Volume One, Chapter 13: Master, Your Servant Has Encountered a Villain

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Liu Wuyi hurried back to the private room. The next moment, Chun Tao and Chun Hua pushed the door open and entered. They placed the items on the desk and asked her to take a look.

With such a tight gap in time, Liu Wuyi couldn’t help but feel a bit flustered. She glanced over hastily and said it was fine.

Chun Hua studied her for a moment before speaking: “Mistress, why is your makeup smudged?”

Oh no! The crying from the meeting with her brother had left a flaw.

At this critical moment, Liu Wuyi calmed herself down. She wasn’t sure if it was due to the subconscious survival instinct formed from facing multiple threats from Dantai Kanan.

Feigning surprise, she turned to look at her reflection in the mirror. Good, her eyes weren’t red, and the tear stains weren’t obvious; only some of the powder on her face had worn off, probably rubbed away during wiping.

“How could this happen?” Liu Wuyi frowned, turning her face left and right to examine it. “My makeup never fades like this. Could it be that the pearl powder has gone bad?”

Chun Tao frowned as well: “Yeah, how strange.”

Chun Hua suggested a remedy: “Why not ask Shopkeeper He for a new box of pearl powder to fix your makeup?”

Liu Wuyi, fearing Shopkeeper He might mention seeing her leaving, waved her hand disinterestedly: “No need. It’s not suitable to go out today. The makeup box just delivered has spare pearl powder; let’s just use that and then head home.”

After touching up her makeup, Liu Wuyi left the Jade Pavilion without greeting Shopkeeper He and, holding Chun Tao’s hand, prepared to board the carriage.

“Capture that runaway slave for me,” came a command from the side, filled with a teasing tone like a cat playing with a mouse.

Runaway slave? Young master? The Young Master of the Pingyang Marquis House?

Liu Wuyi turned her head and met a pair of eyes filled with both greed and lust, dazzling yet lecherous. The young nobleman, dressed in white robes and jade belt, was tall and slender. Despite his sallow complexion and dark circles under his eyes, he could still be called handsome.

But those eyes, constantly roaming over women, ruined his otherwise delicate appearance completely. One could tell he had long indulged in wine, women, wealth, and power. No matter how polished the exterior, the wild nature inside seeped through.

The woman clinging coquettishly to him could only be Xue Shuyao. Her manner was sultry and worldly, no trace of the serene grace typical of a scholarly family.

Xue Shuyao was the legitimate daughter of Liu Wuyi’s maternal uncle’s family. Her cousin used to be gentle, refined, and poised—an ideal daughter that Liu Wuyi’s mother often praised and wished her to emulate.

The four servants of the Pingyang Marquis House who tried to snatch Liu Wuyi away were stopped by the guards. After a round of punches and kicks, they were thrown aside.

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The commotion attracted a crowd of onlookers, who occasionally whispered and pointed.

“The guards are so skilled, they took down those men in just a few moves. Looks like the Young Master of Pingyang Marquis won’t be able to snatch her away so easily this time,” an aunt whispered to those around her.

It was clear that the Pingyang Marquis Young Master’s public abductions were not new.

“Who are you to slander the lady of the Dantai household?” Chun Hua shouted, shielding Liu Wuyi behind her.

Chun Tao was even more furious: “In Shengjing City, the imperial capital, how dare you forcibly abduct a common woman?”

“Who you say she is doesn’t matter. To me, she’s just a courtesan bought from the brothel,” the Pingyang Marquis Young Master arrogantly declared.

Having barely escaped death thanks to Dantai Supervisor’s intervention, she dared to act like the mistress in front of him?

Murmurs arose from the crowd. No one expected the clash to involve such powerful families as the Dantai and Pingyang Marquis Houses. The crowd's interest peaked.

Xue Shuyao leaned against the Young Master’s chest. Initially nervous about the sudden appearance of the maid and guards, she relaxed when she saw no family crest on their carriage and heard them just call her “lady of the Dantai household” instead of “Dantai Supervisor’s lady.”

“Do you really think a few of you can stop the Pingyang Marquis Young Master? Be wise and hand over the woman, spare yourselves the pain,” the Young Master said.

Pampered by his beauty, he cast a look of approval at Xue Shuyao: “The lady speaks rightly.”

Xue Shuyao glanced back with a smile that sent the Young Master’s heart fluttering. He leisurely tidied the stray hairs at his temple, but when his eyes fell on Liu Wuyi surrounded by the guards, a venomous resentment showed clearly.

All those past grudges and hatreds were about to come to an end today.

The Pingyang Marquis Young Master waved his hand: “Go on, bring that runaway beauty to me carefully.”

“Oh dear, this is such a calamity,” the crowd murmured.

Seeing another tragedy about to unfold, the townsfolk covered their eyes in distress.

“Don’t come any closer!” Chun Tao had never seen such a scene before and panicked, still shielding Liu Wuyi.

Unexpectedly, the opponent’s identity was so troublesome. Their numbers outmatched theirs; a direct confrontation risked harm to their mistress, something they could not afford to explain to the Supervisor.

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Chun Hua frowned but still tried to reason: “Young Master, we do not know who this runaway slave is. Here stands only the lady of the Dantai household.”

“Even if the Pingyang Marquis himself were here, he wouldn’t want to offend Lord Dantai,” she added.

Liu Wuyi, hidden behind the crowd, stared straight at Xue Shuyao, whom she hadn’t seen for six years. Those apricot eyes, once as clear as spring water, were now encased in ice.

Since entering the brothel, Xue Shuyao’s peach blossom eyes—reminiscent of their mother’s—had only held hatred when looking at her. The favoritism and humiliation in the brothel had bred ambition and greed in her.

She had seduced the Pingyang Marquis Young Master and entered his household. The luxurious splendor fed her greed. To bloom under the sun without fading, she became a procurer, gathering beauties for the Young Master.

Countless women came and went in the pleasure houses, but the most prestigious and talented were those from the brothel. Beautiful girls who entered often ended up wrapped in tattered mats on the pauper’s burial ground. Far away in the northwest, the Pingyang Marquis, known for his military achievements, had become the protector of all these vile deeds.

Xue Shuyao and the Pingyang Marquis Young Master sank deeper into sin together. She had become a flower of evil blossoming on a pile of corpses—seductive in appearance, rotten at the core, never to resemble her former self.

The Young Master paid no heed to reason, his mind ensnared by Xue Shuyao. His hands roamed unrestrained at her waist as he said, “Don’t worry, no matter how beautiful other women are, none can surpass you in my heart.”

Xue Shuyao raised her eyes to scold him, but he ignored it, indulging in playful banter with his beauty.

The women in the crowd turned away, embarrassed and angry. A scholar in loose robes raised his sleeve to cover his face, muttering repeatedly: “Immoral, immoral...”

More than a dozen servants surged forward. The guards drew their swords, standing ready.

Chun Hua, seeing the stalemate, wanted to urge Liu Wuyi onto the carriage first, with the guards blocking their foes so the coachman could drive them away. But the crowd was already packed with curious onlookers, making her anxious.

Liu Wuyi pulled her aside and whispered: “Chun Hua, the Jinyiwei patrol the East and West markets daily. Go find them.”

“But Mistress, you’re still here. I’m worried,” Chun Hua hesitated.

Liu Wuyi said firmly: “Chun Hua, you’re always calm and collected. I trust you can bring help to save me.”

Tears welled up in Chun Hua’s eyes. She said no more, squeezed through the crowd, and left.