Outside, voices grew lively and chaotic as a patrol passed by.
“He said he’s the eldest grandson of Marquis Zhongyong’s household! Hahaha…”
“These damned vagrants are getting bolder and bolder! They actually dare impersonate nobles!”
“I reckon he was trying to sneak into Marquis Jinliang’s residence to steal something. Captain, you should definitely use this to earn some favor with General Lu!”
“Of course I will! Hahaha!”
Inside the gate, everyone exchanged glances. Then they smiled at one another. No one said a word.
Fifth Brother casually stuffed the blue-gray robe and black hood back into the carriage, then turned and gave Nian Chujiu a thumbs-up.
Only their Jiaojiao could come up with such a wickedly clever scheme! And somehow, they were rather proud of it. Truth be told, the brothers had originally worried that Gu Jiangzhi’s betrayal had broken their sister’s heart. Now, seeing that she was perfectly capable of striking back without mercy, it seemed she hadn’t been hurt nearly as badly as they had feared. That put their minds at ease. Gu Er-gou simply wasn’t worth it.
Fourth Brother had reserved three upper-class rooms on the second floor of Tairan Residence, in a quiet corner of the inn.
Nian Chujiu moved into the Heaven-Rank Room together with Mingyue and Yunduo.
The two Earth-Rank Rooms next door were arranged so that Fourth Brother shared one with the carriage drivers, while Fifth Brother and Sixth Brother shared the other.
This setup meant they could respond quickly if anything happened during the night.
The arrangement also placed Nian Chujiu’s Heaven-Rank Room between the two occupied rooms, creating an ideal protective formation.
The inn’s waiter was exceedingly attentive. With a spotless white towel draped over his shoulder, he bustled about offering service.
Hot tea, washing water for faces and feet- everything was prepared without being asked. After all, guests who could rent three of the best rooms on the second floor in one go were unlikely to be stingy with gratuities. Sure enough, the guest casually tipped him two taels of fine silver.
The waiter clutched the silver tightly and immediately beamed from ear to ear. “Honored guests, I’ll be on night duty downstairs all evening, and I’ve got sharp ears. If the young masters or the young lady need anything at all, hot water, food, or help finding something, just call, and I’ll be here at once.”
Fourth Brother asked, “Can we use the kitchen?”
Eager to please, the waiter replied, “Guest, what would you like to eat? I’ll have the cook prepare it for you.”
“No need. Northerners have different tastes.” Having traveled extensively, Fourth Brother carried himself with natural refinement. Though his tone was gentle, it left little room for argument. “Just show us the way. We’ve brought our own ingredients and will cook for ourselves.”
The waiter nodded immediately. “Of course!”
He then led Mingyue, Yunduo, and the two drivers toward the kitchen.
Everything was soon arranged.
The two maids busied themselves lighting the stove and preparing food, while Yang Qing and Deng Chong unloaded ingredients from the carriages. Their most important task, however, was to remove the blue-gray robe and black hood hidden in the carriage, both still tainted with the foul smell.
They carried those items directly to the stove and threw them into the fire until they burned completely to ashes. That was the real reason they had insisted on using the kitchen in the first place.
Not long afterward, the meal was served.
Deng Chong delivered some food to the night-shift waiter and sent some over to the attendant at the side gate as well.
The attendant at the side gate had already accepted silver to keep his mouth shut. As far as he was concerned, he knew nothing about when these guests had arrived, where they had come from, or what they had brought with them.
Before long, warm food was placed in his hands, and his smile widened from ear to ear. Squatting behind the gate, he ate with great satisfaction.
These guests were truly respectable people! If a group like this came by every so often, he’d never have to worry about food or clothing again.
The four Nian siblings gathered in one of the Earth-Rank Rooms for supper. The room faced south and was a spacious suite crafted from nanmu wood. The outer room served as both sitting room and tea room, furnished with an octagonal table and drum-shaped stools. A set of plum-green porcelain tea ware sat on the table, its glaze smooth and lustrous like jade. A four-panel nanmu screen inlaid with silk gauze divided the room from the inner chamber. Simple orchid leaves were painted on the silk, giving the room an elegant air. Bright horn lanterns hung from the beams. A bronze crane-shaped incense burner in the corner released the faint scent of suhe incense. Floral-patterned carpets covered the floor.
The food wasn’t as refined as the meals at home, but after such a long, exhausting day, a bowl of hot soup and a few cups of wine were enough to ease everyone’s tightly wound nerves.
