Lixia and Shangyuan immediately became somewhat flustered as well. Several maids swarmed forward in a clumsy rush, supporting Seventh Miss to lean against the edge of the kang. Lixia rubbed Seventh Miss’s chest while tears instantly welled up in her eyes. “Miss, don’t panic! Whatever happens, there’s… there’s the heir apparent to support you!”
Seventh Miss’s face was deathly pale. She gasped shallowly for a moment before waving her hand weakly and saying, “I… I’m fine. I just got winded for a moment and felt some pain in my chest.”
She thought back and forth for a long while before raising her head again, her brows tightly furrowed as she pressed with another question: “Has she truly disappeared?”
Lixia’s expression was gloomy. “Second Miss took her jewelry box with her… and opened her trunk to take several sets of clothes that the maids wear for everyday use.”
If this wasn’t running away from home, then there would never be such a thing as running away from home in this world!
Seventh Miss felt her mind become chaotic as hemp, with countless thoughts surging forward all at once, nearly overwhelming her: How did Yu Qiao get out? Did she leave alone? Or was someone already waiting outside to receive her? If they couldn’t find her back, a weak woman adrift in the world would be at anyone’s mercy! Even if they found her, given Duke Pingguo’s cruel severity, with Yu Qiao’s reputation ruined, how should the rest of her life be arranged? But what if they found her only to have her die at her own father’s hands, all to preserve the Xu family’s reputation!
And if they couldn’t find her and the matter became widely known, what about Yu Ping and Yu An? Both girls were still unmarried, and then there were the younger generation—Hewen and Hexian. If the Xu family’s reputation was ruined, what would become of these children?
After quite a while, she finally regained her clarity and decisively weighed the priorities and urgencies of the situation.
This matter might not necessarily affect her own position in the household—fortunately, fortunately, she had never interfered with this marriage arrangement.
“Did Second Miss leave any words? Or a letter? Did you see anything?” she suddenly asked.
“She left nothing behind at all. Even her closest maids knew nothing about it.” Lixia’s voice was heavy with weight. “It was only when it was nearly time for morning greetings today that they discovered she was already gone and had taken things with her. The maids still held out some hope and searched Xiaocui Embroidery Hall inside and out, but had no idea where Second Miss had gone. They reported that Fifth Miss was unwell to cover things up temporarily, then came to Mingde Hall to find you, but you happened to be…”
And she happened to be visiting Dingguo Marquis Manor for a brief social call, completely missing the best opportunity to handle this!
Seventh Miss felt truly vexed. She shook her head and suddenly stood up, saying in a heavy voice, “This matter—don’t spread it around! Lixia, go to Lütian Hermitage and search Yu Qiao’s room thoroughly to see if there are any clues. Shangyuan, go fetch the heir apparent immediately and tell him I’m ill and need him by my side. None of you are permitted to go out. Xiayuan will accompany me to Menghua Pavilion to speak with Father!”
Once she was able to remain steady, the maids of Mingde Hall all had their anchor, and though they remained worried, they at least maintained calm expressions on their faces and immediately busied themselves inside and out. Seventh Miss tidied herself slightly before the mirror, changed into everyday clothes, then hurried out of Mingde Hall. Without waiting for anyone to announce her, she directly exited through the second gate.
It was dinnertime, and Duke Pingguo was indeed in Menghua Pavilion. Receiving word from the servants, he quickly met with Seventh Miss in his small study.
“What is it, is it the palace—” Duke Pingguo’s expression already carried three parts solemnity.
Seventh Miss’s face was heavy as water. She immediately knelt down and, without giving Duke Pingguo any time to react, told him about Yu Qiao’s disappearance.
This matter was indeed no small thing. Duke Pingguo sprang to his feet in shock, his expression drastically changing. “Yang Shi, you—is what you say true!?”
“Your daughter-in-law never imagined that Yu Qiao would do such a thing either.” Seventh Miss sighed and said helplessly, “Now that this grave error has been made, I fear…”
Duke Pingguo paced back and forth several agitated steps, then suddenly asked sternly, “Has the news spread?”
