A cold sensation pressed against Nan Yang’s slender nape as a steel blade was placed against the back of her neck.
In the morning light, goosebumps quickly rose on the girl’s fair neck.
Magistrate Yang’s face turned ashen as he shouted, “I am bound to die today, so why drag women and children into this? Enough! After my death, I hope Marquis Xiao will honor his promise and let the Wei Family master and servants leave!”
“Wei Erniangzi, pick up the dagger and do it!”
Nan Yang slowly bent down to retrieve the dagger.
Mr. Ming had arrived earlier, standing in the crowd and watching the commotion while fanning himself with a large palm-leaf fan. General Di stood with his arms crossed at the back of the crowd, also watching.
From the corner of her eye, Nan Yang spotted a sturdy, tall black horse. It looked like Huaiyang Marquis’s mount, standing by the roadside in the distance, leisurely grazing with its head lowered.
Beside the black horse, a tall man leaned against a tree, loosely holding the reins, with a long sword hanging at his waist.
His face was hidden in the tree’s shade and unclear, but she felt that this was Huaiyang Marquis Xiao Chengyan.
—Was he also here to watch her spectacle?
Nan Yang’s lips twitched, and she averted her gaze.
Who wanted to see the Living Yama so early in the morning?
She neither wanted to kill Magistrate Yang nor let anything happen to Grandma. After hesitating for a few steps, she made up her mind and tried to slip into the crowd.
But after just two steps, she was surrounded by vigilant soldiers.
“What are you doing?”
“What do you intend?!”
Only then did Nan Yang realize she was still holding the dagger. She quickly threw it to the ground and kicked it away.
“Stop surrounding me. I won’t kill Magistrate Yang.”
“Take me to Marquis Xiao. There is something about Ping An Town that I must tell him in person.”
No one made way.
Di Rong approached a few steps. “What matter do you have for my lord? Tell me first.”
Nan Yang decided to take the plunge: “Isn’t Marquis Xiao searching the entire town for young women aged fifteen to twenty-five? Take me to him. Perhaps I am the person he is looking for.”
Feeling refreshed after waking up in the morning, she had thought it through.
She planned to tell Huaiyang Marquis everything that had happened by the river in Ping An Town.
She didn’t rely on the Shanyang Commandery’s troops following behind to save her. Whether she could escape or find Prefect Lu’s forces—she had been caught before and wasn’t as optimistic as Magistrate Yang.
Once the thought of escaping crossed her mind, she feared she wouldn’t live long.
Nan Yang had made up her mind: she would trade the fateful encounter of rescuing someone by the water for Grandma’s life.
Even if the other party flew into a rage and killed her to avenge that slap, he should spare Grandma.
After all, both Magistrate Yang and she had seen Prefect Lu’s damning letter; only Grandma was illiterate.
If only one of the three could survive… at least let Grandma live.
“You say you are the young lady my lord is looking for?!” Di Rong stared wide-eyed and actually pushed through the crowd to report.
Nan Yang hurriedly followed two steps, but Ming Wenhuan stepped out of the crowd, fanning himself, and raised a hand to stop her with a smile. “No need to go. She is not the young lady Marquis Xiao is looking for.”
Nan Yang was dumbfounded. “Huh?” Why are you so certain, Mr. Ming?
Rarely having made up her mind, she had already hit a wall at the very start. Blocked behind the crowd, her gaze turned bewildered as she looked toward the distant tree again.
The tall black horse was still there, grazing leisurely with its head lowered, but its owner had vanished without a trace.
Recalling the moment she threw away the dagger, it seemed he had turned and left.
Nan Yang: …What kind of turn of events is this?
Last night, Marquis Huaiyang circled around her again and again while she crouched on the ground, unwilling to look at him.
Today, when she wanted to see Marquis Huaiyang, she couldn’t find him at all?
Nan Yang pointed at herself, trying to struggle one more time: “Perhaps I really am the person Marquis Xiao is looking for? Mr. Ming, look at me—”
Ming Wenhuan’s affectionate gaze was like looking at a foolish child.
“Wei Erniangzi comes from a distinguished family, a well-bred young lady—of course she is not the rustic girl Marquis Xiao is searching for. Is Second Miss trying to delay? No need, no need, it’s all settled now. Why not stop looking for Marquis Xiao and just get on the carriage back to the capital?”
Nan Yang: ??
Ming Wenhuan’s attitude suddenly became warm and enthusiastic, coaxing and praising her as he guided her toward the carriage by the roadside.
“Ah, with a sharp blade before you and a knife at your throat, Wei Erniangzi still refused to take a life—such kindness and benevolence, truly admirable, truly admirable! Come, come, the carriage was inspected and repaired last night. Get in, get in. We’ll send Wei Erniangzi back to the capital right away.”
Nan Yang: “…”
Nan Yang stared blankly at the luxurious, spacious two-horse carriage before her.
Wasn’t this Marquis Huaiyang’s own carriage?
She shivered slightly and turned to leave. “No, no, no. Our small carriage is stuck in the ditch—we can still use it once we pull it out.”
Mr. Ming quickly stopped her and was gently persuading her to board the carriage when the sound of urgent galloping hooves suddenly came from behind.
Marquis Huaiyang’s black steed appeared in Nan Yang’s line of sight.
