In a private villa on the outskirts of Chu capital, under gentle sunlight, a strikingly beautiful but thin and pale woman sat beneath a tree, holding a swaddled infant. The child was now over three months old, and unlike its wrinkled appearance at birth, its small face had grown fair and tender, with big bright eyes that gazed at the woman holding it, giggling continuously.
The woman looked down at the child in her arms, and her hesitant expression softened into a gentle smile.
“Miss Yao Ji, the Madam and Young Madam have arrived,” announced a servant girl at the door. Though she was a maid, when she looked at the woman under the tree, there wasn’t a trace of respect in her eyes – only contempt and disgust. Yao Ji was long accustomed to such looks and paid them no mind. In these people’s eyes, she was just a shameless woman who had seduced the heir of the Marquis of Muyang.
Yao Ji lowered her head, pretending not to hear. Since she had been caught and brought back when she was six months pregnant, the Marquis’s wife’s family – or rather, the Marquis’s household – had taken all her possessions, and she had lost her freedom. During childbirth, she had nearly died. Even Yao Ji hadn’t expected that the seemingly gentle and cultured Young Madam of the Marquis’s household could be so viciously cruel. After experiencing so much, Yao Ji’s heart grew colder, and she completely lost hope in these so-called noble families.
The maid’s words weren’t so much an announcement as a notification. Seeing Yao Ji’s silence, she withdrew without concern. Sure enough, moments later, a group of people entered. The Marchioness of Muyang frowned at the sight of Yao Ji in her white clothes, her eyes full of disgust. Coming from a noble family herself, she naturally despised such seductive women, especially one who had captured her son’s heart.
The Young Madam, who had only married into the Marquis’s household a few months ago, was filled with jealousy. Yao Ji’s beauty ranked among the top five in the entire capital. In her days at Chengfang House, she had captivated all with her red dancing robes, even earning praise from all quarters during palace night banquets. Even now, though thinner, with no makeup and dressed in white, she possessed an ethereal beauty like a lotus rising from the water. How could the merely pretty Miss Sun, now Young Madam Mu, compare? Originally, Young Madam Mu’s scholarly grace had earned a silent word of praise from Ye Li. But after marriage, a life full of jealousy and malice had stripped away even this last advantage, leaving her nothing more than a bitter, vicious young woman.
“Insolent! Have you forgotten how to show proper respect?” the Marchioness scolded harshly.
Yao Ji looked up and said coolly, “The two of you come uninvited, yet demand the host pay respects?”
“What host are you?!” the Young Madam shrieked. “This is the Marquis of Muyang’s villa!”
Yao Ji replied, “I may not be the host, but neither are you, Young Madam. This is Mu Yang’s private villa, and he hasn’t granted you rights over his personal property. Young Madam, surely you remember? When you nearly starved Jing’an and me to death, Mu Yang ordered that you weren’t to set foot in this place. As for me… if Madam is willing to let me leave, Yao Ji would be most grateful. Surely the money you took from me is enough to cover the rent for these days?”
The Marchioness and Young Madam’s faces alternately flushed and paled – the Young Madam from pure anger, while the Marchioness’s reaction stemmed more from embarrassment and indignant shame. The Zhang family had taken all of Yao Ji’s property, with a large portion ending up in her hands. Yao Ji had naturally earned considerable wealth over the years, and when she sold Chengfang House to Prince Ding’s mansion, Ye Li had given her a fair price. Adding in the various treasures gifted to Yao Ji by famous scholars and noble patrons, the true value was no less than three to four hundred thousand taels. Such a sum was considerable even for a noble family like the Marquis of Muyang’s household.
After a while, the Marchioness finally recovered and said through gritted teeth, “Leave if you want! But you must leave the child behind!” Though the child’s mother had an unsavory background, this was still the Marquis’s first grandson. With Sun having shown no signs of pregnancy after so long, the Marchioness naturally valued this child more, and the Marquis’s bloodline could not be allowed to wander outside the family.
“Never!” Yao Ji stood up holding the child, glaring vigilantly at the Marchioness. Suddenly she gave a cold laugh and said, “Fine, I won’t leave! Do you think I fear you? Living here without status, Mu Yang still provides me with the finest food and clothing. One day if I feel like it, I might even enter the household as a secondary wife. With my beauty, am I supposed to fear a plain-looking woman? I wonder… how would people laugh if they knew the heir of the Marquis of Muyang married a dancing girl?”
