Volume One, Chapter 3: Become Your Mistress—or Your Concubine?

Cold Residence.

The old madam lay on the bed, utterly lifeless. The household physician, Doctor Liu, knelt at her feet with his head bowed, sighing repeatedly. “My lord, please restrain your grief. The old madam was advanced in years, and a sudden fit of anger overwhelmed her heart. Alas!”

Lord Leng Xuanru and Madam Jiang knelt beside the bed. Behind them, in order, knelt the Second Young Master, Leng Yuanchen; the Eldest Miss, Leng Yueya; the Second Miss, Leng Yuemei; and the Fourth Miss, Leng Yuejiao. Servants and old nurses filled the room, kneeling in a disorderly mass.

Sobs rose and fell throughout the chamber.

“My lord, the Third Miss had only been back for two days when this happened!” Madam Jiang wept, covering her face.

Leng Xuanru’s brows drew tightly together. Though the old madam had not been his birth mother—he had been born to one of her maids—she had fulfilled the duties of a stepmother after his own mother died.

Her sudden death was difficult for him to accept. Besides, his filial devotion was famous throughout the capital. After years of acting the part, he had even developed a measure of genuine affection for her.

“My lord, the Third Miss still hasn’t been found. Please send someone to look for her!” Madam Tian, frantic with worry, crawled to Leng Xuanru’s feet on her knees.

People feared nothing so much as the stories their own minds invented. It was already deep into the night, and Leng Yueheng had been missing for more than an hour. The more Madam Tian imagined, the more desperate she became, until she could no longer concern herself with propriety.

“Take her away and lock her in the woodshed!” Leng Xuanru roared impatiently, his eyes fixed on the scar across the right side of Madam Tian’s face. “Where are the nurse and maid who served the Third Miss?”

“My lord, Yueheng is your daughter!” Several young servants dragged Madam Tian away. Her eyes were full of anguish, while the scar on her cheek twisted her features into something hideous.

At that moment, the other maid who served Leng Yueheng, Zhuqing, came hurrying in and fell to her knees.

“Third Miss... Third Miss is missing!” Zhuqing cried through tear-filled eyes. She and the Third Miss had grown up together, and their bond between mistress and servant was profound.

“Lock this girl in the woodshed as well!” Madam Jiang ordered.

Zhuqing was dragged away too.

At the side gate, a stocky figure stood hidden in the darkness. Seeing what had happened, the person quietly withdrew.

“My lord, what are we to do?” Madam Jiang asked tentatively.

“Mother, whatever happens, we must find Third Sister first and decide what to do afterward,” Leng Yuemei said through her tears. She was the only true legitimate daughter of the Leng family.

The Eldest Miss and the Eldest Young Master had been born to the former principal wife, Madam Zhou. After Madam Zhou’s death, the Eldest Miss had married beneath her to a merchant, while the Eldest Young Master had joined the army and remained unmarried at twenty-three.

The Second Miss and Second Young Master were both Madam Jiang’s children. Raised in comfort and privilege, they naturally possessed considerable learning and refinement.

The Fourth Miss was Madam Meng’s daughter. Madam Meng was beautiful and deeply favored by Leng Xuanru, so the girl lacked nothing in food or clothing. Unfortunately, Madam Meng had risen from the streets, and the Fourth Miss had received little proper upbringing.

Leng Yueheng, the Third Miss, had once been her father’s favorite as well. But one day, Leng Xuanru discovered that someone coveted Madam Tian’s beauty. In his fury, he slashed her face and banished mother and daughter to a country estate.

She had now returned to the capital because of the marriage arranged for her since childhood with the Xiao family. No one had expected her to lose her life on the second day after returning.

Leng Yueheng’s steps were unsteady as she walked through a bamboo grove. Divine Water Lake was not far from the Leng residence, but she no longer had the strength to use her light-footed martial arts.

The original owner had practiced martial arts since the age of five and possessed an exceptionally strong constitution. The Leng Yueheng of her former life would have fainted long ago.

For a full hour, the man had drained every ounce of strength from her body. After the struggle that preceded it, both her legs now trembled weakly. She was disheveled from head to toe, and the bloodstains on her dress bore witness to her tenacity.

Once she crossed the street ahead, she would reach the Leng residence. Leng Yueheng lifted her head and gazed at the sky.

Fate truly seemed to be playing a cruel joke on her. At that moment, she missed her child more than anything.

Her little girl was only five, a flower of a child, with plump cheeks and a smile that never left her face. Just before Leng Yueheng had entered the operating room, the girl had held her hand and said brightly, “Go, Mommy! You can do it!”

Poor little YaYa would never see her mother again. Leng Yueheng would never be able to take part in her daughter’s growth.

Her daughter from her former life, YaYa, had been the tenderest place in her heart. Leng Yueheng crouched down, and tears burst from her eyes. She endured the pain in silence, her shoulders shaking again and again.

Before long, her emotions steadied. Since she had no power to change what had happened, she would leave the future to its own course.

Since she had come here, she would cherish the present. Being the daughter of an Imperial Academy scholar was not so bad.

She wiped her tears away with force, as though she could erase her former life along with them. Then she smiled brilliantly, held her head high, and walked toward the Leng residence.

“Are you willing to leave with me?” The man had followed her all along, witnessing both her fragility and her resilience.

In the end, he had been the one to implicate her. After dinner that evening, someone had delivered him a note concerning a case he had been investigating for a long time. Without hesitation, he had gone to the Leng residence.

How could a woman continue living after losing her chastity? A strange, unfamiliar ache spread through the man’s heart.

“You are Prince Ji—the Prince of Yanbei, Yan Beiyuan.” Leng Yueheng smiled brightly, her tone certain.

“It is I.” Yan Beiyuan was astonished by her intelligence.

“I heard you bring misfortune to women?” Leng Yueheng teased, as though the weeping woman of moments ago had never been her.

“Are you afraid?” A flicker of anger passed through Yan Beiyuan’s eyes, but he smiled at once, his expression calm and untroubled.

“Am I to be your concubine outside the household? Or your personal maid?” Leng Yueheng answered his question with one of her own.