Liu Miantang shot a sidelong glare at the speaker. She saw a dissolute young man in a blue robe with a crooked headscarf, likely a local wealthy ne’er-do-well, accompanied by two grinning servants.
Miantang’s glare left the rake weak-kneed. One of his servants, accustomed to assisting his master’s dalliances, grinned and said, “What’s your name, miss? Our young master is the nephew of Lingquan Town’s garrison commander. If you get to know him, there could be many benefits for you!”
Miantang remained silent, while Li Mama, seemingly frightened, followed quietly behind. The ruffians persisted, making it clear they wouldn’t let her leave unless she boarded their sedan chair.
Miantang, however, remained calm. Her striking appearance had always attracted such unwanted attention, and she was used to dealing with such scoundrels.
In the past, when she occasionally snuck out with her maids from her maiden home, she would usually drag such bothersome suitors into a dark alley, loosen their joints, and beat them until their parents wouldn’t recognize them.
But now, weakened by her recent illness, she lacked the strength to execute her martial arts techniques.
Unwilling to endure the harassment, which went against her principles, she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, bit her lip slightly, and wordlessly turned into a nearby alley.
The garrison commander’s nephew, delighted by this turn of events, knew the alley was a dead end. He thought the beauty would have to comply with his wishes to leave.
With a glance, he signaled his servants. They immediately understood, having the sedan bearers guard the alley entrance while they followed their master into the alley.
The servants anticipated that if the young woman resisted, they might need to restrain her for their master, an act that promised its rewards…
The rake, eyes gleaming with wild joy, entered the alley and eagerly moved to embrace the beauty from behind. Suddenly, Liu Miantang spun around a silver flash in her hand. Before he knew it, a sharp object was pressed against his neck.
As everyone’s eyes adjusted, they realized the object was a silver hairpin from the lady’s coiffure.
Miantang had mustered all her strength for this move. Fortunately, the lecher was too blinded by lust to defend himself, allowing her to strike a critical point.
Seeing this, the two servants rushed forward, but the seemingly delicate young woman coldly warned, “I’ve pierced a vital point in his neck. If you dare take another step, I’ll end his miserable life. Then you can explain that to your superiors!”
Indeed, their young master, merely pricked by a small silver hairpin, had collapsed to his knees. His mouth and eyes were twisted, drooling excessively, and his eyes had rolled back, presenting a frightening sight.
As the young woman’s delicate hand pressed the hairpin a bit deeper, their master’s nose began to bleed, and his body convulsed uncontrollably.
The two servants, mere underlings, knew they’d be implicated if anything happened to their master. Terrified by the scene before them, they dared not move.
One of them, summoning his courage, threatened, “Y-you impudent woman! If you harm a single hair on our young master’s head, you’ll pay dearly for it!”
Miantang wasn’t intimidated by such threats. During her journey to Lingquan Town, she had occasionally stayed overnight on boats and overheard travelers by campfires discussing how Lingquan Town was under the jurisdiction of Zhen Prefecture. The new lord of Zhen Prefecture’s fief was the Prince of Huaiyang, who had inherited his father’s title.
The young prince was known for his strict military discipline and had recently quelled the Yangshan rebels’ uprising, gaining immense prestige. He was also cracking down on corruption among local officials, earning the people’s support.
If the Lingquan Town garrison commander’s nephew was harassing respectable women on the street, she could report this to her husband and file a complaint with the Prince of Huaiyang’s office!
Seeing their young master at the mercy of this delicate young woman’s hairpin, the two servants could no longer speak harshly. With dejected faces, they begged the young lady to stop and show mercy by releasing their master.
At this moment, Li Mama, who had been silent behind Liu Miantang, spoke up, “Madam, the master still has business to conduct. Please don’t cause a death.”
Liu Miantang’s eyes flickered slightly as she glanced towards a corner of the alley. She smiled faintly and addressed the two lackeys, “Releasing your master is simple, it just depends on how well you perform…”
Meanwhile, her husband Cui Jiu wasn’t buried in accounts at his shop. Instead, he was sitting at the Canghaishan Pavilion, enjoying fine wine with a friend while overlooking the surging river.
The river flowed mightily, with merchant ships constantly passing by, presenting a bustling and prosperous scene.
His companion, Zhao Quan, the Marquis of Zhengnan, remarked with emotion, “Just two years ago, this area was infested with river bandits, striking fear into the hearts of merchants. Now it’s peaceful and orderly. Your contribution to this cannot be overstated!”
Cui Jiu casually drank a cup of wine without responding. Zhao Quan knew he must be annoyed by the old courtiers in the capital who had accused him of illegally amassing troops.
So, Zhao Quan tried to console him, “Xingzhou, you needn’t be troubled by those censors’ words. His Majesty must understand that with the bandit problem in Zhen Prefecture still unresolved, without troops, the rebels would have reached the capital long ago. If they were to punish you for this, it would be against heaven’s will and difficult for people to accept!”
Cui Jiu remained silent, idly caressing his wine cup, lost in thought.
Just then, a thin, dark-faced old woman was led by guards to the pavilion. She knelt and saluted, saying, “Your Highness, this servant has something to report.”
Cui Jiu, or more accurately, Cui Xingzhou, the newly appointed Prince of Huaiyang who had inherited his father’s title, responded impassively, “You accompanied her to the market today. Was there anything unusual?”
