Lady Qiu’s expression grew even more unpleasant. Feng Zhiwei turned her head to look, then grabbed hold of Gu Nanyi who wanted to go out and beat someone up. Gu Nanyi lowered his eyes to look at the slender fingers on his wrist and stopped moving.
“I won’t disturb Madam further. I take my leave.” Feng Zhiwei stood up. “Tomorrow, Zhiwei will wait outside the city gates for your carriage to ‘bring me back to the Qiu Mansion.’ Don’t forget.”
Lady Qiu nodded with a bitter expression. Seeing that she was truly beside herself, Feng Zhiwei smiled and reminded her, “Shouldn’t you try to persuade your honored guest to stay?”
Lady Qiu swayed to her feet and followed Feng Zhiwei for a few steps, calling out mechanically in a loud voice, “Our humble residence has prepared food and wine. Minister Wei, please stay for dinner before leaving.”
“Madam’s generous invitation is appreciated by this nephew.” Feng Zhiwei made an elaborate bow. “I truly have other matters to attend to. Next time I’ll come again to respectfully receive your kind instruction.”
After this perfunctory exchange of courtesies, Feng Zhiwei brushed past the guards who had rushed over to catch the assassin. At a glance, she saw Chunyu Meng and Yan Huaishi who had followed along to watch the excitement. Chunyu Meng stood far off with arms crossed, observing and laughing loudly, “The guards of General Qiu’s household—what impressive bearing! Chasing an assassin from the east wing to the west wing without even seeing a shadow!”
The Qiu and Chunyu families were both renowned military households but belonged to different factions. Their relations were usually poor, so Chunyu Meng seized the opportunity to make a few pointed remarks with satisfaction.
Lady Qiu did not recognize these two men. After the steward introduced them, her heart grew even more wary—where had Feng Zhiwei gotten such great connections? She had actually made friends with the Chunyu and Yan families!
Standing on the steps, she scolded the head guard in agitation, “Everything is fine here. Where is this assassin? Making such a ruckus—aren’t you afraid guests will laugh at us!”
“Madam!” Nanny An crawled and tumbled to the base of the steps. “This old servant was just beaten by that Feng family woman… Look—”
Lady Qiu did not even glance at the swollen and bruised Nanny An. “You’ve truly become senile with age! What kind of place is this? How dare you shout and scream? You’ll make people say the Qiu Mansion has no proper rules! Drag her away and slap her mouth—”
Before anyone could drag away the stunned Nanny An, she said coldly to the room full of maids and matrons, “Zhiwei just returned to the Imperial Capital from my Sheng family’s ancestral home in Jianghuai. She’s still outside the city. What’s this about returning to the mansion and beating people? Tomorrow, have Old Liu prepare the carriage and take the matrons to bring the young lady back to the mansion.”
The entire courtyard of matrons and the stewards who had rushed over were all stunned. After the Feng family girl was expelled from the mansion, she had disappeared without a trace. They had never heard Madam mention her once. Everyone had assumed she was dead—dead and gone, no more noteworthy than a blade of grass. How was it that now she suddenly spoke of her being at the Sheng family in Jianghuai? And said she would be brought back to the mansion?
“Madam!” Nanny An broke free from the matrons and lunged forward. “Listen to me, it really was that Feng family girl…”
“Drag her out!” Lady Qiu shouted sternly and swept her sleeves heavily as she returned to the inner chamber.
Feng Zhiwei walked past Nanny An, who was crying on the ground with streams of tears and snot, her robes flowing without a speck of dust disturbed.
The next day, Feng Zhiwei was not on duty. After checking in at the morning roll call, she changed back into Feng Zhiwei’s attire and waited outside the city to be “brought back to the mansion.”
Just as she had positioned herself at the city gate, she saw a group of men in foreign tribal dress on spirited horses come thundering by. The people queuing at the city gate all made way but still ate a noseful of dust.
The gate soldiers frowned and muttered, “The Huzhuo Twelve Tribes! More and more outrageous!”
Feng Zhiwei looked at those domineering, galloping men and also frowned. The Huzhuo Twelve Tribes were the largest tribal group on the Duolun Grasslands. Originally of the same lineage as the Great Yue, their ancestors had fled to the grasslands after failing in a succession struggle and occupied the southwest of the Duolun Grasslands. Later, after years of fighting with Great Yue and being defeated, they had submitted to Tiansheng’s territory, voluntarily pledging allegiance and paying tribute. The tribute was actually just a token gesture, because a large portion of the Huzhuo Twelve Tribes’ territory lay between Great Yue and Tiansheng, forming a natural barrier against Great Yue’s invasions of Tiansheng. Each winter, Tiansheng allocated large amounts of grain to support them.
