Chapter 6: Chapter Six: A Midnight Ambush

"What are you doing hiding here?!"

Cheng Qiuluo's sharp gaze scrutinized the person before her.

"Sneaking around — what mischief are you up to now?!"

Cheng Jiuyue stuck out her neck and shouted at her defiantly.

"Who's sneaking around? Weren't you the ones boiling water? I came to get hot water!"

Cheng Qiuluo curled her lip and said irritably.

"No. If you want hot water, boil it yourself!"

Cheng Jiuyue snorted and turned to run off.

"Fine, keep it then — who wants it anyway!"

Behind her, Cheng Qiuruo gazed at her retreating back, lost in thought.

She actually didn't throw a tantrum this time?

Cheng Jiuyue hurried back to the room where they were staying.

She shut the door, patted her chest — her heart was pounding fiercely.

Earlier, she had seen Cheng Yu'an alone outside and followed her, originally intending to snatch a couple more tasty candies from her hand, but she never expected to see…

"Where's the hot water? You useless girl — you can't even handle such a simple task, what good are you at all?!"

Zhao Shi, her cheeks flushed red, pushed open the door; the moment she entered and saw no hot water, she immediately began cursing loudly.

"Mother, Cheng Yu'an…"

Zhao Shi jabbed her forehead hard with one finger.

"Cheng Yu'an, Cheng Yu'an — all you ever do is fixate on Cheng Yu'an. Comparing yourself to her all day long — you don't have the fate of a young lady, but you've certainly picked up the temper and airs of one!"

"How did I ever give birth to such a useless thing! Why couldn't you have been…"

"A boy?!"

Cheng Jiuyue let out a cold laugh and cut in.

"Why couldn't I have been a son?!"

Then she let out another cold laugh.

"Right, if only I were a boy — I could go to the execution ground with Father to have my head chopped off, and I wouldn't get in the way of you seducing the Jiedai, or hold up your plans to remarry, would I!"

"Slap!"

"Ungrateful wretch!"

Zhao Shi swung a slap across her face, trembling all over with rage.

"Everything I've done — who was it all for?!"

"Everything you've eaten and drunk along the way, I schemed and scrounged to get for you! And you don't even know to be grateful — on top of that, you dare speak to me like that?!"

"Truly an ungrateful wolf!"

Cheng Jiuyue lowered her head and rolled her eyes.

For whom?

Wasn't it just to find yourself another support for the second half of your life?

And yet you still put on that act of a helpless mother sacrificing herself for her daughter — you speak it even better than you sing it!

Disgusting!

You've probably fooled even yourself with your own act, haven't you?

But she didn't dare say any of this aloud — after all, if she truly provoked her mother to the point of fury and her mother abandoned her in a fit, leaving her here, her life from then on would surely be miserable.

"Mother, please don't be angry. Your daughter knows she was wrong."

"I originally went to fetch hot water, but my stomach was upset, and when I went to relieve myself, I ran into Cheng Yu'an."

At this point, she scrunched up her face.

"I saw that Cheng Yu'an seemed to be… standing up to pee."

Zhao Shi sprang to her feet abruptly.

"What?!"

She stared fixedly at Cheng Jiuyue.

"Are you certain?"

Cheng Jiuyue thought it over carefully, first nodding, then shaking her head.

"I only saw Cheng Yu'an standing there the whole time — I didn't see anything else."

"And every time Cheng Yu'an goes to relieve herself, someone from the Cheng Family always accompanies her. There must be something fishy here!"

Zhao Shi paced back and forth across the room several times, muttering under her breath nonstop.

"Even if Cheng Yu'an is the Pingnan Marquis's only child, the Cheng Family's treatment of her is far too meticulous and cautious. They hardly ever let outsiders near her — even the Imperial Physician has been kept in the residence since Tian Qin was pregnant…"

"But if Cheng Yu'an were a boy, everything would make perfect sense."

At this thought, Zhao Shi's eyes turned venomous.

How wonderful!

The Cheng Family actually dares to deceive the Emperor!

The Pingnan Marquis Residence clearly has a boy, yet they let her husband Guangzu serve as the scapegoat!

The mother and daughter, each lost in her own thoughts, neither noticed two figures — one large, one small — flash past outside the window.

Zhao Shi hurried out of the room.

She had to tell He Qiang about this!

A sudden rumble of thunder sounded from the edge of the sky.

