Chapter 16: Stepping Forward

Qi Yue felt none of those emotions. She had no idea what A-Ru had just done; in fact, knowing that "her" husband hadn't sent word or hadn't picked up the laundry didn't affect her at all.

At that moment, she was in her room, performing simulations in the air with her scalpel and other surgical instruments. She heard A-Hao, who was practicing her skills in the kitchen, call out to A-Ru, followed by the rustle of a curtain—presumably A-Ru entering her room. Just then, the courtyard gate was slammed open, and a young girl shouted for A-Ru.

"Sister A-Ru, the peddler sent a message for you! Your brother is dying in the street!" the girl shouted in a coarse voice.

A-Hao, who had been enthusiastically preparing to practice her skills in the kitchen, sat straight down on the floor. Once she regained her senses, she saw A-Ru running out in tears. Qi Yue was also startled; the word "dying" triggered her professional instincts. She grabbed her medical kit and followed.

A-Ru had already vanished along with the young girl.

"Go quickly and see what happened!" Qi Yue hurriedly called out to A-Hao, who was leaning against the door.

A-Hao responded and bolted out like a gust of wind.

Qi Yue waited anxiously. Before long, A-Ru came running back in tears, and the moment she entered, she knelt before Qi Yue.

"Young Mistress, I beg you, let me go back and see him," she sobbed, bowing her head.

"Of course you must go," Qi Yue said, hurrying over to pull her up.

A-Hao also ran back, panting heavily.

"...He was working as a laborer on the street, competing for jobs, and someone slashed him with a knife..." she described the specific details she had heard from the peddler.

"Then hurry home," Qi Yue said. "Why did you come back?"

"I couldn't find Mother Su. I beg the Young Mistress to request a pass from Mother Su..." A-Ru said while kowtowing.

*So, it's a leave of absence slip,* Qi Yue thought, acknowledging it with an "oh."

"Fine, no problem," she nodded, then looked at A-Hao. "I..."

The Young Mistress had amnesia and naturally didn't remember these matters; A-Hao understood immediately.

"I will take the Young Mistress's pass to find Mother Su," she said.

"Go, go quickly," Qi Yue urged, waving her off.

She watched as A-Hao took the pass and pulled A-Ru away, both of them running like the wind.

Qi Yue waited for a moment until a young girl ran up to her.

"Young Mistress..." the girl called out timidly, peeking in from outside the door.

Since Qi Yue was in the courtyard, she looked at her immediately.

The girl was about eleven or twelve years old, dressed similarly to the girl who had fought over the lotus flowers that day, though she was thinner and more frail. Seeing Qi Yue look her way, she lowered her head as if startled.

"A-Hao and Sister A-Ru are crying over there. They can't find Mother Su..." she whispered, then turned and ran away, seemingly afraid of being seen.

The child had come out of kindness to deliver the news. Upon hearing this, Qi Yue immediately stepped out of the door, only to realize she had no idea where she was going.

"Where are they?" she called out. "I don't know the way!"

Fortunately, the young girl hadn't run far; she stopped and beckoned to her, signaling for her to follow.

Qi Yue hurried to keep up, unable to spare a moment to admire the scenery of this ancient Marquis estate. They walked along the path for a while, with the young girl running ahead and only occasionally looking back to see if Qi Yue was following, as if afraid of being spotted. After passing through two sets of gates, they arrived at a courtyard. From a distance, A-Ru's crying could be heard. The young girl pointed in a certain direction and then turned and ran off.

"I beg you, Sister-in-law, please tell Mother Su. This is the Young Mistress's pass, and the Young Mistress has permitted it..." A-Hao reached out, clutching a woman's sleeve in plea.

A-Hao continued to kowtow incessantly, her forehead already stained with blood.

Four or five women stood at the courtyard entrance, looking indifferent. Two or three were cracking melon seeds, while the other two were preventing them from doing so.

"...You lot, cleaning and sweeping all day long, yet you're so filthy that you leave seed shells everywhere you go..." one woman scolded with a laugh.

"...Do you know what kind of melon seeds these are?" the three women laughed. "I just went to the Eldest Madam's room, and because I answered her well, Miss A-Luan grabbed these for me. These are the kind of seeds only found in the Imperial Palace in the capital..."

"Then you'd better tell people: don't sweep up the shells, you can still chew on them..."

Everyone burst into laughter, drowning out A-Ru's crying.

"Sister-in-law..." A-Hao cried out in desperation. "Please, tell Mother Su... Sister A-Ru has no other family left..."

"Look at how you speak." Finally, one woman turned her face to look at her properly, her mouth curling into a half-smile. "You are, after all, of a second-class status. How can you say something so ridiculous? What do you mean 'family'? Miss A-Ru entered this house with a life-bond contract; what family does she have? This estate is her home. Where would she have outside family? If she wanted family so badly, why did she bother taking those few taels of silver?"

"Heaven, Earth, Sovereign, Parents, and Teachers—even if one sells oneself for a few taels of silver, the debt of birth and blood cannot be erased. Are you suggesting that one can simply use money to wipe away the Sovereign, the Parents, and the Teachers?"

A voice suddenly cut in.

The words were quite literary, and since the old woman was uneducated, she didn't understand the meaning at first. However, she understood that the words were questioning her—questioning her for taking the side of these two girls. To dare take their side was to be blind and looking for trouble!

