No matter how Qiu Yelan refused and persuaded, Mrs. Zhou was determined to protect her to the end.
Mrs. Zhou even wanted to walk into the brocade curtain and lift up the bed-curtain to sit by the bed and show her loyalty to Qiu Yelan. Qiu Yelan was so scared that she allowed without the hint of the boy next to her.
And then, Mrs. Zhou blocked them while Su He took the beddings here. The grandmother together with her granddaughter made a shakedown in front of the south window and the door separately.
What made the two on the bed more in despair was that Mrs. Zhou still couldn’t rest assured when she slept there. Mrs. Zhou whispered to Su He, “Since we have served Commandery Princess the whole day, now we should not sleep too deeply that cannot notice if someone comes in!”
Then, no matter how Qiu Yelan persuaded, Mrs. Zhou was so clever that she took a belt to connect the door and window to her body. It ensured that if something happened in the two places, the belt would wake her up soon! Even if this belt was cut, the movement would wake her up.
What a loyal servant!
Qiu Yelan sighed deeply!
Qiu Yelan held her breath and stared at the top of the bed-curtain for a long time. Until she thought that Mrs. Zhou and Su He should fall asleep again, she carefully turned her head to look at the boy beside her. At the sight of him, she was stunned slightly. The boy was so handsome!
The boy was only fifteen or sixteen years old. His dashing eyebrows seemed like a sword, and his phoenix eyes were as light as stars. Under the dim light passing through the bed-curtain, his white face was like a beautiful flawless jade! The slightly pursed thin lips were as red as fresh flowers. He was so handsome that there was no one to match him!
Originally, since he was much more beautiful than ordinary people, it would make others have a sense of inferiority at the sight. But a helpless bitter smile on his face at the moment made him seem to be sociable.
When he saw Qiu Yelan turn her head, this bitter smile mixed with embarrassment became a little deeper.
“They’re asleep. Go quickly.” Although Qiu Yelan had developed a strength-based aesthetic in the last days, she was also shocked by the boy’s flawless appearance at this moment. And then she whispered, “You can go out through the rear window. It is behind the screen and locked from the inside. Just open it carefully.”
But when the boy heard it, his bitter smile became deeper. He whispered to her, “I was afraid my cousin would escape from the rear window. So, just before calling for her, I went to the back of the house and blocked all the rear windows from the outside.”
If you had not done this, you would not have been in such a situation.
Qiu Yelan suddenly remembered, “How did your cousin just go out? I saw her go towards the rear window!”
“She didn’t go out through the rear window but hid behind the screen. When your servants went to the courtyard to check together, she took the opportunity to slip out. While I…” The helpless expression in the boy’s eyes became clearer. He watched his cousin slip out, but he was unable to get out because he was in the bed, blocked by Qiu Yelan. In addition, he rushed to a girl’s bed and the girl covered him, and how could he just go away without any words?
But for such a little case, almost as soon as his cousin went out, Mrs. Zhou came back to report the trace on the wall of the courtyard!
Qiu Yelan sighed silently, “So what can you do?”
“…” The young boy asked tentatively. “Could you send your servants away on some pretext?”
“I wish I could. But as you saw just now, they are all afraid that I will be murdered. It will not work whatever pretext I use!” The corner of Qiu Yelan’s mouth jerked, “Don’t you have another choice?”
The boy thought for a while, “I can stun them in a moment, but…”
He didn’t finish yet. Suddenly there were some fierce gong sounds from outside!
The sounds came in the silent night so suddenly that almost scared Qiu Yelan to death!
Mrs. Zhou and Su He, who just fell asleep, jumped up at the same time!
“Your Grace?!” Mrs. Zhou and Su He looked at the bed-curtain first!
“I’m okay. It seems something happened outside?” Qiu Yelan didn’t know if she should breathe a sigh of relief or not. Just after she finished, someone outside already screamed out loudly, “Fire! Quick! Fire!”
