An hour later.
Most of the people in the Marquis of Liyang Mansion had extinguished their lights and retired for the night.
Chu Tianjiao, dressed in a black fitted outfit, with a small bundle on her back and the Heavenly Crow Sword in hand, quietly slipped out of her room.
The night was cool as water, with tree shadows swaying in the courtyard, their leaves like scissors.
Chu Tianjiao had lived in this "Green Pine Courtyard" for fifteen years; she could find her way around with her eyes closed.
After taking just a few steps, she saw a shadowy figure sneaking out of the maid's quarters on the left.
Fearing she might alert others, Chu Tianjiao retreated to the side of the screen wall by the courtyard gate.
The figure, agile as a wildcat, quickly slipped out of the courtyard, and Chu Tianjiao followed.
The figure hesitated at the intersection, seemingly unsure which way to go.
Chu Tianjiao grew even more puzzled.
Why would a maid from her courtyard be sneaking out in the middle of the night?
What was she up to? Could she be a spy?
Chu Tianjiao carefully followed behind the shadowy figure.
When she saw that the person had finally crept into the main kitchen, Chu Tianjiao's heart skipped a beat. Could this person be going to the kitchen to poison the food?
Although she had already made up her mind to flee from her arranged marriage, she couldn't allow someone to poison the household.
By now, most of the kitchen staff had retired, and it was eerily quiet.
From the faint yellow light visible through the large windows along the corridor, a rough kitchen maid could be seen dozing against the wall.
Using that bit of lamplight, Chu Tianjiao could also make out the figure's silhouette.
With her hair in pigtails and wearing the attire of a second-class maid, judging by her form, it seemed to be Sang Shen from her courtyard.
Chu Tianjiao didn't have a strong impression of Sang Shen.
This maid hadn't accompanied her when she married into the Fourth Prince's Manor.
She vaguely remembered that Sang Shen had fallen gravely ill just before her wedding and had been taken home by her family to recuperate.
When Chu Tianjiao returned for a visit, she heard that Sang Shen had died.
Seeing Sang Shen's agile movements as she climbed through the kitchen window, she didn't look like someone who had been ill.
Chu Tianjiao quietly crept up to the window.
A muffled groan came from inside the kitchen.
Hiding in the shadows, Chu Tianjiao peeped in and saw the rough kitchen maid collapse to the ground.
Chu Tianjiao held her breath, not making a sound.
Sang Shen was the granddaughter of her mother's lady-in-waiting and had no martial arts skills.
Sang Shen lifted the lids of the pots one by one, then took out several dishes from the large steamer.
With her back to Chu Tianjiao, it wasn't clear what she was doing.
Chu Tianjiao nimbly leaped through the window, lunging straight at Sang Shen.
Hearing the movement, Sang Shen turned around, only to have Chu Tianjiao seize her, pinning the vital point on her wrist.
"So you were poisoning the food!"
Seeing the bottle in Sang Shen's hand, Chu Tianjiao was furious.
"Little granddaughter-in-law?"
A soft, girlish voice called out an odd term of address.
Chu Tianjiao was startled.
"Little granddaughter-in-law, it's me, your great-great-grandfather!"
Chu Tianjiao was so shocked she couldn't close her mouth.
"Great-great-grandfather? Lu Dingfeng?"
"Wuwuwu, little granddaughter-in-law, I knew you must have come back too!"
"..."
The delicate, soft young girl before her, eyes brimming with excited tears, looked pitifully at Chu Tianjiao.
Chu Tianjiao thought of the portrait at the very top of the Imperial Ancestral Temple.
The founding emperor Lu Dingfeng was tall and imposing, with a full beard.
Chu Tianjiao found it very difficult to connect the rough man in the portrait with the delicate, pitiful young girl before her.
Goosebumps rose all over Chu Tianjiao's body.
She loosened her grip slightly and demanded, "What are you doing in the main kitchen in the middle of the night? Are you poisoning the food?"
Lu Dingfeng (Sang Shen) pouted pitifully: "Little granddaughter-in-law, I was just hungry and came to steal some food to eat."
Chu Tianjiao immediately believed this was indeed Lu Dingfeng.
She herself couldn't control herself when she saw food after not eating for three years, and Lu Dingfeng had been hungry for nearly two hundred years...
Chu Tianjiao released her hand and stepped back, "Then what were you putting into the dishes just now?"
"Salt."
Chu Tianjiao took the bottle and examined it carefully, finding that it really was salt inside.
"Little granddaughter-in-law, I just thought the food was a bit bland..."
The fire in the Imperial Ancestral Temple that burned Chu Tianjiao's portrait had released her soul.
Lu Dingfeng's soul, which had been confined for two hundred years, had also returned to this era along with Chu Tianjiao.
Lu Dingfeng had arrived three days earlier than Chu Tianjiao.
He had no body to be reborn into.
When he woke up and found himself transformed into Sang Shen, a second-class maid in the Marquis of Liyang Mansion, he was devastated.
Fortunately, in his previous life, he had risen to power through rebellion and lived in turbulent times, experiencing poverty and famine in the first half of his life.
So he was able to be more open-minded about his situation.
Being reincarnated and living another life, even as a maid, was still better than being stuck on a wall unable to enter the cycle of rebirth, right?
Moreover, this maid belonged to the Marquis of Liyang Mansion.
From the daily chatter of his later descendants, he knew that the Marquis of Liyang Mansion treated its servants quite well.
After feeling uncomfortable for two days, Lu Dingfeng accepted his new identity.
During these two days, he had been observing his new master. At that time, Chu Tianjiao had not yet been reborn, and Lu Dingfeng hadn't noticed anything unusual.
Tonight, as soon as Chu Tianjiao woke up, her personality changed dramatically from before.
