Chapter 178 [VIP]

The two returned from the military camp and waited anxiously. During this time, Lin Sui wanted to go to the Li family to look for someone several times, but Wang Ying persuaded her not to.

“Since they dared to openly snatch the child, they certainly wouldn’t have hidden Qing’er at home. Even if they went there, they wouldn’t be able to find her, and would only have allowed that old hag to ridicule them.”

"But, but how long is this waiting going to end?"

Wang Ying said, "You heard what General Zheng said just now. These two were specially left behind by the Marquis. Their abilities are definitely extraordinary. Just wait patiently, and they will surely bring the people back."

When they got home, Wang Ying went to check on her son first. He had been terrified after witnessing Qing'er being taken away. Although he had stopped crying, he was still in low spirits, and his eyes were swollen like peaches.

"You must have been terrified." Wang Ying hugged the child tightly, her heart aching.

When will Sister Qing'er be back?

"We've already sent people to look for them; they'll be back soon."

"Arrest the bad guys! Waaaaah! Take them to the yamen and give them a beating!"

“Okay, Father will definitely arrest them and take them to the yamen. Mu Tou Chun Sheng, take Yuan Bao to play in the yard for a while.”

After the child left, Li asked, "How did it go? Is there any news about Qing'er?"

Wang Ying shook her head, "Not yet, but it's definitely the Li family's doing. When we went to the military camp, General Zheng found two people for us, saying that the Marquis had specially left them there. They are highly skilled in martial arts and should be able to find the person."

Li clutched her chest and said, "I was playing with the child when suddenly two men jumped out from behind, picked up Qing'er, and ran away. I wanted to chase after them, but I was afraid that someone else would take Yuanbao away. It was truly terrifying."

"It's my fault. I didn't expect the Li family to be so persistent."

"Let's not talk about this anymore. No one would have thought they would dare to openly snatch a child. You should comfort Sui'er and tell him not to get too anxious or upset."

"Okay, then you rest first, I'll go check on him."

Wang Ying went to Lin Sui's room and found him holding Qing'er's clothes and weeping. She tried to comfort him, but it didn't work. She just hoped that they could find him soon, otherwise her cousin would suffer too much.

They waited until dusk, when the sun was setting, when suddenly there was a knock on the door.

The gatekeeper opened the side door and saw two strangers, with Qing'er on their backs!

Without saying a word, Chen Fang quickly opened the door, "Miss Qing'er is back! Miss Qing'er is back!"

Wang Ying and Lin Sui rushed out upon hearing the noise. They saw Qing'er lying on one of the guards, her hair cut much shorter, her clothes changed, and a bruise on her cheek.

Lin Sui's heart ached and tears instantly fell. She quickly knelt down and kowtowed, "Thank you both, thank you so much!"

The two guards stepped aside, saying, "You flatter me, sir, please rise!"

Wang Ying reached out and helped Lin Sui up. "Quickly check on the child. We'll talk about the rest later."

Lin Sui carefully took Qing'er and carried her back to the backyard. The child had cried herself to sleep. After changing her into clean clothes, Lin Sui didn't wake her, tucked her in, and kissed her forehead. The joy of finding her again brought tears to his eyes, and his heart felt a bittersweet ache, as if someone had squeezed it.

After a while, he came out of the house and asked, "Where did you two gentlemen find Qing'er?"

One of them spoke up, "Young master, you can just call me Qiao Da. This is my younger brother, Qiao Er. We have been entrusted by the Marquis to stay by your side from now on to prevent any more villains from doing evil."

"Thank you both." Lin Sui bowed again.

Qiao Da then explained where they found Qing'er: "We went to the Li family first. Since Miss Qing'er was kidnapped by the Li family, someone must have gone there to deliver the message."

Both men were skilled in martial arts. One hid nearby to keep watch, while the other scaled the wall and entered the Li family's courtyard, making his way to the main house, where Li's wife lived, and hid on the roof to eavesdrop.

After waiting for half an hour, sure enough, a person sneaked in through the back door of the Li family and was taken to Madam Li's room. Once inside, he told her how he had kidnapped the child and where the child was hiding.

Initially, Madam Li intended to kill Li Qing'er to vent her anger, but after being turned away at the Chen family's house, she changed her mind.

Killing her directly would be too easy. It would be better to sell that damned girl to a slave trader and make her a slave, a maid, a prostitute, or a concubine. After all, she's mute and can't say anything. This way, she can atone for Li Mu's sins for a lifetime!

The man left in a hurry after getting the money, and Qiao Da and Qiao Er followed him all the way to a deserted, dilapidated temple outside the city.

Inside the temple, Qing'er's hands and feet were bound, her face was covered in tears, and her once pretty little dress had been replaced with tattered clothes.

"You're back. What did Madam Li say?"

“Tell us to sell her to a cheap brokerage firm. The money will be ours, and we don’t have to worry about anything else.”

After saying that, he was about to take out scissors to cut her hair. Qing'er was terrified and bit his hand hard!

The man pinched Qing'er's face painfully, "Ouch! This little mute is like a dog, what will you do after I sell you!" After saying that, he cut off Qing'er's head of black hair.

Qing'er covered her head and sobbed, a faint sound escaping her throat, "A... Father..."

She tried her best to shout, but her throat felt like it was stuffed with cotton and she couldn't make a sound. She used too much force and vomited a mouthful of blood.

The person next to them was startled, "Don't kill him!"

Before the two finished speaking, Qiao Da and Qiao Er burst through the door, killed them both, and carried Qing'er back to the Chen family.

Lin Sui was finally relieved to know that the child was alright.

However, Wang Ying was a little worried, "Won't the Li family come looking for trouble again?"