Upon hearing this, Mrs. Zhou was shocked, “It seems to be right next to our yard?!”
Suddenly, an old maidservant scolded with her shrill voice, “What a cursed person who did harm to her parents and brother! In the daytime, Lady Yuqing was so kind that she did not beat her to death, and now she caused a fire in the house. What a cursed person! Doing harm to the whole family, you are doomed to be ulcerated and die in your boots!”
Su He was so angry that her face was pale, “Mrs. Li! How could she be so vicious?! Our Commandery Princess has been staying in the house, and she blamed us when there’s a fire outside?!”
“I’m afraid that there are some people who don’t believe that the list of two dowries is not with me.” Qiu Yelan said calmly with a cold look, “And they want to force me to run out with the list!”
Just now Mrs. Zhou slept without taking off her clothing. At this time, she put on her robe and said in a deep voice, “Your Grace, stay here and wait a moment. I will go out and have a look!” Before Qiu Yelan asked Su He to accompany her, Mrs. Zhou ordered Su He seriously, “Look after our Commandery Princess here! If I can’t stop them later, you should protect our Commandery Princess to your death. Do you remember?!”
Su He nodded seriously, “Grandma, please rest assured!”
As soon as Mrs. Zhou went out, Qiu Yelan quickly said to Su He, “Go outside and help Mrs. Zhou! Mrs. Zhou is getting on in years, and Mrs. Li sounds formidable. Don’t let Mrs. Zhou get the short end of the stick!”
Su He shook her head, “Grandma lets me look after you!”
When she just finished speaking, it was already noisy outside. The voices in argument even could not be covered by the sounds of gongs and the firefighting.
“Mrs. Sun! You should speak with conscience! My Commandery Princess has been staying in the room. You accidentally caused a fire yourself, and why should you scold my Commandery Princess?”
“I scolded a cursed person. You mean the one you serve is a cursed one?”
“You!”
“Mrs. Zhou, you see, Mrs. Sun has scolded here for a long time, but there is no other servant in other rooms coming out to argue for the master. Only you came here. It is because you are guilty, isn’t it?”
“You guys…”
“What’s wrong with us? What’s wrong with the words of Mrs. Sun? There is no fire in Prince’s Mansion before, let alone in the snowy day! As soon as your master came back, the fire came. If she did not cause it, who else should be to blame?! Tell me! Tell me! You tell me!”
“Go out and persuade Mrs. Zhou to come back.” Qiu Yelan’s face was pale with anger, and she said to Su He softly, “Mrs. Zhou is alone, and those people outside step on us together. The more Mrs. Zhou argues with them, the more difficulties she will face. If the fire is not coming towards us, let it go.”
Su He hesitated for a moment before she said, “Well… I go to call her in the corridor?”
Qiu Yelan breathed a sigh of relief. Under noises outside the window, she said to the boy beside her, “Prepare. Seize this opportunity!”
The boy whispered, “Thank you. There will be rewards in the future!”
But!
The next moment, Qiu Yelan shouted in amazement, “Why are you going out from the window?!”
The little maid, who carried a drum stool and was about to climb the window, explained with flushed cheeks, “I am afraid of the darkness, and the outside room did not have a light now. I… dare not go out from there.”
“…OK.” Qiu Yelan fell back to her pillow weakly.
She thought, when the maid got out, the boy by her side should have a chance to leave.
However, after Su He went out through the window, she did not leave! She just stood outside the window and called Mrs. Zhou!
Su He did it for that the door of this house was just in the corridor where she was guarding.
Qiu Yelan and the boy beside her felt that it was doomed. Suddenly, there was a noise coming from the rear window. And then the girl, who had got her cousin into a fix, said in a low voice, “Cousin! Go out quickly before the fire set by me goes out! If you don’t leave now, you will become a perverted thief!”
Qiu Yelan was shocked and speechless and so did the boy.