Su Xiaoqi finished speaking, turned, and left, decisive and without any lingering.
Little did she know that Zhao Xiaohua behind her was grinding her teeth.
Why? They both came from Zhao Village, with the same background.
No, Su Xiaoqi’s background was even worse than hers.
She was at least the daughter of a farmer, while what was Zhao Xiaohua? A beggar raised in a dilapidated old city god temple.
She only relied on Brother Yun.
Without Brother Yun, she was nothing.
Now she was getting arrogant just because she had hooked up with the Duke of Yu’s mansion.
One day, she would realize that the Duke of Yu’s mansion was also unreliable.
Sometimes, the higher you climb, the harder you fall.
After leaving the main courtyard, Su Xiaoqi was brought to stay with Madam Wen. The Princess and Bao Ge'er were also there, and they were in a warm pavilion admiring the orchids carefully cultivated by the gardeners and the early-blooming peonies.
Because Su Xiaoqi had the backing of the Princess and Madam Wen, coupled with her sweet and lovely appearance and her low-key demeanor, no one with ill intentions dared to provoke her.
She also enjoyed the peace and quiet, secretly noting down the officials’ wives and ladies who had caught her eye.
Not that she needed to be overly familiar with them, but at least she should be able to call them by name the next time she saw them.
By the beginning of the酉 hour, the flower viewing banquet finally concluded.
The Princess called out to her and offered to see her home.
However, Su Xiaoqi remembered the Old Madam’s earlier offer to send her home and quickly explained to the Princess.
“Very well, if it is the Old Madam’s wish, then I shall not insist.”
The Princess said, holding Su Xiaoqi’s hand, that Bao Ge’er and Lan’er both liked her, and that she should visit the Princess’s mansion more often in the future.
She would certainly not mistreat her.
Su Xiaoqi readily agreed.
Bao Ge’er, however, tugged at her sleeve, not letting her leave. He said that he had been practicing with the puzzles she had given him according to the drawings and was almost finished.
He was thinking of asking her for advice on the carriage.
“Alright, Bao Ge’er, it’s getting late today. We’ll invite your Sister Xiaoqi to our mansion as a guest another day.”
The Princess said, looking at Su Xiaoqi. She understood and quickly nodded.
Only then did Bao Ge’er pout and agree.
Su Xiaoqi, along with Madam Wen, received the Old Madam and went to the second gate to take a carriage.
Unexpectedly, Shen Yun had joined Liang Jingchen at some point, and both of them were standing at the entrance, waiting for Su Xiaoqi.
Seeing this, Madam Wen teased, “Look at our son-in-law, he really can’t be without our Xiaoqi.”
Su Xiaoqi blushed, but still stepped forward to greet them.
She said that she had promised the Old Madam early in the morning to return in her carriage.
“If it’s not on the way, we shouldn’t trouble the Old Madam,” Shen Yun said in a low voice.
Su Xiaoqi blinked her eyes, “The Old Madam said it’s alright, she’ll drop me off first, and then they’ll return to the Duke’s mansion.”
Shen Yun sighed softly and nodded.
Su Xiaoqi then tilted her chin at Liang Jingchen and quickly returned to the Duke of Yu’s mansion’s black lacquered carriage.
As soon as she got on, the Old Madam said gently, “Did you see the eldest son of the Prince Duan’s mansion?”
Su Xiaoqi was stunned for a moment before realizing who the eldest son the Old Madam was referring to.
“Yes, I saw him just now.”
“He is blessed to have met you, kind-hearted you, who helped him. He will surely remember your great kindness and want to repay you.”
Su Xiaoqi let out an “Ah” and said, “Well, actually, I didn’t think much of it when I helped him. I just felt he was quite pitiful, having lost his parents when he was young and growing up by eating from many households. I had no idea his identity was so noble.
If I had known, perhaps I wouldn’t have dared to approach him.”
The Old Madam smiled and gently patted her hand, “That’s why it’s called fate.
Otherwise, how could it be that your second cousin took on this task, happened to meet you at your aunt’s house, and saw the token of identity?”
Su Xiaoqi also smiled and echoed that it was indeed fate.
