[Alternate t.i.tle: Jiahui Gets A Bad Idea

Don't read on an aggregator~ Thanks~]

It's been more than half a year, and half a year of not a bit of news coming in from Zhongli Luo. Jiahui is simply worrying herself to death. When Mrs. Yu pushed the door open and saw her daughter once again looking like she was being eaten alive by anxiety, it was somewhat laughable.

This has already become a daily occurrence in their home, with everyone keeping calm in the face of the danger of Jiahui's sudden spasms.

Mrs. Yu restrains her smile and tries to pacify her. “Ah, you and your honest heart. Luo'er is someone with the luck of the heavens. Nothing has happened. Maybe he'll send a letter in a bit.”

“Mom, that's the eleventh time you've said that to me this month,” Jiahui said glumly.

“He's a hundred and eighty thousand li away, what's the use in needlessly worrying all day long? Are you able to put on a pair of wings and fly over?”

“I'm just uneasy. How could I not gaze towards my barren doorway and wonder what's going on with him?” Jiahui props up her head, eyebrows creased in concern.

“Don't talk like that! How can you jinx someone like this?!” Mrs. Yu puts her forehead on her hand. This d.a.m.ned girl and her constantly unfiltered mouth, are those the kinds of words that can be said so casually?

“You can be at ease, Jiahui. If he really was a corpse buried in horsehide, news of that very likely would have arrived faster than a letter, so he's definitely fine right now.”

The corners of Jiahui's mouth drew back. Isn't what she just said also a jinx?

Seeing her lack of response, Mrs. Yu then urged, “Ah, what's a lady like you anxious for? You're still young, not even eighteen yet, and have only waited a few months out of the year. That Second Young Miss of the Minister of Ceremonies' family, Xu Zhaoyu, is a year older than you, and she's still a bachelorette.”

“Mom!” Jiahui said hurriedly. “What are you thinking of? That I care about that? Who do you take me for?! Really, is this the same thing? Isn't that because Zhaoyu's mother died and she's in mourning? Besides, she's already had a wedding. That Young Master is now safely waiting in the capital for her to finish mourning so he can carry her back in a bridal sedan chair.”

As for her own, he's far away on the horizon, his life or death only known by ghosts.

Though she doesn't mind at all, she's been dragged on for so many years that she's getting on in age and still isn't engaged. Apart from her few sisters, who wouldn't be waiting nearby to witness her being a joke? She suddenly really hates herself being two years older than Xiao Wenyan, as otherwise, given that she's accompanying her in spinsterdom, and remembering that her biggest pastime in her last life was mocking the other for not being married… this is what happens. Yeesh. Now that she's been reincarnated by heaven's verdict, she'll never laugh at others again.

Having to wait for Zhongli Luo to muddle his way out would likely take a few years. Waiting a few years is nothing to her, but, she really misses him…

This might just be how people are. She was originally the only one writing for more than a year's time, and if the other didn't respond, she felt nothing of it. Now that the other has been replying for a few years, she's gotten spoiled. One month with no answer, maybe he's busy and forgot. Two months with no answer, maybe… he's still forgetting. Three months: is there another Cen Biling over in the Northwest? Four months: a floozy! There must be a floozy! Five months: is he wounded? Did something happen? Six months… seven months… she's simply going mad.

At the poetry party of the Left Imperial Censor-in-Chief's eldest Young Madam Wen Anying's home, she unconsciously debriefed her trail of thought to her sisters.

“Yeah, there has to be some floozy!” Wen Anying said. “I'm telling you, li'l sis Jiahui, he's a man, and has all that entails! He keeps saying over and over again that he likes you, but if he's on the other end of the world, unseeing and unable to indulge, then his like is over. He might have even forgotten what you look like right now! I'm telling you, you have to grasp them in your hand. Look at that Xue Cheng, does he ever dare to peep at other girls?”

Seeing the change in Jiahui's face, Yu Yixiang hurriedly pulled at Wen Anying's sleeve to make her stop. “Anying, Young Master Zhongli doesn't feel like that sort of person to me. Don't frighten her.”

“How is knowing a person's outside knowing their inside too?” Says Wen Anying. “You've only seen him a few times, Sister Yu. Who knows if this guy is actually a master of playing hot and cold?”

