Rebirth of the Excellent Daughter of the Marquis Household (REDMH) - Chapter 24

Gu Yu Qi quickly ran to the warm pavilion and found that her mother was playing cards with the princess at the table. She had a smile on her face and was talking to the princess.

She could only quietly back out. Her mother was playing cards with the princess and she could not forcefully drag her away. It was just that she wondered why the princess was interested in Liang Huai Yu who she had met for the first time. She thought about it for a while and she suddenly realised it must be due to the arrangement at the banquet. Even if the people inside the princess’ residence did not know the rules, the princess herself would know. To appease her mother, she naturally had to lift the status of the first lady of the Marquis’ residence. This was only one aspect. On the other hand, Gu Yu Qi had not expected that the princess was also interested in her, so Liang Huai Yu had caught her eye.

Liang-shi had lived in Jiangnan for a long time. Her speech and behaviour were different from those noble ladies in the capital. The princess originally wanted to give her some face and also ask about Gu Yu Qi, but she had not expected that it turned out Liang-shi was extensively knowledgeable. What she spoke about made the princess who had lived in the capital all her life feel a novel interest and it really made her want to be friends.

Gu Yu Qi saw that her mother could not leave for a while, so she could only go back to the yard and wait.

Zhang Wan Yi saw Gu Yu Qi walking alone on the zig zag bridge by the lake. She gave a wink to the two noble girls beside her. The two noble girls beside her nodded slightly and the three of them walked over hand in hand with the corners of their mouths turned up.

Gu Yu Qi did not know that she was already famous which made people jealous. Just now, she and Yun Ke had walked out of the remote courtyard one after the other and they had been seen by the second young miss of the Minister of Finance. The second young miss, Zhao Zhi Xian, had long been fond of Yun Ke. Seeing this, she was naturally angry and wanted to tear the handkerchief in her hand. She angrily returned to Zhang Wan Yi’s side. Seeing her expression was not right, Zhang Wan Yi asked and found out that Yun Ke and Gu Yu Qi had hid and met privately in another courtyard. With a cold smile in her heart, she made a plan. She pulled Zhao Zhi Xian and Zhao Zhi Yue, the third young miss of the Minister of Finance, and whispered a few words. Seeing that Gu Yu Qi came out of the warm pavilion again, they went and greeted her.

Gu Yu Qi went to the zig zag bridge to avoid other people. Most of the others had gone to the plum blossom forest to view the flowers. This zig zag bridge spanned the artificial lake in the courtyard. It was winter now and the lake was covered in a thin layer of ice.

Seeing Zhang Wan Yi come from a distance with two other girls of similar ages, Gu Yu Qi already had two words in her heart, not good. She was about to turn her head and walk away subconsciously but unfortunately, Zhang Wan Yi opened her mouth, “Why does Younger Sister leave when she sees Elder Sister?”

Damn! Today was really unlucky. She must have gone out without looking at the horoscope. She had sent away Yun Ke, but now Zhang Wan Yi had come. They were definitely deserving to be a couple. Had they negotiated this? Taking turns!

Gu Yu Qi let out a long sigh in her heart and could only halt her footsteps. She turned around and squeezed out a slight smile, “Why is Elder Sister not viewing the plum blossoms over there and instead, came over here?” She felt the corners of her mouth twitch when she smiled. It would be better not to laugh. She glanced at the two young women behind Zhang Wan Yi. They were about 14-years-old, and their stature was similar to Zhang Wan Yi, all dressed in gold and jade, extremely luxurious, as though they were afraid others would not know their families were rich. When they came closer, Gu Yu Qi remembered who the other two were. They were the two young misses of the Zhao family who had been with Zhang Wan Yi in the previous life. Even after they had both gotten married, they had relied on the fact that they were good friends with the Noble Consort and had been really domineering. Many of the bad ideas to fix her had come from these two sisters.

Partners in crime, birds of a feather.

Gu Yu Qi had suffered losses from them so she was more attentive to their unprovoked attention.

Zhao Zhi Xian was not good at masks, plus she was jealous of Yun Ke and Gu Yu Qi meeting privately. She looked at Gu Yu Qi with sullen eyes and Gu Yu Qi felt even more alarmed. She looked around and saw that she was in the centre of the zig zag bridge. For the sake of the scenery in summer, this zig zag bridge had a fence that only reached the calf for the average person. Gu Yu Qi understood immediately.

Were these three trying to push her into the water?

Gu Yu Qi sneered in her heart. She had blindly avoided them, wanting to live a quiet life. Was this too much to ask for? One by one, it was like they had taken some wrong medicine or some sort of stimulating drug, such that they kept sticking to her. Alright then, since they wanted to play tricks, Gu Yu Qi would not play nice and she would accompany them to the end. She had been stupid in her past life. In this life, she had wanted to live peacefully yet it just had to backfire. Since there was no escape, then she did not need to hide anymore.

Thinking of this, Gu Yu Qi calmed down instead and she looked at Zhang Wan Yi with a smile. Out of the corner of her eyes, she paid attention to the two Zhao sisters. She also stood by the railing of the bridge deliberately. If these three people did not have any bad intentions, then it would be fine. If they really did what she was expecting, hmph hmph.

Zhang Wan Yi saw Gu Yu Qi standing prettily beside the bridge, almost at the edge of the railing. With just a little effort, they could push her into the water and naturally she had no defence against them, so Zhang Wan Yi felt happy. On the surface, she wanted to win over Gu Yu Qi so she would definitely not be the one who acted. So she stopped when she was still a little distance away from Gu Yu Qi. She just had to wait for Gu Yu Qi to fall into the water and then be a peacemaker.

