With the first step came the second, and Bi Xi watched in horror as Ye Qingcheng dealt with each assailant with a silver needle.
The situation turned around instantly. Ye Qingcheng finally had time to check on the dark guard, but it was too late. He no longer had a pulse, which meant he was dead.
It was the first time someone had died saving her, and Ye Qingcheng felt a complex mix of emotions.
In that moment, her desire to explore vanished completely.
After the dark guards had disposed of the robbers' bodies, Ye Qingcheng ordered them to carry the dark guard's body: "Let's go back!"
She didn't want to stay there any longer.
If she hadn't gone out for sightseeing, perhaps she wouldn't have encountered the robbers, and without encountering the robbers, there wouldn't have been that fight, and without that fight, that young man wouldn't have died.
It was all her fault.
Bi Xi saw Ye Qingcheng's emotions but could not speak. She could only hope her mistress would come to terms with it herself.
In the eyes of servants like them, their lives were worth less than those of the noble consorts in the imperial palace.
But in the eyes of Ye Qingcheng, a person from modern times, if the Emperor's life was life, then the lives of commoners were also life. One should not measure the difference between noble and humble by bloodline. This was unfair, but it seemed that in this world, everything unfair appeared so fair.
This was not what she thought.
She owed a life, yet she had repaid it with several lives.
How was this fair?
Ye Qingcheng was troubled, and even Xiao Wangye noticed it.
So he asked Bi Xi privately, "Do you know what happened to the Princess Consort?"
Bi Xi stammered for a long time before saying, "Yesterday, we planned to go sightseeing, but we encountered robbers on the way. While fighting them, a guard died saving the Princess Consort. The Princess Consort is troubled and cannot resolve it, which is why she is so dejected."
Xiao Wangye understood. He waved for Bi Xi to leave.
He then went to see Ye Qingcheng.
"Shutting yourself in your room, refusing to eat or drink, what is this? Do you want to atone for your sins by starving yourself?"
Ye Qingcheng lay on the bed, looking at the bed curtains. Upon hearing him, she merely shook her head, "I'm just thinking about a problem."
Xiao Wangye asked, "What problem?"
"What is wrong with this world?"
Xiao Wangye was stunned.
"How bad must things be to become robbers? How desperate must one be to want to become a guard? How little must one value life to think of losing it for others? Do they believe their bloodline is so inferior that the lives of the imperial family's children are more precious than their own? Even if they save them, they will only be told it is their duty, and no one will remember their names."
Xiao Wangye fell silent.
He asked, "Have you found an answer?"
Ye Qingcheng nodded, "I thought for a long time before understanding. It's not that people's thoughts are bad; it's that this era is sick." Ye Qingcheng turned to look at Xiao Wangye, "It is sick, which is why it divides people into high and low status, and why life is not valued as life."
Xiao Wangye said nothing more. After a while, he pushed his wheelchair and left.
Ye Qingcheng hadn't eaten all day, and her stomach was protesting, but she still had no appetite.
She looked at the dinner but did not want to pick up her chopsticks.
At this moment, Lin Xiao came in, carrying a booklet. "Princess Consort, this is from the Prince."
Ye Qingcheng looked at the booklet with confusion and did not take it. "What is this?"
Lin Xiao explained, "This is the guard roster. It contains the home addresses of the deceased guards."
Ye Qingcheng's spirits lifted. She took the booklet and began to flip through it.
"The Prince said you need it now. He also told me to tell you that such things happen every day. It's not that people are used to it, but it allows them to gradually accept it. This is the mission they undertake. If they hadn't died saving you, but instead let your hand be injured, they would have been punished. You are the Princess Consort, and you are bound to bear the weight of lives. You can only accept it, but you cannot change it."
Ye Qingcheng's hand paused as she flipped through the booklet. The words were cruel, but for this feudal era, it was already a custom.
Xiao Wangye was right, such things would happen. At that time, however, she would not be so delicate.
It was just that she would no longer bear the weight of lives.
"Also, Princess Consort, this is something I wanted to tell you. Thank you. You are someone who truly cares about us. Thank you."
Saying this, Lin Xiao bowed deeply.
Ye Qingcheng found the address of the guard. His name was Shi Tou, and he lived in Jiayu Village.
The next day, she went alone and found his home.
It was a dilapidated thatched hut, without even tiled roofs. One could say that when it rained heavily outside, it rained lightly inside.
It was very unsafe.
However, at this moment, his family was holding a funeral.
Ye Qingcheng felt a little timid and dared not enter. It was an old woman inside who saw her.
"Young lady, what are you here for?"
The village where the guard lived was relatively remote, so the people there did not recognize Ye Qingcheng.
Ye Qingcheng opened her mouth but found it difficult to speak.
"I... I am his friend, someone who worked with him."
The old woman nodded and beckoned her in, "Come in quickly!"
Upon entering, she clearly saw the interior facilities: two rooms and a hall. The hall now held the memorial tablet.
Ye Qingcheng lowered her eyes, "I'm sorry."
Everyone in the room was stunned.
Ye Qingcheng explained, "If I hadn't been afraid and weak back then, he wouldn't have died."
The people present did not know what to say and looked at the old woman, as the deceased was her son.
Ye Qingcheng expected her to scold her, but she merely sighed, "I have long accepted it. When he went to become a guard, we knew that one day he would be carried back."
Ye Qingcheng felt even more distressed.
The old woman clasped her hand. "My dear, you don't have to feel so bad. It will get better after a while. This is something everyone must accept; it will happen someday, it's just a matter of how one comes to terms with it. Some people die as soon as they step out the door. At least my son saved someone before he died, and for that, I am content."
Ye Qingcheng's days of sadness, upon hearing the words of the deceased's family, brought silent tears to her eyes.
Ye Qingcheng left a large sum of money before leaving, saying, "This is from the Prince for you. Part of it is Shi Tou's salary, and part of it is in thanks for saving the Princess Consort. Since he is gone, it is left for his family. I hope you will accept it."
The old woman did not refuse and accepted it. After all, it was something her son had traded his life for, and she was not so magnanimous as to refuse it.
As she left Jiayu Village, the sky was overcast, looking like it was about to rain.
The carriage was parked at the village entrance. Ye Qingcheng got into the carriage and discovered that Xiao Wangye was also there.
When Ye Qingcheng got in, Xiao Wangye spoke, "Are you feeling any better?"
Ye Qingcheng seemed to have lost her soul. She looked at him blankly, and after a while, she understood his question and nodded blankly, "Oh! Yes! I feel much lighter."
Xiao Wangye said no more, but seeing her appearance, he knew she had not yet recovered from this matter.