Yu Xiaomeng had no time to explain. Carrying Ziqing on her back, she moved to head straight into the house.

But Madam Yu grabbed her and stopped her. “Wait a moment!”

“Mother, she’s badly hurt. We can talk nonsense later. Hurry and make up a bed for me, boil some hot water, and bring me that new set of clothes I made! Bring the cotton-padded jacket too!” Yu Xiaomeng instructed earnestly.

Helpless, Madam Yu remained unmoved. Stroking her chin, she looked Ziqing over carefully, and soon began clicking her tongue. “Girl Yu, this young lady is really quite pretty, just like a fox spirit. Did your hunting trip catch you a fox spirit?”

Yu Xiaomeng was stunned for a moment, then said angrily, “Mother!”

“Don’t ‘Mother’ me! Let me tell you, we’re not saving this girl. She’s prettier than you — if she ends up staying here in the northern desert, the young men won’t even need convincing, they’ll all fall over themselves bowing… bowing… how does that saying from the Central Plains go? Oh, right! They’ll all fall prostrate beneath her pomegranate skirt!”

Madam Yu had never had a good impression of women from the Central Plains, especially not the delicate, slender, pampered young ladies who grew up pretty — she disliked them most of all.

The moment she saw Ziqing’s looks, she immediately took a dislike to her. She pinched Ziqing’s cheek and went on, “Wherever you rescued her from, that’s where you should send her back to. Why do you always love bringing people home? And saving just anyone? Let me tell you, I don’t welcome this kind of girl. Look at this young lady’s looks — our household can’t afford to wait on someone like her.”

Yu Xiaomeng’s face instantly darkened. Ever since the matter with Xuanyuan Lige, her mother had taken to worrying every single day about whether she could get married, whether she could marry well. Worrying about which girl was prettier than her, which girl knew how to dress better.

“Mother, the things that come out of your mouth stink like farts! A life is at stake here — if you keep blocking me, it’s the same as murder!” Yu Xiaomeng warned, holding back her anger.

Only then did Madam Yu reluctantly step aside. Though unwilling, she moved briskly enough, making up the bed, boiling the water, and bringing the clothes.

“Where’s the cotton-padded jacket?” Yu Xiaomeng asked.

“I washed it this morning, it’s not dry yet!” Madam Yu answered irritably.

Yu Xiaomeng had no time to worry about her own clothes, soaked through from the melting snow. She hurried to change Ziqing’s clothes, saying displeasedly as she worked, “Who are you fooling? That jacket can’t be washed that fast, go get it now!”

Madam Yu took a deep breath, holding back her displeasure, and pushed Yu Xiaomeng away. “Go find it yourself. Hurry up and change your own clothes — if you catch a cold, don’t expect me to nurse you!”

As she spoke, she briskly set about changing Ziqing’s clothes herself.

Yu Xiaomeng’s heart warmed. She knew her mother only had a sharp tongue — underneath it, she was soft-hearted as tofu.

When Yu Xiaomeng finished changing her own clothes and brought the cotton jacket over, she found Madam Yu sitting on the heated brick bed with a dark, gloomy expression, staring coldly at her.

Yu Xiaomeng felt an inexplicable panic rise up, a vague sense of foreboding.

“Tell me! What exactly happened!” Madam Yu said coldly, turning serious — truly a case of a sharp tongue paired with an equally sharp heart.

Yu Xiaomeng’s eyes were sharp, and she immediately caught sight of several gashes from wolf claws on Ziqing’s bare arm, where the sleeve had been rolled up.

“Speak!” Madam Yu suddenly snapped.

“I… I… I ran into her on the mountain, being chased by wild wolves, so… so… so I killed the wolves together with her, and we escaped back here.” Yu Xiaomeng stammered — she was no good at lying.

Madam Yu flew into a rage. “You went to that forest in the southeast mountains? How many times have I told you not to go there? There are more wild wolves there than there are people in our village! You! You! Do you want to worry me to death?”

Yu Xiaomeng lowered her head, not daring to meet her mother’s eyes.

“Why was she out there? In the dead of winter, the wild wolves should all be hibernating in their dens. How did she stir them up?” Madam Yu asked further.

“I… I don’t know. She was unconscious. I don’t even know who she is,” Yu Xiaomeng said timidly.

