Chapter 11: Wang Baochuan Encounters an Assassin

Xue Pinggui returned home to find the house eerily silent. He called out to his adoptive father several times, but there was no response.

“Xiaoqi!”

He smelled a strong stench of blood and lit a candle to see Xue Ren lying on the floor, covered in blood.

“Father!”

Xue Ren still had a faint breath left. He opened his mouth and with all his remaining strength, said, “Take good… care of your… sister.”

His voice trailed off, and he passed away.

The Prime Minister’s mansion was also in turmoil these days, with suitors coming and going.

Prime Minister Wang was very troubled and didn’t know what to do. A few days ago, he had found a scholar, quite learned and from a respectable family. But when he told his wife and Baochuan about it, Baochuan refused to agree.

Wang Baochuan was even more distressed than her father. She couldn’t understand why, with so many daughters from wealthy families in the vast capital, these people were fixated on her.

“Miss, if you ask me, those men in the portraits are all ordinary, none of them are as handsome as the man who accidentally wandered into the back garden that day.”

Xiaolian held up the portraits and compared them seriously.

Wang Baochuan remained expressionless. Appearance was secondary, the most important thing was character. Of all these noble young men, only the second son of Minister Liu was better, he had a good character and was a devoted man.  The last time, he had a deep affection for his wife, and after she died from illness, he refused to remarry and died of grief before he turned forty.

The others either had countless concubines and beautiful maids, or they frequented brothels…

“Return these portraits to my mother and tell her that I have seen through the world and am going to become a nun.” Wang Baochuan lay on the couch, resigned to her fate.  They all came to propose marriage, right?  What if her reputation was ruined?

Since Emperor Wu, the social customs had become more open, and there were many cases of women divorcing and remarrying.  Even more outrageous was Princess Gaoyang, who had even kept a lover.  Of course, despite this, the great families still valued the reputation of their unmarried daughters.

If she found an opportunity to ruin her reputation, then those who wanted to propose marriage would surely be deterred.

As for her parents being angry, they couldn’t kill her, at most they would lock her up and not allow her to go out.

Good, that’s the plan.

Xiaolian saw her lying there expressionless, naturally she didn’t know what was going on in her mind.

“Miss, if you ask me, why do Master and Madam have to make you choose from these people?  With your character and appearance, Miss, marrying a prince wouldn’t be too much.”

Wang Baochuan’s heart skipped a beat, Xiaolian’s words were getting more and more outrageous.

“How dare you! If you dare to speak nonsense again, you don’t have to serve me anymore.”

Xiaolian didn’t expect her to be so angry, she immediately knelt down and apologized, “It’s all my fault for speaking out of turn.”

The current Emperor had four sons, excluding the one who was wandering around, there were three others.  The eldest prince was already married, and he was also the Emperor’s favorite.  If he didn’t commit a major crime in the future, the throne wouldn’t be passed down to a prince who was wandering around.

The second prince was born with a weak constitution and died before he reached the age of thirty.

As for the third prince, Li Chen, his mother was of humble birth and was not favored by the Emperor.  He was also taciturn and had no presence.

She, Wang Baochuan, was the Prime Minister’s legitimate daughter, so she couldn’t marry the eldest prince as a concubine.  But if she married the second prince, the Emperor would surely suspect that the Prime Minister’s mansion was trying to support the second prince as the crown prince, with ulterior motives.

As for Li Chen, he had no support from his mother’s family, and he was already walking on thin ice.  If the Prime Minister’s mansion wanted to marry their daughter to him, the Emperor might agree, but some people in the court with ulterior motives might make his life even more difficult.

Wang Baochuan thought long and hard, and she decided that the only way to stay safe was to remain unmarried.

Right now, she just wanted to ruin her reputation as soon as possible, so she could avoid the lottery for marriage.

Then she would sever ties between the Wang family and the Wei family, so that the Wei family’s future transgressions wouldn’t implicate the Wang family.

But her second sister and Wei Hu were husband and wife, that was the most difficult part, she could only start with Wei Bao.

“Third Miss.” Hongxing, the maid who served Wang Jinchuan, came over.

