Chapter 488: Why Is She Back

Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation

Zhou Xiangrong’s horse carriage followed Su Ying all the way to the palace gates. She watched as Su Ying returned to the palace before slowly leaving. Eldest Young Miss, are we going back to the residence?” Xin Yue looked at Zhou Xiangrong who was still gazing at the palace and asked softly. Zhou Xiangrong recovered herself and said with a frown, “Let’s go to the residence.”

“Yes, Eldest Young Miss.”

Xin Yue helped Zhou Xiangrong get back into the horse carriage. Then she told the coachman to send them to Marquis Bo An’s Residence.

Marquis Bo An’s Residence was quite a distance away from the center of the Imperial City, and the horse carriage took more than two hours to reach it. Even though Marquis Bo An’s Residence did not seem to be in decline, judging from the two off-color stone lions outside the entrance, one could tell that they were already considered the bottom-ranking family among the aristocratic families.

Outside the entrance, a guard leaned lazily against the door frame. He was surprised to see Zhou Xiangrong return and went forward to ask without any manners, “Why is Eldest Young Miss back?”

The guard’s disrespectful attitude made Xin Yue feel embarrassed and angry. How impudent! How can you not bow when you see the Eldest Young Miss!” The guard gave a scornful laugh. Everyone knew that the Eldest Young Miss was not favored. She had been sent to a temple outside the city by the Eldest Mistress on the pretext that the girl was destined to be weak and would be beset by misfortune. The Eldest Mistress had instructed that without her permission, the Eldest Young Miss was not allowed to return to the residence.

Eldest Young Miss, please forgive me. I haven’t received Eldest Mistress’s orders yet, so I can’t let you in.”

“You… you’re simply going too far!”

The guard did not take the helpless master and servant seriously at all.

Xin Yue, no need to argue with him. We can just wait by the side.” As Zhou Xiangrong spoke, she walked back to the horse carriage with an apologetic expression. “Imperial Guard brothers, I’m sorry. Something has happened in the residence, and I’m afraid I won’t be able to go back for a while. Why don’t you go back and report to the Empress first? I’ll wait for Father to return before requesting him to let me return to the residence.”

Zhou Xiangrong’s voice was very gentle, and her almond-shaped eyes were brimming with tears. She appeared really pitiful.

Su Ying had instructed the Imperial Guards to send Zhou Xiangrong back to Marquis Bo An’s Residence. Now that she was still outside, they couldn’t be considered to have completed their mission. In addition, they couldn’t help but feel pity for her when they overheard her conversation with the guard.

Zhou Xiangrong had made a great contribution in curing the plague victims. Later, the Empress would definitely reward her. This Marquis Bo An’s Residence was truly bold. To think they actually dared to mistreat someone who made a great contribution to the Chu State.

“Miss Zhou, don’t be anxious. Her Imperial Highness said that we must see Miss Zhou enter the residence before we can leave. If Miss Zhou wants to wait for Marquis Bo An, then wait in the horse carriage. When he returns, we will inform you.”

Zhou Xiangrong was very grateful. “Thank you so much, Imperial Guard brothers.”

Xin Yue helped Zhou Xiangrong back into the horse carriage to wait for Marquis Bo An’s return.

In Zhou Xiangrong’s memory, her cheapskate father would return to the residence for lunch every day at noon. Looking at the time now, he should be coming back soon.

True enough, before long, a horse carriage stopped outside the residence. A middle-aged man dressed in a navy blue robe alighted from the horse carriage. This person was none other than Marquis Bo An.

The Imperial Guards were extremely familiar with the officials of the various aristocratic families in the capital city, and they immediately stopped the Marquis when they saw him return.

“Marquis Bo An.”

Zhou Pei stopped in his tracks and turned around in puzzlement. When he saw that the other party was an Imperial Guard, he could not help but become nervous. “Gentlemen, this is…”

Zhou Xiangrong alighted from the horse carriage.

When Zhou Pei saw this, he started to make endless conjectures in his mind. “What crime did this rebellious girl commit? Zhou Xiangrong, you are really audacious. I told you to go to the temple outside the city to reflect on your mistakes, yet you still dared to cause trouble for your father. Please don’t take offense. If you want to punish her, just take her away.” This attitude showed that he did not care about his daughter’s life at all.

