When the Empress Dowager held her birthday banquet, she had planned to attend. Unfortunately, she had eaten something that disagreed with her the day before and suffered from diarrhea for two days. As a result, the task of playing the zither for the Empress Dowager had to be given to another musician.
If she had known that Yuan'er would get into trouble at the birthday banquet, be condemned by everyone, and have no one to stand up for her, she would have rushed there no matter what and protected her beloved disciple.
After the incident, she also found Su Yuanyuan and asked for her opinion.
If her beloved disciple was willing, she could disregard the Marquis Mansion and her status in the Imperial College, take her beloved disciple and flee far away, no longer caring about the trivial matters in Shengjing City.
But that child Yuan'er was too stubborn. She firmly believed in her innocence and that one day her relatives would notice something was wrong and come to the Lu Mansion to take her back in person.
Who would have thought that what awaited her was Lu Chuan's conviction and sudden death.
Bai Jun thought that after learning of their daughter's death, the Marquis of Pingyang and Lady Tong would be heartbroken and try every means to preserve Su Yuanyuan's body. However, what made her even more angry was Su Zeqian - the elder brother whom her beloved disciple always talked about and respected. He actually ordered her body to be thrown into the mass grave.
When Bai Jun heard this news from her servant, she wished she could rush to the Marquis of Pingyang and stab those heartless people to death.
But in the end, she chose to rush to the mass grave to collect her beloved disciple's body.
Unexpectedly, when she arrived at the mass grave, she couldn't find her beloved disciple's body no matter how hard she searched. That child's body had been taken away by someone.
Shengjing City was indeed extremely prosperous and full of opportunities. But it was full of noble families and powerful clans. Human feelings and family ties were weak, and all relationships were based on interests. Over the years in the Imperial College, she had seen it all. Her once lively heart had completely cooled down with the death of her beloved disciple.
Therefore, she resolutely resigned and left Shengjing, a city devoid of human warmth, wandering aimlessly in the world in search of the meaning to continue living.
In the past six months or so, she didn't know how many cities she had passed through, how many beautiful sceneries she had seen, and how many delicious foods she had tasted. But there was always a void in her heart that could never be filled.
She knew it was because she would never see that unrestrained face again, hear that silver - bell - like laughter, or hear the young girl playfully call her "Master".
A gust of wind blew by. Bai Jun felt a chill on her cheek. She raised her hand to wipe it and found that she was already in tears.
She didn't know that since she angrily appeared to scold those young men, her every move had been seen by Cang Xuan, who was hiding in the dark. After lowering his eyes and pondering for a moment, Cang Xuan's figure quietly disappeared into the crowd again.
Bai Jun carried her zither and walked towards the city gate of Chenzhou City.
The rumors related to her beloved disciple had spread to Chenzhou City. She didn't want to stay in this place for a single moment longer.
At this moment, she heard the common people passing by her talking.
"I heard that a young girl with extraordinary zither skills has appeared in Shengjing City recently. She can reproduce the piece 'Wild Geese Settling on the Sandbar' after just listening to it once. Even Miss Qiu Han, the leading zither player of the Shangle Workshop, is willing to admit defeat."
"I've heard about this too! But what I heard is different from what you heard. I heard that her zither skills are even better than those of Su Yuanyuan, the legitimate daughter of the Marquis of Pingyang, who was once a disciple of Mr. Shanyin."
"If she had come to Shengjing earlier, Mr. Shanyin probably wouldn't have taken a fancy to that vicious legitimate daughter of the Marquis of Pingyang's Mansion at all."
Bai Jun clenched her fists, turned around, and stopped the person who was talking about this. She asked coldly, "Whose daughter is the girl you just mentioned?"
The man was stunned for a moment, his eyes evasive. He replied, "S - seems to be the legitimate daughter of the Duke of Yong's Mansion."
Bai Jun turned around and left. "Thanks!"
Reproduce after just listening to it once? Even better than Yuan'er?
She was going to see exactly where this stinky girl who dared to be compared with her beloved disciple came from! The only person who was qualified to be her disciple was Su Yuanyuan!
After she left, the few common people who had been talking beside her rushed into a dark alley and said to Cang Xuan, "Brother, we've said those words beside that woman as you told us. Hehe, now you can give us the rest of the silver, right?"
Cang Xuan threw the money bag in his hand to them and said, "You did a good job."
Grabbing the money bag, the few people gathered together and opened it. They all exclaimed in unison, "Wow!"
When they looked up again, Cang Xuan's figure was no longer in the dark alley.
Bai Jun was angrily about to leave the city gate and head for Shengjing with her zither on her back when she was soon stopped.
The ones who stopped her were Zhang Qiu, the leader of the Wang Family's caravan, and the manager of the Chenzhou branch.
Trying to suppress his excitement, Zhang Qiu bowed to Bai Jun and explained his intention.
He intended to invite Bai Jun to the branch of the shop in the name of the Wang Family.
Bai Jun originally didn't intend to pay attention to these two people. But when she heard their backgrounds, she asked, "When will you return to the capital?"
Zhang Qiu was overjoyed and replied, "In three days."
Bai Jun nodded, her face cold. "I'll go with you."
...
Shengjing.
The news that Su Yuanyuan and Wei Linlang were learning martial arts spread throughout the Duke of Yong's Mansion within three days.
After hearing this news, Su Huaiyuan and Su Huaisheng rushed into Su Yuanyuan's Mingzhu Courtyard in a hurry and found Su Yuanyuan, looking aggrieved.
"Yuanbao, why do you suddenly want to learn martial arts? Did Second Brother do something wrong to make you unhappy?"
Su Yuanyuan was completely confused. "Why would Second Brother say that?"
Su Huaiyuan looked around, stepped forward, and lifted the stone table in the yard. He said, "Second Brother is highly skilled in martial arts and can definitely protect Yuanbao! Yuanbao can leave your safety to Second Brother! A few days ago, Second Brother also gave that young master of the Marquis of Pingyang's Mansion a good beating for you!"
Su Yuanyuan choked on a sip of tea and coughed violently. The maid quickly came forward to pat her on the back to help her catch her breath.
After finally calming down, Su Yuanyuan looked shocked. "Second Brother, what did you just say? You... beat the young master of the Marquis of Pingyang?"
Su Huaiyuan put down the stone table, sat down opposite Su Yuanyuan, and said proudly, "Yes. That scoundrel dared to push you in Fuxing Temple. Second Brother couldn't swallow this anger, so he put a sack on him and gave him a good beating."
After saying that, he suddenly felt a little guilty. Su Huaiyuan pointed at Su Huaisheng standing beside him and added, "Your Third Brother was also involved! He put the sack on him! There was also poison in the sack... Wuwuwu!"
Seeing something was wrong, Su Huaisheng immediately stepped forward to cover Second Brother's mouth and whispered, "Don't let Yuanbao know that we originally planned to deal with that traitor."
Su Yuanyuan didn't notice the actions of her two brothers. She just remembered what she had seen when she went out yesterday.
No wonder she always felt that Su Zeqian's walking posture was a bit strange when she saw him outside the Prince of Cangjun's Mansion yesterday. It turned out that he had been beaten.
Thinking that she had even instructed two maids to throw two stinky eggs at him, Su Yuanyuan covered her forehead and couldn't help laughing out loud. The laughter became louder and louder.
It was retribution! Truly retribution!
"Good job!" Su Yuanyuan said to Su Huaiyuan. "Second Brother and Third Brother did a great job!"