Returning with Hua Zhi were Yu Mu, Jia Yang, and the eight who had accompanied her from the capital.
Gu Yanxi was dressed in the plainest of guard’s attire. He held a warm hand warmer and extended it to her. “It’s time to go.”
There was a wind that morning. Once they stepped outside, Gu Yanxi lifted her hood for her, steadied her as she boarded the carriage, and helped her up. Shao Yao, who had gone up ahead of them, stuck her head back and winked cheekily at Yanxi-ge — I get to keep Hua Hua company and you don’t, so there! Jealous? Envious? Too bad, ha!
Gu Yanxi looked right through her and swung himself up onto his horse.
Hua Zhi lifted the curtain for one last look at the residence — still somewhat unfamiliar to her — then turned her gaze toward the man riding alongside the carriage, bathed in sunlight and wrapped in its gentle glow. She had a sudden urge to reach out and touch him, but the carriage had already turned onto the main street, and she pressed the impulse back down.
“Do you have any message for Xiao Liu?”
“With you there, I feel completely at ease.” Gu Yanxi looked down at her, the smile in his eyes visible only to her. “Don’t be too protective of him. Some things must be experienced firsthand before he can grow. As long as it’s not life-threatening, a little blood and a few bruises are perfectly fine. A dog raised in sheltered ease stays obedient; he is a wolf, and a wolf needs its edge, its ferocity, its own strength to become the head of the pack.”
Hua Zhi muttered, “I have a feeling what you really want to say is that an overindulgent mother ruins her child.”
Gu Yanxi suppressed a smile — because that was precisely what he meant. A’Zhi was wonderful in every way, save for her slight tendency to spoil the children. Though she could be firm when necessary, she absolutely could not stand to see her own children bullied. Xiao Liu had a weak foundation — being bullied and suffering losses was inevitable — and only by fighting back himself would it become his own capability. When children quarreled, it was best for parents not to intervene too readily; the moment they did, the nature of things changed. And the child, knowing he had someone to fall back on, would grow idle and dependent. In the long run, this was not good for Xiao Liu or for A’Zhi.
Xiao Liu was not Bailin. A’Zhi needed to distinguish between them.
“Even if Xiao Liu is extraordinary, he is still just an eleven-year-old child right now. We can let him go out and find his footing, but we cannot wash our hands of him entirely. A child needs a backing — with that backing, he has the confidence to stand his ground against others. If we make him shoulder everything on his own, what are we here for as his elders?”
You yourself are barely of marrying age, still wearing your hair in a maiden’s braid — hardly an elder, Gu Yanxi thought privately, but his outward reply was accommodating. “You’re right. Only, we must still keep a sense of measure.”
“I know.” Seeing Wang Hai galloping toward them, Hua Zhi let the slightly odd conversation trail off.
Wang Hai drew up alongside Gu Yanxi and murmured something into his ear. Gu Yanxi gave a few quiet instructions, and Wang Hai hurriedly paid his respects to Hua Zhi before spurring his horse away.
Gu Yanxi looked down at her. “There’s been a major clash at the silver mine. Seven people are already dead.”
Hua Zhi went still. How could this be…
“A’Zhi, I need to go.”
The two of them exchanged a look. Hua Zhi gave a small nod.
“Hua Hua, are we still going?” Shao Yao looked at the quietly contemplative Hua Hua and asked.
Hua Zhi smiled faintly. “If we can.”
Shao Yao raised an eyebrow, and began rummaging through her satchel to fiddle with her various bottles and vials.
Hua Zhi gave her head an affectionate pat and watched her work in silence, until the carriage came to a stop.
“Miss, someone sent this.” Yu Mu rapped on the carriage wall and set a brush holder at the door.
Hua Zhi’s pupils shrank. She picked up the brush holder, turned the base open the way Yu Weiwei had described, and a strip of paper slipped out. She unrolled it — a single large character: Please.
“The one who delivered it — where are they?”
“A beggar, miss. Your subordinate did not detain them.”