When the Imperial Guards saw Zhou Pei’s attitude, they sympathized with Zhou Xiangrong even more. “Lord Marquis, you’ve misunderstood. The plague-infected victims in Luo City have been cured by Eldest Young Miss Zhou. Today, Eldest Young Miss Zhou has returned to the capital city with the Empress. The Empress said that she would reward Eldest Young Miss Zhou well on the appointed date. However, I don’t know why Eldest Young Miss Zhou is not allowed to enter the residence when she has come back. I can only wait here and ask what happened.”

Zhou Pei got a shock. He looked at Zhou Xiangrong in astonishment, thinking that he had heard wrongly. “What did you say? She cured the plague victims? Really?”

The Imperial Guard replied with certainty, “Does Lord Marquis think that the Empress would joke with you? The Empress ordered us to send Miss Zhou back. Since Lord Marquis has returned, please bring Miss Zhou back to the residence.”

The Imperial Guard felt that his words were clear enough. He couldn’t care less about anything else. As long as Zhou Pei still had some brains, he shouldn’t keep Zhou Xiangrong standing outside the entrance.

Zhou Pei was indeed not stupid. His expression changed at once. In the blink of an eye, he turned into a loving father and said to Zhou Xiangrong with a face full of emotion, “You are indeed Father’s good child. You didn’t disappoint Father. Thank you, everyone. Why don’t you come into the residence for a cup of tea and rest?”

“We still have to go back and report to the Empress. We will take our leave now.”

After the Imperial Guards left, Zhou Pei scrutinized Zhou Xiangrong closely. This was the daughter whom he had never once opened his eyes to take a look, yet now, he had to allow her to enter the residence with him.

Since Zhou Pei was back, the guard naturally did not dare to stop Zhou Xiangrong.

“Was what the Imperial Guard said just now true? When did you go to Luo City?”

Zhou Pei was a muddlehead. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have only reached the rank of a sixth-grade official in the Ministry of Justice after all these years. Back then, after Zhou Xiangrong’s mother died of excessive bleeding during childbirth, he immediately married a second wife by the name of Madam An the following year. Thereafter, Zhou Xiangrong was also simply thrown to Madam An to raise.

Madam An did not like Zhou Xiangrong. She put up a pretense in public but acted differently behind people’s backs. She raised Zhou Xiangrong up to be timid and weak, just like a maidservant who wasn’t presentable in public. On the rare occasions when the girl met Zhou Pei, she was also timid and apprehensive. Therefore, Zhou Pei did not like this daughter.

A while ago, Zhou Pei inexplicably fell ill. No matter how the doctor treated him, he simply could not recover. A fortune-teller said that there was someone in the residence who was a jinx to him, and he deduced that the person who was a jinx to him was Zhou Xiangrong. Madam An proposed to send Zhou Xiangrong away to live in a manor outside the city.

Barely a few days after Zhou Xiangrong left, Zhou Pei recovered from his illness. This made him believe that Zhou Xiangrong was really a jinx to him. After she was thrown out of the city, he had never asked about her welfare again, much less knew that she had left the premises.

Zhou Xiangrong lowered her eyes and said icily, “I go and pay my respects to Mother every year but Father probably doesn’t know about this.”

Zhou Pei really didn’t know. After all, he never cared about the girl’s life or death. If Marquis Qingyi hadn’t come to remind him of the betrothal agreement between the two families at the beginning of the year, he would have completely forgotten about his daughter.

In the back courtyard of the Zhou family, the maidservant in charge of passing the message hurriedly entered the inner hall and told Mrs. Marquis Madam An about the news of Zhou Xiangrong entering the residence together with Zhou Pei.

Madam An leaned back on the soft couch and her slender brows furrowed when she heard this. “Why is she back?”

“Mistress, I heard that Eldest Young Miss was sent back by the Imperial Guards, but I don’t know the exact reason.”

“Imperial Guards?” Madam An’s first thought was that Zhou Xiangrong had gotten into deep trouble. Otherwise, why would the Imperial Guards escort her back to Marquis Bo An’s Residence?

A sinister look flashed across Madam An’s eyes.. She could take advantage of this to finish her off completely!

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