Yu Yixiang chokes, silently shutting her mouth.

Also, Jiahui had clearly already listened, as she quickly requested Wen Anying's help. “Then, Big Sis Wen, what do you think I should do?”

Yu Yixiang looked at her in shock. She actually believed in Anying's malice?

Yang Qianyu quietly gave her a look from her peaceful spot on the sidelines. Who can say what unfounded argument Anying will pull out? She allows her to. They're the older sisters here and it's better to just look on. They're just enjoying some fruitless idle chatter, anyways, it's not a big deal.

Anying tilts her head as she ponders, then suggests, “Bring someone with you, go Northwest, tie him up, and kidnap him back!”

Hearing that, several people to the side just barely managed not to spit-take all of the tea from their mouths.

Fortunately, Jiahui is still clear-headed. They watch with gratification as she shakes her head, then says…

“I'm no match for him, and sneakily knocking him out or such won't do. What if I hit him in a place I shouldn't be hitting and turn him into a fool?”

Everyone immediately roared with laughter.

Jiahui continued on. “Furthermore, he can still get promoted. If I kidnap him back he'd just be a deserter, and who'd think anything of him? There's also military law or whatever. I don't understand it much, but I just really worry that if I escape with him like that and there's an investigation later on, he might lose his head.”

“Cough, cough!”

Yang Qianyu gracefully wiped the tea she'd choked out from the corner of her mouth, thinking about how with all the little sisters she's come to know these years, this is first time she wants to set a clear boundary for some. These two… one has a horrible idea, and the other is actually earnestly considering it!

Wen Anying nods once. “That's also true. Your dad was really being overzealous, insisting on him being worthy enough to be able to take you as a wife. Doesn't your family have a status today because your great-grandfather was a minister that helped found the country? Is he thinking to make him help someone else to found one, too?”

“Watch your tongue…” Everyone says powerlessly. Wen Anying's blabbing mouth is known to all; they're used to it and know that she's just talking big, but they still must advise her.

Wen Anying begrudgingly makes a motion like she's sewing her mouth shut before genuinely closing it.

Yang Qianyu pat Wen Anying's head. “If you say further nonsense to our little sister in the future, we're never coming to see you again.”

Anying mischievously stuck out her tongue. “Hey, you all know that I talk nonsense, don't worry about it. Everyone hurry and drink your tea.”

The topic came to an end like so, but those few joking sentences of Wen Anying's and their false logic root themselves into Jiahui's mind from that point on.

She'd grown up spoiled under her parents from a young age, and in those years she was “married”, it was merely a s.h.i.+ft from one courtyard to another, experiencing the same rich life with a horde of servants. She was nothing short of complacent with being loved and pampered and held in that courtyard, though the other person wasn't someone who loved and protected her. She'd never gone very far away, and even if she did go out to have fun, there was a vast quant.i.ty of people guarding her from the front and back and still more clearing the way. Therefore, she can be considered having lived for thirty years total, yet is still extremely naive, completely unaware of the sinister world. Currently, she's somewhat eager to try out everything that's unknown.

Wen Anying had said the two words “go Northwest” casually, yet they could truly rouse the dreamer. Those two words are what she tossed and turned restlessly all night for. Why hadn't she thought of it before, really?

And it's not as if no woman has ever gone over there, but she's considered to be of a different type, right? Is she… really going to have to wait another six or seven years? One twenty-four, one twenty-seven, coming to love each other in their twilight years? She already kind of can't stand the time she's squandered up until now. Twenty-four… it sounds so old, so grand, she doesn't want herself to cook for so long… after all, she was six years old when her mother was twenty-four.

Go, or don't? It's an excessively difficult choice. If she goes, she can guess that her parents would vomit blood out of anger and the winds would be full of mockery… no, that's not necessarily the case. Pleading illness would be good. If she says she's extremely sick and can't see anyone, others might laugh at her and say that she's got lovesickness, but she wouldn't have a bad reputation on her back and humiliate her parents.

Thinking like this, she'd unwittingly and inwardly come to a decision.

