Just as Steward Li had predicted, the next ten days or so passed in complete peace for Zhao Shu. More than peaceful, the storeroom and kitchens never once failed to send medicine, nourishing soups, and meals every single day.
Even Qi Ying remarked that the food delivered here was more plentiful than what was sent to her own courtyard.
Though the little hut constantly smelled of animals, the days were filled with meat, wine, and Qi Ying’s company. Her injuries had all healed as well. To her own surprise, Zhao Shu found that she had grown rather accustomed to this rustic life among the wilderness.
Yet beneath the appearance of ease and tranquility, a quiet unease lingered all the same.
On the tenth day of the first lunar month, while the sky was still dim and dawn had only just begun to break, she woke with a start.
She went early to the stables and absentmindedly chatted with the mottled horse that had injured itself that day. “Xiao Bai, look at your coat, all matted like this. Poor thing. Does your leg still hurt?”
Xiao Bai flicked its tail, swatting the belly of Chiji, who had been dozing nearby with his eyes closed.
“It’s all Chiji’s fault for chasing you that day. I’ll teach him a lesson for you!”
As she spoke, she reached around to grab Chiji’s sleek dark chestnut mane, tugging playfully at one ear and rubbing it against the tip of her nose. “It’s already been ten days. Why hasn’t my grandfather’s envoy arrived yet?”
Usually proud and aloof, Chiji snorted, pulled his ear free, then lowered his head affectionately toward her. Stretching out his tongue, he licked at the center of her brow, as though trying to remove the medicinal paste spread across her face.
She was just about to check Xiao Bai’s injury again when an armored guard arrived from outside, telling her to lead Chiji to the western side gate and wait there.
Ordinarily, Cheng Wu was the one who came to fetch the horse. It was strange that he hadn’t today. Although the pasture lay just northwest of the estate and wasn’t far from the western gate, she truly had no desire to see the horse’s master.
Sheltered in the horse grounds with no worries over food or clothing, she had deliberately avoided thinking about everything that had happened over the past six months.
But harsh reality was not something that disappeared simply because one refused to think about it or look at it. During the short walk to the western gate, her heart pounded with anxiety, and a fine layer of sweat dampened her palms as they gripped the reins.
When she arrived, however, the man she expected to see was nowhere in sight.
Instead, Cheng Wu greeted her with a smile, explaining only that he’d been delayed. After exchanging a few pleasantries, Zhao Shu ultimately failed to bring herself to ask about the affairs of the former Zhao court. She handed him the reins and was about to turn back when delight suddenly lit up her eyes.
A mounted party was approaching from afar. At its head rode a handsome man in armor with a sword at his waist, it was Lian Yu, whom she had not seen for many days.
“Oh, Young General Lian was personally protected by the Imperial Grandson. He’s now serving as a Commandant of Great Qin.”
Zhao Shu’s mind went blank. Before she could even figure out what rank a Commandant was, Lian Yu had already urged his horse forward with a flick of his whip.
“Have your injuries healed? What about the soldiers from the quarry?”
“The Imperial Grandson submitted a memorial on our behalf and secured a pardon for all of us.”
Looking at him in the military uniform of Qin, Zhao Shu found him strangely unfamiliar. She didn’t dwell on accusations of treason. Instead, an odd thought surfaced in her mind.
From now on, he would serve the State of Qin? Then if fortune ever smiled on her and she returned to Zhao to inherit the throne, would they one day face each other as enemies on the battlefield? They had grown up together since childhood, what kind of fate was that?
The thought had barely formed before Lian Yu’s next words shattered it.
“Zhao Jian… has established a new Crown Prince. Zhou Wang’s envoy… also came on the seventh.”
The two of them stood beneath the towering crimson walls. The rising sun cast its brilliant light across Zhao Shu’s face, making her eyes shine with startling intensity.
“But Qin Wang has never summoned me. Did my grandfather say when he would bring me back to Luoyi?”
Lian Yu tightened the strap securing his sword, avoiding her gaze as he spoke quickly. “It was only an ordinary diplomatic exchange. However, the Zhou envoy openly rebuked Prince Yi before the court that day. Qin Wang flew into a rage and reduced Prince Yi’s fief.”
