“My Lord, Madam, we’re useless servants and deserve to die. We failed our duty to protect the eldest Miss.”
In the central room of the Su Mansion, two maids, three bodyguards and a carriage driver were making kowtows with deep grief on their faces. They were the servants who had escorted Su Muge to the Zhao family in Nancheng prefecture.
An frowned with worries. “My Lord, what should we do? If anything bad happened to that child, Muge…”
Su Lun didn’t look well, either, with his face in pale. It was not Su Muge’s situation that he was concerned about, but the fact that he had lost one of his chess pieces, which was stifling.
“You useless things! You couldn’t even protect the eldest Miss. What’s the point of keeping you in the mansion!” Su Lun shouted out with anger.
“My Lord, please have mercy on us. We were passing a wood when it was getting dark. We wanted to go to the nearest inn as soon as possible, but the eldest Miss insisted on having a rest off the carriage. We were not able to stop her, so we let her get off the carriage. Who, who would know…” One of the bodyguards went forward to beg for forgiveness.
Su Lun’s face looked even worse when the bodyguard finished his words.
“What was the need for her to get off the carriage!”
“I, I didn’t know. But, but I saw some figure out there…”
“A figure?!”
“Yes, yes! And the figure looked, looked as if it was a man…”
“A figure? How could there be a man’s figure? How dare you make up a story like that!” An fumed at the bodyguard after she quickly recovered from the astonishment.
“Madam, I sincerely trust your wise judgment. I do not have the gut to deceive you and My Lord. If I lied with one word, I shall die in my boots and with no descendant!”
Su Lun banged the table with a loud noise and stood up. Apparently, he was convinced by the story.
“Such an indiscreet and unfilial girl!”
An stepped forward with worries and held Su Lun in her hands. “My Lord, don’t be so mad, you could ruin your body. We don’t have a clue about it yet. How can we know the real truth only relying on the words from the servants?”
Su Lun snorted with coldness. “If she had not made any appointment with some wild man, how could she get off the carriage at that time in such an urgency!” Obviously, Su Lun believed the words of those servants.
“My Lord, I heard that in a few days, Lord Meng from the Hanlin Academy will probably take his mother back to Shunyang prefecture for recuperation.” Holding Su Lun in her arms, An said gently.
Su Lun was stunned, and jumped to his feet.
“How can I forget this!”
How could he forget that Lord Meng was coming back!
Lord Meng was the Bachelor of Hanlin Academy, and his assessment results had already been sent to the emperor. Before long, he would go back to the capital to report his work. If he could gain the appreciation from Lord Meng, and ask the Lord to recommend him to the emperor with a few nice words, he could get rid of the power control from his father-in-law completely.
Su Lun glanced at An.
He had been supported greatly by his father-in-law through all these years, but more bounds came along with more supports.
He knew that Lord Meng had praised highly of the theory that one should regulate his family well before he could rule the state. If the missing news about Su Muge was spread out, the others would accuse him of unstrict family regulation, which could certainly have a great negative impact on his reputation.
No way! Never could he let such a thing happen.
How could An possibly know Su Lun’s fears and worries towards her father? Seeing that changeable and uncertain looks on his face, An smiled a bit with satisfaction, taking it as a positive sign of Lord Meng’s arrival.
Not long afterwards, Su Lun spoke. “The eldest Miss has caught a cold a few days ago, and she is still sick after all these days’ treatment. She needs to be nursed in a quiet place in the village, so Madam, please arrange the trip as soon as possible.”
Su Lun then gave a glimpse to the servants kneeling on the floor, and he looked gloomy and dismal.
“Do you all get what I have just said?”
How could they dare to show any expression of uncertainty? They made several kowtows immediately.
“Yes, yes, we totally get you, My Lord.”
Su Lun waved his hand in restless.
An told the servants to leave.
She poured a cup of tea, came forward and handed it to Su Lun. “My Lord, do we need to tell my sister lady about this?”
Thinking of the trouble Su Muge had brought him, he was irritated and grinded his teeth. “See? What perfect education has she given to her daughter! Just tell her what I said before. If she tries to stir up any trouble, then find someone to keep a close eye on her. Keep it under control.”
“No problem. I understand.”
With a few more words exhorted, Su Lun went to the study room.
As soon as An went back to the Flowery Brook Courtyard, Li MaMa entered.
She went close to An, and lowered her voice.
“Madam, I have asked those servants, and they told me the eldest Miss had escaped.”
An’s eyes quickly became a line on her face. Her plan was to take advantage of the servant’s story and use it to ruin Su Muge’s reputation. In that case, in a violent rage, Su Lun would absolutely stop Su Muge and her mother from coming to the capital ever again. It would then be much easier for her to kill them, even easier then pressing an ant to death between her fingers. How could anyone expect that Su Muge had escaped!
The current result, however, was not too bad. It was enough to make Su Lun believe that Su Muge had eloped with someone.
Even if she was tough enough to make her way back, her reputation would be gone by that time, and Su Lun would never allow such a person who had bring shame to the family to appear in the Su Mansion again.
An played with the garden balsam on the table with her fingers. She was satisfied. “Did you take care of everything?”
“Sure, Madam. Trust me. They dare not say a single word wrong.”
