The Chancellor's Darling: Reborn for Vengeance

‘If I hide in the carriage, how will I hear what they’re really thinking?’

‘The resentment among the people is so palpable. And who knows what the Gate Valve Aristocratic Families will say to Gao Qian…’

In her past life, Lu Xiu hadn’t been involved with military power this early.

She used to think that since he was the future Master Lu, he could weather any storm. But now, so many people and events had changed because of her interference, and she was no longer sure.

Liang Wan fell silent.

Gu Yu glanced over again, her voice low and hostile. “If the Master were in Jinye, would they dare to be so brazen? Every single one of them would be falling over themselves to curry favor.”

Liang Wan looked at her and nodded. “Even you understand that the Master is now far from the imperial court, his life on the line every day on the battlefield. How could they not know? They fear the Grand Commandant who can speak before His Majesty, not the commander of soldiers thousands of miles away whose fate is left to the heavens.”

“Besides, we currently rely on them to fund the military supplies, so of course they’re going to put on a different face.”

Liang Wan’s expression remained unchanged.

Gu Yu suppressed her anger. “If it weren’t for the Master, would they even have the chance to stand here, making snide, sarcastic remarks? They probably would have been captured by Beizhou and taken prisoner long ago!”

While they waited, carriages and ox-carts continued to arrive, and the crowd gradually grew. It wasn’t just the women from official families, but also commoners from the Commoner Clans.

The scholarly families looked down on the Commoner Clans, and the Commoner Clans looked down on the peasants. Soon, everyone had separated into their own groups, but the pointing and whispering were all the same.

The discussions grew louder.

“What’s taking Lady Cao so long?” Gu Yu frowned, craning her neck to peer toward the handover point. “Does it really take this much time?”

Seeing how anxious she was, Liang Wan said, “Why don’t you go see if you can help?”

Gu Yu shook her head. “She brought so many people. They don’t need one more servant.”

“Well, well, who do we have here? If it isn’t our ‘far-famed’ Lady Yurui!”

A silvery laugh drew everyone’s attention, and the deliberately emphasized words made some people unable to help but snicker.

Far-famed? More like infamous!

Gu Yu’s delicate brows furrowed. She glared coldly at the speaker and was about to defend her mistress when Liang Wan stopped her, sending her off to help Cao Luyun.

Liang Wan knew perfectly well that she hadn’t come here today to get into an argument, and there was certainly no need to give the onlookers more of a show.

Feng Qingyue gently adjusted the shawl on her shoulders, a brilliant smile on her face as she glided out from the crowd with delicate steps.

Ever since she had ruined Chun’er’s health with drugs and latched onto Prince Guangping, Cui Hao had put her back on a pedestal.

The former Lady of the Marquis Mansion had fallen so low as to offer herself to men to secure her future, which was hardly a glorious matter. Out of deference to Prince Guangping’s power, people not only refrained from exposing her in public but even had to show her a measure of respect.

She did have some right to flaunt her power.

Liang Wan met her smile. “You’re quite well-known yourself.”

Feng Qingyue’s expression changed, but she quickly recovered with a nonchalant smile. “Let’s see who comes to protect you today.”

She vaguely remembered someone once saying that no one can protect someone else forever.

Liang Wan gave a slight nod and glanced at her. “In any case, it won’t be Prince Guangping.”

“You—”

Seeing the onlookers covering their mouths to stifle their laughter, Feng Qingyue was so furious her glare was like daggers stabbing into Liang Wan.

Liang Wan gave her a cool glance and tried to walk around her.

But Feng Qingyue grabbed her arm, shouting as she forcefully dragged her into the center of the crowd.

“Come on, everyone, take a look! It’s her! Because of her, what kind of life have we all been living?”

Liang Wan was shoved hard and fell to the ground in the middle of the circle.

