After Abandoning the Ruthless Dao Swordmaster

Wu Su fell onto the floor in the corner of Steward Lu’s study, her back leaning against the wall.

Seeing Pei Jiuzhi looking at her with his head tilted to the side, she hurriedly got up and brushed the dust off of her skirt.

“I’m sorry, Little Highness, I did not intend to bother you. Please continue to peek at the documents.” Wu Su said calmly.

She didn’t know what little tricks these noble people were playing, but she knew that if something happened, Steward Lu would be the first to scold her.

Wu Su didn’t want to leave Prince Jing’s mansion.

She was about to climb back out the window, but Pei Jiuzhi had already manipulated the paper talisman, and transformed the blue bird back into a human form.

“Your name?” Pei Jiuzhi raised his hand, casually brushing the booklet in front of him.

Wu Su didn’t dare to avoid his question, but her feet were already hovering in mid-air embarrassingly.

“Wu Su,” she said. (T/N : the characters for Wu Su’s name are 乌素, which can be translated as “black” and “white” respectively.)

“Wu?” Pei Jiuzhi repeated in a low voice.

“Wu as in ‘black like a crow’.” Wu Su confirmed.

“And Su as in…white?” Pei Jiuzhi guessed.

Wu Su nodded.

Pei Jiuzhi turned to the record page of the night Prince Jing’s mansion entertained him, she was indeed not on duty.

He didn’t give any orders, and Wu Su didn’t dare to leave, so she lowered her feet and stood by the window sill, waiting for Pei Jiuzhi’s decision.

Pei Jiuzhi still felt that Wu Su’s tone of voice was somewhat familiar, but it was recorded clearly in the duty roster that she had not appeared in Guanlan Pavilion that day.

“You go.” Pei Jiuzhi didn’t ask why Wu Su had come to the steward’s office,  he wasn’t interested in other people’s affairs.

Wu Su was about to climb out the window to leave, however when she turned her head, she saw Steward Lu’s figure outside the window.

She wasn’t sure if Steward Lu would come closer, but looking at the current situation, she could only hide.

The record book on the desk was opened by Pei Jiuzhi, but if Pei Jiuzhi turned back into a blue bird, it would look like she had done it.

Wu Su hastily opened the cupboard in Steward Lu’s study, lowered her head, and climbed inside.

She was about to close the cabinet door when Pei Jiuzhi quickly closed the roster on the table.

He changed the talisman-form back into the body of a blue bird, and flew straight into the cabinet where Wu Su was hiding.

“Little—” Little Highness! Wu Su was about to speak, but Pei Jiuzhi stretched out his wings to cover her mouth.

If he is exposed now, he might startle the snake, so naturally he planned to hide.

Wu Su had no choice but to agree that a blue bird would not take up much space, so she closed the cabinet door firmly.

Looking out from the cabinet where they were hiding, they could only see a dim light in the study room, as well as a shadowy figure.

Wu Su hugged her knees, held her breath, and minimized her sense of existence.

She didn’t understand why a nobleman with a status like Pei Jiuzhi would be afraid of Steward Lu.

Pei Jiuzhi could only stand on her shoulders, the pair of slender bird feet moving slightly.

The aura around Wu Su was soft and stable, like a mountain that never changed over time.

He felt her shoulders tremble slightly, as if she was a little scared.

As expected, Steward Lu walked into the study, followed by another person.

Wu Su heard Steward Lu pull the chair away from the desk to sit down.

Steward Lu asked, “Wei Li, what’s the matter with you?”

“Steward Lu, when are you going to drive Wu Su out of Prince Jing’s mansion?” Wei Li stood in front of the desk and asked softly.

When Wu Su recognized her voice, she bit her lip silently.

“Why do you ask such a question?” Steward Lu asked sternly, “Out of the three of you, only Wu Su is serious about doing things.”

“What can she do? Earlier, I asked the dining room in the mansion to prepare vegetables. What our chef wanted were quail eggs—eggs laid by quail. Do you know what Wu Su wrote on the purchase list?”

When Wei Li thought of that, she still felt ashamed: “She actually wrote ‘safe egg’. The girl over in the dining room laughed at us for a long time, because we wrote that list together.”

