First Encounter

  After Gu Yuqiu recovered, the first thing she did was to stroll around the Dingyuan Marquis Manor.

  She was wearing a pink jacket with a lotus-colored pleated skirt, her hair was combed into two buns and on one side was pinned a small jade butterfly hairpin, although she was only ten years old, but already had a vague beauty.

  Behind her was a personal maid named Rouzi.

  For Rouzhi, Gu Yuqie was both at ease and grateful. In her previous life, she had accompanied herself for a lifetime, seeing the most glorious moments as well as the most difficult times. Even when Gu Yuqie set fire to the palace, Rouzhi remained by her side until they died together in the imperial palace. Gu Yuqie wondered if Rouzhi was also reborn like her, but after several attempts to test her, she found that Rouzhi was still just a ten-year-old girl, the same as before. Rouzhi and Gu Yuqie were of the same age, and it was on the way to the capital with Liang Shi that they rescued this lonely girl. Liang Shi saw that the little girl looked neat and had a straightforward personality, and since she was the same age as her own daughter, she let Rouzhi follow Gu Yuqie's side.

  As they walked to the flower pool in the backyard, Yanzhi tightly grasped her mistress's sleeve, "Miss, it snowed again yesterday, let's not go over there."

  Gu Yuqiu saw Rouzhi's vigilant expression and comfortingly patted her hand, "What are you afraid of?" she asked.

  "Last time Miss brought me here, I just walked away for a moment, and Miss slipped into the pool." Rouged lips pulled at Gu Yuqie's sleeve, saying she wouldn't let her get close to that pool again.

  Gu Yuqie turned her gaze to the pool that had almost drowned her, the water in the pool was very deep, Gu Yuqie knew, because later there were a few more people who drowned here. In the summer, the lotus flowers in the pool would bloom vigorously, but now it's winter, and these days are even colder than the day Gu Yuqie fell into the water, with a thin layer of ice on the surface. The pool was surrounded by a fence, which had just been snowed on, with a layer of silver white covering the red fence, the newly painted fence was bright red, but covered in white snow, making it even more vibrant.

  Gu Yuqie's eyebrows furrowed slightly, she made a rough estimate of the height of the fence from afar. At only ten years old, she was still small in stature, and the fence almost reached her chest.

  A hint of coldness gradually floated up in Gu Yuqie's eyes.

  In her previous life, she was too excited to think about why Gu Yuqiu had fallen into the water in the first place. In this life, she was reborn and her mindset was vastly different from before. The railing that reached her chest, she didn't feel like she would easily slip into the pool water.

  After she fell into the water and woke up, everyone in the mansion said that she had slipped herself. The railing is so high, you can slip one for me to see.

  Jianzhi saw all of Gu Yuqie's thoughts come to a halt, and she thought that her own young mistress had given up on the idea of going to the pool, and was still feeling happy about it. But then she saw Gu Yuqie pull her hand back, and lead her in a firm stride past the pool. Jianzhi panicked, "Miss, you can't go over there."

  "What's there to be afraid of? Just because you fell into the water once, does that mean you can't go near it again? By that logic, if you choke while eating, are you going to stop eating altogether?" Gu Yuqie said.

  Rouge was dragged away by Miss, her face filled with fear. Unable to stop it, she carefully followed Miss, not daring to leave her side for even half a step. Last time she had left Miss alone, and as a result, Miss had fallen into the water and almost died; this time, no matter what, she was determined to protect Miss well.

  Gu Yuqiu carefully inspected the fence, on top of which was a pillar carved in the shape of a lotus flower at regular intervals. The pillars were connected by solid wooden boards, which were hollowed out with various floral patterns and painted red with gold trim. This kind of fence wouldn't even allow a small dog to slip through, let alone someone as big as her.

  Gu Yuqie didn't think that a ten-year-old girl from ancient times would be naughty enough to climb over the railing. After all, she was the legitimate young lady of the Marquis's manor, and although she had been living with her mother in Jiangnan before, her maternal family was also a prominent family in Jiangnan, and they wouldn't have allowed her to behave like this.

  "Rouge, are the clothes I wore when I fell into the water last time still here?" Gu Yuqie asked.

