“Ah!” The dark figure screamed, raising a vase to smash toward Yu Sheng: “I’ll fight you to the death!”
Yu Sheng held a fire starter in one hand while pressing down on the head of the person who had crawled out from under the table with the other, speaking gently: “It’s me.”
“Eldest… Eldest Miss?” The maid Siluo recognized the person before her as her own eldest miss, instantly dropping her guard and plopping down on the floor, clutching the vase fearfully: “My eldest miss, you scared me half to death!”
Yu Sheng was amused by Siluo, tapping her head twice with a bent finger, “You sure know how to hide.”
“This… this servant would only cause trouble if I went out, so I thought to hide first—” Siluo explained nervously.
Yu Sheng lit the lamp, extinguishing the fire starter, and asked her: “Where is Xuan’er?”
Siluo was Yu Xuan’s personal maid. Since she was in this room, Yu Xuan should be here too.
“Fourth Miss is in the inner room.” Siluo said, patting the dust off her clothes as she got up from the floor, quickly walking ahead to lift the curtain.
Yu Sheng picked up the lamp from the table and entered the inner room.
In the flickering candlelight, she saw Yu Xuan holding scissors in both hands, using her frail body to shield Father Yu’s sickbed.
Yu Xuan trembled with fear, yet she hadn’t sought a place to hide like Siluo.
“Xuan’er.” Yu Sheng walked forward, taking the scissors from Yu Xuan’s hands and placing them aside, speaking gently: “It’s alright now.”
“Eldest Sister!” Yu Xuan threw herself into Yu Sheng’s arms, hugging her tightly.
Yu Xuan didn’t cry, nor did she say how scared she had been, simply holding close to her eldest sister.
“It’s alright.” Yu Sheng gently patted the slender back of the young girl, speaking softly: “With Eldest Sister here, Xuan’er doesn’t need to be afraid.”
Just these words nearly brought tears to Yu Xuan’s eyes.
The two sisters spoke softly for a while, and moments later, maids entered to light lamps and attend to them.
Yu Zhengda had only woken once during the day; after falling back asleep, he remained unconscious. Yu Xiuzhu had kept vigil by the sickbed for most of the day, taking short naps in the side room when tired.
Yu Xuan and Siluo were keeping watch in the room that night, never expecting so many black-clad men to infiltrate Yu Yuan in the middle of the night.
Hearing the commotion, the mistress and maid dared not leave the room; though badly frightened, fortunately, they were unharmed.
After checking on her father and comforting Yu Xuan and her maid with a few words, Yu Sheng headed toward the rear courtyard.
Feihong Dicui came to report back; they had led people to guard Chuihua Men and repelled several black-clad men attempting to infiltrate the rear courtyard.
Madam Lin, having taken her medicine, slept deeply and hadn’t been disturbed.
Second Miss and Third Miss were also fine for now.
Yu Sheng then returned to Zizai Ge. After washing up and changing clothes, lying on her bed, she kept thinking: Why had Liyang Houfu sent so many black-clad men to Yu Yuan tonight?
Could it be that they learned Father had woken up and feared he would identify Xu Liu as the assailant?
That shouldn’t be the case; the people of Liyang Houfu were so arrogant, never afraid of being identified.
After being captured, those black-clad men had arrogantly shouted, ‘Your Yujia people’s lives are at an end.’ Perhaps in the eyes of the Houfu masters, sending assassins to kill all the Yujia members was merely an act of asserting authority and venting anger.
The lives of mere merchants and commoners meant nothing in the eyes of high officials and the powerful.
Thinking this, Yu Sheng fell asleep angrily.
Early the next morning, after having breakfast with Madam Lin and the others, Yu Sheng was still considering whether to go find Sheng Huaijin and ask him about his plans moving forward, but Liyang Houfu sent someone first.
Yu Sheng told her mother and sisters to rest and recover or attend to their own matters as needed, taking only Yu Xiuzhu with her to the main hall.
Although Yu Xiuzhu was only thirteen years old, with Father Yu severely injured and bedridden, he, as the male heir, needed to learn how to handle matters both inside and outside the household.
