Rebirth of the Excellent Daughter of the Marquis Household (REDMH) - Chapter 141

In fact, this was what Gu Yu Qi was worried about. The Eldest Princess’ palace had fallen far too quickly, faster than she had anticipated. She had originally thought that no matter what, the Princess’ palace’s defences would hold for a while, giving her enough time to gather everyone together.

Though she had known in advance about the impending bandit chaos, it was not as if she could publicly announce it beforehand. She had no choice but to act only after it had happened.

“I want to ask you for a favour,” Gu Yu Qi said to Wang Yan, who had been following her closely.

“Please give your orders, Miss,” Wang Yan replied. Although he was dressed as a guard of the Ding Yuan Marquis’ residence, he was a secret guard left by Yun Ke.

“Can you sneak out and procure a few sets of bandit clothing for us? While you are at it, see if you can find out what’s going on outside,” Gu Yu Qi said, “Act fast.”

“Understood,” Wang Yan nodded. He cast an almost imperceptible glance at Du Xia and made a quick gesture. This was a signal known only among the secret guards. Du Xia gave a slight nod and only then did Wang Yan leap away.

His Highness had tasked Wang Yan with protecting Gu Yu Qi, so he could only entrust her safety to Du Xia temporarily.

Not long after Wang Yan left, Bai Fu hurried down from the upper floor, “Miss, it seems like there’s a spy within the Eldest Princess’ palace. I just saw someone dressed as a guard from the Princess’ palace running from afar and hiding behind the rockery with the people attacking us earlier. I couldn’t make out what they were saying or doing.”

Her words caused everyone present to pale in shock, except for Gu Yu Qi, whose expression remained unchanged.

In truth, she had already considered this possibility. The Eldest Princess’ palace, while not impenetrable, should not have been so easily breached, let alone so abruptly. It happened so fast that it caught everyone off guard. Unless the bandits were extraordinarily fierce or the guards remarkably incompetent, someone must have been helping them from the inside.

“Continue keeping watch upstairs,” Gu Yu Qi instructed Bai Fu.

“Yes,” Bai Fu nodded and quickly darted back upstairs.

It was not just the Eldest Princess’ palace that had an insider spy. It was likely that even the imperial palace had traitors, otherwise, why would the bandits, having already breached the city, take the additional risk of storming the palace to kill, burn, and loot? With so many aristocratic families in the capital, all immensely wealthy, any bandits purely seeking riches would have targeted easier prey instead. In her previous life, Gu Yu Qi had focused all her thoughts on Yun Ke. If something did not involve Yun Ke, she would not spare it a second thought. However, now that she was living through these events again, her considerations had deepened considerably.

Perhaps the chaos of the Gengzi Rebellion concealed other motives.

The bandit chaos was real, but many aspects of it did not seem like the work of mere bandits. Someone was clearly using the opportunity to escalate the situation.

But what did any of this have to do with her? All she needed to do was fulfil her agreement with Yun Ke, to protect the Eldest Princess and Prince Fu.

“Are the people by Eldest Princess’ side truly trustworthy, Eldest Princess?” Gu Yu Qi asked directly.

The Eldest Princess glanced at the guards around her. After a moment of hesitation, she finally nodded.

She was not old and foolish. Why would she keep people of unknown backgrounds around her? These close guards had followed her for many years, she should be able to trust them.

“That’s good,” Gu Yu Qi secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

If her assumptions were correct, the bandit accomplices outside could only pass as ordinary guards of the Princess’ palace, but they would not have been able to get close enough to the Eldest Princess.

This meant the outsiders were still in the dark about their exact situation inside.

“Yan Zhi, are you afraid?” Gu Yu Qi suddenly asked her maid.

“Not afraid. Wherever Miss is, that’s where this servant will be,” Yan Zhi replied firmly, shaking her head.

“Good,” Gu Yu Qi was deeply moved, but she just responded, “Then, if I ask you to exchange clothes with the Eldest Princess, would you be willing?” If Ling Long Tower could not hold until nightfall and they were forced to break out, it would be safer to switch outfits to minimise risks.

“Okay,” Yan Zhi agreed without a second thought. Her straightforwardness made even the Eldest Princess feel a surge of affection for the girl. The princess could not help but say, “Good child,” three times in a row. Her eyes moistened slightly and she envied Gu Yu Qi.

Even a mere maid by this child’s side was so loyal and devoted. Perhaps Yun Ke had truly chosen the right person this time.

A sly and unscrupulous person would not be able to raise such a loyal maid. Now, the Eldest Princess completely believed in Yun Ke’s words without a doubt. Gu Yu Qi had really been misunderstood. That old scoundrel Gu Huai Zhong, what exactly was he trying to do?!

Although Yan Zhi did not know martial arts, her body had always been strong and she could run fast. Moreover, her stature was similar to that of the Eldest Princess.

“May I trouble the Eldest Princess to lower her esteemed status…” Gu Yu Qi said.

At this point, the Eldest Princess could not afford to indulge in pride. Disguising herself as a maid would make her a much smaller target. Accompanied by Yan Zhi and County Princess Jia Xi, she entered the inner chamber. Gu Yu Qi turned to Du Xia and said, “Can you exchange clothes with His Highness Prince Fu?”

“Yes,” Du Xia nodded.

Prince Fu shook his head in refusal, “No need.”