"Can you speak human language? If you can't, then..." the old woman spat, her face contorted with disdain, as she looked around to see who the "blind" person was.

"A-Hao," Qi Yue said.

A-Hao happened to be holding the woman's sleeve; hearing the command, she swung her hand and slapped the woman.

Qi Yue had said that day that if there was a chance to make a profit, one should take it and worry about the consequences later. A-Hao had taken those words to heart; hearing the call, she had struck without hesitation.

The crisp sound of the slap caused the laughing scene to fall silent instantly.

"How dare you speak to the Young Mistress like that!" A-Hao shouted, then ran back to Qi Yue's side after a few steps.

Qi Yue couldn't help but wipe away a cold sweat. She looked at A-Hao, not quite knowing what to say. It wasn't really her intention for A-Hao to hit someone, though she also didn't much like the woman's attitude...

"Yo... Young Mistress." Finally, an old woman recognized the newcomer. She rubbed her eyes, looking uncertain, and called out tentatively.

The woman who had been slapped was stunned.

"You little brat, how dare you hit me..." She was about to jump up and scream, but halfway through, she heard the title and her voice cut off abruptly.

Everyone stared blankly at the woman standing before them.

It had been three years; everyone's memories had grown fuzzy. It seemed like her, yet it didn't quite seem like her...

"What did you just say to me? That I don't speak human language?" Qi Yue asked the woman.

"Young Mistress, Young Mistress, this old servant did not know it was you..." The woman apologized hurriedly. After the initial shock, a look of defiance surfaced on her face as she clutched her cheek. "This old servant was only speaking to these two girls. I didn't say anything wrong. Since they sold their life-bonds, how can they just demand to visit relatives..."

"I don't think it's that I don't speak human language, but rather that you cannot understand it," Qi Yue smiled, looking at the woman. "Did I ask you about that?"

The woman was stunned by the rebuke.

"Then... then what did the Young Mistress want to ask?" she stammered.

"You just said I don't speak human language?" Qi Yue asked.

*What on earth is going on?* The women were caught between laughter and tears. After "dying" once, she certainly had the courage to speak, but she was still as useless as ever, saying all sorts of nonsense.

"This old servant did not know it was you, Young Mistress..." The woman was also getting annoyed. In front of so many people, she was being shamed by this "dead" Young Mistress...

"Just answer yes or no. Why all the nonsense?" Qi Yue interrupted her.

An old woman beside her tugged at her sleeve.

"It was this old servant who said you don't speak human language," the woman said through gritted teeth, bowing her head.

"There we go," Qi Yue said, waving her hand, her voice softening. "Since I am speaking human language, then you must understand, right? Even if this girl has sold her life-bond, the debt of her upbringing and the bond of siblings cannot be erased. Now that her brother is in trouble, if she does not visit him as an elder sister, that would be the heart of a beast."

The women looked at Qi Yue with strange expressions.

*Is the Young Mistress insulting us? Is she?*

"What is the matter?" a voice called out from the courtyard. Immediately after, the sound of footsteps and rustling clothes followed as a woman walked out.

The woman was around forty years old, wearing a blue-purple *beizi*. Her face was rounded and fair, with finely drawn eyebrows and a light touch of powder. As she walked over, she raised a hand to smooth her hair, revealing two thin gold bracelets on her wrist and an emerald ring on her finger.

As she spoke and stepped through the door, her gaze fell upon Qi Yue, and she froze.

"Young Mistress!" She quickened her pace, her face filled with pleasant surprise. "Why have you come here? If there was something to say, you could have sent a maid; why did you come out yourself? Can your body handle this? Where are the maids? Are they being lazy?"

She spoke in one continuous breath, her expression shifting from surprise to joy, to confusion, to sternness, in a seamless flow that felt entirely natural and devoid of any affectation or hypocrisy.

Qi Yue found herself smiling back, feeling a sense of warmth in her heart.

Could this be the one who managed all the miscellaneous affairs, the primary attendant to the Marquis's wife, Lady Xie—the person with a status similar to the Grand Eunuch before the Emperor—the head of the inner courtyard of the Dingxi Marquis Estate, Mother Su?

"Mother Su!" A-Hao called out.

"Mother Su, it's like this, A-Hao..." Qi Yue interjected with a smile, reaching out toward A-Hao. "Give me the pass."

A-Hao hurriedly handed it over.

"What does the Madam require?" Mother Su asked urgently.

"This girl, A-Ru, has a brother at home. Someone just brought word that something has happened and it doesn't look good. She wants to go back and see him..." Qi Yue said with a smile, handing over the pass.

Mother Su immediately understood the situation.

"Take the pass and escort the lady out. Secure some money and hire a good doctor," she said, turning around.

The two maids following behind immediately responded. One unhooked a pass from the heavy ring of various passes hanging from her waist, while the other went to pull up A-Ru, who was kneeling and crying.

"Sister, let's go quickly," they said, their faces filled with anxiety as if it were their own urgent matter.

A-Ru kowtowed to Qi Yue, wiped her tears, and stumbled away.

Qi Yue looked at Mother Su and smiled.

"This pass has been kept for too long; it has gathered dust and grown old..." She looked at the pass in her hand—made of sandalwood, exquisitely carved, with her name upon it, glowing softly in the sunlight. "I was afraid that if the two girls brought it out, people wouldn't recognize it. Therefore, it was better that I came in person."