Having been enlightened, Chaochao forcefully pulled up the maids kneeling in a heap before her and sighed like a little adult.
Ashamed that she could not fulfill the promise she had just made, Tough Kid had never been one to lie. Since there was still some time, she could only do her best to make amends.
“None of you cry, Sisters. Wait for me.”
After leaving them that reassurance, the little girl suddenly turned and ran toward the daybed behind her.
While everyone watched in confusion, she flew up onto the daybed. Without even bothering to remove her shoes, she crawled to the inner side of the bed, swiftly opened the hidden compartment beneath the bed board, and stuck out her little bottom as she pretended to fish around for something. In truth, she was quickly operating her bracelet and taking out the things stored in its backpack.
Sister Qiuxiang’s voice came from right behind her. “What are you looking for, Miss? This servant will do it.”
Chaochao pretended that she had just managed to retrieve something. She hugged a flat vermilion-lacquered box to her chest, turned around, and hurriedly instructed Qiuxiang, “Sister Qiuxiang, go quickly and bring me my money chest.”
Though Qiuxiang did not understand, whenever her mistress gave an order, she had always obeyed without question.
After anxiously telling Chaochao to be careful and asking the relatively composed Shishu among the crowd to watch over the young lady, Qiuxiang did not dare delay. She hurried to the young lady’s small storeroom in the inner room next door and carried over the money chest.
“Miss, the money chest is here. What are your instructions?”
“Open it.”
Chaochao opened the box in her hands and pointed at the money chest as she spoke.
Qiuxiang did not dare delay. She fished out the ring of keys hanging around her neck from inside her collar, selected one, and quickly opened the money chest before looking toward her mistress.
“Miss?”
Chaochao glanced back, then waved her little hand and directed everyone inside and outside the room. “Quickly, make the most of the time. Everyone, line up!”
Although they did not understand what was happening, their mistress had given an order. No matter how panicked they were, they obediently formed a line.
Without another word, Chaochao looked at the person standing first. She immediately bent over the small box and rummaged through it, selecting a yellowed piece of paper. Then she stuck her bottom out again, fished a silver ingot from the little chest, and stuffed both items into the hands of the person before her.
“Shihua, these are yours.”
After stuffing them into her hands, the little one did not even look at the person in front of her. She continued with the next one. “Shiqi, yours. Green Willow, yours…” And so it went.
Once Shihua and the others saw what they were holding, their expressions changed one after another.
“Miss! This—this?”
Chaochao had already reached the last two, hurriedly giving the silver ingot and deed of service to Shishu and Sister Qiuxiang respectively. “The situation is urgent, and time waits for no one. Chaochao’s abilities are limited, and I can’t protect everyone. Sisters, each of you should flee for your lives.”
The deed of service and twenty taels of silver weighed heavily in their hands. Reluctance and fear mingled across their faces, and the room instantly fell as silent as death.
It was Huahua, who flew in from the corridor outside while repeatedly squawking, “This is bad! This is bad!” who finally broke the silence. She also made Chaochao anxious enough to urge them again.
“Go! Hurry, go! Save yourselves! If you’re late, you really won’t be able to leave!”
Only then did everyone look at one another. Biting their lips and shedding tears, they all knelt on the floor and kowtowed heavily to Chaochao. Then they rose, hunched and curled in on themselves as they clutched the things in their arms, wiped away their tears, and vanished in the blink of an eye.
The enormous room and enormous courtyard fell silent in an instant. Only the still-squawking Huahua and Qiuxiang, standing motionless beside her, remained.
Chaochao, who was preparing to sneak off and accomplish something major, looked at Qiuxiang and urged her as well. “Sister Qiuxiang, why aren’t you leaving?”
Qiuxiang wiped away her tears stubbornly, stuffed the deed of service and silver ingot in her hands back into Chaochao’s arms, shut the money chest with what little silver remained inside, and said stubbornly,
“This servant isn’t leaving. This servant is Qiuxiang, assigned to you by Second Madam. Wherever you are, this servant will be there!”
Chaochao tilted her head and stared fixedly at the woman before her. She blinked her large eyes a couple of times, then sighed.