“It is better to be prepared for contingencies,” Gu Yu Qi replied bluntly. She stepped forward and, while Prince Fu was off guard, delivered a sharp hand chop to the back of his neck. Prince Fu could not withstand Gu Yu Qi’s blow and collapsed limply to the ground.

“You…” Gu Si Yu gasped, her face pale with shock. “Eldest Sister, what are you doing?”

“What am I doing?” Gu Yu Qi rolled her eyes at her with annoyance as she helped Prince Fu’s guards carry him into a side room, “Protecting your future husband!”

Gu Si Yu fell silent, her face white but she was angry and frustrated in her heart.

As they were exchanging clothes, both Ran Mo and Bai Fu on the second floor simultaneously raised the alarm. The bandits were attacking again, this time from two directions simultaneously.

Gu Yu Qi had no time to dwell on anything else and she dashed up to the second floor. Under Bai Fu’s command, the guards there suppressed the advancing bandits with a barrage of arrows, slowing their approach. However, Ran Mo was alone on her side, making it difficult for her to hold off the attack.

Gu Yu Qi saw that the opposing group numbered about 20 people. She instructed Ran Mo to continue the ambush from the second floor, lying in wait to fire more surprise arrows, while she led the remaining guards to ambush the bandits from the base of the wall.

The bandits, thinking their stealthy approach had succeeded, crept along the wall with smug satisfaction, secretly rejoicing that they had not been detected. As one climbed to the top of the wall, the moment his head peeked over, he felt a sharp pain in his jaw. Before he could react, his jaw was impaled by a silver spear, silencing him instantly without even giving him time to make a sound.

Gu Yu Qi pulled back her bl00d-stained spear, its pristine white tassels now streaked with several crimson threads.

As the first bandit fell, the second to climb up met the same fate, thrust away by Gu Yu Qi’s spear. She signalled to Ran Mo on the second floor, who released a cold arrow, striking the third bandit’s throat. That one also fell silently from the wall, unable to utter a sound.

Three bandits had fallen silently one after the other. The remaining bandits who had come over did not dare to act rashly. Who knew if they would be the next to die? For a moment, no one dared to climb over the wall. Each looked at the other for a long time before they decided to retreat. Just as they were about to withdraw, an arrow suddenly shot out from an unknown location, striking another bandit dead with a thud.

They turned in the direction of the arrow, but there was no one to be seen. It was as if they had encountered a ghost. Fear gripped their hearts, and they scrambled away in a frantic, chaotic retreat. Seizing the opportunity, Ran Mo drew her bow again. This time, she released three arrows in quick succession. Two struck bandits squarely in their backs, while the third pierced one in the lower back. The remaining bandits, now completely spooked, could not tell how many archers lay hidden in Ling Long Tower. They cursed their fate for not being born with extra legs and fled in a mad dash, rolling and crawling to safety wherever they could find it.

From her concealed position upstairs, Bai Fu signalled to Gu Yu Qi, who exhaled in relief. She gestured back, instructing Bai Fu to keep watch, and led her group back to the main hall.

As soon as she came in, she saw Gu Si Yu staring blankly in one direction, her eyes wide open.

She followed Gu Si Yu’s gaze and saw an unconscious man laid carefully on a broad chair. Standing next to him was a man in green robes, his face obscured by a light veil. That should be Du Xia. Gu Yu Qi’s eyes shifted to the unconscious man. At first glance, she too could not help but gasp softly.

It turned out that Prince Fu’s face was disfigured…

No wonder he had always kept his face hidden behind a veil, refusing to reveal his true appearance. It turned out that his face under the veil was like this. His right half was flawless, but the left half was a tapestry of red scars stretching from his chin to his cheek. The skin was puckered and uneven, a lasting reminder of burns suffered in the past. Pale and pinkish from lack of sun exposure after he was born, the left side of his face stood in sharp contrast to the near-perfection of his right. Half of Yun Ling’s face was angelic, the other half was demonic.

“Why is it like this?” Gu Si Yu noticed Gu Yu Qi coming in and she seized Gu Yu Qi’s sleeve, “You knew it all along, didn’t you?” she demanded, her wide eyes filled with disgust and fear.

“What would I know?” Gu Yu Qi was annoyed, brushing off Gu Si Yu’s hands with a flick of her wrist. Her tone was low as she warned Gu Si Yu, “Do not forget your status or his status!”

Gu Si Yu’s face turned an even ghastlier shade of white. She stumbled back a step dejectedly, her entire being seeming to drain of its bl00d.

Why did Yun Ling look like this? Why was his appearance so different from the other princes? Why did someone so gentle have such a hideous appearance?

She did not want to marry someone like him. Even if he was the exalted Prince Fu, it was fine if it was just his frail health that was an issue, but half his face was destroyed! The thought of facing such a face that was neither human nor ghost for the rest of her life filled her with a deep disgust.

No, this was not right. Gu Yu Qi must have known that Prince Fu was like this all along. How could she, a concubine-born daughter, have been granted such a favourable match? Why should Gu Yu Qi, a legitimate daughter, be relegated to the position of a secondary consort, while she was to become Prince Fu’s main wife?! The Gu Yu Qi must have known about Prince Fu’s appearance all along and intentionally pushed this marriage onto her.

The little girl was truly blinded by her own thoughts and her mother’s constant whispers, and completely failed to remember that none of this had anything to do with Gu Yu Qi at all!