“As soon as your daughter-in-law learned of it, I dispatched my trusted personal maids to Lütian Hermitage to control the situation. For now, only a few people from Mingde Hall and two or three of Yu Qiao’s personal maids from Lütian Hermitage know about this matter.” Seventh Miss’s tone had already calmed down. “I came precisely to request Father’s instructions on whether we should report that Yu Qiao has fallen ill and send her to Xiaotang Mountain to recuperate.”
After all, she had the makings of a household mistress—in just a few words, she had already produced an acceptable solution.
Duke Pingguo’s expression eased slightly. He paced back and forth a few more times before deciding decisively, “Then do it that way! Don’t even tell your grandmother about this. You may go. When Fengjia returns, have him come find me at Menghua Pavilion! Report any clues you discover immediately—I refuse to believe that no matter how far she runs, where could she possibly go?”
His tone then took on a thoughtful edge. “And just who lured her away!”
While pondering this, he shot Seventh Miss an icy glare.
As the household mistress, at times like this she had to bear the fury from above. Seventh Miss’s expression remained unchanged as she rose calmly and unhurriedly left the room, still hearing Duke Pingguo’s bellowing voice: “Go immediately to Zhishan Hall, Shensi Hall, and Shendu Hall—tell those wretched sons of mine to get over here!”
His tone was cold and hard, clearly indicating an extremely foul mood. Seventh Miss couldn’t help trembling slightly. She quickly shook her head, supported by Xiayuan, entered Mingde Hall, and holding her head in her hands, sank into deep thought.
At some point, Shangyuan also entered the room. She looked at Seventh Miss with concern and said in a low voice, “The heir apparent went to the Xiao family for a banquet. This servant has already sent a pageboy to deliver a message. He should be home soon.”
Seventh Miss nodded absently. Glancing at the several maids, she suddenly sat up straight, her brows tightly furrowed, and grabbed Shangyuan’s hand.
“Regarding this matter, you must not breathe a word of it to anyone outside. Act as if you know nothing.” She sternly swept her gaze over Shangyuan and the other maids. “Otherwise, if I want to protect you, it will inevitably become very difficult. If you don’t want to end up like Xiao Liujiang and the others, keep your mouths tightly shut!”
With Yu Qiao’s flight, setting aside everything else, the maids in her quarters at Lütian Hermitage were certainly in for misfortune. If they were lucky, it would just be a bowl of poison to silence them. If they were unlucky, perhaps…
The several maids’ faces all turned deathly pale at once, and they nodded vigorously like pecking chickens. Seventh Miss sighed again and murmured, “Don’t worry! With Xiao Liujiang and the others, I truly had no way to intervene, but my people—I won’t allow others to dispose of them.”
Thinking of the possible fate awaiting Xiao Liujiang and the others, she couldn’t help clenching her fists and saying bitterly, “She certainly found it satisfying, but didn’t think about what enormous trouble her running away would cause!”
#
Yu Qiao’s flight did indeed cause quite a bit of trouble.
That night, Xu Fengjia and his brothers all failed to return to their quarters. The next morning at Leshan Residence, when the brothers looked at each other, their wives’ eyes were all sunken and swollen. The First Young Madam and Fifth Young Madam in particular had two large dark circles under their eyes, though the Fourth Young Madam, being somewhat uninvolved in the matter, appeared relatively composed despite her anxiety.
After all, without children, one couldn’t comprehend the extra worries of a mother.
When the Grand Madam emerged and saw not a single male present, she couldn’t help feeling somewhat surprised. “What’s this? Where have all the men gone?”
Fifth Young Madam forced a smile to cover up: “Last night, the Duke felt that his sons had been too lax lately and flew into a great rage, calling them out for drills. I waited until the middle of the night, but Fifth Young Master never came in…”
She swept her gaze over the other young madams and smiled with pursed lips. “I imagine my sisters-in-law and younger sisters-in-law all share the same sentiment.”
Just from how easily Fifth Young Madam could produce such a perfect excuse, one could tell how deep this person’s scheming ran.
Seventh Miss also showed a trace of embarrassment. “Fifth Sister-in-law reads too much into it. This is simply—I didn’t sleep well to begin with!”
With the two of them working together, what matter couldn’t they cover up? The Grand Madam immediately felt reassured. She only asked whether her grandsons had all returned to their rooms to rest, then paid it no more mind. She merely said with a smile, “I know you all feel for your husbands. Go back and rest. Don’t just sit here doing nothing.”