But An shook her head. “Just in case of any extra trouble. You’d better think a way of sending them away lest any incident.”
“Sure. I will find some appropriate reasons to send them away soon.”
“Good.”
…
A simple and crude carriage was passing slowly on the post road with green trees on both sides.
The curtain of the carriage was opened, and there appeared a dark grey little face. But even so, the eyes on that face were extremely bright and crystal, making them impossible to be ignored.
Just as Su Muge was to put down the curtain, she turned and saw a group of people riding from the behind, becoming faster and faster.
The post road was not wide itself, and it was hard for two small carriages to go in a row, let alone a carriage at least twice the size of Su Muge’s. She frowned at the carriage.
“Let’s stop on the side road and let the carriage group behind go ahead first.”
“Cool.”
The carriage driver raised the horsewhip in his hand, and rode the carriage to the side.
In the largest carriage among the group which was in the opposite, a woman’s sharp voice came out, filled with panic.
“No, come on, stop. The old lady can’t stand it!”
The curtain of the carriage was pulled back. A girl, round-faced, was in great anxiety.
Shortly after, the carriage once behind was now ahead of Su Muge’s small one, and it was stopped in the middle of the road by the carriage driver upon someone’s order. It also stopped Su Muge’s carriage from moving forward.
Su Muge’s driver couldn’t keep his calmness anymore. He didn’t want to take this trip in the first place, because it to was too far for him. He was worried about his wife and children back at home. But then he just hoped to carry the girl as fast as possible in order to return earlier.
“Hey, girl, the road, it is blocked. How should we keep moving forward?”
Su Muge saw a middle-aged man getting off from one carriage, whose face was filled with anxiety. The man had a delicate beard with the look of a Confucian scholar, and he was in a green robe with bamboo pattern. He hurried towards the largest carriage.
“How’s the old lady?”
“My Lord, the old lady was fine just now. But somehow there was suddenly phlegm stuck in her chest, and she fainted.”
The man stamped his feet with nervousness. “What can we do now? The imperial physician who is along with us is lying on his bed because of the cold he caught yesterday. He cannot get up. And he is the only doctor we have!”
Su Muge almost figured out the situation after hearing their conversation.
She looked down after a quick glance at the carriage emblem. She opened the curtain and jumped off her carriage in a fleet.
“Please wait for me here. I’ll be back soon.”
“Uh, okay.”
Su Muge went towards the carriage group. The cloth of her clothes was not the same type as that was worn by the people in that group. Therefore, she was soon noticed by the guard as she approached the carriage.
The guard stepped forward and stopped her. “Who are you?”
Su Muge paused and didn’t rush forward. She looked calmly at the direction of the man in a green robe.
“I’m afraid your carriage group has blocked my way.”
With a glance up, the guard saw a shabby small carriage on the narrow side road, apparently being pushed aside by theirs. But there was a chaos behind, who would have the time to bother to move their carriage group away.
The face of the guard eased a bit. “You can go back and wait.”
Instead of leaving, Su Muge reached out her head to look at the carriage behind that guard.
“The weather is still hot and dry in the daytime these days. If the person in the carriage were sick because of wind, then it would be fine. But if it were some other sickness or even if the person were healthy, the dryness and the airlessness inside could worsen the situation.”
Hearing this, the face of the guard turned white and furious. “What nonsense are you talking about here. Hurry up, leave!”
Su Muge didn’t lower her voice on purpose when saying this. The man standing ahead also heard her words. He turned and looked at Su Muge unconsciously. Noticing that it was only a dark and thin boy talking, however, he frowned again.
Su Muge stayed still and kept staring at the direction of the carriage.
“With the phlegm in her chest, her bronchial tube could be blocked. Now that she had slipped into a coma, if not saved in time, she could…”
The man turned to Su Muge again, with his eyes set on her, looking at her carefully.
“You do know some medical skills, don’t you?”
“My Lord, if you trust on me, I can give it a try.”
Su Muge stood there quietly after she spoke, and the man looked her over another time with doubt, but somehow, he ended up with a nod when he saw the honest and integrity in her eyes.
“My Lord, no! What to do! The old lady, she, she is dying!” The maid who had screamed before opened the curtain again, yet with tears pouring down her face this time.
The man made one step forward and gestured with courtesy.
“Thank you then, young master.”
Su Muge smiled with her lips raised a bit. “No problem.”
Su Muge climbed into the carriage. She frowned as she pulled away the curtain. It was so stuffy inside. Besides the sick old lady lying on the floor, there were four maid-look people. The large carriage turned out to be very crowded with so many people in.
“The one who knows the patient will stay, and the others please get of the carriage immediately.”
The maids didn’t expect Su Muge would show up in the carriage, and was all frozen without movement.
The man became agitated. “What are you waiting for? Come on, get off the carriage and make room for the doctor!”
The maids jumped down the carriage one by one. Although they were confused and doubt about the medical skills of this thin and little man, they dared not to disobey their lord.
Su Muge pulled the curtain aside instantly when she got on the carriage, letting more lights and air in.
The maid who stayed on the carriage rapidly moved out some space for her.
She crawled over to the patient, and her eyes experienced a sharp convulsion when she finally took a clear look at the face.
