"And if you don't listen to me and stop me at the door, and if I really commit suicide, do you think any of you can escape my punishment?"
Qianyin's words scared all the maids in the room to their knees.
"Aunt Nineteen, please don't do anything stupid. We will all listen to you and we will definitely do what you ask!"
Qianyin still smiled faintly, looking at humans and animals harmlessly.
But these maids all know that the Nineteenth Aunt is actually the most ruthless.
"Auntie, the young master is here." At this time, a maid came in from outside to report.
Qianyin wanted to say goodbye, but when she thought that he came over so late and came so blatantly, he must have an honest reason.
"Let him wait outside for a while. I also want to go for a walk." Qianyin said.
Zong Xing didn't wait outside for too long.
Qianyin changed into loose clothes and walked out surrounded by several maids.
As soon as she came out without saying anything, she saw Zong Xing's swollen hand.
It wasn't that she deliberately wanted to observe Zong Xing's changes, but his hands were smeared with white ointment, which was particularly conspicuous under the dim light.
"Nineteenth Aunt." Zong Xing shouted loudly.
Qianyin's face was expressionless, "Why did the young master come to see me? If something happened, why didn't you tell me during the day?"
"I want to say hello to the young master first. I am in a very bad mood right now. If there is any offense in my interactions with the young master later, or if I make the young master uncomfortable, I ask for your forgiveness."
"But the young master can also choose to go back now, so that there will be no unpleasantness in the future."
Qianyin said this in advance, everyone could hear that she wanted Zong Xing to leave on his own.
But Zong Xing had already known the situation and had made preparations for it. How could he leave first?
"It doesn't matter, I'm in a bad mood and I just want to go out for a walk. Aunt Nineteen has just finished dinner, so should we leave now?"
Qianyin did not refuse and walked towards the entrance of the courtyard.
Several maids behind her followed.
Just as Zong Xing was about to leave, he suddenly turned around and said to the maids: "Don't follow me. I have something to say with Aunt Nineteen."
"We will take a walk in the mansion. If anything happens, just shout and the people in the mansion will hear us."
The maids had been tamed by Qianyin and were obedient. Even though the young master was the one giving them orders at the moment, they did not listen and looked at Qianyin one after another.
Qianyin: "Since the young master has said so, then you all stay here and don't go out. Just boil some more water. I'm going to take a bath when I get back."
"Yes." The maids all lowered their eyebrows and were obedient.
After Zong Xing and Qianyin left the courtyard, he joked: "When I pass by the courtyards of other concubines, I will hear their voices scolding the servants."
"I've never seen you speak loudly to them here."
"Is it because your temper is too good, or is it that the servants assigned to you are too good, and you have never had any conflicts?"
Qianyin: "If they really did their duty, why couldn't they even notice you coming in that night?"
There was no one around, so when she brought up this topic, Zong Xing could respond.
"I have practiced martial arts. It's not like you don't know it. My body and steps are lighter than ordinary people. It's normal for them not to notice that I am."
Qianyin asked back: "Then do you have any regrets? In the past, my father asked you to practice martial arts, but you spent three days fishing and two days drying nets, just having fun."
"If you had studied martial arts carefully, you would have been able to earn a living even if you were performing on the street."
"If you're lucky and can be favored by a warlord, you might be able to marry someone else's daughter. From then on, you will rise to prominence, and you will never have to live a life of one meal or another."
"Don't come to this place, face people you don't want to see, and do things you don't want to do."
When Zong Xing heard this, he stopped.
Qianyin saw him stop, but she kept walking forward.
Zong Xing raised his eyes, grabbed Qianyin's arm with his good hand, and dragged her into the nearby woods.
"What are you doing? Let me go!" Although there was no one around, there was no guarantee that a boy or a maid would walk over, so even though Qianyin was struggling, her voice was very soft, just in Zong Xing's arms.
It was twisting violently.
But precisely because of her appearance, it seemed even more like she was flirting.
Zong Xing's voice was slightly hoarse, "Don't move. If you move again, I don't know what I will do. Anyway, there is no one here, and no one will notice what I do to you."
Qianyin quickly stopped him and said, "Don't do this nonsense! If a servant comes by and sees us like this, we will be dead!"
"If I'm dead, I'm dead. Do you think I like my life now? Do you think my life is any different from death to me?!"
Zong Xing shouted these words with red eyes, Qianyin said nothing.
She lowered her head and stopped struggling, just being held in Zong Xing's arms.
Just like it was before the Zong family was defeated.
Zong Xing said softly: "Didn't you ask me if I regretted it? I regretted it."
"If I had practiced martial arts well back then, no, if I had cared more about my parents, then our clan might not have been destroyed, and we wouldn't have reached this stage."
"But Qianyin, even at this point, we still have a choice."
Zong Xing took out two banknotes from his pocket and showed them to Qianyin.
His voice was trembling with joy.
"Look, Lu Hua gave this to me voluntarily. With this money, we can buy a small house after we escape."
"We don't need to live a luxurious life, and we don't need to eat and drink every day. We just need to have simple meals, three meals a day, and be with each other."
"With this money, it doesn't matter even if we never make any more money in this life, we can just live frugally."
"As long as we can be together and have enough food and clothing, all other sufferings are not suffering, right?"
Zong Xing came here tonight not to say good things to Lu Hua, nor to torture Qian Yin.
He once again showed his sincerity to Qianyin.
He encouraged Qianyin to go with him.
He had thought up a good reason and prepared the things they needed to escape.
All is ready except for the opportunity.
And this general trend is Qianyin’s consent.
But Qianyin is not as optimistic as Zong Xing thought.
"Besides this city, other cities are in chaos. It's not like you and I haven't seen it."
"What's the use of having money? Have you forgotten the pain of being robbed?"
"Having money but not the ability to keep it is worse than having no money."