Chapter 39 The visitor was the old lady's maid...

The person who came was an old woman from the old lady's side; they came to take Liu Qingyue away.

The old lady agreed to let the mother and son meet this time because Liu Qingyue promised her that she would learn manners properly from her.

Liu Qingyue truly hadn't expected that the old lady's so-called meeting would be such a hurried affair, with them barely having a chance to exchange more words.

The old woman, outwardly respectful but inwardly forceful, said to Liu Qingyue, "Young Master Yue, you should go and learn manners from the old lady."

In the old woman's view, even if it was wrong for her to force Liu Qingyue to marry a merchant, marriages had always been arranged by parents and matchmakers. Even if she wasn't Liu Qingyue's father or mother, she was still his grandmother. Liu Qingyue's audacity in running away from the arranged marriage was utterly disrespectful of tradition.

Of course, since Liu Qingyue's marriage had already fallen through, she couldn't continue to force him to marry that person.

Their family arranged for Liu Qingyue to marry that merchant because Minister Liu needed him to provide the Fourth Prince with money and grain.

Now that the problem of money and food has been solved, they can no longer continue to mistreat Liu Qingyue.

However, the fact that they will not continue to pressure her into marriage does not mean that Liu Qingyue will not be punished.

He was a young man, not yet married, who got lost and ran away.

Even if he himself doesn't care about his reputation, the other members of the Liu family still do, so they still need to be disciplined when necessary.

Seeing that Liu Qingyue still hadn't moved, the old woman couldn't help but urge him, "Young Master Yue, let's go, don't keep the old lady waiting."

Upon hearing this, Liu Qingyue glanced at his ailing mother. Now that his mother needed to recuperate under his grandmother's watchful eye, he could only reluctantly get up and follow her out.

As Liu Qingyue walked toward the old lady's courtyard, her mind was filled with what her mother had just said.

He asked about his older brother's situation and why his mother had said those things to him.

When his mother and elder brother returned to the north to look for him, could something unusual have happened?

Why is the mother not worried about the eldest brother, but instead worried about him?

Because Liu Qingyue was too nervous and worried about her mother and older brother, her mind was a little foggy and she couldn't figure out what was going on.

After being restrained by his grandmother and learning the rules from her for half a day, he vaguely guessed what was going on.

The Liu family... is probably in trouble!

While her grandmother was resting, Liu Qingyue told Qin Ren about it through the passage.

He thought Qin Ren was very smart and definitely knew more than him.

To confirm his guess, he wanted to hear Qin Ren's opinion.

That evening, he received Qin Ren's reply.

Qin Ren said, "The Fourth Prince failed in his bid for the throne, and the new emperor is going to take action against him, so naturally he won't let the Liu family off the hook. Also, not long ago, someone saw your father personally transporting something, and I suspect they might be planning a rebellion. Your eldest brother disagreed with your father politically and was kidnapped before entering the city. When you asked your mother about your eldest brother's safety, her first concern wasn't your brother, but telling you to escape if there was danger. I think... your eldest brother should be alright. Maybe he even made arrangements for your mother beforehand. The only one he didn't arrange for is you, which is why she told you to escape. If you ask me... you'd better leave now, to avoid being implicated by the Liu family later, which might put you in danger."

After listening, Liu Qingyue felt that Qin Ren's words made a lot of sense.

His older brother is indeed a very smart and capable person.

Moreover, the location where my elder brother was kidnapped was too coincidental. Why wasn't he kidnapped before, but only in Yuyang Prefecture?

The north is not yet stable, so it should be more convenient to take action there.

However, those men in black did not make a move until they arrived at Yu Yang's residence, on the Liu family's territory.

Furthermore, her mother didn't seem particularly worried about her eldest brother, which confirmed Liu Qingyue's thoughts.

But he was still worried about his mother if he left now.

He was a little worried that if he suddenly disappeared again, his grandmother would be angry with his mother.

And then there's... he truly resented his father, resented his grandmother, and hated the Su and Yang women who had taken his father away, and he especially hated the four illegitimate children they had given birth to.

But just because he hates them doesn't mean he wants them all to die.

For example, her eldest cousin was very good to Liu Qingyue, and Liu Qingyue didn't want anything to happen to him.

However... such matters concerning national importance are not something a mere young man like him can decide.

Supporting the Fourth Prince was a decision made by the father and uncle themselves.

If the new emperor really wants to eliminate their family, there's nothing a young man like him can do.

