After throwing those things away, Yun Ying sat numbly at the bow of the boat, tears in her eyes. She wasn’t thinking about anything, nor could she recall anything—her mind had gone blank. The only thought in her head was, ’I’ve done something terrible. I’m a bad person. Father and Senior Brother are both going to scold me. If Senior Brother finds out about this, he’ll probably never speak to me again for the rest of his life.’

’How strange. Why didn’t I think about this consequence before I came? Back then, all I could think about was not letting Senior Brother give those things to Juhua.’

Now that she had thrown the items away, how was she going to explain it to her senior brother when she returned?

’Senior Brother has gone to Donglin State, and who knows when he’ll be back. I have a long time to think about how to tell him about this.’

Yun Ying stared blankly at the river as dusk fell, her heart gradually calming. ’Since it’s done, I’ll have to face it eventually.’

********

Meanwhile, on Juhua’s side, Zhang Huai had been thrown off by Yun Ying and had fallen to the ground. Right behind him, a panting Qingmu caught up. He was about to run past Zhang Huai and continue the chase—he assumed the rider must have stolen something from their house, so he was determined to catch him. Besides, the village was just ahead. With one shout, even someone on horseback wouldn’t be able to get away.

But then he heard Juhua shout anxiously from behind them, "Stop chasing, Brother—"

Only then did Qingmu stop. He turned to help Zhang Huai up and asked, "Are you hurt?"

Zhang Huai was too winded to speak and waved him away—he needed to sit on the ground and rest for a moment.

His face was flushed and his mouth was dry. After catching his breath for a moment, he slammed a fist on the ground in frustration and said, "No. He still got away in the end."

Qingmu said helplessly, "How can a person outrun a horse? You were fast, though. You rushed up and grabbed its tail. I couldn’t even get close."

Just then, Juhua ran over in a panic. She stood before the two of them with her hands on her knees, and asked while panting, "Brother Huai Zi... are... you okay?"

Zhang Huai quickly stood up and said, "I’m fine. I just couldn’t stop that person." 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

Juhua glanced at Zhang Huai’s lower body. She saw that his knees were only dusty, but the front of his shoes had been scraped open, revealing his toes. They were covered in dirt, so she couldn’t tell if the skin was broken.

"Brother Huai Zi, are your feet okay? I saw it drag you for quite a ways. Is your skin scraped?" She was still worried.

Seeing her anxiety, Zhang Huai smiled faintly. "I’m fine. I was holding the horse’s tail, so my legs weren’t on the ground. My feet were unsteady, which is how my shoes got scraped. It didn’t drag me far. My feet are okay." In truth, he could feel some pain in his toes, but he didn’t tell her because he was afraid of making her worry.

Qingmu went over to steady Juhua and asked, "What was that person doing? Did they steal something?"

Hearing his question, Juhua couldn’t help but give a bitter smile. She didn’t know how to explain. ’Should I tell them I just suspected something was wrong with that person?’

She sighed and said to the two of them, "She didn’t steal anything. I’ll tell you about it later. For now, you two go to the village entrance and see if she’s gone. If she has, then never mind. If she hasn’t left, get the villagers to catch her. I have some questions for her."

Qingmu and Zhang Huai nodded and headed toward the village, while Juhua went home to make dinner.

When she got back, Liu Xiaomei was standing at the courtyard gate, waiting for her.

Seeing Juhua return with a very dark expression, she didn’t dare ask too many questions. Juhua seemed unfamiliar and unapproachable today.

She said to Juhua, "It’s getting late, I have to go home and make lunch. Juhua, don’t be so angry. That person didn’t really do anything, just let her be!"

Juhua nodded and smiled. "I’m fine, you should hurry back. If you get behind on your chores from talking with me, your mother won’t let you come over next time."

Seeing that Juhua was back to her usual self, Liu Xiaomei breathed a sigh of relief and finally went home, reassured.

As Juhua cooked, she replayed Yun Ying’s strange behavior in her mind. ’Am I overthinking this? But why do I have a feeling that something big is going on?’

’What kind of big thing could it be?’

’Qin Feng only stayed in Qingnan Village for a little over a year, and he doesn’t have any deep ties with my family. This person claimed Qin Feng sent her, but she didn’t even pass on any greetings. I was the one who had to ask after him first.’

She felt her family didn’t have anything worth plotting over, so her suspicions turned toward Qin Feng. She thought this person must have some connection to him and was likely planning to harm him.

But she didn’t even know where Qin Feng had gone, so all this speculation was just needless worry.

If she knew she had just narrowly missed out on the beauty cream and Clear Condensing Dew, who knows how she would be stamping her feet in bitter regret. She’d probably want to slap herself a couple of times and curse herself for being too rash.