Scent Of Time

Chapter 49

Zhong Xiwu sent me back to the Hua Mansion. When he had just left, Cui Zhu pounced on me. She should have heard the news. Her eyes were red, and she seemed to be crying.

“Miss, please save Guard Hua! Someone must be ……” Cui Zhu kneeled and pulled my sleeve.

“Cui Zhu, leave me alone.” I looked at her and said weakly.

Qian Zhi saw that my face was not right and hurriedly joined Yin Xing in pulling Cui Zhu away despite her struggles. I walked alone to the house and collapsed on the bed. The bracelet I held tightly rolled to the ground and landed with a thud at the bottom of the bed. However, after only a few moments of silence, Qian Zhi came in, saying that Mu Yao sent someone to send a letter. I took it, opened it, and this time, the envelope fell quietly.

Why did everything come together?

“Go throw out that ‘house slave’ in the woodshed. It’s a waste of food to keep him.” I spoke.

Qian Zhi froze for a moment before withdrawing with her head bowed.

That night, one more person was in my room, and I lit the oil lamp before speaking, “You were released and didn’t hurry to run. What are you doing here again? Revenge?”

Wu Shuomo had changed his clothes and looked energetic: “The incident in the banquet is my negligence and carelessness, resulting in someone inserting a foot and assassinating your family member.”

“You also think that my elder brother was unlucky to be harmed by someone muddling through, right?” I asked woodenly.

Wu Shuomo lowered his head and said, “It is my fault. I indirectly harmed your elder brother.”

“Then do you know that Hua Shen died because he blocked a sword for me?” I ignored his words and spoke again.

Wu Shuomo raised his head with surprise in his eyes, “I don’t know ……”

“Yeah. Even you, one of the masterminds behind the scenes, don’t know anything. Why would anyone know?” I laughed. The sound of my laughter seemed particularly creepy in the darkness.

The mid-autumn banquet was a mess. Everyone was busy defending themselves. Where did people have time to pay attention to others? Because of his sadness, Minister Hua never mentioned this matter to the public. The Empress Dowager thought that the assassins were assassinating the royal family and implicating Hua Shen. Wu Shuomo thought that someone was purposely mixing in to target the Hua Family, so why would someone not be surprised in the slightest and not even ask a single question when they heard that the target of the assassination was me?

“This matter is my fault. I can not argue. Vent your grievances to me, but don’t implicate her.” Wu Shuomo spoke with some hesitation.

I collected my smile and said, “Why didn’t you take her directly? Don’t you like her? Why let her stay?”

With a relieved smile, Wu Shuomo once again said, “She has chosen, and I respect her.”

“Respect her choice?……” I spoke, “Then, help me kill someone, and I will not bother her.”

“I won’t get involved in your business anymore.” Wu Shuomo refused before warning, “I owe you, but if you disturb Mu Yao in the future, I won’t stand by and watch.”

It was silent for a long time before I spoke, “Then remember that you owe me a huge favor, and I will find you to ask for it one day.”

Wu Shuomo seemed relieved before he spoke, “Okay. I’ll wait for you to come and ask.”

After Wu Shuomo left, I blew out the oil lamp, lying on the bed wide-eyed without sleep. On the second day, I stayed closed-door for several days. The first one who couldn’t stand it was Cui Zhu. She took advantage of Qian Zhi and Yin Xing’s absence to jump in front of me and kowtow desperately. Looking at her bruised forehead red, I spoke, “I know you like Hua Rongzhou, but this time, the matter is not simple.”

“No, Miss. I come to ask for forgiveness.” Cui Zhu stared with her red eyes and spoke.

Before I could react, I heard her continue, “I made a mistake before. Please punish me, Miss.”

“You don’t have to ……” I was about to stop her when her following words made me freeze.

She said, “Guard Hua—he likes Miss. He always liked Miss. I knew this from the beginning and later did many wrong things because of that. I told Mu Side Consort about Young Master Hua’s position so she had the opportunity to design it. There was also the mid-autumn banquet. I took advantage of the chaos to retain Guard Hua so the assassins could knock you out and take you away.”

