Whenever Su Jinyuan thought of these things, she suddenly could not stop crying.
In the past, whenever those young ladies cried in front of him, they had all been like pear blossoms drenched in rain, so pitiful that anyone would feel sorry for them. But when this girl cried, her tears and snot smeared together, and she pressed her lips tightly together as huge tears fell one after another, as if she wished they could smash craters into the ground.
Young Master Xie had never seen anything like this. His hand froze, and he swallowed back the words that had reached his lips.
“I didn’t even hit you. What are you crying for?”
The moment he finished speaking, Su Jinyuan began crying even harder.
Xie Yunyan’s face darkened. Seeing that the bandits who had been captured were all looking over at them as if he had done something terrible to her, he turned toward them and cursed, “What are you looking at? Keep staring and I’ll dig your eyes out!”
With that, he dragged Su Jinyuan over to the fire and drew a deep breath. “Shut up.”
Su Jinyuan hiccuped through her tears, and two flatbreads were stuffed into her arms.
“You were ugly to begin with. You’re even uglier when you cry.”
Su Jinyuan lowered her head and looked at the things in her arms as tears pattered down.
The veins on Xie Yunyan’s forehead throbbed. He shoved two more pieces of braised meat at her. “This is all I brought. I’m giving it all to you. Stop crying.”
Her crying was giving him a headache.
Afraid that the girl would start crying again, he raised his brows fiercely. “If you cry again, I’ll beat you!”
Seeing the boy glaring at her with a vicious expression, utterly different from the unnerving smile he had worn on the mountain, Su Jinyuan realized that although he was furious, he had not truly done anything to her. The two flatbreads and pieces of braised meat in her arms also made her thoroughly chilled heart feel as though it had been soaking in warm water.
Her eyes red, she sobbed, “Young Master Xie, I know Lu Zhuo, but I never thought of running away on the day of The Wedding.”
Su Jinyuan had indeed fallen for Lu Zhuo, but she understood shame and had honored the marriage agreement arranged by her Father. She had never done anything improper with Lu Zhuo. And the reason she had left the city on the day of The Wedding was indeed because Yu Shi had found her while carrying a personal belonging of her younger brother from his childhood.
“I only met Lu Zhuo after my Aunt tricked me into leaving the city.”
At first, he had said he would help her find her younger brother. After they entered the mountains, he had confessed his feelings for her in the wilderness and then pleaded bitterly with her not to marry. He had even told her that since she had already run away from the Xiao Family’s wedding, the Xiao Family would never forgive her if she went back.
At that time, she had been a young girl who understood nothing. Afraid of the Xiao Family’s displeasure and of being scolded by her uncle if she returned, she had also been overwhelmed by the outpouring of affection from the person she loved. Her mind muddled, she had been coaxed by Lu Zhuo into eloping with him and leaving the Capital.
Xie Yunyan frowned as he looked at her.
Su Jinyuan raised a hand. “I swear, I truly had no intention of humiliating the Xiao Family. If my Aunt hadn’t come looking for me with my little brother’s belongings, I would never have left on the day of The Wedding and brought shame upon the Xiao Family.”
Xie Yunyan saw how seriously she spoke. Despite the garish makeup on her face, her eyes were exceptionally clear.
He was not an ignorant child, either. He remembered how, when he had gone to the Su Family to escort the bride that day, Yu Shi had insisted that Su Jinyuan had eloped with someone and had not tried to cover for her in the slightest. It had been Eldest Brother Xiao who had suppressed the matter and forbidden anyone from revealing a single word of it.
Xie Yunyan’s gaze grew somber. “You and your Aunt don’t get along?”
Su Jinyuan nodded. “She’s never liked me. She also wanted to marry Su Xinyue to Eldest Young Master Xiao. Before that, she wanted me to break off the engagement, but I refused. She wanted me to bring Su Xinyue to the Xiao Family, but I refused that, too…”
Yu Shi had tried several times to make her bring Su Xinyue to the Xiao Family, but she had been unwilling.
Yu Shi had even entertained the idea of having Su Xinyue “seduce” him. Su Jinyuan was not lying.
Looking at Xie Yunyan, Su Jinyuan said, “I know my Aunt harmed me, but what happened on the day of The Wedding was my fault. I caused Eldest Young Master Xiao and the Xiao Family to lose face. Once we return to the Capital, I’m willing to go to the Xiao Family and accept my punishment.”
Seeing that she did not shirk responsibility, Xie Yunyan’s expression softened somewhat.
He regarded Xiao Yunxi as his biological elder brother, and what infuriated him was that her escape from the wedding had caused Eldest Brother Xiao to lose face.