The Zhao sisters winked at each other and the two of them quickly approached Gu Yu Qi. One stepped on Gu Yu Qi’s cloak and the other slammed Gu Yu Qi with her elbow. If Gu Yu Qi was an ordinary ten-year-old girl, being attacked front and back by the Zhao sisters who were bigger and stronger than her, she would definitely have fallen into the lake.

Yet, Gu Yu Qi was not.

She had long been on guard against the two sisters and as soon as they moved, Gu Yu Qi quickly pulled the strap of her cloak and the cloak quickly slipped off her shoulders as soon as Zhao Zhi Yue stepped on it. When Zhao Zhi Xian lifted her elbow to push Gu Yu Qi, Gu Yu Qi had already lowered her head and relying on her short stature, she slid underneath her arm. Then she flicked her hand and hit her waist hard. This blow seemed ordinary but it had been taught by Gu Huai Zhong and was a one-hit technique to defeat the enemy on the battlefield. Gu Yu Qi had studied it seriously and her shot was ruthless and fast, not sloppy at all. Zhao Zhi Xian only felt her waist numb and her whole body tilted forward. She had put all her strength into her elbow to attack Gu Yu Qi for fear that she would not be able to push Gu Yu Qi into the water. Her attack had failed and her inertia coupled with the numbness in her waist made Zhao Zhi Xian fall into the lake without even being able to shout. She smashed a hole in the lake that had been covered with a thin layer of ice.

Zhao Zhi Yue saw her sister fall into the water and her anger rose. She raised her hand and went to pull Gu Yu Qi. Gu Yu Qi rolled her shoulders and she slid past her shoulders. She pushed the tip of her toes against the icy bridge and flew lightly. This was one of the marksmanship moves passed down in the Liang family and taught by Liang-shi, called Looking Back at the Moon . She used her fingers in place of the tip of the gun and poked Zhao Zhi Yue’s throat forcefully. Zhao Zhi Yue’s head fell back and with this, Gu Yu Qi raised her foot and hooked the back of her heel. Zhao Zhi Yue fell into the lake with her face towards the sky, landing with a big splash.

Gu Yu Qi pretended to slip and stand unsteadily. With two steps, she slid to Zhang Wan Yi’s side. Holding the wrist of Zhang Wan Yi who was already stunned, she grinned at her, “Elder Sister Zhang, save me, I’m about to slip!” As soon as she said this, she pushed Zhang Wan Yi to the water with the help of her body’s spinning force.

After the three of them fell into the water, Gu Yu Qi held back her laughter. Then she crouched by the bridge and pretended to cry, “Someone come! Help!” She screamed at the top of her voice, “Someone fell into the water!”

Gu Yu Qi’s exclamation coupled with the three fallen people who were struggling in the water disturbed the people who were enjoying the plum blossoms by the forest on the bank.

Gu Yu Qi saw that the three people in the lake really could not swim. They struggled in the water for a while and were drinking a lot of the icy lake water. They were like three live fish that had been thrown in the frying pan. These three people had tossed her around in her previous life. Now that they had fallen into the water and were on the line between life and death, she should be happy. Yet, she did not feel the slightest joy and instead felt a faint sorrow.

“Grab my cloak.” This bridge was really a little far from the plum blossom forest. By the time the guards and eunuchs came to save them, she was afraid that something would really have happened. Gu Yu Qi watched for a moment before throwing her cloak to Zhang Wan Yi. She stooped down and grabbed the other corner of her cloak tightly.

Zhang Wan Yi could not swim. In her flurried and panicked state, she could not hear what Gu Yu Qi had said. However, anyone who fell into water would instinctively grab whatever they could, so as soon as her hand touched the strap of the cape, she grabbed it tightly and never let go.

Gu Yu Qi pulled the other end of the cloak forcefully. Zhang Wan Yi grabbed the cloak desperately and tried to raise her head out of the water. She could grasp the cloak, but on the other side, Zhao Zhi Xian and Zhao Zhi Yue could also grasp her tightly. In an instant, Zhang Wan Yi felt a force pulling her upwards while another larger force was pulling her back into the water. She instinctively raised her legs to kick the two, trying to rid herself from being dragged back into the water by them. The more she kicked, the tighter the two sisters grasped and the harder it was for Gu Yu Qi who was trying to pull them up onto the bridge. She was only ten-years-old right now. Where would she have the strength to withstand the struggles of three dying people?

“You three, stop pulling it!” Gu Yu Qi shouted angrily, “If you keep pulling it, I’ll let go!”

The three of them struggling in the water were unwilling to listen to Gu Yu Qi. They all looked out for themself, wanting to pull the strap of the cloak and climb up, scrambling, for fear of being left behind in the water.

The strap of the cloak was deeply embedded into Gu Yu Qi’s palm. She gritted her teeth in pain, but she still did not let go of her hand.

“Someone fell into the water!”

“Call the guards!” The people on the shore came one after another. Gu Yu Qi felt relieved. Those three people were really tossing around too hard. Gu Yu Qi’s cloak was finally unable to withstand it and with a splitting sound, it was torn apart.

Gu Yu Qi only felt that the force in her hand loosened suddenly. Her hands were burning with pain and the cloak in her hand had been torn in half. The three people in the water had lost the force pulling them up and sank into the water together.