“I advise you to give up any thoughts of escape early on, unless you don’t want to drag the entire Su family down with you…”
Before Su Tuan’er’s thoughts could fully settle, the man’s voice drifted lazily into her ears.
She turned her head to look at his icy, expressionless face and swallowed hard.
He wasn’t a worm in her belly—how did he know she was thinking about how to escape? This was way too terrifying…
The soft sedan chair came to a stop before the General’s residence. Su Tuan’er had long grown restless; the moment the sedan stopped, she got off as fast as she could.
“Miss, where did you run off to? I searched everywhere for you and couldn’t find you. I thought you’d come back ahead of me—I was so worried I was about to die!”
Cuicui, who had been anxiously scanning the entrance for quite a while, rushed over with a flood of tears and snot, crying without the slightest regard for her appearance.
Su Tuan’er pulled a handkerchief from her bosom and wiped Cuicui’s tears. Cuicui’s gaze, however, drifted past her and landed on the soft sedan not far away.
“I’ve seen that sedan before… it’s His Majesty’s sedan, isn’t it?” She widened her eyes in astonishment. “Did His Majesty send you back, Miss?!”
“I got lost in the palace and happened to run into the emperor,” Su Tuan’er quickly pulled Cuicui into the courtyard. “Cuicui, go prepare some hot water. I want to bathe.”
The mistress and servant quickly disappeared from sight.
Inside the soft sedan, the man slowly opened his eyes. His slender, phoenix-shaped eyes curved with a charm unique to the night, emotions churning within his gaze.
The eunuch Liu Cheng stepped forward a few paces and leaned close to the side of the sedan, speaking softly: “Your Majesty, would you like to go inside for a visit?”
The man said in a deep voice: “Do you want to go?”
Liu Cheng shook his head vigorously. He didn’t want to, and he didn’t dare to—he was afraid that General Su would come at him with his forty-foot blade.
“Return to the palace,” Gu Yanbei said in a flat tone. “Go find Jing Li and bring him to me.”
“Your servant obeys.” Liu Cheng bowed his head in acknowledgment, though suspicion stirred in his heart.
Jing Li was His Majesty’s personal shadow guard. Every time His Majesty summoned him, it was to order him on a killing mission…
Could it be that His Majesty intended to order Jing Li to take the life of the young lady of the Su family?
“Cuicui, think carefully for me—have I offended anyone?”
Back in her room, Su Tuan’er closed the door and looked at Cuicui with burning intensity.
“Miss, you never leave the house—you barely step past the front gate. The number of people you know in all of Shengjing doesn’t exceed ten. How could you possibly have made enemies?” Cuicui tilted her head and thought for a moment, then added: “You haven’t offended any people, but you did offend a dog. A few days ago, the third young master’s dog stole your chicken leg, and you gave it a beating. It bared its teeth at you—seems like it’s holding a grudge against you.”
“Alright, never mind that. Go prepare the water quickly,” Su Tuan’er wrinkled her nose as she caught the scent of Longxianxiang clinging to her clothes. “I feel all sticky and uncomfortable.”
“I’ll go right away!”
Cuicui skipped off with light steps.
Su Tuan’er poured herself a cup of cold water and drank it down. The chill that passed through her throat and stomach sent her into a fit of coughing.
She’d forgotten that the original body was frail and couldn’t handle cold drinks. She coughed for quite a while before she managed to recover, her small face pale and wan.
She wondered who would target even a sickly wretch like her. If what Cuicui said was true—that the original owner had offended no one—then how was tonight’s incident to be explained?
Perhaps someone was envious of the Su family?
As the saying goes, a tall tree catches the wind. With her father and brothers’ distinguished achievements, it was only natural that they would invite jealousy.
And she was her father and brother’s Achilles’ heel—grasping her was equivalent to grasping the entire Su family. If she were executed tonight, given her father and brother’s temperaments, they would inevitably cause an uproar with the emperor, and the eventual outcome was obvious: the Su family would be executed in full for the crime of treason.
At that thought, Su Tuan’er felt a chill run down her spine.