Wu Su recalled this old incident. She had prepared the list handed over to the purchasing staff by herself, and Wei Li didn’t look at it or touch it at all.

She was indeed mostly illiterate, the only knowledge she possessed came from the memory of the dead Chen Wu, so of course she didn’t realise that Chen Wu’s writing wasn’t correct.

She huddled in the cabinet in the corner of the study, hugged her knees, and listened quietly, without showing any special expression.

The blue bird that was Pei Jiuzhi tilted his head and looked at her quietly. Hearing such things did not make people happy.

“Steward Lu, tell me, what should I do if she makes mistakes in the future?” Wei Li stomped her feet angrily.

“Look, she’s not in our courtyard tonight, maybe she went to play somewhere.” Wei Li complained directly.

“The grand ceremony of offering sacrifices to heaven is about to start, and the clouds are very lively. It’s not a big deal to go out and have a look.”  Steward Lu explained for Wu Su. “She was supposed to clean the side hall’s yard. When I went to check just now, she hadn’t finished, so I punished her to finish the cleaning before going back to rest.”

“She can’t even clean well. What is Prince Jing’s mansion keeping her for?” Wei Li said with a sneer.

Her family could also be considered wealthy, and she came to work in Prince Jing’s mansion just to seek opportunities to make connections, so she was very confident in her words and actions.

“If she doesn’t clean, will you go to do it?”

Steward Lu knew that the people under his command were not easy to discipline, and some of them were lazy, but it was not easy to offend them, so he turned a blind eye.

“Steward Lu, if you protect her so much, I will believe that there is something inappropriate going on with her!” Wei Li said bluntly.

“Wei Li, what did you say?” Steward felt sorry for Wu Su because he usually favoured Wei Li.

So sometimes, he will be nice to her, and give her priority if there are rewards.

Because he knew that Wei Li and the others didn’t lack these things.

“Steward Lu, don’t think that I don’t know.  I really look down on people like her, relying on this kind of relationship, it’s really dirty!”

The more Wei Li talked, the more excited she became.

“Wei Li, please be careful with your words.” There was anger in Steward Lu’s words.

“Hmph, I know you’re guilty!” Wei Li said loudly, “If you don’t drive her out, it will prove that this rumour is true.”

Of course, the so-called rumours are just her groundless accusations, but if there are too many people who say it, some people will really take it seriously.

“Leave.” Steward Lu got angry.

“Fine!” Wei Li turned her head and ran out.

As the protagonist of their fierce quarrel, Wu Su leaned against the cabinet quietly, without showing any strange expression during the whole process.

She was thinking, Steward Lu couldn’t really drive her away.

It’s not impossible to ask her to learn how to read.

Wu Su blinked and continued to be in a daze.

Pei Jiuzhi turned his head to the side and stared at her silent profile. In his eyes, Wu Su was a very quiet girl.

There is nothing outstanding about her appearance or personality, her whole person is like a slowly flowing spring, boring and calm.

After a long time, Steward Lu threw down the booklet on the table angrily, blew out the lamp, and strode out of the study.

Wu Su breathed a sigh of relief, and only quietly crawled out of the cabinet where she was hiding when she heard that Steward Lu had really gone away.

The sound of fluttering wings rang in her ears, and Pei Juizhi’s blue bird flew around her.

Wu Su didn’t speak. Pei Jiuzhi once again transformed, the brilliant golden embroidery on his sleeve causing his outline to glow faintly in the darkness.

“You don’t want to leave Prince Jing’s mansion?” Pei Jiuzhi asked.

“I don’t want to.” Wu Su hasn’t saved enough money yet, and many of the wishes in Chen Wu’s letters are not yet fulfilled.

“Right now, no one can leave the mansion.”

Since Pei Jiuzhi wanted to find the girl from that night, he would not let anyone in Prince Jing’s mansion slip away.

He had already issued an order.  Even if Steward Lu wanted to drive people away, he would not be able to make them leave.

“Yeah.” Wu Su nodded and heaved a sigh of relief.

It’s good that she doesn’t have to spend time learning to read.

Wu Su needed to leave, so she climbed up onto the window sill carefully, taking care not to bump into something and make a sound.

