The Prime Minister’s Daughter and the Marquis’s Fool – Chapter 279
by Little PandaBonus Chapter 15
Reporting to Your Highness, this subject is Ma Mingzhong.
Zhao Ningying picked up the wine pot at her side and poured some for herself. Qu Ning tilted her head, letting her gaze drop to the cup now filled to the brim—hers—and smiled. “Ying-meimei is still the best to me.”
Zhao Ningying lifted her eyes and asked with a smile, “Mu-jiejie is very good to Ning-jiejie too.”
Qu Ning raised her cup with an “Mm,” the corner of her lips curving. “I know. It’s just that the way Ying-meimei is good to me feels… rather special.”
Zhao Ningying’s heart stuttered. A guilty hollow opened in her chest, yet she put on a look of perfect incomprehension.
Qu Ning only smiled and let the matter drop. “Come, let’s just have a few cups. It’s raining today—good sleeping weather. And if it clears early tomorrow, we can get an earlier start on the road.”
Zhao Ningying’s smile bloomed bright and untroubled, as if nothing had happened. She raised her cup, clinked it against Qu Ning’s, and drank.
For all the talk of “a few cups,” the pot was empty in no time. Thankfully, both of them could hold their liquor; neither face showed the slightest change. When the meal was cleared away, Zhao Ningying poured Qu Ning’s tea.
Qu Ning watched the tea rise to the brim and looked up, eyes crinkling. “Much obliged, Ying-meimei.”
Hearing such courtly courtesy from Qu Ning, Zhao Ningying only smiled and said nothing.
They sat over their tea for a while as Qu Ning outlined the general arrangements on the army’s side. Zhao Ningying had only just come out of a military camp herself—no sheltered young lady who never stepped past her own gate—so she knew perfectly well how spare a camp’s comforts were.
Her worry right now was not whether the two of them would adjust, but how Qu Zhimu and the others were to be settled once they arrived. In the towns near the garrison grounds, more than a few soldiers had bought land and property and brought their families over to live. But apart from the locals, only those with somewhat deeper purses could manage such a thing.
When Qu Ning heard Zhao Ningying bring up the town, she said, “Housing in the town certainly can’t compare with the county seat’s, but I’ll send people to make proper arrangements—see to it that they live as comfortably as possible.”
Zhao Ningying’s brows curved with delight. “Then I must be the first to bring this good news to Qianjie-meimei later.”
Qu Ning laughed along with her. “Don’t tell her yet. If her hopes climb too high and the place turns out wrong, she’ll be grumbling about me all over again.”
Zhao Ningying laughed softly. “Impossible. She may look every inch the pampered young lady, but she adapts better than anyone. If the two maternal aunts of the Zhu family hadn’t held her back, she’d have thrived in the army, guaranteed.”
And so the two of them talked freely, without rank or station between them, while Qu Ning gazed at Zhao Ningying’s smiling face, delight pooling in her eyes.
They chatted idly in the room for a long while. When the sky had gone fully dark, Qu Ning rose and ordered hot water brought up. Zhao Ningying sat washing her feet; when Qu Ning came back in from outside and saw her bending to reach for the towel, she scooped it up herself and, without a word, crouched down to lift Zhao Ningying’s foot.
That startled Zhao Ningying badly. Never mind Qu Ning—even she herself had never waited on anyone but her elders.
Zhao Ningying drew her foot back and stared at Qu Ning, tense. Qu Ning raised her eyes to meet hers, saw the panic there, and smiled. “So a Jiejie isn’t even allowed to dry her Meimei’s feet?”
That was hardly the way of things.
Zhao Ningying still did not move. Qu Ning lowered her head, took in that pair of tender, jade-white feet soaking in the water, and laughed.
She pressed the towel into Zhao Ningying’s hands and stood. “Then Ying-meimei may do it herself.”
Qu Ning walked toward the window. Zhao Ningying looked down at the towel set aside, quietly let out a breath of relief, and reached for it.
“The escort guards’ goods have been found.” Qu Ning opened the window and looked below to check.
Zhao Ningying asked, still toweling her feet, “Who took them?”
“An inside job.” Qu Ning answered without hesitation. She shut the window, tied something fast against its frame, then turned back to Zhao Ningying and, seeing her puzzlement, explained, “Not the innkeeper—one of their own people.”
Qu Ning came over. Watching Zhao Ningying slip into her shoes, she simply pulled off her own, sat down beside the basin, and set her feet into the water.
“Let me have them bring some fresh water,” Zhao Ningying said hastily.