However, in her heart, she couldn’t stop thinking that this matter seemed to have deviated quite a bit from the original plot.
Because when she was reading the novel, she hadn’t seen much of Zhao Ye’s storyline, nor had she heard about him being found.
The author had only mentioned in the beginning that Zhao Ye’s hand was broken, he lost his livelihood, left Zhao Village, and disappeared thereafter.
She figured that in the book, the original host didn’t know medicine, so she couldn’t have healed Zhao Ye’s hand. He couldn’t work at the docks, and he couldn’t stay in Zhao Village. Later, he had drifted to an unknown place.
He had probably lost the token of identity that could prove his identity somewhere.
Perhaps even if the Prince Duan had sent people from the Duke of Yu’s mansion to search for his lost eldest son, they had missed him because they never had the chance to meet.
But Su Xiaoqi remembered that the eldest son of the Prince Duan’s mansion was eventually found, but that was many years later.
It was Shen Yun, who had become a powerful minister with his hand covering the sky, who found him.
However, the book did not mention whether the person who became Liang Jingchen was Zhao Ye.
But this time, it was different.
She had replaced the original host, becoming the bridge between Liang Jingchen and those searching for him, allowing him to acknowledge his ancestors and restore the surname Liang.
If any single step in this process had gone wrong, none of this would have been possible. Wasn’t this fate?
After sitting in the carriage for a while, the Old Madam felt a bit dizzy. Su Xiaoqi stepped forward to massage her temples. Seeing her patting her legs and arms, she asked if she was feeling unwell anywhere.
“Oh dear, it’s an old ailment, nothing serious.” The Old Madam’s illness was contracted when she was young on the battlefield. It was a chronic condition that had been with her for many years, and there was nothing that could be done.
She had seen countless doctors over the years, but none had been able to cure it.
She had long given up hope.
Su Xiaoqi took the opportunity to feel her pulse.
She noticed that the Old Madam’s complexion was not very good.
Taking Madam Zeng as an example, they were said to be born in the same year, but the Old Madam looked a whole circle older than Madam Zeng.
She was only in her fifties or sixties, but she looked like she was in her seventies or eighties, with white hair, a face full of grooves, covered in wrinkles, and extremely aged.
Although people aged faster in old age, the Old Madam’s condition was a bit excessive.
After feeling her pulse, Su Xiaoqi looked at the Old Madam with a subtle expression, hesitating,
“Grandmother…”
“What is it? Can’t you tell? It’s alright. When people get old, it’s normal for their bodies to not be well.”
The Old Madam was very open-minded. She now had all her children, and they all had their own places to go, which was already a cause for joy.
However, she also had her regrets, perhaps regrets that she would never be able to resolve in this lifetime.
She had even prepared herself to take this regret to her grave.
“No, Grandmother, were you injured before?” Su Xiaoqi asked with some surprise.
After all, the Old Madam was a woman and lived a life of luxury, so it was generally not easy for her to get injured.
But thinking about what Shen Yun had told her about the Old Madam’s past, she felt her guess might be true.
Speaking of this, the Old Madam seemed to recall the past and sighed, “When I fought on the frontier in the past, how could I not get injured? As the old saying goes, swords and blades have no eyes.”
The Old Madam had been on the battlefield in her youth, and injuries were commonplace.
“Then was there an arrow or something else that was not removed?” Su Xiaoqi asked.
From the Old Madam’s pulse, she could tell that her pulse was very sluggish. Normally, such old external injuries were difficult to detect by feeling the pulse.
But when Su Xiaoqi felt the Old Madam’s pulse, she felt something was wrong. Her body seemed semi-transparent in front of her.
She could see where she had wounds and where things were wrong.
Su Xiaoqi blinked her eyes, suspecting she had the superpower of x-ray vision.
So, after seeing the Old Madam’s wound clearly, she tentatively asked if there was a broken arrow inside her right arm.
“Oh my, Xiaoqi, you’re truly miraculous. You felt her pulse and found it out. Who is your teacher?” The Old Madam was so shocked that the wrinkles on her face seemed to deepen.