Chapter 173: Chapter 170: Unfettered Thoughts
The woman holding Lady Li was an old nanny, her face covered in wrinkles.
The old nanny was advanced in years, but her strength was immense. Little Lady Li, held tight in her arms, couldn’t struggle free in the slightest.
Lady Li flailed her arms and kicked her legs, struggling with all her might. Her voice thick with tears, she screamed in fury, "Let go of me! I order you to let go of me! I want to find my grandmother! I want my grandmother to help me!"
The old nanny holding her remained perfectly still. Her wrinkled face crinkled into a squint as she said persuasively, a faint smile on her lips, "Little miss, there’s really no need for all this. This matter of foot-binding... how could the Old Madam not know of it? If the Old Madam hadn’t given her approval, how could the Madam presume to make such a decision on her own?"
Carrying Lady Li, the old nanny signaled for the other servants who had been chasing them to follow.
Moving with surprising agility, she swiftly carried the girl toward a small courtyard to the west. As it turned out, this was the very courtyard where Lady Li lived.
She had her own private courtyard within the large estate, a space decorated with exquisite and charming taste. Her servants were arrayed in the courtyard; counting the maids and nannies, there were a full sixteen of them.
It was clear that, under normal circumstances, Lady Li was utterly doted upon in this household.
Yet even so, she was powerless to change their minds about the foot-binding.
No matter how she cried, struggled, resisted, or tried to flee, she could never make it past the inner gate of the sprawling, secluded estate.
She couldn’t even catch a glimpse of the world beyond the front gate before the old nanny carried her back to her own embroidered daybed.
There, her mother—the mistress of the household—was waiting for her.
Seeing her mother, Lady Li burst into even more desperate tears. Her clear, childish voice was laced with heart-rending anguish as she screamed, "Mother! I don’t want my feet bound! Are you really my mother? Why are you doing this to me?"
"Mother, I don’t want to marry Young Master Zhang anymore! Can’t I just not marry him?"
"Mother, why did you arrange this marriage for me? Mother, I don’t want to leave you all... Mother, please, spare me..."
Lady Li cried and screamed, but in truth, she didn’t even fully understand what it meant to be betrothed and married off.
For as long as she could remember, people had been telling her how fortunate her destiny was. While still in her mother’s womb, she had been betrothed to Young Master Zhang, the scion of a prominent clan in the city. Although Young Master Zhang was ten years older than her, he already showed promise of reaching the Innate realm at a young age—a true prodigy.
They also told her that since she was destined to be Young Master Zhang’s wife, she had to be well-behaved from a young age. She had to master the womanly virtues of morality, speech, bearing, and needlework so that after her coming-of-age ceremony, she would be a worthy match for her husband, thereby supporting her family and ensuring a smooth life for herself.
All of this... how could a four-year-old girl possibly understand any of it?
She couldn’t understand. All she knew was to cry, struggle, and defy them with every fiber of her being.
Unlike some more docile children, while Lady Li understood nothing, she possessed a stubborn streak and a powerful, rebellious spirit.
Her mother, who was sitting on the embroidered daybed, simply turned her face away and sighed. "So be it. Since Lady Li is so unwilling, give her a dose of Calming Powder. Then, have Nanny Sun bind her feet."
"Do a good job. She’s young and doesn’t understand, but we, as the adults, must think of her future."
"When she’s older and has earned her husband’s affection, she will eventually understand the difficult choice her parents had to make..."
With that, the madam gently closed her eyes and gave a dismissive wave of her hand.
A maid immediately brought over a bowl of medicinal broth and moved to pour it into Lady Li’s mouth.
Lady Li was held fast in Nanny Sun’s arms. Her little head was held firmly in place, and her mouth was forced open.
"Mmmph... mmmph..." With her cheeks pinched, she could no longer form words, and could only let out muffled sobs.
Nearby, Song Ciwan readied herself to intervene at a moment’s notice.
’Truthfully, I could have acted sooner.’
’There was no need to wait for a critical moment. I could have saved Lady Li from the very beginning.’
’The reason I’d hesitated was that even if I intervened now, it would only treat the symptom, not the root cause.’
’Lady Li is just a small child, only four or five years old. As long as she remains in this house, even if I could save her this once, how could I save her for a lifetime?’
’The ones oppressing her seemed to be her parents, but it wasn’t just them.’
’I can’t just kill her parents, can I?’
’Kill Lady Li’s parents and turn her into an orphan?’
’Would that be saving her, or harming her?’
’Or should I take her away from this family and find her a new one?’
’Just like the Snake Maiden before... The Snake Maiden took shelter in the City God Temple. Perhaps Lady Li could do the same?’
All these thoughts had crossed Song Ciwan’s mind, only to be rejected one by one.
Song Ciwan had never considered herself indecisive, yet faced with this situation, she found it surprisingly difficult to act.
At this critical moment, seeing that the situation could be delayed no longer, Song Ciwan was just about to release a Black Insect to save Lady Li for the time being—
Just then, a young servant came rushing in from outside the courtyard.
The servant was panting, out of breath, and shouted from a distance, "Madam! Madam! Something terrible has happened to the Zhang Family!"
Lady Li’s mother, sitting on the embroidered daybed with her eyes closed, suddenly shuddered. She quickly opened her eyes and asked in alarm, "What? What happened to the Zhang Family?"
The servant, red-faced, rushed the words out in a single breath. "Madam, Young Master Zhang, our future son-in-law... he... he was at Bright Moon Square, and somehow... his feet were bound. He... he couldn’t bear the humiliation. After he got home, he killed himself!"
What?
This absurd piece of news made Lady Li’s mother shoot up from the embroidered daybed. She stared blankly and asked, "What did you say? Say that again!"
So, the servant repeated his words.
Then he added, "There’s no hiding it now, the news is all over the neighborhood. The Master says you should prepare, Madam. We’ll have to visit the Zhang Family soon to discuss calling off the engagement!"
But Lady Li’s mother just stood there, swaying. Then, she suddenly crumpled backward and fainted onto the embroidered daybed.
The entire courtyard of servants immediately fell into chaos.
Someone cried out in panic, "Madam! Madam, what’s wrong?"
Others ran out in a rush. "Quick, go tell the Master! The Madam has fainted!"
"Quick, go get a doctor!" someone else shouted.
And another asked, "Nanny Sun, the young miss’s feet... are we still going to bind them?"
Nanny Sun was the madam’s trusted confidante. She hastily set Lady Li down and rushed to her mistress’s side, shaking her and crying, "Madam! Madam, wake up!"
Who had time to pay any attention to Lady Li now?
Little Lady Li glanced back one more time at her fainted mother. Gritting her teeth, she scrambled away on her short legs and, taking advantage of the chaos, quickly left the courtyard.
Beyond her small courtyard lay a larger one. Though Lady Li had escaped her own little yard, she now found herself lost and panicked in the vastness of the main courtyard.
She couldn’t find the way out. After running about frantically, she finally found an ornamental rockery.
She hid in a crevice in the rockery, curling herself into a tight ball like a fledgling that had fallen from its nest.
In a daze, Lady Li felt pain and fear, cold and hunger. She was too young to understand much of anything, and her mind felt heavy and dull. Suddenly, an ethereal voice drifted to her ears. "Lady Li, wake up..."