Qu Ning glanced up with a smile. “No need. Didn’t we often share a footbath when we were children?”
Rendered speechless by the retort, Zhao Ningying had no idea how to answer. They had been little then. Now…
Qu Ning privately studied her flustered look and went on with the earlier matter. “It was one of their own crew—presumably a falling-out within their ranks. Someone wants those men dead.”
Zhao Ningying had already guessed as much. The jianghu1 was a treacherous place—when even your own brothers could not be trusted, whom could you trust?
“How did they settle it?” Zhao Ningying asked.
Qu Ning replied, “Too much soft-heartedness always ends up destroying you. Their lot spared that man—drove him out and let it be.”
Qu Ning lifted her head, her gaze fixing on the bedside. Had it been her, she would never have spared a traitor—she would have had him slow-sliced to shattered bone2.
“Does Ying-meimei also think they handled it poorly?” Qu Ning turned her eyes to Zhao Ningying and asked.
Zhao Ningying said, “Setting him free as they did—yes, it was unwise.”
Qu Ning blinked once, twice. “Then what does Ying-meimei think should be done?”
“Hold steady for now—finish the run first, then decide.” Zhao Ningying fetched a fresh towel and set it at Qu Ning’s side. “If that man goes back to report, then someone means to root them out—and one failed attempt will surely be followed by a second. It never hurts to be on one’s guard against others3.”
Qu Ning nodded, finding her reasoning sound. Still, this was others’ business; they need not involve themselves deeply. A person’s own choices were things that person also had to be able to bear.
Watching Qu Ning dry her feet, Zhao Ningying bent and lifted the basin.
Qu Ning shifted aside a little but did not stop her. Zhao Ningying handed the water off to the attendants waiting outside; turning back, she saw Qu Ning already making for the bed.
Qu Ning sat down and looked up as Zhao Ningying came over. “Are you going to look in on Mu-jiejie and the others again?”
Zhao Ningying shook her head. “Not again. I saw them earlier—they said they meant to turn in early too.”
Qu Ning nodded, shed her outer robes, and half-reclined on the bed.
Zhao Ningying came over and climbed on in nothing but her inner robe, her movements entirely natural.
Qu Ning watched her and shifted her body inward. Once Zhao Ningying lay down, she leaned over toward her.
With Qu Ning this close, Zhao Ningying’s heart stalled for a beat. Her gaze on Qu Ning carried something unfathomable—part probing, part guarded.
Fortunately, Qu Ning only reached out and tugged the quilt up along one side of her. Sitting back, she dropped her eyes to Zhao Ningying’s hands, clenched tight around the quilt, and said with a smile, “This isn’t like the residence—nowhere near as warm, and it’s rained besides. If you’re up in the night, be sure to wrap a robe around yourself properly.”
A long moment passed before Zhao Ningying managed an “Mm.”
A glimmer stirred in Qu Ning’s eyes. Regarding Zhao Ningying—startled as a rabbit—she sat back in an excellent mood and lay down.
They had promised to talk a while, but once Qu Ning lay down, she only stared at the bed canopy until she drifted into sleep.
At first light, birdsong from the branches outside woke them both at the same moment. The two of them washed and dressed, and Qu Ning went to knock on Zhu Qianjie’s and Qiao Jin’s doors.
The followers were all up as well, waiting in the main hall.
Qu Ning and Zhao Ningying went down first. As they sat in the hall waiting for the meal, Qu Ning raised her eyes—and there were Qu Zhimu and Zhu Qianjie coming down together, yawning in unison, eyes bleary with sleep.
Zhu Qianjie was mid-yawn; the instant she caught Qu Ning watching them, she twisted her face away with the yawn only half-finished.
By the time she came down and walked over, she had arranged herself into a picture of wilted misery.
“What are you standing there for? Come sit down and get ready for breakfast.” Qu Ning’s voice was cool; her words were not.
Qiao Jin steadied Qu Zhimu into her seat, and Zhu Qianjie chose herself one as far from Qu Ning as she could get.
The inn waiter came over bearing hot soup, calling out loudly as he came: “Honored Guests, the soup you ordered!”
Zhu Qianjie hurriedly ladled herself a bowl—one sip in, she nearly spat it back out.
“Hm?” Qu Ning glared at her.
Zhu Qianjie forced the mouthful back down with a hard gulp, then said, deeply aggrieved, “This soup tastes awful.”
Seeing this, Zhao Ningying laughed. “I had them add a few things. The rain was heavy yesterday and the damp is thick today—drink it down, it does the body good.”
