She took the items and held them in her hands, then turned to ask Ye Jingchuan: “The two of you actually came by yourselves? You didn’t bring even a single guard?”
If something happened along the way, what would they do? These two were really far too bold.
Ye Jingchuan frowned, somewhat displeased: “Why does this little girl have so many questions? We came to celebrate An’an’s full moon—what’s the point of bringing so many people? Besides, Qing Zhuo and Han Feng are following along, and he’s disguised as a Daoist. Who would even notice him?”
Zhou Weizhao reached out and tapped him on the head, knocking some sense into him, before turning back to look at Song Chuyi: “Don’t worry, several Daoist soldiers are following us. Nothing will go wrong.”
Song Chuyi couldn’t help feeling somewhat puzzled. Zhou Weizhao had been raised in a Daoist temple since childhood and thus was quite independent, but Ye Jingchuan was the treasured darling of Princess Zhennan. How could he repeatedly manage to sneak out, especially at a time like this?
Seeing Zhou Weizhao speak this way, she nodded, then asked him: “I know you have no dietary restrictions, but do the young Daoist masters have any taboos regarding food?”
Ye Jingchuan rushed to answer: “No taboos whatsoever—they eat meat with great enthusiasm!”
Zhou Weizhao also reassured her: “Our tradition indeed doesn’t prohibit meat or fish. Because we practice martial arts year-round, these few people have rather large appetites.”
Song Chuyi kept this in mind and led the two of them through the covered corridor into the courtyard. As soon as they entered, she saw a servant woman of about forty holding An’an and walking toward the west gate. She quickly called out for the woman to stop: “Auntie—”
But when the woman turned around and saw her, she only held the child tighter in her arms and started running as if the wind were at her feet.
This time everyone sensed something was wrong and turned their heads in unison to look at Song Chuyi.
Song Chuyi was so shocked her complexion changed. In her urgency, remembering that both people beside her knew martial arts, she quickly asked them for help: “That person is not one of the servants in this courtyard. I don’t know who she is, but we can’t let her carry An’an away!”
Ye Jingchuan had already stepped onto the crossbar and was swiftly flying toward the west side. Zhou Weizhao spoke in a grave voice, his expression also somewhat cold, turning his head to say: “We should also go take a look.”
At this moment, Nanny Xu and the wet nurse from inside had already rushed out in panic, calling repeatedly for people to search.
Song Chuyi followed Zhou Weizhao toward the west gate with quick steps while asking: “What happened?! Wasn’t An’an supposed to be bathing and having a basin prepared? And who is that person?”
Nanny Xu’s voice held anxiety she couldn’t conceal, stamping her foot in bitter regret: “It’s An’an’s grandmother.”
Song Chuyi was shocked, stopping in her tracks and looking at Nanny Xu in disbelief, exclaiming: “Wasn’t she working in the outer courtyard? How could she have gotten into the inner courtyard?!”
As soon as the words left her mouth, she felt her question was somewhat redundant. After all, this wasn’t Earl Changning’s manor with strict rules and people watching all the comings and goings. Where would a farming estate have so many rules? Many tenant farmers’ wives, when thirsty or hungry, would run into the inner courtyard kitchen to get water or ask for food—it was commonplace. Today also happened to be An’an’s full moon celebration, with many people and eyes everywhere. Who knew from where this old woman of the Li family had slipped in?
Nanny Xu herself was so angry she was nearly in tears, walking rapidly while cursing herself several times: “It’s also my own muddleheadedness—I insisted on keeping them here to work. If I’d sent them far away earlier, none of this would have happened.”
As they spoke, Zhou Weizhao had already pushed off from a tree with both feet, using the momentum to fly out. Song Chuyi and Nanny Xu were simultaneously startled and turned their heads to look, only to realize that Zhou Weizhao had gone to catch An’an—that old woman Li had actually thrown An’an toward the pond while holding her! In this freezing weather, with An’an being just a full-month-old infant, if she fell into the lake, even if she didn’t die, she would be severely harmed.
Fortunately, Zhou Weizhao had already reached out and hooked the child into his arms. Nanny Xu breathed a sigh of relief, feeling as if her entire body had just been fished out of water—aching and sore to the point where she could barely lift her arms.
This had truly been too dangerous. If Zhou Weizhao and Ye Jingchuan hadn’t been here, who knows if An’an could have been rescued today.
Song Chuyi jogged over and took An’an into her arms. Seeing her only opening her little mouth and crying loudly, she became somewhat flustered for a moment and turned back to call for An’an’s wet nurse: “Mama, come quickly and take a look!”
The wet nurse didn’t dare delay, running over swiftly to take the child and hold her while soothing her. At the same time, she said to Song Chuyi: “She’s been frightened. Tonight we’ll call back her soul and calm her shock, and she’ll be fine.” Then she kissed An’an’s forehead and suddenly spat forcefully onto the ground.
Nanny Xu quickly had the wet nurse carry her back inside: “In this freezing weather, if a small child gets cold, it’s no joke.” She then walked over to the old woman Li, who had already been kicked to the ground by Ye Jingchuan and couldn’t get up, and fiercely cursed: “You’re utterly depraved! An’an is just a small child, and she won’t need your Li family to raise her in the future—yet you still won’t spare her!”
Song Chuyi heard this and looked over, just in time to see the old woman Li spitting on the ground with reluctance and unwillingness.
“It’s precisely this disaster-bringing star—from the moment her mother conceived her, our family hasn’t had a single good thing happen!” The old woman Li showed no fear whatsoever, raising her head to face Nanny Xu with cold laughter: “My wanting to throw her to her death is actually for your own good. Don’t look at how smoothly things are going for you now—once this pair of disaster-bringing mother and daughter bring you bad luck, who knows what the future will hold!”
Nanny Xu was so agitated she wanted nothing more than to kick her right in the chest, pointing at the old woman Li with trembling lips: “To say such things is utterly conscienceless! If it weren’t for you, those previous ones—”
She was mindful of Zhou Weizhao and Ye Jingchuan’s presence and stopped her mouth, cursing about other things instead: “Even if you killed the previous ones, this pregnancy was still a girl! It’s clearly your own ignorance and stupidity, yet you still blame An’an for being a disaster star!”
The old woman Li laughed coldly again and again: “Earlier, Granny Wang from our village said this pregnancy was also a girl. If she hadn’t protected it with her life, and if you hadn’t snatched her away so quickly, she wouldn’t have been born!” She glared hatefully at Nanny Xu, her face showing pain: “If you hadn’t insisted on snatching this disaster star away, our family wouldn’t have ended up in the current state of total destruction!”
Song Chuyi didn’t know whether this old woman Li was truly ignorant and superstitious to such a degree, or whether she was pretending to be mad and foolish to take revenge. She only knew that she had very nearly caused An’an, whose life had been preserved with such difficulty, to lose it.
“Nanny, there’s no reasoning with this kind of person.” She didn’t even give the old woman Li a proper glance, looking directly at Nanny Xu instead, her face cold as she laughed once: “Since she says An’an brought misfortune to their family, I don’t think An’an should bear this accusation in vain. We might as well make it a reality. You select a human trafficker, and don’t worry about collecting much silver—just send all of them away.”
The Li family still had several daughters-in-law remaining here, and the old woman Li was still harboring thoughts of reuniting in the future—Nanny Xu had always known this. Upon hearing these words, she quickly agreed.