Looking at her with unconcealed concern, he hesitated before finally speaking frankly. “Young Master, the person you should be wary of isn’t the Imperial Grandson.”
Zhao Shu lowered her eyes, and the light within them dimmed. “The Zhou envoy… didn’t mention me even once?”
Lian Yu nodded. He seemed about to say more, but official business called him away. Mounting his horse, he rode off at once.
Zhao Shu was left standing there alone, watched only from afar by two attendants.
The mere two steps it took to reach the gate felt impossibly heavy, as though molten lead had been poured into her legs. Her mind sank into a haze of darkness and confusion.
She even forgot to ask about Qi Ying, much less notice the ornate carriage waiting quietly at the street corner behind her.
…
“What an exquisite beauty, only to be trapped beside my blockheaded elder brother. Such a waste.” Inside the carriage, a lavishly dressed young noble sighed as he held two boys of twelve or thirteen in his arms.
This was Mi Rong, the very man who had disguised himself as a petty official atop the city walls that day. He was the nephew of Lady Mi, Duchess Yong. Though he possessed a handsome, refined face, he was infamous throughout Xianyang as a shameless libertine.
“The Imperial Grandson has always treated you well. He’s only a discarded hostage prince. If you want him, just ask the Imperial Grandson to give him to you,” one of the boys suggested with a coquettish smile, snuggling closer.
Mi Rong recalled how, only two days earlier, he had accidentally played a physician’s illegitimate son to death and had been fiercely scolded by his aunt. He waved away his favorite companion and immediately rejected the suggestion.
“Ah! Young Master, aren’t you attending the Imperial Grandson’s banquet tonight? Judging from how that hostage prince was dressed just now, he clearly isn’t valued. While you’re at the banquet, have someone secretly bring him out. Keep him for just one night, who would ever know?”
Mi Rong’s eyes lit up. He planted a loud kiss on the boy’s cheek, then hurriedly ordered the carriage to turn back so he could make preparations.
***
After returning to the horse grounds, Zhao Shu collapsed onto the patch of weeds before the stable gate. She remained sitting there on the frost-covered ground soaked with morning dew until noon before finally forcing herself to stand and fetch the supplies to tend Xiao Bai’s wounds.
Xiao Bai’s injury had improved considerably. As she deftly changed the bandages, however, her own heart felt utterly hollow. She had the sense that she ought to break down and weep, yet the tears seemed to have nowhere left to go.
Her royal father had finally fulfilled the wish he had cherished for so many years, fathering a son in his old age. She would never return to Luoyi. No matter how dearly her grandfather had once loved her, in the end she could not compare to the state or the realm.
What a foolish life she had lived.
It turned out that ever since the secret surrender at Pingcheng, her fate had already been sealed.
She had been abandoned alone in Xianyang.
So the titles of descendant of the Royal Zhou house and heir to the State of Zhao had been nothing more than empty names bestowed by her father and forefathers.
Without the states of Zhou and Zhao behind her, she was no different from a common pauper.
To be trampled underfoot.
To survive only by depending on the favor of others.
…
Near the end of the Shen hour, Cheng Wu found an excuse to lead Ying Wuji, who had just finished attending to official business, through the western side gate and into the horse grounds.
Ever since realizing his lord’s particular “preference,” Cheng Wu had been doing everything he could to bring the two young nobles together.
Quick-witted and silver-tongued, he enjoyed Qin Wang’s trust, and on the seventh day he had personally heard the Zhou envoy’s impassioned speech before the court. Today’s encounter had been arranged deliberately, to use Commandant Lian’s own words to extinguish Crown Prince Zhao’s remaining hopes.
He thought that the Imperial Grandson should be coming of age this year, yet he remained trapped in the shadows of his youth, dressing before dawn and eating after dusk, utterly consumed by the pursuit of power. He did not even have a single companion by his side. It was a life far too bleak. Even if Crown Prince Zhao was a man, serving merely to awaken certain desires would hardly matter.
The two men stood atop the elevated covered walkway, looking down toward the horse grounds. But Cheng Wu suddenly realized, to his dismay, that he had badly miscalculated.
