"Sister Yue'er." Xiao Ba was about to shout when Chu Qiao covered his mouth.
The girl's eyes were bright. She looked around and then took out the brocade bag from her bosom and handed it to Xiao Ba. She lowered her voice and said, "Xiao Ba, we don't have much time, so let's make it short. Before dinner tomorrow, if I haven't come to find you, you will escape from the back door of the horse feed yard in the back mountain. I will find a way to send the guards there away tomorrow, and there will be an hour before dinner when no one will guard it. Here are some gold coins for travel expenses, as well as forged documents for leaving the city and a walking grass mark. Take them with you, don't wait for me, and leave the city directly."
"Sister Yue'er?" The child immediately grabbed Chu Qiao's hand eagerly and said, "What are you going to do? Are you going to seek revenge? Xiao Ba can also help you. I don't want to go alone."
"Listen." Chu Qiao reached out and stroked the child's head, and said in a deep voice, "There are only two of us left in the Jing family now. I am the elder sister, and you must listen to me. As long as there are still people, the Jing family will not perish. If something happens to me, you can still avenge me."
"Sister Yue'er..."
"Xiao Ba, listen to me. Once you leave the city, just head east. When you reach Sanyi City on the border of Xia and Tang, wait for me for three days. If I don't arrive, leave on your own. Don't worry, this is just a precaution. Once I get away, I will definitely catch up with you."
The child's eyes were red, and the corners of his mouth were tightly pursed. He suddenly stretched out his hand, hugged Chu Qiao's waist tightly, and said with a sob: "Sister Yue'er is the most capable, and nothing will happen to her."
Chu Qiao felt a pang in her heart. She hugged the child's shoulders and smiled bitterly, "Don't worry. After this, we will leave this place. From now on, no one will be able to bully us anymore."
Outside the window, the moon is cold and hook-like, the west wind is sweeping the snow, and the scene is bleak.
The next day, Chu Qiao woke up early as usual and went to Zhuge Yue's room to serve him, but was told that the Fourth Young Master had left early in the morning and was no longer at home.
Chu Qiao secretly said that God was helping her, and turned around and walked towards the main courtyard. Unexpectedly, just as he reached Lu Shu's room in front of the pavilion, he was stopped by Zhuge Yue's personal bodyguard Yue Qi. The young guard, who was less than fifteen years old, looked at Chu Qiao with a cold face and said word by word: "The young master has ordered that Miss Xing'er is not allowed to leave the gate of Qingshan Courtyard."
Chu Qiao was stunned, not knowing what Zhuge Yue was doing. She looked up and smiled adorably, saying, "Big brother, I'm not leaving the yard. I just want to go to the kitchenette to see if the tea I delivered yesterday is fresh." After saying that, she turned around and walked towards the kitchenette.
After a while, Huan'er came out of the kitchen. Yue Qi frowned and walked up to her and asked, "Where's Xing'er?"
"I'm inside picking tea with everyone else."
Yue Qi frowned, "With her current status, does she still need to do such work?"
"Humph, do you think Xing'er is as snobbish as Jinzhu and Jinsi?" The little maid raised her eyebrows, looked at Yueqi with disdain, and said bluntly, "Snobbish!"
There are white clouds floating in the sky. It's a good day today.
After getting rid of Yue Qi, Chu Qiao found an excuse to carefully leave Qingshan Courtyard and walked towards the front garden. She was afraid of being discovered, so she chose the most secret path. Just as I reached Merlin, a shadow suddenly ran out. The child was startled and frowned to look. He saw that the person was not very old, with delicate features, and looked very familiar.
"Don't panic. I'm Feng Mian, the servant of His Royal Highness Prince Yan. I've come here today to deliver a message to you on behalf of His Royal Highness."
"Sending a message?" Chu Qiao raised her eyebrows, glanced at Feng Mian, and said, "How did you know to wait for me here?"
Feng Mian smiled proudly, "Our prince said that if I can't get into Qingshan Courtyard, he asked me to find the most secret path leading to the outer palace and hide there, and I will definitely be able to see you."
Chu Qiao snorted coldly and said sarcastically: "Your prince is really good at predicting things."
"Hehe," the little servant boy said, showing his white teeth, "Our prince is indeed very smart."
"What message? If you want to say it, please say it quickly. I have something else to do."
Feng Mian was quietly shocked, thinking that this little slave really had a personality. No wonder the Crown Prince and the Fourth Young Master Zhuge were so concerned about her. He quickly said, "Our Crown Prince asked me to tell you that he will be returning to Yanbei tomorrow morning. He wants to say goodbye to you in the evening. Let's meet at the same place as last night."
"Returning to Yanbei?" Chu Qiao frowned slightly and said, "Isn't your prince a hostage in Beijing? Why do you want to go back so suddenly?"
"I don't know the specific reason, but our old prince sent someone to Beijing to summon the prince back. It must be an urgent matter. The Council of Elders has approved it. We will return to Yanbei tomorrow morning."
Chu Qiao nodded silently and said, "Tell your prince that I am a slave and cannot leave the house easily. Besides, whether he returns to Yanbei or not has nothing to do with me. I am of low status and dare not marry someone of high status, so there is no way to talk about saying goodbye."
Xiao Fengmian chuckled and said, "Our prince said that if you want to go, no one can stop you. As for whether it has anything to do with you, it is not for me to say. You are busy, I am leaving."
The little servant boy disappeared into the plum forest with a sly smile. Chu Qiao couldn't help but sigh in her heart that the defense of Zhuge Mansion was lax, allowing a child to come and go freely.