But things backfired, she accidentally kicked the flower pot on the window sill.

Pei Jiuzhi watched her clumsily try to climb through the window.  When the flower pot was about to fall, the silhouette of a clear and bright sword appeared behind her.

The blade of the sword was not out of its sheath, but the body of the sword reached out. Pei Jiuzhi used the sword to firmly catch the flower pot that Wu Su kicked.

The sword light flashed brightly and sharply under the moonlight, making his cheeks cold, like the moon had descended into the office room.

Wu Su barely managed to roll herself over the window sill, landing outside, where the shadow from the eaves weighed down heavily.

She looked at Pei Jiuzhi and blinked.

“Thank you,”

“Why have you been following me?” Pei Jiuzhi knew that she had come looking for him.

It was difficult for Wu Su to answer this question. She stared at Pei Jiuzhi’s face, which was so stunning that it seemed to be shining.

“Your Highness, you are too bright.” Wu Su said.

“What do you mean?” Pei Jiuzhi calmly put the flower pot back on the window sill, and returned the sword back into its sheath.

“Moths will chase the light at night, and your highness is like a very bright candle.”

Looking at Pei Jiuzhi, Wu Su started talking nonsense, trying to cover up the real purpose behind her actions.

In the end, Pei Jiuzhi looked at those dull eyes for a long time, and was fooled by her words.

Suddenly, he “popped” back into a little blue bird with two red patches on his cheeks.

He is still human, and not long ago, he tasted love for the first time, so it was inevitable that his face would blush because of Wu Su’s words.

Wu Su bowed her head to the little blue bird, turned around, and hurried away with her skirt in hand.

Her figure in the night is light and erratic, her white dress is submerged in the shadow of the moon, like a black and white moth chasing the light and circling away.

Even after Wu Su walked away, she could sense Pei Jiuzhi’s aura, neither far nor near.

After he turned into a blue bird, the weak aura was too similar to a dying creature, which made her misjudge.

She prayed that Pei Jiuzhi would leave soon.

On the way back, Wu Su was lucky enough to help a dying cicada.

The little cicada’s wish before death was that someone would listen to it sing.

She squatted under the tree, and the cicada, who was about to die, squeaked in her ears, but she didn’t dislike the unpleasant sounds.

Finally, the cicada landed on the ground, and Wu Su received a little yin-yang energy.

The amount of yin and yang energy has a lot to do with the creature’s nature.

The reason why Wu Su was attracted by Pei Jiuzhi’s blue bird again and again was because Pei Jiuzhi’s spiritual aura was extremely pure.

But this little cicada didn’t have a mind of its own, so it produced very little energy after death.

While Wu Su listened to the cicada singing, the blue bird that was Pei Jiuzhi landed above her head.

—He was resting his feet, and at the same time he was thinking about the source of that evil spirit.

Wu Su pretended not to notice him, but Pei Jiuzhi looked down at her for a long time.

This cicada was too noisy, he thought, but Wu Su didn’t interrupt, and finally said softly to the cicada, “It sounds good.”

Wu Su finally got something to eat tonight, so she ran back to the courtyard.

When she opened the courtyard door, Wei Li raised her head and called her sweetly.

“Wu Su, why did you come back so late? Could it be that you were looking for Steward Lu?”

She was right, Wu Su really came back from Steward Lu’s study.

She looked at Wei Li without nodding or shaking her head, but walked back into the room silently.

Wu Su has always been like this, and Wei Li just doesn’t like her dull appearance.

In the courtyard, there are other maids who are guests.

After Wu Su entered, Wei Li whispered to the girl beside him, “Look, I just said that she has something going on with Steward Lu…”

Wu Su didn’t care what they were chirping about – when their voices reached her ears, they became no different from the cicada’s chirping.

In the room, she untied her bun, letting her black hair fall to her shoulders, and planned to rest.

However, she suddenly sensed a somewhat strong death aura nearby.

If she guessed correctly, someone near Prince Jing’s mansion should be dying.

She wanted to take a look, it would be great if she could absorb some energy.

Wu Su got up, climbed over the window sill again, and followed the aura of death.