The next day, Prime Minister Cui left for court at the crack of dawn. Old Madam Cui had been feeling unwell lately, and since Cui Yunchu was a member of the Cui family, she was sent outside the capital to receive someone.
Nanny Zhang grabbed hold of Cui Yunchu and dressed her up with great care. "They say one should be looked at with new eyes after three days of separation. When the eldest young master was still in the residence, he always used to mock you for being shabby. Today you need to dress up nicely to dazzle him blind."
Cui Yunchu gave a dismissive snort. "Why don't you put on all the hairpieces you took from Cui Yunfeng, just to really piss him off?"
Nanny Zhang's eyes lit up. "That's not a bad idea, miss."
Cui Yunchu took the chance to slip around behind her and head for the door. "You go ahead and play by yourself at home."
By the time Nanny Zhang turned around, her young miss was already gone.
Xing'er quickly hurried out after her. "If it please Nanny Zhang, please mind the house for us."
The household butler had long since prepared the carriage and was waiting outside the residence gates.
Cui Yunchu gave him a sidelong glance. "You're coming too?"
The butler nodded. "His Excellency the Prime Minister ordered that this old servant accompany the eldest young miss."
Cui Yunchu curled her lip. "You're practically falling apart with age. What's the point of accompanying me? Why doesn't he find himself a falling-apart old woman to keep him company?"
"..."
The butler had long grown used to Cui Yunchu's wild nonsense.
In plain words, she was unhappy with the arrangements Prime Minister Cui had made.
The wind was strong that day. Cui Yunchu climbed into the carriage and immediately began to doze, having spent half the night tossing and turning and getting no proper rest.
She nodded off, but the jolting of the carriage made her uncomfortable. Impatiently, she flung open the carriage curtain. "Can you lot drive any slower?"
The butler said, "Eldest young miss, the eldest young master sent word that he'd arrive in the capital within half an hour. If we delay any longer, we'll miss him."
"If we miss him, I'll send you to your death," Cui Yunchu snapped irritably.
The butler fell silent and dared not utter another word. The driver slowly reduced the carriage's speed.
She wasn't riding in the small palanquin she usually took these days; it was Cui Qingyuan's traveling carriage, very spacious, with all manner of amenities inside.
Cui Yunchu's drowsiness had been jolted away, so she began rummaging through the carriage.
Xing'er said at her side, "Miss, this is the Prime Minister's carriage, after all. If you damage his things, what will you say when he asks about it later?"
Cui Yunchu held a jade teapot in her hands—a pretty one, with a translucent gleam, plainly worth a fortune. But when she remembered it was Cui Qingyuan's, she slammed it against the tea table, and the teapot shattered halfway.
Xing'er was stunned.
Cui Yunchu said through gritted teeth, "The road to the outskirts is long and bumpy. Things are easily broken—what's so strange about that?"
From outside, the butler promptly heard a series of crashing sounds.
The Prime Minister's belongings were things he used regularly and were extremely precious. Thinking of this, he hurriedly told the driver to stop, jumped down from the carriage, and went to look inside.
The tea table was covered in shattered fragments, the hidden drawers all pulled open and scattered about. Cui Yunchu was sprawled on the floor. When she saw him, she launched straight into abuse. "Can you drive at all? You've rattled me to pieces. Just wait until we get back, I'll make sure you pay for this."
"..."
The butler looked at the broken teapot and cups, his face crumpling. "Eldest young miss, do behave yourself."
No matter how fast the driver had gone, he hadn't overturned the carriage—there was no reason for things to be in such a mess.
At those words, Cui Yunchu took offense.
It was blatant distortion of the truth.
"What did you say? What did you just say? Is it not you who was in such a rush to go meet him that you had the carriage race along? Didn't I tell you to slow down? Butler Liu, are you picking on me because I'm a concubine's daughter?"
Those two words—concubine's daughter—were forbidden in the Cui residence by Old Madam Cui.
What else could the butler say? He could only swallow his pride and admit fault. "Yes, it's this old servant's fault. I'll clean it all up for you right away, and have the driver slow down. We won't jolt you again."
