CMBD CH 52

CMBD CH

Chapter 52

The Oath

The weather was clear. People flowed endlessly through the marketplace.

Lord Hou was seated in a side pavilion on the second floor of a teahouse, savoring his tea as he listened to the coachman’s report.

He reached out and pushed the window wide open. The sunlight was warm. Though there was noise outside, it was different from the clamor of the capital. The bustle of the town carried its own local flavor and warmth.

“…They went to the village. That family was also of the Gao clan,”
the coachman said.

Because the matter was of great importance, Lord Hou had entrusted it only to people he could rely on. The coachman was no exception.

The coachman reported every detail he had learned from the Gao household.

When Lord Hou heard that the other party also bore the surname Gao, he showed little reaction. But the moment he heard that the child had been switched, the cup in his hand slipped and fell onto the table.

The coachman was startled and asked,

“M-my lord, are you all right?”

Lord Hou steadied his voice and said,

“I’m fine. So—where is the person?”

The coachman replied,

“They’re on their way. Hwang Chung told me to inform you in advance. He will be bringing the young lady shortly.”

Lord Hou nodded.

“Understood. You may withdraw.”

“Yes, my lord.”

The coachman withdrew.

At last, he had found the child. The process had not been as full of twists and turns as he had expected. Perhaps heaven truly intended to return her to him.

He did not know whether the child resembled him more or Lady Yao more.

Suddenly, time seemed to slow. Lord Hou found it increasingly hard to sit still. He abruptly stood up and went downstairs.

Just as he was leaving the teahouse, he collided with a little boy carrying a box of dim sum.

The child cried out and fell flat onto the ground. The box of dim sum in his hands rolled away across the floor.

Seeing the dim sum he had finally obtained after so long fall to the ground, the child froze where he stood, heartbroken.

“Zhengong, what’s wrong?”

Not far away, Gao Qiao had just bought some tanghulu. Seeing the child sprawled on the ground, she hurried over and helped him up.

Zhengong looked at Gao Qiao, then at the osmanthus cakes scattered on the ground. His small mouth puckered, and tears welled up in his large eyes.

“The… the osmanthus cakes are gone…”

Today was the first time Zhengong had ever come to town. It was also the first time he had seen so many people, and the first time he had lined up to buy osmanthus cakes.

He hadn’t even had the heart to eat them, and now they were gone just like that.

Seeing the fallen cakes, Gao Qiao asked Zhengong,

“Does it hurt? Are you injured anywhere?”

Zhengong clutched his chest and said with a wronged expression,

“It hurts here.”

“……”

They had waited a full yike (about thirty minutes) to buy those cakes. It was only natural for the child to be upset.

But was there really a need to exaggerate like this?

Gao Qiao wiped his little hands with a handkerchief.

“Be more careful next time.”

“I was careful! It wasn’t my fault—he ran into me!”

After saying that, Zhengong pointed at Lord Hou, who was standing there at a loss.

Strictly speaking, it had happened because Lord Hou was in a hurry. At the time, Zhengong had been quietly waiting under the eaves for Gao Qiao to return with the tanghulu.

But Lord Hou hadn’t done it on purpose either. Zhengong was simply too small for him to notice.

And just as he was about to call someone to help Zhengong up, Gao Qiao had appeared.

Why was this woman everywhere? Lord Hou felt irritated.

Gao Qiao looked at him coldly. Lord Hou flinched at her sharp gaze, but given his status as a marquis, he could not possibly apologize to a child.

He cleared his throat lightly and said sternly,

“Then why were you blocking the road? If you bring a child out, you should keep a proper eye on him. Enough. I’m in a good mood today, so I’ll let you off. I’ll give you some silver—go buy a hundred more boxes of osmanthus cakes!”

He took out a silver ingot and tossed it in front of them.

Ordinarily, commoners would bow and thank him upon seeing so much silver. But Gao Qiao and Zhengong did not move at all.

Lord Hou swept a cold glance over the two of them.

“Hmph. Take it or not—do as you please!”

With that, he turned and left.

Because his clothes looked expensive, no one stepped forward to speak up for them.

As he brushed past Gao Qiao’s shoulder, she lightly hooked out a foot and tripped him.

Lord Hou failed to avoid the sudden obstacle and pitched forward onto the ground.

In an instant, fury surged through him. He turned his head and glared savagely at Gao Qiao.

“You wretched woman—are you courting death?”

Gao Qiao returned his words exactly as they were.

“Then why were you blocking the road?”

She turned and was about to leave with Zhengong.

This time, Lord Hou was truly enraged. Just then, the county magistrate happened to be passing by with the yamen runners.

In his anger, Lord Hou ordered the magistrate to arrest Gao Qiao!

After the magistrate left, Hwang Chung arrived shortly after.

“My lord! My lord!”

“Why are you alone? Where is the child?”

“We nearly fell for the Gao family’s trick!”

Hwang Chung recounted everything that had happened at the Gao household.

“Fortunately, we ran into Brother Su-sun—otherwise we would have brought back the wrong person again!”

Lord Hou’s anger surged straight to the top of his head. Fine—so none of them want to live anymore! He would deal with them all later!

“Then where is the child?”
Lord Hou asked, glaring at Hwang Chung.

Hwang Chung pursed his lips. Earlier he had hesitated over whether to bring the person or not—so why was he in such a hurry now?

Hwang Chung took out a vividly lifelike wooden carving from his robes.

“Brother Su-sun gave this to me. This is the young lady!”

After giving the previous carving to the headmaster’s mother, Gao Su-sun had carved a new one, but hadn’t yet had the chance to give it to Gao Qiao.

