CH 3

The first thing Gu Yu Qi did after she recovered was to take a good tour of Marquis Dingyuan’s residence.

She wore a pink jacket with a pleated pink skirt underneath. Her hair was in double loops and a carved jade butterfly hairpin was pinned to it. Although she was only ten years old, she was already naturally graceful.

Behind her was her personal maid, Yan Zhi.

Gu Yu Qi was relieved and grateful towards Yan Zhi. In the previous life, she had never given up and had stayed by her side all her life. She had seen her at her most beautiful, when she was embarrassed, and when she was in distress. Even when Gu Yu Qi had set fire to the palace, Yan Zhi had stayed with her and burned to death. Gu Yu Qi wondered if Yan Zhi had been reborn like her. After probing a bit, she found out that Yan Zhi was the same ten year old girl as before. Yan Zhi was the same age as her and was an orphan girl that Liang-shi took in on her way from the capital. Liang-shi saw that this girl was neat, simple, and straightforward. As she was the same age as her own daughter, she let her stay by Gu Yu Qi’s side.

When they walked to the flower pond in the backyard, Yan Zhi grabbed the young miss’ sleeve nervously, “Miss, it snowed again yesterday, so let’s not go there.”

Seeing Yan Zhi look like she was facing a great enemy, Gu Yu Qi patted Yan Zhi’s hand comfortingly. “What are you afraid of?” She asked.

“Last time when Miss brought me here, this servant only left for a while and Miss had slipped into the pond.” Yan Zhi pulled Gu Yu Qi’s sleeve and would not let her go near the pond again no matter what.

Gu Yu Qi turned to look at the pool that almost drowned her. The water in the pond was very deep. Gu Yu Qi knew because several people had drowned here later on. In summer, the lotus flowers in the pond were in full bloom, but it was winter now, and these days the weather was a bit colder than the day Gu Yu Qi had fallen into the water. A thin layer of ice had formed on the water. There was a fence around the pool. It had just snowed and the red fence was covered in a layer of silvery white. The fence had been newly painted and was bright red.

Fence? Gu Yu Qi’s brows furrowed slightly. She estimated the height of the fence from a distance. She was only ten years old and had not grown up yet, so the fence reached her chest.

A trace of coldness gradually appeared in Gu Yu Qi’s eyes.

In her previous life, she had only cared about her own happiness and had not thought about why the original Gu Yu Qi had fallen into the water. In this life, she was reliving it and her mood was very different from before. From the position of the fence as tall as her cest, she did not think she would slip into the pond so easily.

After she fell into the water and woke up, everyone in the house had said she slipped by herself. The fence was so high, they should try and slip to show her.

Seeing Gu Yu Qi stop walking in deep thought, Yan Zhi thought the young miss had dismissed the idea of going to the pond. She was happy, but then she saw Gu Yu Qi take her own hand and walk over firmly. Yan Zhi was anxious, “Miss, you can’t go there.”

“What are you afraid of? Not going to the water’s edge after falling into it once. According to this principle,will you stop eating after choking while eating?” Gu Yu Qi said.

Yan Zhi could not outspeak Gu Yu Qi so was pulled over with a terrified face by the young miss. Unable to stop her, she could only follow the young miss carefully and never leave her side at all. The last time she left the young miss, and the young miss had fallen into the water and almost died. This time, she had to protect the young miss well. 

Gu Yu Qi inspected the fence carefully. Every alternate section of the fence had a pillar carved into a lotus. The pillars were connected by a piece of wood with various flower patterns carved out of it. It was painted with red lacquer and gold edges. With this kind of fence, not even a puppy could slip in, let alone a person her age.

Gu Yu Qi did not think that a ten year old girl in ancient times would be so naughty that she would climb over a fence by herself. She was a young miss of the Marquis’ residence after all. Although she had been living in Jiangnan, her mother’s family was also one of Jiangnan’s aristocratic families so her upbringing would not have allowed her to do this.

“Yan Zhi, are the clothes I wore when I fell into the water still there?” Gu Yu Qi asked.

“Yes. Madam said that the dress was unlucky so she asked the servant to throw it away. The servant has been with the madam every day these days so she hasn’t had time to throw it away. She’s keeping it in the servant’s quarters for now.” Yan Zhi replied.