Now that Tiansheng and Great Yue were about to go to war, the Huzhuo Twelve Tribes’ position appeared especially important. It was said that to show loyalty and support, the Huzhuo tribes had dispatched ten thousand troops and ordered the Crown Prince himself to come to the capital to pay respects to the Emperor. The court had therefore redoubled its efforts to win them over. It seemed this generous treatment had already bred arrogance and pride in this tribal group.
Feng Zhiwei did not want to create more trouble now. Under the reception of the Qiu Mansion’s steward, she boarded the Qiu Mansion’s carriage. The carriage had just begun moving when someone knocked on the glass.
Judging by the gesture, it was a knock, but with that single knock, there came a “bang,” and the expensive glass completely shattered.
Someone outside the window laughed, “I’ve long heard that the young ladies of the Imperial Capital’s great households are all delicately weak and beautiful, completely different from grassland daughters. Now that I’ve finally encountered one, let me have a look.”
The words were simple, and precisely because they were simple, they were extraordinarily unbridled and willful. As if everything in this world became a command when he spoke it, and no one could defy him in the slightest.
Steward Zhang of the Qiu Mansion was shocked and dismayed—before coming, he had received Madam’s repeated instructions to treat Miss Feng with utmost respect. Though dissatisfied in his heart, he dared not discount Madam’s orders. He had never expected to encounter such an incident at the city gate.
Although the officials and nobles of the Tiansheng Dynasty advocated romantic pursuits, they were still very strict regarding their own daughters. If an unmarried daughter was molested by a strange man on the street, it would inevitably affect her future marriage prospects.
He was about to move forward with the guards when, just as he stepped forward, with a “swoosh,” several fine horses blocked his path in unison. The sound of falling hooves came as one. Seven or eight deep red whips wrapped with gold thread coiled like agile snakes, and the Qiu Mansion guards were scattered and flung away like pellets.
These men moved efficiently with unified actions, their features hidden beneath wide-brimmed hats. Only their stubbled, knife-edge jaws could be seen.
The man who had shattered the glass with one finger by the carriage never turned his head, concentrating on wanting to “look at the great household’s young lady.”
The glass shattered, the bamboo curtain lifted, daylight flooded in, and Feng Zhiwei quickly turned her face away.
Yet in that moment of turning, that man’s gaze was like an eagle’s—in one startling glimpse he had already seen her appearance. After a moment of shock, he suddenly burst into wild laughter.
“Oh, my eternal heaven!” He laughed until his whole body shook. “So this is why Central Plains noble ladies desperately hide and conceal themselves! They’re all such hideous hags!”
“Are you sick or what?” He extended his hand with great interest to grab Feng Zhiwei’s chin. “Are Central Plains women all this weak?”
His hand suddenly froze.
In the dark carriage interior, a point of faint light reflected on his wrist.
Three fen below the wrist, at the vital point of the hand tendons, a piece of broken glass with sharp edges pressed unhesitatingly at that life-threatening position.
“Central Plains women are indeed all this weak.” Feng Zhiwei’s eyes flowed with light, her tone gentle. “If accidentally frightened, with a trembling hand, one flick—and this hand of the grassland warrior that draws bows and holds arrows will become as weak as a Central Plains woman’s.”
The person outside the carriage seemed to pause. From Feng Zhiwei’s angle, she could only see his sharply defined jaw and straight nose bridge.
“So Central Plains women are not only hideous hags but shrews as well.” That person suddenly gave another long laugh. Without yielding, he flicked his fingers and caught them in reverse. With a “crack,” the glass broke in half—part of the shards pierced into his flesh causing blood to flow, while another part sprang up, directly threatening Feng Zhiwei’s eyes!
This person would rather risk his hand tendons being injured than yield!
“Nanyi!” Feng Zhiwei called out softly.
The maid in blue who had been eating little walnuts in the dark carriage immediately struck out with a horizontal palm.
Her sleeve fluttered up like flowing clouds, yet the fierce wind was violent as a thunderstorm. Rising suddenly then withdrawing, with light and casual ease she sent the person flying. That person’s considerable body flew through the air unable to stop, crashing all the way into the miscellaneous goods stall outside the city gate.