After sneaking along carefully for about half an hour, they finally arrived at the side wing of the front garden. The courtyard of Zhu Shun, the chief steward of the outer palace of Zhuge Mansion, appeared before his eyes without any preparation.
At this moment, Zhu Shun, the housekeeper of the outer mansion, was holding a box with a worried look on his face. In the box was a severed hand that was already smelly and blue from being frozen, and looked a little disgusting.
At this moment, there was a loud bang. The man who had been bitten by the snake was like a rabbit with its tail burned. He grabbed the dagger on the bed, jumped up suddenly, stared around and shouted, "Who is it?"
It was quiet all around, and there was no one around.
Zhu Shun turned around and saw a white letter quietly placed on the ground. A string was tied to the top of the letter, with a stone tied to it. There was also a peach blossom painted on the envelope. The letter paper was elegant and exuded a faint fragrance.
After opening it, the man's eyes suddenly emitted an obscene light, but after thinking about it, he couldn't help but curl his lips, and sat back in the chair without going out.
After a while, another bundle was thrown in from the window.
When Zhu Shun opened it, he found it was a deep red apron with a picture of a man and a woman entwined together, looking so seductive that it made one's blood boil and one's whole body feel hot.
The man laughed slyly, leaned over and sniffed it vigorously, put the bellyband in his arms, and muttered, "You can't wait in broad daylight, you little slut!" After that, he put on his outer robe and went out.
Zhuge's main residence is located in the east of Zhenhuang City, with Chisong Mountain on its back and Chishui Lake on its right. It faces south and occupies a very large area. The whole palace is arranged in three parts. The inner courtyard is deep and secluded with layers of protection. There is a high-angle hanging tower outside, and the guards monitor and defend it 24 hours a day. There are four arrow towers on the periphery and small ditches for fire prevention. Once a war breaks out, it is simply a small city.
The boudoirs of the ladies of the Zhuge family are located at the foot of the safest Chisong Mountain. If one wants to enter the ladies' boudoirs, there is no possibility of sneaking in except to break in from the outside. There was a knock at the side door, and the guard at the door greeted, "It's Butler Zhu, what brings you to the inner palace?"
"Yesterday Ah Si said that there was a leak in Taoranyuan. The snow on the roof of the second floor melted and flowed into the hall downstairs. I came to take a look."
The guard smiled flatteringly and said, "How can I trouble you, Steward Zhu, with such a small matter? Just let me do it."
Zhu Shun smiled and shook his head, saying, "I'm free anyway, is the young master in the mansion?"
"The eldest and fourth young masters are discussing something in the study. They have been there all morning. It seems they won't be able to come out for a while."
"Oh," Zhu Shun nodded, "Okay, I'll go, no need to tell the masters. It's noon, the masters are all asleep, don't disturb them to rest."
"I understand."
The timing was just right. A small figure hid among the flowers and trees, with bright eyes and a slight smile on his lips.
The seventh lady of Chunhua Courtyard, Duanmu Huaning, was preparing for a nap. She took off her shawl, which was as light as cloud gauze, revealing her shoulders as smooth as cream, with plump breasts, a slender waist, a plump butt and long legs. Her skin was as smooth as a baby's, and her fingers were as red as cinnamon. She was charming, delicate, enchanting and beautiful. The maid opened the silk quilt for her and helped the Seventh Lady, who was used to sleeping naked, to fall asleep.
At this moment, the tiles on the roof moved quietly without anyone noticing, and a small bag was slowly put down. The bag kept squirming, as if there was some living thing inside.
The maids retreated, and the room became very quiet, with only the sound of Madam Seventh's shallow breathing being heard gradually.
With a soft "plop" sound, the bag fell beside Madam Seven's pillow. The bag was pink with a beautiful peach blossom painted on it.
Madam Seven was sleeping soundly when she suddenly felt something licking her fragrant ears and neck gently on her cheek. Madam Seven stroked it gently and felt it was furry. She thought she was dreaming and did not open her eyes. At this moment, she suddenly felt a pain on her face. Madam Seven rubbed her eyes in pain. After seeing what was in front of her clearly, she was slightly stunned. Then a sharp scream suddenly spread throughout Chunhua Courtyard.
"Madam, Madam!" The maids hurriedly ran in from outside. As soon as they stepped into the room, they were shocked and screamed continuously. There were huge rats everywhere in Madam Seven's boudoir. Each one was fat and black in fur, and was not afraid of people. Some of them were lying on Madam Seven's bed, tearing at the gorgeous quilt.
"Ah! Where did these things come from? Get them out! Get them out!"
This afternoon, the entire Chunhuayuan carried out a massive rat extermination operation.
The seventh wife, Duanmu Huaning, drank more than ten cups of calming tea, but her breathing was still disordered and her whole body was cold.
"Madam, we found this on your bed." A guard came up with a pink cloth bag.
Madam Seven took the bag, took a look at it, and immediately her eyes widened. She stood up with a bang and said sternly, "Little bitch! I knew it was you! Come with me to Taoranyuan, and I will tear off a layer of skin from this little bitch!"
The servants of Chunhuayuan followed Madam Seventh in a mighty procession and headed towards Taoranyuan in a menacing manner. In an unnoticed corner, a small cabinet was slowly pushed open, revealing the child's calm face.
Soon, the whole inner court was in chaos, and the Taoran Courtyard was even more noisy. Chu Qiao easily returned along the same route and left this place of trouble.