Before the Prime Minister's carriage got torn apart entirely.
Cui Yunchu was finally satisfied. "Mm, now clean it up."
Cui Yunchu's knack for framing others was always formidable. To prevent her from causing further trouble, the butler and the driver did their best to slow the pace, and only then could Cui Yunchu sleep in peace.
She was just wrestling with the God of Dreams when her body suddenly got jostled hard. Xing'er's voice came. "Miss, look, is that the Shen family's carriage? Is that Lord Shen?"
Cui Yunchu sat up with a start, blinking drowsily at Xing'er. "Where?"
Xing'er pointed outside.
The hoofbeats were hurried, very near. Cui Yunchu threw open the carriage curtain. The horse's body had already passed by most of the way, and the remainder of the carriage whipped past hers with a whoosh.
The rush of wind left her breathless. Grit and dust blew straight into Cui Yunchu's face, making her choke into a series of low coughs.
"Pah pah pah!" Cui Yunchu spat several times before she felt she'd gotten the dirt out of her mouth.
Xing'er hurriedly lowered the curtain and handed her a handkerchief.
"Miss, are you all right?"
Cui Yunchu touched her face—it was covered in grime.
She felt the whole scene was somehow familiar.
"That damned Yu Feng, is he rushing to a funeral? Just wait until I deal with him later."
Xing'er said, "Miss, you stuck your head out late. Probably Lord Shen and his servant didn't see you."
Cui Yunchu tossed aside the handkerchief, lifted the curtain again, and looked out.
The Shen family's carriage had already galloped off, looking very much in a hurry.
"What's the blazing rush for?" she muttered under her breath in annoyance.
Xing'er said offhandedly, "From the look of it, miss, it's toward Mount Anshan temple."
Off to see little nuns!!...
Those six words flashed through Cui Yunchu's mind.
She stared hard at the direction the Shen carriage had gone, gnashing her teeth.
Cui Yunchu's makeup was smudged all over from wiping, making her look a bit comical.
A quarter of an hour later, the carriage finally came to a stop at the outskirts.
"Where is he?" Cui Yunchu asked the butler.
The butler looked around left and right.
Cui Yunchu snapped at him. "Stop faking it. It's the middle of nowhere—can't you see if anyone's here or not?"
Looking out, there wasn't a soul, not even a stray dog.
The butler looked sheepish. "The eldest young master must have been delayed on the road."
Cui Yunchu shot Xing'er a look.
Xing'er didn't move. "Miss, wouldn't that be improper?"
Cui Yunchu put her hands on her hips. "When he wouldn't give me the time of day before, you didn't say anything about improper. I told you to go, so go. Otherwise, get lost."
Xing'er pressed her lips together and had no choice but to open the carriage door and step out.
Butler Liu looked at Cui Yunchu, about to speak, when Xing'er sent a kick at him and knocked him right off the carriage onto the ground. "Miss says you're in a hurry, so you can wait down there."
The wind out in the fields was fiercer than within the city. Butler Liu's clothes flapped wildly, and even his words came out with a choking whistle.
The carriage door closed. Cui Yunchu lay back down with a smug air, closing her eyes.
Neither Xing'er nor the driver dared make a sound.
Cui Yunchu didn't know how long she'd slept, but at last she heard hoofbeats approaching, slowing to a stop not far from her carriage.
Xing'er quickly shook her. "Miss, miss, the eldest young master—the eldest young master is back!"
Only then did Cui Yunchu rise.
It had been many years since she and Cui Yunli had seen each other. She could no longer remember what he looked like, but the contemptuous, disdainful look in his eyes was something she had never once forgotten.
She straightened her clothes, cleared her throat a few times, and slowly descended from the carriage, taking her time.
All those days spent in the courtyard studying the Four Books and rites of propriety had clearly been of some use.
Butler Liu had already fallen to his knees, overcome with emotion.
Cui Yunchu looked up, and her gaze landed on a man on horseback not far off, travel-worn and dust-covered.
He was tall, with a hard, cold face, and his skin—unlike the fair complexions of the young noblemen in the capital—was rough and weathered from wind and sun, worn by the elements.
