Minister's Estate.
Duan Zhenzhu had already removed her hairpin and was preparing to sleep.
The maid Cui Juan walked in softly and whispered a few words into her ear.
A blush of shyness instantly spread across Duan Zhenzhu's face.
She waved her hand, dismissing Cui Juan, and then had the dressing maid reapply her makeup.
A moment later, when Cui Juan returned, she was followed by a man.
The man wore a dark crow-colored silk robe. He was tall and slender, his jade-like face smudged with dirt and blood, as was his robe.
In this state, Wei Mingze didn't look disheveled; instead, he possessed a kind of broken beauty.
"Wei Lang, who bullied you? Doesn't that person know you are about to become the dragon-son-in-law of my Duan Mansion?"
Duan Zhenzhu, surprised, moved the fan covering her face, her delicate face filled with anger.
Wei Mingze listlessly lowered his eyebrows. After Duan Zhenzhu finished speaking, he suddenly, without any warning, knelt before her.
He tightly clasped Duan Zhenzhu's waist with both hands.
"Zhenzhu, I truly love you. But... I can't marry you anymore. I'm sorry, I'm sorry... Hit me, scold me, kill me..."
Wei Mingze grabbed Duan Zhenzhu's hands and pressed them against himself, urging her to strike him.
Duan Zhenzhu's heart ached as she looked at the self-blaming Wei Mingze.
She broke free from Wei Mingze's hands and instead cupped his face with both of hers.
"Wei Lang, didn't we agree you would come to propose in three days? Why are you suddenly saying you can't marry me? What happened? You don't need to be afraid. No matter what happens, I can help you."
A few scalding tears rolled down, landing on the back of Duan Zhenzhu's hand. Wei Mingze pursed his lips and guiltily confessed, "Actually, I got married three years ago, but this marriage was not my wish."
"She's a butcher, and she has a child she claims to have found. She's incredibly strong; no one in the village or town fears her."
"They forced me to marry into her family back then. For my family's sake, I agreed. I thought I could get rid of her once I came to the Capital City, but I didn't expect her to chase me here yesterday."
"My mother and brother, to help me, conspired to frame her for having an affair with another man. She saw through it. She used it to threaten me, forbidding me from divorcing her, or she would report me to the authorities and ruin me. It doesn't matter if I'm ruined, but I'm afraid it would spread and harm your reputation."
"Shameless shrew!" Duan Zhenzhu's eyes turned red with anger, her face full of disdain. "A country butcher woman, does she really think she can cover the sky with one hand? In this Capital City, I have ten thousand ways to deal with her. Wei Lang, don't worry. With me here, no one can threaten you."
Meanwhile.
After Su Xiuer left the Wei family with Su Xiaobao that night, they found an inn and stayed there.
The next morning, Su Xiuer and Su Xiaobao ate a little something at the inn and went out.
The street was bustling with people.
Su Xiaobao blinked his big eyes and cautiously tugged at Su Xiuer's sleeve, "Mother, will Xiaobao really not have a father anymore?"
"Yes," Su Xiuer's eyes darkened. She didn't want to hide it. "Will Xiaobao be sad?"
Su Xiaobao shook his head and, being sensible, pressed his little cheek against the back of Su Xiuer's hand, speaking in a childish voice.
"A child with a mother is a treasure. Mother, when I grow up, I'll find you a new husband. For example, Uncle Shen Hui is quite good; he's even better looking than Father."
A handsome, noble face flashed in Su Xiaobao's little mind.
Su Xiuer was amused by Su Xiaobao's precocious demeanor.
Shen Hui was someone she had picked up on her way back from slaughtering a pig more than two months ago.
He was covered in wounds when she found him and took nearly a month to recover.
Later, he said he was looking for his family and traveled with them to the Capital City, parting ways at the city gate.
Not only was Shen Hui good-looking, but when she found him, he was wearing a golden-threaded soft armor inside his clothes, and the knuckles of his left hand had a thick layer of calluses. He was clearly of extraordinary background.
Such a person was destined to have no connection with her, a commoner who grew up in the countryside.
She didn't know what Shen Hui was doing now, and she feared they would never meet again.
Su Xiuer chuckled lightly, raised her hand, and tapped Su Xiaobao's head. "Be good, Xiaobao. Uncle Shen isn't suitable. Mother will definitely find you a father who is even better looking than Uncle Shen in the future."
"Hooray!" Su Xiaobao excitedly clasped his hands together. "Mother, are we going to find a good-looking father now?"
Su Xiuer's gaze shifted slightly. She touched the slightly chipped jade hairpin in her hair and poked Su Xiaobao's cheek. "No, we're going to the Grand Princess's Mansion first to find the acquaintance your maternal grandmother mentioned."
Before they left, her mother, Su Tianjiao, the Widow Su, took off the hairpin she always wore and placed it in Su Xiuer's hair.
She told her that if she encountered any difficulties after arriving in the Capital City, she should take this hairpin to the Grand Princess's Mansion and find someone for help, as she had an acquaintance there!
Her mother was notoriously fond of bragging.