Nian Chujiu ate only a few bites before setting her chopsticks down. In the candlelight, her complexion looked somewhat pale. Looking at her brothers sitting there, alive and well before her, a faint mist gathered in her eyes.
Nian Chujiu was the legitimate daughter of the eldest branch of the Nian family and had two elder brothers above her.
Her eldest brother, Nian Jinxu, was more than four years older than she was. As the family’s eldest legitimate son, he carried the hopes of the entire household. From a young age, he often accompanied his father and uncles on business trips, learning the trade as he traveled across the country. He had gradually developed the steadiness expected of the family’s future head. Yet when it came to this little sister, he had always doted on her beyond measure, even more than their father did.
Whenever Nian Jinxu returned home after a long journey, the first thing he did upon entering the house was search for her tiny figure. Then he would scoop up his giggling little sister, rub his cheek against her soft hair, and magically produce some interesting trinket from his sleeve to make her happy.
Her third brother, Nian Jinen, had a sharp tongue and had spent much of his childhood teasing her for amusement. If she said east, he insisted on west. If she wanted to look pretty, he would deliberately pull ugly faces to frighten her to tears.
As a child, Nian Chujiu did not particularly like her third brother. Yet of all her siblings, she resembled him the most. Their brows, eyes, noses, and mouths looked as though they had been carved from the same mold.
Later, after surviving life-and-death hardships, Nian Chujiu finally understood that those clumsy faces he made and the deliberate arguments he picked were simply a half-grown boy’s awkward, bumbling attempts to attract his little sister’s attention and make her smile. He just hadn’t known how to be good to her.
Before their execution in her previous life, her third brother had cried and shouted: “Jiaojiao, your third brother loves you too! Please don’t hate me, alright?”
…
The Nian family never split into separate households, and all the children were ranked by age regardless of branch.
Second Brother Nian Jinyu, Fifth Brother Nian Jinchuan, and Seventh Brother Nian Jincheng belonged to the second branch.
Fourth Brother Nian Jinlou and Sixth Brother Nian Jinsheng belonged to the third branch.
Growing up, Nian Chujiu had been closest to Fourth Brother, Fifth Brother, and Sixth Brother. As a child, she was wild by nature. She disliked the refined pursuits expected of young ladies and instead loved mountains and wilderness, always wanting to run outside the city to identify medicinal herbs and gather wild plants.
Naturally, the family elders worried about such hobbies. But with three utterly devoted “personal bodyguards” following her everywhere, they eventually let her do as she pleased.
Fourth Brother excelled at searching ancient books to locate places where rare herbs were said to grow.
Fifth Brother efficiently prepared the carriages, provisions, and water skins.
Sixth Brother quietly checked ropes, hooks, small digging tools, and insect- and snake-repellent powders.
The seamless coordination they had shown tonight was second nature to them.
Seeing his sister sitting there lost in thought, a lingering trace of moisture still shining in her eyes, Fifth Brother, Nian Jinchuan, waved a hand in front of her face.
“What are you thinking about?”
“Is that Gu Er-gou really worth spending even a bit of your energy on?”
“Listen to me. Stop thinking about him.”
“In the future, your brothers will definitely find you an excellent husband, one a thousand times better than him!”
“Exactly!” Sixth Brother chimed in immediately, wearing an utterly serious expression. “We’ll find someone truly outstanding. One in ten thousand. Looks, character, family background, everything will be first-rate!”
Nian Chujiu snapped out of her thoughts. Suppressing the mixture of warmth and sadness swelling in her chest, she deliberately lifted her chin and gave a light snort. “Who said I was thinking about Gu Er-gou? I don’t care about him at all!”
“That’s the Jiaojiao of our Nian family!” Fourth Brother, who had been quietly listening all along, picked up the serving chopsticks and steadily placed a helping of the light vegetable dish she had always liked into her bowl. “Eat a little more. You’ve grown thinner these past days. Even your chin has become pointed.”
Looking at the food piling up in her bowl, the last traces of gloom in Nian Chujiu’s heart completely dispersed. A sweet smile spread across her face. She had very little appetite, but she obediently picked up her chopsticks, carefully ate the vegetables Fourth Brother had given her, and finished the warm cup of rice wine before returning to her room.
After their sister left, Fifth Brother snorted softly. “That girl from the Gu family is something else.”
Fourth Brother frowned. “Which girl from the Gu family?”