The night hung low, starless and moonless.
In the silent manor, peach blossoms bloomed in stillness, a faint fragrance drifting through the night air.
Deep within the manor, a small building with lit lamps stood quietly, a shadowy, graceful silhouette cast upon the dim, yellowed window.
"Leader, the person has been brought back." The door opened silently, and a handsome man in black stepped into the room, his eyes lowered in a respectful manner.
"Qiu Ming, you’ve worked hard. Bring him in." The person sitting by the window turned, revealing a face of peerless beauty under the candlelight, yet one that carried a hint of chill.
The woman was in the prime of her youth, her phoenix eyes slightly narrowed, the cinnabar mole beneath her left eye adding a touch of allure under the lamp.
The man in black, addressed as Qiu Ming, stepped aside. A moment later, he dragged a man tied up like a rice dumpling into the inner chamber and tossed him before the woman.
The "dumpling" on the floor struggled to lift his head. Seeing the woman before him, he was stunned for a moment before asking guardedly, "Who... who are you people?"
The woman toyed nonchalantly with a magnificent seven-treasure ruyi lock in her hand. "Zhao Tian, you have quite a lot of nerve."
The man’s eyes shrank suddenly, and he hurriedly denied it, saying, "What Zhao Tian? I don't know him! You’ve got the wrong person!"
"You killed those close to you, changed your identity, and fled to the capital, thinking no one could find you?" The woman looked at him calmly, as if observing a useless object.
The man’s body stiffened, his expression twisted, and he couldn't help but tremble.
He looked up at the woman before him, his teeth beginning to chatter.
"You... you... are you from the Nine Heavens Society?!" He struggled to get up, but the person who had tied him was highly skilled; despite his best efforts, he could only writhe on the floor like a caterpillar.
"Miss, please, spare my life! Whatever you want... I can give you anything!"
Seeing him in this state, the woman let out a soft laugh and said eerily, "You colluded with outsiders to ruin my grand plan; I thought you weren't afraid of death."
The man looked as if he had been struck by a heavy blow; his body suddenly froze, and his eyes bulged as if they were about to pop out of their sockets.
His face was filled with terror, as if the person under the lamp was not a stunning beauty, but a man-eating demon.
"You... you... you are..."
"Tell me, who is the person behind you who ordered you to frame Feng Yuting? And which noble in the imperial court wants to stretch their hand into Shu?"
Zhao Tian shook his head repeatedly. "I... I don't know!"
"You don't even know who is behind you, yet you dared to betray the Nine Heavens Society?"
Zhao Tian said, "I... I only know he is someone close to Tong Lin, the Prefect of Yuezhou. He... he gave me fifty thousand taels of silver to come to the capital. He said... the Yonglin Marquis Mansion would... would protect me."
The woman leaned back against the chair, sneering, "The Prefect of Yuezhou? Crossing over a thousand miles to harm a Vice-Prefect of Baoning? Do they have a grudge?"
Zhao Tian stammered, "I... I really don't know. I know I was wrong, please, Miss, spare my life!"
"Someone must have told you that after joining the Nine Heavens Society, traitors die."
The woman stared at him for a long while, finally sighed softly, and said, "Take him out and kill him."
"Yes." Qiu Ming, who had been standing silently to the side, responded in a low voice. Ignoring Zhao Tian’s wailing, he leaned down, struck his pressure points, and dragged him out.
Less than half a quarter of an hour later, Qiu Ming returned, carrying a faint scent of blood.
"Dead?"
"Yes." Qiu Ming handed a letter to the woman. "It just arrived. Feng Yuting will be escorted to the capital in half a month. After a joint trial by the three judicial offices, if the evidence is conclusive, he may be sentenced to beheading."
The woman sighed, rubbing her brow with a hint of weariness. "If this hadn't happened to Feng Yuting, he would have been promoted to Prefect of Baoning in half a year. Now, with things like this... so many plans have been disrupted."
Qiu Ming said in a low voice, "He acted arrogantly and fell into someone else's trap; he brought it upon himself. The Leader has important matters to attend to in the capital; if this delays you..."
"If I leave him to his fate, who will be willing to work hard for me in the future?" The woman laughed lightly. "Very well. Whether you're herding one sheep or a flock, it's all the same. Since we have to stay in the capital for a while anyway, find out the detailed inside story as soon as possible and tell the people below to be careful."
"Yes."
"How was Zhao Tian handled?"
"I had him buried."
"I remember Tong Lin is the second son of the Yonglin Marquis, right? Hang him at the gate of the Yonglin Marquis Mansion."
"Yes." Qiu Ming acknowledged and withdrew.
"Miss, it's time to rest." A girl with a round face and apricot eyes entered with a basin of water, brushing past Qiu Ming. She glared at him before saying softly, "You've been staying up late these past two days. If the Duke's Mansion comes to pick you up tomorrow and you show up with a listless face, how bad would that be?"
The woman looked down at the gleaming seven-treasure ruyi lock in her hand and said calmly, "Tomorrow? No need to worry about that; they won't come tomorrow."
"But we've been staying outside the city for two days already," the girl asked, puzzled.
Her mistress had been lost since childhood. A few days ago, in Guangzhou, she had been recognized by Prince Xin, who was there to suppress bandits, because of her personal token, and thus she had returned to the capital. Prince Xin said he would go back to discuss it with the Duke's Mansion first, then have them send people to bring her back to the mansion.
It had been two days already; would they really not come tomorrow?
The woman reached out and tapped the girl's brow, laughing, "Silly girl, do you really think Prince Xin wants to bring us back to the capital? If it weren't for Prince Rong causing trouble on the side, I'm afraid Prince Xin would have killed us back in Guangzhou."
"Ah? How could that be?!"
"Qin Mu and I had a marriage contract bestowed by the late Emperor. I heard he and my second sister, Xie Wan, are deeply in love and were married last year—they are newlyweds. Do you think he would want a fiancée who had been lost for years to suddenly pop up?"
The girl's eyebrows knitted together upon hearing this.
"And the Duke's Mansion—if they truly were happy to have this daughter back, why wait two days?" Xie Wu said calmly.
That's true. Did the people in the Duke's Mansion not look forward to seeing her at all?
"Then... Miss, are we still going to acknowledge the family?"
"Acknowledge them, why not? Some things must be settled."
The woman put away the ruyi lock, stood up to wash her hands, and walked toward the inner room while wiping the water off her hands.
The girl frowned. "But if no one comes to pick us up, are we supposed to go to the Duke of England's Mansion ourselves?" That would be so embarrassing.
"I heard the Duke of England has gone on an imperial tour and won't be back for another half month. Right now... it's likely someone wants to give me a cold welcome." Of course, if they could get rid of her before the Duke and his son returned, that would be even better.
"Then... are we just going to stay in this villa for half a month?"
The woman glanced at the girl, whose face was full of grievance, and laughed. "Your face is as wrinkled as an old woman's. Tomorrow, I'll take you into the city to have some fun."
The girl's eyes lit up, and she immediately beamed. "Miss is the best!"
Watching the girl's excited face, the woman leaned back onto the bed, but the smile on her face gradually faded, becoming cold and sharp.
Ever since she struggled to crawl out of the filthy river eleven years ago, blankly being swept along by crowds of refugees, she had known there was no home for her in this world.
A dignified daughter of a Duke's Mansion, yet she encountered bandits on the way to escort her birth mother's coffin back to their ancestral home for burial. Chased by bandits the entire way, her wet nurse was forced to jump into the rushing river with her.
The wet nurse disappeared without a trace, and there was no longer an eight-year-old Xie Wu in this world.
The Xie Wu who crawled out of the water was a soul from another world.
Xie Wu had not attempted to return to the capital.
A great disaster had just passed, refugees were everywhere, and the government had long lost control of the local area. How could an eight-year-old child travel the thousand miles to the capital?
Not to mention, those bandits who chased them were far too suspicious.
Robbing a funeral procession and killing for money was one thing, but chasing two women and a child relentlessly was too unusual.
It wasn't robbery; it was clearly murder.
Mother dead, no family on her mother's side, bandits in pursuit.
Whether the Duke of England's Mansion was a home or a grave for her was hard to say.
However, she had always known she would eventually return.
For herself, and for the child who died in the river eleven years ago.
Some debts, sooner or later, must be repaid.
(づ￣3￣)づ╭～。My dears, starting a new story~~ I hope you all like A-Wu. This time I want to try writing a slightly different story, and I hope everyone enjoys it.
There are many handsome men and beautiful women in this book, but they are all supporting characters (#^.^#). The only protagonist is A-Wu. (#^.^#) So, if a handsome guy appears, don't be disappointed if you think he's the male lead~
Reading Guide and Warnings 1. Few house-fighting scenes; this is not a story about a legitimate daughter slapping faces and abusing a wicked stepmother. 2. The female lead is a transmigrator with low moral standards, and the characters in the story generally have low integrity. 3. Few romance scenes; many male characters appear, and the first one to appear is not necessarily the male lead. (So, the female lead may have more than one romantic thread.) 4. Slightly slow-burn, brainless story; the female lead looks badass, but her IQ cannot be higher than the author's. 5. I've been on hiatus for too long, starting fresh for rehabilitation, finding my state; the length and ending are unknown.
(づ￣3￣)づ╭～ Love you all, mwah~