Chapter 027
Chapter 27: I Want to Break Chen’er and That Su Family Girl’s Engagement
“Madam, please calm your anger,” he murmured.
Whenever she set aside her dignified grace and called him by name, it meant the matter was weighty or her anger ran deep. Yun Zheng gathered her into his arms and brushed two quick kisses across her cheek. She answered with a flurry of light punches. On his body, they were leaves on an ancient tree.
He rested his brow against hers and spoke low and steady: “This matter is extraordinary and too great to speak of lightly. How could your husband dare to mention it carelessly? Has not Madam also refrained from saying it aloud?”
If outsiders learned of Little Fourth’s gift, disaster would sweep the realm. A power that could touch fate itself would shake Great Wu.
Madam Yun knew he spoke truth. The same fear had lodged in her heart. Yet she still felt a thorn of resentment.
“But I came to tell you first,” she said.
“What Madam says is true, but your husband did not lie,” he answered with a soft smile. “Have I not already confessed all? If I wished to deceive you, I could have kept pretending today.”
He cupped her face and stole several coaxing kisses: “Come now, do not be angry. I know why you came. Rest easy. I will handle it. Since we know the path ahead and hold the advantage, we will not be moved like pieces in another’s story.”
Her breath slowly evened. She slipped her arms around his waist and leaned into him, voice hushed: “Very well, but I want to break Chen’er’s engagement with that Su family girl.”
“Very well,” Yun Zheng said with indulgent warmth. “Everything will be as Madam wishes.”
“Oh, and one more thing,” she added, worry rising again as she looked up. “Little Fourth is so special. If outsiders could also hear her, what should we do?”
“Madam need not worry,” he said near her ear. “From what I have seen, only you, me, Ye’er, and Yao’er can hear. I suspect it is tied to our blood.”
The manor’s servants were not all masters of acting. To be sure, he had recently bought several new hands and sent them to clean by the cradle in Peace Keeping Courtyard. None had shown the slightest reaction. Ye’er and Yao’er had arranged their own tests. Madam Yun herself had watched. There was no sign.
Of course, this could not stand for all under heaven. Careful eyes were still needed. But there was no need to burden her with more fear.
With her heart eased, Madam Yun returned to Peace Keeping Courtyard to accompany Yun Wan Ning. With her husband guarding the outer world, she would gather every scrap of news the inner voice offered.
Night settled like silk.
On the streets, lanterns blossomed one by one. Inside Emerald Leaning House, seats were full and applause rose like waves.
A slender figure suddenly staggered from the hall in panic and vanished into the lane. Heat burned through her limbs until she shook. Su Qian Xue’s knees buckled as fear surged. She wiped sweat from her brow with a tremor.
Even a fool would know she had drunk something dirty.
That morning, dressed as a man, she had slipped from the manor to taste Haojing. The city was a wonder, not at all like the steel forests she knew. Passing Emerald Leaning House, she had paused at the door, lured by music and laughter, and the door girl had drawn her inside with cheerful hands.
Within, music and dance cost nothing, and wine flowed freely to warm the crowd. Men drank and laughed and wrapped beauties in their arms. Thirsty and unwary, Su Qian Xue took a cup a house girl pressed upon her and drained it in one swallow.
Who knew the free wine was bait, spiked to stir the blood.
Shameless, utterly shameless.
She ground her teeth and cursed the house from beam to floor in her heart. But what now? Should she seize a random man as an antidote? In this era, a girl’s ruined name meant a ruined life. No. She must find a physician.
Her skin burned hotter, her mind swam, her breath came ragged. Vision blurred. She crashed into a wall that moved like flesh and fell with a thud. Pain barely registered.
“Oh dear, is this young miss all right? I did not mean to bump you,” a lazy voice said with false pity.
Right, as if.
Lu Wu bent and let his peach blossom eyes curve at the sorry figure. [Tsk, no wonder the young master dislikes this wild little fiancée. She dares wander a pleasure house alone at such a tender age.]
Young miss?
Dazed, Su Qian Xue glanced down. Her hair had slipped loose. A pale line showed at the gap of her robe. She clutched her collar tight and glared at the blurred man above her.
“You seem unwell,” Lu Wu said with a mild smile. “Allow me to escort you to a physician.”
At the word physician, she nodded at once, swallowing a whimper: “Then, I will trouble you.”
“Forgive the offense,” he said. He lifted her as easily as a chick and, with a meaningful glance to a shadowed subordinate, sauntered toward the nearest medical hall. The man in the dark took the cue and slipped away toward Grand Commandant Manor.
