Xie Yanlai appeared to be choked speechless, but he didn’t spit out the pill.
Chu Zhao felt relieved and quietly asked A-Le, “Why is the pill so large?”
A-Le apologetically said, “The physician at the pharmacy made it hastily when I rushed him.” She then quickly took out three porcelain bottles, “But these medicinal powders were prepared by me with sufficient efficacy.”
Chu Zhao took them with a smile: “A-Le’s skill is unmatched in the world.”
A-Le also chuckled.
Chu Zhao held the medicine bottles and turned around to see Xie Yanlai watching her with a cold expression.
He said, “I won’t ask about your purpose, and you don’t need to sweet-talk me. Get out of here immediately.”
A-Le was displeased: “Young Master A-Jiu, how can you be like this? My young mistress is trying to save you. These medicines were specially prepared at her request. Don’t think you’re fine—your injuries are very serious—”
At this point, she giggled.
“But having taken my pill, your vital energy will be immediately replenished.”
“Sprinkle on these powders, and the bleeding will stop at once. Then use my ointment, and I guarantee you won’t even have a scar.”
Xie Yanlai sneered. There was no need for pretense now; the previously deaf and mute maidservant had become quite glib.
“Your young mistress can’t distinguish right from wrong, good from bad?” he said with a half-smile, then looked at Chu Zhao, “Miss Chu, you’re so kind to someone like me. Do you think those villagers deserved to die?”
A-Le’s expression froze. She had followed Chu Zhao down from upstairs, and Chu Zhao had instructed her to immediately use her life-saving skills to prepare medicine for wounds. She had rushed off immediately.
She had forgotten that A-Jiu was now called Xie Yanlai.
She had also heard about the things Xie Yanlai had done.
Such a person indeed did not deserve to be saved!
A-Le looked toward Chu Zhao.
Chu Zhao looked at Xie Yanlai and asked curiously, “What happened with the fire?”
Why ask? The news had spread throughout the city, so why ask him? Xie Yanlai said coldly, “Don’t you know? Haven’t you heard?”
“I heard,” Chu Zhao said, “That’s why I’m asking you.”
She heard, yet still came to ask him—was she saying she didn’t believe what she heard and only wanted to hear from him?
Xie Yanlai laughed, bending his knee to support his arm, and looked Chu Zhao over: “Miss Chu, what exactly do you want me to do? I’ve already said, this kind of trick won’t fool me.”
Chu Zhao looked at him: “Indeed, with your intelligence and vigilance, would you fall asleep drunk and burn the goods? I don’t know you well, but if you were escorting goods, they wouldn’t escape even if they grew legs.”
Xie Yanlai couldn’t help but laugh out loud, then quickly suppressed it.
“What nonsense are you talking?” He raised an eyebrow, pointing outside, “You’ve got what you wanted now. I’m going to be sent to the government office. Get off the carriage immediately and get far away.”
He raised his voice.
“If you don’t get her off, I’ll kick her off myself.”
He raised his foot.
A-Jiu was someone who truly did as he said, and A-Le knew this. She immediately straightened up on her knees, blocking in front of Chu Zhao: “You dare!”
She reached out toward the wounds on Xie Yanlai’s back.
“If you dare kick my young mistress, I’ll whip you!”
The commotion inside grew louder, and the carriage abruptly came to a stop.
The curtain was lifted, and the old servant outside looked at the three confronting each other inside, smiling as he said, “We’ve arrived.”
Arrived?
Chu Zhao lifted the curtain to look outside, frowning: “This isn’t the government office.”
The carriage had driven into a courtyard—an exquisite one, with servants standing with hands lowered all around.
A gust of wind came from behind. Chu Zhao nimbly used the momentum to jump down, avoiding being kicked.
“Of course, this isn’t the government office,” Xie Yanlai said, ignoring his reopened wounds dripping blood as he jumped down after her. “This is my home.”
Chu Zhao ignored him and looked at the person in front of her.
The middle-aged man who had harshly whipped Xie Yanlai earlier was nowhere to be seen. Now only the old servant stood before her.
