Three Years After Falling Off the Cliff

The capital city during the Lantern Festival is the most lively place tonight.
Men, women, old and young shuttled through the brightly lit streets and alleys. The laughter, hawking and occasional fireworks made the capital a city that never sleeps.

However, even in the heavily guarded capital city, there are dissolute young men who cause trouble.

"Please forgive me, gentlemen. I really can't sing." The flower girl hugged the flower basket tightly in her arms and retreated with a look of panic. However, there was a dead end behind her. Where could she retreat to?
"I'm not picky, just sing a few lines." The man in purple robe took off the jade pendant from his waist and shook it in his hand: "You broke my jade pendant. I didn't ask you to pay for it, I just asked you to sing a few lines. What else are you dissatisfied with?"

The flower girl shook her head quickly: "I don't have..."
How could the common people dare to break his jade pendant when they didn't even have the courage to approach these princes and nobles?

Before she could finish her words, the jade pendant in the purple-robed man's hand fell, hit the hard stone, and shattered into pieces.

"Look, isn't it broken by you?" The purple-robed man sighed and shook his head, "This is a fine jade worth five hundred taels, and you just destroyed it like this."

He folded his arms across his chest, looked at the shivering flower girl, and laughed heartily as if he was teasing the cats and dogs on the street.
The young men who were traveling with him all made noises of laughter, and even the big black dogs they were leading started barking at the flower girl.

The flower girl looked at them desperately, tears of fear filling her eyes. The fireworks in the distance shone, illuminating the faces of these young men. Their hideous smiles flickered under the light of the fireworks. She couldn't see their faces clearly, but she felt that they were no different from the black dogs they were holding.

"Sing quickly. If you don't want to sing, you can compensate us with five hundred taels of silver."
"If you can't afford the compensation, then I'll take you to see the official..."
"Oh, with her small body, how many beatings can she withstand from the government?"

The sound of fireworks, the laughter coming from another street, and the unbridled teasing of these young men mixed together, as if turning into a biting cold wind, blocking the flower girl's mouth and nose tightly, making her cold from head to toe.

Who can help her?
Who can save her?
"I was wondering why there were pigs and dogs barking during the Lantern Festival. It turns out it was you beasts."

The flower girl stared blankly at the woman in red riding a white horse and walking on the moon, and she couldn't recover for a long time.

The man in purple just turned his head and hadn't seen who was coming when he felt a pain in his waist. He flew out and his forehead hit the broken jade pendant, and blood immediately gushed out.

"Brother Wang!" A young man who was traveling with him wanted to help him, but before he could take two steps, he was kicked to the ground by the woman in red who got off the horse, and he lay on the ground like a turtle.

Seeing that the situation was not good, the third young man turned around and planned to run out of the alley to find help, but the woman in red was faster than him and blocked his way.

"You, do you know who we are?" The young man took two steps back, looked at the woman wearing a veil with a fierce look on his face, and said sternly: "If you mess with us, you will suffer the consequences."

The woman in red sneered, as if she had heard a huge joke.
Seeing the woman laughing at him, the young man couldn't hold back his face and rushed forward with clenched fists.

But before his fist touched the corner of the woman's clothes, he was slapped hard in the face. The moment he flew into the air, he seemed to see his great-grandfather who had passed away many years ago smiling at him kindly.

"Woof woof woof!" When the big black dog saw his owner being beaten, he bared his teeth and pounced on the woman in red, intending to avenge his owner.

pat!

The black dog was also slapped away by the woman, its dark body smashed against its owner, whimpering. It looked up and saw the woman in red walking towards it, so scared that it tucked its tail between its legs and dug the ground with its front paws, wishing it could dig a hole to hide itself.

"The dog resembles its master." The woman in red glanced at the black dog digging the soil desperately, then turned to look at the young man in blue who was the only one still standing.

Seeing three grown men being easily knocked down by the veiled woman, the young man in blue was frightened to the point of turning pale. He did not dare to even think of resisting and only hoped that the servant at home could come and save their lives.
He stammered, "I, I just happened to be traveling with them. I didn't do anything to molest a woman."

"Knowing your friend's evil deeds but not stopping them is bad." The woman in red slapped the young man in blue on the face with her backhand. Seeing him covering his face in anger, she raised her eyebrows and asked, "Don't you accept it?"

The young man in blue covered his face with his hands, not daring to say anything. Thinking about the miserable conditions of the other three people, he comforted himself in his heart that she did not slap him away, which showed that she still had some tolerance for him.

"If you don't agree, just hold it in." The woman in red didn't bother to pay attention to him. She walked straight to the flower girl and held her cold hand: "Don't be afraid. The broken jade has nothing to do with you. I'll take you home."

"Girl." The tears she had been holding back finally burst out at this moment. The flower girl felt that she had never held such a warm hand in her life. She tilted her head to look at the young men lying on the ground. Although her cheeks were shivering with fear, she still said, "Girl, go quickly. Don't get involved with me."

"What are you afraid of?" The woman in red chuckled and took off her cloak and draped it over the flower girl. "If this kind of dandy boy with evil intentions doesn't get beaten up a few times, how can he know how to behave like a good person?"

The purple-clothed man who was lying on the ground groaning heard this, covered the wound on his forehead, and shouted at the red-clothed woman: "My grandfather is Lord Chengzhong. You have offended me today, and I will make your whole family suffer."

