Chapter 74: Returning to the General’s Residence
Pei Rumo might have sent someone promptly with the information Bai Luochu wanted, but she still felt like she was being used as a tool. Hence, wasn’t overly grateful and simply nodded her head as an indication that she understood. She then headed straight for the general's residence and didn’t take a single detour.
The general’s residence was a distance away from the First Prince’s residence. But because Bai Luochu was anxious, she pushed her speed to the limits with her movement skill and spirit qi. She arrived at the entrance of the general’s residence in the time it took two sticks of incense to burn.
When Bai Luochu arrived at the entrance, she finally understood her fate. The general's residence was truly in a dire state.
The gold paint on the board was almost completely faded, revealing the original metallic color. Taking a closer look, the fangs on the stone lions at the entrance had already fallen off and the ball that was in the mouth of the lion had plenty of pits. It was needless to speak about the beams and pillars supporting the gate as the red paint was peeling off.
Had it not been for the frequent clean up, it would truly look like an abandoned ghost residence.
Just as Bai Luochu stepped through the door, someone stopped her.
“Who are you? How dare you barge into the general's residence?! Do you have a visiting pass? If you don’t, we cannot let you enter.”
Bai Luochu couldn’t help but laugh as she could see from the actions of this servant, that the person who took over the residence demanded a lot of respect. There was actually a guard at the door of this run down shack. Had it not been for the fact that she wanted to investigate the truth, she wouldn’t even take a look at the guards.
“Heh, do you not recognize me?” Bai Luochu sneered and a trace of doubt appeared in her heart. She was the First Young Lady of the general’s residence. How could no one recognize her?
The servants guarding the door scoffed as they assumed that Bai Luochu was some bumpkin who wanted to act as though she had some connections with the general’s residence. One of them mocked, “Che, who do you think you are? Why don’t you take a look at your clothes? You dare try to suck up to the general's residence?”
Bai Luochu understood what was happening. It seemed like after she left, her cheap relatives changed out all the staff in the general’s residence. If no one knew who she was, how was she going to enter the residence?
Just as Bai Luochu considered knocking out the guards and barging inside, someone called out to her.
“Young Lady Luo Chu?” The voice sounded a little old and it seemed to come from a middle-aged man.
When Bai Luochu heard someone calling out to her, she looked towards the source of the voice and saw a man in his early 50s. He was standing inside as he looked at her with tears of joy falling from the corner of his eye.
When Bai Luochu turned her head and that man saw her face, he immediately knelt on the ground and sobbed, “Young Lady Luo Chu, you are finally back! This old servant has been waiting for you for a long time!”
When the two servants saw the housekeeper kneeling down and calling this woman the young lady, they understood that she had to be the young lady everybody mentioned. They were immediately dazzled and when they recalled how disrespectful they were to Bai Luochu earlier, they immediately knelt down and spoke with a trembling voice, “First Young Lady, please forgive us. These servants only arrived in the residence after you left and had never seen First Young Lady’s face before. We failed to recognize someone important. We hope for the First Young Lady to be lenient when issuing our punishment.”
“It isn’t necessary. Those who do not know shall not be blamed. Just pay attention in the future.” When Bai Luochu saw that they were really new servants, she didn’t blame them. After all, she wasn’t the real First Young Lady.
“Old man, are you the housekeeper of this residence?” Bai Luochu knew nothing about the general's residence. She glanced at the housekeeper who seemed to be the most knowledgeable and tried to sound out the situation in the general’s residence.
“Young Lady, you… don’t remember this old servant?” When the housekeeper heard Bai Luochu’s words, he felt really hurt.
“To be honest, I suffered a serious injury and lost my memory. Right now, I have no recollection of anything in the past. I can only remember my identity.”
Bai Luochu couldn’t bear to see the old man being so dispirited and had to explain herself.
The old man nodded and understood that the young lady must have suffered a lot. It was all because of her ingrate uncle that she was in such a bad state. The housekeeper immediately blamed her uncle.
“This old servant has the family name of ‘Liang’ and I am the housekeeper of this residence. In the past, you used to call me Uncle Liang. You can continue to address this old servant the way you did in the past.” Uncle Liang explained patiently. Bai Luochu felt as though she suddenly had an additional relative.
“Young Lady had been stranded outside for such a long time and should be exhausted. This old servant will bring Young Lady back to her room for a rest.” Uncle Liang finished speaking and pulled Bai Luochu’s hand as she brought her into the inner courtyard.
In fact, Bai Luochu wanted to tell Uncle Liang that apart from her days in the Bestial Battle Arena, she had been residing in the First Prince's residence and didn’t suffer much. However, after thinking about it, she couldn’t think of an explanation for an unmarried young lady like her to be living in the First Prince’s residence. In addition to the old man’s hospitality, Bai Luochu allowed Uncle Liang to pull her into the room at the inner courtyard.
Along the way, there were plenty of servant girls and servants who saw Uncle Liang. He was already more than half a century old but was dragging a young girl whom they had never seen before. They immediately felt suspicious and there were some meddlesome people who cast over dubious eyes.
Bai Luochu didn’t bother but Uncle Liang wouldn’t allow anyone to slander his young lady. He yelled, “Are all of you asking for a beating? Don’t you have work to do? Why are you standing around like useless pillars?! All of you look carefully now, this is our general’s residence honorable Young Lady. She is the only daughter of the former great general! In the future, don’t forget to pay your respects when you see the Young Lady! All of you just can’t seem to read the situation!”
Not long after he yelled, they arrived at Bai Luochu’s previous chamber.
“Young Lady, after you left, your uncle’s family took possession of most of the inner courtyard, with the exception of this room. This old servant would rather die than to allow them to snatch this room away. When Young Lady returns, you would at least be able to live comfortably in a familiar environment. This old servant will personally clean up the room every single day and as you can see, this old man is the only one left. All the servants who used to serve Young Lady in the past had been sold. This old servant was afraid that the new servants would be light fingered and decided to clean the place myself. Today, my prayers were answered and Young Lady finally came back. This old servant now has great hopes for the days in this residence.”
Speaking up to this point, Uncle Liang started to sob but it was tears of joy that were streaming down his face.
“Uncle Liang, can you please tell me the current situation in the residence?” Bai Luochu already understood that apart from Uncle Liang, this was a nest of jackals and wolves. She had to confirm her suspicions.