Chapter 97: Pleading for Mercy
Shi Hao, his heart pounding, leaned against the wall and peeked into the main hall.
He saw Du Yuejiao, dressed in a beautiful green Daoist robe embroidered with bamboo flowers, sitting on a chair, holding a doll on her lap.
The pink and white rainbow robe, the wooden hairpin, the embroidered shoes… It was the Emerald Beauty.
And as he looked at the doll, he felt its black gemstone eyes, gleaming with a sinister light, looking back at him.
A chill ran down his spine.
He had been so relieved when the doll had disappeared.
But it had simply followed Yuejiao?
A sense of foreboding washed over him.
And the doll’s gaze, fixed on him, radiated malice.
He suddenly understood. This creepy doll had never intended to leave him.
It had simply taken a detour, using those close to him to reach him.
“Sister Yuejiao!” Yue Ya’er, her back to Shi Hao, sat at the head of the rosewood table, looking at Du Yuejiao, “What do you need my help with?”
Du Yuejiao said softly, “I need you to release someone.”
Yue Ya’er said, surprised, “Release someone?” She instinctively glanced back.
Du Yuejiao said, “This is my aunt, the acting head of the Brocade Cloud Sword Pavilion. Her son, my cousin, Fang Yu, was apparently captured by your men last night.”
A woman in elegant attire stepped forward and bowed, “My son is… unruly. I’ll discipline him when he returns. Please, Miss, show him mercy.”
Yue Ya’er, confused, looked at Du Yuejiao, “Fang Yu? Your cousin? Captured by my men?”
Du Yuejiao, slightly embarrassed, leaned closer and whispered, “My aunt said he was captured at a place called the Leopard Palace. I don’t know what kind of place that is, but his attendants were afraid to tell her what happened.
“They only knew he had been arrested by the authorities. They tried to have him released through his friends, but it didn’t work. They were afraid, so they finally told my aunt. She tried everything, using all her connections in the Chongxian Sect and the government, but no one could help.”
“Then she found out he was captured by your men, Miss Yue. No one in the city government dared to interfere. She heard I know you, so she came to me. I just found out about this and brought her here immediately.”
Yue Ya’er said, “Oh… I see.” She jumped up, walked outside, and snapped her fingers.
Two Jin warriors appeared and bowed, “Miss.”
Yue Ya’er asked, “Did we capture anyone last night?”
The two said, “We captured a few troublemakers.”
Yue Ya’er asked, “Was there one named Fang Yu, from… some pavilion?” She looked back.
Madam Wan quickly said, “Brocade Cloud Sword Pavilion!”
Yue Ya’er turned back to the two warriors, “Anyone surnamed Fang, from the Brocade Cloud Sword Pavilion?”
One of them said, “There was one. He was drunk and causing trouble, claiming to be the young master of the Brocade Cloud Sword Pavilion, boasting about his connections in the Chongxian Sect and the government, threatening us.
“He even tried to attack us, so our men beat him up and threw him in jail. He’s in the high-security cell.”
Yue Ya’er said, “Bring him here.” She returned to the hall.
Sitting back down, she whispered to Du Yuejiao, “Do you know what kind of place the Leopard Palace is?”
Du Yuejiao said hesitantly, “Well…” She had never heard of it before, but she could guess it wasn’t a respectable establishment.
Yue Ya’er leaned closer and whispered a few words in her ear. Du Yuejiao’s eyes widened.
Moments later, the two Jin warriors brought a young man into the hall.
Du Yuejiao looked at the young man and whispered, “Cousin…”
The young man, his head lowered, his demeanor dejected, didn’t dare look at her.
“You useless brat!” Madam Wan grabbed a stick and began beating him, “I told you to behave! I told you to stay away from those places! I told you to focus on your training! You never learn! You’re just like your good-for-nothing father, going to those places and getting yourself arrested!”
“Look at your cousin, seventh-rank at such a young age, and look at you, a useless waste! Why are you so incompetent?!”
Madam Wan, the acting head of the Brocade Cloud Sword Pavilion, herself a seventh-rank expert, although using a wooden stick, beat him mercilessly.
Fang Yu, terrified of his mother since childhood, cried and rolled on the floor, “I’m sorry, Mother! I won’t do it again!”
Madam Wan continued beating him, ignoring the others present, “Even a pig would be more useful than you! If I had another son, I would have let you die! At least a pig is just lazy, not a good-for-nothing like you!”
