Ella asked, "Are you sure he went to save me?"
"Of course," Xiaojv said, wiping away her tears as well. "The Marquis said, right now, only the Emperor can save you!"
Don't listen to his nonsense!
Ella rolled her eyes at them. But she still needed to go home: "Where's the carriage?"
The Marquis of Qingyun's residence was located in Zhongming Fang, an area filled with the elite, not far from the palace. During the previous dynasty, the Zhao family were military generals. Grace's great-grandfather and grandfather had been stationed at the southwestern borders for two generations. It wasn't until the Marquis of Qingyun helped the founding emperor establish his rule that they settled in the capital. Nonetheless, this didn't stop them from being one of the top noble families in the Daliang dynasty.
After the early death of the Marchioness of Qingyun, the Marquis initially entrusted the three-year-old Grace to his sister-in-law, Madam Xing. Later, the Marquis's widowed cousin came to the capital for her son's education.
Upon seeing the young Grace, Aunt Ning held her and cried. Coincidentally, Grace clung to her as well.
Soon after, Madam Xing became pregnant and had a difficult pregnancy. With the dowager still in the southwest, the Marquis simply let Aunt Ning take over caring for Grace.
Born into such a family, Grace could have become one of Daliang's foremost young ladies. Unfortunately, she lost her mother at a young age, during the critical years after the founding of the dynasty. Her father was busy with court affairs and teaching her brother Zhao Yu, leaving Grace practically unattended.
While the dowager was alive, she doted on Grace, allowing her to skip studying, embroidery, and martial arts. With the Marquis's status, there was no worry about marriage prospects.
Grace was sensible and well-behaved in front of her elders, so even after the dowager passed away, her aunts took great care of her. But her habits of not studying became ingrained and unchangeable.
However, not studying meant she was ignorant, not doing embroidery or martial arts left her with plenty of free time, which she used to wander outside. By the time the family realized she had offended almost all the noble families' children, it was too late.
Let's skip the various distant disputes and focus on today's event.
Today was the birthday of the eldest granddaughter of Minister He from the Ministry of Works. She invited many young nobles to watch a play, including the original Grace and several children she had previously quarreled with.
During the play, Grace started arguing with another young lady. Coincidentally, the Empress Dowager sent a painting Grace had praised a few days ago as a reward.
Initially, it was a normal event, and Grace felt proud to receive the Empress Dowager's gift. Encouraged by the palace servants, she opened the painting for display.
But just as the painting was being unfurled, someone with ill intentions bumped into her. She stumbled forward and tore the painting.
Subsequently, the palace servants apprehended Ella without a word and took her directly to Empress Dowager Lu.
Under those circumstances, Ella naturally suspected she was being framed. Unfortunately, in the panic of the moment, the original Grace, who was not very shrewd, didn't remember many details. The remaining clues were insufficient to identify the culprit.
But since she had returned alive, this matter needed to be addressed.
"Later, could you help me find out who exactly attended Miss He's play today?"
"How can you say 'help'?" The two maidservants looked uneasy. "Are you angry at us for not protecting you?"
Ella swore she didn't mean to criticize them. She was just used to being polite when asking for favors...
She patted her mouth. "I misspoke. It won't happen again."
The maidservants calmed down somewhat.
Thinking of the Marquis of Qingyun, Ella couldn't help but think of the original Grace's conflicts with him.
Since the Marchioness of Qingyun passed away twelve years ago, the Marquis had neither remarried nor taken any concubines. To the original Grace, he was always busy, and she rarely saw him more than a few times a month.
Of course, the Marquis was the deputy commander of the Central Military Command and the commander of the Tongzhou military camp, so he should theoretically be very busy.
But starting last year, he suddenly proposed to remarry. It would be fine if the candidates were good people, but they were rumored to be cunning women from families with terrible reputations. The original Grace hadn't met them, but she had heard rumors, and she was furious.
While knowing she was a thorn in the Marquis's side, Ella wanted to handle these rumors rationally.
"Who exactly spread these rumors?"
Even if the original Grace was uneducated, she wouldn't repeatedly interfere in her father's marriage, right? In the 21st century, children meddling in their parents' remarriage was already frowned upon, let alone in this strict feudal society.
How did she become so detested?
This was feudal society, with strict hierarchies. Weren't the elders in the family teaching her that a daughter shouldn't overstep her boundaries and interfere with her father's affairs?
The key point was, the Marquis of Qingyun didn't seem to punish her according to propriety for her interference...
The two maidservants' faces turned red. Finally, Xiaolan couldn't hold it in any longer: "Miss, you know, outside you made some friends who kept instigating you, and you considered them good people. We tried to advise you, but you scolded us.
"After a while, we didn't dare to say anything and let you be. At worst, we'd just get scolded with you."
These troublemaking friends definitely needed a thorough review. But it still didn't explain why the original Grace dared to interfere...
"We're home."
The carriage stopped before a grand mansion. Ella lifted the curtain and looked at the tall walls and red gates before her.
The imposing structure and unique materials inspired awe. This was the residence of the Marquis of Qingyun, a founding hero of the empire.
Entering this gate, Ella would become Grace, her original name becoming a thing of the past.
The carriage entered the mansion. Xiaojv and Xiaolan helped Grace down, when suddenly, a voice exclaimed, "Third Miss is back?"
Grace looked up to see two well-dressed women. Though not appearing like officials' wives, they exuded immense confidence. Especially the slightly older one on the left, who, though not stunning, had a gentle, serene demeanor that added a layer of radiance to her.
She whispered to Xiaojv, "Who are they?"
Xiaojv quickly replied, "On the right is Miss Wang, Second Miss's female teacher. The one on the left is Chen the female doctor from the clinic at our gate. She was the medical champion at last year's Hua Yue Tournament and has visited our home several times. How come you don't recognize her?"
Grace was speechless.
Having a female teacher was one thing, but there were also female doctors openly running clinics? And besides literary and martial champions, the Hua Yue Tournament had a medical champion too?!