The woman in red ignored his shouting and slowly tied the flower girl's cloak. Then she turned and walked to the man in purple, stepped on his back and crushed him. She ignored his shouting and asked, "Just you?"

"Your elder brother passed the imperial examination, your younger sister is famous for her talent, and you are ruining the reputation of the Chengzhong Mansion with your ability." The red-clothed woman moved her foot away from the purple-clothed man and asked, "Do you have a face wide enough for horses to run, or thick enough to resist foreign enemies, so that my whole family can live in misery?"

The purple-clothed man who was struggling desperately froze up when he heard this. He carefully looked at the woman's eyes outside her veil and asked, "Who are you?"
It is impossible for ordinary people to know clearly what is going on in his family, but looking at the entire capital, how many noble women would dare to attack the four of them easily?
The only young man in blue who was still standing felt something was wrong when he saw the usually arrogant Wang Yanhe suddenly become listless. He covered his red and swollen face and took several steps back again.

The woman in red noticed his actions and glanced at him, scaring him so much that he dared not move.

Bang!
A huge firework bloomed, and the direction of the firework looked like the imperial palace.

"It's really beautiful." The woman in red looked up at the direction of the palace: "The fireworks in the capital are still the most beautiful."

The night wind lifted her veil. The man in purple lying on the ground stared at her in a daze. After a long while, he said tremblingly, "I heard that Marquis Wenyong and Prince's Tutor will return to the capital today?" The woman in red lowered her head and glanced at him.

“You, you are…” The purple-clothed man’s face turned pale, his voice trembling like a leaf falling in the wind: “Yun… Fuyi?”

As soon as Yun Fuyi uttered the three words, the young man who was still groaning in pain suddenly turned into a duck with its neck strangled, and his voice stopped abruptly.

The alley was eerily quiet at this moment.

"Yes, it is me." Yun Fuyi took off her veil, bowed her head and showed a kind smile to the playboys: "I haven't seen you for three years. You seem to be a lot more domineering?"

The three young masters shook their heads together.

The young man in blue standing nearby was completely confused and looked at the three people in puzzlement. What on earth were they afraid of?
"Flirting with a commoner girl?"

The purple-clothed man shook his head desperately: "I was wrong, I was wrong, I just wanted to tease her and didn't dare to do anything else."

Yun Fuyi turned to look at the other two people: "Aiding the tyrant?"
The other two shook their heads: "It has nothing to do with us. This was all Wang Yanhe's idea!"

"The capital is an important place, under the feet of the emperor, you are so daring." The smile on Yun Fuyi's face disappeared: "If you do it again next time, I will break your dog legs."

The three of them nodded repeatedly: "We don't dare anymore. We don't dare anymore."

"Give it to me." Yun Fuyi stretched out her hand towards the man in purple.

The purple-clothed man took off the pouch from his waist without thinking, and placed it in Yun Fuyi's palm with both hands: "This is compensation for that girl."

The other two young masters also took off their purses and handed them over. One of them saw that the young master in blue was still standing there without moving, so he winked at him.

What are you standing there for? Take your wallet off immediately. Are you trying to kill yourself?!

Although the young man in blue didn't understand why they were so skillful, he still took out his purse, carefully moved it in front of Yun Fuyi, and handed her the purse full of silver.

Yun Fuyi raised her eyebrows and turned to look at the bewildered flower girl in the corner.

The man in purple reacted, licked his face and crawled in front of the flower girl, wiped the blood on his forehead with his sleeve, bowed to her and apologized, completely different from the arrogant and domineering person just now.

The flower girl didn't dare to accept his gift and hid behind Yun Fuyi with a pale face.

“If anything happens to this girl or her family in the future, I will hold you responsible.” Yun Fuyi stuffed the entire purse into the flower girl’s hands, but the flower girl refused and dared not take it.

"Take them. Although they are dirty and smelly, they are not good things, but their money is good things." Yun Fuyi forced the purse to the flower girl, took her hand and rode on the horse, saying with a smile: "Come on, I will take you home."

The flower girl pulled her warm cloak, sat high on the horse's back and looked down at the young men who had just teased her. They all lowered their heads, and the black dog lay on the ground with its ears drooping and its tail between its legs, motionless, like a stone pile on the side of the road.
It turns out that they can be so short.

"Come on, I'll go home with you."

Hearing the girl's smiling voice, the flower girl blushed.
It turned out that there really was someone in this world who came down like a god and saved her from the water.

"Is she gone?"
It was not until the sound of horse hooves disappeared at the end of the alley that the man in purple leaned against the wall and collapsed to the ground again.

"Let's go, let's go." The other two also squeezed in and sat down beside him.

"Why are you so afraid of her?" The young man in blue covered his swollen face and squatted in front of the three people: "Who is she?"

"You have only been in the capital for two years, so you don't know her very well. She is Yun Fuyi."

"It was Yun Fuyi who destroyed a person with one step, and left after the task was completed."

"Ah?!" The young man in blue was even more confused.

Although he had little education, didn't the poem read "Kill one person every ten steps, and leave no trace in a thousand miles. When the task is completed, I will leave, hiding my body and name"?

Never mind, these three people are even more ignorant than him, so it is understandable that they read it wrong.

(End of this chapter)