Chapter 2~~Pa.s.serby~~
The stout man"s(1) "Spare me." had not yet been uttered. Instead, he only felt a cold neck and warm, sticky fluid gush out. He widened his eyes in horror, raised his hand to his neck and fell to the ground.
Zhuo QingYan looked at the corpse indifferently and wiped her dagger clean on the stout man"s body. She then went to the two pa.s.sed out men"s bodies, and used her dagger to cut off two large pieces of cotton cloth from their clothes. After that, she wrapped them over her bare feet. Zhuo QingYan now had cotton shoes.
She then opened the wooden door and looked outside. After making sure that no one else was there, she whispered softly, " MoYu?"
"Young Miss….."
The little girl shakily came out, and looked on in horror at the motionless corpse on the ground. She then turned to Zhuo QingYan with a confused look.
Was the young lady in front of her still her family"s foolish young lady? Just now, she had clearly seen her Miss easily knock out the two retainers(2) and even kill butler Tong. Her movements had been like floating clouds and flowing water, with not even the smallest sign of past foolishness.
Is this really Miss?
"Let"s go!"
Zhuo QingYan had noticed MoYu"s look of uncertainty, but at that moment she did not have time to explain, let alone a way to explain it.
In the yard, Zhuo QingYan abruptly stopped and knitted her brow. "Where do we go??"
"Miss, should we go back to our Méiyuàn?(3)"
MoYu looked at Zhuo QingYan gingerly, trying to find the answer on her face.
When she woke up, she had inexplicably come to this unfamiliar place, where she was still in danger. In addition, with the heavy snow blowing everywhere, and the piercing wind, Zhuo QingYan felt that they should first find a warm place and then think about what to do next.
MoYu saw Zhuo QingYan nod and then pointed to the left side of the road. "Miss, this way…"
They had not gotten far, when behind them came footsteps and shouts. Zhuo QingYan couldn"t help being stunned. How were they discovered so quick?? The two men couldn"t have woken up so soon, right? Is there someone else here? She immediately started to look around. She then dragged MoYu towards her and ran quickly.
When she turned a corner, before she could come to a stop, she was forcefully pulled into a broken-down cottage by a large, strong hand. Zhou QingYan turned and lifted up her dagger and struck behind her. The hand skillfully blocked and then covered her mouth. At the same time, he whispered in her ear, "If you don"t want to die, be quiet!".
Zhuo QingYan went stiff. Meanwhile, they heard a group of people holding torches and shouting run past the house. Even though she was quiet, the big hand still covered her mouth. She immediately elbowed behind herself, but the man stepped back and easily blocked with his other hand. He let go of her mouth and patted her shoulder once. They immediately separated from one another and stood face-to-face. He was was a tall man dressed in black with a black scarf that hid his face. But his eyes could still be seen even in the dark broken-down cottage where they flashed like twinkling stars.
"Who are you?, Zhuo QingYan"s hoa.r.s.e voice asked.
"A pa.s.serby." The man was obviously disguising his voice and did not want other people to identify it.
"Not many pa.s.serby go through other people"s homes!", Zhuo QingYan said in a cold voice as she forced herself to bear the pain.
"Not many young ladies are hunted down in their own homes!", a trace of scorn flashed through his eyes.
"Thanks a lot for saving me.", Zhuo QingYan replied with a punch.
"Easy!", the man said.
Since she didn"t seem to be grateful, then they need not talk anymore. He went to MoYu and noticed that the little girl stood motionless with a slightly open mouth, staring with large eyes at the doorway.
"What"s wrong with her??", Zhuo QingYan frowned. The man waved his hand in front of MoYu"s —feeble body. Just as she was about to cry out, Zhuo QingYan covered her mouth and made an "eh" sound.——
"Don"t shout! We are out of danger. Let"s go. ", Zhuo QingYan whispered. She then pulled MoYu"s hand and went outside.
"On the way back, there should be many people. It would be best to take a detour.", the man whispered from behind them.
"I know that!", Zhuo QingYan"s head didn"t turn as she hurriedly pulled MoYu across the courtyard. She then circled back towards the original path, but she really didn"t know where to go. Zhuo QingYan decided to stop in place and look around while MoYu had already slowed down. She then pulled MoYu to the side of the road, but before they had run a few steps, Zhuo QingYan"s head suddenly ached like a pincushion. She then mumbled, "First we need to find a place to hide…".
