Ignoring them, Xiao Mingyue turned around to leave. Unexpectedly, the two exchanged a glance and directly pulled off her bamboo hat.
When they caught sight of Xiao Mingyue’s unfamiliar face, disappointment inevitably washed over their expressions.
“Satisfied?” Xiao Mingyue smiled faintly, showing not a hint of anger at their actions.
Shen Wanxin asked, “Which family’s young lady or noble lady are you?”
Xiao Mingyue was dressed mysteriously, though her appearance was decent enough. After all, the Exquisite Pavilion was not a place just anyone could enter, leading them to guess which family’s young lady or wife Xiao Mingyue might be.
Xiao Mingyue raised her hands in a clasped salute, bowing slightly to observe etiquette before explaining:
“I am Liuli, a guest advisor behind Prime Minister Pei, ordered by Lord Pei to purchase items for Miss Pei’s dowry.”
Indeed, she had already made her future plans clear to Pei Yanli. Initially, Pei Yanli had disapproved of her entering the palace, but unable to withstand her persistent persuasion, he ultimately declared to the outside world that Xiao Mingyue was his long-lost sister, Pei Yue, who would enter the palace during the upcoming draft selection.
It was no wonder Feng Buji raised suspicions. As soon as Xiao Mingyue died without even a corpse to be found, Pei Yanli had inexplicably gained a long-lost sister out of nowhere.
“Very well. This County Princess never goes back on her word—this gold hairpin is yours.” Though disappointed, Gu Liyu kept her word and truly bought the gold hairpin to give to Xiao Mingyue.
Xiao Mingyue had originally come to keep watch on Baoyu, but ran into the two of them by chance. Seeing this, she also picked out two pieces of jewelry to gift them in return.
“A reward without merit is unearned, so please accept these modest gifts in return. I have other matters to attend to, so I shall take my leave first.” After speaking, Xiao Mingyue put on her bamboo hat and departed briskly.
If she didn’t leave now, she wouldn’t be able to catch up with Baoyu and her group.
Gu Liyu and Shen Wanxin looked at the pear blossom earrings and the rose-gold ring face in their respective hands, staring at each other in surprise. These items appealed perfectly to their tastes, yet how did she know what they liked?
This person was truly strange…
On Xiao Mingyue’s end, she finally caught up with Baoyu and her group, only to find them searching for something, looking left and right anxiously.
Without them realizing it, Xiao Mingyue appeared behind them, casually dangling a jade pendant from her finger. “Are you looking for this?”
Baoyu whipped her head around. Seeing Xiao Mingyue holding her belonging, anger flared within her.
“Bold maid servant! You actually stole my property! Do you have any idea who I am?”
Having suffered a setback at the hands of Gu Liyu and Shen Wanxin earlier, she now intended to vent all her frustration on this “thief,” Xiao Mingyue.
Just as Baoyu charged over, Xiao Mingyue turned and ran, stopping only when she reached an empty, dim alleyway.
“You little wench, let’s see you try running now!” Baoyu pressed both hands against her knees, panting heavily.
She must have been living far too comfortably in the Prince’s manor, having grown so fat in just half a month.
“Return my thing to me, or I’ll kill you,” Baoyu threatened.
Xiao Mingyue casually toyed with the pendant in her palm. Upon hearing this, she could not help but mock: “Is this your property for you to demand it back?”
This was clearly her own item, stolen by Baoyu after her death. How had it suddenly become Baoyu’s property?
“Wench, do you believe I’ll tear your face to shreds?” Furious, Baoyu suddenly lunged forward and forcefully yanked off Xiao Mingyue’s bamboo hat.
As a gust of wind blew past, Xiao Mingyue’s three thousand black tresses fluttered in the breeze, revealing her original face.
“You, you, you… are you a human or a ghost?” Terrified, Baoyu stumbled and fell to the ground, the bamboo hat dropping beside her.
Seeing her originally flushed face turn deathly pale, Xiao Mingyue smiled knowingly, walking over to crouch beside her.
“My, I am a human, of course.”
“You… weren’t you already dead?” Baoyu pointed a trembling finger at Xiao Mingyue, her eyes wide with terror.
Wasn’t Xiao Mingyue dead? She had personally verified it herself! Even when she sliced her face with a blade, she hadn’t reacted at all. How could she now…
“You’re quite disappointed that I’m not dead, aren’t you?”
Baoyu looked at Xiao Mingyue in utter disbelief, filled with shock and terror.
“Say it again—is this your property or not?” Xiao Mingyue dangled the pendant before Baoyu, her face cold as ice.
“This… this is my property!” The panic in Baoyu’s eyes morphed into greed and rage as she reached out to snatch it.
Xiao Mingyue suddenly pulled her hand back, causing Baoyu’s move to miss completely.
“You are just as greedy and vicious as your mistress. But I happen to be in a good mood today. If you hand over Xiaochun, I might just spare your life,” Xiao Mingyue said coldly. Since she was imprisoned in the dungeon, she had lost contact with Xiaochun and had no idea how she was doing now.
Unexpectedly, upon hearing Xiaochun’s name, Baoyu’s expression turned frantic. She burst into wild laughter: “Xiaochun? That wretched maid died long ago! I threw her to the roadside beggars to be defiled to death!”
Slap!
Xiao Mingyue dealt her a harsh slap across the face, then grabbed her collar, demanding fiercely: “What did you say?”
“I said that wretched maid Xiaochun is dead!”
“How dare you!” Xiao Mingyue rained slaps across her face from left to right, stopping only after beating her face into a swollen pulp.
Xiao Mingyue exhaled softly, casually tossing her aside before rubbing her aching hand.
“Dead, is she? Fine. You will die just as she died,” Xiao Mingyue said indifferently, looking at Baoyu as if gazing upon a corpse.
With a cold flash of light, she drew a dagger from her wide sleeve.
“What are you going to do?” Baoyu struggled to open her eyes from her swollen, fleshy face, her tiny eyes widening in horror as she crawled along the ground, trying to slither forward.
Xiao Mingyue dragged her right back, then slashed her dagger fiercely across her ankle, leaving it dripping with blood.
“Ah!” Baoyu’s shrill, miserable scream instantly echoed throughout the entire alley.
“Keep crawling! I told you to crawl faster!” Xiao Mingyue’s expression grew somewhat twisted as she laughed wildly. Amid Baoyu’s cries and wails, she delivered another slash to her other foot.
A foul stench wafted out—Baoyu had actually been terrified into incontinence.
The mere thought of how malicious this wretched maid and her mistress were made Xiao Mingyue long to hack them into a thousand pieces.
“I will sever your hand and foot tendons first so you cannot escape, then call a few beggars in to deal with you. I said it before—you will die just as Xiaochun died.” Like a demon climbing out of hell, Xiao Mingyue stepped closer to Baoyu step by step, severing her hand tendons amid her deafening cries and wails.
“Aaaaaah!”
Xiao Mingyue casually tossed aside the bloodstained dagger, adjusted her bamboo hat, and strode out of the alleyway.
Baoyu lay on the ground dying like a dog. Moments later, several filthy, foul-smelling beggars in tattered clothes walked into the alley, their eyes lighting up at the sight of Baoyu.
“Brothers, after we finish her off, how about we cook and eat her?”
“Hahaha, that works! It’s been a long time since we had meat!”
“Hehehe, here I come~”