“You… you shameless woman!” the Young Madam’s expression changed instantly. With Yao Ji living in the villa, Mu Yang already rarely came home. If this mother and child were brought into the household, where would there be room for her?
Yao Ji lifted her lips in a faint smile, breathtakingly beautiful. “You flatter me. I’m not as shameless as some.”
The mockery was too obvious for even the Marchioness to pretend not to understand. How could she, who had always maintained such superiority over Yao Ji, tolerate mockery from a dancing girl? She raged, “You cheap woman! I’ll show you who’s in charge! What does it matter if Mu Yang dotes on you? I am still his mother!”
Yao Ji laughed coldly, “So what if you’re Mu Yang’s mother? Is that something precious?” If this had been when her feelings for Mu Yang were still strong, she might have shown some consideration for his sake. But now… she had already lost all hope in Mu Yang when she nearly died in childbirth due to the Young Madam’s schemes, and again recently when they almost starved to death. It wasn’t because Mu Yang wouldn’t avenge her and the child – she understood his consideration for the Marquis’s household and the Sun family. What she hated most was that even knowing the danger she and the child faced in the Chu capital, Mu Yang still wouldn’t let them leave. She didn’t know and didn’t want to know if this was because Mu Yang was confident he could protect them, or if in his eyes, their lives simply weren’t that important. But now… her heart had completely frozen toward Mu Yang. Their past love and passion had become nothing but passing clouds compared to her son.
“Guards! Drag this woman out and beat her severely!” the Marchioness called.
“Who dares?!” Just as the servants were about to move, Mu Yang strode in from outside, shouting furiously. Entering the courtyard, he glanced at the Young Madam standing beside his mother and said angrily, “You again!”
The Young Madam lowered her head resentfully. Though she had indeed provoked her mother-in-law to come here, her husband’s immediate rebuke without even asking what happened still hurt her heart. She had tried to be a virtuous wife, but when Yao Ji first disappeared, Mu Yang had gone to war without a word, and after the Marquis’s household found Yao Ji, he returned and married her. Yet no matter what she did, Mu Yang remained cold and distant. How could she, a newly wedded bride of barely twenty, endure such treatment?
Yao Ji gave a cold laugh and sneered, “Is Young Master blind? It wasn’t the Young Madam who just ordered me beaten.”
Mu Yang frowned, looking helplessly at Yao Ji, “Yao Ji, you…”
The previously smiling Yao Ji suddenly changed expression and struck Mu Yang hard across the face. The slap not only turned his face sideways but also made the Marchioness and Young Madam cry out in shock.
“Yang’er! You cheap woman! You…” the Marchioness flew into a rage. Mu Yang quickly restrained his furious mother and looked at Yao Ji with a gloomy expression, “Does this make you feel better?”
Yao Ji’s lips curved into an icy smile, “Feel better? Young Master Mu must be joking. Since Young Master speaks of bringing Yao Ji into the household, though I am lowborn, I have one question to ask.”
Mu Yang brightened, thinking Yao Ji had relented, and quickly said, “Ask away.”
Holding her child with one arm, Yao Ji pointed at the Marchioness and asked, “If one day Yao Ji is beaten to death by the Marchioness, what does Young Master plan to do?”
Mu Yang’s expression changed slightly, “Yao Ji, what nonsense are you speaking? My mother would never…”
Yao Ji laughed coldly, raising an eyebrow, “Why doesn’t Young Master ask the Marchioness if she wasn’t just planning to have me beaten to death?” Mu Yang turned to look at his mother, who stiffly turned away, making his heart sink. Yao Ji’s smile was devastatingly beautiful, “I’ll agree to become your secondary wife, I’ll stake my life on Young Master’s sincerity. Just swear before all of the capital that if one day Yao Ji dies an unnatural death… Young Master will kill my murderer before my spirit tablet with his own hands. How about it?”
“Yang’er!”
“Young Master!” The Marchioness and Young Madam both called out to stop him.
Seeing Mu Yang’s ugly expression, Yao Ji gave a mocking smile and turned away, carrying her child into the room, ignoring the commotion of the Marchioness and Young Madam outside.
