The maid had been caught eavesdropping, yet she looked utterly unafraid.
She gave Madam Qin a perfunctory curtsy, then turned and left without a word.
This only made Mother Yun feel more stifled. She breathed heavily for a long moment, then steadied herself.
A worried expression settled over her face. She simply couldn’t persuade her daughter. What was she supposed to do?
Yun Shuyao, still kneeling in the ancestral hall, had calmed down.
She quickly sorted through everything that had happened in the two hours since her rebirth.
Gu Jinghuai had been reborn too, which was why he had chosen to refuse to break off the engagement.
It wasn’t hard to understand. He knew exactly what choice would benefit him most.
As for her mother, Yun Shuyao had thought that although she would mind an affair before marriage, she wouldn’t go so far as to support breaking off the engagement.
Her father opposed ending it simply to spare both families embarrassment. He wouldn’t consider her feelings.
Since talking it out wouldn’t work, then he couldn’t blame her for resorting to extraordinary measures.
First, she would expose Gu Jinghuai’s affair with Su Yuyan.
Then she would provoke Gu Jinghuai’s mother.
Hadn’t her cruel mother-in-law from her previous life disliked her? Then she might as well give her even more reason to.
It wasn’t difficult to provoke someone who loved money…
Just then, the Duke Zhenguo sent someone to deliver a message.
“Miss, the Duke asks you to go to the Yong’an Marquis’s Residence.”
“Did Father say why?”
Yun Shuyao frowned.
“I don’t know. The Duke only said you should go at once.”
Yun Shuyao waved the servant away, then let Chuntao help her slowly to her feet. As she rubbed her aching knees, she thought:
That’s just as well. She was about to go and make trouble for the Marchioness anyway. Now that she was going at her father’s behest, it wouldn’t seem out of the blue.
After leaving the ancestral hall, she first returned to her bedchamber.
Once Chuntao had applied ointment to Yun Shuyao’s knees, Chunzhi began to help her put on makeup.
But Yun Shuyao waved her off.
“Chunzhi, you don’t need to come with me to the Marquis’s Residence.”
“Miss?” Chunzhi asked, confused.
“I have something more important for you to do. Take my dowry inventory and quickly make a complete list of all the money, goods, jewelry, shops, and properties. Be especially thorough about how much the Marchioness borrowed, and find the IOUs from when she borrowed them.”
“Yes, Miss. Those accounts won’t be hard to check.”
Chunzhi nodded eagerly, her eyes shining. She had always helped Miss manage the accounts and knew better than anyone how much of her dowry the Marchioness had swindled over the years.
After giving Chunzhi her instructions, Yun Shuyao made a few quick preparations and went out.
Though she wore no makeup, her fair, smooth skin and peerless beauty still made it impossible to look away.
The carriage rolled over the bluestone road with a steady creaking sound.
Yun Shuyao lifted the curtain and watched the shop signs sway in the breeze on either side of the street. Listening to the vendors’ cries, she gave a bitter smile.
She had been trapped in the Marquis’s Residence for eighteen years in her previous life. How long had it been since she’d seen such lively streets?
“Whoa!”
A piercing horse’s neigh suddenly rang out, making her hand jerk.
The crowd split like water under a blade, people screaming as they scrambled to either side.
Yun Shuyao looked up. A black horse was charging toward them at full speed, its rider—a man in fine clothes—whipping it onward.
In the middle of the street, a little girl in a red jacket stood frozen with fright. She clutched a candied hawthorn skewer, her eyes wide, unable to move.
“Watch out!”
Yun Shuyao cried out instinctively.
But the rider acted as if he hadn’t seen the child. He didn’t even slow down, trampling right over her.
Blood sprayed. The little girl didn’t even manage to scream before the horse crushed her insides and killed her on the spot.
A cry of horror rose from the crowd. Everyone stared as a broad pool of blood rapidly spread beneath the tiny body.
The rider not only failed to stop, but snapped his whip twice more. With a look of disgust, he turned his head and spat a thick glob of phlegm.
“Whoosh!”
Something cut sharply through the air.
Just as the man passed Yun Shuyao’s carriage, a dagger flew from somewhere and plunged straight into his shoulder.
The force was so great that it knocked him off his horse. He landed less than three feet from Yun Shuyao.
The man struggled to his feet. The dagger had pierced his right arm, and blood dripped from his fingertips, staining the ground with a small patch of red.
Then a languid, brazen voice rang out.
“Did you really think no one in Kyoto would stand up to you? A lowlife like you, and you think you can do whatever you want?”
Yun Shuyao turned toward the voice. A figure had just leapt through the window of a private room on the second floor of the tavern across the street.
She stared at the flash of red, momentarily dazed.
The young man wore a brilliant red silk robe. Backlit as he approached, he looked as if he had draped himself in the fiercest glow of the sunset—dazzlingly vivid.
His sharp phoenix eyes tilted upward at the corners, and his lips curved in a half-smile that carried a hint of wickedness.
His robe fluttered like dancing flames. Every inch of his flamboyant bearing radiated an untamed arrogance that seemed entirely natural to him.