Zhu Qianjie frowned into her bowl. She did not want to drink it—but a sidelong glance found Qu Ning still watching her, and so she had no choice.
Qu Zhimu knew Zhao Ningying had some grounding in medicine, and since everyone traveling with them was served the same, she could only swallow hers down once Qiao Jin had ladled her a portion.
Breakfast done, everyone boarded the carriages and the journey resumed.
“Keep an eye on our route, and find us a better inn later on,” Qu Ning instructed.
Riding alongside, Feng Miao saluted with cupped hands. “Yes, Master.”
Inside the carriage, Zhu Qianjie—up far too early—had her head resting against Zhao Ningying’s chest, dozing blearily. Qu Zhimu had gone one further, stretched full-length over Qiao Jin. Qu Ning glanced over; seeing Zhao Ningying with lashes lowered in a light doze, she closed her own eyes as well, arms folded, and leaned back against the carriage’s wooden panel.
After that, they covered three days of road at a punishing pace. Qu Ning was anxious over the schedule—the half day lost had to be clawed back somehow.
The moon already hung aslant while the sun had yet to sink fully; a soldier rode back to report a county town ahead—though only a brisk pace would get them there before the gates barred for the night.
Qu Ning waved him forward to lead the way. The carriage traveled faster and, naturally, jolted all the more. Qu Ning watched Zhao Ningying steadily shielding Zhu Qianjie; then, as she lowered her eyes, her own body slipped treacherously sideways—toward Zhao Ningying.
She braced herself with a hand—and that hand closed over Zhao Ningying’s, which had reached out on instinct to steady her.
“Ning-jiejie, are you all right?” Zhao Ningying asked with concern.
Looking at their fingers clasped together, Qu Ning laughed a little awkwardly. “I’m fine.”
“Ning-jiejie, do be careful,” Zhu Qianjie piped up, poking her head out from the shelter of Zhao Ningying’s arms.
Qu Ning gave her a look, nodded, and drew her hand back with visible reluctance. “Understood.”
As Qu Ning sat back, Qu Zhimu and Qiao Jin watched the three of them and traded a glance.
After another stretch of hard travel, the carriage lurched to a sudden halt—and before long Qu Ning heard steel ringing against steel outside.
“What’s happening?” Qu Ning lifted the curtain and asked.
Feng Miao, craning his neck toward the front, turned his head. “Reporting to Master—it looks like a cargo raid.”
“It’s those men from the inn the other day.” Feng Miao had recognized one of them.
Qu Ning’s brow creased faintly. “Hold back for now. Watch, and see how it develops.”
Few people knew her travel route. They had crossed paths with these men before and knew the general shape of things, but with this many family members at her side, she could not afford to be careless.
Feng Miao took the order and sent men to scout. Soon someone returned to report: “Master, it doesn’t feel like a raid. More than half their men are dead, yet no one has touched the goods.”
The item was a smallish box, still strapped to a corpse’s back at that very moment. The attackers could easily have unbound it and carried it off, yet they ignored it entirely—every stroke of their blades aimed at the escort guards’ lives.
Qu Ning suddenly recalled what Zhao Ningying had said the night before: those men had let that fellow go, and left themselves a scourge.
“Send a few men to help them out,” Zhao Ningying said.
Qu Ning considered for an instant, then nodded, and Feng Miao led men over.
At the word that Qu Ning was sending help, Zhu Qianjie craned her head forward, hoping to watch the excitement—only to be stared straight back into her seat by Qu Ning.
For a young lady to show her face on ground like that was to hand herself over to danger.
The group sat quietly in the carriage a short while before Feng Miao returned with his men. The eight escort guards left standing came forward to give thanks, blood-soaked from head to foot.
“Our deepest thanks to the Benefactors for your aid. This one is Mu Qingyun, head escort of the Qingyun Escort Agency. Twice now we have received the Benefactors’ great kindness—this Mu Qingyun is grateful beyond words. But the cargo we are escorting has yet to be delivered. Might the Benefactors leave an address? Once the goods are delivered, we will surely call at your door to give thanks.”
The carriage was silent for a long moment. Then out popped Zhu Qianjie’s head, sizing up the burly, bearded giant. “And how exactly do you plan to give thanks?”
Seeing her, Mu Qingyun grinned. “This life of mine was saved by the Benefactors. Whatever the Benefactors want, I will grant—including this life of mine.”
“What would we want with your life?” Zhu Qianjie’s voice still carried a trace of childishness. “Hmm… it just so happens I’m short a few good hands around me. Your skills look formidable—bring your brothers along and protect us. How about it?”
