A’Ru smiled miserably.
“We servants are all cheap lives. If we died, we’d just be dead,” she murmured, tears sliding down.
Qi Yue looked at her speechlessly. What kind of logic was this?
“A’Ru, I am not the Young Mistress,” she said after a brief silence.
After A’Ru was stunned, she naturally understood what she meant. She was immediately frightened out of her wits and raised her hand to cover Qi Yue’s mouth.
“You are the Young Mistress, you are the Young Mistress,” A’Ru bit her lower lip and said with tears in her eyes.
Qi Yue was amused by her and pulled down A’Ru’s hand.
“What I mean is, A’Ru, I know you have many rules – women shouldn’t show their faces in public, people of noble status shouldn’t associate with those of lower status, distinctions between high and low should be clear, respecting mothers-in-law and husbands, and so on. I know, I know all of this. But I might not be able to do it,” she said with a smile, continuing to walk forward while looking at the bright starry sky. “When choosing between rules and status versus saving lives and healing the wounded, I could never choose the former. When facing emergency situations, all I consider is how to save people best and fastest, not thinking about status, rules, face, or anything like that. Perhaps this is caused by differences in living habits and environment, or perhaps I don’t want to become someone who isn’t me.”
And besides, maybe this was just a dream anyway.
A’Ru seemed to understand but not quite.
“But if you act like this, you won’t be well-liked. If you’re not well-liked…” she said quietly.
“To be well-liked, should I change myself?” Qi Yue asked thoughtfully and sighed.
A’Ru really couldn’t understand or answer such questions.
“Are you truly a doctor?” she hesitated for a moment before asking this question for the first time.
“Yes,” Qi Yue also answered this question directly for the first time, smiling and nodding at her.
“But isn’t being the Young Mistress good?” A’Ru suddenly said.
This time it was Qi Yue who was stunned, not understanding her words.
“You’ll be the Marchioness in the future. How many women wish they could live like this for a lifetime,” A’Ru said with her head down. “Not angering the Madam and the Prince, making them both happy – wouldn’t that be quite good too?”
“I see,” Qi Yue had never thought about this and couldn’t help but frown thoughtfully. “Eating well, dressing well, and having people serve you…”
“Exactly,” A’Ru nodded and looked at her. “You’ll be the Marchioness in the future.”
She emphasized the words “Marchioness.”
Qi Yue raised her hand to scratch her itchy forehead and laughed.
“I don’t know either,” she said with a frown. “Actually, I don’t know. This would be quite good too.”
She couldn’t help but rub her face with her hands.
A’Ru was somewhat confused by her expression. Very good – why didn’t her expression look good at all?
“But I still want to go back,” Qi Yue lowered her hands and looked at the night sky. Although there wasn’t such a bright night sky there, such fresh air that could be breathed deeply, groups of servants, or rooms full of gold, silver, treasures, and jewelry that were blindingly bright, there was endless work, increasingly high mortgages, increasingly unstable and short-lived love and marriage. But that place was familiar to her, with her relatives, friends, and career. Only with those could she be as free as a fish in water.
If all of this could truly never be possessed again…
Being Qi Yueniang, living the life Qi Yueniang should live…
Would she still be herself then?
If I’m no longer me…
A’Hao looked at her, sensing this woman’s instant sadness, loneliness, and fear…
“When A’Ru first came here, I was also very afraid,” she said quietly. “I didn’t know anyone, and the food, clothing, things to use, and way of speaking were all things I had never seen before…”
Qi Yue looked at this girl, and after her surprise, a smile and gratitude appeared.
“How old were you then?” she asked.
“Me? I was ten years old then,” A’Ru answered with some reminiscence. “Mother was ill, my younger brother was still small, the family’s land was mortgaged for debt, and there was no way to make a living. If the whole family stayed together, we’d just wait to starve to death. So Father sold me – that way both the family and I could find a way to survive. Later, following the human trafficker, we happened to encounter the Marquis’s residence needing people, so I was lucky to be chosen…”
“So young… What did you do when you first came in? Did they beat you? Did they let you sleep at night? Or was it like Vanka, doing endless work…”
“When I first came in, I did cleaning work, then had the opportunity to learn the rules… Of course I’d get beaten if I didn’t do things well – beaten on the hands, made to kneel… They still let me sleep, just occasionally went hungry… Um, who is Vanka?”
The master and servant talked quietly as they walked. With the night spreading around them, the sadness, loneliness, and fear gradually dissipated until they walked near Qiutong Courtyard.
Qiutong Courtyard was brightly lit.
“…Where did the Young Mistress go? Is it their place as servants to inquire? The Young Mistress can do whatever she wants – is it their place to point and judge?” A’Hao was scolding a submissive servant girl with raised eyebrows. “If anyone else inquires randomly, give her a big slap…”
“Right, write down all their names and throw them out tomorrow,” Que Zhi chimed in from the side, while helping support A’Hao. “Sister has been standing for quite a while, go lie down…”
Just as they were talking, servant girls outside started clamoring that the Young Mistress had returned. When they heard she had returned together with the Prince, all the servant girls and women in the courtyard felt like they were dreaming. Originally anxious and uncertain about what fate awaited them tomorrow, suddenly everything had reversed so dramatically. Not only had she returned, but most importantly, with the Prince!
Since the Prince’s return, the couple hadn’t even seen each other’s faces. Everyone in the residence had been gossiping that the Prince was going to divorce the Young Mistress…
Now, without a word, she had quietly gone out as the Prince’s companion. Let’s see who dares to gossip now!
Qi Yue was thus received with joy like stars surrounding the moon. Even after the courtyard gate closed, laughter could still be heard from inside. Only then did two servant girls who had been standing in the tree shadows by the roadside turn around.
“Good, have all the people at the side door come back. Go quickly and tell Third Young Master that everything is fine,” one of them said.
The other servant girl nodded and ran off like flying.
Because Qi Yue and Chang Yuncheng had agreed on their story before entering, everyone in the courtyard knew the Young Mistress had gone out with the Prince to meet guests. Only A’Hao, when going to bed at night, had the opportunity to hear the truth from A’Ru.
“Oh my goodness, this is too… coincidental,” A’Hao could only repeat this phrase to express her feelings.
“You absolutely mustn’t tell anyone,” A’Ru hurriedly pulled her down to lie and instructed.
“I’m not an idiot,” A’Hao nodded quickly, propping her head on her hand on the pillow. “At that time, when the Young Mistress and Prince met, what were their expressions?”
As she spoke, she covered her mouth and giggled.
A’Ru couldn’t help but purse her lips and smile too.
“I was scared to death at the time. How could I see what expressions the Young Mistress and Prince had?” she said. “But the Prince seemed scared too…”
“Of course! Anyone would be scared,” A’Hao giggled, her eyes sparkling. “Is the Prince still the same as before? Has he become much more handsome? When he saw what the Young Mistress was doing, was he very surprised? Did he start liking the Young Mistress more and more as he watched? When I watched the Young Mistress doing those things, I felt it was particularly, particularly beautiful…”
Blood and flesh everywhere – how was that beautiful! A’Ru was amused by her and raised her hand to pat her head, knocking A’Hao down onto the pillow.
“Go to sleep quickly,” she said, blowing out the lamp.
“Then tomorrow, the Young Mistress will go out with the Prince again, right?” A’Hao said quietly in the darkness, her voice full of joy. “This way, the Prince will like the Young Mistress more and more…”
Right… A’Ru hummed in agreement, then nodded vigorously, though no one could see in the dark night.
It must be so. The Young Mistress was such a good person, the Prince would definitely like her, as long as they could spend more time together.