Chapter 4: Escape

Qiutang's talk yesterday wasn't all crazy. Yuanfeng Courtyard was high up in the cold, and as night fell, the temperature plummeted and the wind howled, sounding like a ghost whimpering around the courtyard.

The two maids in Zuixianlou shared a room. One was nicknamed Caiwei, the other Luzhong. They cowered in fear at night, wrapped in thin quilts. Finally, at daybreak, they realized they were assigned to sweep the courtyard. Their skills were useless, and they were filled with resentment. To be selected for this path was to ascend the Cloud Ladder, but now they couldn't even glimpse the young master's clothes, let alone perform any of his exquisite tricks.

Caiwei wiped the dust from her fingers with an embroidered handkerchief, muttering, "Since the Third Young Master is a concubine's son, this Yuanfeng Courtyard is probably the most despicable courtyard in the Feng family."

The kite lowered its eyelashes and swept the dead leaves on the steps, only the rustling sound of the bamboo broom responded.

Yuanfeng Courtyard sat at nearly the highest point of the Feng Clan, enjoying the perfect combination of weather and location. At dawn, one could see mist enveloping the peaks, and at dusk, one could gaze upon the stars hanging over the vast expanse. Even the ever-dominant Haofeng Guards, hesitant to patrol here, felt as if they were encountering a thunderbolt. The crisp sound of horseshoes crushing the bluestone slabs always stopped a few feet away.

The copper bells on the eaves were suddenly struck by the mountain wind. Yun Yuan raised her eyes and looked in the direction of Yuanshanzhai - in such a situation, how could the third young master, who was born out of wedlock, be an ordinary person?

"Who was the one you got in exchange?" Lu Zhong asked.

"I heard it was that smelly peasant girl."

"It's her?" Lu Zhong snorted. "I discovered I had lost a pearl today, and I was wondering if she stole it last night. Now that I've run into her today, I think it's a good opportunity to ask her."

"People like this are always dishonest. I wonder where the benefits they give to Mrs. Lu come from."

Yun Yuan seemed oblivious, his gaze fixed on the mica stone screen beside the rockery pavilion. Turning past the screen, he entered the back garden, where a precipitous cliff loomed before him. Torrential water, shattered jade, tumbled from the clouds, winding its way down the lapis lazuli riverbed.

Yuzhu, barefoot at the edge of the Splashing Jade Pond, lowered a wooden cup into the whirlpool. The cup, following the ripples, made eight turns before being captured by the Far Wind Guard stationed at Eagle Beak Rock.

"It seems like a trick used by the maids to pass on a message," the captain muttered. His fingertips traced the cursive writing on the bottom of the cup, and when he flipped it open, he saw the four characters "菰米莼羹" (Wild Rice and Water Shield Soup)—clearly a nostalgia for home.

"Do you want to report this to the Third Young Master?"

"Let Ruyue keep a close eye on her first." He threw the wooden cup into the deep pool. "Mulan Pavilion will be making orchid soup soon, so we can't be too cautious."

The sun was blazing. When Yun Yuan pushed the door open and entered, Yuzhu was leisurely packing her rattan box. Her linen clothes were neatly folded, and the wooden combs in her dressing box were neatly arranged. She looked as if she was returning to her parents' home.

"The stream water is clear and melancholy, and my homesickness is deep. It's a pity that my sister is not here to drink with me."

Yun Yuan chuckled softly, "Sister, your strategy of using the wine cup to raise suspicion and then using trivial nostalgia to dispel it is truly brilliant. It's just that I was foolish and unprepared, so I missed this opportunity."

"What a pity." Yuzhu suddenly threw the silk handkerchief into the rattan box, "I'm afraid I can't spend the night chatting with my sister by candlelight tonight." She suddenly whispered: "Be careful--"

"What are you worried about?"

Yuzhu put a finger to her lips, and just then she heard the door creak open, and Ruyue's crimson gauze skirt swept across the threshold: "I need a smart person to help me." Her eyes locked with Yuzhu, "Come with me."

Yun Yuan watched the two women's crimson gauze skirts disappear into the darkness of the corridor, her heartstrings tense. She thought about it, but still followed Ruyue's instructions to clean the courtyard. When night fell, she turned off the lights and went to bed as usual.

So when the Yuanfeng Guards broke down the door in the middle of the night and the pine torches illuminated the curtains, Yun Yuan was no different from the other two. She just held on to the corner of the quilt tightly and let the Yuanfeng Guards rummage through her dressing table. Then she was driven into the cold night - walking barefoot on the frosted stone steps, this midnight with the biting north wind was even more terrifying than the night of the sea of ​​fire.

They were taken to Yuanshanzhai.

The surroundings were bright and dazzling, and a warm feeling washed over them. The large room was filled with scrolls of calligraphy and paintings, and the faint fragrance of bamboo, ink, and wood lingered. She took the opportunity to glance up at the man behind the lacquered desk in the distance. He was dressed in a loose white robe, his head bowed as he read a scroll, his face hidden in his lowered eyes, making it difficult to see clearly.

