Chapter 138

Chapter 138

[Isn’t the Villain Tempting? Not Really – 8]

Emperor Gaozu did not care whether the heroine of the original world was the daughter of the official who had died. Whether she was or was not would have little impact upon him.

She was no more than a ridiculous clown, hardly worth his concern.

He was now the Great General, commanding the regional lords in the name of the Son of Heaven and controlling every matter of war and conquest. Yanyun lay firmly in his hands, while Yanzhou and Xuzhou stretched to the south. Once his rear was secure, how could he sit by while the realm remained divided and China ununified? Recently, he had gathered the generals and strategists under his command and resolved to march south, his blade pointed directly at Chuzhou.

As the army sharpened its weapons and prepared to depart, the officials Emperor Gaozu had sent to investigate Father Zhou’s death finally reached Pingcheng safely.

Old Madam Zhou was vigilant, Madam Zhou was no useless teammate, and the Provincial Governor had reluctantly cooperated. The case could hardly be considered difficult to investigate.

At first, Zhou Shuhui did not know the truth behind her father’s death. She remained full of resentment over his appointment to Pingcheng, always believing that he would not have died in an accident if he had never come here. When she learned that someone had murdered him, the fury suppressed within her heart erupted like a valve suddenly wrenched open.

“Office, office, office! All of you want office and don’t care whether anyone lives! If not for that damned position, would Father have been murdered? When I criticized that so-called Great General before, Mother even hit me! If he hadn’t sent Father here to serve, would Father be dead?!”

Dressed in mourning clothes, Madam Zhou knelt before her husband’s memorial and burned paper offerings. Hearing her daughter’s speech sent anger surging straight to the crown of her head. Disappointment, fury, and pain tangled within her until she no longer wished to speak. She rose and prepared to slap the girl hard across the face.

Old Madam Zhou raised a hand to stop her. Holding her string of Buddhist beads, she projected authority without anger. “Your father is gone. Do you imagine I am delighted? That your mother is delighted? Or that your sister is delighted? Speaking such heart-piercing words to your closest family at a time like this is truly hateful! As for your father’s death, you do not resent the person who killed him or the mastermind behind the crime. Instead, you blame the family who supported his ambitions and the Great General who entrusted him with important duties. What possible reason is there in that?!”

Zhou Shuhui had never been close to her grandmother. Now that she knew the truth of her father’s violent death, she believed reason stood on her side and opened her mouth to argue. But Old Madam Zhou swept her with a cold glance. Before Zhou Shuhui could speak, two matrons hurried forward without a word. They gagged her, twisted her arms behind her back, and held her firmly.

Caught completely off guard, Zhou Shuhui struggled violently and twisted without pause. But she was far too young to overcome two robust female servants.

“A little girl of seven or eight, and you already think yourself some kind of demon!”

Old Madam Zhou slowly turned her Buddhist beads, her gaze cold and still. When it fell upon Zhou Shuhui, fear stirred within the girl. She unconsciously stopped struggling and glared back with resentment and hatred.

Old Madam Zhou gently shook her head. When she turned to Madam Zhou, reproach entered her voice. “You heard everything this child said and saw her behavior yourself. What trace does she possess of a young lady from a great family? Let me speak from the heart. Whether the child is a boy or girl, no matter how learned they may be, character matters most. If the roots have rotted, then no matter how splendidly flowers bloom above, they will never bear good fruit!”

Madam Zhou felt both ashamed and guilty. “Mother’s lesson is correct. I failed to discipline this child properly.”

Seeing that her daughter-in-law could accept her words, Old Madam Zhou nodded inwardly. She returned the Buddhist beads to her wrist and said earnestly, “I feared you would take offense before, so I never spoke of certain matters. But now that my eldest son is gone, they must be said.”

Hearing the solemnity in her mother-in-law’s voice, Madam Zhou hurriedly knelt and answered respectfully, “Yes. Your daughter-in-law awaits Mother’s guidance.”

Old Madam Zhou said, “You and my son had only two daughters. Before, you could still hope that flowers would bloom first and fruit follow later. That hope is gone now. You are still young and must carefully consider your future. My eldest son had two younger brothers, and they have sons and grandsons, but I do not intend to adopt another grandson into his line. Those children have their own parents. Taking them from their mother and father to place them with you would never be right. If my second and third sons and their descendants possess good hearts, they will naturally protect and support the widow and orphans of the eldest branch. If they lack such hearts, what purpose would it serve to press a child by the head and make him call you Mother? I fear he would turn upon you someday and harm you and my granddaughters for the eldest branch’s property!”

