Chapter 2

Chapter 2

My mind was in complete chaos.

Jiang Zhuye had escaped from prison?

But just yesterday, he’d looked perfectly ready to accept his death.

Right now, though, the Duke’s Manor was in even greater chaos than my head.

The Jinyi Wei had never been merciful. Whenever they seized a household, even the birds passing overhead would lose a couple of feathers.

I had to get out of here, fast!

I grabbed my bundle and was about to run for the back gate when I heard a voice.

“Mama, Suisui is scared…”

I instinctively turned toward the sound and saw a small figure huddled at the foot of the wall.

Everyone was struggling to save themselves. No one had time to look after the foolish Sixth Miss.

She had only just turned fifteen, about the same age as my little sister.

I’d been taking care of her ever since I sold myself into the manor six years ago.

Apparently, she had caught a chill the year her birth mother died. The fever wouldn’t break, and it had left her simple-minded.

She might be fifteen now, but her mind had remained that of an eight-year-old.

When a household was condemned, its men were either beheaded or exiled, while its women were entered into the government registry as slaves.

The pretty ones were sent to the Jiaofang Si.

No matter which fate awaited her, Jiang Suisui wouldn’t survive it.

I slapped myself across the face.

Why was I thinking about any of this now? I might not even make it out myself. Why should I care what happened to her?

I tightened my grip on my bundle, ignored Jiang Suisui’s sobbing, and bolted for the exit.

I was right at the courtyard gate, but my damned legs refused to carry me across the threshold.

Damn it all.

Gritting my teeth, I spun around and yanked Jiang Suisui to her feet.

I glared at her. “Stop crying. If you keep crying, I really will leave you behind!”

My little sister had also been eight when she was sold. She’d wailed just as heart-wrenchingly, crying for our mother over and over.

Damn it. All I did was sleep with one of your young masters. I must owe the Jiang family from a past life.

Jiang Suisui must have truly feared I would abandon her, because she let me pull her along without making another sound.

The rear courtyards were already in utter chaos. Plenty of people had tried to escape through the back gate like me, only to be driven back.

Damn it! The Jinyi Wei were guarding every exit!

As I frantically tried to think of another way out, Jiang Suisui sniffled and wiped her nose. “Grandmother… Grandmother…”

I drew a deep breath, turned around, and dragged her toward the Old Madam’s courtyard.

The elderly maid guarding the door moved to stop me, but when she saw Jiang Suisui behind me, she silently let us pass.

I slipped into the Old Madam’s room.

She was still turning her prayer beads through her fingers.

Nearly frantic, I snatched them from her hand. I pulled too hard, and the string snapped, scattering bodhi seeds all over the floor.

I couldn’t worry about that now. “Old Madam, if the gods and Buddhas could truly protect you, your family wouldn’t be suffering this disaster. Why keep believing in things that don’t answer your prayers?”

Jiang Suisui threw herself into her arms, sobbing. “Grandmother, Suisui is scared.”

A rare look of tenderness appeared on the Old Madam’s face. Stroking Jiang Suisui’s hair, she gently soothed her.

“Be good, Suisui. Go play hide-and-seek with Jinque. Grandmother will come find you later, all right?”

Then she raised her head and looked at me.

“There’s a hidden door beneath the Buddha statue. I had the passage dug on a whim when I first married into this household. It leads straight to the alley behind the manor.

“As long as you take good care of Suisui, you may take anything you want from this room.”

I happily agreed.

But as I filled both arms with gold and jade bracelets, another thought came to me.

I flashed the lofty Old Madam a wide grin, my tone brazenly insolent.

“Old Madam, you almost fooled me.

“Jiang Suisui is a fool. I can’t spend my whole life looking after her. If you don’t come with us, I’ll sell her the moment we get out.”

I had never seen the Old Madam look so shocked.

Her lips trembled, but she couldn’t get a single word out.

The elderly maid, however, understood immediately. She stripped off the Old Madam’s outer robe and draped it over herself.

“Madam, Jinque is right. She’s an outsider. How could she possibly devote herself to caring for Sixth Miss?

“The Duke’s Manor saved my worthless old life. If the Duke’s Manor is finished, I have no intention of living on. But if you die, Sixth Miss won’t survive either!”

The Old Madam called her name in a trembling voice. “Wanying…”

The screams outside were drawing closer. I shook my bracelet-covered arms, seized the young one with one hand and the old one with the other, and shoved them both into the secret passage before they could waste any more time.

The elderly maid moved the Buddha statue aside and waited for me to descend so she could seal the entrance with it afterward.

The emperor was a devout Buddhist, so those lackeys of the Jinyi Wei would never dare damage a Buddha statue.

Before climbing down, I turned back to look at the elderly maid.

“I’ll build you a cenotaph. You’ve saved my life today, so from now on, you’ll be my mother in name. I’ll burn incense for you every year.”

The elderly maid kicked me into the passage.

“If anything happens to the Old Madam or Sixth Miss, I’ll come after you even as a ghost.”

I had always admired loyal servants like her, the kind who would throw away their lives for their masters without hesitation.

I hid in the passage with the Old Madam and Jiang Suisui for a full day and night.

When we finally crawled out, filthy and covered in dust, dawn was just breaking. Behind us, the Duke’s Manor lay silent as a tomb.

I gave my two spare outfits to Jiang Suisui and the Old Madam.

If we were fleeing for our lives, we had to look the part. Fine silks and brocade attracted far too much attention.

Jiang Suisui looked passable, but the Old Madam looked rather ridiculous.

If anything, she stood out even more.

Left with no choice, I bought a set of clothes from an old woman by the roadside and had the Old Madam change into them.

Getting out of the city went smoothly after that.

No one would have imagined that a simple-minded girl and an old woman could escape from the Duke’s Manor while it was surrounded by the Jinyi Wei.

After the fright she’d suffered, Jiang Suisui developed another fever. I had no choice but to hire a carriage and take the two of them with me as I fled.

Fortunately, I’d brought plenty of jewelry. At least we were escaping on the Duke’s Manor’s money.

Both women were wanted criminals now. The Old Madam didn’t dare return to the ancestral home for fear of implicating the rest of the clan, so she had no choice but to follow me south to Lingzhou.

Only when we were far from the Capital did the Old Madam finally break down and burst into tears.