Intense screams continuously came from the courtyard in the right wing of the front yard, interspersed with terrified crying of women. The front, middle, and back gates of the right wing’s three courtyard sections were wide open. The muffled sound of wooden boards striking human flesh and blood spread throughout the entire Zhuge mansion. Servants passing by couldn’t help but turn their heads, craning their necks to see who was enjoying such special treatment.
People gradually gathered. Chu Qiao stood at the mansion’s gate, just one step away from walking out of this man-eating courtyard. But those screams continuously struck her eardrums. The child’s brows furrowed tighter and tighter, until finally she withdrew her small step, turned around, and quickly ran toward the right wing.
Fate often gives people a chance to choose. One step’s difference can often change many things.
Zhuge Yue wore light green brocade robes with dark green lotus flowers embroidered on the lapel. His ink-black hair cascaded over his shoulders, his face was as white as jade, his eyes as black as ink, and his lips had an unusually deep crimson hue. Although only thirteen or fourteen years old, he looked both sinister and unrestrained. He reclined on a purple sandalwood gilt-inlaid chaise lounge, supporting his head with his elbow. On both sides, pretty maidservants held fine incense, crouching beside him, occasionally peeling fresh lychee that had been rushed a thousand miles from Bian Tang by fast horses.
Twenty paces in front of him, a child in servant’s clothing had been beaten until the skin split and flesh showed. Even the screams had gradually weakened. A six or seven-year-old slave girl knelt nearby, constantly kowtowing and begging for mercy. Her forehead was already broken, blood flowing, spreading across the child’s clear, tearful eyes.
The sun gradually rose. Zhenhuang City was located on the Red River Plateau. Though it was deep winter, the sun was still intense. Zhuge Yue raised his head, his brows slightly furrowed, and his eyes narrowed. The maidservants on both sides immediately nervously raised umbrellas, shading Zhuge Yue’s head. Zhuge Yue irritably pushed them away, sat up straight, waved to the attendants on both sides and leaned back against the chair.
Two strong men immediately stepped forward respectfully and carefully, lifting Zhuge Yue’s lounge chair from front and back, and walking toward the exit of the right wing.
The little girl kneeling and kowtowing on the ground was shocked when she saw this. Panicking, she called out, crawled forward on her knees, grabbed Zhuge Yue’s clothes, and cried, “Fourth Young Master, please spare Lin Xi! If you beat him anymore, he will die!”
Zhuge Yue raised an eyebrow, his eyes glancing down, looking at the girl’s black hands stained with fresh blood.
The child felt an uncontrollable coldness suddenly attack her head. She saw that on Zhuge Yue’s snow-white boots, there were five bloody fingerprints, looking particularly conspicuous and eye-catching.
The child was greatly alarmed, tongue-tied, and after a long while, frantically used her sleeve to vigorously wipe Zhuge Yue’s boots, crying, “I’m sorry, Fourth Young Master, Little Seven will clean them right away.”
With a thud, Zhuge Yue kicked the child to the ground. The maidservants on both sides immediately knelt forward and removed the soiled boot. Zhuge Yue looked at the child with disgust, his voice low, saying calmly, “Cut off that hand of hers.”
The child immediately forgot to cry, sitting on the ground dumbfounded. The wolf-like guards quickly rushed forward, their waist-hung long sabers instantly unsheathed. A line of blood shot into the sky, and a fair, thin little hand was cut off and fell to the ground!
A piercing scream instantly broke through the clouds, scattering the grotesquely howling vultures in the sky.
Chu Qiao stood stunned at the door, like a stone statue, her running footsteps abruptly halted. Her eyes were wide open, tightly covering her mouth, unable to move an inch.
“Fourth Young Master, this boy has no breath left.”
Zhuge Yue glanced at Lin Xi’s small body with indifference, extended his slender fingers to rub his temples, and said calmly, “Throw him into the lake behind the mountain pavilion to feed the fish.”