“Sister Qiuxiang, when a household is confiscated, the final result is either execution or being sent away into exile. Chaochao can’t escape either outcome. Without an identity, running away privately means death. But you can escape. Chaochao is still counting on you to come back and save me. Even if Father and I are ultimately executed, at least we won’t end up so destitute that there isn’t even anyone to collect our bodies…”
“Bah, bah, bah! Children’s words are taboo. Miss, don’t say such nonsense!”
Chaochao gripped Qiuxiang’s arms tightly with both hands and stared into her eyes with unprecedented gravity and seriousness.
“It isn’t nonsense! Right now, you’re the only person Chaochao can trust. If you don’t help me, Father and I will definitely suffer terribly. The people coming to confiscate the household haven’t reached here yet, so hurry and leave through the dog hole behind West Court—the one Chaochao usually crawls through to go play. It’s absolutely safe there. Once you’re out, have the deed of service redeemed. Don’t delay, or a small delay may lead to disaster.”
“Miss!” Qiuxiang cried. At a time like this, the young lady was still thinking of her!
Listening to the little one’s soft, childish reminders and instructions, Qiuxiang crouched down and hugged her young mistress tightly, sobbing so hard she could not make a sound.
But Chaochao felt that time was pressing. She struggled free, opened the money chest, threw the deed of service inside, then laboriously picked it up and shoved it into Qiuxiang’s arms. She forcefully pushed her away.
“Go, hurry, go! Sister Qiuxiang, Chaochao can only count on you. Hurry and leave!”
After witnessing countless struggles and cruelties in the underworld of officialdom, Qiuxiang naturally knew how ruthless a household confiscation could be. She also understood clearly that the young lady was right.
Qiuxiang did not dare delay. With tears streaming down her face, she set the money chest down, then kowtowed three loud times to Chaochao—bang, bang, bang. Only then did she pick up the chest and leave without looking back.
She was afraid that if she turned around even once, her feet would never be able to move again.
But for the sake of the young lady, she had to flee amid the chaos. She had to!
Watching Qiuxiang’s figure disappear beyond the courtyard gate, Chaochao let out a sigh of relief. At the same time, she heard the commotion from the front courtyard growing louder.
Chaochao thought, This is bad! She hurriedly closed the door, turned, and returned to the room. She tapped her invisible little bracelet, opened its scanning and storage function, and began to loot her own belongings.
Xiaoyi had said that when a household was confiscated, the people who came would certainly search three feet into the ground. Not a single thing in the house would be left behind. How could that be allowed?
Everything that belonged to Chaochao was Chaochao’s! She definitely could not let the bad people take it away.
Fortunately, all the valuable items she usually kept were already in the bracelet’s storage backpack. Outside, only the jewelry, ornaments, clothing, and several hundred taels for daily expenses that had been recorded in the household inventory remained.
The money for daily expenses had just been given away, and even the chest had been carried off by Qiuxiang. All she had to do was store the jewelry, ornaments, and clothing.
Chaochao set to work with lightning speed. A white light shot out from the bracelet, and the objects it illuminated vanished instantly.
Once everything had been stored, Chaochao happily patted her little hands. When she saw the bed she slept in and felt reluctant to part with the bedding she had slept so soundly in, she simply decided to do everything at once and stored the bed as well. Since the bed was gone, then the furniture…
Store it!
Squeeze, squeeze, squeeze. Stack, stack, stack. As for space—there would be space if she squeezed hard enough.
It could truly be said that wherever the white light passed, not even a blade of grass remained. It was cleaner than the aftermath of a swarm of locusts! She did not spare a thought for what the people confiscating the household would think when they searched her Chaohui Courtyard and found it completely empty.
Right now, the most important thing was that she had to go find Father!
Speaking of her father, he had nothing but a handsome face. As Mother put it, she had chosen Chaochao’s father back then simply because he was exceptionally good-looking, suave and elegant, and possessed extraordinary talent—in every way, he was exactly Mother’s type.
Mother had also said that the most important thing in life was one’s own happiness. If there was something you liked, you had to act decisively; otherwise, once you passed this village, there would be no shop left. Chaochao deeply agreed.
Although ever since the night Mother returned to the stars after the Seven Stars Aligned, her abandoned-husband father had drowned himself in wine every day and had never been normal again, becoming dissolute and no longer carefree, he was still a good father!
Now that danger had arrived, Chaochao, as a little padded jacket who had not yet sprung a leak, declared:
Mm, find Father!