“A Wu!”
Hearing a woman’s harsh call of this name, he instinctively turned his head.
Under the red lanterns of the archway, a pretty woman had caught hold of a thin girl wearing patched crow-gray clothes. The woman twisted her ear, hitting and cursing: “Your mother was a worthless whore, and you’ve learned well from her to become one too. Speak! Where did you hide Miss Qingfeng’s white jade bracelet?”
“I didn’t steal it,” the girl’s voice was cool but proud, answering neither humbly nor arrogantly. Yet her eyes held a ghostly chill that even the soft glow of the red lanterns couldn’t mask.
He stopped and crossed his arms, observing the girl.
The woman continued beating her, her insults growing worse, but the girl didn’t offer any more defense.
His gaze shifted slightly, finding this girl’s stubborn demeanor strangely familiar, so familiar it made him heartburn.
“Young Master?” his attendant Yi Hou quietly inquired behind him. “Shall we help?”
Before he could nod, a wave of thick perfume wafted over as the brothel madam danced forward with her pink silk scarf, blocking his view with a fawning smile: “I deeply apologize for letting such trivial matters disturb Young Master’s eyes. Come, Young Master, let’s hurry upstairs. Miss Qingfeng knew you were coming and has been preparing for quite some time.”
He coldly pushed aside the obstructing corpulent figure and pointed at the two people outside the archway: “Who is that?”
Seeing his persistence, the madam explained with a placating smile: “That’s Miss Qingfeng’s maid, called Qing Ling. She is indeed pretty – has Young Master taken a fancy to her? However, this is troublesome, as Miss Qingfeng has specially prepared…”
“Who’s the one being beaten?” His tone already carried traces of displeasure.
“Ah… ah, that’s also Miss Qingfeng’s maid, called Qing Wu. Just a menial servant. Her mother was formerly one of our courtesans who died of illness, leaving her here to… repay debts. She’s quite pretty, but her personality is cold and unlikeable. Young Master should…” *consider someone else*.
The last five words were swallowed under Yi Hou’s cold stare.
The madam’s spine chilled. This Yi An, the Crown Prince of Jing’an, had just returned from the frontier battlefields with his father. At merely fifteen, he already commanded impressive authority. It was said that on the battlefield, he beheaded enemies as easily as cutting melons, showing no mercy, and during food shortages, had even consumed enemy flesh – a ruthless person indeed. She dared not offend him.
From the madam’s words and the scene before him, Yi An could easily guess what kind of life this girl-led.
“I’ll pay whatever debt she owes,” he said coldly. “Tell her to stop beating her.”
Before the madam could clarify which “her” he meant, Yi Hou behind him respectfully answered “Yes,” picked up a stone, and threw it, striking Qing Ling’s waist. Qing Ling cried out in pain and fell awkwardly to the ground.
Seeing someone help her, Qing Wu seemed even more surprised than Qing Ling. She stared blankly in their direction, and through the festive red lanterns, their eyes met for the first time.
His heart suddenly stirred, and Yi An recalled how when he was very young, his father had laughed and told him, “I fell in love with your mother at first sight.” Back then, he didn’t understand what love was, let alone love at first sight, but now, he vaguely began to comprehend.
It felt like finding a precious treasure that had been lost from his soul. It warmed the only soft spot in his cold, hardened heart.
“I’m taking her with me,” Yi An said. “From now on, she belongs to my Jing’an Prince Manor.”
The madam was startled: “But Miss Qingfeng…”
“I’m not seeing her.”
A servant girl’s ransom couldn’t compare to that of a top courtesan. The madam, hoping to make a large profit, felt somewhat reluctant: “But… but she’s just a menial servant. This… this might be beneath Young Master’s status.”
Yi An ignored her and walked straight toward Qing Wu, who had fallen on the ground. As the madam tried to speak again, Yi Hou pulled out a gold ingot from his robes and contemptuously tossed it into her arms: “My Young Master said he doesn’t want to see her.”
“Ah yes, no need to see her, no need.” The madam clutched the ingot with delight. “Please proceed as you wish, Young Master.”
Yi An approached Qing Wu and extended his hand, gesturing for her to stand. But Qing Wu only stared at him coldly. Undeterred by such coldness, he simply crouched down, bringing his gaze level with hers: “Will you come home with me?”
“This is my home.” The girl’s voice was naturally eerie, making one’s hair stand on end. Usually, this was what people disliked most about her.
The finely dressed young master studied her carefully for a long while: “You’re not living well here. If you come with me, you can live freely from now on.”
Born to noble status, he had never spoken to anyone in such an almost pleading tone. Yi Hou curiously examined Qing Wu, finding nothing special about her except for her unnaturally cold aura. Yi Hou was quite confused – could it be that the Young Master had a taste for this?
The girl turned away: “I don’t want to go with you. I don’t like you.”
At these words, not only did the madam turn ashen-faced as she bit her gold, but even Yi Hou was severely shocked. The Young Master had never had a good temper since childhood, and now… this girl probably wouldn’t survive.
Yi An was stunned for a moment. He felt he should be greatly angered at being rejected so thoroughly by a brothel’s menial servant, but strangely, a voice in his heart said, “That’s right, she should hate you,” “You have no right to be angry.”
After a long silence, he said: “In the future, you will like me.”
“Never.”
The finality in Qing Wu’s tone made Yi An’s face darken.
Qing Ling, who had been knocked down by Yi Hou earlier, saw Yi An’s expression and turned pale with fear, her whole body shaking like a sieve.
“You will.” Seeing Qing Wu about to object again, Yi An cut her off: “Since you won’t come with me, then I’ll stay here. I’ll go with you.”
Qing Wu was horrified.
The madam stumbled in shock, her face crumpling as she wailed pitifully – if word of this reached the Young Master’s father, Prince Jing’an, her brothel would never operate again. Even Yi Hou was so shocked his mouth wouldn’t close: “Young Master… this seems highly inappropriate.”
“It’s appropriate.” He gave Yi Hou a cold sideways glance, then looked at the madam: “Where does she stay?”
The madam didn’t dare answer, stammering: “Stay… where she stays, I don’t know.”
“Young Master!” Yi Hou was anxious but knew his master’s stubborn temperament – once he decided to do something, he would truly do it. Not daring to confront him directly, he tried another approach: “Young Master hasn’t had his coming-of-age ceremony yet. To stay outside the manor would require the Prince’s permission. Today we…”
“Today we stay here.”
Yi Hou silently dropped his jaw.
“Go back and tell my father.” He paused, a rare smile touching his lips. “I’ve found her – the mother of my children.”
Qing Wu looked at him coldly while everyone else’s jaws dropped.
“I don’t like you.”
“That’s alright, you will in the future.”
As he spoke softly, he seemed to hear a woman’s voice whispering in the night wind: “In the next life, after I drink the soup of oblivion, cross the Bridge of Helplessness, and forget everything, come find me again. Let’s start over.”
This time I’ve come to find you, and from now on, it’s my turn to be good to you.
Let’s begin again from the very beginning.