Madam Zhou’s eyes grew wet when she realized how tirelessly her mother-in-law had planned for her and her daughters. Her voice trembled. “Yes.”

Old Madam Zhou continued, “We divided the family when the old patriarch died. Although everyone gathers at the end of each year, our accounts have long been separate. Divide the eldest branch’s property into three shares. Give one to each girl and use the remaining share for your old age. You have many years ahead of you. How could you live without money in your hands?”

Madam Zhou had been married for years and always believed her mother-in-law treated matters fairly but remained excessively strict and distant. Only after hearing these words did she understand that Old Madam Zhou was cold outside but warm within. She not only understood reason but possessed considerable foresight. Madam Zhou said nothing and simply kowtowed sincerely.

Old Madam Zhou stepped forward and helped her rise. Glancing at the resentful Zhou Shuhui nearby, she sighed. “Shuhui is only eight this year. She is still young enough that proper guidance can correct her temperament. Our ancestral home is not here. Once this affair is settled, we will escort my eldest son’s coffin north and bury him in the capital. Over the following years, you will remain at home in mourning with Shuyao, while I take Shuhui to live at the estate outside the city. Do not let your heart soften. If a sapling grows crooked and we refuse to prune it harshly, how will it ever grow straight?”
Living beside a grandmother as rigid as a measuring stick for several years-could anyone survive that?

Wouldn’t she be tormented into a clay idol or wooden puppet?!

Zhou Shuhui could not move, but resistance filled her eyes. She looked hopefully toward her mother, praying she would refuse. Unexpectedly, Madam Zhou did not even glance at her. Wiping away her tears with a handkerchief, she said emotionally, “Mother has devoted every thought to planning for the three of us. If your daughter-in-law refused and doubted your kind intentions, wouldn’t that make me incapable of recognizing what is good for me? When I join my husband below someday, he would resent me for it.”

Zhou Shuhui never expected her mother to agree without considering her wishes at all. Anger and resentment filled her heart. When she imagined the life awaiting her over the next several years, dark clouds seemed to crowd above her head, leaving no ray of light.

Old Madam Zhou said to her daughter-in-law, “The messenger left three days ago. I imagine the people the Great General sent to investigate this case are already on the road. This child broods deeply and frequently speaks nonsense. The residence contains too many people and too many eyes. If she runs outside and says something she should not, she will both disgrace my eldest son’s reputation and displease the Great General, exhausting every trace of favor he left behind. We might as well send her back to the capital first. Once the injustice against my eldest son has been investigated, we can return and reunite with her there.”

Madam Zhou also felt this arrangement was more appropriate and nodded. Still, she remembered how young her daughter was and feared the long return journey would exhaust her. She selected her own trusted personal maid and one of Old Madam Zhou’s servants to accompany the girl. They would pack today and depart tomorrow.

Madam Zhou believed she was acting from a loving mother’s heart and that Old Madam Zhou’s plans were meticulous and prudent. She did not know that Zhou Shuhui could not appreciate any of it. The girl merely believed her grandmother and mother had been thoroughly poisoned by feudal society. They willingly invented excuses for that so-called Great General and now intended to imprison her for a course of rotten feudal education.

She refused to go!

Old Madam Zhou had lost her son and forced herself to manage the funeral rites for several days. She was both exhausted and heartsick. Seeing fatigue upon her mother-in-law’s face, Madam Zhou firmly ordered attendants to escort the old lady back to rest. She returned her younger daughter to her rooms, instructed servants to keep the elder girl from running away, then prepared to leave, only for Zhou Shuhui to call her back.

The curtains were drawn, and no lamps burned in the room. Only Zhou Shuhui’s eyes shone with a strange light in the gloom. “I don’t want to live with Grandmother. Don’t send me to the estate, Mother!”

Madam Zhou remained unmoved. “No. This matter is not open to discussion!”

“Mother!” Zhou Shuhui cried anxiously. “I am your daughter!”

Madam Zhou answered firmly, “Precisely because you are my daughter, I cannot watch you follow a crooked path!”

