Madam Yu kept taking deep, furious breaths, glaring at Xuanyuan Lige. If looks could kill, Xuanyuan Lige would already have been torn to pieces and dumped in the snowy mountains long ago.
Finally, unable to hold back any longer, Madam Yu exploded. “Xuanyuan Shang, are you even a man?”
“You had the nerve to say you’d marry her but not the nerve to follow through?”
“What exactly is my daughter lacking compared to that girl? Do you Central Plains people think you’re so superior? What’s so great about some delicate, frail young lady compared to our Xiaomeng! What does she have that my daughter doesn’t!”
“If you ask me, you’re just like a jar of medicine yourself!”
“Enough!”
Suddenly, Xuanyuan Lige grabbed her hand and glared at her with furious eyes, instantly stunning Madam Yu into silence!
It was he who had hurt Yu Xiaomeng — Madam Yu could curse him however she liked for that.
But he would absolutely not allow Madam Yu to say a single bad word about Ziqing! What kind of woman Ziqing was — that wasn’t Madam Yu’s place to judge!
“You, you, what do you want to do!”
Looking into Xuanyuan Lige’s deep, dark eyes, Madam Yu finally felt real fear.
“You’re the one who poisoned her!” Xuanyuan Lige said, cutting straight to the point. Only three people had had contact with Ziqing — he could trust Yu Xiaomeng, but Madam Yu, he was certain, was the one responsible for the poisoning.
Hearing Xuanyuan Lige suddenly bring this up, Madam Yu abruptly remembered the whole affair.
She had poisoned the girl — so how had she woken up?
“I… I… I don’t know what you’re talking about, I don’t understand!” Madam Yu stammered, immediately demanding Xuanyuan Lige let go. “Let go of me, or I’ll call for help! Don’t you forget, this is Mobei — this is my territory!”
Whose territory?
That line meant nothing at all to Xuanyuan Lige. He tightened his grip on Madam Yu’s hand and said coldly, “What exactly were you scheming?”
“I wasn’t scheming anything, don’t you slander me!”
“You hurt my daughter, and now you’re the one accusing me of slander? I’ve never met someone so ungrateful — if it weren’t for my daughter, you’d already be dead in the desert. Is this how you Central Plains people repay a debt of gratitude?”
“Let go, let go of me! Xuanyuan Shang, I’m warning you, let go right now, what do you think you’re doing!”
…
No matter how loudly Madam Yu shouted, Xuanyuan Lige didn’t loosen his grip in the slightest — if anything, he tightened it further, and he answered not a single one of her words.
“I really didn’t do anything, I don’t know what you’re talking about! Let go!”
“My hand’s about to break, let go, someone, help, murder! Someone, help!”
…
After all, Xuanyuan Lige’s residence was quite a distance from the town, and on a heavy snow day, no one would be out and about. No matter how hoarse she screamed, no one would come to her rescue!
“Let go… you can’t treat an old woman like this, let go of me!”
…Madam Yu’s voice grew hoarse, her struggling growing weaker and weaker from what had started as fierce resistance.
A cold curve touched the corner of Xuanyuan Lige’s lips, and he suddenly tightened his grip further, the pain making Madam Yu cry out in alarm. “Ah… I admit it, I admit it! I poisoned her, I didn’t mean to hurt her, I just wanted her to wake up later, so Xiaomeng could keep taking care of her and wouldn’t have time to come running to you!”
“Lies!” Xuanyuan Lige snorted coldly. If that were the real reason, then why, in the near two weeks Ziqing had lain unconscious in his house, had Madam Yu never once said a word about it?
If she hadn’t happened to run into that Xiongnu old woman, would Ziqing never have woken up at all, for the rest of her life?
“I truly meant no harm. This is all your fault, and Xiaomeng’s — you’re the one who hurt Xiaomeng, so it’s all your fault too!”
Rather than admitting fault, Madam Yu shifted all the blame onto Xuanyuan Lige instead.
“Let’s go. Come with me to find the witch doctor!”
Xuanyuan Lige said, already dragging Madam Yu along, which immediately terrified her into nodding and confessing. “I was wrong, I was wrong! I shouldn’t have harbored such wicked thoughts toward that girl, I was wrong. Young Master Xuanyuan, for the sake of Xiaomeng having saved both you and that girl, please spare me just this once!”
She knew perfectly well that if such a malicious act came to the attention of the clan elders, she would be shunned by the entire tribe — she’d never be able to live in this small Mobei town again!
Xuanyuan Lige said nothing more, simply dragging Madam Yu to the door and shoving her straight out, saying coldly, “I don’t like being disturbed. I trust you understand.”
“I understand, I understand completely, don’t worry — from now on, our Yu family will have nothing to do with you at all!”
Madam Yu said this while scrambling back to her feet and heading out.
She knew perfectly well that Xuanyuan Lige was using the poisoning matter as a warning to her.
“You’d best remember that well.” Xuanyuan Lige said, then slammed the door shut with a resounding bang.
Only then did Madam Yu stop, taking a deep breath, growing more and more bitter the more she thought about it. On impulse, she picked up a stone as if to throw it, but ultimately didn’t dare.
“Xuanyuan Shang, let me tell you — you’d better make sure I never see that girl again, or else… or else I’ll tell her absolutely everything about you! You liar!”
After venting her frustration, Madam Yu finally left, hurrying off to find Yu Xiaomeng, of course.
But by evening, she still couldn’t find her anywhere. With no other choice, she went home first to check there instead, but she couldn’t find her there either — only a note left on the table.
“Gone hunting?”
Madam Yu cried out in shock, “You wretched girl, what business do you have going hunting right now? You’re going to be the death of me! So you want to hide, is that it? Fine then, don’t ever bother coming back!”
Furious, Madam Yu sat down, having gone the entire day without a single drop of water. She drank a cup of hot water, and was about to head back out to search for her daughter, but just as she reached the door, she suddenly turned back.
Something seemed to have occurred to her. She hurried toward the inner room and opened a large chest. Inside the otherwise empty compartment lay a long object, wrapped tightly in an old, tattered quilt, impossible to make out clearly.
But the moment Madam Yu lifted a corner of the wrapping, zither strings were immediately revealed — this was none other than Ziqing’s ever-present Wuzheng!
Madam Yu carefully touched it, confirming the object was still there, then locked it away again with relief.
This item belonged to that Central Plains girl. She’d originally only meant to hold onto it temporarily on her behalf, but after that girl had been taken away by Xuanyuan Shang, she’d simply forgotten about it entirely.
But now, thinking about it…
Madam Yu gave a cold smile. The moment she’d seen this item, she’d known it was an extremely valuable zither. She would wait — wait for that girl to come back looking for it.
Xuanyuan Shang dared to wrong her daughter like this? Once that girl came back, she’d make sure to give him a proper taste of his own medicine!
With this thought, Madam Yu felt somewhat better. She packed up some dry rations and hurried out the door, heading into the forested mountains.
She had only that one daughter — heaven forbid the girl do something rash!
Meanwhile, Ziqing was still carefully tailing the Lord of Nangong City, the group making their way deeper and deeper into the forest, the surrounding snow growing higher and higher, the path more and more difficult!
Conditions like these were the hardest to track through without being noticed — she had to be even more careful.
Ziqing had originally planned to send the Shadow Guards back to retrieve Wuzheng, but not wanting to expose Xuanyuan Lige’s location, she had no choice but to let it go.
In the dead of night, she didn’t dare light a torch, only managing to stay close behind — but unexpectedly, at a bend in the path, the people ahead suddenly stopped!
…