Give it back to me, waah!"
Chapter 27: Xia Zhiliao Predicts the Assassination Attempt on Xie Heng
"Master, that child seems quite reluctant to see you leave."
His master truly had a magnetic pull; from octogenarians down to three- or four-year-old toddlers, everyone was charmed.
Xie Heng gave a cold, dismissive laugh. "Reluctant to see me go?"
"Yes, look, she’s about to cry." Ling He thought to himself that if she were grown, she would surely be just as captivated by his master’s face. And to think, his master was still so young—what would happen when he grew up?
Xie Heng didn't turn his head, but he caught a glimpse out of the corner of his eye of the little girl standing there, stomping her feet in frustration. Was she really reluctant to see *him* go? She was clearly just unwilling to part with the jade bracelet he’d taken.
"Ling He, should we proceed with the original plan?"
"No. Let’s head back first."
"B-back?" Ling He thought he’d misheard. "Didn't you say that Miss Lu might be your life-saver? And the bracelet..."
"It wasn't hers." Xie Heng recalled that delicate, childish face. Even though it was their first meeting, he felt she had no reason to lie to him. Therefore, the daughter of the Lu family’s mistress-in-hiding could not possibly be the one who had saved his life. "Later, find someone to ask that couple whether that little girl has ever been to the Capital."
"You suspect... Understood, I will attend to it at once."
...
Boss Su had readily agreed to cooperate with Madam Xia Chen, successfully bringing her embroidery skills into the Jinyi Workshop as a stake.
On one hand, Boss Su was full of gratitude; even if he had handed the entire shop over to her, it wouldn't have been a loss, considering his only heir was still alive. On the other hand, Madam Xia Chen’s embroidery was genuinely in high demand. Not long after her family of three had left that day, her pieces had already sold out. To help her earn more, he had intentionally set a high price, waiting for customers to haggle, but to his surprise, they loved the work so much they didn't even bargain—three taels of silver, just like that. Thus, he was certain this partnership would be profitable.
To his surprise, his troublesome son had been even more eager, agreeing before he even had the chance.
"Dad, why are you looking at me? Sister and her family saved my life! Isn't my life worth that much? I am the ninth-generation only son of the Su family! You don't agree? If you don't agree, I won't go on living!"
Boss Su wanted to strangle him, though he only thought about it. "Who said I didn't agree? Of course I agree!"
And just like that, the partnership was struck.
Xia Zhiliao had been dragged into the room by Su Mingche, who generously presented her with a pile of toys and treats. "Sister, these are all for you! You saved my life, so from now on, my life is yours, and my things are yours, too."
Xia Zhiliao looked at the silly boy pouring his heart out to her. It was hard to believe he would grow up to be the richest man in the novel. He was so foolishly earnest—how did he even make money? *But, Big Brother,* she thought, *aren't you cozying up to the wrong person? I’m not the heroine; I’m just cannon fodder!*
However, seeing Xia Zhiliao’s calm demeanor, Su Mingche assumed it was his fault. He looked slightly aggrieved as he coaxed her, "Sister, do you not like what I prepared? Tell me what you like, and I’ll take you to buy it right now!"
"That’s right, that’s right! Mingche, take Zhiliao out to buy some treats and toys," Boss Su added happily. Though the little girl couldn't speak, the more he looked at her, the more he liked her.
Xia Zhiliao shook her head. That wasn't what she meant at all; she just didn't want to take advantage of people.
"Boss Su, you are too kind to Zhiliao."
"What’s wrong with being kind? Without little Zhiliao, I wouldn't have a son, and without a son, I would be a sinner to the Su family." Boss Su looked at the little girl. "From now on, Zhiliao is like my own daughter. Mingche, she is your sister now, so you must take good care of her."
Su Mingche nodded with a wide grin. Xia Zhiliao figured this wasn't a bad deal; as long as she stayed on good terms with the richest man in town, she wouldn't have to worry about money.
...
The next day, as Xie Heng and Ling He were returning to Fancheng, they were ambushed halfway by a dozen masked assassins, each one a highly skilled fighter.
Ling He fought loyally to protect his master and nearly lost his life. Xie Heng suffered some wounds as well, though he fought with a bloodthirsty fury. Looking at the corpses strewn across the ground, the master and servant stood there, gasping for air. Ling He took a heavy breath, his body covered in wounds. "Master, who could be so ruthless? To want us dead?"
"Who else?" Xie Heng’s dark eyes were like bottomless, frigid pools.
"Master, are you alright? Your hand is wounded!"
Xie Heng shook his head. "It is nothing."Suddenly, he stared intently at Ling He, who was caught completely off guard by the gaze. "M-Master, what is wrong with you?"