Not far away beside a thatched shed, a campfire crackled beneath a makeshift stone stove supporting a large iron pot that billowed with fragrant steam. Zhao Shu sat leaning her head against Qi Ying’s shoulder, the two of them laughing, eating, drinking, embracing, and nestled close together. Chiji and several other famous steeds grazed around them, occasionally rewarded with cooled vegetables and fruit.
Bathed in the crimson glow of the evening clouds, the pair looked like a golden boy and jade maiden. The scene was so warm and peaceful that it hardly resembled a punishment of tending horses, it seemed more like they were living in a paradise hidden among peach blossoms.
A smile appeared on Ying Wuji’s usually impassive face. Cheng Wu inwardly cursed himself and hurriedly tried to salvage the situation. “Crown Prince Zhao and that girl… they’re as close as brother and sister…”
“Zhao Wang has already deposed the Crown Prince,” Ying Wuji corrected.
“Ah! Judging by the hour, the young lords and Lord Hengyuan should all be arriving soon. Imperial Grandson, you should hurry and change for the banquet.”
Ying Wuji seemed to have been reminded of something. With a cold snort he said, “Have the hostage Shu attend the banquet as a wine servant. Tell the steward to make the arrangements.”
His sleeves fluttering, he turned and descended the covered walkway. Looking out over the layered gardens and artificial hills of the estate, he felt, for no apparent reason, a trace of desolation.
***
Night fell.
When Zhao Shu finally managed to decipher the steward Li’s rambling and evasive explanation of the order from above, she reacted with surprising calm. She even summarized it gently herself. “So… he wants me to serve wine as a qingyi wine attendant.”
The term qingyi did not refer to the color of the clothing but to the service duties reserved for young eunuch attendants.
What was destined to come could not be avoided. Just as that man had said, he intended to torment her slowly.
The timing could not have been more precise.
Very well. Now that all hope was gone, what pride was left to preserve?
…
As twilight faded beneath the interwoven bridges and covered corridors linking the distant pavilions, the Imperial Grandson’s residence blazed with light. Tonight a grand banquet was being held. Countless palace lanterns stretched in winding rows, while the glow from diamond-latticed windows shimmered across the lake, making the entire estate resemble a celestial palace.
Inside the banquet hall, Mi Rong listened as a servant whispered into his ear that the person they had searched for at the horse grounds was nowhere to be found. His expression darkened. After a moment’s hesitation, he turned to the elegantly dressed middle-aged woman seated in the place of honor and said ingratiatingly, “Aunt, I’m truly feeling rather unwell today. I’ll offer my elder brother a toast later, then head home first.”
Duchess Yong Mi Yan snorted with equal parts affection and disdain. Her phoenix eyes swept across the drunken Lord Hengyuan before she laughed and scolded, “You little monkey. When you leave, take your uncle with you. Both of you are equally troublesome.”
Having finished her teasing, she turned once more to raise a distant toast to the two elder illegitimate sons of old Qin Wang, who had recently returned after receiving their fiefs. Though these men stood on the side of the Imperial Grandson and Lord Hengyuan, they were still senior in generation and deserved proper courtesy.
Ever since Mi Yan had lost her only son three years ago, she had taken Ying Wuji under her wing. They had come to rely upon one another, like mother and son.
Just as Mi Yan was chatting animatedly with another noblewoman beside her, a young qingyi attendant stepped forward to refill her wine.
Several drops of amber liquor spilled over the rim, leaving the cup nearly nine-tenths full. How clumsy. Didn’t this attendant even know that noble guests’ cups should be filled only seven-tenths full?
She raised her head to rebuke the servant, only for astonishment to fill her eyes.
The young attendant appeared to be around sixteen years old, hair parted into twin buns. There was not the slightest trace of masculinity about the child. With apricot eyes and cherry lips, the features were not strikingly beautiful in the conventional sense, yet there was an ethereal grace about the bearing and appearance that seemed almost otherworldly.
Before she could even ask the attendant’s name, Lord Hengyuan suddenly lurched forward and began vomiting at the seat of honor.
Mi Yan’s teeth clenched in annoyance. She sprang to her feet, hurriedly directing the attendants to help support him and clean up the mess.