Perhaps she sensed the resistance and resentment in her daughter’s voice, because her tone softened. “Shuhui, Mother truly is doing this for your sake. Life is already difficult for women. You have lost your father and possess no full brother. Can you expect your male cousins to support you in every matter? Your grandmother comes from an eminent family, and even the Empress Dowager has praised her virtue. If you accompany her for several years, you will gain a reputation for filial devotion and absorb the example of her words and conduct. That will also help when arranging your marriage after you grow up.”

Zhou Shuhui stared in disbelief. “Mother, I am only eight years old! Aren’t you thinking much too far ahead? Besides, who says a woman must marry?! Reputation? I don’t care about it!”

Madam Zhou felt heart-piercing anguish at her stubborn refusal to understand, and tears began to fall. “When your father first traveled to Pingcheng to assume office, he became terribly drunk. After returning to our rooms, he told me he had become Assistant Governor not merely to fulfill his own ambitions, but for his daughters too. If he held a higher and more important office, others would regard him more highly. Then when you and Shuyao married, even without a brother to support you, your husbands’ families would not dare bully you. But Shuhui, your father is gone. We must rely upon ourselves now. We truly cannot behave willfully…”

Zhou Shuhui felt as though they were speaking different languages. “Mother, you’ve been brainwashed and trained into servitude. There is no way for me to communicate with you!”

Utterly disappointed, she dropped onto the bed and pulled the quilt over her head.

Her daughter’s words wounded Madam Zhou deeply. She stared at the covered figure for a long while but ultimately said nothing more. After leaving, she wiped away her tears and instructed the matron outside, “Warm some food for her and bring it later. Simply keep her from leaving. Let her do as she pleases otherwise…”

The matron hurriedly agreed.

…

The coachman’s entire family had been detained, as had the officials who accompanied Father Zhou that night. The physical evidence had also been sealed. How could the hidden truth possibly remain undiscovered?

After three days in the Provincial Governor’s prison, the coachman’s family had already panicked. They confessed obediently with little interrogation.

The coachman had behaved strangely several days before his death. No one knew where he obtained a large sum of money. He gave it to his mother and told her to hide it. If some accident befell him, she was to finish the funeral, take the money, flee far away, and never return.

The coachman’s mother immediately sensed something wrong and questioned him in tears. Her son refused to explain. When she pressed too hard, he also wept and said that further words would accomplish nothing except kill the entire family.

The detained officials who had accompanied Father Zhou were equally anxious. They initially refused to confess, but torture soon pried open their mouths.

Ever since salt and iron became state monopolies under the previous dynasty, the price of illicit salt had soared. Wealth tempted the heart. A vast interest group engaged in the illicit salt trade soon formed, transporting its goods from south to north.

In the past, officials along the north-south route had shared an unspoken understanding. But the situation changed abruptly the previous month. The south remained under the control of Prince Su, a member of the imperial clan, while the Great General He Zhenkui held power in the north. As the Assistant Governor of Pingcheng sent by the Great General, Father Zhou inevitably became a thorn in the flesh of the illicit-salt cartel, which desperately wanted him eliminated.
Following the detained officials’ confessions, the investigators went to arrest the men whom the illicit-salt cartel had sent to handle the matter. Despite rushing there, they found the premises already empty.

Fortunately, Emperor Gaozu had anticipated this. While sending his trusted men to investigate Father Zhou’s violent death, he had dispatched others south to examine the illicit-salt distribution network, using the murder case as a distraction. Once he possessed enough information, he struck with thunderous force, mobilizing local garrisons to uproot the network and sweep it away completely.

Prince Su and his son Yu Sixian suffered tremendous losses and had no choice but withdraw from the northern illicit-salt market. But that belonged to later events.

…

Old Madam Zhou always kept her word. The next day, once Zhou Shuhui woke and ate breakfast, the old lady sent people to escort her back to the capital. Madam Zhou also summoned the personal maid accompanying them and gave careful instructions.

Zhou Shuhui had been visibly unwilling the previous day, and her expression had hardly improved. Zhou Shuyao sat on a small stool and asked excitedly, “Is Elder Sister going out to play? I want to go too!”

Zhou Shuhui glared at her. Zhou Shuyao shrank back and curled into her nurse’s arms, no longer daring to speak.

