Not Allowed To Go Out

In the evening, the skies were colorful as the tired birds returned to their nests.

Qingqiao returned, carefully dodged Huamei and Qinxiu, then presented a small cloth package before Song Caitang, “Miss, on my way back, somebody forced me to take this…”

Song Caitang opened the package and found notes equivalent to 800 pieces of silver.

“Will…will we get into trouble?” Qingqiao bent and stared at her fingers nervously, her voice dropped to a whisper, “I wanted to give it back to the person, but he disappeared, and I don’t know who it’s really from. I waited there for a while, but nobody appeared…”

“It’s alright,” It didn’t take long for Song Caitang to figure it out. She patted her maid’s hair and said, “It’s from First Madam Wu.”

Qingqiao’s eyes lit up, “She really gave you the money?”

Song Caitang smiled, “Of course.”

Qingqiao paused, then suddenly remembered one more thing. She pulled it out and said, “Young Mistress, there was this thing in the cloth package as well…it was difficult to hide the package with this thing in the way, so I took it out and stuffed it into a different part of my dress. What does this mean?”

Song Caitang peered at it. It was a small calabash.

Its skin was green, and the upper part and lower part were about the same size. It was very round, rather small, and looked especially cute. The mouth was a little crooked, but that didn’t affect how adorable it was. The only problem was that a bit of the mouth had been cut off.

A calabash with a cut mouth? What special meaning could that have?

Song Caitang snorted, “She’s just telling us to watch our mouths and not tell others about what her family’s doing.”

“Oh…I see…”

Qingqiao wasn’t worried anymore.

If there was one thing she could do, it was to keep mum!

She set this matter aside and started worrying about something else, “Old Madam Li…when is she coming to pick you up?”

Qingqiao had been with Song Caitang all morning, including her meeting with Old Madam Li. She knew what the discussion entailed, so she was a little worried, “Are you really going to examine a dead person?”

And worse still, this involved the authorities. The court.

Just the thought of it frightened her.

Song Caitang looked at her maid’s round face and couldn’t help but poke her cheek, “Are you scared?”

“Nope! I used to be scared, but I’m not scared now!” Qingqiao was still very proud of her performance today, “I’m not afraid of touching a dead person anymore!”

Song Caitang smiled at her maid.

Qingqiao shrank back, then raised her fingers with a serious look on her face, “Well, okay, I’m a teeeeny bit scared. But just a teeny bit!”

“Isn’t that good enough?” Song Caitang smiled brightly. Her eyes reflected the orange glow of the evening clouds, and they looked like the lake waters between spring and summer. They were calm and void of ripples but reflected beautiful colors.

Qingqiao went into a daze. Her Young Mistress was so good-looking…

It seemed like her Young Mistress wasn’t afraid of anything at all.

She wasn’t afraid of the dead, she wasn’t afraid of men…and if her Young Mistress wasn’t afraid, she wasn’t going to be afraid either!

If she shrank back in fear, how was she going to see her Young Mistress? Everyone would always try to bully her Young Mistress because she was so pretty!

With this thought in mind, Qingqiao’s gaze grew more resolute. She decided that she had to become more bold so that she could remain by her Young Mistress’ side at all times!

But there was one more problem, and this was a real problem right now, “But I just heard that Madam has commanded everyone to stay home. Nobody is allowed to go out. How are you going to leave the house?”

“It doesn’t matter.” Song Caitang wasn’t bothered by this, “These instructions are not targeted at us. We can just sneak out when we need to, and nobody will take notice.”

“In that case, we’ve got to get ourselves ready first…”

Qingqiao immediately stood to her feet and rolled her sleeves up as though she was going to get everything ready in the fastest time possible, “When is Old Madam Li coming?”

Song Caitang paused to think, then smiled, “In a couple of days, perhaps.”

When they met in the morning, Old Madam Li was dressed quite formally and looked rather tired, as though she had traveled in a hurry to visit someone.

And based on what happened after that, Song Caitang concluded that someone was probably herself.

After seeing her at the coffin home, Old Madam Li probably already had something on her mind, so she went to find out who this young lady was and decided to talk to her and see what sort of person she was. Then, on the road to the Guan’s, the old lady happened to witness how she had revived someone from the dead, so Old Madam Li was assured of her capabilities. After that, they had a really good conversation, so Old Madam Li decided to ask her to do this on the spot.

But Old Madam Li wasn’t from the courts. She had to discuss this matter and make arrangements first. It wouldn’t be possible to fix the timing so quickly.

This matter was more or less settled, so Song Caitang wasn’t worried about it. She was worried about what was happening in the house. About Madam Zhang.

After they had just arrived back at the manor, Huamei didn’t dare to go anywhere. She thought about it for an entire afternoon, then finally made her decision. She made some excuse to leave Song Caitang’s residence and snuck out.

It didn’t take a genius to know that she was headed to Qingyi Court to report what this Cousin Young Mistress had done today.

Madam Zhang had no love for her as her aunt or care for her as a person. She just wanted to have control over Song Caitang, force her to listen to everything she said, and allow her to make use of her…

Song Caitang narrowed her eyes. As she ran her slim fingers around the rim of the cup, she quietly made her decision.