Along with her, Caiwei and Luzhong were also captured. Initially, they cried out for justice, but a rebuke from Yuanfengwei frightened them into silence. The three knelt, guarded by several guards, but no one questioned them.

But in just this moment, Yuanfengwei had already reported several pieces of news to that person one after another. They did not hide their intentions from these maids. After listening several times, Yun Yuan finally got the general idea.

The young master sitting there was none other than Feng Yanyuan, the third son of the Feng family, and his maid Ruyue had been poisoned while tasting his midnight snack, nearly dying. When the poison was traced to the cook who had prepared the snack, they found her lying in a pool of blood, having been slit her abdomen with a kitchen knife.

Yun Yuan frowned.

Yuanfeng Courtyard seems to recruit servants every month, but only one in ten actually makes it. And now, aside from these four new arrivals, all the others are long-standing servants. Yuzhu remains under surveillance by the Yuanfeng Guards, washing clothes and mending old clothes in the laundry room, so she has no chance to commit a crime. Therefore, the blame for tonight's incident naturally falls on these three.

The one who interrogated them was called Feng Jiu. His face was ashen and full of anger. His eyes looked as if he wanted to eat them alive. The slightest movement of his hand holding the sword at his waist made the people around him tremble, fearing that he was going to draw his sword and chop off their heads and execute them on the spot.

This situation, coupled with the anxious wait for so long, would have made it difficult for anyone to calm down. Caiwei and Luzhong huddled together, each testifying against the other, feeling it wasn't enough. They pointed at Yunyuan, claiming she had no witnesses. They also said Qiutang had contracted a serious illness upon entering Yuanfeng Court, suggesting they investigate. Perhaps she had discovered something fishy about Yunyuan and was poisoned. Furthermore, Yuzhu didn't seem to be on good terms with her and had been avoiding her for some reason. There had to be something fishy about this Yunyuan.

"What do you have to say?" Feng Jiu finally shouted at Yun Yuan, who had been silent all this time.

Yun Yuan lowered her eyes, her voice soft but every word clear: "I have always followed the rules, waking up and going to bed at night. The guards in the courtyard can testify to this. Have I ever overstepped the bounds? Yuzhu has gone and never returned. How can I have changed that?" She raised her head slightly, her gaze sweeping in Feng Yanyuan's direction, then quickly lowered it again. "The young master will personally interrogate me late at night. He will seek the truth and will not judge right or wrong based on the number of people present. I have been alone and have no evidence, so I have nothing to say in my defense. But I ask you, Lord Wei—where is the evidence?"

Caiwei was about to retort, but Luzhong grabbed her sleeve. She shook her head, her eyes flicking to Yunyuan—she hadn't expected this usually mild-mannered maid to harbor such cunning. She didn't defend herself, but instead drew fire on the flaws in the investigation, using the young master's kindness as a mirror. Speaking too much would only give her something to criticize; it would be better to wait and see.

"You..." Feng Jiu's throat choked, his face turning from pale to dark red. He subconsciously tightened his grip on the hilt of his sword, yet he forced himself not to pull it out. After a long pause, he blurted out, "You're talking so much nonsense, and you still say you have nothing to say?!"

He didn't want to resort to such bluffing, trying to sift through the chaotic nonsense. He also wanted to present evidence to silence them and force them to confess, but there was no evidence at all. The poison was in the supper, the knife was on the cook. Not a single guard or maid saw anything suspicious, not even a bird flitting about. Sweeping away all the clues, this was a truly clean operation.

Feng Yanyuan glanced at Yun Yuan in the distance and put down the scroll in his hand. As he stood up, the sleeve of his wide robe slipped down a little, revealing a very faint old scar on his wrist, shaped like a crescent moon, which disappeared in a flash amidst the plain white fabric.

Yun Yuan lowered her head, her gaze fixed on the cracks in the blue bricks, as if they held a life-saving answer. The hem of the plain white gown swung slowly with the approaching figure's steps, its silver-woven square pattern flickering in the candlelight before finally stopping before her—close enough to make out every subtle cloud pattern embroidered into the fabric.

The air was so stagnant that it was suffocating.

She could feel that gaze scrutinizing her from top to bottom, like a thin blade gliding across her skin, slicing through her disguise inch by inch. The candlelight crackled in the dead silence, each sound like thunder in her ears. She pressed her fingertips hard into her palm, the subtle pain of her nails digging into her flesh spreading through her bloodstream, the only thing that could suppress the panic in her chest.

"That makes sense." He finally spoke, his voice cold and low. "But the cook is still treating her tonight. When she wakes up tomorrow, there will be witnesses, and it won't be too late to re-examine her." Feng Yanyuan fluttered his sleeves, "Bring them back."

The guard led the people into the dark night.

Feng Yanyuan stood at the porch of Yuanshanzhai, looking at the moonlight in the courtyard with a frown.

