By the time Su Yu reached the East Gate, Aunt Wang’s ox cart was nowhere to be seen. She got down, searched around, and asked the owner of a nearby tea stall. Only then did she learn that Aunt Wang’s cart had left more than half an hour ago. She stood by the roadside in a daze for a long time. The medicinal herbs were gone, and even if she counted every copper coin on her, it still wouldn’t be enough to pay for a night in the city. If she walked home, she might not even reach the village by dawn. Not to mention that traveling alone as a young woman was hardly safe.
Thinking of her grandmother waiting at home, she hesitated for a moment before finally heading toward the carriage that had remained by the roadside, as if waiting for her.
Standing outside the carriage curtain, she called softly, “Young Master Ji.”
The curtain was lifted slightly, revealing that flawless face.
Seeing her awkward expression, Ji Xuanyue seemed to understand her predicament. Before she could say anything, he spoke first. “Come up.”
Su Yu froze for a moment, then looked up and met those pale eyes directly. They were gentle and calm.
“It’s getting late. It isn’t safe for a young lady to walk the mountain roads alone. I’ll take you home.”
Su Yu climbed into the carriage. Just as she was about to thank him, Ji Xuanyue lifted the curtain and stepped out. A short while later, he returned, holding out an oil-paper package and a bamboo tube. Inside the package were two steaming buns, while the bamboo tube was filled with warm water. “Eat something first.”
Su Yu accepted them blankly. After a long pause, she lowered her head and said softly, “Thank you, Young Master.”
Ji Xuanyue had already resumed his seat across from her. “You saved my life in the mountains yesterday, Miss. What I’ve done today is only what I ought to do.”
After a brief pause, he asked, “Do you happen to live in Lingyin Village, at the foot of Spirit Snake Mountain?”
Holding the oil-paper package in her hands, Su Yu nodded.
“I understand.” Ji Xuanyue lifted the carriage curtain and instructed the driver outside, “Head for Lingyin Village.”
The carriage rolled leisurely onward.
Silence settled inside the carriage once more. Su Yu was indeed hungry, but she felt too embarrassed to eat in front of him. She hesitated for a long time, yet still didn’t dare take a bite.
The man seated across from her shifted slightly, leaned back against the carriage wall, and closed his eyes. “Go ahead and eat, Miss. We’ve still got a long journey ahead. I’ll rest for a while.” After saying that, he fell silent, as though he had truly drifted off to sleep.
Su Yu secretly let out a sigh of relief. It wasn’t only because he could no longer watch her eat. More than that, being confined in such a small carriage with an unfamiliar man made her uneasy, even though he was impeccably courteous and gentle.
Now, with his eyes closed in repose, much of that inexplicable pressure faded away. Only then did the carriage feel a little less oppressive. Lowering her head, she took a small bite of the bun.
At the entrance to Lingyin Village, Aunt Wang’s ox cart had barely stopped when several women carrying herb baskets jumped down and joined the group of women and children lounging in the shade.
“We witnessed quite a spectacle in the county town today. Want to know what it was?”
Setting her herb basket on the ground, Aunt Liu plopped down and raised her eyebrows mysteriously.
As expected, everyone’s attention immediately turned toward her. Only then did Aunt Liu begin her tale, her face animated with excitement.
“That girl from the Su family was seen on the main street pulling and tugging at some young gentleman. In the end, she even got into his carriage.”
“Really? Are you sure you didn’t see wrong?”
“It wasn’t just me who saw it. Aunt Wang saw it too. That’s why we didn’t wait for her before coming back. She got into some nobleman’s carriage. Who knows whether she’ll even come home tonight?”
“Oh my,” someone clicked her tongue. “That’s really…”
“Well, she’s pretty enough. It’s only natural she’d want to climb the social ladder. Poor Yansong, though. Didn’t Aunt Wu spend half of last year trying to arrange a match between those two? Looks like that’s not going to happen now.”
The gossip continued, carried along by the breeze.
Standing at the corner with a water bucket in hand, Su Yansong’s face darkened.
Back at home, Wu Xiu had been waiting and waiting. At long last, she heard movement at the courtyard gate. She hurriedly poked her head out from the kitchen and saw Su Yansong entering the yard carrying a bucket. His expression, however, was far from good.
“Song’er, why were you gone so long? Where’s the water?”
Su Yansong didn’t answer. He set the bucket down in a corner of the courtyard and strode straight into the house, head lowered, not sparing her a glance.
Wu Xiu’s heart skipped a beat. She took a few hurried steps after him, then seemed to remember something. She turned and headed toward the courtyard gate.
A crowd had gathered beneath the tree at the village entrance. Their voices carried from far away, and after only a few exchanges, Wu Xiu pieced together the whole story.
That young master from the Zhao family had failed to secure a meeting with Suyu the last time. This time, he had apparently blocked her path and taken her away directly.
Wu Xiu’s smile was impossible to suppress. It took her quite a while to compose herself before she finally went back inside.
The carriage rattled steadily along the road, its wheels clattering over the uneven ground. Outside the curtain, daylight had almost completely faded.
Su Yu lifted a corner of the curtain and looked out. In the distance, she could already see the large tree at the village entrance and the figures gathered beneath it. Her heart skipped a beat. Letting the curtain fall, she turned hurriedly toward the man across from her.
“Young Master Ji, please stop here. I can walk the rest of the way home myself.”