Seeing her elder daughter’s behavior made Madam Zhou even more worried and strengthened her resolve to let Old Madam Zhou educate the girl. Once she finished every necessary instruction, she sent the personal maid away with her daughter.

Old Madam Zhou coldly observed Zhou Shuhui’s expression and deliberately summoned the maid for a quiet warning. “This child is clever. Do not regard her as an ordinary little girl. Remain vigilant on the road and never let her leave your sight.”

The maid thought she was only eight. How clever could an eight-year-old possibly be?

She verbally accepted Old Madam Zhou’s instruction but did not truly take it to heart.

Zhou Shuhui looked sullen as she was half escorted and half forced into the carriage. Before departing, she refused to speak a single word to her grandmother or mother. When Zhou Shuyao said goodbye, she acted as though she had not heard.

I cannot remain here, Zhou Shuhui thought.

Her grandmother was nothing but a puppet who understood rules and nothing else-a controlling tyrant who followed every convention and constantly used her authority as family matriarch to suppress others. As for her mother, arriving in feudal society had thoroughly exposed the servility in her bones. She was beyond saving.

Zhou Shuhui might be only eight this year, but her soul was not eight. How could she tolerate spending several years at an estate with her rigid, silent grandmother?

She could easily imagine what would happen after she emerged. Her grandmother and mother would arrange a marriage. Forget marrying Yu Sixian-she might not even meet her husband before the wedding.

She refused to live like that!

But where could she go after leaving?

Zhou Shuhui could not think of an answer, yet she truly did not want to abandon this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to escape.

Once she reached the old residence in the capital, freeing herself would become far more difficult!

Whatever. She would escape first and cross that bridge when she came to it. So many transmigrators before her had survived. There was no reason she could not!

The soul inhabiting this body was an adult, after all, and none of Zhou Shuhui’s escorts guarded themselves against her. In particular, the accompanying maid had once served as Madam Zhou’s nurse and was exceptionally affectionate toward Zhou Shuhui. With careful planning, escape remained entirely possible.

After they set out, Zhou Shuhui deliberately complained to the maid about her grandmother’s and mother’s cruelty, pretending intimacy. The maid naturally tried to console her. Zhou Shuhui acted moved and gradually softened her attitude, dispelling the vigilance of both the maid and the other escorts.

Because their young lady was so young, the party did not hurry. They stopped at post stations during the day and traveled at a leisurely pace, expecting the journey to the capital to take half a month.

One afternoon, Zhou Shuhui claimed to feel sleepy after lunch. Once she sent everyone else outside, she cut the curtains into strips and tied them to the windowsill. Carrying banknotes stolen from the maid, she prepared to escape her grandmother’s and mother’s control.

Before leaving, she thought for a moment and picked up the rouge on the windowsill, intending to leave a message for her tyrannical grandmother and mother.

I am not your puppet!

Oh, crap. She had lived in modern times too long and forgotten how to write the characters for *puppet*.

Never mind. Better to keep it simple.

In the end, Zhou Shuhui wrote only one line of verse upon the bedsheet.

For freedom, all else may be abandoned.

The maid waited outside for half an hour. When she entered to see whether her young lady had kicked off the quilt, she found the room completely empty. Zhou Shuhui had vanished. Seeing the ten large crimson characters upon the bedsheet, the maid assumed kidnappers had taken her. Her vision went dark, and she nearly fainted.

The steward traveling with them heard the commotion and entered. One look at the strips tied to the windowsill told him the young lady had certainly fled on her own. Once he explained this to the maid, she hurriedly rose. They split up and led people in pursuit.

Zhou Shuhui had lived in modern society for too long. Since arriving in ancient times, she had remained beneath her family’s close protection. As the daughter of a fourth-rank Assistant Governor, she stood above most people in this era. She had therefore never experienced what a realm in chaos truly meant. She simply assumed that if going out for crawfish at eleven at night had been safe in modern times, then traveling alone in broad daylight now would certainly present no problem.

She forgot that she was only a little girl with no strength to defend herself. More precisely, she was an exceptionally pretty little girl in fine clothing, walking alone along an official road.

She drew attention like a torch in the darkness.

It was early afternoon. Carriages and horses occasionally passed along the official road. Their occupants found the sight of a little girl traveling alone surprising, but they were in a hurry and did not stop.
Zhou Shuhui felt uneasy at first, but gradually lowered her guard.

