The girls rushed over to help Shaobo up, but Shaobo, with tears still on his face, shouted loudly:
"Don't come here! Get out! Close the door, no one is allowed to come near!"
Everyone retreated as promised, the door was tightly closed, Xia Xun helped her up and let her sit on the couch.
Shao Bo held his arm with his backhand, so excited that he couldn't control himself.
Xia Xun looked around and said comfortingly:
"It seems that you are living a good life. The decoration in this room is even richer than that in the previous Xia Mansion. Those people have also been disciplined by you. You say what you say, and no one dares to disobey."
He looked at her face carefully again:
"And she came out so beautiful, she became a complete beauty."
With tears in his eyes, Shao Bo raised his hand, gently brushed Xia Xun's face, and spread his left hand to examine carefully.
"Young master hasn't changed...you're still so thin, and your hands...haven't grown well..." She opened her mouth, and the tears she finally stopped rolled down again: "But young master, everyone said that you died in exile. How...how did you survive...?"
In a few words, Xia Xun briefly explained:
"My eldest brother Xia Wen and I got away by feigning death and changing our names and surnames. We have been living in Lingnan for these years. What about you? How did you become an embroidery girl?"
Shaobo wiped away his tears with a handkerchief and said to him:
"The servant almost died that year, but the servant crawled out of the grave with all his heart to avenge the young master."
Seven years ago, like most of the servants in the Xia Mansion, Shao Bo was imprisoned after a month of house arrest in the Xia Mansion.
Naturally, this group of servants with no status could not enter the imperial prison of Dali Temple. Men and women, together, were all sent to the prison of Jingzhao Mansion.
Jingzhao Mansion doesn't get much money from the imperial court every year. Now dozens of prisoners are locked up at once.
After thinking about it, he simply cut off the food for this group of people, thinking that they would starve to death in the prison, anyway, they were domestic slaves who had committed crimes, and who would care about their lives.
In this way, Shaobo fainted from starvation in his cell after not taking a drop of water for several days.
The prison boss thought she was dead, and together with several other people who had died long ago, they were pulled by a cart and thrown into a mass grave outside the city, where they were buried with rubble.
Fortunately, there was a torrential rain that night, and the big raindrops passed through the cracks in the rocks and hit Shaobo's face and body.
Shaobo was thirsty and woke up licking the rain on his lips.
In the downpour, she regained consciousness several times and fainted several times, but a thought in her mind kept her from dying:
—She wanted to kill Qi Yan to avenge Xia Xun.
In the prison, she heard people say that Xia Xun died on the way before reaching the place of exile, and the culprit of all this can only be Qi Yan.
Hatred gave her strength, and with the rain on her lips, she finally woke up.
She pushed away the broken stones pressing on her body with her bare hands, even if her palms were cut by the edges and corners of the stones, she would not hesitate.
Under the canopy of rain, she escaped from the rocky mound full of dead people.
She ran on desperately until she was blocked by a stream, and she was so thirsty that she rushed to the stream, knelt down, and drank the water like an animal.
She was disheveled and dressed in rags, and she appeared among the hills filled with thunder and lightning, like a female ghost who had just cheated on her corpse, and startled the peasant women passing by the creek.
Hearing the sound of footsteps, Shao Bo turned his head immediately: "Where is that person?!"
"Oh, I'm scared to death!" The peasant woman repeatedly patted her chest: "I'm still beating a ghost! Fortunately, he is a living person who can talk! Little girl, why are you here in the middle of the night? You are still in such a mess ?”
Shaobo didn't speak.
The peasant woman kindly suggested:
"How about you go to my house? At least I can change your clothes for you. Look at you, the skirt is all torn into rags!"
Shaobo didn't agree, she said in a daze:
"... Miss, do you have a knife?"
The peasant woman looked at the firewood basket behind her:
"I have a hatchet knife, but it's too blunt to use!"
Shao Bo asked again: "Can you give it to me?"
The peasant woman saw that she was still young and thin, so she would not do anything to hurt herself, and also saw that her eyes were full of sadness, she must have encountered difficulties, so without saying a word, she took out the hatchet and threw it to her far away.
Shao Bo picked up the knife, said "thank you", and walked along the stream towards the capital.
The peasant woman felt strange.
"Forget it, why bother with other people's business, the rain is getting heavier, it's better to go home as soon as possible."
She wrapped her coir raincoat tightly and left in the opposite direction.
Holding the knife, Shao Bo walked all night in the rain.
When she felt the rain stopped by the city gate, she also became a decent lunatic.
Her disheveled hair was sticking to her face, and the broken skirt was covered with rainwater and mud. She hadn't eaten for several days, her face was pale, and she was still holding a long rusty knife in her hand.
The guards guarding the city gate didn't dare to interrogate her, for fear of being chopped off by her, they immediately let her in when it was time to open the gate.
Shaobo was so hungry that his eyes were filled with stars, his brain had stopped turning for a long time, his legs were out of the control of consciousness, and he just moved forward relying on instinct.
Her body firmly remembered the location of Xia Mansion, just like remembering where Qi Yan's home was.
With stumbling steps, she knocked on the door of Qi Yan's house at dawn.
It was Qi Hui who opened the door. At first he didn't even recognize Shao Bo, but when he finally confirmed that she was the maid next to Xia Xun, he immediately closed the door.