Qiao Da and Qiao Er exchanged a glance. "Don't worry, we won't cause any more trouble. We're staying at the Xiangyun Inn on Zhenghe Street. You can come to me anytime if you need anything, young master."

"Thank you both."

The two bowed to each other and turned to leave the house.

At first, Wang Ying didn't understand why the two people said the Li family wouldn't cause trouble, but a few days later, news came that Madam Li had suddenly hanged herself in her own home.

The matter was reported to the authorities, who said she had hanged herself. Master Li did not believe it but had no evidence, so the matter was eventually dropped.

After waking up, Qing'er had a fever and it took her four or five days to recover. Lin Sui was surprised to find that the child could actually speak!

Although the voice was very soft and the words were spoken one by one, it was true that he could speak!

She was probably too frightened in the dilapidated temple that day, and by accident, she managed to open her vocal cords, which had been closed for four or five years, and was able to speak again.

This was fantastic news! Lin Sui started teaching Qing'er to speak, and after a while, little Qing'er was able to stammer out some words. However, because she hadn't spoken for a long time, her vocal cords were still tender and it would hurt after saying just a few words. She would have to practice slowly to get used to it.

*

Before they knew it, it was the end of March, and Chen Qingyan and his group finally returned from Kyoto, bringing with them the good news that he had passed the imperial examination with top honors.

The government officials once again came with gongs and drums to announce the good news to the Chen family. This time, the procession was much larger than the last, almost as grand as when Qingyun got married.

Along the way, gongs and drums resounded and firecrackers crackled, as two yamen runners carried the plaque commemorating the top scholar's achievement all the way to the Chen family's door.

The crowd of onlookers was so dense that they completely surrounded the entrance to the Chen family's house.

This is the first top scholar in Jizhou Prefecture, and everyone wants to see what the God of Literature looks like when he descends to earth.

Chen Qingyan stood at the door, her body adorned with red silk flowers, and bowed to everyone. Wang Ying, holding Yuanbao, along with Li Shi, Qingsong, and Qingyun, stood beside her, beaming with joy.

Becoming the top scholar in the imperial examination was a great joy, and Wang Ying planned to hold a grand banquet. However, he had never held a banquet in the prefectural city before, so he went to the Liu family to ask Madam Liu for help.

Upon hearing this, Madam Liu immediately agreed with delight. Her son had also achieved a second-class ranking in the imperial examination, and her family planned to hold a banquet as well. However, compared to the Chen family, their second-class ranking was somewhat lacking, so they decided to first hold a banquet for Chen Qingyan, the top scholar, before hosting their own.

Having organized many banquets, she knew a lot about them and started planning with Wang Ying, "How many tables are you planning to have?"

"I'm not sure either. After all, if we really count, we're the only relatives in the city. But we'll definitely have a lot of people coming to the banquet."

Madam Qin nodded, "Then prepare more for thirty tables, with eight people per table, so more than two hundred seats will be enough. Four cold dishes, eight hot dishes, and twelve dishes in total, with plenty of meat. All this will probably cost around two hundred taels of silver."

Wang Ying said, "Okay, I'll listen to you, Auntie. You're very experienced in this area, so you can't go wrong."

“I’ll reserve five more tables at Hongyunlou to accommodate our distinguished guests. Officials from the government office will definitely be coming, so you don’t need to worry about it. I’ve arranged everything for you.”

Wang Ying was so grateful she didn't know what to say; she really benefited from Qingyun's kindness!

After finalizing the arrangements, Wang Ying asked Chen Qingyan to write out invitations and send one to everyone she knew, including Wang Tongzhi, Lin Zhifu, and Zhao Tongpan, whom they had previously helped, and whom they still had to address outwardly despite their past grievances.

Liu Changyi's relatives also sent invitations, since they were related by marriage, and if they didn't send one, Qingyun would be caught in the middle and put in a difficult position.

The military camp was not neglected either. General Zheng and several centurions helped out time and again, as did the old customers from when he opened the shop, as well as the neighbors and competitors.

We sent out dozens of invitations, but on the day of the banquet, more than 400 people showed up!

Even though there weren't enough seats at the thirty tables, Er Shun had to be asked to order food for seven or eight more tables at nearby restaurants before they could finally manage to accommodate everyone.

People came in droves to give gifts, including gold, silver, jewels, houses, and land deeds. According to custom, some of these gifts could be accepted, but too much could not be taken. You just need to know how to keep it within limits.

Even merchants who had never met him before came to give gifts. These people were very generous, and they usually started with a hundred taels of silver.

Their purpose in giving gifts was simple: they didn't want Chen Qingyan to do anything for them, but rather to become acquainted with him so that he wouldn't cause them trouble when he became an official.

Chen Qingyan gave all the money to Wang Ying. He wasn't good at managing a household, so he didn't really need the money.

That evening, the couple sat in the experimental field counting the gifts. After half an hour, they came to a total of 13,700 taels of silver. The other gifts were worth more than 3,000 taels of silver, bringing the total to about 16,000 taels of silver. This truly proved the saying that there are houses of gold in books.

After counting the money, Wang Ying hugged the silver and grinned foolishly, "Finally, I don't have to worry about making a living anymore."

Chen Qingyan smiled at him, "How was it? Did I embarrass you, my husband?"

Wang Ying leaned over and kissed him, "My husband is so amazing!"

Chen Qingyan held the back of his neck and returned the kiss. When they parted, both of them were panting.

"When the imperial examination was reinstated, I made a vow that I would pass the exam and give you a good life. Now I have finally fulfilled my promise."

"I've always believed in you."

They kissed again; absence makes the heart grow fonder, and their passion quickly intensified.

Wang Ying raised her hand and changed the weather in the experimental field to night. As the moonlight rose, their affection deepened, and she felt like her back was about to break that night.

A note from the author: