Chapter 8: Peril (Revised)

After pondering over money and grain all day, Xu Weishu felt that if she kept thinking about it, she would go mad.

The person picked up by her "friend of a different generation" happened to be someone she could use to accumulate merit. If she didn't take this opportunity for merit, she wouldn't be able to live with herself, but to support people and gain merit, one needed money, grain, and silver.

Making money seemed easy in theory, but it was not simple in practice, especially given her current identity. She had to act low-key; even if she thought of certain ways to make money, she didn't dare to act on them recklessly.

If she were just an ordinary farm girl, perhaps things would be smoother.

During the nearly three years of living on the manor, Baoqin and the others hadn't felt anything, but Xu Weishu herself could often sense malicious gazes.

She didn't know what exactly was left of the original host that was still worth coveting after falling to such a state!

Even searching through her memories, she couldn't find anything useful.

"Meow."

A series of plum blossoms had been stepped onto the ledger—ink plums, no less. Quite beautiful!

The window was half-open, and the cold wind made the curtains flutter. Qiuqiu jumped up and curled into Xu Weishu's arms, its body shrinking into a ball. Its eyes were half-closed, squinting into thin slits, looking adorable and easing her mistress's worries slightly.

Patting her pet, which felt as warm as a brazier, Xu Weishu let out a yawn. On a biting winter day, nothing was more comfortable than being tucked under a heavy quilt and sleeping in bed.

Baoqin brought her a bowl of black sesame paste, blew out the lamp, and assisted her young mistress in lying down. Xu Weishu wouldn't allow her to keep watch overnight, so she told her to sleep on the soft couch outside.

Since charcoal was scarce on the manor, Baoqin simply slept with her mistress so they could look after each other and save on charcoal.

Holding Qiuqiu, Xu Weishu intended to sleep through the next morning in a daze. She didn't know how long she had been asleep when there was suddenly a sound outside the door.

"Who is it?"

"Young mistress, it is Sujuan."

Baoqin had already put on her clothes. She went out to speak a few words with Sujuan and returned, saying, "Two Buddhist nuns have arrived at our manor looking for a place to stay for the night; it seems they missed their lodging."

"Since they are nuns, please let them stay in the Guest Reception Hall for the time being."

Xu Weishu frowned, feeling surprised. It was the middle of the night in the dead of winter, yet Buddhist practitioners were actually traveling at night; it was quite strange.

However, she didn't take it to heart. In the Great Yin Dynasty, both Taoists and Buddhists seemed to enjoy wandering about.

Baoqin checked the charcoal brazier again, assisted her young mistress in drinking a cup of warm water, and then went back to sleep. But shortly after lying down, Mother Wu came knocking at the door against the wind and snow.

Xu Weishu was startled.

Baoqin quickly let her in and handed her a hand warmer. "What happened? Mother Wu, what are you doing?"

Mother Wu, who was always neat and composed in her work, was now frantic, her face drenched in cold sweat.

"Just... news came from the front courtyard. Yuzhen from the Duke's Mansion collapsed at the gate. It seems... it seems the young master was taken by kidnappers."

Xu Weishu froze. "What?"

She hurriedly got up, dressed, and went out. Yuzhen had been placed in the side room and had already regained consciousness. Her expression was wooden; seeing Xu Weishu, she opened her mouth, but her voice was hoarse and her words were stumbling and incoherent.

Xu Weishu didn't have time to brew calming tea. She directly told Baoqin to fetch silver needles and pressed one hard into Yuzhen's fingertip. As blood splattered, Yuzhen jolted, finally coming to her senses.

"Young mistress, for some reason, the young master opened the side gate by himself in the middle of the night. This servant woke up and chased after him, only to see two men carrying him onto a carriage and leaving. This servant chased desperately and screamed desperately, but could not catch up."

As Yuzhen spoke, tears and snot flowed down her face.

Xu Weishu's face turned grim. To be precise, this younger brother of the original host was the only remaining bloodline of the former Duke of Ying.

She could only be considered half a relative; her soul had nothing to do with the Duke of Ying's mansion.

Even if not for merit or anything else, she could not simply allow that child to wander lost in the world.

"Don't panic yet. We will head to the Duke's Mansion to check immediately. Perhaps the young master has already been found. Since you discovered it in time, the Duke's Mansion won't just let it go. Kidnappers wouldn't be able to leave the capital in the middle of the night either."

Kidnappers couldn't be like the servants of the capital's powerful families, easily leaving the city at midnight just by carrying a household token.

Xu Weishu took a deep breath, changed her clothes, and gave a few instructions, telling Baoqin and Mother Wu to stay and guard the house. She and Yuzhen boarded the carriage and sped away.

As they raced along, Xu Weishu suddenly felt a sense of dread. The jade pendant against her chest flickered incessantly. She couldn't help but wonder—could it be that her "cheap" younger brother really had met with an accident? But why? He was just a child. Could it be the Second Uncle or Second Aunt?

No, the Second Uncle and Second Aunt had raised him for so many years. If they didn't want him alive, they could have easily let him die when he was small through a bit of "negligence." Why go through all this trouble?

Besides, why bother removing a child who was being raised to be a useless person? Leaving him alive would only serve to highlight how excellent and outstanding their own son was!

While she was lost in thought, the horse pulling the carriage suddenly let out a shrill, long neigh.

Xu Weishu's gaze sharpened—she had been careless!

Yuzhen was startled and hurriedly lifted the curtain, only to see that for some reason, the driving horse had suddenly gone mad and was galloping forward wildly. The driver was nowhere to be seen.

Xu Weishu grabbed Yuzhen, pulled a knife from beneath the carriage seat, and cut the reins in two strokes.

The carriage slid along the ground with inertia for a couple of turns, narrowly stopping at the edge of a cliff.

*Thump, thump!*

Yuzhen's heart raced wildly.

Xu Weishu helped her out of the carriage. Looking back, she could faintly see a dark figure moving at high speed.

It was the driver, moving swiftly across the snow. He had clearly prepared a sled in advance. In the distance, lights flickered; clearly, people were holding torches, and there were quite a few of them—at least a dozen.

Xu Weishu raised her hand to catch large flakes of snow, faintly hearing someone shouting at the top of their lungs: "They're just ahead! We accidentally took the wrong path and went a bit too far. They're just ahead, two women..."

"Young mistress?"

Yuzhen shivered.

Xu Weishu exhaled, squinting her eyes to calculate the time. She grabbed a small bundle from the carriage and whispered, "Help me push the carriage down."

"Ah?"

"Push." She walked over to do it herself, so Yuzhen had no choice but to help. Fortunately, the carriage was already precarious; with a little force, they pushed it off the cliff, where it smashed into pieces.

"This should block them for a while. There are many wild beasts in the mountains, and it's getting dark. At least until dawn, they shouldn't be able to catch us," Xu Weishu murmured to herself.

Yuzhen was completely dazed. "They?"

"It's fine. Let's go. Let's find a place to shelter from the wind and snow first." Xu Weishu smiled, holding Yuzhen as they struggled through the terrain, making sure to look back and clear their footprints.

Although this mountain was close to Mount Dongxiao, they had never been here before, so they still felt lost. With the wind and snow so heavy and the possibility of unknown pursuers behind them, she truly didn't know what they would encounter ahead.

Xu Weishu was also worried about the pursuers behind them. Without sparing the little remaining Jishui she had, she took a large gulp. Her physical strength surged, and she pulled Yuzhen into a stumbling run.

Yuzhen was terrified, fearing they would lose their way. On such a snowy night, in a mountain she had never visited, if they couldn't find an exit, the consequences would be unthinkable.