Right after that, it started to rain.

In the room on the other side, Yu'an took out two more bottles of Huoxiang Zhengqi Water.

"Great-grandmother, it's time to take your medicine."

Cheng Old Madam smiled and shook her head.

"Great-grandmother is much better now. Put that medicine away."

Suddenly, a flurry of urgent knocking sounded at the door.

"Old Madam!"

Cheng Qiuruo went to open the door, and Xu Shi rushed in with her daughter.

"Old Madam, Jiuling and I just overheard Zhao Jiaojiao and her daughter talking—they suspect Yu'an is a boy!"

"What?!"

Tian Qin shot to her feet in panic, and the ceramic bowl in her hand dropped to the floor and shattered.

Cheng Old Madam glanced at her, her tone as calm as ever.

"Sit down. Don't panic!"

Then she looked toward Cheng Qiuluo, a murderous glint in her eyes.

"Qiuluo, Yao Tou, you go."

During these days of exile, she had thought a great deal. Though the Pingnan Marquis Residence did not have as many descendants as other high officials and nobles in the Capital, its strength lay in being united of one heart, facing outward together.

On ordinary days the Marquis Residence was heavily guarded; there was no way anyone could have slipped in unnoticed. Whatever was hidden beneath the Ancestral Hall must have been placed there by someone within the Residence.

And not long ago, Zhao Jiaojiao's ornaments seemed to have increased quite a bit…

Moreover, these past days she had been making one little move after another. With her courage, she wouldn't dare do anything without someone backing her.

Most likely among this group of Jiedai, there is a spy planted by that person?

She had originally planned to keep them around for now and play along with their scheme, but now that Zhao Shi and her daughter have discovered Yu'an's secret, they cannot be left alive!

Cheng Qiuluo had just run to the doorway when a great shout rang out from outside, mingled with the clang-clang-clang of blades drawn from their sheaths.

"Enemy attack! Someone is here to free the prisoners!"

"Hold them! Don't let any of the Cheng family escape!"

Cheng Qiuluo ran back to the room in two or three strides and took her place beside Cheng Old Madam and Yu'an.

"Grandmother, something's happened outside!"

The next moment, another great shout came from outside.

"No—it's bandits!"

"They're going after the villagers!"

Hearing this, Cheng Old Madam sprang to her feet, strode quickly to the door, and shouted through the curtain of rain at Wu Meng.

"Colonel Wu may rest assured—we have the ability to protect ourselves. Not one of the Cheng Family Army is a deserter, and we will never become fugitives! Please, Colonel Wu, hurry and take the men to rescue the villagers. If you're truly uneasy, just leave a few behind to keep watch!"

Wu Meng looked at them deeply, then picked two Jiedai to stay behind and led the rest off to rescue the villagers.

Meanwhile, An Luo had just gotten home and was sorting through the big and small packages she'd brought back from the Bian Li Dian, planning to have Zaituan take them tomorrow, when her phone suddenly buzzed and buzzed without stopping.

She picked it up and saw the display:

Zaituan is in danger!!!

An Luo was greatly alarmed and hurriedly tapped into the Live Stream Room.

She saw several masked bandits smash through the window, sword tips aimed straight at the Cheng family.

Cheng Qiuluo snatched up a broom and went to meet them, while Wang Shi and Tian Shi, who knew martial arts, raised stools and smashed them at the men in black.

Cheng Old Madam clutched Yu'an to her chest with one hand and retreated toward the door, holding her cane up in front of her with the other.

But in the courtyard, the Jiedai were also dealing with the bandits who had burst in.

Suddenly, a bandit leapt down from the wall, sword raised, charging straight at Cheng Old Madam's back.

"Pomo, look out!"

"Great-grandmother!"

The Cheng family women hurried toward them, but it was already too late.

Looking at Cheng Old Madam so close at hand, a flash of triumph crossed the masked bandit's eyes.

Just one more inch forward—what of it if she was a heroine?

Such a legendary figure would still die by his sword, wouldn't she?

From this day on, he would no longer be a nobody!

But the next instant, all the triumph in his eyes turned to terror.

A strange force had stopped him!

His sword halted less than half an inch from Cheng Old Madam, unable to advance even a hair's breadth.

How could this be?!

Seeing this, Yu'an let out a breath of relief, and the heart that had risen to her throat slowly settled back down.

It must be Fairy Sister!