Huang Fu smiled faintly at her mother, then gently withdrew her hand and walked toward Gu Wuyou. “Your Highness, I know why you are here.” Her voice was soft and delicate, and her fair little face was even paler than usual. “The wind is strong outside. Please come in first.”
At this point, Madam Huang had no choice but to let them in.
Gu Wuyou followed the mother and daughter inside. Once the maid had served tea, she got straight to the point. “Madam Huang, Miss Huang, I apologize for disturbing you at such a time.”
“But the matter is urgent. Since Miss Huang already knows why I’m here, I must trouble you to speak frankly.”
“Your Highness—”
Madam Huang opened her mouth to speak.
However, Huang Fu reached out and held her mother’s hand, shaking her head. “Mother, it’s okay, I’ll tell her.” She seemed to take a deep breath before turning her gaze to Gu Wuyou and speaking, “Since you were able to find me, you must have already guessed some of it.”
Gu Wuyou remained silent.
She had indeed made some guesses, but she didn’t know how far things had escalated, so she didn’t want to speak recklessly.
“Zhou Changbai…”
Huang Fu struggled to force out this name.
For the first time, Gu Wuyou saw such a look of deep hatred on this weak and pale face. Her shoulders were trembling uncontrollably, her lips were pressed tightly together, and her hands, resting on her lap, were clenched into fists.
Madam Huang, filled with concern, quickly reached out to hold her daughter’s hand.
Huang Fu gave her mother a weak smile, then turned back to Gu Wuyou, gritting her teeth as she said, “He is nothing but a beast.”
“He has done this to me more than once. At first, he only harassed me with words, but later…” She suddenly fell silent, as if unable to bear recalling those dark memories.
Yet, in the end, she still forced herself to continue. “Later, he gradually started laying his hands on me.”
Hearing this, Gu Wuyou immediately frowned. “Why didn’t you tell the Headmaster? Headmaster Xu has always been fair. If he knew, he would never allow Zhou Changbai to act so recklessly.”
“Your Highness…”
Huang Fu let out a bitter laugh, but it was filled with sorrow. “You don’t understand my situation, nor do you understand my family’s struggles. Do you know the status of the Zhou family in the capital? How could I dare to speak out?”
She lowered her head, her voice barely above a whisper. “It was so difficult for my father to be transferred to the capital and become an official. His career is just beginning to take off. I don’t want to ruin his future because of me.”
Gu Wuyou opened her mouth.
She wanted to say something—wanted to tell her that she, too, had experienced despair before.
But looking at Huang Fu, she ultimately chose to say nothing.
Gu Wuyou waited patiently as Huang Fu slowly adjusted her emotions, then listened as she continued recounting what had happened yesterday.
“Yesterday, Zhou Changbai took me out again. He was acting like a madman, suddenly tearing at my clothes…”
“I refused.”
“So he started hitting me.”
The young girl’s voice carried both hatred and sorrow, and even under the blazing midday sun, it felt as if her words came from the depths of the earth, filled with an inescapable sense of powerlessness. “He pinned me to the ground and used that filthy mouth to kiss me…” As she spoke, her voice grew sharper and more out of control, as if she couldn’t even sit still. It was only when Madam Huang gently squeezed her hand that she slowly calmed down, as if drained of all strength, before continuing, “I thought… that was the end for me.”
“But Young Master Li suddenly appeared.”
The lifelessness in Huang Fu’s eyes was suddenly replaced with brightness. With barely contained excitement, she said, “He pulled Zhou Changbai off me and gave him a vicious beating.”
“It was like—”
“Like a deity descending from the heavens.”
“But it was me…” Her tone suddenly sank. “It was my fault. I begged him not to tell anyone. If it weren’t for me, he wouldn’t have been misunderstood, wouldn’t have been expelled from the academy.”
“Commandery Princess.”
After calming herself for a moment, Huang Fu looked at her. “I know you came for Young Master Li. Whatever you need me to do, I will cooperate.”
“Ah Fu!”
Madam Huang couldn’t help but call out her daughter’s name.
Huang Fu turned to look at her mother and said, “Mother, this was my fault from the start. You and Father raised me to understand right from wrong. I… I cannot be so selfish…”
“But you…”
Madam Huang opened her mouth, but seeing her daughter’s determined expression, she could only sigh, turning to Gu Wuyou with a pleading tone. “Commandery Princess, it has not been easy for our family to establish ourselves in the capital. As a mother, knowing that bastard from the Zhou family treated my daughter like this, I want nothing more than to personally kill him!”
“But—”
She couldn’t continue, her eyes filling with tears.
“Madam Huang, I understand.”
Gu Wuyou took over the conversation. “I don’t need Miss Huang to publicly accuse Zhou Changbai. I only need her to write a letter detailing everything that happened. I will personally deliver it to Headmaster Xu, and no one else will know about it.”
“As for Zhou Changbai—” The mere mention of his name disgusted her. She loathed this kind of person to the core. “Even if he finds out, he wouldn’t dare to do anything.”
Daring to use such despicable means to harm her Great General—if she didn’t beat him half to death, it would already be considered mercy.
If he dared to spread any vile rumors afterward, she would… tell her father! And if that wasn’t enough, she could tell her aunt as well. If they didn’t turn the Zhou family upside down, she wouldn’t be worthy of her surname!
Hearing this, Madam Huang finally sighed in relief.
Huang Fu’s expression remained unchanged. She stood up and said, “Please wait a moment.” Then, she took her maid with her into another room.