“Yes.”
The strong men lifted Zhuge Yue’s lounge chair and slowly moved forward. All servants along the way hurriedly knelt, not daring to raise their heads.
“Wait,” Zhuge Yue suddenly said softly as they passed the gate of the right wing. He slightly turned his head, looking at Chu Qiao, who was standing at the courtyard gate staring at him intently. He frowned and asked sternly, “Which courtyard’s slave are you? Why don’t you kneel when you see me?”
Chu Qiao took a deep breath, biting her lip tightly, swallowing all her shock and anger. She fell to her knees with a thud, her eyes staring straight at the blue-brick ground, wide open, speaking in a childish tone of panic, “Yue’er is a laborer from the back courtyard. Please forgive Yue’er for her lack of knowledge. This is the first time Yue’er has seen Young Master, and she thought she had seen an immortal.”
Zhuge Yue smiled lightly, seeing this child was snow-jade adorable, young in age, and not yet fluent in speech. He laughed, “What a clever little girl. How old are you? What’s your name?”
“In reply to Fourth Young Master, Yue’er is seven years old, surname Jing.”
“I see,” Zhuge Yue said. “Then from now on, change your name and follow me. Let’s call you, let’s call you Xing’er.”
Chu Qiao immediately kowtowed, saying loudly, “Xing’er thanks Fourth Young Master for the promotion.”
Zhuge Yue smiled faintly, and the servants lifted the chair, turned around the corridor, and disappeared.
The commotion dispersed. It was just the death of a lowly slave, something the servants of the Zhuge residence had long grown accustomed to. In less than a moment, they all scattered. Several cleaning servants lifted the child’s small corpse, wrapped it in a sack, dragged it on the ground, and headed toward the lake behind the pavilion.
The child was still very young. All the flesh on his body had been beaten to a pulp. Fresh blood seeped through the sack, stickily clinging to the blue-brick ground, leaving a long trail of blood. Chu Qiao still knelt on the ground, her back rising and falling, her pearl teeth tightly biting her lower lip, her eyes fixed, her two small fists tightly clenched. She watched as the sack was slowly dragged away from her sight. The dazzling blood spread across the ground, covered with dirty dust. A large tear swirled in her eye socket, then fell onto the back of her hand with a splash.
“Yue’er, don’t be afraid, Fifth Brother is here.”
“We ate very well tonight. Fourth Young Master gave us extra dishes—red-braised carp, sweet and sour ribs, vinegar-fried tenderloin, and white duck. So many dishes! I ate until I felt like vomiting. I can’t eat anything more now.”
“Yue’er, don’t worry, someday in the future, Fifth Brother will let you eat your fill and dress warmly, bringing you all the good things in this world to eat. Not just red-braised meat, but also ginseng, abalone, bird’s nest, shark fin, elephant trunk—whatever you want. By then, no one will dare bully us again. Yue’er, do you believe Fifth Brother?”
“Yue’er, Fifth Brother will protect you. I’ll stay here with you. Don’t be afraid.”
A tide of grief and hatred surged up like tumultuous seawater, but she knew she could not cry, could not show even a bit of resentment at this moment. She wiped her face with the back of her hand, and quickly stood up. In the empty courtyard, Little Seven, whose hand had been cut off, had already fainted. Blood flowed like a spring from her severed wrist, yet no one paid any attention.
Chu Qiao quickly tore her clothes, pressed on the acupuncture points, and skillfully bandaged the child to stop the bleeding. After doing everything, she carried Little Seven on her back and gritted her teeth as she walked toward the back courtyard.
Just as she walked out of the courtyard gate, a cold voice suddenly said sternly, “Stop! Who authorized you to take her away?”
Chu Qiao looked up and saw it was Zhu Shun, who had whipped her once and locked her up for three days. The child frowned slightly and calmly said, “Fourth Young Master didn’t say to kill her.”
