Chapter 21: Parting
◎ you can’t escape me◎
Madam Zhan, having never experienced great storms, had worked as a servant in a wealthy household and was naturally skilled in observing people’s expressions.
After noticing something was wrong with Mu Jiaojiao, she quickly informed her son of what she knew.
If her concealment caused her son to miss something, she knew she would lose him forever.
His inherent pride and stubbornness were innate, completely different from her kind and weak nature.
She handed him the booklet and told him what her elder sister, Madam Chen, had said about Mu Jiaojiao entering the palace as a palace maid. She watched as her son’s already cold face grew even colder.
Even she felt the pressure of his aura. She braced herself and tried to persuade him, “Son, Mother knows you like Miss Mu, but…”
Before she could finish, Zhan Qiyu interrupted, “Mother, I’m fine. You go back and rest.”
His anger turned into a smile at the corners of his mouth. Zhan Qiyu felt like a joke, a huge joke.
So she was so eager to settle him down so she could enter the palace?
After closing the door, he lit an oil lamp and began to read. Even if she was a palace maid, so what?
He would try to fight for her. As long as she hadn’t entered the palace, there was always a chance.
In Mu Jiaojiao’s boudoir, she didn’t sleep soundly. She tossed and turned several times, feeling like someone was watching her in the darkness.
At the most tense moment, she opened her eyes in a cold sweat, only to meet a pair of deep, bottomless black eyes.
It was her Zhan Da Ge (older brother Zhan). It was a dream.
Even in her dream, she smiled at Zhan Da Ge, “Zhan Da Ge, why are you in my dream?”
The girl sat up, causing the collar of her undergarment to loosen, revealing a piece of pink bellyband. The embroidered patterns were blurred, mixed with the fragrant scent of the room, carrying a thousand strands of temptation.
The man was cold, his bottomless black eyes radiating endless coldness. His words were even colder.
“Do you want to be a consort in the palace?”
This made Mu Jiaojiao momentarily unable to react. Her first reaction was that she didn’t want to, but she instinctively felt she shouldn’t tell the truth.
Since she had decided to deceive herself, she had to deceive herself to the end.
Even in her dream, she wouldn’t tell the truth.
“Yes, I want to be a consort in the palace and enjoy wealth and honor.”
Her eyes lacked luster, only containing fatigue, making people feel pity, but the man beside the bed was filled with raging anger.
The spring scenery before him was like gnawing pain to him, leaving him momentarily at a loss.
He didn’t say anything more, just flicked a pinch of powder in front of her. Before she fainted, he caught her body and placed her on the bed.
For a long time, he lifted one of her hands, his cold kiss pressing against it, repeatedly sucking on her body temperature, finally saying, “You can’t escape me.”
Mu Jiaojiao, you have become an inseparable part of me. To leave, I’d have to die.
After the tall and slender man closed the woman’s room door, he sprinkled some powder along the edge of the Mu family’s well before calmly disappearing.
When he returned to his room, after undressing, he could finally sleep peacefully.
She couldn’t leave him.
The next morning, only three days away from their departure for the imperial city, Madam Mu was particularly concerned and went to her daughter’s room early in the morning.
Yesterday, she had already told her two sons that Mu Jiaojiao was going to the palace.
Mu Huan and Mu Yun were both surprised, especially Mu Yun, who immediately questioned whether his younger sister was willing.
“Mother, does Father know about this? Such a big matter should be discussed by the whole family.”
This angered Madam Mu. She knew they would object, so she didn’t tell anyone. But being openly questioned by her rebellious sons, she couldn’t hold back her anger.
“What can I do? The emperor has taken a liking to your sister, so we can only obediently send her to the palace.”
She shifted the blame to those selecting palace maids, never mentioning that she had bribed someone to secure the position.
But neither her sons nor her husband sided with her, leaving her in a very bad mood. She simply started throwing a tantrum at home.
“Who am I doing this for? Isn’t it for you two? You’re both unwilling to study and take the imperial examinations. How can you face the ancestors of the Mu family!”
But Mu Yun didn’t appreciate it. He sneered, “Mother, our Mu family ancestors were merchants, not officials. Why bother with this?”
Mu Huan didn’t dare say anything, but since his mother said she sacrificed his sister for him, he also felt uncomfortable, agreeing with his younger brother, “Mother, you should know whether you’re doing this for us or your own face.”
A vase in the hall was pushed over and shattered. Madam Mu, in a fit of anger, threw the vase.
Her well-maintained face was distorted with anger. She shouted at her two sons, “Get out! Pretend I never gave birth to you two bastards!”
After her two sons left, Madam Mu began to cry. She felt like a failure, having raised two such rebellious sons.