  "Ah, yes, the mistress said that dress was unlucky and told me to throw it away. I've been busy accompanying Miss these past few days and haven't had a chance to get rid of it, so I just stored it in my room." Hu Zhi replied.

  "Was there paint on those clothes?" Gu Yuqie asked.

  "No." Rouge thought for a moment and shook her head.

  If she had climbed over the fence, her clothes would have been stained with paint. Gu Yuqiu's small hands touched the newly painted fence, and a few days ago when she was ill, she heard several women come to report to her mother about the repairs in the house. This fence was just repainted the day before Gu Yuqiu fell into the water.

  Rouge's words seemed to confirm the thoughts in her mind, and her gaze became even colder.

  Unexpectedly, there is indeed someone in this manor who wants her dead.

  In her previous life, she had been so focused on how to show off that she didn't care about the twists and turns of the back house. Liang Shi died early, and her temper was extremely high. However, now that she thinks about it carefully, before she got married in her previous life, those few times she encountered danger might also have something to do with the people in the mansion. It's just that those few times her luck was so good that she narrowly escaped unscathed.

  Later she was asked to marry as a concubine. During the year of engagement, she lived a peaceful and quiet life, which made her not think about anywhere else.

  Gu Yuqiu sighed, she was indeed a transmigrated woman, but her vision was too high, and she overlooked the things around her. Thinking about it this way, the outcome of being burned to death in her previous life was somewhat due to her own doing.

  "Is this where I was rescued from?" Gu Yuqie asked as she walked along the corridor with her vermilion lips, then stopped in her tracks.

  The flowerbeds outside the fence have a trampled and disheveled appearance, now in winter, those flowers and grasses have withered, so the traces of being trampled are even more obvious. Although it has been several days since Gu Yuqiu fell into the water and was rescued, the marks still remain.

  Rouge nodded, she rushed back to find the young lady gone, she searched around and came here only to discover a figure floating in the water, she was frightened at that time, the person in the water looked like her own young lady, but she also hoped it wasn't, could only shout for help. However, the young lady was indeed rescued from here.

  Gu Yuqiu nodded, since she was rescued from here, it means that this place is the closest to where she was in the water at that time. If someone threw her into the water, it's likely that it was also around here. She's now a half-grown girl, not too heavy but with some weight, and if someone threw her out, how far could they throw her?

  Gu Yuqiu carefully examined the railing around, the paint on the fence had been smeared by someone and was not in good condition, later repaired, leaving no useful clues. Moreover, when Hongzhi shouted for people to come, this place became chaotic, many young servants and maidservants also got paint on their clothes, Gu Yuqiu felt that investigating from the aspect of paint on clothes would be more difficult.

  "You will tell me about that day's situation again in detail." Gu Yuqiu said calmly to Yanzhi.

  Yan Zhi nodded, and the scene of that day after Miss fell into the water she had told Madame and Hou Ye before, now telling Gu Yuqie was more logical and detailed than the previous two times. After listening to it, Gu Yuqie also didn't find anything unusual.

  At that time, Gu Yuqie saw a pretty little dog in the yard and chased it with Zhu Er to here. After the little dog ran over, it disappeared. She and Zhu Er separated to find it. The Hou Mansion's backyard is very large, and the pool is actually an artificial lake, winding through the Hou Mansion's backyard. By now, this place was rarely visited by people.

  She has memories of chasing after a small dog with rouge, she retained some memory fragments that belonged to the original Gu Yuqiu when she crossed over, but not many, just like the residual photos in her mind, and they are not continuous. As for how she fell into the water, she can't remember at all.

  In her previous life, she was frightened after falling into the water and couldn't remember things clearly before that. At that time, her intention was to conceal the fact that she was no longer the original Gu Yuqiu. She didn't even think about why she fell into the water herself.

  So later, Master Hou and his wife thought she had slipped under the little dog's feet while chasing it, and fell into the water. They didn't investigate further, but only warned her not to go near the water alone again, as it was too dangerous.

  Gu Yuqiu felt that they had all overlooked a very important thing: where did the little dog come from?

  It wouldn't be possible for a small dog to suddenly run out of the Hou Mansion without any reason. In her past life, she didn't think much about it, but now she can't help but think about it.