The street fell so quiet that one could have heard a pin drop. The crowd that had just scattered now seemed ready to squeeze itself into the cracks in the walls. Even their breathing grew faint.
Yun Shuyao clenched the carriage curtain until her knuckles turned white.
It was him!
Kyoto’s Number One Wastrel, the Heir to the Prince of Zhenbei, Xiao Fang!
In her previous life, she had seen him only from a distance, at a palace banquet.
Xiao Fang had stood alone in a corner, idly turning a jade pendant in his hand. The murderous aura around him had sent all the noble young men giving him a wide berth.
She had heard that when the Young Prince was seven, he had dared to stab his father’s favorite concubine to death.
He suspected that the concubine had been involved in his Mother Consort’s death.
When he was twelve, he had also pierced the throat of his elder half-brother with a sword. Afterward, he had merely said, “It was an accident.”
Rumor had it that he had deliberately used a sparring match as an excuse to get rid of the half-brother who dared covet his position as heir.
In everyone’s eyes, he was a living King of Hell, a complete madman, a calamity everyone avoided.
When the mounted man recognized him, his face went deathly pale. He kicked his feet against the ground, scrambling backward until his back hit a carriage wheel. His voice shook so badly he could barely speak.
“Y-Young Prince… don’t do anything rash… I’m Noble Consort Zhao’s younger brother, His Highness Prince Yi’s maternal uncle! You can’t touch me!”
At once, the people began murmuring among themselves.
“No wonder he dares treat human life so lightly. He’s a member of the imperial family.”
“Noble Consort Zhao is the most favored lady in the palace, and they say His Highness Prince Yi might even succeed the Crown Prince.”
“With connections like that, even the Young Prince may not dare touch him.”
Xiao Fang acted as if he hadn’t heard the man name his powerful relations. He walked up, seized him by the hair, and forced his head back.
The man’s neck strained rigidly. His Adam’s apple bobbed, and terror all but spilled from his eyes.
Xiao Fang only smiled. He slowly pulled the dagger from the man’s shoulder, then placed its icy tip against his neck and drew it sideways, gradually cutting across.
“No… please…”
The man’s tears and snot ran together.
“It was an accident… I’ll pay her family…”
Xiao Fang ignored his pleas and pressed harder.
The dagger slicing through skin made barely a sound, like cloth being cut.
Blood suddenly gushed out, splashing onto the carriage—and onto Yun Shuyao’s face.
The scalding warmth made her shudder, but she remained frozen, forgetting to lower the curtain.
She watched as the man’s throat was cut completely open. He could only make a gurgling sound, his eyes bulging, before he finally fell silent.
Stifled cries of horror broke out among the crowd. Some covered their faces, unable to watch; others turned and ran, but no one dared make too much noise.
Xiao Fang used the man’s fine clothes to wipe the blood from his dagger, taking his time. When he was done, he let go, and the body slumped to the ground.
Yun Shuyao looked at the man’s corpse, then at the little girl in the distance, her insides crushed beneath the horse. A faint, secret sense of satisfaction stirred in her heart.
The law couldn’t touch the powerful.
But this calamity had repaid the little girl’s blood debt with the most ruthless of methods!
A bead of blood still clung to Yun Shuyao’s pale face when Xiao Fang reached the carriage.
She instinctively shrank back, but he swept the curtain aside.
The smell of wine on Xiao Fang mingled with the stench of blood, making her heart tighten.
“What are you afraid of? Weren’t you quite brave just now?”
His voice was still lazy and casual, giving no hint of his feelings.
As he spoke, Xiao Fang’s impossibly handsome face came within inches of hers.
“Your clothes are dirty.”
He pointed to the large bloodstain on the front of Yun Shuyao’s dress, his tone almost familiar.
“Come with me. I’ll get you a new set.”
Chuntao was pale with fear, but still reached out to stop him.
“Young Prince, my… my Miss…”
Ignoring Chuntao’s attempt to stop him, Xiao Fang grabbed Yun Shuyao by the wrist.
His fingers were callused. His grip wasn’t especially hard, but it was unmistakably firm.
Yun Shuyao stumbled as he pulled her along. She could only hurry after him in tiny steps, not daring to struggle.
The clothing shop was just across the street.
Xiao Fang strode inside. The shopkeeper was so frightened he nearly crawled under the counter.
Xiao Fang paid him no mind. His gaze swept over the dazzling array of clothes, then paused on a bright red dress.
He went over, pulled it down, and tossed it to Yun Shuyao.
“Go change.”
He casually plucked a blade of foxtail grass and held it between his lips, leaning back against the doorframe with a faint smile.
“Think of it as compensation from me.”
Yun Shuyao clutched the red dress, her fingertips trembling.
In both her lives, she had never worn such a bold color.
But when she met Xiao Fang’s half-smiling gaze, she swallowed the words of protest and could only carry the dress into the back room.
When she steeled herself and lifted the curtain, Xiao Fang’s gaze immediately fell on her.
In an instant, the grass stem froze at the corner of Xiao Fang’s lips, and his pupils trembled slightly.