Mu Qingyun froze, hesitating.
Zhu Qianjie rolled her eyes at him. “One moment ago you’d hand over this life of yours. The moment passes, and suddenly it’s a no?”
“Fine—this one accepts, Benefactor.” Mu Qingyun cupped his hands. “But where is the Benefactors’ home? How am I to find you?”
“No need to find us. We will send men to travel with you; once your cargo is delivered, simply come with them at once,” said Zhao Ningying, leaning into view, her tone steady.
Mu Qingyun cupped his hands again. “This one understands. Our thanks, Benefactors.”
Zhao Ningying let the curtain fall, and Zhu Qianjie asked, “Once they’ve delivered it, will there really still be danger?”
Zhao Ningying looked at her and said, “This Qingyun Escort Agency is famous throughout the jianghu—goods delivered without fail, never once a miss—and it isn’t their only branch, either. Judging from how things stand, someone has marked them. Those people mean to wipe them out. Even if the cargo arrives, odds are they’ll be walking straight into another trap.”
Qu Ning spoke up as well. “The Qingyun Escort Agency charges fair rates and has drawn in no small amount of trade over the years. If that meant snatching business out from under others—blocking somebody’s road to riches—resentment was bound to follow.”
“Ohh.” Zhu Qianjie wore a look of sudden enlightenment—and even Qiao Jin and Qu Zhimu beside them listened on in blank astonishment.
With Feng Miao’s men placed, the party pressed on—and as luck would have it, passed inside the city walls before the gates closed.
Two days later, in an overflow of warm light, Qu Ning led her party into the little town near Jiangkou Great Camp.
She had already had a small residence bought there ahead of time. She set Qu Zhimu and Zhu Qianjie down and, without lingering, took Zhao Ningying and Qiao Jin straight for Jiangkou Great Camp.
When the garrison at Jiangkou Great Camp heard the Imperial Crown Princess had come, their commander hastily led a contingent out of the camp and met Qu Ning’s carriage train on the road.
“This subject Ma Mingzhong, with the civil and military officials of Jiangkou, respectfully welcomes Your Highness. Long live Your Highness, a thousand times over4!” So saying, Ma Mingzhong, garrison commander of this place, dropped to his knees, and the ranks behind him knelt after him in unison: “We subjects respectfully welcome Your Highness. Long live Your Highness, a thousand times over!”
At the commotion outside, the depths of Qu Ning’s eyes went cold and dark. She stepped slowly from the carriage and stood before it, looking down at the assembled officials kneeling below.
From the Prefect on high down to the County Magistrates—every last one of them was here.
“Where is General Ma—Ma Mingzhong?” Qu Ning demanded, gazing down through lowered lashes at the officials.
At this, Ma Mingzhong raised his head and straightened up, beaming. “Reporting to Your Highness, this subject is Ma Mingzhong.”
Qu Ning took in the beard on him, the body broad at the top and no narrower below, and let out a cold scoff. “What towering capability you have—mustered the civil officials all the way out here, no less.”
The smile froze on Ma Mingzhong’s face. He dropped into kowtows at once, bawling, “This subject knows his guilt! This subject only begs Your Highness to hear him out!”
The author has something to say:
Zhu Qianjie: “The outdoor life has officially begun! Aiyaya, freedom at last!”
Qu Ning: “Time to get to work—with a wife to team up with, the work won’t tire you5.”
Zhao Ningying: “…”
Footnotes
- 江湖 | jianghu | Literally 'rivers and lakes'; the shadow society of wandering martial artists, escorts, and outlaws existing beyond imperial authority in Chinese heroic fiction.
- 凌迟碎骨 | lingchi suigu | 'Slow-sliced to shattered bone.' Lingchi, death by a thousand cuts, was imperial China's gravest execution, dismembering the condemned bit by bit.
- 防人之心不可无 | fang ren zhi xin bu ke wu | 'Never be without a guarded heart.' The second half of the classical proverb 'harbor no wish to harm others, yet never lack vigilance against being harmed.'
- 千岁千岁千千岁 | qian sui qian sui qian qian sui | Ritualized acclamation offered to royalty; 'a thousand years' blesses princes and crown princesses, deliberately ranking below the emperor's 'ten thousand years.'
- 有老婆搭配，干活不累 | you laopo dapei, ganhuo bu lei | A playful twist on the modern adage 'nan nü dapei, ganhuo bu lei'—'a mixed team works lighter'—with 'a wife' swapped in.
0 Comments