Following the whistling wind that trailed the black horse came a detached command: “Enough nonsense. Get in the carriage.”
“…” Nan Yang was shoved into the carriage by two guards.
Grandma and Magistrate Yang were soon also pushed into the carriage.
The three of them sat facing each other in the ornately decorated carriage, exchanging bewildered glances.
Although the carriage moved slowly and was not particularly bumpy—even comfortable compared to the small carriage before…
All three felt dizzy, breathless, as if trapped in an utterly absurd dream.
Since last night, when their small carriage was caught up in a seemingly hopeless, fatal situation; then the sudden reversal at dawn, escaping death; and now, sitting in Marquis Huaiyang’s luxurious carriage, heading straight for the capital.
From beginning to end, they couldn’t understand why, only feeling their hearts trembling with fear.
Magistrate Yang’s expression was grave: “Wei Erniangzi, what exactly did you do to make Marquis Xiao change his mind and spare our lives?”
Nan Yang didn’t know what she had done either… She hadn’t even seen him.
“No, there must be a reason. It must be related to Wei Erniangzi’s response this morning.”
Magistrate Yang sighed deeply, stood up, and bowed deeply to the ground. “I am Yang Shenzhi. This life of mine was saved by Wei Erniangzi.”
Nan Yang quickly stood up and stepped aside. “No, no, I really didn’t do anything.”
Magistrate Yang insisted on bowing: “I dare not forget this life-saving grace!”
…
Unable to make sense of it, Nan Yang simply lay down.
Covered with Grandma’s outer garment, she leaned against the carriage window and dozed off. A sudden thunderstorm with rolling thunder couldn’t even wake her from her dreams.
Grandma’s murmuring voice reached her ears through the fabric, mingled with the rustling sound of the downpour overhead—hazy and indistinct, like a dream veiled in gauze.
“This journey has truly been a great ordeal. Marquis Huaiyang is an absolute madman. Who knows how a madman acts? Will he really send us to the capital? It’s nerve-wracking.”
“If Second Miss had married early and not stayed with the Wei Family, last year she wouldn’t have been sent to the town over a few quarrels with her sisters, and she wouldn’t have suffered this great turmoil.”
“If Second Miss’s birth mother, Lady Zhou, had been well and not gone mad, and Second Miss had stayed with the Wei Family, with her own mother to support her, she would surely have been a pampered and cherished young lady, no less grand than the eldest daughter. How different from her current situation… Ah.”
Nan Yang shifted beneath her cloak, half-asleep, thinking, No.
Even if Mother had been well and not gone mad, she would have long fallen out of favor. Father is not the type to cherish a woman for long.
None of the women in Father’s inner quarters have lived well. Not even the Legal Mother has lived well.
Grandma muttered softly without pause.
Somehow, the topic shifted to the surname “Lu.”
“The prefect of Shanyang Commandery is also surnamed Lu. Right, I almost forgot—the Lu clan is a prominent family in Shanyang Commandery.”
Grandma rambled on: “Second Miss, do you remember Lu Dalangjun, who often visited the Wei Family when you were young? You have a grandaunt who married into the Lu Family, so the two of you are cousins once removed. Lu Dalangjun’s ancestral home is also in Shanyang Commandery—perhaps he shares the same lineage as Prefect Lu. In the blink of an eye, so many years have passed. You’re sixteen now, Second Miss, and Lu Dalangjun must be…”
Grandma calculated, not entirely certain, “Twenty-two or twenty-three this year.”
“Twenty-two,” Nan Yang said with her eyes closed. “Eldest Cousin Lu is six years older than me.”
“Yes,” Grandma said happily. “It’s good that Second Miss still remembers these things. Lu Dalangjun studied in the capital when he was younger and was so close to you as a child—truly childhood sweethearts. After completing his studies at sixteen, Lu Dalangjun left the capital, and we haven’t seen him since. Second Miss, when you return, ask the family head where he is now…”
Compared to Grandma’s hidden expectations, Nan Yang’s response was indifferent.
She turned over, pulling her cloak down to reveal only her eyes, and slowly spoke a blunt truth.
“Eldest Cousin Lu has long had nothing to do with me. Grandma, let me sleep a little longer.” She tugged the cloak back over her head, ready to lie down again.
Grandma was both angry and anxious, her frustration tinged with helplessness.
Second Miss was perfect in every way, except that she never fought or competed for anything. Deep down, she lacked the fierce, tenacious spirit to grasp things firmly in her hands.
Who was Lu Dalangjun? He and Second Miss were no ordinary cousins. Back when Lady Zhou was in charge, he was nearly chosen as Second Miss’s betrothed!
Now, rumors in the inner quarters suggested that the Lu and Wei families indeed planned to strengthen their ties through marriage, but the one betrothed to Lu Dalangjun had become the Wei Family’s legitimate eldest daughter!
Ming Wenhuan rode on horseback, lost in thought.
He took out a portrait he had brought from Ping An Town, unfolded it in the wind, and studied it for a while before catching up to Xiao Chengyan’s horse at the front of the procession.
“There’s something this subordinate initially thought impossible. But upon closer reflection, it seems plausible.”
“Marquis Xiao, please look. Wei Erniangzi’s appearance—an oval face, round eyes, fair skin, petite stature—matches the description of the benefactor young lady given by the women of Ping An Town.”