Hua Zhi slowly twisted the base back into place. “To the Yu residence.”
“Miss…”
“If I don’t go, not a single person in the Yu Family will survive.” Yu Weiwei had been trying to save herself — but she had also been helping Hua Zhi. Without the intelligence Yu Weiwei had delivered on several occasions, they would never have traced the whereabouts of the silver so quickly. If she turned her back and left now, setting aside the fact that Zeng Xiangling would certainly have a second plan waiting further down the road — she would carry this guilt for the rest of her life. That was too terrible a thing to live with.
Yu Mu said nothing more and turned the horses toward the Yu residence.
Shao Yao dusted some medicinal powder over Hua Hua, then drew the dagger strapped to her thigh, applied some unknown substance to the blade, waited for it to dry, and slid it back into its sheath.
When that was done, she lifted the curtain and glanced outside, then retrieved a small bottle, tipped out one round pill, and pressed it into Hua Hua’s mouth. She passed the bottle to Jia Yang. “One each, everyone.”
“Understood.”
The Yu residence’s main gates stood wide open. Hua Zhi looked up at the plaque, then ascended the steps and walked inside.
She passed through the entrance gate, around the spirit wall — and found the courtyard completely empty, not a single person in sight.
Hua Zhi walked straight toward the rear courtyard, all the way through to the third compound where Yu Weiwei lived, without encountering a single servant along the way. Whether they had been killed or locked away, she could not tell.
Her steps did not slow. The group made their way to the tightly shut gate of the courtyard where Yu Weiwei resided.
Shao Yao stepped forward and pushed the gate open, then sniffed her hand. No scent to speak of.
In the center of the courtyard, Yu Weiwei’s family of three had been bound where they stood. Old Master Yu and his wife drooped with their heads down, motionless. Yu Weiwei had a cloth stuffed into her mouth; when she saw Hua Zhi, her eyes lit up with a frightening brightness, and she shook her head, then nodded, then shook her head again.
Hua Zhi stepped forward and pulled the cloth from her mouth. Yu Weiwei immediately cried out in a sharp voice: “Zeng Xiangling planned this on purpose — it’s all a trap he set! He wants to lure you out here. Run, go quickly — go!”
“If it was a trap from the start, how could I leave so easily?” Hua Zhi said, reaching over to undo her bindings. Shao Yao and Yu Mu had already freed Old Master Yu and his wife. Shao Yao pressed two fingers to their wrists and took their pulses — nothing more serious than knockout drugs. No danger.
“As expected, Miss Hua truly lives up to her reputation — brilliant and capable.” An unfamiliar male voice drifted out from inside the main hall. The sunlight outside was too brilliant; by contrast, the interior of the hall looked murky and dim.
Hua Zhi watched as a refined, almost handsome man strolled out at his leisure, wearing a smile and carrying himself with an air of great friendliness. Even his eyes appeared sincere. He looked, by every measure, like a decent man.
He was not.
“It seems Young Master Zeng has very well-informed sources.”
“Miss Hua’s reputation reaches so far and wide — not only throughout Jinyang, but I dare say even to the remotest corners of the land, everyone has heard there is a capable eldest daughter of the Hua Family.”
So he had known her identity from the start. It suddenly became clear to Hua Zhi: he had verified who she was from the very beginning, and her connection to the head of the Seven Constellation Bureau was no secret in the capital. On top of that, he may have had other channels through which he learned that Yanxi had come to Jinyang. So he had been laying out a plan all along — a trap aimed at both her and Yanxi.
And yet, she still could not fathom Zeng Xiangling’s true objective. That he would be willing to expose his ties to the Zhaoli Tribe just to spring this trap — what could he possibly stand to gain? Even if both she and Yanxi were to die here in Jinyang, all he would earn in return was the Emperor’s boundless fury. What benefit was there in that?
PS: I’ve made up my mind — the next book will feature an innocent, simple-hearted female lead. This one has been far too taxing on the brain.