“Hongxing.” Wang Baochuan sat up, “Is Big Sister looking for me?”

Hongxing bowed respectfully, “Big Sister is going to the Temple of the Goddess of Childbirth in the suburbs to burn incense, she thought you were bored in the mansion, so she invited you to go together.”

“Okay, go back and tell Big Sister that I will go after I change clothes.”

Wang Baochuan was overjoyed, it was boring to stay in the mansion, it was more fun to go out and play.

Of course, in her previous life, she had been outside the mansion for eighteen years, but during those eighteen years, she couldn’t go anywhere except to pick mulberry leaves and dig wild vegetables, and she was always busy trying to figure out what to eat for the next meal.

There were many wild vegetables in spring and summer, and besides what she ate daily, she had to dig up more and dry them to store for the winter.

Because of this, she knew every plant and tree in Wujiapo like the back of her hand.

Wang Baochuan shook her head, she didn’t want to think about it anymore, as soon as she thought about it, she felt the bitter taste of wild vegetables in her mouth.

In her previous life, she had also thought about farming, but Wujiapo was barren land, the soil was poor, and it was all owned by someone else, she couldn’t just farm it whenever she wanted.

If anyone could just clear land and farm it, why would the children of poor families have to sell themselves to bury their fathers?

The reason for selling themselves was not just because they couldn’t afford a coffin, but also because they had to buy a small piece of land from the landlord to use as a grave.

“Baochuan?” Wang Jinchuan saw her spacing out and waved her hand in front of her face, “Why are you spacing out again?”

“Do you have something on your mind? You’ve been absent-minded lately.”

“What do I have on my mind, I was thinking, are there any good things to eat near the Temple of the Goddess of Childbirth?” Wang Baochuan hugged her arm and said coquettishly.

Wang Jinchuan smiled gently, “You.  That temple is in the suburbs, where are there any shops.  But, there is a vegetarian dish in the temple called wild vegetable dumplings, it’s quite delicious.”

“Wild vegetable dumplings? Ugh!” Wang Baochuan’s stomach churned, she quickly stopped the carriage and ran out to vomit.

She vomited until she was sick, tears streaming down her face.

Wang Jinchuan was startled, she thought she was seriously ill, “Did you eat something unclean?”

“Quick! Take Third Miss back to the mansion!” She was flustered.

Wang Baochuan wiped her mouth with a handkerchief, luckily she hadn’t eaten much that morning, so she didn’t vomit too badly.

“Big Sister, I’m fine, you rarely go out, go burn incense.”

“But you…” Wang Jinchuan was worried.

“I’ll take a few people back to the mansion, don’t worry, I’m fine.” She wisely went back to the mansion, she didn’t want to eat any wild vegetable dumplings at the Temple of the Goddess of Childbirth.

Wang Jinchuan saw that they weren’t far from the city gate, so she let her go back first.

She repeatedly told Xiaolian to go back and immediately ask a doctor to see Third Miss.

The carriage traveled for a while, Wang Baochuan lifted the curtain and looked out the window, “Why are we taking this road?”

“Miss, it’s closer to the city if we go through Wujiapo.” The coachman said.

Wang Baochuan frowned, she really couldn’t escape, this road went west, at the end of the road there were ten or so mulberry trees, and if you turned a corner, there was a large field of shepherd’s purse.  If you continued walking forward, you would reach a cliff, and there were red berries growing on the edge of the cliff, the berries were sour and sweet and juicy, but they weren’t easy to preserve…

“Ah!” The coachman screamed, the carriage came to a sudden stop.

“Brave… brave warrior, spare me!”

A curved sword was pressed against the coachman’s neck.

Wang Baochuan was thrown around by the sudden stop of the carriage, and when she settled down, the four guards accompanying her had been killed.

Xiaolian mustered her courage and climbed out of the carriage, “How dare you, do you know we are from the Prime Minister’s mansion!”

“The Prime Minister’s mansion?  The one sitting in the carriage is the third Miss of the Prime Minister’s mansion, right?”

The man in black had a cold look in his eyes, he grabbed Wang Baochuan and pulled her out.

“Wang Baochuan! We’re here to kill you!”