Shao Bo held the door against the handle of the knife, and forced his way in through the crack of the door.
Qi Hui stopped her from entering, and Shao Bo shouted:
"Qi Yan! Come out! Give me back the young master!"
Qi Hui hurriedly covered her mouth:
"Don't make noise! My lord has just recovered from a serious illness, and I can't stand the noise! Come to me if you have anything!"
Shao Bo raised his knife and was about to chop off his hand, Qi Hui was frightened, and when he let go of his hand, she took advantage of the gap to rush directly into the courtyard.
Hearing the shouts, Qi Yan got up in his clothes and walked slowly to the door.
When the news of Xia Xun's death came, he had a sudden heart attack. He was seriously ill for ten days, and it took two days for him to stand up.
His hair was loose on his shoulders, his eye sockets were sunken, and his complexion was no better than Shao Bo's.
When Shao Bo saw him, he stood still for a moment, then held the knife in both hands, and walked straight towards him.
Qi Yan didn't dodge or avoid, met her gaze, and stepped out of the threshold.
Qi Hui rushed over and was about to hold Shaobo down. Qi Yan said softly:
"Qi Hui, let her go."
Qi Hui didn't dare to disobey, so he ran to Qi Yan and stood in front of him:
"Shao Bo, if you really want to kill someone, kill me! Don't touch my master! This is what Xia Hongxi owed him!"
Shaobo roared:
"Xia Hongxi did something wrong, what does it have to do with my young master?! Why—why did you kill him?!"
Qi Hui explained sadly: "My master never thought of killing Mr. Xia, he did it to save him—"
Shaobo's liver and gallbladder split:
"Shut up! You think I will still believe your nonsense!!!"
Qi Yan said coldly:
"Qi Hui, back away."
Qi Hui refused: "My lord, go back and lie down! Your body!"
Qi Yan took a few steps and pushed Qi Hui away:
"I said, back down."
Qi Hui gritted his teeth and took half a step back.
Shao Bo walked up to Qi Yan step by step, the distance between them was so close that as long as Shao Bo swung hard, the chi-long hatchet could cut Qi Yan's neck.
But she was too weak, she was panting like a dying cow, and she didn't have the strength to swing the knife.
She squeezed out the last bit of willpower, raised the knife unsteadily, and swiped down.
The blade didn't hurt Qi Yan, but fell softly on his shoulder.
Shao Bo maintained this posture and said out of breath:
"Where's my little master...? Give me back my little master..."
Qi Yan held the blade and pressed it to his heart:
"Let's do it, Shaobo, to tell you the truth, my heart hurts too much, why don't I give it to you."
Shaobo was clearly exerting strength, she felt that she had put in a lot of effort, but the hatchet just pressed against Qi Yan's clothes loosely, not advancing even an inch.
She realized belatedly that she was out of strength.
Suddenly, her eyes went dark, she could no longer lift the knife, the hatchet fell to the ground with a clang, she fell forward and fell on Qi Yan.
Qi Yan's weak body could not support her, and the two of them fell to the ground and fell into a coma together.
When Shao Bo opened her eyes, Qi Yan's small courtyard was no longer in sight. She raised her upper body and looked around.
She was in a beautifully decorated room, and the tattered clothes had been replaced with new ones.
There was only one candle lit in the room, and the light was dim.
In the corner, out of the reach of the candlelight, Qi Yan was staring at the front with ecstasy, his eyes were foggy and out of focus.
Shao Bo sat up abruptly, and then felt violent dizziness. She clutched her forehead, resisting the feeling of wanting to retch, and lay down slowly.
Qi Yan rolled his eyes and moved his gaze to her face:
"...Are you awake? Your clothes were changed by the embroiderer here, and it has nothing to do with me... You can stay here from now on. The owner of the embroidery workshop promised to teach you how to embroider. After you learn a skill, you can support yourself. "
Shaobo swallowed the sour water from his stomach, and said in a hateful voice:
"I don't need you... Be a good person!"
Qi Yan didn't seem to hear, his eyes looked very empty in the darkness:
"You can't be called Shaobo anymore, you need to change your name."
Shaobo replied:
"Impossible! This name was given to me by the young master! It is the last thing he left me!"
Qi Yan was startled, tears welled up in his eyes instantly:
"The last... thing...? But he left me with nothing... what should I do..."
Shaobo's eyes were hot, and he was so sad that he couldn't speak.
After a long time, Qi Yan said sadly:
"Change one, otherwise you won't be able to survive in the capital, and if someone knows your identity, it may be harmful to you... Shaobo...meaning the beautiful waves like a lake, the beautiful scenery in late spring, the beautiful wind and clouds, the lake surface in spring Like jasper surrounded by mist, how about...you call it Raobi..."
Seven years later, in the embroidery workshop, Shao Bo said to Xia Xun:
"This is the origin of the name Raobi."
"It sounds good." Xia Xun straightened her crooked hair, and said softly, "It sounds good, such a name is worthy of you."
Shaobo murmured:
"I don't like this name because it was chosen by Qi Yan, but I like this name very much because it has something to do with your original intention of naming me Shaobo."
She turned her head, put her cheek gently against Xia Xun's palm, and said sadly:
"The young master's hand has become so rough, but it's still... as warm as ever."