When she opened her eyes again, the rain had already started.
A torrential downpour poured from the gloomy sky, drenching her dress and loose hair.
She lay in the mud, half her body pinned beneath the wreckage of the overturned carriage, her grandmother's body shielding most of her.
She gently pushed her grandmother off her, reaching with her still-functional right hand to check for breath—rainwater mixed with mud ran down her hand, staining her grandmother's lips and nostrils.
Her hand hovered in mid-air for a long time, not retracting. Rainwater trickled down her fingers, collecting in a small pool of murky water in her palm.
She sat in the mud and looked around. Carriage wreckage was scattered up and down the slope. The driver's body lay not far off by the roadside, and Qingdai and Chenxiang's clothes were pinned under the shattered carriage door.
The bodies of the servants were strewn along both sides of the mountain path, rainwater washing away the earth beneath them, gradually diluting the red into light brown streaks.
She didn't know how long she had lain there.
The rain continued, the sky grew darker, and mud-soaked half her clothes.
Someone called her name in her ear, the voice distant then close. After a while, she recognized it as her uncle's.
When Shen Zhiyuan led his men up from the foot of the mountain and found the scene, he saw the overturned carriage wreckage and Su Jinyu kneeling in the mud. One hand was braced against the ground, the other hung at her side. Her grandmother's body lay motionless in the mud by her knees.
He nearly tripped over his cloak as he dismounted, then strode over and knelt before her. After checking her grandmother's pulse, he didn't move again.
Then he helped “Su Jinyu” up from the mud. She wasn't crying, her eyes staring blankly at a spot on the ground, as if all her strength had been drained.
Shen Zhiyuan took off his outer robe and wrapped it around her, rain dripping from his jaw. He bent down, picked up her grandmother's body, and turned to walk toward the carriage. After two steps, he looked back and said to the people beside him, “Bring the Young Miss.”
“Su Jinyu” was helped onto another horse, her broken left arm hanging limp. Rain plastered the loose strands of hair from her forehead to her cheeks.
She sat on horseback, head bowed, rain dripping from her chin onto the muddy ground, blurring into a murky sheen at the edge of her vision.
Horse hooves splashed through puddles, kicking up fine mud. On the mountain path behind them, only the overturned carriage and scattered bodies remained. Rain washed over the unmoving forms, slowly dragging the bloodstains down the slope to lower ground.
“Su Jinyu” slowly turned around. She saw the bodies of the servants and the two maids being individually loaded onto flat carts by the Marquis Weiyuan's Manor's people, covered with dark, coarse cloth.
She couldn't see their faces, but she knew who they were. She moved her lips, rain dripping from her chin, but no sound escaped her.
She simply watched as the outlines beneath the coarse cloth gradually blurred in the rain. Wind swept through the valley, tilting the rain for a moment, blurring her vision along with it.
When Su Jinyu woke, the room was dimly lit. She stared at the canopy above for a while before slowly turning her eyes to the bedside.
Her maternal grandmother sat on the edge of the bed, her eyes so swollen they were almost shut. She still held Su Jinyu's uninjured hand, her fingertips trembling slightly.
Her maternal grandfather stood behind her maternal grandmother, one hand on her shoulder, the other clenched into a fist at his side, his expression as deep and somber as a winter pond.
Her uncle Shen Zhiyuan leaned by the window, his face ashen, lips pressed into a thin line as if he had swallowed many words. Her maternal aunt stood on the other side of the bed, a handkerchief pressed to her mouth, tears silently streaming down her face.
Su Jinyu struggled to sit up. A sharp pain shot through her arm the moment she braced herself. Her maternal grandmother quickly held her down. “Don't move... The doctor said your arm is broken. You need to rest...”
Su Jinyu seemed not to hear, her gaze sweeping around the room. Her voice was hoarse, almost unrecognizable. “Where's Grandmother? Where is Grandmother?” The air in the room seemed to still for a moment; no one spoke.
Her maternal grandmother tightened her grip on Su Jinyu's hand, tears rolling from the corners of her eyes and dripping onto her hand. Her voice was hoarse when she spoke. “Jinyu... your grandmother... she's gone... she's already been sent back to the Minister's manor...”
When “Su Jinyu” heard those words, she felt as if something had violently hollowed her out.
She opened her mouth, no sound coming out at first. Then a scream tore itself from her throat, sharp and broken, as if something stretched to its limit had ripped apart.
She leaned forward, her body struggling violently on the bed to sit up. Her broken left arm was pulled in the movement, but she seemed to feel no pain, still trying to throw off the covers and get out of bed.
Her maternal grandmother embraced her, holding her tightly, crying and patting her back. “Jinyu, Jinyu... calm down... Grandmother... Grandmother is gone... you can't do this... you can't hurt yourself...”
Held in her maternal grandmother's embrace, “Su Jinyu” trembled violently. The echo of her scream dissipated into the air, slowly fading after a long while.
She leaned against her maternal grandmother's shoulder, tears silently streaming down, soaking her grandmother's clothes.
Her maternal aunt stood nearby, crying aloud into her handkerchief. Shen Zhiyuan turned his head to look out the window, pressing his fingers hard against the sill before releasing them. Sunlight fell on his tightly pressed lips.
“Su Jinyu” slowly calmed down. Her breathing transitioned from rapid to deep, and the trembling in her shoulders gradually ceased.
She rested quietly in her maternal grandmother's embrace for a while, then slowly straightened up.
Tear stains still marked her face, but her eyes seemed frozen from within, her gaze fixed on something ahead, eerily calm.
She no longer cried, no longer screamed; she simply sat quietly on the bed.
She knew, of course, who was responsible.
Madam Wu had coveted the position of primary wife for a long time. Her grandmother had consistently suppressed her, refusing to yield, and had recently even been looking for a suitable candidate to be her father's next wife, precisely to prevent Madam Wu from taking the position of primary wife, controlling the inner chambers, and oppressing the legitimate daughter.
“Su Jinyu” hadn't expected Madam Wu to be so ruthless as to even harm her grandmother. She lowered her head, looking at her bandaged left arm, her thumb tracing the edge of the gauze.
After a long while, she finally spoke, her voice soft, as if slowly rising. “Maternal Grandmother, I'll stay at the Marquis's manor for the next few days.”
Her maternal grandmother, eyes blurry with tears, squeezed her hand and nodded, saying, “Stay as long as you need.”
“Su Jinyu” said nothing more, lay back down, and pulled the blanket up to her shoulders. Her eyelashes were still damp when she closed her eyes, but her breathing was steady.
The people in the room gradually withdrew. The sound of the door closing lingered for a moment in the quiet room, then was covered by the wind outside the window.
She turned over to face the wall, placing her uninjured hand by the pillow, her fingertips clutching a corner of the blanket, not tightly, but never letting go.
In the following days, she quietly recuperated at the Marquis Weiyuan's Manor.
She took her medicine, changed her dressings, and had follow-up appointments on time, eating and resting punctually.
Shen Sui had written five letters from the border, each containing a few comforting words and some ordinary military anecdotes, likely hoping to lift her spirits.
“Su Jinyu” opened and read each one, folded them neatly, and placed them in the dressing table drawer, but she did not reply.
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