A quarter of an hour later, she returned with a letter in hand and handed it to Gu Wuyou. “Everything you need is in here.”
Gu Wuyou solemnly accepted the letter. Now that she had what she came for, there was no reason to stay any longer. She rose to her feet and said, “Then, I will take my leave.”
“I will see you out,” Huang Fu said from the side.
Gu Wuyou looked at her in surprise but said nothing.
After the maid draped a cloak over Huang Fu’s shoulders, the two of them walked out together. No other servants followed—it was just the two of them.
Gu Wuyou still wasn’t quite used to interacting with girls her age. Perhaps she should say something to comfort her, but she felt that a few light words wouldn’t bring any real solace.
So, in the end, she chose to remain silent.
It was Huang Fu who broke the silence after walking only a few steps. “Do you like Young Master Li?”
Gu Wuyou turned back in surprise. She hadn’t expected this timid, easily flustered girl to ask such a bold question. But she didn’t hide her feelings either. She nodded, answering openly and without hesitation, “I do.”
When she smiled, her eyes seemed to be bathed in golden light, and her bright, beautiful face was filled with radiant joy.
Huang Fu looked at her, at that brilliant smile as dazzling as the morning sun, and she couldn’t even meet her gaze directly. She had once been a cheerful and talkative girl, too. But ever since coming to the capital, ever since her mother used her connections to get her into the academy, she had become more and more self-conscious.
She didn’t dare interact with others, always feeling as if they were secretly mocking her behind her back.
Young Master Li was the first person to stand up for her, the first person so brilliant that she didn’t even dare to look at him directly. She could still remember the moment he appeared yesterday—bathed in golden light, descending like a deity from the heavens, making her willing to bow and become his most devoted follower.
And now… she was seeing someone just like him.
A girl full of vitality and radiance.
Countless emotions flickered through Huang Fu’s heart, but in the end, she made peace with herself. Looking at Gu Wuyou, she softly said, “Young Master Li is a good person. A very, very good person.”
“Mm.”
“I know.” Gu Wuyou was still smiling. Of course she knew her Great General was a very, very good person.
“Aren’t you angry?”
As they neared the entrance, Huang Fu hesitated but ultimately couldn’t resist asking, “You like him so much, but he stood up for me. Doesn’t that make you unhappy?”
“Ah?”
Gu Wuyou was briefly stunned, then suddenly burst into laughter. “I trust him. Even if yesterday it had been just an ordinary maid, he would have helped her too. He looks fierce and unapproachable, but actually, he has an incredibly soft heart. Sometimes, when he sees children or elderly beggars on the street, he’ll give them money. Some of those beggars are swindlers—he knows that, too—but he just thinks that if they’re willing to throw away their dignity to beg, they must have difficulties. If he can help, he will.”
She spoke slowly, her voice full of warmth, her face and eyes glowing with a tender smile.
Huang Fu thought back to the rumors she had heard—about how the Commandery Princess of Leping was arrogant, aggressive, and difficult to get along with, just like Young Master Li. But now, as she looked at Gu Wuyou, she saw a girl whose smile was as bright as the stars.
She lowered her head slightly and let out a faint sigh.
When she looked up again, there was a sincere smile on her face. “I hope you two will be happy.”
“Ah…”
Gu Wuyou’s face flushed, a bit embarrassed. Actually… she and the Great General weren’t even together yet. But she still accepted the blessing with a calm and open heart. “Thank you.”
As they neared the entrance, Gu Wuyou decided to say one last thing. She stopped walking and turned to look at Huang Fu. “Miss Huang, as an outsider, perhaps I shouldn’t interfere.”
“But I believe that for any father who truly loves his daughter, her safety and happiness should be far more important than his career. If Master Huang knew that you hid all of this for his sake, even if he achieves high office and great wealth in the future, I doubt he would ever be truly happy.”
That was all she said.
Huang Fu froze for a moment before softly thanking her. “Let me see you to your carriage.”
Gu Wuyou smiled as she refused, “The wind is strong outside, you should go back in.” After saying that, she waved at Huang Fu, then, without waiting for a response, gripped the letter tightly and walked out. She was in a hurry to return to the academy and clear the Great General’s name!
Huang Fu stood there, watching Gu Wuyou’s cheerful figure as she left, motionless for a long time. It wasn’t until her personal maid approached that she finally returned to herself and said softly, “Let’s go.”
Back inside her room.
She found the string of decorative knots she had woven last night—deep blue thread, tied in a square victory knot. She had imagined more than once what it would look like hanging on that white-robed young man.
But even after finishing it, she had never dared to give it to him.
Thinking back to their farewell that morning…
Huang Fu realized that there was something the Commandery Princess of Leping had actually gotten wrong. Young Master Li was not hot-tempered at all. No matter the person or situation, he always carried a sense of indifference, even when fighting—it was as if he was effortlessly brushing something aside.
No.
There were also times when he wasn’t so indifferent.
She had seen it this morning when the Commandery Princess appeared. Naturally, she had also noticed Young Master Li’s expression—how it changed from initial indifference to the deep furrow of his brows, to the final moment when he hurriedly fled.
All those changes, all for one person.
“Truly…”
“A complete and utter defeat.”
But losing to someone like that—there was nothing to be unhappy about.
Her maid entered, carrying a tray of tea. Huang Fu looked down at the decorative knot in her hand for a long while. In the end, she let out a light chuckle and handed it over.
“Take it and throw it away.”