Lu Dingfeng immediately suspected that Chu Tianjiao's soul had also returned.
After understanding Lu Dingfeng's situation, Chu Tianjiao asked:
"Great-great-grandfather, do you want to return to the imperial family and reveal your identity, or continue to be my maid?"
Lu Dingfeng, with a chicken leg in his mouth, spoke while eating: "Return to the imperial family? Tell them I'm the founding emperor? Wouldn't they just burn me as a demon?"
Chu Tianjiao smiled, showing her teeth, then suddenly adopted a stern demeanor and sharply questioned: "Then why do you keep saying 'I' this and 'I' that? Don't forget that you're my maid now!"
Lu Dingfeng looked at Chu Tianjiao in disbelief, timidly reminding her: "I am your ancestor!"
Chu Tianjiao thought to herself: "Ancestor is ancestor, but that's the Lu family's ancestor. The Lu family wiped out my entire Chu family. I don't want to keep a Lu family ancestor by my side. If I don't subdue him now, I'm afraid he'll be trouble later."
"I haven't married into your Lu family yet, so you don't count as my ancestor. But you are, in fact, my maid, with a contract of indenture and all!"
Chu Tianjiao spoke sternly, stating facts but with a threatening tone.
Chu Tianjiao did indeed have Sang Shen's indenture contract. If she wanted, she could beat or sell Sang Shen at any time.
Lu Dingfeng suddenly felt that the chicken leg in his hand wasn't so appetizing anymore.
Lu Dingfeng was, after all, the founding emperor, and he had his pride. How could he submit to Chu Tianjiao's threats?
He straightened his back, raised his head, threw the chicken leg in his hand aside, and glared at Chu Tianjiao, growling in a low voice:
"Little granddaughter-in-law..."
Their gazes locked in confrontation, each trying to outdo the other in intensity.
One was the founding emperor, the other a general who had waded through mountains of corpses and seas of blood. Their auras were evenly matched, making it difficult to determine a winner.
Fortunately, Chu Tianjiao was half a head taller than Sang Shen, giving her a slight advantage in height, tipping the scales slightly in her favor.
"From now on, don't call me little granddaughter-in-law. If you do it again, I'll sell you to a brothel immediately."
"No matter what your inner core is, this body is female, and quite an attractive one at that. I think it could fetch a good price..."
Chu Tianjiao immediately put into practice the psychological tactics she had learned in the Imperial Ancestral Temple, pressing her advantage step by step.
Lu Dingfeng shuddered.
They were both from the imperial family and wouldn't bet on each other's kindness or ancestral ties.
Lu Dingfeng felt certain that Chu Tianjiao would follow through on her threat.
Thinking about the consequences of actually being sold to a brothel, Lu Dingfeng became increasingly uncomfortable. His imposing aura instantly deflated, and he changed his tone with a fawning expression: "Young Miss..."
Chu Tianjiao maintained her stern demeanor and gave a curt "Hmm."
"From now on, you need to adapt well to your new life and be a competent maid. If you perform well, in a few years I'll find you a good family to marry into!"
Lu Dingfeng jolted, waving his hands in repeated refusal: "No marriage, I can't get married!"
Chu Tianjiao looked Lu Dingfeng up and down in his current body, clicking her tongue in mock regret:
"I must say, Sang Shen is quite pretty. It would be a shame not to marry her off!"
This final blow struck Lu Dingfeng's heart, making it ache a little.
He somewhat regretted teaching his little granddaughter-in-law the "art of imperial discourse" back in the Imperial Ancestral Temple.
Lu Dingfeng considered himself adaptable, capable of bending and stretching as needed. Being a maid? He could do that for now. Who knew who would end up subduing whom in the future?
"Young Miss, there's no need for marriage. I will certainly strive to be a competent maid. If the Young Miss is pleased, I only ask for help in investigating an old case."
Chu Tianjiao was taken aback. An old case from two hundred years ago?
She suddenly realized what Lu Dingfeng wanted to investigate and nodded, saying, "I also want to know why the souls of the Lu imperial clan are confined to the Imperial Ancestral Temple after death. I'll help you with this!"
The two reached an agreement.
Only then did Lu Dingfeng feel somewhat better. After getting a clear look at Chu Tianjiao's attire, he asked:
"Young Miss... I mean, Milady, you didn't come here specifically to catch me sneaking food, did you?"
Chu Tianjiao told Lu Dingfeng about her plan to escape her arranged marriage.
"My father is currently fighting at Yang Pass, so the Emperor doesn't dare to punish my family too harshly right now. I'll go out and lay low for a few days. If the Emperor really wants to blame us, worst case scenario, I'll go to the border to kill enemies and establish merit, offsetting any punishment with my achievements."
Lu Dingfeng thought for a moment and said:
"That unworthy descendant Zhaoling, it's just as well not to marry him. Take me with you. I'd like to see what Li Country looks like nowadays."
Chu Tianjiao had originally planned to escape the mansion and lay low by herself, but bringing Lu Dingfeng along wouldn't be much trouble.
The two of them avoided the night patrol guards and secretly slipped out of the mansion.
As soon as they left the gates, Lu Dingfeng's mind began to race: If I find a chance to escape, with the vast sky and sea before me, it would surely be better than being a servant girl, right?
Li Country had a curfew in place, and the late-night streets were silent and empty, with only occasional patrols from the City Patrol Department passing by.
Lu Dingfeng deliberately slowed her pace, putting some distance between herself and Chu Tianjiao.
When a squad from the City Patrol Department passed by, Chu Tianjiao ducked into a small alley behind her.
After the patrol had left, Chu Tianjiao looked back and could no longer see Lu Dingfeng's figure.
"It's just as well that she's gone!"
What Chu Tianjiao planned to do next, she feared Lu Dingfeng might interfere with anyway.