The nanny comforted her, saying that the young masters didn’t understand yet, but they would understand later.
Madam Mu was angry all night and went to see her daughter early in the morning. As long as her daughter understood her, it would be fine.
When Mu Jiaojiao saw her mother, she didn’t show any abnormality, smiling and acting spoiled, saying that her cold had healed.
Madam Mu asked the maids and servants to leave and personally combed her daughter’s hair and dressed her.
She hadn’t looked at her daughter properly for a long time. She was as beautiful as a fairy. When she was a child, her father doted on her endlessly.
When Mu Ming was young, he always let his daughter ride on his back, doting on her immensely.
It was from then on that Mu Ming increasingly liked Madam Mu. She never knew it was Mu Jiaojiao’s birth that made her the center of his affection for over a decade.
From then on, Mu Ming wanted to give his two sons and one daughter a good life.
Madam Mu combed her hair and carefully styled it, a hairstyle said to be the latest fashion among the young ladies in the capital. It looked truly beautiful on her daughter.
After combing her hair, she chose clothes for her. The green dress looked so beautiful on Mu Jiaojiao that Madam Mu couldn’t stop admiring her.
“Jiaojiao, you’re truly beautiful.”
Praised for her beauty by her mother, Mu Jiaojiao quickly held her mother’s hand, “Mother, it’s you who made your daughter so beautiful.”
Although in her previous life, she was sent to the palace by her mother and suffered a lot, she understood her mother, because not only she, but many others were sent in this way.
Only by experiencing it firsthand would one know how high the threshold of the royal family was. The aspirations of ordinary people to rise to prominence were merely wishful thinking.
This made Madam Mu very pleased, at least her daughter understood her.
After dressing her daughter, she took her to eat, and then strolled around the courtyards of their home, instructing her to never forget her family and home.
Mu Jiaojiao agreed to everything, but in the end, she made a request, “Mother, I won’t take Shan Cha to the palace. She doesn’t understand the rules of the palace. Assign someone else instead.”
Madam Mu naturally agreed without hesitation and immediately asked her senior maid to accompany her.
Shan Cha remained silent, her eyes like walnuts. She had cried a lot yesterday, but she was willing to follow her young lady’s arrangements.
Before Mu Jiaojiao left, she would ask for Shan Cha’s deed of sale, so she could go wherever she wanted.
Shan Cha said that she would continue to repay her kindness to her young lady and go to the Zhan family.
Madam Mu also felt a little reluctant, after all, sixteen years of upbringing had created real affection. She prepared a lot of gold and silver for her daughter’s journey, hoping she could make a name for herself.
The Mu family truly depended on her.
The sixteen-year-old girl showed a maturity beyond her age. She agreed to her mother’s unreasonable requests, but her heart felt cold.
Once they parted, they would be separated by mountains and rivers, never to meet again.
After Madam Mu returned contentedly, Mu Jiaojiao returned to her room alone, and after closing the door, she silently cried.
She really didn’t want to enter the palace.
As she cried, a small red rash appeared on her neck and cheeks.
Not only Mu Jiaojiao, but several young men and women in Yanhua Town also developed these inconspicuous small red rashes. With the hot weather and many mosquitoes, no one took it seriously.
Only Zhan Qiyu seemed unaffected, walking out of the inn, seriously reviewing the lessons Master Guan had taught him today. But halfway through, he passed by the entrance of the Huichun Hall where he had once been treated.
He let out a near-sarcastic sneer and continued walking home. This time, he would keep the woman he loved, even if it meant sacrificing someone.
Halfway there, A Liu quietly appeared. He had been busy all day and his lips were dry. Zhan Qiyu took out a water pouch and gave it to him.
A Liu drank the water before reporting on today’s situation.
“What the Chen family said is true. As for that Qin Feng Hang, he’s not a good person. I caught the doctor who treated Chen Xing’er. She wasn’t pregnant.”
These were side matters. Zhan Qiyu couldn’t do anything to Mu Jiaojiao, but he wouldn’t be merciful to these people.
He was best at inflicting mental pain. Since they thought their lives were too good, he would give them something to do.
The two of them returned home to eat as if nothing had happened. Madam Zhan, seeing that her son didn’t seem to react, finally felt relieved.
She served her son food, but still felt that the house was a little lonely. She thought that she should ask around for well-behaved girls in the neighborhood. More people in the house could lead to a blossoming romance.
Although it was impossible to find someone as beautiful and virtuous as Mu Jiaojiao, her son still needed emotional support.
Looking at her son’s handsome features, she was slightly relieved.
At this time, she had no idea that her black sesame dumpling-personality son was about to stir up an unseen storm of blood and rain in this small town.