She did not want anyone to see her get out of a carriage, much less discover that a man had escorted her home.
The village women had sharp tongues. They could turn white into black and spin an elaborate tale from the flimsiest rumor.
The man opposite her did not answer.
After waiting a moment and hearing no response, Su Yu added, “You’ve already helped me enough today, Young Master. I truly wouldn’t dare trouble you further…”
“Are you worried that people will gossip about a man and a woman traveling together?” Ji Xuanyue finally spoke. “But in your current condition, if someone were to see you, I’m afraid it would be even harder to explain.”
Su Yu froze. She lowered her gaze and looked at herself. There were still bloodstains on her clothing. The red marks around her wrist were obvious. And there were the injuries on her face as well. If she walked past the crowd at the village entrance looking like this, the entire village would have invented seven or eight different versions of the story before nightfall.
“Why not let the carriage go straight into the village? When we pass your house, you can get off there. It’s already growing dark. If you hurry inside, no one is likely to notice you. If anyone does see you, the driver can simply say he was gathering medicinal herbs in the mountains and gave you a ride back along the way. I won’t appear myself. Would that be acceptable?”
Su Yu raised her eyes and met his amber-colored gaze. His expression was warm and gentle, with no hint of impropriety. After a moment of silence, she finally nodded.
Ji Xuanyue said nothing more. He merely instructed the driver outside, “Don’t stop at the village entrance. Go straight through. Stop only when the young lady tells you to.”
Sure enough, as soon as the carriage reached the entrance to Lingyin Village, it drew everyone’s attention.
The driver, however, kept his eyes fixed ahead and drove straight into the village without slowing.
“Why is there still a carriage coming into the village at this hour?” someone muttered.
Lingyin Village lay against the slopes of Spirit Snake Mountain and was the necessary gateway for anyone heading into the mountains. Strangers’ carts and horses came and went without incident. Only because the sun was nearly setting, and someone was still entering the village, did people give the carriage a few extra glances.
“Maybe they’re planning to join the first group heading into the mountains to gather herbs tomorrow and are just spending the night in the carriage.”
“That makes sense.”
After exchanging a few casual remarks, no one paid it any further attention.
The carriage continued forward, turned a corner, and left the group at the village entrance completely out of sight. Only then did Su Yu finally breathe a sigh of relief. Lifting a corner of the curtain, she poked half her face outside and directed the driver. “You can stop after turning right up ahead. There are a few bamboo trees there that should provide some cover.”
“Understood,” the driver replied, steering the carriage in that direction.
Wu Xiu had originally been sitting beneath the tree enjoying the evening breeze. She had given the unfamiliar carriage only a passing glance, but in that brief look, she caught sight of the figure behind the lifted curtain.
Those familiar brows and eyes.. Wasn’t that Su Yu?
Wu Xiu’s eyelid twitched. The gossip she’d heard at the village entrance was still ringing in her ears. After a moment’s thought, she quietly followed after the carriage.
The carriage stopped beside a cluster of bamboo not far from the Su family’s house. The curtain lifted, and Su Yu cautiously peeked out, looked left and right, then stepped lightly down from the carriage.
Naturally, Wu Xiu saw her appearance clearly. Her hair was disheveled, there was blood on her collar, and something about her condition looked deeply wrong.
Wasn’t she supposed to have gotten into Zhao Li’s carriage? Then how had she come back?
Seeing that Su Yu was about to sneak home unnoticed, Wu Xiu curled her lips into a smile. No longer bothering to hide, she stepped directly out from the shadows. “Yu’er? You’ve finally come back!”
“Your auntie heard you didn’t return with Aunt Wang and was worried sick. I couldn’t even sit still at home. What happened to your face? And why are your clothes torn?”
Her voice wasn’t particularly quiet. At once, people from several neighboring households poked their heads out to see what was happening.
Su Yu inwardly cursed her luck. Anxious to get away from Wu Xiu, she tried to leave, but Wu Xiu seized her wrist.
The injury on her wrist hadn’t fully healed. The moment Wu Xiu grabbed it, pain shot through her, and she instinctively sucked in a sharp breath.
“You…” Wu Xiu naturally noticed the angry red bruises encircling Su Yu’s wrist. The marks were shocking to behold.
“Heavens above!” Wu Xiu let out a dramatic wail. “A perfectly good young girl goes out for a day and comes back covered in injuries! Her clothes are torn, her wrist is bruised and swollen. What terrible suffering has she gone through?”
As she cried out, she deliberately pushed Su Yu’s sleeve higher so the neighbors peering over their walls could see better.
Wu Xiu’s grip was far too strong. Su Yu couldn’t pull her arm free.
As more and more villagers gathered to watch, she could only try to explain. “Auntie, I’m fine. I only ran into a little trouble, but it’s already been resolved. Really, I’m fine.”
Su Yu had no idea that the women who had traveled with her had personally witnessed Zhao Li taking her onto his carriage before they left. Nor did she know that vivid rumors about her had already spread throughout the village. She assumed Wu Xiu had only happened to see her in such a bedraggled state, so she offered a vague explanation, hoping to calm her aunt and return home as quickly as possible.
But as soon as she finished speaking, a sharp-voiced woman from the crowd spoke up. “Trouble? The women who came back from the county said they saw you and Young Master Zhao pulling and tugging at each other right there on the street. Then the two of you got into a carriage together.”