“Are the clothes stained with paint?” Gu Yu Qi asked.

“No.” Yan Zhi thought for a while, then shook her head and replied. 

If she climbed over the fence by herself, there would definitely be traces of paint on her clothes. Gu Yu Qi’s little hand touched the surface of the fence that had just been painted. A few days ago, when she was recovering from her illness, she had heard with her own ears when several old women came to report to her mother about the repairs in the mansion. This fence had been newly painted the day before Gu Yu Qi fell into the water.

What Yan Zhi said confirmed what Gu Yu Qi had in her mind and her eyes became a little colder.

Unexpectedly, someone in the Marquis’ residence wanted her to die.

In the previous life, all her thoughts had been spent on how she could be in the limelight. Liang-shi had died early and she was arrogant. She had not paid attention to the twists and turns of the back residence. However, now that she thought about it carefully, could the few mishaps before she had gotten married in her previous life be related to the people in the residence? It was just that the past few times her luck had been extremely good, and she escaped without any risk.

Later, when she was to be married as a concubine, her one year of engagement was peaceful and quiet, so she had not thought about it.

Gu Yu Qi sighed. Although it was good to be time-travelled-girl, her vision had been too ambitious and she had ignored the things around her. Thinking of this, there had been some personal reasons to end her previous life by setting the palace on fire.

“Was I rescued here?” Gu Yuqi walked along the path with Yan Zhi, then stopped and asked.

There was a mess of trampled marks outside the fence near the flower bed. It was winter now and those flowers and plants had long withered, so the traces of trampling were even more obvious. Although it had been a few days since Gu Yu Qi fell into the water and was rescued, the traces were still there. 

Yan Zhi nodded. When she had come back, she had found that the young miss was gone. She had searched for a long time before finding a figure floating in the water. She had been terrified at that time. The person in the water looked like the young miss, but she had hoped otherwise and could only call for someone to come first. However, the young miss had indeed been rescued here.

Gu Yu Qi nodded. Since she was rescued here, it meant that this place was the closest to her position in the water at that time. If she had been thrown into the water, then it should be from around this place. She was a half grown girl now. Although she was not heavy, she still weighed a bit. How far could she have been thrown?

Gu Yu Qi carefully inspected the surrounding railings. The paint on the fence had been rubbed off at that time, but it had been repaired later and there were no useful clues left. Besides, Yan Zhi had called for someone to come that day and the place was a mess. Many servants and maids had been covered in paint. Gu Yu Qi felt that it would be difficult to check the paint on the clothes.

“Tell me about the situation that day carefully.” Gu Yu Qi said to Yan Zhi after being quiet for a while.

Yan Zhi nodded. After the young miss had fallen into the water that day, she had told the madam and the Marquis about the scene. Now, she told it to Gu Yu Qi in a more methodical and detailed manner compared to the previous two times. Gu Yu Qi did not find anything unusual after listening to it.

At that time, the former Gu Yu Qi saw a beautiful puppy in the garden so she and Yan Zhi had chased after the puppy and ran here. The puppy had disappeared after running here. She and Yan Zhi had separated to find it. The backyard of the Marquis’ residence was very large. The pond was actually artificially made and it meandered across the backyard of the residence. It was a place where few people tread.

She remembered running after the puppy with Yan Zhi. When she crossed over, she retained some memories belonging to Gu Yu Qi, but not many. They were like photos left in her mind but they were not coherent. She could not remember how she fell into the water at all.

In her previous life, she had used her fright from falling into the water as a cover for not remembering what had happened prior to the incident. Her intention at that time was to hide the fact that she was no longer the original Gu Yu Qi. She had not even thought about why she had fallen into the water.

So later, the Marquis and the madam had both thought that she slipped because she was chasing the puppy and had fallen into the water. They had not investigated the matter deeply and had just told her not to go near the water by herself as it was too dangerous.

Gu Yu Qi felt that they had neglected a very important matter. Where did the dog come from?

A puppy would not be running around the Marquis’ residence for no reason. She had not thought much about it in her previous life, but now she had to think about it.