At three o'clock in the morning, the corner door of the west courtyard of the Duke's Mansion quietly opened. When a small crow-green sedan passed through the hanging flower door, the fingertips of the woman in the sedan were pinched deeply into her palm. The handkerchief embroidered with lotus flowers was soaked with cold sweat. Qiu Ling stared at the moonlight leaking through the gap in the sedan curtain, and listened to the footsteps of the sedan bearer who were deliberately gentle, as if they were stepping on her broken chastity.
"Girl, please be at ease. Although General Zhao is cold and solemn, he is a well-educated and sensible person." Nanny Feng, who was accompanying him, lowered her voice, but could not hide the impatience in her tone. She pressed her hand heavily on Qiu Ling's shoulder, "I have served my master for three times in the Duke's Mansion, can I still harm you?"
Qiu Ling lowered her eyes and looked at the golden nanmu box on her knees. In the box lay half of an emerald Pisces pendant. This was something Ren Yao secretly stuffed into her last night, saying it was her mother's dowry. "If he... If he really has a hidden disease," Ren Yao rubbed her fingertips on the jade pendant, "swallow half of the jade pendant."
The sedan curtain was suddenly lifted, and Qiu Ling hurriedly tightened her grip on the box. We have arrived at the Qingzhu Garden of the Zhao Mansion. The green bamboos under the moonlight cast tiny shadows, making the smiling face of the lady who led the way particularly eerie. Just as she was about to get off the sedan, she was stopped by her mother-in-law: "Stay here, girl. General Zhao has an order not to step out of the courtyard during the trial marriage."