At these words, everyone rose to their feet in unison and left the room, startling the old lady. Seventh Miss turned back, wanting to say something to patch up this flaw, but for a moment couldn’t find any words. She could only follow Fifth Young Madam’s rapid steps out of Leshan Residence.
Among these sisters-in-law, only Fourth Young Madam actually returned to Shendu Hall. First Young Madam, Fifth Young Madam, and Seventh Miss all made their way to Lütian Hermitage without prior arrangement.
Because Seventh Miss had used the excuse that Yu Qiao had broken out in smallpox and urgently relocated Yu An and Yu Ping, while also posting two strong servants to guard the area and forbid entry, Lütian Hermitage was now silent and still. Yu Qiao’s quarters had long since been turned completely upside down. Fifth Young Madam stood in the room frowning as she looked around. After pondering for a long while, she walked to the bookshelf and examined it, then suddenly said, “Where are the books that used to be here?”
The three sisters-in-law hurriedly searched everywhere, but amid the chaos throughout the room, there was no trace of any books. Apart from a few poetry collections displayed on the bookshelf, there wasn’t a single other book in the entire room.
Fifth Young Madam’s brows locked tightly. She suddenly raised her head and asked Seventh Miss, “Where are Xiao Liujiang and the others?”
Naturally, someone brought Xiao Liujiang and the others in. Fifth Young Madam pointed at the bookshelf and asked, “I remember this bookshelf originally had more than just these few books. Where did all the other books go?”
Xiao Liujiang immediately trembled, stammering, “Second Miss, around the first month of this year, suddenly burned all the music scores and lyrics, saying she would never again read such frivolous books. After that, she never purchased any new books to replace them…”
First Young Madam was quick to press: “Those music scores and lyrics—whose songs were they? Whose compositions?”
Before Xiao Liujiang could answer, Seventh Miss couldn’t help but let out a soft sigh.
“They were, they were all the librettos from plays on the market,” Xiao Liujiang’s voice trembled faintly. “Especially… especially… especially the lyrics and music from several productions by the Qilin Troupe—those were the most numerous!”
Fifth Young Madam stamped her foot fiercely, her face white with anger. “Truly ungrateful!”
Without bothering to acknowledge her two sisters-in-law, she strode straight out, bringing with her a gust of cold wind.
First Young Madam glanced at Seventh Miss, then followed Fifth Young Madam out of the room. Seventh Miss lingered at the rear and weakly waved at Xiao Liujiang and the two strong servants, saying in a low voice, “Take her away.”
Xiao Liujiang seemed to understand something. Her face suddenly took on an ashen pallor. Choking back tears, she called out pleadingly, “Young Madam!” but was already being half-dragged, half-pulled out of the room by two wolf-like, tiger-like servant women.
Seventh Miss stood where she was, surveying the room’s furnishings, then fiercely closed her eyes.
Yu Qiao’s voice seemed to echo in her ears again.
“Sixth Sister-in-law is right. In the future, I will never be so reckless again.”
She certainly wasn’t reckless anymore—she had escaped without leaving a single trace, so that even she and Zhang Shi had detected no hint of it beforehand.
But how could she not consider what kind of mess she was leaving behind with this escape? Wasn’t she afraid that Cui Zixiu might actually be a beast in human form, a heartless scoundrel, and that after eloping without means of support, what would she do once the small amount of money she carried was spent? Didn’t she think about what fate would befall the personal maids left at her side?
Suddenly, she remembered that moment last April when Madam Xu and Third Aunt were discussing the marriage match, and that trace of gloom, despair, and stubbornness that had appeared on Yu Qiao’s face.
She and Fifth Miss were ultimately different. Fifth Miss had never mustered the courage to escape her unwanted fate, while Yu Qiao had…
But Fifth Miss was by no means a coward either. If even she hadn’t dared take the risk, it showed just how dangerous this elopement was. Especially given Duke Pingguo’s temperament, if Yu Qiao were caught and brought back, her fate would only be even more miserable.
She looked around again, contemplating for a moment, before finally giving up in resignation. Shaking her head, she left the room, leaving behind only scattered finery swirling in the warm breeze blowing in from outside.
#
Although Fifth Young Madam was meticulous and had deduced Yu Qiao’s intentions from these few clues, when the Xu family fabricated a pretext to investigate at the Qilin Troupe, they found nothing amiss.