MoYu took her to a log-cabin in the center of a small courtyard. Zhuo QingYan squatted on the ground and grasped her head in pain. Her face was white as a sheet of paper and her face broke out into a cold sweat. Seeing this, MoYu anxiously rubbed rubbed Zhuo QingYan"s hands. MoYu really didn"t know what to do. Along with the headache, Zhuo QingYan felt a torrent of memories and information flood in. There was so much, that she couldn"t adapt at all.
After half a stick of incense time, the pain had eased up quite a bit. Zhuo QingYan dropped down to the ground and leaned on a stack of wood while gasping for air.
MoYu immediately came over to squat in front of her and helped wipe the sweat from Zhuo QingYan"s forehead with her dirty cuffs. Deeply concerned, MoYu said, "Miss… I-It"s ok…". Zhuo QingYan once again breathed out heavily.
"Miss… It"s ok… Just..Just fine.", MoYu once again held onto Zhuo QingYan and burst into tears. Zhuo QingYan grinned and stretched out her hand to pat MoYu"s back. "Don"t cry. Let"s go back first. Is there anyone else in the Courtyard(Meiyuan)?"
"No… Third Miss killed both the children and MoYan.", MoYu looked at her with a tear stained face.
"Then you…" Zhuo QingYan looked at here back.
"This maid-servant always hides in the cellar. When it"s dark, I go to the kitchen and steal you food. I overheard Tong Dazhu(4) say that he would kill you. I ran back to save you…". MoYu resisted the urge to cry and her face flushed.
"They don"t have a chance. Go! Let"s go back!" Zhuo QingYan"s eyes were once again cold. She raised her lips in a cold smile. Pushing the door open once again, they hadn"t yet taken even two steps, before hearing two people from a distance, come closer. She promptly tugged MoYu and hid behind the wall again. "Isn"t it just a stupid young miss, born of a concubine who wandered off? Is it worth it for Third Young Miss to get so many people involved? Searching in the middle of the night… what the heck can be found? ", one of them complained.
"He is the boss. Give up and do the work. But seriously, this Fourth Miss had better be dead. Otherwise, it"d be a crime in the making. It looks like we shouldn"t wait for the Second Young Master to return…" Another person said.
"Enough. Let"s go. In this cold weather, if you don"t get killed, you"ll freeze to death. ", the previous man urged, and they jogged away.
Zhuo QingYan"s eyes were once again cold. She wordlessly pulled MoYu and leaped out of the courtyard. At that moment, on an old tree in the small courtyard, stood a dark shadow. Following the direction in which they left with his eyes, he couldn"t help but croon, "it seems that it was worthwhile for Benw.a.n.g to take the risk of coming here. Little girl, we will meet again some day. "
The shadow"s body then moved like a black Eagle and disappeared into the snowy darkness.
I"ve been sick for the last few days, but I"ve tried to go as fast as I could while doing this. Please let me know if there are any mistakes. I promise I won"t be mad. I had some help with the second to the last paragraph from some nice discord people. <3on another="" note,="" we"ve="" finally="" met="" the="" male="" lead.="" so="" far,="" what="" do="" you="" all="" think="" of="" him.="" i"m="" mad="" that="" he="" didn"t="" give="" her="" a="" coat="" or="" anything.="" it"s="" winter.="" and="" at="" night.="" she="" has="" also="" been="" beat="" up="" heavily.="" where"s="" the="" empathy?="" but="" his="" name="" says="" it="" all="" i="" guess.="" also="" there="" was="" a="" lot="" of="" hiding.="" wow.="" basically="" stayed="" in="" the="" same="" place="" haha.="" so="" far="" i"m="" pretty="" intrigued.="" i="" want="" to="" update="" twice="" a="" week.="" if="" it="" gets="" really="" good,="" i="" may="" do="" a="" third="">
(1) From now on, I won"t be using the word fat to describe them. Instead, I"ll use a synonym
(2)The two men previously mentioned are the retainers.
(3)I decided to keep it as “梅苑”/MéiYuàn, which means plum garden.
(4)Tong Dazhu is the plump man who she killed. I believe his name is a pun on his body shape. “佟大柱”= Tong Dazhu= Tong large pillar. I could and am most likely wrong though. May be looking into it too much.