“And those useless friends of yours! Next time, I’ll let you rot in jail! Just like your father! And you dare to boast about being the young master of the pavilion? You have no shame!”
Du Yuejiao hurriedly pulled her away, pleading, “Aunt, please, stop it.”
Yue Ya’er chuckled, “Beat him! He deserves it! Any man who goes to a place like that is no good.”
Du Yuejiao, seeing her adding fuel to the fire, quickly said, “Sister Yue,” and pulled Madam Wan aside, trying to calm her down.
Madam Wan’s chest heaved with anger as Fang Yu huddled in a corner, crying.
After a few more curses, she finally threw the stick aside and thanked Yue Ya’er profusely, offering her a generous gift, then grabbed her son’s ear and dragged him away, still scolding him.
Du Yuejiao, embarrassed, exchanged a few words with Yue Ya’er and then quickly left.
After they left, Yue Ya’er smiled, “Your lover is gone.”
Shi Hao stepped out of the side room, looking out at the darkness, lost in thought.
Yue Ya’er, hands on her hips, asked, “Are you going to chase after her?”
Shi Hao’s mind raced. He did want to follow her, but with Du Yuejiao, her aunt, and her cousin together, he couldn’t do anything now.
And having agreed to be Yue Ya’er’s bodyguard, suddenly leaving would be suspicious.
I’ll discuss this with Xiaoyan tomorrow, he thought.
He turned and smiled, “No, let her go.”
Yue Ya’er looked at him skeptically.
That night, in her room, Yue Ya’er had her maidservants prepare a bedroll on the floor.
She said she was too scared to sleep alone after the assassination attempt, afraid that another assassin would attack her in her sleep.
Once bitten by a snake, twice shy of a rope. It was a reasonable explanation.
“No peeking!” The rustling of clothes came from behind the lowered bed curtains.
Shi Hao thought, I’ve already seen everything I shouldn’t have during your bath.
Does she really think I’ll forget what I saw just because she tells me to?
Outside, the crescent moon hung in the sky, its faint light illuminating the windowsill.
Yue Ya’er, lying in bed, wrapped in the red covers, turned to look at him.
After a while, she whispered, “Do you… not like Sister Yuejiao?”
Shi Hao lay on the floor, looking up at the ornate ceiling, illuminated by the faint moonlight filtering through the window.
“Do you still like her?” the girl’s voice was laced with anxiety.
Shi Hao closed his eyes, “Let’s just sleep.”
After a while, a soft “oh” came from behind the curtains.
Late into the night, Du Yuejiao returned to her quarters at the Chongxian Sect’s Dàxīng City temple.
She had escorted her aunt home, who had continued berating her cousin along the way.
As far as Du Yuejiao could remember, her aunt had always been like this.
Perhaps she just wants him to be better… Du Yuejiao thought, having never experienced such harsh treatment herself.
Having been sent to the Chongxian Sect at a young age, she had little memory of her own parents.
Her master had essentially become her mother figure.
She had two younger brothers, but she had never met them.
She was originally from Jiangzhe, but she had left at the age of three and never returned.
Later, she had received news of her mother’s death, but she had been training in the Kun Zhen Courtyard at the time, a secluded area within the Chongxian Sect where disciples weren’t allowed to leave until they reached a certain level of cultivation.
She had been too young then. By the time she reached the ninth rank and was allowed to leave, her mother had been dead for six months.
Although she had no real memories of her mother, she was closer to her aunt, Wan Shuxian, who had married into the Brocade Cloud Sword Pavilion, a Chongxian Sect affiliate located in Dàxīng City.
She remembered her cousin, Fang Yu, being quite different in his youth, diligent and dedicated to his training.
However, no matter how well he performed, her aunt always demanded more. Other children were always better, always more talented.
And any mistake, no matter how small, was met with harsh scolding and beatings, even in public.
Although Fang Yu was an eighth-rank martial artist, he still trembled whenever his mother picked up a stick.
And in the past few years, his martial arts progress had stagnated, even regressed, due to his association with bad company and his frequent visits to disreputable establishments. Du Yuejiao had heard rumors about his behavior.
In recent years, she had been cultivating at Ming Kun Monastery with her master and rarely returned to the Chongxian Sect’s main temple.
The few times she had returned and seen her aunt and cousin, she had only heard her aunt scolding Fang Yu, “Why can’t you be more like your cousin? Look at her, so talented, and look at you, useless…”
She always wanted to leave as quickly as possible…
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