The body’s original owner was only eight and had been pampered within the residence since birth. She had never walked such a long distance. Before long, Zhou Shuhui’s feet began to ache. She found a place to sit and was about to remove her shoes and rub them when several bandits suddenly emerged from the nearby woods. Greed filled their eyes as they surrounded her. Without a word, one tore the gold collar from her neck.

The bandit’s movements were rough. The gold collar scraped Zhou Shuhui’s skin as he yanked it away, leaving a burning abrasion around her neck. Only then did she finally understand fear, but she forced herself to summon courage and shouted, “Do you know who I am? My father is an important official! If you dare hurt me, he will hunt you down even if you flee to the ends of the earth!”

She at least understood that distant water could not extinguish a nearby fire. After issuing her threat, she softened her posture slightly. “Take the collar as payment for passage. Let me leave now, and I will pretend this never happened!”

The bandits burst into laughter. Their leader drew his blade, his expression cruel and greedy. “After we kill you, we’ll tie stones to your body and throw you into the river. Who will know where you went? By the time anyone fishes you out, you’ll be mostly rotten!”

His smile turned savage. “You snuck away, didn’t you, little girl? Too bad you’ll never return!”

Hoofbeats sounded in the distance. Judging by the noise, many horses were approaching.

The bandits clearly felt apprehensive. They retreated several steps to observe. Zhou Shuhui’s eyes brightened. She sprang forward and ran, shouting, “Help! Save me!”

A carriage approached from ahead, drawn by four uniformly pitch-black horses. Not a single white hair marked their bodies. Tall, powerful, and magnificently built, they pulled a carriage hung with a string of silver bells that chimed in the wind.

What effortless good fortune!

Delight filled her face. “Help!”

The moment the bandits saw the carriage from afar, they knew they could not possibly offend its occupant. They resented watching cooked meat fly from their mouths, but valued their lives more. Exchanging glances, they backed away and prepared to flee.

As the carriage approached, a pair of slender, elegant hands lifted the curtain slightly. Zhou Shuhui thought she glimpsed the incomparably handsome Yu Sixian behind it.

She screamed even louder.

The carriage did not slow. It drove directly past her.

Zhou Shuhui fell silent.

Then her eyes widened.

She could scarcely believe what she had seen.

Yu Sixian had simply passed her by?!

Had he not heard someone crying for help at the roadside?!

Her aching throat after so much shouting proved she had risked her life to call for aid. But the carriage vanishing rapidly ahead made equally clear that Yu Sixian had no intention of helping her.

Zhou Shuhui was both stunned and terrified. She dared not look back to see whether the bandits had reached her. Gritting her teeth, she ran after the carriage.

“Yu Sixian, save me!”

She screamed with all the strength in her lungs. “Yu Sixian!”

The carriage stopped some distance ahead.

Its silver bells chimed clearly.

The carriage door opened, and the driver moved aside. Zhou Shuhui’s legs burned from running, and her throat ached from screaming. Unable to endure another step, she fell to the ground with a thud. When she looked up, a corner of deep-purple fabric swept through her vision.

The young Yu Sixian wore a narrow-sleeved, round-collared robe and a fox-fur wrap. He regarded her with an ambiguous smile.

His beauty was peerless.

He was even more dazzling than the Yu Sixian Zhou Shuhui had imagined.

She stared in a daze.

Yu Sixian crouched before her and studied her face. “How do you know my name?”

Seeing his face at such close range left Zhou Shuhui entranced.

At that moment, another little girl jumped down from the carriage. She appeared about Zhou Shuhui’s age. Perhaps because the carriage was too tall and her body had not yet grown, she hesitated for several moments before carefully attempting the jump.

Even so, she fell.

Zhou Shuhui suddenly felt uncomfortable, and an inexplicable hostility rose within her.

How stupid!

The girl quickly climbed to her feet and ran toward Zhou Shuhui, her small face flushed. She asked with concern, “Are you all right? Are you hurt? Why are you alone on the road?”

Then she turned angrily toward Yu Sixian. “You clearly heard her calling for help just now. Why didn’t you stop?!”

Zhou Shuhui froze.

At that moment, the shock and horror in her heart-and the anger and resentment she had not yet recognized-far surpassed what she felt when the carriage first swept past her.