This time, it was a first-class steward from the Houfu who arrived, accompanied by four attendants.
“I am surnamed Sun, a steward of Liyang Houfu. Today, I have come on behalf of my lord to deliver an invitation to the head of Yujia.”
Steward Sun carried himself with an air of superiority, yet his words were sweeter than a song. He spoke of how his lord, Liyanghou, was deeply grieved by the incident of Master Yu falling from a building and sustaining severe injuries, but insisted that it was absolutely not the doing of their sixth young master.
Now that Zhenguo Gong Shizi had personally come to Lizhou for this matter, Liyanghou, in order to show respect to the Shizi, had specially arranged a banquet at Qianzhen Lou tonight. He had also invited the current head of Yujia to attend, so that everyone could sit down and clarify the matter.
Yu Sheng raised her hand, signaling Uncle Li to receive the invitation, all the while maintaining a distance of two steps from Steward Sun.
She replied neither humbly nor arrogantly, “I accept the invitation. Please convey to Liyanghou on your return: Yu Sheng will certainly attend as promised.”
“Just ‘attend as promised’?” Steward Sun widened his eyes in disbelief.
He had just spoken such grand words, yet not only was this young girl from Yujia not the least bit intimidated, but her reply to the lord was just this one sentence. It was simply outrageous!
Yu Sheng said, “One sentence is enough.”
She refused to listen to this Sun fellow spouting nonsense with his eyes wide open.
It was only because Xu Liu was detained by Sheng Huaijin that Liyanghou had no choice but to put on such a hypocritical act.
If the black-clad intruders who sneaked into Yu Yuan last night had succeeded, there would be no banquet at Qianzhen Lou arranged by Liyanghou today.
However, it was at Qianzhen Lou that Father was pushed by Xu Liu and fell, sustaining severe injuries. Now, to settle this matter, there was no better place than Qianzhen Lou.
“Very well, I will certainly convey your words to the lord without missing a single word! Miss Yu, you had better watch your step!”
Steward Sun thought to himself, did the Yu family really believe they had obtained a protective talisman by clinging to Zhenguogong? Tonight, they would suffer! He stormed off angrily with his four attendants.
Yu Sheng took the invitation sent by the Houfu from Uncle Li’s hands and opened it for a glance.
Yu Xiuzhu leaned over and said, “Elder Sister, take me to Qianzhen Lou with you.”
Yu Sheng closed the invitation and asked him, “I’m going to discuss serious matters. What will you do there?”
“I’ll go to protect Elder Sister…” Yu Xiuzhu said this, but even he felt unsure of himself. Then, he immediately changed his tone and whispered even softer, “I’ll go to make up the numbers.”
The fifth young master thought that he couldn’t let others mock Yujia for having no men, leaving only Yu Sheng, a young woman, to handle matters.
Even if it was just to make up the numbers, he had to go.
Yu Sheng didn’t catch what he said. “What did you say? A man should be confident and speak up clearly.”
Yu Xiuzhu took a deep breath and said loudly, “This young master is going to make up the numbers!”
Dicui, standing nearby, couldn’t help but giggle.
Uncle Li and the group of attendants and maids, who had been quite worried about the Houfu steward’s visit, were now all amused.
Yu Sheng also couldn’t hold back her laughter and had to cover half her face with the invitation.
“Elder Sister!” Yu Xiuzhu flushed red with embarrassment. “You told me to speak loudly, and now they’re all laughing at me.”
Yu Sheng handed the invitation to Feihong to put away, suppressing her laughter as she said, “If I had known you were going to say ‘make up the numbers,’ I certainly wouldn’t have told you to speak so loudly.”
“Elder Sister, you—” Yu Xiuzhu was so ashamed and indignant that he felt like climbing a tree right then and there.
“Go cool off somewhere else for a while.” A-Mo, who had somehow ended up sitting in the peach blossom tree, plucked a flower and threw it at the Fifth Young Master, then leaped down from the branches.
Though her eyes were covered by a black silk ribbon, she walked unerringly up to Yu Sheng and asked, “Need an assassin? A thousand gold for one night—quite a bargain.”