Chapter 449 Stop Pretending

Seeing her young mistress sewing socks for her mistress again, Qingxing thought of Lin Yuesha's signature chick-pecking-rice pattern and asked, "Miss, are you going to do embroidery again?"

"No, thank you."

Lin Yuesha didn't plan to embroider, so she cut and sewed according to her stepbrother's size, making the simplest style without embroidery.

Upon hearing this, Qingxing was a little excited. Her young mistress had finally realized her distorted aesthetic sense, which was a great improvement!

"Qingxing, my elder brother is going to take the imperial examination. What if people criticize his embroidery and suspect him of hiding something?"

There are many taboos in scientific expeditions. Even if no one mentions them, Lin Yuesha still has to be careful not to give others a chance to talk about them, so as not to cause trouble for Xiao Qi by being pointed at.

"Miss, after the young master takes the imperial examination, will you still make socks for him and embroider them?"

Qingxing doubted her own naivety, and the situation seemed less than optimistic.

"Of course, it has to be the 'chicken pecking at rice' pattern. Didn't you notice how lucky this design is? Those bandits couldn't find the silver even after taking off my brother's socks."

After Lin Yuesha finished speaking, she brushed her stray hairs behind her ear with her hand, looking smug.

Qingxing didn't reply, thinking to herself that it was indeed true, and that it was impossible to change her young mistress's mind.

As the official boat sailed on the river, Lin Yuesha was wide awake. She finished making three pairs of socks in a row, then took out Xuan paper and brush and ink to write a letter to Zhang Qing'er, who was far away in the south.

With their residence changed, Lin Yuesha would likely have to stay in the capital for quite some time, making it easier for the sisters to communicate compared to the northern regions.

Seeing this, the maids did not disturb Lin Yuesha.

"Waaaaah..."

A clear cry came from beside me.

Lin Yuesha looked up, glanced around, and asked, "Who's crying?"

It was very late, time to rest, so the boat was quiet and the crying sounded very abrupt.

Lin Yuesha's cabin was the second one on the left, and the crying was coming from the next cabin.

Sigh, she's crying so bitterly; she must have encountered something heartbreaking.

The crying continued intermittently, drawing the listener in and making Lin Yuesha want to cry too.

"Miss, why don't I go and take a look?"

Qingxing suggested that since the crying had been going on for almost half an hour and the group couldn't sleep at all, they might as well go and check on it. Judging from the sound, it was a woman crying, and if they found out what was going on, they could help comfort her.

"No need. Why would I want to reopen old wounds?"

Lin Yuesha was upset. She waved her hand and said that it was not easy to be away from home, and that they should be considerate of each other.

Sometimes it's not good to ask around randomly, because you can't fully empathize with the other person's perspective. Maybe that person thinks the sky is falling, but she is indifferent.

After a moment, the crying stopped abruptly. Just as Lin Yuesha breathed a sigh of relief and was about to lie down, the woman who had been crying spoke up, "Please, let me go!"

The cabins were separated only by thick wooden planks, so they were not soundproof. If the conversation next door was a little loud, Lin Yuesha could hear it clearly in her cabin.

"Impossible, you bitch! I'm warning you, don't cause any trouble. If you dare jump into the river, I'll make sure your parents are buried with you!"

Then, the man's voice came from next door, deep and gruff, with a hint of ruthlessness.

"No, please don't look for my parents, please, sir, have mercy!"

"Fine? Do you think we're running a charity? Your parents bought you for a hundred taels of silver, and you expect to serve me? How much does a foot-washing maid cost? And she only bought you because you're pretty..."

Throughout their conversation, the woman let out suppressed sobs.

Lin Yuesha and Qingxing exchanged a glance, frowned, and whispered, "It seems this woman has a hard life; she was sold by her parents."

"Brother, don't scare Yue Niang. Yue Niang isn't just your wife, she's mine too!"

Then someone else spoke, but the voice was different from the man's before.

Lin Yuesha's eyes widened. This third party was the brother of the previous man, who had bought a woman for one hundred taels of silver to share as his wife.

Although the reason was unknown, the woman was extremely unwilling and had her own reasons. She was a soft-hearted woman. Although she had been sold by her parents, she still cared about them and was afraid that she might do something wrong. The two of them went to her home.

Then, Yue Niang put up a fierce resistance, and Lin Yue Sha then heard the cracking sound of whips and the screams of women.

It seemed that they were afraid of disturbing others, or perhaps the woman named Yue Niang had her mouth covered with a handkerchief, so her voice was intermittent and could only be heard clearly by pressing one's ear against the wooden board.

The saying "walls have ears" perfectly describes Lin Yuesha and the others. After hesitating for a moment, she decided to knock on the door and see what was going on.

Yue Niang was to be shared as a wife by the two brothers, which Lin Yue Sha couldn't interfere with, but the fact that the two men whipped Yue Niang was infuriating.

“Miss, you can mind your own business.”

On the ship, we definitely have more people than those two brothers, and we have plenty of manpower. Since we've run into them, we won't be able to sleep well tonight if we don't get involved.

Qingxing and Qi'er supported the decision and decided to go with their young lady to knock on the door next door.

"I hate those scumbags who abuse women the most. Qingxing, grab your weapons. If they don't have a good attitude, beat them up!"

One hundred taels of silver to buy someone? Lin Yuesha decided to beat the person into submission and then spend another hundred taels to buy Yue Niang back.

With everything prepared, and to create a buzz, Bai Cha and Long Jing carried kitchen knives, while four maids followed behind Lin Yuesha.

"Knock knock knock".

Lin Yuesha stepped forward and knocked on the door. She knocked patiently for a while, and before she lost patience, the door suddenly opened.

"Miss, is there anything I can help you with?"

The man who opened the door was in his early twenties. He spoke very politely and expressed surprise that Lin Yuesha had knocked on the door.

Lin Yuesha looked at him suspiciously. He looked refined and good-looking, but she never expected him to be a beast in human form. This was the man who had just whipped her. He was the second brother!

"Who's here so late? Did you run into someone you know?"

The man scratched his head, also puzzled. He saw the firewood stick in Lin Yuesha's hand and twitched his lips. He didn't seem to have offended anyone.

Oh no! The maid in the back row is carrying a kitchen knife; it looks like she's about to start a fight.

"You scum, stop pretending and hand over Yue Niang!"

"Everyone should concern themselves with the affairs of the world," Lin Yuesha said, exposing the ugly mask of the man, and angrily declared, "I'll give you one hundred taels of silver, hand over Yueniang!"

Indeed, Yue Niang's crying was so tragic that Lin Yue Sha could hear a sense of despair in her cries, which saddened all who heard it and brought tears to their eyes.

"Yue Niang?"

The man suddenly realized what was going on, pointed to the next room, and asked, "Are you the young lady who lives next door?"

Who's here?

Just as the man finished speaking, two more men emerged from the cabin. The one in the lead was tall and slender, with a refined and fair complexion; in the moonlight, his face was so white it seemed to glow.

"Little Qiuyue, you are Little Qiuyue!"

Qingxing suddenly screamed, her face turning red, and immediately threw the firewood stick in her hand aside.