“You don’t know anything about her, and you still brought her home to save her!” Madam Yu said angrily.

Yu Xiaomeng fell silent.

“Throw her back out. A woman who can provoke wild wolves is definitely no good,” Madam Yu said coldly.

“Mother…” Yu Xiaomeng was growing desperate, nearly in tears. “Mother, she doesn’t seem like a bad person. Maybe the wolves were just out looking for food and happened to run into her. Mother, saving one life earns merit equal to building a seven-tiered pagoda! At the very least, let’s wake her up before we send her away!”

As she spoke, Yu Xiaomeng stepped forward and took hold of Madam Yu’s hand, pleading pitifully in a coaxing tone.

But this time, Madam Yu wasn’t having any of it. She shoved Yu Xiaomeng aside, and with her other hand lifted Ziqing’s clothing, pointing at a blood-smeared gash on her abdomen. “Look, what is this?” she said, displeased.

Yu Xiaomeng looked closely and was startled — this wound wasn’t from a wolf’s claws. It looked much more like a wound left by a fight between martial artists.

It seemed something had happened up in the mountains after all!

The wolf leader had summoned so many wild wolves, only to be poisoned to death, and then the wolves had turned to surround her instead!

Could it be that this girl really was a bad person?

But then again, this girl had also saved her life!

Yu Xiaomeng couldn’t make sense of it, and didn’t dare mention the wolf leader being poisoned. She could only plead, “Mother, when I was saving her, the wolves were coming straight at me. She was the one who drew them away — otherwise you wouldn’t even be able to see me right now!”

“That’s only because you wanted to save her that she saved you in return!” Madam Yu said, displeased.

“Well, since she saved me, I have to save her too!” Yu Xiaomeng said hurriedly.

“You! Don’t talk back to me!” Madam Yu’s brow furrowed, still unpersuaded.

“Mother, I’m begging you. She’s already been brought home — at the very least, let’s wait until she wakes up. Tomorrow morning first thing, I’ll go find the witch doctor to come heal her, and once she’s awake, I’ll let her go! Please, all right?”

“Mother, this is the last time, I promise!”

“Mother, if you agree to this, I’ll agree to go on that blind date with the Shen family’s boy!”

The moment Yu Xiaomeng said this, Madam Yu raised an eyebrow and looked at her, coughed lightly a few times, then immediately stuck out her little finger. “It’s a deal!”

“It’s a deal!” Yu Xiaomeng said, finally relieved.

“Well then, since you’re the one who wanted to save her, you can keep watch over her yourself. I’m not getting involved — I’m going to sleep,” Madam Yu said seriously. She knew that if she didn’t stay to keep watch, Yu Xiaomeng would surely sneak off again to stand for hours in the wind and snow outside Xuanyuan Lige’s place like a fool.

In truth, it wasn’t that she was pushing her daughter to marry — it was that she knew Yu Xiaomeng simply couldn’t forget young master Xuanyuan.

The only way to forget someone was to find another person to take their place.

Once the replacement lasted long enough, it would become habit, and once it became habit, perhaps there would be no more talk of love or not love.

Thinking this, Madam Yu glanced at Yu Xiaomeng with a pang of heartache, then turned and walked away.

Meanwhile, Yu Xiaomeng’s thoughts were fixed on the wound on Ziqing’s abdomen. The wound looked somewhat like a blade wound, yet it was too fine — even a sharp blade’s edge might not cut that thin.

Thin, yet extremely deep. Just who could have wounded this girl so badly?

Was this girl from the martial arts world? Did she know martial arts?

Yu Xiaomeng had always had a soft spot for beautiful, heroic women like this.

She kept watching, kept thinking, until exhaustion overtook her and she drifted off to sleep without realizing it.

But before long, she was jolted awake by the sound of knocking at the door outside. Who could it be, in the middle of the night like this?

Yu Xiaomeng hurried outside, just as Madam Yu was also opening the door.

Outside stood a group of armed escorts, each one tall and burly, built like Huns.

“Who are you looking for?” Madam Yu asked warily.

Then, from among the tall men stepped an old nanny with a kindly face. “Dear sister, our escort convoy is passing through this way. It’s bitterly cold tonight — we were hoping to borrow your courtyard to spend the night. Would that be convenient?”