She would boast that she had not only eaten the Jade-Yellow Buns from the Imperial Kitchen but also drunk the White Jade Wine presented by Xi Chen, and had even slept on the Dragon Throne, even chipping a corner of the Imperial Seal.
If she hadn't been born and lived in Taolin Village for eighteen years without anyone ever coming to look for her mother, she might have believed these tall tales.
She was taking this hairpin to the Grand Princess's Mansion purely to try her luck.
What if her mother really knew one of the cleaning women at the Grand Princess's Mansion?
After all, even a subordinate of a prime minister held some rank.
The Grand Princess's Mansion was located in the most prosperous area of the Capital City. As a citizen of Sheng Kingdom, everyone knew of this once exceptionally brilliant Grand Princess.
At the age of nineteen, the Grand Princess, with fewer against many, had crushed the Yan Kingdom's army of a hundred thousand, killed the Regent Minister Jiang Yuan, and helped the fourteen-year-old Emperor stabilize the court.
The Emperor had once declared: "To see the Grand Princess is to see me."
However, after killing the Regent Minister Jiang Yuan, the Grand Princess retired.
She no longer involved herself in court affairs and did not appear in public.
Some said the Grand Princess had been severely injured on the battlefield, leaving a hidden illness, and had been recuperating all these years.
Others said the Grand Princess felt she had committed too much bloodshed and had gone to a temple to become a nun.
In front of the Grand Princess's Mansion stood two enormous stone lions, and two vermilion gates were tightly shut, exuding solemnity and majesty.
Su Xiuer, leading Su Xiaobao, stood before the gates and suddenly felt like beating a retreat.
Her mother hadn't said who the acquaintance was. What if she presented this hairpin and no one recognized it?
After hesitating for a moment, Su Xiuer steeled herself and reached out to knock on the door.
If no one recognized it, then no one recognized it. It wasn't a big deal.
As long as she wasn't embarrassed, the embarrassment would fall on others.
She knocked about four or five times with no response. Just as she thought the door wouldn't open, a small gap appeared, and a head poked out from inside.
It was a young, tender face.
"Who are you looking for?"
Su Xiuer pulled out the jade hairpin from her hair, smiled, and handed it over. "Young man, my mother said she has an acquaintance in this mansion. If I present this jade hairpin, someone will recognize it."
The young man glanced at the jade hairpin in Su Xiuer's hand. He didn't seem snobbish and, after a slight hesitation, took the hairpin.
"Wait here, I'll go ask."
With that, he slammed the large door shut with a bang, so quickly that he almost caught Su Xiuer's nose.
Su Xiuer touched her nose, feeling that the Grand Princess's Mansion was rather strange. The doors were shut during the day, and there were no guards at the entrance.
However, she didn't think too much of it. Seeing that Su Xiaobao was tired, she pulled him to sit on the steps in front of the gate.
Dong Song took the jade hairpin inside, intending to ask the steward-in-charge, an old woman, at the gatehouse.
He didn't take the slightly chipped jade hairpin to heart.
The Grand Princess had been out of sight for nearly twenty years, and the gates of their Grand Princess's Mansion hadn't been opened for nearly ten years, nor had anyone dared to come knocking.
Seeing that the woman just now was beautiful but dressed like a farm girl, with a child of three or four years old beside her, she was probably the family member of some servant in the mansion.
It was inconvenient to be presumptuous and foolish. She only gave a hairpin as a token, without a single word. How could anyone be found?
Fortunately, she met him, a kind-hearted person today. If it were someone else, they would have been chased away.
Passing through the Moon Archway, Dong Song was called out to.
"Little Dong Song, not practicing your skills? Where are you going?"
Dong Song flinched and turned back, smiling as he presented the jade hairpin in his hand to the person before him.
"Aunt Dong Mei, Granny Liu from the gatehouse is using the restroom, so I'm covering her task. Just now, an older sister came with this hairpin looking for someone. I'm going to ask Granny Liu about it for her."
"You are quite kind," Dong Mei snorted, her gaze falling on the jade hairpin in Dong Song's hand. Her expression changed drastically.
She snatched the jade hairpin with a tremble, turned, and ran quickly towards the inner courtyard.
"Sister Chun Tao, look, isn't this the jade hairpin the Princess wore on her head when she left all those years ago?"
The woman was tidying up account books and stopped writing when she heard this, looking over.
Her gaze fell on the jade hairpin, and she was so shocked that the ink brush in her hand dropped to the floor. She stood up, took the jade hairpin, and her voice trembled.
"That's right, this is indeed the Grand Princess's favorite jade hairpin. It's been almost twenty years, and there's finally a clue about the Grand Princess. Dong Mei, quickly tell me, where did this jade hairpin come from?"
Dong Mei looked at Dong Song, who had followed behind her.
Dong Song realized the seriousness of the matter and immediately answered without concealment, "A beautiful older sister gave it to me. She's waiting right outside the mansion gate."
Chun Tao could no longer bother with anything else. She turned and strode towards the mansion gate, breaking into a run as she went.
Dong Mei and Dong Song hurried to follow behind her.
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