CHAPTER SIX — EVERYTHING WILL BE ALL RIGHT AFTER TODAY
When Su Zijin returned to the Bamboo Garden, the first thing she saw was her mother standing anxiously outside the courtyard gate. Madame Xu's face glistened with sweat under the harsh midday sun, her hands twisting nervously in front of her.
"Mother, why are you standing out here?" Su Zijin hurried forward, heart tightening. "The sun is scorching. What if you fall ill?"
She gently wiped the sweat from Madame Xu's brow, then took her hand and guided her inside. The older woman's tense expression softened the moment she felt her daughter's touch.
"Mother couldn't rest easy," she admitted with a weary smile. "You were gone so long."
Supported by Su Zijin, she sat down on an eight‑sided drum stool. Her hands trembled slightly as she smoothed her skirt.
"From the moment I left Purple Stone Cottage to now, it's barely been a moment," Su Zijin said softly, patting her mother's hand. "You needn't worry so much."
But as she looked at Madame Xu—her familiar, beloved face—her chest tightened. She had missed this face for so long in her previous life. To see it again, alive and warm, felt like a dream she feared waking from.
Madame Xu exhaled shakily. "I can't help it. What happened today… it was too dangerous. If not for your Great‑Grandmother, if not for you… I fear we would have been separated forever."
Even now, her voice quivered with lingering terror. Had Great‑Grandmother not arrived at that exact moment, the Old Madam would have crushed them without hesitation. Su Zijin would already be on her way to the manor—disgraced, discarded, ruined.
"Yes," Su Zijin murmured. "We were fortunate."
Fortunate… and yet, she knew how close she had come to losing everything again. Even with her plan, even with the powder, without Great‑Grandmother's intervention the Old Madam would have twisted the truth until it strangled her.
Madame Xu's shoulders sagged. "It's all my fault. I'm useless."
Her voice cracked with humiliation and grief. "If I had any ability at all, how could I let you suffer like this? You are a legitimate daughter, yet you were slandered by a concubine's child, and I—your mother—could do nothing."
Her hands clenched into fists, knuckles white. Hatred, helplessness, and shame churned inside her like a storm she could not quell.
Su Zijin took her mother's trembling hands in her own. Her heart ached.
Her mother was not weak. She was the daughter of a marquis, raised in a military camp, a woman who had once commanded troops without fear. But for the sake of her husband, for the sake of her child, she had swallowed humiliation after humiliation.
And that man had never deserved her.
But Su Zijin said none of this. She had lived one lifetime already; she knew that tearing open old wounds would only cause more pain.
"Mother," she said gently, "the inner courtyard is full of people who cannot control themselves. As long as we are safe, that is enough."
Madame Xu nodded, though her eyes were still clouded with sorrow. "Yes… yes, you're right. As long as you're safe."
"Everything will be all right after today," Su Zijin said firmly, her eyes shining with quiet determination.
Madame Xu wanted to believe her. She forced a smile, though it wavered at the edges. "You've only just woken. You should rest. I'll come see you tomorrow."
"I'll walk you out."
Su Zijin escorted her mother to the courtyard gate before returning inside.
---
"Miss, I've been worried sick today," Xia He said as she handed her a cup of warm tea. "As soon as you left Purple Stone Cottage, Madam came straight here and waited outside the whole time. No matter how I tried to persuade her, she refused to go inside."
"That's just like Mother," Su Zijin sighed. "Go to the pharmacy later and buy some cooling tea. Send it to her. In this heat, she'll fall ill."
Xia He nodded quickly.
"Oh—Miss," she added, "Old Madame was very pleased with Wei Zi today. But she didn't take it to her own courtyard. She left it in the Guest Hall and said you could fetch it in future."
Su Zijin's hand paused mid‑air, the teacup trembling slightly.
A faint bitterness curled at the corner of her lips.
So that was it.
She had thought, for a moment, that Great‑Grandmother might truly be moved. That she might accept the gesture wholeheartedly. But no—this had been her plan from the start. A measured distance. A cautious acceptance. A reminder that affection would not sway her judgement.
It was fair. It was wise. And it meant Su Zijin had a pillar she could rely on—one who would not be easily manipulated.
"Very well," she said quietly. "If Old Madame asks for it, bring it to her."
She finished her tea, set the cup down, and slipped behind the screen into her bedroom.
The moment she lay down, exhaustion washed over her. Her mind, which had been racing since the moment she woke in this new life, finally loosened its grip.
Her eyes drifted shut.
Sleep claimed her almost instantly.
---
While the Su Mansion settled back into uneasy calm, the streets of Jinling bustled with excitement.
A column of soldiers marched through the city gates, armour gleaming beneath the sun. Crowds gathered on either side of the road, craning their necks—not to see the troops, but the two men riding at the front.
One wore armour, a red tassel swaying atop his helmet. His sword‑browed face was bright and unrestrained, his smile dazzling enough to make children cheer.
The other wore a white robe, his expression solemn, his features sharp and striking like a deity carved from jade. Every movement radiated a quiet nobility, as though he were an immortal who had descended to earth.
The armoured man waved at the crowd, laughing easily. The man in white barely glanced at them—his gaze fixed repeatedly on a single direction.
Yongning Lane.
"Mr Jun," the armoured man—Xiao Yujing—said with a teasing grin, "you've been staring at Yongning Lane since we entered the city. Do you want to go and have a look?"
Jun Guchen was silent for a long moment. Then he exhaled softly.
"No. I was only thinking of an old friend who once lived there. I wonder if I will ever see her again."
"An old friend?" Xiao Yujing's grin widened. "A woman, perhaps?"
Jun Guchen's stern face softened—just a fraction. A fleeting smile touched his lips, the kind a man wears when thinking of someone precious.
Xiao Yujing nearly fell off his horse.
In all the months they'd travelled together, he had never seen Jun Guchen smile like that.
"Well," he said, recovering quickly, "as long as you stay in Jinling, it won't be difficult to find her."
Jun Guchen shook his head slightly, the smile fading.
Xiao Yujing sighed inwardly. He had tried to persuade him more than ten times on the journey, but Jun Guchen remained unmoved.
Still… a man with abilities like his was not someone he could easily let slip away.