Jiang Huanran was struggling to hold his ground, and his body now bore several wounds.

Hua Zhi surveyed the state of the fight. “Wang Cheng — come relieve me.”

Wang Cheng responded and came immediately. Hua Zhi moved to Jiang Huanran’s side, and the two stood shoulder to shoulder against the enemy. Seeing this, Yu Tao and Shao Yao immediately adjusted the encirclement to reduce the pressure on that side as much as possible.

Jiang Huanran was breathing hard, but he was grinning broadly. A few wounds meant nothing — not everyone got the chance to fight side by side with the First Young Miss. When he got back to the capital and told this story, people’s eyes would practically fall out of their heads. Just imagining their reactions was deeply satisfying.

With their two weakest fighters now combining to hold one point, that position was no longer the vulnerable spot it had been. The others could finally fight without restraint, and no matter that those opponents were garrison troops or soldiers — how could any of them be a match for people from the Seven Lodges Division? The scales of victory began to tilt steadily toward Hua Zhi’s side.

On the other end, the Sixth Imperial Prince had also taken some wounds. Even if he was not favored, he was still an Imperial Prince raised in comfort, and every scratch and bump in the past had had a crowd of people prostrating themselves in apology. Having blood drawn like this was a first. It was not that it did not hurt — but every time he thought about how many wounds Hua Zhi might have by now, he found he could endure anything. Only the movements of his hands had begun to slow.

“Your Highness, please fall back.”

The Sixth Imperial Prince pressed his lips together and shook his head, saying nothing, and continued to meet the enemy.

Chen Zhen had no alternative but to try to stay close to His Highness at all times. At least the fighting ability of this group was below that of the others.

Bao Xia’s heart had only just begun to settle. She had feared someone might break through toward their side, and she and Xu Ying each gripped a stick, standing guard. They could not see behind them — they did not see Wu Dashuang take two steps toward Zheng Bei before Wu Xiaoshuang caught her by the arm.

“Elder Sister, where are you going?”

Wu Dashuang cast one glance at Zheng Bei, then pulled her brother inside and lowered her voice. “Xiaoshuang, do you really want to go with them?”

“Elder Sister, have you forgotten? We’ve both signed the bond of servitude.”

“But…” Wu Dashuang gave him a nudge. “They’ve killed so many people. They’re bound to be arrested. And then we — are we supposed to die alongside them?”

Wu Xiaoshuang’s young face grew somber. “Elder Sister, we are bound to our master now. We are one with them.”

“Don’t be foolish. The mistress is so easy to talk to — if we just say we don’t want to leave home, she’ll definitely let us go.”

Wu Xiaoshuang felt a quiet sadness inside. Was this because the mistress was easy to talk to? Was this to say that if the mistress had been harsh, like Cao Dahai, this thought would never have occurred to his elder sister?

“Xiaoshuang, I don’t want to go with her.” Wu Dashuang looked at her brother with tearful eyes, knowing that he could never stand to see her cry.

“You agreed to it too, before I spoke to the mistress.”

“But I didn’t know then that she was so… so ruthless. Xiaoshuang, you saw it too — she killed so many people, she’s covered in blood. I’m frightened!”

But the mistress had been protecting herself. If the mistress had not been capable of that, how would the two of them be standing here safe and sound, talking like this? Wu Xiaoshuang swallowed those words back down. He had always known this about his elder sister — she was much like their father in character. One could not say they were bad people. They simply thought of themselves more often than not.

“I will be leaving,” Wu Xiaoshuang said, meeting his elder sister’s eyes. “I will go with the mistress.”

“Xiaoshuang!”

He ignored his elder sister’s anger, reached into his garment, and produced ten silver taels, pressing them into her hands. “This is my bond money. Keep it safe.”

Wu Dashuang accepted it without a moment’s hesitation, clutched it tight, and looked up. “Xiaoshuang, have you truly made up your mind?”

Wu Xiaoshuang looked out at the doorway. By now there was no sound from outside. He looked at his elder sister for a long moment, then turned and walked away.

Wu Dashuang instinctively took a step after him, then stopped. She carefully tucked the silver close against her body. Ten taels was a serious sum — in Shuiguang Village, some families might go an entire lifetime without saving ten taels. With this money, she might even find someone to marry.

Thoughts like these drifted through her head, and Wu Dashuang could hardly wait to leave the dock and put as much distance as possible between herself and those people. A girl running around doing trade — even if she was from the capital, so what? She was probably just from some merchant household with a little money. Wu Dashuang wanted no part of it.

Footsteps came from the doorway. She looked up instinctively, and when she saw the figure covered in blood walk in, she clutched her chest and stepped back two paces.

Hua Zhi was bone-weary. She noted Wu Dashuang’s reaction with a slight narrowing of the eyes, said nothing, and let Bao Xia support her to a seat nearby.

“Mistress, let me go heat some water…”

“This isn’t an inn. Where would you find water to heat? And I’m certainly not drinking from the river.” Hua Zhi’s voice was hoarse. The wounds on her shoulder, arms, and lower legs — seven or eight of them altogether — were a burning agony, and she felt that even breathing too deeply added to her body’s exhaustion.

“But your wounds…”

Before she could finish, Shao Yao came flying in and examined Hua Zhi with a frown. “We’ll need to get back into the city to have these treated properly. It’s hot and humid here — if they’re not treated well they’ll fester.”

Hua Zhi knew well enough that she was in no condition to follow the original plan and leave. She smiled at the bitter irony of it, then said, “Let me rest a little first. And the situation outside needs to be sorted out — all that noise will have the magistrate’s office playing deaf for only so long. Besides, the Zheng Family certainly will not let this rest. I’ll wait here.”