Zhou Hui lifted his gaze slightly, bowed respectfully to Yu Zihan, and said, "I have no reason to lie to you, young master. I am obligated to report anything concerning your safety to the Lord."
"You!"
Yu Zihan's face turned ashen, and he was clearly growing anxious.
"Since you knew asking them to cover for you would surely lead to their punishment, young master, why did you take the risk and involve them?"
Zhou Hui's demeanor was respectful, but his words were nothing short of cold and merciless. "This isn't the first time something like this has happened, is it?"
The words seemed to strike a nerve. The young boy trembled, his face ashen as he stared at Zhou Hui, apparently speechless.
Standing to one side, Shen Qing couldn't help but frown. Seeing the fear and unease Yu Zihan was desperately trying to hide, a fire began to burn within her.
'That man.'
'All these years…'
'Just how…'
'…has he been raising my child?!'
'I'm not saying he should have been spoiled rotten, but at the very least, a child shouldn't be wearing an expression of someone crushed by power, completely helpless!'
Shen Qing was rarely this emotional or irrational, but looking at the young boy, she subconsciously closed her eyes. She felt that in the next breath, she would lose control, run up to that man, and start a massive argument.
Just then, a clear, casual voice broke the heavy atmosphere. "Honestly, Zhou Hui, this is why nobody likes you. You're always saying things like that. The young master is just a child, after all. You can't talk to him like this."
The speaker was a tall, thin man in the same navy-blue robes as Zhou Hui. He approached with his arms crossed and a roguish grin. Looking at Yu Zihan's somber face, he said, "Relax, young master. As cold-hearted as the Lord is, he isn't the type to bully the weak. Since you said these maids only helped because you threatened them, he'll at most give them a light punishment to teach them their place. He won't go overboard."
Yu Zihan's lips tightened as he shot the man a look. He said nothing, but his eyes burned with a fiery hostility.
Chen Chuan was taken aback.
'Tsk, the young master's glare... something's not quite right about it.'
Just then, the sound of footsteps approached from a distance, followed by a chorus of male and female voices calling out, "Young master!"
Clearly, Yu Zihan's attendants had found him.
Yu Zihan retracted his gaze, looking down. "Forget it," he said quietly. "I'm going back."
With that, he began to walk toward the group of people rushing anxiously in his direction.
As he brushed past Shen Qing, however, she clearly heard him whisper, "I won't let anything happen to any of you."
Shen Qing stared in a daze at Yu Zihan's small, youthful back. Though he was clearly dejected, he held himself perfectly straight. A bittersweet pang went through her heart.
'Even though I haven't been by his side for the past ten years, it seems he's been growing up well.'
'Before I knew it, he's grown into a responsible little man.'
The moment Yu Zihan reached the frantic group, a maid in her twenties emotionally pulled him into an embrace, her face still pale with panic. "Young master, where have you been! Do you have any idea how you scared me to death?"
She hugged him so tightly that Yu Zihan couldn't breathe, and he flailed his arms helplessly.
A young boy standing nearby, about Yu Zihan's age and dressed in a standard gray servant's uniform, said with a grin, "If Aunt Xiangqiao keeps hugging him like that, the young master will be in trouble for real..."
"Hush, Qian Zhao Sheng! Don't you dare say such unlucky things!"
Xiang Qiao shot the boy, Qian Zhao Sheng, a glare, but she loosened her hold on Yu Zihan. She looked him over from head to toe, only relaxing completely once she confirmed he was unharmed. "Let's go, young master," she said, her voice tinged with heartache. "Let's go back. No matter what, this is your home..."
'It wasn't that she didn't understand how the young master felt.'
'A child who loses their mother young is bound to have a harder life than others.'
'Besides, the Lord was always so... dismissive of the young master, and he'd only gotten more outrageous over the years...'
'If the Lady were still here, things between the young master and the Lord would never have gotten to this point. This family would never have become like this!'
'And those vixens would never have had the chance to occupy a position that wasn't theirs, lost in their own delusions...'
Just then, Xiang Qiao happened to glance into the distance and froze, as if she had seen the impossible.
'That... that isn't...'
'The Lady?!'
'No, impossible! How could the Lady be here? And... and, looking closer, she's actually a little different from the Lady...'
Shen Qing had been watching Yu Zihan's group, so she immediately noticed when Xiang Qiao spotted her.
Xiang Qiao had been her personal maid, the one who had served her the longest and whom she trusted most.
'I didn't expect Xiang Qiao to stay by Zihan's side.'
'But it makes sense.'
Shen Qing had no intention of revealing her identity yet. She had anticipated running into familiar faces in the Prime Minister's Mansion, so she had made some preparations beforehand to slightly alter her appearance.
"Altering her appearance" really just meant changing her eyebrow shape, hairstyle, and complexion, as well as adding a small beauty mark by the corner of her left eye. She still bore a strong resemblance to her old self.
But it was enough. It wasn't unheard of for people to look alike, and besides, her apparent age was a natural advantage.
A woman in her twenties looks quite different from one in her thirties.
So, Shen Qing remained perfectly composed, putting on a shy, obedient expression as she bowed to Xiang Qiao.
For a long moment, Xiang Qiao couldn't snap out of her stupor.
The woman before her looked as if she had walked straight out of her memories of the Lady, leaving her utterly stunned.
'But reason told her it couldn't be the Lady.'
'The Lady couldn't possibly be this young, nor would she ever bow to me with such an expression...'
'Most importantly, if the Lady had returned, she would never pretend not to recognize me and the young master!'
'So, it's not the Lady. It's definitely not the Lady!'
Yu Zihan noticed something was wrong with Xiang Qiao and glanced at her. "Xiang Qiao, what is it?"
Xiang Qiao flusteredly tore her gaze away. "It's nothing."
But she couldn't stop her gaze from drifting back toward the woman, her expression dazed. A feeling suddenly swelled in her heart, an indescribable mix of longing and grief.
'That's not the Lady. It's not the Lady.'
'It's definitely... not the Lady!'
After Yu Zihan and Xiang Qiao's group had walked some distance away, Shen Qing finally looked away. She lowered her gaze to Zhou Hui, who was still glaring at her, and said quietly, "I was wrong to deceive you, Guard Zhou. I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me this time."
Seeing her ask for forgiveness so calmly, Zhou Hui sneered. "I hope you genuinely believe you were wrong. But it doesn't matter. Someone will teach you the rules soon enough."
With that, he flicked his sleeve and walked away.
Shen Qing watched his rigid, uncompromising back, her frown deepening. The spark of anger she'd felt earlier threatened to ignite once more.
'That man actually has someone like this shadowing Zihan.'
'Is Zihan his prisoner, or a hostage?!'
After he left, the others quickly departed as well. The area fell quiet once more, as if everything that had just occurred had been nothing but a dream.
But Zhu Yuan and Chen Ying, finally snapping back to reality, couldn't simply dismiss it as a dream. Recalling the cold-blooded guard's words, Chen Ying was on the verge of tears. "What are we going to do? Guard Zhou isn't... he isn't really going to report us to the Lord, is he? If he does, we'll never be able to stay in the Prime Minister's Mansion!"