As the carriage drew closer to the capital city walls, she took a quick glance outside as the curtain flew open for a small second, following the flow of the wind.
How long has it been since she came to the capital? Seems like… it has already been six years. Indeed, six long years and she finally came back.
Hitting the capital gates, her carriage was stopped by the guards. However, this was only for a minute as the carriage once again moved.
When she left the capital, she was in the lowest form of her life. Now that she has come back, she was in one of the highest forms of her life.
'Chased away, only to be chased back,' she somehow thought of this saying in her head as the carriage continued to travel.
Closing her eyes and leaning back against the wall of the carriage, she listened to the sound of the bustling capital. There were women chattering with each other and men yelling back and forth to get tasks done. Her social capacity seemed to have gone down over the years as the sounds coming from outside of the carriage brought her a sense of pain in her head.
Silence and darkness was her best friend for the past six years, such that she seemed to hate the loud and populated capital.
She questioned herself, 'Should I have not come back?'
However, just as soon as this question popped up, she soon rejected the notion. She came back for a reason. Even if she hated hustling capital, she would make sure to accomplish her goal before leaving the capital once again in full glory.
As time passed, the carriage came to a stop and her maidservant opened the door of the carriage to tell her in a soft voice, "Young Miss, we are here."
And just like always, she would answer with the same word, "Mm."
Getting out from inside the carriage, she took the offered hand of her bodyguard and elegantly got down from the tall carriage. Although her face was all but covered up by the many layers of her veils, she could still see through them and catch the mansion full of glory.
'Qian Mansion,' the giant wooden sign on the front read.
Standing in front of the door, there was no one but an old lady. However, she knew that this old lady was the oldest maidservant in the mansion and was the housekeeper.
Taking a silent sigh, she began to walk forward while her two maidservants and single bodyguard followed from behind.
And in a differential voice, she greeted, "Auntie Zheng."
"Eldest Miss," Auntie Zheng greeted back. "How have you been?"
"Good," she answered in the tone as previous.
The atmosphere was cold and awkward with no topic to talk about as both sides were practically unknown to each other at this point in life.
"Please follow me, Eldest Miss. Master has ordered this old servant to bring Eldest Miss to the study," Auntie Zheng stated and turned around to walk into the mansion.
While they walked, no sound was made aside from the footsteps from Auntie Zheng. As for the other side, they all long had a history of not making any sounds when walking. Even if they did, the sound was so insignificant that no one could possibly hear without trained ears.
Generally, Auntie Zheng would make some small conversations when leading someone somewhere in the mansion, but she was too deathly silent. Not only that, the intense aura she emitted would make a person subconsciously not want to talk for fear that something bad would something. Clearly, she was someone who used to be easy to bully in the past; now, even striking a conversation was hard.
After a long quiet walk, they finally reached their destination.
Respectfully knocking on the door, Auntie Zheng announced, "Master, Eldest Miss is here."
To that, a gruff responded from inside the study, "Come in."
"Please enter, Eldest Miss," Auntie Zheng said as soon as she opened the door and made a gesture to enter.
The moment she began to walk towards the inside of the study, her servants also followed. Only later, to be stopped by Auntie Zheng.
"Please wait," Auntie Zheng spoke. "Master wants to speak privately with Eldest Miss."
Naturally, her servants listened to no one but her - thus, they looked at her to ask if they should walk forward or stop. To answer, she gave a simple wave of her hand. Being by her side for so long, they understood her order and took a step back to patiently wait outside the study.
However, this did not mean that they did not know what would be discussed in the study. Their ears were trained to hear the smallest of sounds and being only a short distance away from the main conversation, they would still be able to hear as if they were standing right next to her.
With that, the study door closed, and Auntie Zheng also patiently waited with the three servants.
When speaking to Auntie Zheng, she spoke in a differential tone. However, when talking to her "father," her tone was flatly cold.
"Father," she addressed with not a single tone of respect in her voice.
Hearing her cold voice, the old man sighed and asked, "Do you blame me?"
"No," she answered in the same tone.
Her answer was so cold that Master Qian no longer tried to go for the emotional path that he planned for so long.
Instead, he gave a cough to cover up his embarrassment and said, "I'm sure you know what I called you back for."
To his statement, she did not respond. Not even with an, "Mm."
As she did not respond, the awkward atmosphere became even more awkward. Master Qian no longer wanted to be in such a cold and awkward environment, so he decided to just quickly sum everything up.
"The birthday cards have already been traded and the betrothal gifts have been accepted. The marriage date will be decided soon as we were waiting for your arrival," Master Qian summed. "Qing'er, don't disappoint our Qian family. This marriage is very important to the success of our family."
As Master Qian continued to speak, he no longer felt that everything was awkward anymore. Of course, he was still the only person talking the entire time before letting Cao Fenfang leave the study.
The moment she did, Auntie Zheng told them to follow her. When they reached the destination, it was a nice-looking guestroom.
"Master has stated that Eldest Miss should live here until the day of the marriage," Auntie Zheng clarified and then began to speak some more things such as when breakfast, lunch, and dinner would be and more before leaving.
When Auntie Zheng finally left, Cao Fenfang entered the guestroom - leaving her bodyguard, Cui Xing, to guard to the front - and sat in silence on the chair next to the tea table. The moment that she sat, Xiao Xiulan tested the water in the tea kettle and the teacups before pouring her a cup of tea.
As Xiao Xiulan took care of the tea, Wei Cuifen took care of checking the bed and other things in the room.
While Wei Cuifen made sure that there was nothing dangerous in the room, she also complained, "Young Miss, this is being unfair to you."
"Do you agree?" Cao Fenfang asked Xiao Xiulan who was helping her to take off the layers of white veils as she took a sip of the tea that was just handed to her.
"Although it is unfair, Young Miss has already accepted it. This servant believes that Young Miss has plans," Xiao Xiulan stated.
Before responding to the statement from her maid, Cao Fenfang said with a bitter face, "This tea is horrid."
Thus, Xiao Xiulan hurried to take off the veils and then took the tea set and said, "This servant will prepare a new set of tea."
At the same time that Xiao Xiulan left the guestroom, a man in all black and wearing a silver mask also entered the room. This man did not surprise Cao Fenfang at all as he belonged to her clique.
"Master," the man in all black greeted respectfully while bowing.
"Wen You, what have you gathered?" Cao Fenfang asked, tapping her fingers on the tea table.
"His Highness the Ninth Prince is known for being moody and out of control. There are many rumors that he has killed many people belonging to his mansion for unknown reasons, mostly rumored to be personal reasons such as envy and hate. His Highness does not have a good reputation in the capital," Wen You explained in a short summary.
Then, he continued speaking, "However, there are many ladies of the capital that fancy His Highness for he is favored by the emperor. His Highness has status, power, and wealth. Not only that, of all the princes, His Highness is the most handsome and fit."
"Fit? Should be," Cao Fenfang shortly stated.