Xie Yunyan let out a scornful laugh. “If you wanted to find someone, why didn’t you ask the Xiao Family for help? You’re so stupid. It’s no wonder you were sold off.”
He cursed her, but the chill emanating from him had faded somewhat. He undid his cloak and tossed it over Su Jinyuan’s head.
“I told you already—the Xiao Family isn’t unreasonable. Once we return to the Capital and get to the bottom of everything, we’ll deal with whoever’s responsible.”
“Get yourself ready. Once we deliver these things to the local authorities, we’ll return to the Capital immediately.”
Seeing that the boy was clear-cut in love and hate and had not implicated her at all, Su Jinyuan pulled the cloak around herself more tightly. The cloak still carried the warmth of his body.
Suddenly, she felt that she had been a fool in her previous life.
How had she been blind enough to choose Lu Zhuo when the Xiao Family was so good to her?
Heavy rain fell in the mountains throughout the night, only stopping the next morning.
Xie Yunyan tied up the bandits with rope, yanking them along one after another like tumbling gourds, and led Su Jinyuan to the county office at the foot of the mountain. After handing all of them over to the authorities, Xie Yunyan found a carriage and took Su Jinyuan back to the Capital.
The boy was still difficult to talk to and somewhat sharp-tongued, but he was incomparably better than when she had first met him in the mountains.
Su Jinyuan changed into a fresh set of clothes and ate two full meals.
When she saw Xie Yunyan impatiently thrust a Hand Warmer at her, she blinked. It was already April—where had he even found this thing?
“There are still two days of travel from here to the Capital,” Xie Yunyan said. “Hold this so you don’t slow me down.”
When Su Jinyuan only looked up at him, he shoved the Hand Warmer directly into her arms, turned, and sat down on the front carriage shaft. With a flick of the reins, he drove away.
Su Jinyuan swayed with the carriage and grabbed the edge of the window to steady herself. As the curtains swung, she caught sight of the boy outside, sitting against the carriage with a stern expression. She could not help letting out a soft laugh.
Hugging the Hand Warmer to herself, she felt warmth spread through her.
The people of the Xiao Family truly were very, very good.
Drawing on the warmth of the Hand Warmer, Su Jinyuan carefully recalled the events of her previous life.
She remembered that on the day she had left the Capital in her previous life, an urgent report had also arrived from the Southern Lands.
After continuous heavy rains battered Linchuan Commandery, the great dam had burst and floodwaters had submerged the city, leaving famine victims strewn across the land. Disaster Relief had been mishandled by the court, resulting in refugees revolting, and Southern Yue had taken the opportunity to send its army north in an attempt to seize Linchuan.
Xiao Yunxi had set out to recruit troops and depart the next day at Emperor Qing’s command, together with General Xiao and the other three Xiao sons. That battle had marked the beginning of the Xiao Family’s destruction. Not a single person from the Xiao Family who went to war had returned.
General Xiao had died, and Xiao Yunxi had likewise perished in the Southern Lands.
Later, for some unknown reason, the Xiao Family had been branded with the crime of colluding with the enemy and betraying the nation. Almost all of those who had remained in the Capital had been killed as well. In the end, the only person left alive from the entire Xiao Family had been Xie Yunyan, who had been raised in the Xiao Family since childhood.
During that period, she had been in Qu’an the entire time. First, Lu Zhuo had sold her and robbed her of her chastity. Later, she had encountered one thing after another and had been too occupied to concern herself with anything else.
By the time she learned that something had happened to the Xiao Family, more than half a year had already passed.
Everything she knew about the Xiao Family’s misfortunes had come later from the idle gossip of others. She had no idea exactly when the Xiao Family had met disaster or what had caused it.
Later, when she returned to the Capital with Lu Zhuo and Xie Yunyan suddenly led troops in rebellion, surrounding the Imperial City and carrying out a massacre, she only vaguely learned that the matter was connected to the Duke of Yu and several officials.
Curled up inside the carriage, Su Jinyuan dug her nails into her palm.
She had been just about to find an excuse to mention the matter to Xie Yunyan. Regardless of whether anything happened to General Xiao and the others, at least the members of the Xiao Family remaining in the Capital could have been prepared.
But she had not expected an accident to come so abruptly.
They had been intercepted halfway there.
When the carriage came to an abrupt stop, Su Jinyuan immediately sensed that something was wrong. She hurriedly lifted the curtain and looked outside. In the distance, she saw that the entire official road had been blocked by people. Not far away, someone was aiming an arrow at them as the group surrounded their carriage.