Chapter 6: Bloodshed

Looking at the gleaming short sword, Old Li was so frightened that he stumbled back several steps, his legs went weak, and he fell hard onto his backside.

Gu Yanfei sheathed the short sword without changing her expression, her movements crisp and efficient. *Truly a fine blade,* she thought to herself.

Juanbi stood frozen in place, completely dumbfounded.

"Juanbi, let's go." Gu Yanfei smiled slightly, her expression charming and bright.

She lifted her skirt and stepped over the high threshold, her posture remaining elegant and upright throughout.

Juanbi took a beat to recover before hurrying to follow.

The mistress and servant had barely stepped inside when they heard a rigid, stern female voice reprimanding them aggressively from ahead

"Second Miss, look at yourself! Is this how a noble lady of the Marquis’s estate should behave?"

Not far away, a Nanny wearing a rust-colored jacket with dark patterns was walking toward them with a menacing air, accompanied by three or four other matrons.

The leader was a woman in her early fifties with drooping outer eye corners, deep furrows etched into her skin, and an air of arrogance between her brows.

Juanbi called out timidly, "Nanny Xu."

Three months ago, it was this very Nanny Xu who had been sent by the Marquis’s Dowager to Huaibei to bring Gu Yanfei here.

Nanny Xu walked straight up to Gu Yanfei without the slightest intention of bowing. Her critical gaze swept over her from head to toe. When her eyes landed on the girl’s slightly disheveled hair and the mud on her skirt, she furrowed her brows, thinking to herself that this Second Miss was truly lacking in decorum—not even as good as the first or second-rank maids in their Marquis’s estate.

If not for that marriage alliance between the Marquis’s estate and the Fang family...

Nanny Xu composed herself and said sharply, "Second Miss, the Dowager let you stay here temporarily to learn the rules properly. Is this how you learn them?!"

"You are nearly at the age of capping. A young lady of a noble house should be at home reading the *Admonitions for Women* and the *Lessons for Women*, or practicing needlework. Look at you now—disheveled, leaving early and returning late, and just now... oh!"

"If this were to get out, it would only make people laugh at the Gu family for failing to teach their daughter properly."

"You have truly辜负 (failed to live up to) the Dowager’s painstaking efforts. It is a pity that the Dowager even wrote specifically to ask how your studies were going, hoping to bring you back to the capital sooner."

Nanny Xu shook her head, unable to hide her contempt. Her high-and-mighty posture and tone made it seem as if she were the mistress and Gu Yanfei the servant.

"Nanny Xu, you’ve misunderstood." Juanbi hurriedly explained the accident with the carriage falling off the cliff. When she mentioned the deaths of the coachman and the servant woman, her eyes turned red.

Nanny Xu’s brows furrowed even tighter, her expression becoming increasingly cold and rigid. She scolded Gu Yanfei again: "Second Miss, if you hadn't insisted on going out, it wouldn't have come to this!"

This statement effectively blamed the deaths of the coachman and the servant woman entirely on Gu Yanfei.

Gu Yanfei raised an eyebrow, her gaze lingering on Nanny Xu’s face.

In her past life, she had woken up from her coma the next morning. She had been running a high fever, physically weak, and felt no relief at having survived—only deep, paralyzing fear.

Back then, Nanny Xu had scolded her in exactly the same way, insisting over and over that she was the one who had killed Juanbi, the coachman, and the others.

She had believed it. Just as Nanny Xu had wished, she had taken all the blame upon herself... For many years afterward, she had lived in guilt and self-reproach, becoming increasingly insecure and always hesitant.

But the current her would no longer be so foolish.

She knew who was truly at fault, and she knew who truly deserved to pay the price. She would not condemn herself for the mistakes of others.

"Nanny Xu, how can you..."

Juanbi hurriedly tried to argue on Gu Yanfei’s behalf, but Gu Yanfei stopped her: "Juanbi, that’s enough."

Gu Yanfei met Nanny Xu’s eyes, her own gaze deep as an abyss.

Nanny Xu, believing she had the upper hand, curled her lips in triumph, a hint of mockery coloring her expression.

