Song Xuan stared coldly at him.
Only after Jia She broke out in a cold sweat under his stare did he say icily, "Fifteen minutes. Either you send her out, or we go in and find her!"
With that, Song Xuan ignored him, turned, and walked back to greet each of those who had come to support him.
Two or three hundred people had come, most of them Third-Rank Black Robe Guards who whiled away their days in the Imperial Capital. They all knew Song Xuan, that little master of slacking off, quite well.
"Brother Xuan, what's going on? Why the huge turnout?"
Lu Xiaoliu sidled up to Song Xuan and asked with a grin.
Song Qian explained, "We're heading to Jiangzhe Prefecture to take up our posts, and we were going to bring our cousin along to visit her family. Who knew these snobs at the Jia Mansion would look down their noses at us? Not only did they refuse to let us take her, they even insulted us.
I couldn't swallow my anger, so I called everyone over. Sorry for the trouble, brothers!"
"What trouble?"
One Black Robe Guard hurriedly spoke up. "Sister Qian, if anything like this happens again, please make sure you trouble me!"
"Exactly! Sister Qian's business is our business. Anyone who disrespects Sister Qian disrespects us!"
"A master thief struck West Gate Street two days ago and robbed thirteen households in a row. If the Jia family refuses to accept the respect we're offering, we'll go in and arrest the thief!"
"Exactly! In a wealthy mansion like theirs, it'd be perfectly normal to turn up some armor and crossbows, wouldn't it?"
As the Black Robe Guards outside said increasingly terrifying things, Jia She trembled all over. He roared at the steward, who was still standing there in a daze.
"What are you waiting for? Hurry to the inner residence, inform the old madam, and bring our young cousin out!"
Had the old duke still been alive, a hereditary ducal household like the Jia Mansion would have had nothing to fear.
But ever since the old duke's death, the Jia Mansion had fallen into utter decline. They had practically no one at court whose words carried any weight.
Jia Zheng of the second branch held an official post, but his rank was low and he had little real power. If this pack of hungry wolves from the Black Robe Guard truly set their sights on them, the Jia Mansion might well suffer a catastrophe today!
The Jia Mansion's servants and retainers were terrified too. Accustomed to throwing their weight around outside under the mansion's protection, they had never seen anything like this. They raced through the residence like madmen, spreading the news.
The first to arrive was Jia Zheng of the second branch.
He had already learned the details from a servant. When he discovered that the Black Robe Guard had come to make trouble today entirely because of Jia She's insulting remarks, he was so furious that stars swam before his eyes.
His elder brother really was useless at everything except causing trouble. What should have been a simple matter had been turned into a major disaster by his own hands.
"You're Brother Song's son, aren't you?"
Jia Zheng tried to explain to Song Xuan, "When Daiyu went to visit the Song family, I was the one who arranged her escort. My elder brother didn't know the circumstances and offended you with his rude remarks. I apologize on his behalf!"
Song Xuan glanced at him and nodded slightly. "Seven and a half minutes left!"
Seeing Song Xuan refuse to give him even that much face, Jia Zheng's expression shifted slightly, and he shot Jia She an angry glare.
Jia She was apprehensive too. Who wouldn't feel intimidated at the sight of a whole street full of Black Robe Guards? If Jia Zheng failed to settle things today, given their temperament, they might really dare to invent some charge and drag him into the Imperial Prison!
In the main room occupied by the family matriarch, Jia Mu, in the Jia Mansion's inner courtyard, a gathering of women filled the air with their lilting voices.
Lin Daiyu sat with her head lowered before Jia Mu, tears in her eyes, listening to her admonitions.
"My darling, why won't you listen to reason? Jiangzhe Prefecture is over a thousand li from the Imperial Capital, and the roads are crawling with mountain bandits and river pirates. If anything happened to you on the way, how could I answer to your late mother?"
Several women with faces as lovely as jade stood beside Jia Mu, adding their own pleas.
"Sister Daiyu, why are you so stubborn? Would we ever harm you?"
"Exactly. We've never even met these cousins of yours. Who knows whether they're reliable? Who knows what enchanted potion they've fed you to make you believe everything they say!"
Lin Daiyu merely wept in silence, but she refused to yield. She looked stubbornly at the matriarch, hoping her grandmother would agree to let her go to Jiangzhe Prefecture to see her father.
She was growing anxious now. According to their agreement, her cousins should already have arrived outside the Jia Mansion, yet the matriarch still refused to give her consent.
Without her grandmother's approval, she could not even leave the inner residence. What would she do if her cousins grew tired of waiting and left?
Over the years, she had asked more than once to go to Jiangzhe Prefecture to see her father, but the Jia family had always refused. This was an opportunity she had struggled to secure for herself, and she did not want to give it up just like that.
However comfortable the Jia Mansion might be, it was not her own home. She would rather wander through hardship with her father than live here in apparent luxury, dressed in silk and fed delicacies, yet without freedom, like a canary in a cage.
She hated the feeling of living under someone else's roof!
Just then, the door was suddenly pushed open, and several elderly women hurried inside.
"Matriarch, something terrible has happened! Countless Black Robe Guards have surrounded our mansion!"
"What?"
Jia Mu blanched. No longer concerned with persuading her granddaughter, Lin Daiyu, she hurriedly asked, "Who has been causing trouble outside this time? They've even provoked the Black Robe Guard!"
"The eldest master!"
One elderly servant explained, "Two people came to the gate, saying they were Miss Lin's cousins and wanted to take her to Jiangzhe Prefecture.
But the eldest master offended them with his rude remarks. The two of them summoned countless Black Robe Guards, enough to fill the entire street!
The man also said that if we didn't send our young cousin out within fifteen minutes, they would come in and find her themselves!"
At those words, the young women in the room panicked.
"Matriarch, please think of something! I've heard those Black Robe Guards are all fiends who devour people without even spitting out the bones. If they force their way in, how could any of us survive?"
Learning that her eldest son, Jia She, had caused the trouble, Jia Mu cursed, "That good-for-nothing! Never enough to accomplish anything, but more than enough to ruin it!"
Then she sighed helplessly. "Our Rongguo Mansion truly has fallen. When the old duke was alive, how would the Black Robe Guard have dared come bullying us so brazenly?"
Looking at the flustered women around her, Jia Mu turned toward Lin Daiyu, whose eyes shone with hope as she gradually regained her composure.
"Yu'er, do you truly wish to leave?"
Lin Daiyu nodded. Though she said nothing, the resolve in her eyes was unmistakable.
"Very well!"
Jia Mu waved a hand in weary resignation. "You've grown up and have a mind of your own now. I'm old. I can no longer manage you, nor do I wish to!
Go..."
Lin Daiyu looked around at those familiar faces, as though trying to engrave every one of them in her heart.
She knew that after this farewell, they might never meet again!
Wiping the tears from her eyes, Lin Daiyu knelt and kowtowed to Jia Mu three times. Then she rose and walked resolutely toward the door.
Beyond this farewell lay vast seas and open skies.
Outside lay the martial world!
Before you continue