He only hoped that his elder brother was not kidnapped by bad guys, as Qin Ren had said, but rather severed ties with the Liu family to protect himself.

Also, I hope that my mother and uncle will not be implicated.

While Liu Qingyue was feeling anxious and uneasy due to being confined to her home by the Liu family, Qin Ren entrusted the puppy he had just bought and the shop to Shen Wanying.

After that, he left the city alone, intending to find out who the group that kidnapped Liu Qingyue's brother was.

Meanwhile, the Liu family was also investigating who had kidnapped Liu Yuze.

However, since they had more important things to do, they didn't value Liu Yuze much.

When Qin Ren went out of the city to gather information, he discovered that the prefectural city had only sent a few people to investigate the kidnapping of Liu Yuze.

As the prefect of a prefecture, Liu Yushen had many people under his command.

Judging from his attitude towards Liu Qingyue, he must also treat Liu Yuze quite well.

Now that Liu Yuze has disappeared, or perhaps been kidnapped by men in black, he must be very anxious and worried.

But... the Liu family only sent a few people to investigate, and no one knows where the rest went.

Furthermore, neither Qi Shi nor Liu Qingyue ever made a public appearance.

Now that the eldest son has been captured, and Minister Liu has made no move, Qin Ren suspects that... the other party must have left the city long ago, otherwise there would be more reason for the lack of any reaction.

Qin Ren wore a wig this time when he left the city.

So nowadays, he is not much different from ordinary people in Yongzhou.

The only difference is that his height doesn't resemble that of a southerner at all.

His exceptionally tall stature made him stand out from the crowd.

To avoid drawing too much attention, Qin Ren would deliberately hunch his back when walking.

Whether a person has a hunchback or not completely changes their demeanor.

A person's temperament can bring about a dramatic change.

One second he's a dashing young nobleman, the next he might suddenly transform into a sneaky, lecherous man.

While Qin Ren was gathering information outside the city, he encountered a young man who looked somewhat familiar.

Qin Ren didn't recognize him at first, but after seeing how generously he paid for things, he remembered who the boy was.

This young man was none other than the rich second-generation who spent a bag of gold to buy the Qinren mountain bike.

When Qin Ren saw him, he couldn't help but feel a little guilty.

His carriage, though rare in ancient times, was not worth a bag of gold.

Upon suddenly seeing him, Qin Ren instinctively lowered his head, afraid that this fool would recognize him.

The fool didn't recognize Qin Ren, not because the fool had a bad memory, but mainly because Qin Ren had changed a lot.

When they first met, Qin Ren had a bad complexion, short hair, couldn't speak the Yong dialect, and dressed very strangely.

The current Qin Ren wears a wig, is dressed in ancient costume, and can speak the Yong dialect.

Even his horribly disfigured face was less noticeable as the scars had fallen off.

Qin Ren's face was badly damaged; after the scars fell off, most of his face was red.

The red color is not uniform; in some places the wound is deep red, while in other places the wound is light red.

One wound was very shallow; it was just a thin layer of skin that had been broken, and there wasn't even a trace of it left.

At first glance, Qin Ren's face might be mistaken for a birthmark, but upon closer inspection, it becomes clear that it is a scar.

The fool's name is Wen Lingzheng. He is only seventeen years old this year and is the eldest son of the Marquis of Zhenbei.

If Qin Ren knew his identity and discovered that he was currently outside Yu Yang's residence, he might discover something.

Unfortunately, Qin Ren was not a true native of Dayong and knew nothing about Dayong's court.

Even if he knew the other party's identity was extraordinary, he still couldn't guess his purpose in coming here.

Qin Ren didn't pay much attention to the other person and went to a nearby town after passing by them.

After Qin Ren left, Wen Lingzheng suddenly asked, "I heard that a foreign merchant came to Yuyang Prefecture. He sold a lot of interesting things here. I wonder if he's the same one I met before?"

After Wen Lingzheng bought the car from Qin Ren, it took him quite a while to learn how to ride it.

He found this vehicle quite interesting; it was quiet, lightweight, and didn't require feeding, making it ideal for short-distance operations.

He wanted the craftsmen to make more of that car.

Actually, the structure of a mountain bike isn't that complicated, so it's not difficult to imitate and make one.

The only challenging part was making the tires for the mountain bikes.

They haven't found the materials to make tires yet, so they can't mass-produce mountain bikes.

He has been searching for that foreign merchant recently, hoping to get more mountain bikes for the army.

Ideally, we should capture the man, find the caravan behind him, and negotiate with them to see if we can trade.

