"Don't come any closer, if you do, I'll really yell for help..." Old Master Xu instinctively retreated. He forgot that his beloved concubine was hiding behind him. His leg tripped over her, and they both fell. Seeing the other person approaching him rapidly, he quickly threatened loudly, but to his horror, his mouth opened wide but no sound came out.
At this moment, he suddenly remembered the news his servant had gone to inquire about. It was said that on the night Liu Baishi kidnapped the woman in front of him, he seemed to have encountered something unclean. At the time, he thought Liu Baishi was timid and was making excuses for his daughter, but now it seemed possible. Otherwise, why couldn't he utter a single word?
This couldn't go on. Although she had just said she wouldn't take his life, who knew if she would change her mind? His gaze fell on a teacup not far away. Just as he was about to step forward and knock it over to make some noise to alert his trusted servant, Wu Caiwei, who had been watching her, understood his intention and pushed the teacup far away first.
With no other options, Old Master Xu could only watch as she approached him. Grabbing him with one hand and Old Master Xu with the other, she leaped away and disappeared from the Xu residence.
Listening to the wind whistling past his ears and watching the scenery recede, if Old Master Xu were given another chance, he would never have crossed her. He never imagined she was so skilled in martial arts at such a young age. Fortunately, he hadn't sent assassins to kill her. Otherwise, not only would the assassins have been defeated by her, but she would have surely retaliated. He would have lost his life, and the entire Xu family would have vanished from Yangcheng. How could he face his ancestors? Sudan Novel Network.
His pent-up anger finally released, Wu Caiwei swaggered through the deserted streets. Occasionally, she encountered drunkards lying in the middle of the road, muttering incoherently. Wu Caiwei wrinkled her nose in disgust and skirted around them.
Exhausted after a busy night, she slept until noon and only rose then. As soon as she stepped out of her room, she saw the young maids hiding together, whispering and occasionally covering their mouths to stifle their laughter. Upon seeing her, they quickly composed themselves and bowed in greeting.
Wu Caiwei walked past them impassively, exiting through the archway. After a moment's thought, she turned back. Seeing the maids about to leave, she beckoned them over. The maids, bewildered, approached. Had their madam possibly seen their lack of composure just now? But usually, as long as they didn't cross her bottom line, she wouldn't blame them even if they gossiped in front of her. Why had she summoned them today?
The maids were confused, but they obediently came before her, heads bowed, respectfully awaiting instructions.
"Judging by how enthusiastically you were chatting just now, has something sensational happened in the city today?" Wu Caiwei asked casually while playing with her fingernails.
The maids were startled. Their madam usually disliked gossip, but today she was asking for the first time. They had to admit their madam was indeed intelligent. Even without leaving the house, she had guessed much of what had happened.
"Madam is truly clairvoyant. Something has indeed happened today that has shocked the entire Yangcheng. It was still dawn when everyone saw two disheveled people tied to the pillars at the execution ground. The woman was slightly better, at least wearing clothes that weren't too revealing. But the man suffered. He was wearing nothing but a thin pair of trousers. They say he was found shivering from the cold, his lips blue, half-dead. Who knows who he offended to be treated so harshly," the older maid quickly recounted everything she knew.
As soon as she finished speaking, a round-faced maid beside her immediately added, "That's not all. I heard that one of the people tied up was our Yangcheng's richest man, Old Master Xu, and the woman was his most favored concubine. That's Old Master Xu! I wonder who dared to tie him naked to the execution ground. Weren't they afraid of retaliation from the Xu family?"
"You don't know this then. Since they dared to do it, they must have had something to rely on. Didn't you see Old Master Xu quickly cover his face and scurry away after being rescued? He didn't mention who the culprit was, nor did he send anyone to report it to the authorities. Clearly, he was guilty and afraid," another maid chimed in.
...
Listening to the maids exchange information about what had happened that morning, Wu Caiwei nodded with satisfaction. She estimated that these maids would never have dreamed that the culprit was standing right in front of them.
Just as Old Master Xu had said, if you want people in the city to forget one thing, you need a bigger event to overshadow it. It was just that he never imagined he himself would be the protagonist of this event. Didn't Old Master Xu think it was easy to ruin someone's reputation and feel no guilt? Now she felt the same way, believing he deserved it, and letting him experience what it felt like to be looked at with strange eyes as soon as he stepped out.
At this moment, Old Master Xu cursed Wu Caiwei eight hundred times, but it couldn't change the fact that he had lost face in the city. The thought of being looked at with prejudice whenever he went out, and of others not forgetting this disgrace when discussing business with other families, made him want to vomit blood. He hadn't expected to fail in his scheme and suffer losses.
In the following days, Wu Caiwei finally had some peace. All attention was focused on the Xu family. Old Master Xu confined himself to his study, brooding silently. Occasionally, the servants could hear the sound of things being thrown on the ground. Their adaptability was quite good; within a few days, they had become accustomed to it, knowing that their master was too ashamed to be seen and not rushing to clean up.
The masters of the Xu family stood anxiously in front of the study, desperate to understand what had happened. Before coming here, they had already found the concubine, but as soon as they saw her, she burst into tears, unable to speak clearly, her face filled with despair.
Knowing that her body had been seen, and that her master would never enter her room again, seeing her would only remind him of that humiliating night. At this moment, she truly regretted not listening to her parents' advice and becoming the master's concubine. If she had married outside the mansion and become the wife of a small merchant family, wouldn't her life be more carefree?
At least she wouldn't have to suffer retaliation or be in this awkward situation. She knew her master was old, and if anything happened to him, she would be expelled from the mansion. She hadn't considered that possibility before, but she thought that while she was young, she could get some money from the master, and even a carefree life after being expelled.