I had difficulty breathing and an ached heart, without knowing who it was for. Was it the aftermath of blocking the arrow for Zhong Yelan?

Cui Zhu continued to cry: “Because of my selfishness, I did countless small actions and disloyal. Miss, you can beat or kill me. I have no complaints, but Guard Hua– has always treated Miss more important than his own life. He risked his life several times, so no matter what the outsiders say, he has never harmed you. I can guarantee it with my life. I’m begging you, save him.”

Looking at Cui Zhu’s forehead, which was almost dripping blood, I spoke, “You get up.”

Cui Zhu remained still and begged me to punish her. I turned around and went back to the inner room. Rummaging under the bed, I found the bracelet that I had thrown down a few days ago. I wore it and then went out again.

I told the still-kowtowing Cui Zhu, “Go with me to the prison.”

Ignoring Cui Zhu’s joyful appearance, I raised my steps and walked out, and she hurriedly followed. The officer was reluctant to let me see Hua Rongzhou at first. When he saw me insist, he eventually let me in, but only me. It was the second time I’d come to the cell; the first time was for Hua Shen, and it was as damp and cold as ever. Along with the jailer, I walked in front of a cell. I saw a person lying on the ground inside, clad in sackcloth. When I walked in, the figure moved, tightened the burlap draped over his body, and sat up, revealing that familiar face.

“Miss, you’re here.” Hua Rongzhou seemed to have regained his pitiful appearance, looking at me like a puppy. I squatted down and stretched my hand to gather his hair, but he inclined his head to avoid it.

“Dirty.” Hua Rongzhou whispered.

With a pain in my chest, I cupped his face with both hands and said, “It’s not dirty, it’s not dirty at all.”

Hua Rongzhou froze momentarily and then bloomed into a bright smile.

“Your surname isn’t Hua, right?” I sat down beside him and asked.

Hua Rongzhou’s gaze visibly shrunk before he nodded.

“Then why did you say your last name is Hua?” I ask.

“Because of Miss.”

I froze and met his eyes as he said, “I …… didn’t want my previous surname, so I didn’t use a surname. I gave myself a surname after I met Miss.”

Hua Rongzhou looked at me with devotion and said, word by word, “Take your surname as mine.”

My eyes were sore. I knocked his head and said, “Stupid! That’s a saying only for women.”

“I don’t care.” Hua Rongzhou’s eyes were blazing like never before.

I avoided his gaze before speaking, “Why don’t you like the previous surname? Why did you kill — that rich Li businessman? And how did the bracelet come about?”

I spread out my hand, and the bracelet lay in my palm.

Hua Rongzhou bowed before speaking, “So Miss knows all. Why do you still ask me?”

“Because I want to hear you say it.” I straightened his body and made him look at me. But I heard him let out a cold breath instead. I froze, then reached out and lifted the linen cloth he was in and saw bruises and whip wounds all over his body.

“They dare to beat you?” I immediately felt furious, got up, and was going to go to the jailer. However, he pulled my sleeve.

Hua Rongzhou looked at me and asked, “Miss doesn’t want to listen to me?”

After weighing my options, I held my breath and sat back down.

Only then did Hua Rongzhou speak, “Miss had asked me if I hated that rich family, and I said that I didn’t hate them anymore, but Miss didn’t listen to the second half of my sentence because I had …… killed him.”

Even though I heard it from Zhong Xiwu, my heart still tightened.

Hua Rongzhou continued, “I was born in the countryside. My father was a poor scholar, and my mother took care of the family. When I was five years old, my mother collapsed from exhaustion but had no money to buy medicine, so — she died. The next year, my father married someone else, and then she gave him a child. When I was ten, there was a famine, and the woman urged my father to sell me. She told me that I was born well, which made her choose to sell me. My brother, who was not born well, could not be sold at a good price.”

Quietly listening to him say, I did not interrupt. That must be a harrowing childhood.

“I never complained but decided I wouldn’t use the surname Qi again. But that woman was jealous of my father, who often remembered my deceased mother, so she sold me to — merchant Li. That old man — who bought me is a pervert who likes to molest boys.”