The dark-faced old woman was none other than Li Mama, who should have returned to North Street with the madam to cook.
After the alley incident, Liu Miantang lost interest in visiting the fabric shop and returned early with Li Mama.
Exhausted from the day’s events, her weakened body couldn’t endure, and she had fallen asleep as usual.
Seeing that she wouldn’t wake soon, Li Mama had taken a carriage to report to her master.
Hearing the prince’s inquiry, she respectfully replied, “There were indeed some incidents, which I’ve come to report to Your Highness.”
She then recounted the encounter with the ruffians in detail.
Cui Xingzhou’s brow remained unmoved, his handsome face expressionless as he silently listened to her account of the alley incident.
Zhao Quan, on the other hand, felt sympathy for the woman who could only desperately defend herself. But when he heard about how Liu Miantang had used her silver hairpin to subdue the ruffian in the alley, he couldn’t help but raise his eyebrows in surprise and ask, “Did she eventually release the scoundrel?”
Li Mama, recalling the scene, couldn’t help but retch slightly before forcing herself to continue, “Yes, she did…”
“What did she do to them?” the previously silent Prince of Huaiyang, Cui Xingzhou, suddenly asked.
Li Mama’s face contorted strangely, as if about to vomit again. Her dark face turned purple as she struggled to answer, “She… she made the two servants eat dog excrement from the alley…”
Remembering the sight of the two servants supporting their young master as they ran out of the alley, desperately searching for water to rinse their mouths, Li Mama felt that her meals wouldn’t taste good for at least a year.
This unexpected response left everyone at a loss for words.
Zhao Quan, who had been about to eat, immediately lost his appetite and put down his chopsticks.
After hearing Li Mama’s report, Cui Xingzhou waved his hand, dismissing her.
However, Li Mama had one more thing to report. She quickly added, “She keeps asking this servant about the location of the master’s shop. It seems she intends to visit personally… This woman is too dangerous. In this servant’s humble opinion, Your Highness should reveal the truth and stop indulging her foolishness. Moreover, you shouldn’t allow her to get too close…”
The Prince of Huaiyang looked up at Li Mama, his brow unmoved, and said in a calm tone, “Li Mama, just do as this prince has instructed you.”
Though his voice wasn’t loud, Li Mama’s expression immediately became serious, and she prostrated herself in fear. Although she had watched the prince grow up, she knew better than anyone that he had never tolerated others trying to control his actions. As a servant, she had truly overstepped her bounds.
At this moment, Cui Xingzhou instructed a nearby guard, “Go to town and purchase a shop. Stock it with some porcelain wares. Then inform Li Mama of the address.”
After hearing the prince’s instructions, his subordinate accepted the order and descended the mountain. Li Mama also returned to North Street in town.
The Marquis of Zhengnan smiled bitterly and said, “Xingzhou, she has completely lost her memory and doesn’t remember the rebel Lu Wen. Using this weak woman as bait seems beneath you as a gentleman.”
Cui Xingzhou didn’t even glance at his friend Zhao Quan. He simply raised his wine cup and said coldly, “You were the one who started this, weren’t you, Brother Zhao? Wasn’t it you who led her to believe that this prince was her husband?”
How could Zhao Quan have known that his casual joke would lead to the current situation?
He could only helplessly say to his friend, “My lord Jiu, it was you who urgently sent me to treat her back then. When I asked who she was, you wouldn’t say. Seeing her beauty, I assumed she was some beauty you had met somewhere. Later, when she could speak and you weren’t around, she heard me jokingly call you ‘Lord Cui Jiu’ and asked me who Lord Cui Jiu was to her. I casually replied that he was the young lady’s beloved… You never denied it afterward, did you?”
Cui Xingzhou checked the time, put down his wine cup, and prepared to descend the mountain to board his ship. The campaign against the bandits had intensified in recent days, and he needed to return to headquarters to oversee operations. This visit to Lingquan Town was not only to personally select porcelain to be presented to the Empress Dowager on his mother’s behalf but also to keep an eye on the amnesiac wife of the rebel, Liu Miantang.
When he had inadvertently captured this severely injured woman, Cui Xingzhou had improvised to avoid suspicion, enlisting the help of Zhao Quan, an idle visitor skilled in medicine, to handle the emergency.
Who would have thought that when the woman woke up, she would mistake him for her intended husband, the merchant Cui Jiu, due to a pouch he was wearing and Zhao Quan’s misguided words?
As for what followed, it was simply a case of going along with the misunderstanding. He had never actually said he was her husband. It was just that the woman, having injured her head, had foolishly misidentified him.
After all, a woman harboring hostility, even if physically weak, could cause unnecessary complications. It was simpler to let her believe she was the daughter-in-law of the merchant Cui family, who relocated to Lingquan Town.
It was said that the rebel Lu Wen greatly favored this woman. If she were to appear in Lingquan Town, not far from the rebel’s lair, it would surely draw the snake from its hole. However, he hadn’t expected the woman to have a hidden skill. The ability to strike vital points from a distance required years of training.
Thinking of how the woman called Miantang acted obedient and virtuous in his presence, showing no sign of being a thorny flower…
The corner of Prince Huaiyang Cui Xingzhou’s mouth curved into an even colder smile. Seeing Cui Xingzhou’s almost sneering expression, Zhao Quan secretly broke out in a cold sweat for the poor amnesiac woman.