Chapter 133 Leader of the Five Traitors

Chapter 133: The Chief of the Five Traitors

Facing the girl with a radiant smile, Nanny Su felt tense.

Would this girl ruin her face?

She wasn’t overthinking it—this girl’s maid had dared to scratch her face, so how much worse could the mistress be?

Even if the girl was punished later, a disfigured face meant she could no longer serve the Madam, and her future would be ruined.

She had been serving the Madam for years with authority, yet she had never seen such a reckless little maid.

Fang Rui was very dissatisfied with Nanny Su’s reaction.

What was wrong with Nanny Su? She seemed almost cowering?

“Nanny Su, does your face still hurt?” Fang Rui asked coolly.

These seemingly caring words made Nanny Su’s heart tighten, and she forced down her unease: “It still hurts terribly.”

“Please, Miss Qiu Liu, hurry and apply the medicine to Nanny Su. Nanny Su is my mother’s most trusted aide, and now that her face is injured and she can’t work, my mother is quite troubled.”

“Alright. Nanny Su, don’t move; I’m not gentle with my hands.” Qiu Heng, as if deaf to Fang Rui’s sarcasm and blind to the mocking glances of the noble ladies, scooped out some ointment and gently applied it to Nanny Su’s wound.

Cheng Susu watched for a moment and then burst into laughter: “Miss Qiu Liu, you’re too modest. Your technique is quite skilled—could it be that you often let your maids hurt people and have gained experience?”

“Done.” Qiu Heng put down the medicine bottle and wiped her hands with a handkerchief.

“Qiu Liu, are you deaf?” Failing to get a response, Cheng Susu got furious.

Qiu Heng walked over, looking innocent: “I was just focused on applying medicine to Nanny Su and didn’t hear what Miss Cheng said.”

“I said your technique is quite skilled—did you gain that experience from letting your servants hurt people?” Cheng Susu said, covering her mouth and laughing.

The others giggled softly as well.

Qiu Heng pressed her lips together and walked out without a word.

How could Cheng Susu let such an opportunity slip? She giggled: “Like master, like servant. Qiu Liu, does your Lord Xue, Captain Lin, and Master Cui know how domineering you are?”

A noble lady covered her mouth with a round fan and laughed lightly: “Miss Qiu Liu came to Sister Fang’s house to apply medicine to Nanny Su—surely all of the capital knows by now.”

Qiu Heng stopped in her tracks, looking at Fang Rui in disbelief: “I only came to your residence today, and all of the capital already knows?”

This reaction pleased Fang Rui, who said coolly: “As the saying goes, good news stays home, but bad news travels far. When Miss Qiu Liu let her servant hurt someone, shouldn’t she have expected this outcome?”

“If someone does something shameful, do they expect it to stay secret?” Cheng Susu felt immensely satisfied. “Someone like you, I wonder what tricks you used to make so many men vie for you.”

“You, you’re humiliating me!” Qiu Heng stomped her foot, covered her face, and ran past Cheng Susu.

She ran so fast, like a gust of wind, ruffling Cheng Susu’s hair, and disappeared in a flash.

The group was stunned. After a long moment, Cheng Susu gasped in shock: “She, she just ran away like that? Rui’er, isn’t this the Chancellor’s residence!”

Qiu Heng’s sudden flight shocked Fang Rui even more than the others.

Right, this was the Chancellor’s residence, her home—how dare Qiu Liu just run off like that?

And where was she running to!

Thinking of Fang Zhou, who had once attacked Nanny Su without a word, Fang Rui shivered, thinking Qiu Heng might go after her mother.

“Find her!” Fang Rui hurried out, not forgetting to warn the maids and servants: “Don’t let the older folks find out!”

Qiu Liu might not care about face, but she did. If word got out that Qiu Liu had fled after their verbal jabs, it would make Qiu Liu look impulsive, but it would also embarrass her.

As Fang Rui and the others got more and more anxious from failing to find her, Qiu Heng had already explored almost half the Chancellor’s residence.

The mansion, unremarkable from the outside, was a scenic wonder at every step inside, built with gold and silver, exuding exquisite luxury.

Hiding behind a rockery, Qiu Heng mentally traced the paths she had taken through the residence.

Among the five traitors later blamed for hastening the fall of the Great Xia, Palace Commander Han Wu slacked off on training, leaving the imperial guards he commanded no match for the Qi Army’s assault on the capital, leading to its fall.

Yuan Chenghai, under the pretext of collecting rare flowers and stones for Emperor Jingping, extorted wealth, causing widespread misery and uprisings that devastated the southeast’s people and economy, severely weakening the nation.

The eunuch Xue Quan, relying on Emperor Jingping’s favor, meddled in court affairs. In this chaotic era, he wouldn’t normally have been counted among the five traitors, but by offering the “elixir” that killed the emperor, he forced a young prince to hastily take the throne, leading Northern Qi to launch a full-scale attack on Great Xia.

The chief of the five traitors, Chancellor Fang Yuanzhi, was the one Qiu Heng hated the most.

Forming cliques and controlling the court were the least of it. This chancellor, who took groveling to the extreme, was the kind who would make concessions to the Northern Qi even when Great Xia’s soldiers had won victories.

Everyone cursed Fang Yuanzhi as a coward clinging to life, but later discovered that his “greed” wasn’t just about survival—it was about money!

His incomprehensible peace proposals were partly for stability, but also because he had taken bribes from the Qi people.

A Great Xia chancellor accepting bribes from the Northern Qi was more ironic than if he were a spy.

How was Fang Yuanzhi’s shocking greed exposed?

That was the most ironic part.

During the Qi Army’s siege of the capital, a Northern Qi general himself revealed it—imagine the blow to Great Xia’s officials and soldiers.

Enraged, Great Xia’s soldiers tore down the Chancellor’s residence, uncovering letters and accounts between Fang Yuanzhi and the Northern Qi.

Qiu Heng, using the chance to apply medicine to Nanny Su, had familiarized herself with the residence, aiming for those letters.

If she found evidence of Chancellor Fang’s dealings with the Qi people, the entire Fang family would be doomed, paying for their trampling of the people.

Were there innocents?

Qiu Heng, peering through the cracks of the rockery at the running noble girl in fine clothes, pursed her lips.

What counted as innocent?

She tapped the rockery wall, her eyes cold.

In her view, even the rockery in this Fang residence was not innocent.

“There! Qiu Liu is there!” Cheng Susu, sharp-eyed, spotted Qiu Heng hiding in the rockery.

Fang Rui, leading the noble ladies, hurried over.

“Miss Qiu Liu, this is the Chancellor’s residence, not your home. You run off as you please—do you have any sense of guest etiquette?”

How could anyone be so willful and reckless, ignoring the consequences?

The girl, sitting with her knees hugged and head buried, slowly looked up, her eyes red-rimmed: “I’m sorry. If you had said anything else, I could bear it, but Miss Cheng saying I used tricks to make men vie for me—I simply can’t endure such humiliation…”

She suddenly stood up, the hairpin in her hand pressed against her neck.

Fang Rui’s face went pale: "You—what are you doing?"

"I looked all over and finally found a good spot here, only to be discovered by you."

Fang Rui was stunned.

Not only does she just take off and run, but she also wants to die in her home?

This isn't a proper lady—she's just a country bumpkin!

Wait, Qiu Liu really was from the countryside, so she really might just up and die.

Realizing that, Fang Rui’s voice softened without her even noticing: "Put the hairpin down, and I’ll have Su Su apologize to you!"