Did she really think she couldn't handle a little girl from the countryside?!

Nanny Xu brushed off her sleeves casually and turned to Juanbi: "Juanbi, the Dowager let you serve by the young lady’s side to properly advise her. And look at you—you encouraged the young lady to run off!"

"I shall punish you with thirty slaps to the mouth."

Nanny Xu let out a slow, cold laugh, intending to kill the chicken to scare the monkey.

"Juanbi, let’s go," Gu Yanfei said indifferently. Not wanting to waste any more breath on Nanny Xu, she turned and walked away.

*Utterly outrageous!!* Nanny Xu’s face turned as black as the bottom of a pot. She barked, "You are not allowed to leave!"

"I wonder, Nanny, how you think your frame compares to the door?" Gu Yanfei said as she walked forward, glancing at the broken door panel on the ground before flashing a brilliant smile, her intent to intimidate clear to all.

The surroundings went quiet. Old Li and the matrons were all stunned into silence.

"..." Nanny Xu felt as if she had been slapped in the face in public, and the rage in her chest surged upward.

She had been in the Marquis’s estate for decades; even the young masters and misses of the house gave her some face. To be humiliated like this by a country girl who couldn't even stand on the stage...

"Second Miss!" Nanny Xu’s voice was icy, her eyes piercing like knives. "If you continue to act out, don't even think about returning to the Marquis’s estate!"

Nanny Xu made no effort to hide the threat in her words, certain that the other party would cave.

Unexpectedly—

Gu Yanfei didn't show the slightest reaction. She shrugged nonchalantly: "Then I won't return."

The evening breeze lifted a few strands of dark hair by her cheeks, the ends brushing against the young girl’s clear, beautiful face, giving her an air of detachment and indifference.

Juanbi, obedient as ever, followed immediately.

Nanny Xu’s eyes flickered with shock and suspicion.

Over the past three months, she had guided her step by step, suppressed her step by step, and gradually, she had completely mastered this dull, cowardly country girl. How could she have changed into a completely different person after just one day out?!

As she brushed past Nanny Xu, Gu Yanfei dropped a light sentence

"You are shrouded in bad luck; you are about to have a bloody disaster."

"How dare you curse me?!" Nanny Xu instinctively raised her voice, her eyebrows arching in fury.

Gu Yanfei had nothing more to say; she flicked her sleeves and walked away.

"Stop right there!" Nanny Xu’s face tightened, her chest heaving violently, and she lunged forward to give chase.

However, she forgot about the broken door panel lying in her path. Her right foot caught on it, and her bloated body instantly lost its balance. She screamed as she fell forward.

It all happened so fast that no one around her could reach out to catch her. They could only watch helplessly as Nanny Xu fell flat on her face.

Her chin slammed hard against the door panel, filling her mouth with blood, and she screamed as she spat out a front tooth. The hairpin in her hair went askew, and her sparse, graying hair fell loose, making her look like a madwoman—utterly disheveled and pathetic.

One matron stared in shock and tugged at the sleeve of the matron next to her, looking as if she were about to kneel.

Just a moment ago, the Second Miss had said Nanny Xu would have a bloody disaster, and it had come true so quickly!

This, this, this... was this not too divine?!

"Nanny Xu, are you alright?"

After a moment of silence, the area erupted into a commotion.

Some rushed to help the fallen Nanny Xu, some ran off to fetch a doctor, and others shouted for the gatekeeper to fix the door...

Gu Yanfei, however, couldn't care less.

After returning to her room, she stayed inside alone.

The boudoir was simple and elegant. Against the wall stood a medium-sized lacquer bed draped with sky-blue curtains.

On the east side, against the wall, were a vanity and a black-lacquer gold-painted cabinet. By the east window sat a large, dark-red desk, facing the small pond outside.

Gu Yanfei sat at the desk by the window, her eyelids half-lowered. She focused her mind, observing her nose, her nose observing her mouth, and her mouth observing her heart, concentrating intently as she tried to sense the spiritual energy of heaven and earth around her.

(End of chapter)