"Have the backgrounds of these four people been verified?"

Feng Jiu presented the petition, saying, "Yuzhu, Luzhong, and Caiwei's relatives are all in Donghai County. We've already sent painters to describe their appearances and consulted with the surrounding neighbors. Yunyuan, however, only possesses the document of her status as a prostitute in Baihua Tower. According to Haofeng Guard regulations, she shouldn't have been selected. It's likely that something went wrong with the originally assigned maid, so she was temporarily replaced." He thought for a moment, then added, "At this moment, the Haofeng Guard... probably hasn't noticed this yet."

Feng Yanyuan looked at the portraits of the four men, then glanced at a letter from home on the desk. After a moment's thought, he said, "Send a fast horse to Jingzhou and ask the knights of Jiangling County to identify the features of these four men."

The linen-paper windowpane reflected the silhouette of the guards on duty. Yun Yuan, curled up on the hard couch, thought to herself: So, the "Yuzhu Qushui Liushang" (water flowing wine) was actually a ruse to escape. But she wondered if the cook would actually wake up, or if the Third Young Master was just bluffing? If the cook woke, would she really be able to identify the murderer? In the darkness, all sorts of possibilities entangled themselves like cold spiderwebs. Her head split as she watched the inky color outside the window fade to gray, until the morning light seeped through the window lattice.

The door suddenly burst open, and a group of black-clad, masked swordsmen rushed in. The gleaming blades blinded her. Then she heard a woman's scream piercing her ears. Suddenly, her palms felt warm and sticky. She looked closely and saw blood! She wanted to scream, but she felt a cotton wool stuck in her throat, and she couldn't shout. Her breath gradually stagnated... Yun Yuan took a deep breath, sat up in shock, grabbed the quilt, and looked around in panic. There were no masked swordsmen, only the cold light of a dying candle and the silence of the empty window. It turned out that she had fallen asleep at dawn.

But it wasn't all a dream.

The woman's sobs, mixed with the guards' scolding, could be heard clearly. She approached the door and pushed gently, only to find it unlocked and the guards on duty gone. She peeked through the crack in the door and saw several Yuanfeng guards escorting Caiwei and Luzhong away.

Could it be that the cook woke up and pointed them out?

Her brow furrowed slightly. Although Caiwei and Luzhong had slandered her last night, they were relieved when Feng Yanyuan revealed that the cook was still alive and could be identified. This reaction clearly showed that they were hoping that the person would wake up and clear their names.

As she was thinking, she suddenly heard the sound of the door hinge and Yuzhu walked in.

"Sister, why are you looking at me like this? Don't you recognize me after just one day?" As he said this, he bolted the door.

Yun Yuan said coldly, "Sister, your escape plan is truly brilliant. The cicada's wings are intact, and the old shell is gone. Could it be that this cicada has become a spirit?"

Yuzhu observed her wrinkled, white fingers in the windowlight. She could still smell the scent of soap nuts. She feigned suspicion and asked, "Could the cicada you're talking about be referring to me? Yesterday, I was busy washing and mending clothes until the gong sounded. This morning, when the Yuanfeng Guards came to investigate, even they couldn't tell me what Ruyue had sent her on. Perhaps they saw me standing in the laundry room, getting in the way, and sent me back. We're all being sent on someone's behalf, so how could I be a spirit?"

"So, Ruyue's poison and the cook's injury had nothing to do with me, sister. It's just that your words 'be careful' yesterday afternoon really made me miss you." Yun Yuan saw that she was pretending, so she deliberately agreed, "Luckily, those two are awake, otherwise I don't know how I can clear my suspicion."

Yuzhu sneered, "Ruyue is awake, but who could have imagined the poison was off by a factor of three? The Third Young Master even used a rare, hard-to-find, Jade Blood Resurrection Pill. But the cook is in such a plight! Even the same knife she's held for half her life could cost her her life."

"The cook didn't wake up, so why..."

"Why were Lu Zhong and Cai Wei convicted?" Yu Zhu said, "Because the Yuan Feng Guard on duty dug an East Sea Pearl out of the cook's mouth."

"Donghai Pearl?"

Yuzhu's fingertips brushed against the scattered black hair at Yunyuan's temples. "It's the pearl hairpin you often see in brothels!" Suddenly, she lifted the trembling hairpin with bright pearls on the table in her palm. "It just so happened that Luzhong's lone pearl rolled into the mouth of a dead person." The pearl shone blood-red in the flickering candlelight. "Caiwei is even more wronged. I guess they testified against each other yesterday?" Her white hands pinned the hairpin back to Yunyuan's temples. "Now it's become irrefutable evidence of conspiracy."

The diamond-shaped mirror reflected the dimples on Yuzhu's lips. "This Yuanfeng Courtyard is lonely and the nights are long," she suddenly leaned close to Yunyuan's ear, her breath as sweet as orchid, "We are the only two sisters left. You must take care of me in the future!"