“Where did that cleverness of yours go?” Li Rong’s eyes reddened as soon as she finished speaking.
The ring of purple bruises around her Third Sister’s wrist proved that Third Master Zhou was no good man!
Li Qu remained silent.
From being trapped in the Zhou Residence with no way to save herself, to deciding to risk everything by blocking the road and appealing to the authorities for a change; from witnessing Zhou Jin personally kill someone inside the provincial government office, to narrowly escaping death after meeting Chang San; and finally to angering Zhou Jin with a single sentence of her own…
Every incident that had occurred weighed on Li Qu’s tightly strung nerves.
Even now, she did not know whether she was crying because she had lost her chastity, because she had been careless and lost everything, or because she had a useless teammate for a Second Sister.
“Waaah…”
With a thump, Li Rong dropped to her knees beside Li Qu’s feet. She clutched Li Qu’s legs and wailed:
“I—I only thought that since the Old Madam of a wealthy household was doing a good deed and giving away Dragon’s Beard Pastries for free, there was no reason not to eat them! How was I supposed to know it was just a pretext for finding a woman for the men of the family?”
“I—I thought you could deal with any man as easily as before. How was I supposed to know you’d be bullied like this?”
“I—I’m going to report this to the authorities!”
Zhou Jin had not even reached the door before he heard every bit of Li Rong’s wailing.
When Nanny Xu saw Zhou Jin approaching, she hurried inside to urge them along.
Li Rong and Zhou Jin came face-to-face at the doorway, then passed each other in opposite directions.
Zhou Jin did not spare Li Rong even a glance. He strode straight into the room.
The tears on Li Rong’s face had not yet dried. Pointing at Zhou Jin’s retreating figure, she stared in disbelief. “Th-That was Third Master Zhou?”
Nanny Xu seized Li Rong’s pointing finger, then pulled her toward the courtyard exit. “It’s getting late. Second Miss, you should return and report to your mother-in-law.
“Now that the Concubine and Third Master have been physically intimate, are you refusing to sign the concubinage contract because you want to sign a deed of sale instead?”
Li Rong wiped away her tears. “Li Qu is ridiculously lucky!”
The Heir of Prince Yan was handsome and accomplished, and Third Master Zhou of the Zhou Residence was equally striking and refined.
They were both top-notch beauties—I mean, handsome men!
Nanny Xu fully agreed with Li Rong. Smiling, she said, “When our Second Master went into business back then, he even borrowed silver taels from our Third Master.
“That’s why Third Master owns a ten-percent share in all of Second Master’s businesses. You know Treasure Pavilion, don’t you? That was the business Second Master started with. It has branches all over the country, and Third Master owns fifty percent of it.”
Bitter bubbles began to rise in Li Rong’s heart.
The gloom she had felt over Li Qu losing her chastity vanished in an instant.
Her Third Sister had escaped from a nest of wealth and landed in a nest of gold and silver. What a blessed life!
Nanny Xu continued earnestly, “If the Concubine wins our Third Master’s favor, she’ll enjoy endless blessings in the future!
“Once the Concubine has wealth and status, surely she won’t forget to look after her maternal family?
“As for that concubinage contract, I advise you to sign it as soon as possible!”
Li Rong’s face fell.
A concubinage contract?
The Heir of Prince Yan’s contract for taking a favored concubine—and her Third Sister still looked down on it!
They returned home in silence. Upon seeing the worried Mother Li, Li Rong let out a heavy sigh.
“Mother, that contraceptive decoction really was something Third Sister drank herself!”
Mother Li immediately collapsed into a chair.
Li Rong abandoned her usual frivolous smile, cast aside the bitter bubbles in her heart, and spoke with a solemn frown.
“Third Master Zhou and the Heir of Prince Yan are different.
“Third Sister met the Heir of Prince Yan when she was eight. The two of them grew up together and share an extraordinary bond.
“The Heir treats Third Sister as a precious treasure, which is why she can make him observe propriety around her.”
“Third Master Zhou only met Third Sister yesterday. That’s why she has no way to deal with him.
“On top of that, yesterday she accused the Zhou family of abducting a commoner’s daughter and offended everyone in the Zhou family. So naturally, he treats her badly!”
After a pause, she added indignantly, “He’s a vile creature! Even if Third Sister has lost her chastity, she can’t stay beside someone who looks like jade on the outside but is rotten wood within!”
A cloud of worry hung over the Li family, and the atmosphere in Fragrant Splendor Court was no better.
All of Li Qu’s emotions became sealed away the moment Zhou Jin arrived.
Zhou Jin had come to Fragrant Splendor Court for a meal. As a proper concubine, Li Qu should have stepped forward to serve him and place food in his bowl.
Instead, after Zhou Jin sat down, she immediately sat far away from him as well.
Nanny Xu stared in shock.
Zhou Jin glanced at Li Qu. She lowered her eyes and ignored him.
This was her silent resistance.
At the same time, Li Rong’s words had made her understand even more clearly that Xiao Cong and Zhou Jin were two completely different kinds of men.
Xiao Cong had her in his heart, so he respected her.