Madam Zhang was not someone who was constantly finding ways and means to make her life difficult, so Song Caitang wasn’t going to get nasty with her either. But if Madam Zhang decided against sitting still and behaving herself…then Song Caitang was going to make use of the much higher-in-status Old Madam Li to slap Madam Zhang’s hand away. She was going to make sure Madam Zhang knew how to weigh the pros and cons before doing anything in the future and not offend her ever again!

Song Caitang didn’t want to create unnecessary trouble and didn’t want to embarrass Madam Zhang unnecessarily. But Madam Zhang clearly didn’t mind trouble and didn’t mind embarrassing Song Caitang.

Shortly after Huamei had returned to her residence, Auntie Chang, the one who was in charge of Madam Zhang’s residence, came over.

Auntie Chang was very tall and skinny and had a long face. She never smiled outside of Qingyi court.

When she arrived, she pulled a long face and threw a copy of Lessons for Women at her.

“Madam worries about Cousin Young Mistress every single day. She has spent so much effort and made use of every connection she has for the sake of your future. But instead of being understanding and obedient, you’ve completely ignored her words!”

“Madam is very kind at heart and doesn’t want to scold you, so she’s told me to send you a few reminders. I’m a straightforward person, so I don’t like going around the bush or speaking cryptically. Even if you complain about me to Madam, I’m still going to say it.”

“Cousin Young Mistress, you’re old enough to know the rules! Madam has already given instructions – every single person in the inner house, both members of the family and their maids, are not allowed to leave the house. Since you’ve got the time now, why don’t you read this book a few times and learn from it? If you’re hardworking, you could even copy it a few times and memorize everything. Do not do anything that’s considered filthy!”

Once Auntie Chang was done speaking, she left the book behind and marched out without giving Song Caitang any time to respond at all.

Qingqiao blinked in shock for a moment before her expression turned to a displeased one, “How could she speak like that? How could she be so rude to my Young Mistress!”

She turned to console Song Caitang, “Young Mistress, don’t be bothered by her. We’ll get Eldest Young Mistress to scold her!”

Song Caitang grunted in response, then looked intently at Qingqiao, “Oho, you know who we can rely on, huh.”

Qingqiao giggled. She was happy that her cheeky words had made Song Caitang smile.

But after she left the room, she started worrying again. This meant that Qingyi Court had its eye on Song Caitang. How were they going to sneak out now?

Song Caitang wasn’t worried at all, however. Once she got out of bed the next morning, she started instructing Qingqiao on what to pack.

She didn’t know when Old Madam Li was coming, but it was better to get ready as soon as possible so that she wouldn’t be in a hurry or a panic when she had to leave.

She put together her scalpel, her tweezers, her hemostat…well, she didn’t have anything else, really. Blacksmith Zhong was still working on the other items. She paused to think, then got Qingqiao to find her sharp scissors.

It wasn’t going to be as easy to hold and use as one that was made especially for autopsies, but it was better than nothing. It might come in handy.

After that, she got her wooden box and all the other things she might need, like herbs, alcohol, and all that.

It was the same principle – she would rather bring too many things than find herself at a loss when she needed something.

She was packing very busily, so it was impossible for the rest of the house not to know about it.

Especially since she had Huamei and Qinxiu staying with her.

It didn’t take long for the entire Guan house to know that Song Caitang was preparing an assortment of strange things and looked like she was getting ready to leave the house.

Qingyi Court reacted the fastest. But this time, it wasn’t one of the aunties. It was Guan Rongrong.

Guan Rongrong marched over, pointed a finger at Song Caitang, and yelled, “My mother said that nobody is allowed to leave the house! Are you deaf? Didn’t you hear her instructions?”

Song Caitang raised her eyebrows slightly. Her smooth, high nose reflected the unfeeling light, and her voice sounded equally void of emotion, “And who said I was going out?”

Guan Rongrong didn’t know what to say at first, but she grew confident again when she saw the box at the table. She pointed at it and yelled, “What’s that then? Are you just packing these things for fun?”

Song Caitang’s lips turned upwards slightly into a very earnest smile, “That’s right! I’m just packing these things for fun! Do you like playing such games too? Do you want to join me?”

Guan Rongrong had no idea how to respond at all.

It didn’t take long for Songhe Hall to hear about Guan Rongrong marching into Song Caitang’s residence like she was going to kill someone.

Guan Wan became very anxious and grabbed hold of Guan Qing’s hand, forcing her to put the ledger books down. Her round eyes were very serious as she said, “Sis, aren’t you going to do something about it? Caitang’s getting bullied!”

Guan Qing patted her younger sister’s soft hair, “And you think everyone’s as stupid as you? Caitang didn’t ask for us, so it means she doesn’t need us to intervene.”

“But…” Guan Wan bit her lip and still looked terribly anxious. She glanced at her grandmother lying on the bed and found a good reason to force her sister to do something, “Grandmother will be worried too!”

Guan Qing paused.

She thought about it for a while, then said, “You’re right. She’s one of ours, so I can’t let her get bullied just like that.”

She called her head maid, Chunhong, to come over.

“Go and secretly watch what’s going on from outside. If Cousin Young Mistress can hold her own fort, just watch from afar and don’t say anything. But if she can’t, come back and report to me immediately!”