“Royal Father is unwell. Quickly summon the court physician,” Ying Wuji said as he strode over.
He was just about to lift Lord Hengyuan onto his back when Mi Yan stopped him with a wave of her hand.
“Your Royal father won’t die from this. Two bowls of sobering soup when he gets back will do. Rong’er, you accompany your uncle home.”
Mi Rong glanced at the unexpected figure who had appeared and immediately changed his tune. “Ah, Aunt, I’m actually feeling much better now. I won’t leave after all. Didn’t you tell me to spend more time getting acquainted with the elders? Elder Brother is worried, so let him escort Uncle instead.”
Just as Mi Yan was about to scold him, Lord Hengyuan’s entire left side suddenly began convulsing. Panic flickered across her face. After only a brief hesitation, Ying Wuji immediately hoisted his father into his arms while simultaneously ordering someone to fetch medicine from the residence.
Once the hosts had all departed, Zhao Shu absentmindedly continued pouring wine for one of the honored guests. She knew medicine, and something about Lord Hengyuan’s sudden illness felt strangely familiar.
A flushed face, the appearance of drunkenness, paralysis and convulsions affecting one side of the body… yet it was not an ordinary stroke. Whenever she tried to think more deeply, the memory seemed impossibly distant. Perhaps it was merely something she had seen in a dream.
Distracted, she accidentally tilted the wine jug too far. A thin silver stream of wine splashed across the sleeve of Young Master Jia.
A sharp blow landed on her shoulder. The wine cup shattered. Her long black hair spilled across the floor as she was shoved backward, stumbling over the leg of a table. With a loud crash, the entire banquet table overturned.
Young Master Jia was the eldest of Old Qin Wang’s illegitimate sons after Lord Hengyuan. Though he had long since lost any chance of becoming heir, he had ruled the Ba region for over a decade. Having grown accustomed to being lord over his own territory, his temper had naturally become overbearing.
As the table overturned, several bronze serving dishes toppled with it. Soup and sauces drenched Young Master Jia’s outer robe and boots without leaving a single drop behind.
Zhao Shu stared at his bedraggled appearance in shock. By force of habit she was just about to apologize when he let out a cold snort. Without even sparing her a glance, he strode past, flicking his sleeve as he casually ordered, “This insolent eunuch has ruined my mood. Tell the steward to punish him with hai execution.”
She remained sitting on the cold polished stone floor. Neither Cheng Wu nor Steward Li was anywhere to be seen. A few sympathetic glances drifted her way, but she stood alone, bewildered.
Hai execution… what was that?
After Young Master Jia had gone some distance away, several servants entered from outside. Seeing the aggressive way they approached, Zhao Shu immediately sensed danger. It was only when a cloth was stuffed into her mouth that she finally realized she should cry for help.
Just then, a young stranger’s playful voice sounded behind them.
“It’s still the New Year, and we’re in my elder brother’s residence. Why resort to something so bloody? Do me, Mi Rong, the favor of showing a little mercy. Twenty lashes as an apology should be punishment enough.”
Dragged all the way toward the shadows, Zhao Shu had her mouth gagged. Above her, the night sky was strewn with stars that mingled with the glow of countless lanterns.
The name Mi Rong sounded strangely familiar.
The servants hauled her across the courtyard to a desolate spot by the lakeside, then roughly flung her aside.
Just as she was about to hit the ground hard, an arm suddenly circled her waist and caught her. After dismissing the servants, the man lightly brushed the tip of her nose with his thumb. “So Crown Prince Zhao isn’t even afraid of hai execution?”
Before she could turn around, her limbs suddenly went limp, and darkness swallowed her vision.
Want to show your support? Go donate at Paypal or Ko-fi to show your appreciation! Want to get early access to at least 5+ chapters in advance? Go to my Patreon to join now! :)
![Delicate, Yet Shamelessly Freeloading [Quick Transmigration]](https://i2.wp.com/lazygirltranslations.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/65f44bbaf6c5968b008249902dc4ddcf5823.png?resize=151,215 "Delicate, Yet Shamelessly Freeloading [Quick Transmigration]")