Xie Heng waved a hand, motioning for him to keep quiet.
At that moment, the voice of that little girl from yesterday echoed in his mind.
*Strange, why is his face covered in blood? Oh my, his hand is injured too. Serves you right, villains get what's coming to them! So you wanted to murder me, huh? Well, someone's finally dealing with you!*
*Oh, what a pity, why wasn't it a bit deeper? There goes his index finger. Let's see him point at people in the future!*
Xie Heng lowered his gaze to look at the wound on his right index finger, deep enough to expose the bone, from which fresh blood was dripping onto the ground. If he had dodged even a fraction of a second later, that finger would have been gone.
"Ling He, look at my face. Is it covered in blood?"
Ling He nodded, then gave a bitter smile. "Master, what time is it? You're still worried about your looks!"
Xie Heng ignored him. Was he worried about his looks?
He was wondering how that girl could possibly have known about the events that befell him today.
And every single detail was exact.
Yet he knew very well who this gang of men were.
Moreover, she was unable to speak, and yet he could hear her voice. If Ling He had heard it, he certainly wouldn't have lied to him.
"Ling He, let's go!"
"Right, this place is no place to linger. Let's hurry back to Fancheng. If another wave comes, this subordinate won't be able to protect you."
"No, back to Shijing Town."
"Huh? Master, aren't... aren't you afraid of danger?"
Xie Heng remembered the girl saying that he did not die, which meant he was probably not going to die.
He had to find out what on earth was going on!
"Master, it's dangerous! Truly too dangerous!"
No matter what Ling He said, Xie Heng remained unmoved. He was determined to find that little girl. But when he tried to push himself up too abruptly, sudden darkness swirled before his eyes, and he collapsed to the ground.
Ling He shook his head. Since his master was in this state, he had better disobey him and hurry back to Fancheng instead.
If anything went wrong, he would never be able to bear the responsibility!
When Xie Heng realized that he was not heading back to Shijing Town, but was instead on the road back to Fancheng, he fainted from sheer rage all over again.
"See? You were already this weak. I told you bringing you back to Fancheng was the right move!"
Ling He muttered to himself as he drove the carriage.
If Xie Heng could hear him, he really might have been enraged to death by this fellow, but he could not afford to die just yet.
He had to investigate thoroughly why that little girl was so bizarrely supernatural—how could she possibly foresee what would happen to him?
Chapter 028: The White Moonlight Comes to Provoke
Xia Zhiliao naturally knew nothing about what was happening to Xie Heng. Besides, the novel never explained how she, a mere cannon-fodder extra, managed to get entangled with the grand boss.
She had no desire to get involved with him now either, but the problem was she still had to get her spatial bracelet back from that fellow.
Xia Zhiliao propped her chin on her hands and lay flat on the kang, lost in thought, when she heard a commotion in the courtyard. Hearing the sound, she instantly perged up.
*Oh no, oh no, the white moonlight has come looking for trouble! I have to help my mother!*
Nearby, Madam Xia Chen, who was busy with her embroidery, accidentally pricked her finger with the needle. She looked up just in time to see her daughter darting out the door.
Why did her daughter call Bai Huiru the white moonlight?
What did white moonlight mean?
Bai Huiru was currently talking with Xia Jinxiu in the courtyard. Xia Jinxiu did not even wear a polite smile for her, but Bai Huiru remained completely unbothered. "Little Sister Jinxiu, you've grown up so much. You've blossomed into such a lovely and graceful young woman. This is some rouge I brought back from the Capital; it's simply perfect for a beauty like you."
When Bai Huiru abandoned Xia Jinjuan, Xia Jinxiu had still been a child, and her impression of her came entirely from the complaints of her family members. As far as she was concerned, she held neither love nor hatred for Bai Huiru.
Besides, that box of rouge didn't look cheap at all. Putting aside whether she could bear to part with the money, even if her mother were willing to buy it for her, such an item simply could not be purchased in Shijing Town.
Just as she was about to reach out and take it, a familiar little babyish voice rang out from behind her.
*Trying to win people over! My little aunt is smart and fiercely protective of her own; she won't be bought off by a paltry little gift like yours!*
The hand that Xia Jinxiu had just raised dropped back down. She couldn't let her little niece down!
"Take it back, I don't want your things." Xia Jinxiu's heart was bleeding; that box of rouge had to be worth at least a tael of silver.
*See? I told you my little aunt has the utmost backbone and wouldn't deign to care about your things! Little aunt, don't take hers, I'll buy you a better one later.*
Xia Jinxiu's bleeding heart instantly healed. "What are you staring at? What did you come to my house for? Aren't you already married off? Oh right, you can't even call that a marriage—the man already has a legitimate first wife!"