In the early morning a few days later, Jiahui woke up, grit her teeth, and started to pack her things. She'd never used silver before – if she wanted to buy something, she'd keep an account and hand it all over to the accountant – but she's not stupid, and doesn't think that she can go there with paper with the two words “Marquis Zhenguo” and expect to use it as money. Is she going to buy something in the Northwest and make them send people a thousand li away to withdraw the coin from Marquis Zhenguo's home? However, she has absolutely no silver on hand, so she has no choice but to take jewelry.

After packing a few clothes and baubles, she left a note under her bedding to put her parents at ease, then lifted her load and planned to hit the road. She had just opened the door when she had a head-on collision with Bai Lu and Shuang Jiang.

The two were carrying equipment for was.h.i.+ng up in the morning, thinking that they were just going to serve her when she got up in the morning. Now they see her dressed properly with a big pack on her back, and their jaws drop in alarm.

They looked at her in astonishment, asking, “Young Mistress, what are you doing?”

“Come in and we'll talk.” Jiahui pulled them into the room with one in each hand, bolting the door shut after.

Jiahui casually tossed her backpack to the side and smiled uncomfortably. “As you two can see, I'm planning to go out.”

They looked at her doubtfully. Going out with a pack on your back? Even if she wanted to go have a short stay at another's house, then everything would be put in order by maids like them.

Noting the suspicion in their eyes, Jiahui had to confess. “I'm going out… to the Northwest.”

“What?!” They said in chorus.

“That's how it is. If you two dare sell me out, I'll sell you.” Jiahui threatened.

They look at each other with hesitation. This matter… doesn't seem to have a good solution.

“Young Mistress, the Lord and Lady will definitely break your leg.” Bai Lu said with concern.

“Young Mistress, something like this is much too dangerous for you. You're still unmarried, this… is losing a bit too much face.” Shuang Jiang said with a frown.

“What'd you say?!” Jiahui was somewhat displeased. “I'm willing and I'm ready. Isn't staying at home all day or going to chat with my sisters about the sky and the earth and jewelry and makeup almost enough to bore one to death? Isn't going to take a look at the outside great? Having an armed escort send me over would be good, and with a greater half of the escorts accompanying me, what could there be to worry about?”

Bai Lu urged, “You absolutely cannot, Young Mistress, you don't know how dangerous it is outside. The escorts… you're so good-looking, Young Mistress, heaven knows if the head escort would think of something untoward…”

“Shut up!” Jiahui interrupted. It wasn't easy getting the courage for this. She wasn't going to let it dissipate because of a few of Bai Lu's words.

Yet, this courage went as quickly as it came, and she inexplicably got some real fear. But she's a master of keeping her word and certainly won't leave something half-done.

“Then I want you two to accompany me!” She suggested. She's familiar with them, and would be at comparatively more ease.

“Ha?!”

Jiahui raised her head. “What, not willing? Who made you come scare me? You can rest a.s.sured that I left a letter with a few words to have them be at ease too. You don't need to worry about the issue with the escorts, either, they wouldn't dare. I'm Marquis Zhenguo's daughter; if I had any sort of problem, there isn't one of those few escorts that my dad wouldn't detain in the capital.”

Imagining how the Lord would look if he knew his daughter had been lost, the two maids suddenly trembled with fright. Even if the Young Mistress didn't have any problems at all, those escorts probably wouldn't have it good.

Seeing their lack of response, Jiahui added some extra temptation. “I'll give you both five hundred liang of silver when I return?”

That money was indeed very alluring, but they still decisively shook their heads. “We can't!”

As the two were untempted by oil and salt, Jiahui had no choice but to pick up her pack. “That's fine, I'll just leave all by myself. You're not allowed to stop me, and if I'm found before I can leave, I'll say I was fleeing at you two's urging. If I go, you'll have to stay behind and face the thundering wrath of my parents. After all, you're the ones who saw me last.”

Saying that, she lifted her foot as if making to leave.

Bai Lu and Shuang Jiang continuously hesitated, finally surrendering under her tyrannical abuse of power and extending her hands to her. “Young Mistress…”

In the end, the two not only joined Jiahui's runaway group, but helped dig a bigger dog hole together. They also quietly contributed all of their own personal funds and forced Jiahui to change out several of her hair ornaments…

Jiahui: *gets a bad idea*

Jiahui: Great Idea