“The master didn’t say to let her go either!” Zhu Shun looked coldly at Chu Qiao. For some reason, the scene from that day on Nine Wai Street kept appearing in his dreams. The image of this child calmly asking his name after being beaten always made him uneasy. He found it ridiculous that he would be wary of such a young, low-status little slave, but a voice in his heart kept reminding these eyes that had seen countless people: if this child wasn’t eliminated early, she would eventually become a major threat.
“Presuming to guess the master’s thoughts, simply not knowing life from death. Come here, seize these two ignorant little slaves for me!”
Two servants immediately stepped forward to grab Chu Qiao’s arm. Chu Qiao hurriedly dodged backward. In the struggle, Little Seven suddenly groaned, and the blood that had just been stopped flowed out again.
“Who dares to come forward! I am someone by Fourth Young Master’s side. Don’t you value your lives?”
Zhu Shun sneered, saying, “You haven’t even gotten the chicken feather, yet you’re already acting like an imperial arrow. Tomorrow morning, whether Fourth Young Master even remembers someone like you is uncertain. You dare to scare me with this! Go, seize these two children and teach them a harsh lesson!”
Chu Qiao raised an eyebrow, carrying Little Seven on her back, immediately retreating like a little leopard. Her eyes darted around, her brows tightly knitted.
Just then, a voice suddenly sounded behind Zhu Shun. A tall, jade-like youth in an ink-green python robe stood in front of the front courtyard screen wall, his back to everyone, with four attendants beside him. The one in front, no more than eleven or twelve years old, said with displeasure, “Steward Zhu, weren’t you supposed to announce my family’s Young Master to Young Master Huai? Why are you entangled here? I see you’re truly very idle.”
Zhu Shun was stunned, hurriedly turning around, bending his waist down to his crotch like a bootlicker, nodding and bowing as he said, “Young Master Yan, it’s just that the servants are not obeying discipline, making Young Master Yan laugh at us.”
“Which is more important, disciplining servants or my family’s Young Master? Zhu Shun, I think you’ve lost your mind. Your courage has grown to swallow the sun and moon.”
Zhu Shun was greatly alarmed, his head knocking on the ground, hurriedly saying, “I wouldn’t dare, I wouldn’t dare, I know I was wrong.”
“If you know you were wrong, why are you still standing here?”
Hearing this, Zhu Shun immediately stood up and ran toward Zhuge Huai’s study as if his buttocks were on fire. The Zhuge residence servants hurriedly retreated to one side, one of them carefully saying, “Please, Young Master Yan, wait in the flower hall.”
The brocade-robed youth nodded, slowly turning around. His eyes were black as ink. His gaze swept across the front courtyard, slightly narrowing at the corner when he saw Chu Qiao as if remembering something, and he walked straight forward.
Chu Qiao’s gaze was calm, cautiously stepping back two steps. Seeing her retreat, Yan Xun stopped, thought silently for a moment, then took out a white porcelain bottle from his sleeve pocket. It was engraved with orchid patterns, looking very exquisite. The youth extended his hand, slightly nodding, indicating for her to take it.
Chu Qiao looked Yan Xun up and down. The scene from the hunting ground that day once again flashed before her eyes, making her consciousness somewhat drifting. In her caption, she didn’t step forward.
Yan Xun was startled, then his lips curved, smiling faintly. He bent down, gently placed the porcelain bottle on the ground, and turned to enter the flower hall with his attendants.
“Ugh…” a faint moan sounded from behind. Little Seven dazedly saw Chu Qiao’s face, her voice as thin as a mosquito’s, carrying indescribable fear, crying, “Sister Yue’er… Little Seven… is Little Seven going to die?”
Chu Qiao crouched down, holding the porcelain bottle tightly in her hand. Her small body was very tense, her eyes somberly looking toward the main residence of the Zhuge mansion, slowly but firmly saying, “Little Seven, sister promises you, you will be fine, you will never be hurt again.”