Chapter 7

Chapter 7

When I woke again, daylight was already streaming in.

Before me was a snow-white wall. Not far away, the lattice windows had been thrown wide open, and a flock of pitch-black geese were honking and crooning from the artificial pond in the courtyard rockery.

Startled, I sat up-only for a piercing pain to drill through my left foot. I could not help crying out. Before the sound had even died away, an armored guard suddenly walked in through the door. He looked vaguely familiar.

Overjoyed, I nearly bit my tongue. “Young Master Wang-Young Master Wang was attacked!! On the mountaintop!”

The guard hurried over and pressed me back down onto the couch with one hand. “Do not worry, young lady. Young Master Wang has already returned safely.”

From his brief account, I learned that there had been more than one point of ignition last night. The assassins had set fires in the temple woods. It was autumn, a season when mountain fires were common; if I had not fallen from halfway up the mountain, no one would have been alerted.

And when I lost consciousness, my hand had still been clenched tight around a torn, bloodstained silk ribbon embroidered with curling grass patterns-the sort Wang Yu most often wore.

By the time I woke, the Wang Clan guards had moved swiftly. They had rescued Wang Yu and captured one assassin alive. The other, seeing there was no escape, died on the spot after swallowing blood.

I let out a breath and collapsed limply back onto the couch.

Seeing that I had closed my eyes, the guard turned and ushered in a female physician. She placed my injured left foot into a basin of medicine, saying she needed to soak the sock loose.

The fabric had already stuck fast to the blood scabs. Tearing it away was excruciatingly difficult. The pain made me scream again and again until I broke down crying on the spot.

In a daze, I saw Madam Nan and Nan Jinxiu standing by my bed. One had relaxed brows; the other had tearful eyes.

“You… why were you with Young Master Wang last night?”

That was Nan Jinxiu.

“Silence! If Wang Yu had taken a liking to you, would your mother have needed to curry favor with the Huan Clan’s madam?”

That was Madam Nan.

The Wang Clan was one of Great Ye’s foremost aristocratic clans. Even Nan Jinxiu, legitimate daughter of the Nan Family, could not hope to become Wang Yu’s concubine. No wonder Madam Nan was so envious.

Nan Jinxiu clutched a handkerchief in her hands, scolded until clear tears streamed down her face. But seeing me pale as paper and moaning in misery, sympathy could not help but show in her eyes.

Since childhood, she had always been the one among us sisters most afraid of pain. Now that even I, the one best able to endure it, was screaming without end, I supposed she was no longer quite so eager for Wang Yu…

The great fire had started at Hong’en Temple and burned for three full days and nights before it was extinguished.

The mutual strife between the great clans behind it was clearly not something a lesser aristocratic family like the Nan Family could involve itself in. So as soon as the flames receded, my father heard the rumors and specially came to the foot of the mountain to receive us.

The Nan Family carriages and horses were ready to depart and had just set out onto the broad road when they were suddenly stopped by dozens of armored guards.

My father sat in the front carriage and timidly poked half his head out. “May I ask what brings you brave warriors here?”

“Our young master has something to say.”

“Your young master?”

As they spoke, an orderly procession of carriages approached from behind, all with black canopies and golden roofs, veiled on all four sides. The horses drawing them were all divine steeds with white-stockinged hooves. These “Black Clouds Over Snow,” which even a Great Ye grand general might not be able to gather a single one of, were being used merely to pull a nobleman’s carriage.

A long, pale finger lightly lifted the carriage curtain. The person inside revealed only a graceful line of his chin, his clear voice ringing like jade. “Wang Yu of Langya invites Lord Nan to speak.”

Each of the other party’s carriages bore a clan emblem on its shaft. My father had naturally seen them as well, and he was instantly overwhelmed by the honor. “Young-Young Master, please speak!”

“I have heard that when parents love their children, they make far-reaching plans for them. But if there are those who, for the sake of official advancement, sell their children to powerful, highborn families, then even beasts would disdain such conduct.”

“What does Lord Nan think?”

His voice was as pure as jade chimes, carrying faintly from afar. Even Madam Nan and I, seated in the carriage behind, heard every word clearly-let alone Lord Nan, who was right before him.

Before the words had even faded, I saw my old father’s face flush red all the way to his ears as he murmured agreement again and again.

“Indeed, indeed.”

Wang Yu never interfered in the affairs of other clans. This was already an extremely severe warning.

Then I looked at Madam Nan seated across from me. Her face was just as pale, her lips trembling, the veins standing out on both hands as she twisted her handkerchief.

The pain in the sole of my foot, burning as if licked by fire, suddenly no longer seemed so unbearable.