Previously, the onlookers had been wary of the Lu Family and had only dared to ridicule her with words. They never expected this Feng Qingyue to be so bold as to attack her directly. They were both surprised and excited.

The guards on duty wanted to intervene but didn’t dare. If it were commoners, it would be one thing, but the troublemakers were all women from scholarly and official families. They were just lowly guards; how could they casually lay a hand on them? Who among them could they afford to offend?

So they only shouted weakly a few times, a token gesture to show they were doing their duty, but it had no effect whatsoever.

The minor official at the handover point shrank back, staring intently at the registration ledger in front of him as if it were the only thing he could see.

Seeing that no one was stopping her, Feng Qingyue grew even more triumphant.

She decided to go all out and shouted:

“You’ve all heard she’s a demon, but did you know this? Because he performed a birth-chart divination for her, Duke Lou was afflicted with bad luck and was literally cursed to death!”

Cursed Duke Lou to death?

Hearing this, the crowd was stunned.

They only knew that Duke Lou’s death had been sudden; they had no idea there was such a hidden story behind it.

A single stone sets a thousand ripples in motion.

Their resentment had long been simmering, and now it boiled over uncontrollably.

Liang Wan looked up at Feng Qingyue. ‘How does she know about the birth-chart divination?’

“Liang Ji—”

Gu Yu shouted her name anxiously from the back of the crowd, but people deliberately blocked her, refusing to let her get close.

Feng Qingyue sneered. “Why are you looking at me? Did you think you could hide it forever? You’re the one who brought disaster upon Daqi! If you have any sense of shame, shouldn’t you atone with your death?!”

“I remember now! The day of Lou Xu Ru’s funeral, she was carried out of the Duke Wei Mansion! After she left, the Duke died! So she really is a demon!”

“Everyone knows the Duke was skilled in divination and always divined the fate of Daqi! For her to be able to curse the Duke to death—”

“First the drought, then the locust plague, then the epidemic, and now months of war! She’s a walking disaster!”

…

For a moment, all distinctions between scholarly families, Commoner Clans, and peasants vanished. Everyone crowded together, hurling abuse at the culprit in the center.

Cao Luyun heard the commotion and hurriedly dropped what she was doing, struggling to push her way through the crowd.

“If you have something to say, say it properly! How can you resort to violence and bully someone?”

It took her a long time to finally break through the encirclement.

When she saw Liang Wan again, she was surrounded by several people pulling at her clothes and hair, staggering so badly she couldn’t even stand.

“A jinx like you, why don’t you just die? Why don’t you just die!”

“Your very existence brings misfortune to others!”

“If you don’t die, are you trying to drag all of us down with you?!”

“What are you all looking at? Get up here and beat this demon to death!”

…

Liang Wan couldn’t see who was hitting her. She was surrounded by a wall of overlapping shadows, fists and feet raining down on her. The usually gentle and delicate ladies of the scholarly families were now displaying a brutish strength no less than that of a young man.

Her vision blurred with tears. She gritted her teeth and didn’t make a sound, just as she had in her past life, forcefully shoving and fighting back.

Her scalp throbbed with raw pain from having her hair pulled. Her body was kicked, stomped on, and pinched. The pain was incessant, and even her clothes were nearly torn to shreds.

Strangely, she couldn’t see the faces of her attackers, but she could clearly see the strands of her own hair that had been ripped out and were now being trampled underfoot.

The crowd had lost all control. The long-suppressed resentment and frustration made the enraged people act as if possessed by demons, venting their dissatisfaction with mad fury.

Seeing the situation escalating, the official no longer dared to stand by and do nothing. He immediately ordered the guards to move forward and stop them.

But the crowd was a chaotic mix. How could they drive back the others without injuring the women of the scholarly families?

The official didn’t dare give the order to use force, so he just continued to shout from behind the crowd.

Just before Liang Wan lost consciousness completely, her soul seemed to float up, hovering in mid-air, looking down at the crowd surrounding her physical body.