When Mu Yang finally saw his mother and wife off and returned to the room, he found Yao Ji standing by the window, lost in thought. A flash of guilt crossed his eyes as he sighed softly, “Yao Ji, why do you torture yourself like this? Why say such things? I know… this isn’t who you are.”
Yao Ji laughed coldly, “You’re wrong. This is exactly who I am. If I can’t live well, no one else should either! If anything happens to me, I don’t expect you to avenge me anymore. I’ve sent fifty thousand taels in bank notes to the King of Hell Chamber – if anything happens to me, they will naturally avenge me.”
“I don’t believe you,” Mu Yang shook his head with a smile.
Yao Ji remained silent. Mu Yang embraced her waist from behind and said softly, “Yao Ji, stay here from now on. Don’t worry, the Marquis’s people will never come here again. No one will disturb us, let’s live our life well together.”
A year ago, when Mu Yang held her like this, she had felt warmth and tenderness. But now, it felt like a cold, wet snake coiling around her, chilling her to the bone.
For two whole months, true to his word, no one disturbed them. During these months, Yao Ji no longer resisted Mu Yang or insisted on leaving. Gradually, Mu Yang seemed to relax and came less frequently than before. Being a capable young man, he couldn’t spend all his time with one woman. When Yao Ji learned that Mu Yang would be away for some time due to matters assigned by Mo Jingqi, she knew her chance had come.
The villa’s servants showed little respect for Yao Ji, and seeing no signs of her trying to escape, they gradually lowered their guard. Finally, one evening as the lanterns were just being lit, Yao Ji managed to escape with her child.
After fleeing the villa, Yao Ji took only a few light but valuable pieces of jewelry, which she immediately converted to banknotes. She didn’t know when Mu Yang would discover her disappearance, but for the first few days after her escape, no one pursued her. Yao Ji traveled west day and night but unfortunately was caught up by the Marquis’s people after ten days.
It wasn’t easy for a lone woman with a child to flee everywhere, and on the fifteenth day, Yao Ji finally saw her pursuers. Unlike those who had been searching for her the previous days, these people wanted her dead. Just as Yao Ji was nearly in despair, several carriages appeared at the edge of the forest. Without thinking too much, Yao Ji ran toward the carriages with her child, calling out, “Help! Help…”
At the front, a man in gray clothes paused for a moment before quickly leaping into action. Her pursuers were neither professional assassins nor skilled fighters, so they were easily dealt with.
Yao Ji sat on the ground holding her child, momentarily unable to process what had happened. Was she… safe?
“Miss Yao Ji, are you alright?” A deep voice spoke before her. Yao Ji looked up dazedly to see a tall man with a steady demeanor standing before her. She started, “You… you’re Commander Qin?”
“Qin Feng,” he said quietly. He had been ordered to fetch two wet nurses and two maids for the Princess Consort from Chu capital, never expecting to encounter Yao Ji being pursued by assassins. Frowning, Qin Feng asked, “Who’s trying to kill you?”
Yao Ji replied wearily, “Probably people from the Marquis of Muyang’s household.” Having just escaped danger, after days of hiding and traveling, she was exhausted. Now suddenly relieved of immediate danger, she had no energy to dwell on these matters.
Qin Feng looked down at the child in her arms, who hadn’t cried even during their desperate flight. “This is your child?”
Yao Ji nodded, smiling faintly, “Yes, this is my son. Shen Jing’an.”
Qin Feng raised an eyebrow but didn’t ask why the child didn’t have the surname Mu. Looking down at Yao Ji, he asked, “What are your plans?”
Yao Ji replied somewhat embarrassedly, “I planned to head west.”
Qin Feng considered for a moment and said, “We’re returning to Li City. You can travel with us.”
Yao Ji’s heart lifted – she had been planning to go to Prince Ding’s territory anyway. It didn’t have to be Li City specifically, but once past Flying Swan Pass, the Marquis’s people would have to be more cautious. The journey to Li City was long, and traveling together would naturally be best. Thinking of this, Yao Ji didn’t refuse and nodded, “Thank you then, Commander Qin.”
Qin Feng silently shook his head, looking at Yao Ji’s gaunt appearance and coarse clothing but said nothing more. He only replied, “It’s a small matter, no need for ceremony.”