Behind a thick trunk, a watcher stayed still.
Hidden deeper, another set of eyes saw all. Yun Wan Yao, who had slipped out in secret, watched Su Qian Xue fall into Lu Wu’s hands and be carried away from the Temple of Matrimony’s lane. Relief loosened her chest. It lasted only a breath. Worry surged for Mo Yuan Hao, trapped in the dry well. [No, I must save him.]
She started up. A hand clamped over her mouth from behind.
“Mmm?”
Ice ran her spine. She struggled and could only let out a muffled cry.
“Do not fear, it is me,” a low, familiar voice breathed at her ear. She sagged and let the strength leave her limbs. Her heart slowly steadied.
“Come. We must leave.”
A gust stirred the night. She was lifted and carried away.
Inside the Temple of Matrimony, the world tilted. Nausea rose and broke. “Put me down,” she muttered.
The red door creaked shut. He set her on her feet. She clutched her chest and retched until the roil eased. Fury returned. She turned on the moonlit youth.
He was combing the humble temple inch by inch, checking corners and cracks, even the wall seams.
“Yun Wan Ye, are you insane,” she snapped. “You came up like a ghost and covered my mouth. I almost died of fright.”
He finished his sweep, finally eased his guard, and strolled back. He looked her over and said as if stating the weather: “I feared you would scream and alert the watchers. Tonight is already a snare. Do you know how many men lurk nearby?”
“If I had not taken you, you would now be in someone else’s hands. Tell me, would it sound good if Duke Ning Manor’s eldest daughter was caught sneaking about at midnight?”
Guilt pricked. She still lifted her chin. “What people? I saw no one.”
“Are you a fool,” Yun Wan Ye said as he flicked her forehead. He rolled his eyes. “Think. Why would esteemed Prince Qi be gravely wounded and trapped in a dry well? In Great Wu, who dares touch him? Where are his guards?”
“You, you, you,” she stammered as the light broke over her face. “So you, you can also—”
“So you finally catch on,” he said, rolling his eyes again.
She had no strength left to bicker. Since childhood he had outplayed her at every step. [He must have stolen all the nutrients in the womb. His brain grew better. That must be it.]
A thought struck hard. “Wait. You said no one dares harm Prince Qi, yet he is injured and hidden in a well. You do not mean His Majesty wishes him dead, do you?”
Impossible. They were brothers of one mother. The realm knew their bond. How could His Majesty wish it?
“Ai,” Yun Wan Ye sighed, torn between laughter and tears. “Not exactly. There are things I cannot tell you. Know this. The streets around us crawl with hunters seeking Prince Qi. His shadow guards also search. If you had rushed out to save him, you would have exposed his identity and his place, and driven him into worse danger. Worse, you would earn his suspicion.”
His meaning was clear. Her breath hitched. If even the shadow guards could not find him, yet she appeared at the right door at the right time, how could Mo Yuan Hao not wonder. He would think she had tracked him, even suspect the Yun family.
Cold ran through her. She looked at Yun Wan Ye with wide eyes.
Seeing she had understood, he softened only a shade and spoke low: “Now you see why Father arranged only to cut off Su Qian Xue and prevent their meeting, and did not pull Prince Qi from the net for credit.”
“Prince Qi is sharp and suspicious by nature. Rescue would not win thanks. It would sow doubt. Even Father held back. You nearly brought a storm tonight. If I had not watched you, who knows where you would be now.”
Shame flushed her face. “I was only worried and did not think,” she whispered.
He answered with a cold snort: “Worried about what?”
“If Eldest Brother Lu had not intercepted Su Qian Xue, she would have reached the well. In her state, she might have fallen. Must I say what would follow?”
What would follow was exactly what Little Fourth had described.
A dull pain speared her chest.
“Even in the story, they did this without being seen,” Yun Wan Ye said with a frown. “He will be fine on his own. Enough. It is dangerous here. We leave before the net tightens.”
[Prince Qi is this world’s male lead. How could he die so easily.]
Meanwhile, Lu Wu’s man, dressed like any townsman, reached Grand Commandant Manor and reported that their Young Miss had fallen ill and lay in a medical hall. Madam Su wept and dragged Grand Commandant Su to the clinic. By the time they arrived, the good Samaritan had vanished.
The patients in the hall watched the Su family with odd, knowing eyes.
Thus, the eldest daughter of Grand Commandant Manor lost her name in one night.