This time, Hwang Chung used some tact and did not tell Gao Su-sun the truth. He said that Lord Hou had received a great kindness from his elder sister and wished to repay it.

Afraid that they might identify the wrong person again, Gao Su-sun handed over the carving.

Lord Hou felt that the face carved into the wood looked strangely familiar.

“There’s something missing,” he said.

Hwang Chung fumbled in his robes, took out a small piece of cotton, and stuck it to the left side of the carving’s face.

“Brother Su-sun said that the young lady has a red spot on the left side of her face.”

A red spot.

At last, Lord Hou understood why the carving had looked familiar. Wasn’t this the very woman he had ordered dragged to the yamen?

“Could this be a mistake?”
Lord Hou frowned.

“This time, there’s no mistake!”
Hwang Chung had gone around confirming it with the villagers. It was definitely the third branch’s child of the Gao family!

It was as if a bolt of lightning had struck Lord Hou’s head. He could barely stand, his body swaying.

Sensing something amiss, Hwang Chung asked worriedly,

“My lord, are you all right? Are you worried that the young lady might be ugly? Don’t worry—Brother Su-sun said that although she has a spot on her face, she’s not ugly at all!”

In Gao Su-sun’s eyes, his elder sister had never once seemed ugly. He was simply blinded by affection.

Hwang Chung was still waiting for Lord Hou’s orders when Lord Hou vanished from before his eyes in an instant!

Lord Hou chased after Gao Qiao. He had never imagined that the woman he had been desperately searching for was his own biological daughter!

And yet—what had he done?

With his own hands, he had thrown his daughter into prison!

If this continued, he might not even be able to obtain the blood needed to make the medicine later!

When Lord Hou arrived at the yamen, the magistrate’s party had just arrived as well.

He revealed his identity to the magistrate. The magistrate, who already knew him, hastily greeted him upon seeing him. Lord Hou didn’t even spare him a glance and went straight toward the carriage where Gao Qiao had been confined.

But the carriage was empty—not a trace of anyone inside.

Lord Hou widened his eyes.

“Where is the person?”

The magistrate was equally bewildered. He had clearly seen the woman and the child get into the carriage with his own eyes. They hadn’t stopped along the way—how could they have vanished without a trace?

Could that woman be some hidden master?

Wiping cold sweat from his brow, the magistrate said,

“I-it was my subordinates’ mistake. I’ll immediately send people to capture them! I’ll punish them severely so they can never escape again!”

How dare a petty official speak of severely punishing someone of the Hou household’s bloodline? Lord Hou grabbed the magistrate by the collar.

“You corrupt official! You’d seize two young children and subject them to severe punishment—aren’t you ashamed?!”

The magistrate was utterly confused.

“But… didn’t you order us to arrest them, my lord?”

Lord Hou kicked him away.

“If I say arrest them, you arrest them? Instead of redressing the people’s grievances, you curry favor with power—can you even be called a magistrate?”

The magistrate had no idea what was going on.

“……”

The slanting evening sun disappeared, and the sky darkened to an ashen gray.

Holding Zhengong’s hand, Gao Qiao strolled leisurely along the quiet street.

The osmanthus cakes were gone, but there was still tanghulu.

Though Zhengong was young, he was bold. Even after everything that had just happened, he showed no sign of fear, happily licking the tanghulu.

Unable to hold back, Gao Qiao asked him,

“Aren’t you scared?”

“Huh?”

Zhengong stopped licking the tanghulu, widened his eyes, and looked at her. Only after a long moment did he understand what she meant.

“I’m not scared!”

Gao Qiao nodded in acceptance.

“Good. As long as you’re not scared.”

The very first thing Gao Qiao had learned was how to survive. She had never cared about being a good person. But after Zhengong came into her life, that fact gradually began to weigh on her.

Breaking out of prison—such a thing wouldn’t have a good influence on a child.

As Gao Qiao was thinking about how she should teach Zhengong in the future, he shook the hand she was holding and said,

“Qiao-qiao, you’re really strong!”

“Yeah.”

Gao Qiao took it simply as a child’s words.

“I’ll become strong too! Even stronger than Qiao-qiao! Then Qiao-qiao won’t have to be strong anymore!”

“What did you say?”

Gao Qiao stopped walking and looked at him in confusion.

Zhengong looked up at her. His clear, unblemished eyes reflected in hers.

“Qiao-qiao, you’ve had it hard, haven’t you? Master said that strong people are strong because they’ve cultivated a lot—and that they’ll keep cultivating in the future.”

In truth, he didn’t understand it. If someone was already strong, why cultivate more? Master had said that all strong people were destined to go up the mountains to cultivate, and that those who came down the mountain were the ones who lived comfortably.

He was the first person to ever ask her whether it was hard.

At eight years old, she had entered the organization and endured torture—whips, electric shocks. Every day she trained until she nearly lost consciousness. All anyone cared about was whether she could carry out the next mission; no one cared whether she suffered.

For a long while, Gao Qiao didn’t know how to answer.

Perhaps recalling what had just happened, Zhengong grew gloomy and covered his small head with both hands.

“D-did I make things hard for Qiao-qiao?”

Not expecting him to say such a thing, Gao Qiao patted his head.

“No. Raising Zhengong isn’t hard at all.”

“Really?”

Zhengong stared at her blankly.

In his eyes, Gao Qiao sensed a thread of hesitation. The child was, in fact, more easily hurt than anyone.

At last, Gao Qiao nodded.

“Yes. Really.”

Zhengong smiled brightly again. He pounded his chest and made a solemn oath.

“When I grow up, I’ll carry Qiao-qiao up the mountain!”