But Zhou Jin regarded her only as an object for revenge and a tool for venting his desires. He had not shown her the slightest bit of pity—only oppression.
Li Qu had spent her previous life under the red flag. How could she willingly submit to oppression?
As long as there was no concubinage contract and no deed of sale, she was a free commoner.
Since she was a free commoner, why should she follow the rules governing a concubine?
She was not the one in the wrong. The people of the Zhou Residence were wrong. Zhou Jin was wrong!
When the dishes arrived, Li Qu did not feel hungry. She put two grains of rice into her mouth and chewed, still thinking about how to escape her predicament.
One had to look ahead.
She could not stop what had already happened, but once it had happened, she had to stand firmly in the present and plan for the future.
She raised her head and glanced at Zhou Jin. Hongguo was placing food in his bowl, and he seemed to have quite an appetite, eating with relish.
Li Qu withdrew her gaze. “You…” The moment the words left her mouth, she realized her voice was somewhat hoarse.
She cleared her throat. “Have you calmed down?”
“The more serious the injury, the angrier I am.”
Li Qu: “…”
She protested softly, “But afterward, I—I went along with you.”
“That was because you couldn’t resist and had given up struggling.”
Li Qu: “…”
Shameless!
She viciously stabbed at her rice with her chopsticks.
There were two sentences that summed up Zhou Jin’s image in Li Qu’s heart:
He was one of the people in power in this era.
And he was an outlaw beyond the reach of the law in her eyes.
Moreover, Li Qu felt that facing Zhou Jin was like a primary school student facing an advanced mathematics problem. She had no idea where to begin.
When Zhou Jin had eaten his fill, he glanced at Li Qu, who was angrily counting her grains of rice. He wiped his mouth and tossed the handkerchief onto the table.
“Earlier, I’ll consider your words nothing more than childish ignorance and reckless speech.”
Li Qu’s eyes brightened, and she looked at Zhou Jin. “Third Master is willing to let bygones be bygones?”
Zhou Jin accepted the tea a maid offered him and took a sip. “There was one thing you said that was absolutely correct.”
Li Qu suddenly had a bad feeling.
“Following Master without a name or status is indeed you reaching above yourself.”
The light in Li Qu’s eyes instantly dimmed. She was speechless.
“Master will give you one chance to correct your mistake. There will not be a second.”
He might have been referring to Li Qu scratching him, or he might have been referring to her insolent words that had offended him.
“If you’re not afraid of death, then consider Master’s visit today nothing more than a meal.” Zhou Jin set down his cup, rose, and walked outside. “If you are afraid of death, then settle down. I’ll let you reach above yourself.”
Li Qu’s heart turned to ashes in an instant!
Zhou Jin was serious.
How could this happen?
And what right did he have?
Li Qu suddenly stood up. The chair toppled over with a clang and struck her calf.
Ignoring the pain, she hurried after him. In the moonlight-woven corridor, on a summer night when the hibiscus flowers bloomed in dazzling splendor, she caught up to Zhou Jin and grabbed his sleeve.
“Do you really have to be so—”
The words “force others into impossible situations” became lodged in her throat when she met Zhou Jin’s eyes, black as ink.
“Forcing others into impossible situations?”
It was as though Zhou Jin had seen straight through her thoughts. He gently removed her hand from his sleeve, then brushed off his robe.
“Yes. That is exactly what Master intends to do.”
“You will climb this high branch whether you want to or not.”
“Why?”
Zhou Jin’s beautiful eyes, as though painted in spreading ink, were filled with careless indifference. His tone was lofty, yet laced with mockery.
“Because Master is worthy of you.”
Having said that, he walked past Li Qu.
He did not care in the slightest.
He did not linger in the slightest.
He was like a noble human who had caught a beautiful oriole and casually thrown it into a cage.
Then he strode away.
Li Qu swayed. Nanny Xu, who had been watching her attentively, quickly caught her by the arm.
“Concubine, are you feeling unwell?”
Things had actually become this utterly disastrous.
Li Qu clutched her chest. She felt that the summer breeze was too hot, while the moonlight was too cold.
What was she supposed to do? What was she supposed to do?
Could this really be fate?
In a daze, Li Qu returned to her room and threw herself onto the bed, covering her face with the quilt.
She was unwilling to accept this.
She did not want to become a concubine.
There had to be another way.
Auntie Li pulled Li Qu out from beneath the quilt, only to see tear tracks covering her face, crystalline tears clinging to her long, thick lashes. She looked utterly pitiful.
The sternness in Auntie Li’s expression softened by two degrees.
“Concubine, the Old Madam Zhou heard that you have not been serving your master and asked me to deliver a message.”
“Now that you have lost your virginity, unless Third Master gives his approval, you will probably have to spend the rest of your life living within the Zhou family residence.
“Within this residence, whether you have Third Master’s favor or not will mean a life as different as heaven from earth.”
“You are intelligent, Concubine. Do not let your own cleverness blind you and choose the wrong path again.”
“Giving your own life away would be one thing, but if you implicate your parents and sisters as well, would you not regret it for the rest of your life?”
Li Qu’s resistance sounded feeble. “I am a free-born woman!”
It did not matter.
No one cared.