The surrounding crowd of onlookers only saw the domineering man first mock the woman inside the Qiu family carriage, then reach his hand into the vehicle. Just as they were about to lament for that Miss Qiu, they saw that man suddenly swept up as if by a violent wind, instantly landing in disheveled embarrassment.
Before people could react, the exquisite black lacquered carriage moved, and then the woman’s gentle praising voice carried out.
“What an excellent move of No Road to Heaven No Door to Earth Head Before Feet Behind Seven Up Eight Down Demons Dancing Wildly Hands and Feet Dancing Ambush on All Sides Eight Directions Pipa Wild Geese Falling on Flat Sand Crossing Water on Duckweed Absolutely Marvelous Lightness Skill!”
People stood frozen in place, desperately trying to comprehend what kind of technique this forty-character supreme lightness skill actually was. By the time they came to their senses, the Qiu Mansion carriage had already disappeared.
At the old clothes and miscellaneous goods stall, the man who had blocked the carriage was rescued by the guards who rushed over from a ground full of tattered clothes and broken socks. Wearing a flowered undershirt on his head, wrapped in a torn Daoist robe, with colorful sock ties hanging from his ears, he stared blankly in the direction the Qiu Mansion carriage had departed.
In the sunlight, on that face so bruised and swollen that features could not be distinguished, a pair of amber eyes, colored like fine wine, shone with a strange light.
“Hey! Central Plains woman!”
Feng Zhiwei treated the obstruction at the city gate as complete farce. She was in a very good mood today and would not quibble with anyone.
She propped up her chin, smiling as she looked at her maid in blue—look at our Young Master Gu, how good he looks in women’s clothing. A waist is a waist, a face is a face… er, except for having no chest.
Gu Nanyi concentrated on eating little walnuts—last night Feng Zhiwei had shelled a large pile for him. While shelling them, she had casually changed his clothes.
Feng Zhiwei knew that Young Master Gu never spent even a fraction of thought on anything besides her, so there was no need to worry he would care about something like a dignified man not wearing women’s clothing. She only needed to ensure this maid’s outfit was designed simply, the clothing color still had to be sky-water blue, and the fabric still had to be as light and soft as what he usually wore.
The gauze hat was changed to a face veil. When changing it, Feng Zhiwei honestly closed her eyes, otherwise Young Master Gu would crush the walnuts with cracking sounds, which was quite suggestive.
The fourth-rank Imperial Guard Gu Nanyi, with his rank dropping again and again, had directly fallen to become the Feng family eldest daughter’s maid…
The carriage stopped only when it reached the Qiu Mansion’s inner hall. Lady Qiu personally came out to greet them with maids and matrons.
Lady Feng and Feng Hao were also there, dressed much more presentably than yesterday. Lady Feng’s expression was complex, while Feng Hao’s face was twisted with emotion.
Nanny An was not among the matron ranks. Feng Zhiwei smiled with satisfaction—it seemed Lady Qiu was very sensible about the times.
“Zhiwei!” After a night had passed, Lady Qiu had adjusted her expression to near naturalness. She came forward affectionately. “At the beginning of the year, I sent you to your great-uncle’s family in Jianghuai to relax. Now you’ve finally returned. How was your stay at your great-uncle’s? Are your great-uncle, great-aunt, and sisters all well? Compared to the Imperial Capital, how did you find the scenery of Jianghuai?”
“Thank you for your concern, Aunt.” Feng Zhiwei smiled and curtsied. “The elders and sisters are all well and asked me to send their regards to you, Aunt.”
The two exchanged pleasantries as they walked toward the inner hall, imperceptibly establishing an account of where Feng Zhiwei had gone after leaving the mansion. As for whether people believed it or not, Feng Zhiwei did not care. If anyone wanted to dig up some trouble—courting death? Be my guest.
Seated in the inner chamber, Lady Qiu smiled, “I’ve had Caijia Residence tidied up for you. Move there shortly.”
A shocked buzzing arose in the room. The entire Qiu Mansion, from top to bottom, remained confused about Feng Zhiwei’s sudden return and Lady Qiu’s complete change in attitude. Hearing that the courtyard of the mansion’s married eldest daughter would be given to Feng Zhiwei made them even more astonished.
Feng Zhiwei smiled. She had already decided where she should live—Cuifang Studio, where Fifth Aunt who had died in the lake used to live. That was the true purpose of her return to the mansion. Caijia Residence was right next to the main residence, which would not be convenient for her dual identity.
Before the words of refusal could leave her mouth, she heard a cold shout.
“What kind of thing is she! How dare she live in my eldest sister’s rooms!”