Chapter 759 - 404: Siege_2
"If you don’t promise, I won’t get up! Mother~~"
Pei Yuhuan rolled directly onto the ground, making a fuss.
The Eldest Princess of Wuyang also had a look of both shock and delight,
"Alright, alright, what’s with a young lady behaving like a monkey. I accept you as my adopted daughter."
Pei Yuhuan immediately took this opportunity, her face instantly returning to a smile,
"Mother~~"
At the end of the day, everyone loves beauty. As long as you are beautiful, well-behaved, and adorable, you can still be doted upon whether you throw tantrums or make a scene.
The Eldest Princess was also amused by this girl, chuckling as she held Pei Yuhuan in her arms and took out a pendant hanging around her neck, buried between her chest, a glazed jade that shone with a multitude of colors and reflections, and placed it around Pei Yuhuan’s neck, resting against her heart.
"Such a clever, exquisite-hearted girl, I see you as having great potential. To hide you away in a deep boudoir would be a real shame; you deserve a golden chamber."
"Thank you, Mother, for your gift!"
Though Pei Yuhuan was clueless about the way of cultivation, she recognized this jade pendant was a treasure upon seeing its brilliant light.
This so-called semi-jade is just a segment of a round jade arc, but intact semi-jades are rare. What the Eldest Princess gave was a Three-Part Jade Arc Pendant with Kui-Dragon Pattern, obviously an artifact from the noble clan.
Seeing Pei Yuhuan delighted and unable to part from it, the Eldest Princess was also pleased, saying with a smile,
"Alright, alright, I have another daughter. Everything at home should be arranged properly; we must not let her suffer any grievance. By the way, isn’t there another one? How is she?"
The maid beside them smiled and said,
"She is also doing well, but unfortunately, she cannot move yet and is resting in the side courtyard. Would the Princess like to see her?"
"Since that’s the case, take good care of her and settle the best doctors to tend to her."
The Eldest Princess smiled at Pei Yuhuan, saying,
"Thanks to that loyal servant who sacrificed herself to save you, I was able to receive such a fine daughter. You must thank her."
"Loyal servant... saved me..."
Confused, the girl looked at the dog, while the surrounding maids laughed and said,
"Young lady, don’t you remember? It was your elder sister, named Taozhi, who carried you out."
Your elder sister
Named Taozhi
She carried you out
Pei Yuhuan stood there dumbfounded, suddenly feeling empty inside, as if being cut by a knife. The discomfort was inexplicable, yet there was an indefinable wrongness she couldn’t articulate, so she answered vaguely,
"Oh."
"Eh? Silly girl, why are you crying?"
The Eldest Princess didn’t think much at first; after all, in large households, how can every maid be recognized? But seeing Pei Yuhuan’s odd expression, tears flowing, she assumed the girl had recalled past traumas and, feeling compassionate, held her in her arms to comfort her,
"Don’t be afraid, don’t be afraid, now that you’re in my house, I’ll protect you. Even if an edict from the heavens comes, I won’t heed it."
"Yes, Mother..."
Pei Yuhuan herself didn’t know why, only feeling she’d forgotten something terrible, some sorrowful event, things she dared not to recall.
So even just for a while, even if just for a bit more escape, Pei Yuhuan tried desperately to bury herself in the warm, soft embrace of the Eldest Princess.
She tightly shut her eyes, telling herself, close your eyes, this is just a nightmare. Open them, and a sweet and peaceful new day will begin.
But for some reason, a voice in the depths of her heart kept calling her, calling Yuhuan, wake up, wake up, quickly wake up.
But for some reason, she couldn’t remember whose voice it was.
"Mother, can I see Sister Taozi?"
Then Pei Yuhuan heard the Eldest Princess say,
"Wait a few days. Once her skin heals, then you can see her. I don’t want you to be frightened."
Suddenly, Pei Yuhuan remembered.
After the General of the Southern Expedition died, the Duke of Wuchang and his entire household were slaughtered.
Then Pei Yuhuan opened her eyes.
She saw in her arms, holding the long-dead, incomplete remains of a woman. Past grace faded, former beauty incomplete, only half a body left, hacked by a blade. The face of the dead, like dry wood, wrinkled as if smiling gently at her, seemed to gaze both at a new daughter and at the blood-stained jade pendant on her neck.
"Ahhh!"
Pei Yuhuan screamed, throwing away the decaying corpse and tumbling down the heap of corpses.
What princesses and dukes? What immortal women of beauty? Just corpses, everywhere, corpses killed, trampled, crushed, stabbed, burned, rotted, piled like mountains in mounds, chaotic grave mounds like hills. Wherever you run, it’s graves; wherever you go, it’s corpse hills. Bones piled like mountains across the plains, tens of thousands of dead exposed under the moonlight.
Yes, this is the Central Plains.
"Ahhh!"
Pei Yuhuan screamed as she ran madly, her chest filled with fear and grief, grasping like a headless fly among the hills of corpses and bones, yet she couldn’t recall what she lost, what she sought...
Found it!
A dog!
"Dog!"
"Woof woof woof!"
The dog, half-asleep in the corpse hill, got dragged by its tail, frightened into barking wildly, half its skeleton bared teeth.
"Even, even the dog is dead! Waaah!"
In an instant, Pei Yuhuan felt her nose sour, truly at wit’s end, overwhelmed by despair, she collapsed onto the ground, wailing loudly.