The Qilin Troupe was a major national theatrical company with strictly disciplined members. Even renowned performers like Cui Zixiu lived in quarters rented by the Qilin Troupe, with no property registered under his own name. His entire fortune—all the rewards he had received—remained properly sealed in trunks, and even the inventory lists matched perfectly.
All the personnel who had entered the manor to perform during the Xu family’s spring banquet were properly accounted for at the Qilin Troupe—some practicing their voices, others organizing costume trunks—appearing entirely normal. Fifth Young Master refused to give up and sent trusted pageboys to watch the alley around the Qilin Troupe for over half a month, but they detected nothing suspicious.
Yu Qiao seemed to have truly vanished into thin air. No one could even figure out how she had left Duke Pingguo’s manor. They could only speculate that she had likely disguised herself as a maid and slipped out through an unguarded side gate in the corner passage by the second gate, escaping from the manor without a trace.
By early April, when the Emperor’s second son celebrated his full-month birthday, Duke Pingguo summoned all the household branches to Menghua Pavilion to discuss how to handle the aftermath.
“If she dares to run, she need never return!” As soon as everyone entered, Duke Pingguo sternly pronounced his verdict, seemingly unwilling to leave any room for opposition. “From now on, treat her as if she were dead! Yang Shi, arrange it—say she didn’t survive and has already passed away at Xiaotang Mountain. We’ll send her off properly and respectably, burying her outside the city. That will be her good fortune!”
Unless a family particularly doted on a child who died young, by convention they would not be buried in the ancestral tomb. Duke Pingguo’s decision to bury Yu Qiao outside the city meant she would be unable to receive the family’s ancestral offerings—essentially a disguised expulsion from the family. Even if she were to return in the future, the Xu family might no longer acknowledge her as their daughter.
The faces of several male family members immediately showed traces of reluctance. Fifth Young Master opened his mouth to say something, but Fifth Young Madam tugged at his sleeve, and he closed it again. Given Duke Pingguo’s temperament, this arrangement was truly not surprising at all.
Duke Pingguo swept his gaze over everyone. Seeing that no one objected, his expression eased slightly, and he continued in a heavy voice, “The several maids at her side can no longer be kept either. Yang Shi, arrange it—first send them to the estate and say they’re there to tend Yu Qiao’s grave. After the attention dies down, deal with them properly. Understood?”
“Xiao Qi will naturally instruct them that if they gossip carelessly, even their family members may be implicated.” Seventh Miss answered without showing any emotion. After a pause, she requested of Duke Pingguo, “However, in Xiao Qi’s humble opinion, we shouldn’t make too much of a commotion…”
Duke Pingguo’s expression had just begun to shift when Fifth Young Madam countered directly: “This matter is so disgraceful—how can we not silence people? In my view, besides those few maids from Lütian Hermitage, the maids from each household who know about this matter cannot be kept either!”
Seventh Miss was instantly furious. She whipped her head around and glared venomously at Fifth Young Madam, displaying her displeasure openly and nakedly for the first time.
Fifth Young Madam was blatantly using this opportunity to eliminate Seventh Miss’s key personnel.
Turning her head, she saw Duke Pingguo’s expression grave and contemplative, silent and seeming somewhat moved by the idea.
Fifth Young Madam’s move was truly brilliant—she had struck directly at Duke Pingguo’s Achilles’ heel!
In the flash of thought, several ideas had already passed through Seventh Miss’s mind. She resolutely made her decision, clenching her teeth as she dropped heavily to her knees and said in a choked voice, “Heaven has virtue in loving life. Father, over twenty people in the household know about this matter. The senior maids at Mingde Hall under Xiao Qi have also vaguely sensed something. If we must dispose of every trusted servant who knows even a little, what will become of the household’s dignity? And how—how can your daughter-in-law manage this household?”
As she spoke, she cast a pleading glance at Xu Fengjia.
Xu Fengjia was also staring darkly at Fifth Young Madam.
Receiving Seventh Miss’s look, he slowly rose and walked to Duke Pingguo’s side, whispering a few words in his ear.
Duke Pingguo immediately frowned, his gaze shifting back and forth between Fifth Young Madam and Seventh Miss, saying nothing for a long while.