He introduced himself as Steward Cai, the manager for the Third Young Master Xie.
“So you’re not sending him to the government office?” Chu Zhao frowned and asked him, “You aren’t sending him to the officials.”
Steward Cai smiled, frankly admitting, “Of course not. The children of my Xie family can only be punished by the Xie family. This is our family matter.”
Family matters, a family matter put on display for outsiders. Chu Zhao said with a half-smile, “Aren’t you afraid the common people will see?”
She had made the Xie family people say in the street that they would escort him to the government office, and she had sat in the carriage to follow and watch. Naturally, many people would follow on foot to see.
She looked toward the tightly closed mansion gate. There must be quite a crowd gathered outside the Xie family gate now.
Steward Cai spoke gently: “The Third Young Master said that in fact, the common people don’t care whether he’s sent to the officials or not.”
Chu Zhao raised an eyebrow: “Isn’t the Third Young Master afraid of damaging his reputation?”
Steward Cai said: “The Third Young Master is not afraid. If it’s damaged, it can be repaired.” He smiled at Chu Zhao, “Besides, Miss Chu doesn’t care either.”
Indeed, she didn’t care. Chu Zhao looked at Steward Cai, or rather, at the person behind Steward Cai—the Third Young Master Xie.
Truly impressive.
Earlier in the street, when faced with her sudden provocation, he had immediately countered it. Now he was directly stating that he didn’t care about these matters and pointing out that he knew she didn’t care either.
Chu Zhao didn’t answer this question, only saying: “So the Third Young Master Xie is this kind of person.”
Xie Yanlai coldly said from behind, “Now that you know what kind of person the Third Young Master is, you should leave quickly.”
Chu Zhao glanced at him and said coldly, “It’s not your place to speak in this household, is it?”
Hmph! Xie Yanlai’s expression darkened, and he stepped forward.
Another servant rushed up from behind and whispered something to Steward Cai. As he listened, Steward Cai’s expression changed to surprise. He looked at Xie Yanlai, then at Chu Zhao, as if suddenly enlightened, and then he smiled.
“Young Master Yanlai, please calm down,” he said with a smile, then looked at Chu Zhao, “Since you two already know each other, Miss Chu is a guest of our Xie family.”
Xie Yanlai’s footsteps halted.
Chu Zhao didn’t look at Steward Cai but instead at Xie Yanlai, her eyes betraying her surprise.
From this one sentence, she realized that A-Jiu had never mentioned her to his family; the Xie family people had no knowledge of her encounter with A-Jiu on the road.
He had actually… not said a word about it.
…
…
“I was negligent earlier,” Xie Yanfang said, holding a fishing rod while sitting by the stream. “Although I had heard that Miss Chu beat someone and then fled the capital, and I knew that Miss Chu had returned, I didn’t pay attention to how Miss Chu returned. If I had asked one more question at that time—”
He would have learned that she was captured by Deng Yi and assisted by the Marquis of Zhongshan.
He would have asked about more details of the process, such as how the daughter of Chu Wei had traveled with the post station soldiers.
Xie Yanlai was serving as a post station soldier at that time.
“No wonder Miss Chu was so angry in the street,” Xie Yanfang turned his head to look at the girl standing nearby. “Seeing a loved one being punished so harshly would naturally cause heartache and anger.”
Chu Zhao blinked, not quite understanding. Loved one?
Xie Yanfang looked at Xie Yanlai standing beside the girl.
“You rejected the marriage arrangement with the Liang family’s daughter because you had an agreement with someone else. I heard that you and Miss Chu made a vow in front of the Marquis of Zhongshan’s heir, promising to stay together in life and death, never to part.”
He said with a smile, looking at Xie Yanlai, the smile fading from his face.
“Yanlai, you can declare your intentions in front of outsiders, yet you hide them from me, your brother. This is truly hurtful.”
Chu Zhao understood now and wore a strange expression.
Xie Yanlai burst into laughter, laughing with schadenfreude.
“This is not my fault,” he leaned over and whispered to Chu Zhao, “I told you to leave quickly, but you wouldn’t. You brought this upon yourself.”