Even if trade is not possible, it doesn't matter. Just find out which country he's from, and then he can lead his troops to attack.

Wen Lingzheng only recently learned that there was also a foreign merchant in Yuyang Prefecture.

He only found out by listening to some locals chatting; they said the foreign merchant was selling very unusual things.

There are glowing butterflies and lights that shine through the sun.

They had never seen these things before, so people made them sound incredibly mysterious.

Many merchants from the surrounding area flocked to Yuyang Prefecture in order to make money, just to see how rare those things really were.

One of Wen Lingzheng's guards whispered, "Young Marquis, even if that foreigner is in the city, it's not convenient for you to enter. The Liu family is clearly plotting a rebellion, and if you enter the city now, you'll likely face dire consequences. It's better to wait until His Majesty's army arrives; then we can enter the city."

Wen Lingzheng frowned, but considering that it concerned His Majesty, she nodded in agreement.

The news of the new emperor's ascension to the throne has not yet reached the south.

However, since the Liu family is about to rebel, this matter can't be kept secret for long.

Wen Lingzheng and the new emperor were childhood friends; they practically grew up together.

In order for his childhood friend to ascend the throne, he disregarded even his own father's advice and insisted on getting involved in the struggle for succession among the princes.

I wonder if his father will be so angry with his unfilial son when he comes back from the border?

Wen Lingzheng muttered to herself: Now that it's all settled, even if his father is so angry that he wants to kill him, as long as His Majesty protects him, his father can't do anything about it.

Thinking this way, Wen Lingzheng felt much better.

To hell with his father, to hell with the Wen family's reputation, none of that matters to him anymore!

Meanwhile, Qin Ren went to a town and met a man with a red cinnabar birthmark on his forehead and wearing a veil.

Thinking of the men with cinnabar moles on their foreheads that he had met in the prefectural city, Qin Ren wanted to go up and ask them about the cinnabar moles.

Actually, Qin Ren had wanted to ask this a long time ago.

However, men with cinnabar birthmarks rarely go out alone.

They were surrounded by guards and servants, and the servants treated him like a wolf, so he had no chance to speak to them at close range.

Now that he had finally met one, Qin Ren wanted to go over and ask him.

Unexpectedly, as soon as he got a little closer, the person looked at him with a frightened expression and immediately ran away.

Qin Ren: "..."

Qin Ren reached out and touched his face. His badly damaged face had clearly improved a lot, so why did it still look so scary?

That shouldn't be happening!

Shen Wanying said that after the injuries on his face healed, he looked better and better.

In fact, Qin Ren had already vaguely guessed that the man with the cinnabar mole was different.

He felt they were similar to women, but he still didn't know their specific names.

He also knew that men and women were different in ancient times. Since men with cinnabar birthmarks were similar to women, he could not treat them as men.

Even though Qin Ren was mentally prepared, he didn't expect that... he would scare the other person away instantly just by getting a little closer, when they were still three or four steps apart.

Qin Ren sighed. Ancient times were really troublesome.

Feudal society was truly despicable!

What Qin Ren didn't know was that his behavior just now wasn't particularly abrupt, and he himself wasn't that scary-looking.

The guy's strong reaction was mainly because... he was feeling guilty at the moment, and when he suddenly saw a strange man approaching, his reaction was so intense.

That young man was from a wealthy family; he had secretly run away this time.

His purpose in sneaking out was not honorable, so he was very nervous and guilty the whole way, which led to the scene just now.

Seeing that Qin Ren wasn't chasing after him, the young man hurriedly turned and twisted his way into an inconspicuous little courtyard.

The owner of this small courtyard is none other than Liu Yuze, whom Qin Ren is searching for.

When Liu Yu saw the young man enter, she smiled and asked, "Why are you in such a hurry?"

Upon hearing this, the young man said, "Cousin, I met a strange man on the road. I thought he had discovered this place."

"Then...did he follow you?"

"No, I deliberately took a detour and didn't see anyone."

"Have you seen the young marquis?"

"Yes, I have seen him. I have personally handed the letter to him as you instructed."

After the young man finished speaking, he blushed and looked at the exceptionally handsome man in front of him.

He asked in a low voice, "You can't forget what my cousin promised me."

Upon hearing this, Liu Yu's eyes deepened, and then she smiled and reached out to take his hand.

"Of course, Ke'er has been incredibly kind to me. Once this matter is resolved, I will definitely go to your residence to ask for your hand in marriage."