Zeng cried uncontrollably, and those sitting outside looked grim upon hearing the sobs.
Hu Jinfei stood aside, watching with a heavy heart, unable to offer any comfort.
He knew that if he didn't let Zeng cry out and vent her bitterness and pain, she might become depressed, which would be detrimental to her still-recovering health.
Standing to the side, Lu Yao listened to her mother recount her many hardships, and tears streamed down her face. Her bright eyes turned red and swollen, resembling the eyes of a little rabbit.
After comforting her disciple, Lu Qiqi then comforted her master. Fortunately, neither of them was difficult to soothe, and they quickly stopped crying, allowing Lu Qiqi to breathe a sigh of relief.
Lu Qiqi had no idea why Chen was rescued by Lu Dashan and why they got married, but she still had some memories of the time they spent together.
In her memory, Chen and Lu Dashan got along very well, and there was no difference in their life philosophies because Lu Dashan was illiterate.
On the contrary, the two were very much in love.
In front of the two sisters, Lu Dashan would give the best piece of meat from the game they hunted to Chen Shi first.
She would also secretly save money to buy a box of rouge on the street to make Chen happy.
Because the Lu family elders disliked Chen, they used the money they had earned from hunting in the mountains for half a year as the price for dividing the family property, simply because they didn't want to see Chen suffer any grievances.
She also remembered one time when it was raining heavily, Lu Dashan went to get an umbrella to pick up Chen Shi, and he fell and cut his leg, leaving a foot-long wound, but he didn't let Chen Shi's hair get wet at all.
That day, Chen cried and said she wouldn't go to the embroidery shop anymore.
Lu Dashan just smiled and let her do what she liked.
Because of their mutual respect and understanding, the two sisters have never argued over the years.
The women in the village were jealous of Chen and secretly spread rumors that she was immoral and that's why her face was slashed and she was left by the roadside.
To avenge Chen, Lu Dashan punched the woman's husband, nearly causing a scene with the authorities.
Since that incident, no one in Maoshan Village has dared to speak ill of the Chen family again.
However, Chen never revealed a word about her background, nor did she ever mention Zeng.
Thinking about it this way, it might be related to the scar on her face. She was injured and lost her memory on the run, which is why Lu Dashan took her in.
Zeng's sobs gradually subsided, and Lu Qiqi, lost in her memories, gradually pulled away from them.
In her view, it was impossible for the government and the two families involved in the marriage not to know that such an incident of interception and hunting had occurred on Chen's way to get married, resulting in numerous casualties.
Moreover... that group's goal wasn't robbery at all, otherwise they wouldn't have repeatedly chased after them to silence them.
After thinking for a moment, she finally spoke, "Auntie, does the Marquis of Lin'an have any mortal enemies?"
Or perhaps the man my mother is to marry has offended someone, and they want to kill him to silence him during the wedding procession?
After thinking for a moment, Madam Zeng said, "The Marquis followed the late Emperor in his campaigns. Apart from the enemies on the battlefield, he never took sides or participated in factional struggles in the officialdom."
The crown prince had just entered officialdom, and the second prince had also been married for a short time.
Moreover, the country has been pacified, and the Marquis of Lin'an's residence has only moved to the capital city a few years ago. How could there be such a blood feud?
That's strange.
Upon hearing this, Lu Qiqi asked again, "The gatekeeper who stopped you on the day you returned to the Marquis's residence, did you see him in the manor?"
Madam Zeng shook her head. "When Miss got married, Madam was afraid that others would not serve her well, so she sent most of the elderly people she brought from Huating Prefecture as part of her dowry."
Those gatekeepers must be new hires, but I still can't figure out why I don't recognize a single one of them.
This matter is too strange. According to Zeng, Chen had two older brothers and a younger sister born out of wedlock.
The birth mother of this half-sister was a maid of the Lady of Lin'an, mainly to silence the gossip that the Marquis of Lin'an did not take concubines.
The concubine's indenture was in the hands of the Lady of Lin'an Marquis. Even if the concubine were to rebel, she could not possibly have planned such a big thing.
Moreover, regardless of whether Chen's daughter dies or dies on the way to her wedding, her reputation will be bad, so she can be directly ruled out as a sacrifice in the power struggle within the household.
“There is one more thing,” Madam Zeng paused and said, “After I jumped into the water and found Miss, I was chased all the way.”
We fled to the mountains and hid, but we heard our pursuers say they were determined to kill us to avoid disgracing the Marquis of Lin'an's mansion.
Upon hearing this, Lu Qiqi frowned. "Is this why you've never returned to the Marquis's residence?"
This question seemed to unlock Zeng's potential.
She stared wide-eyed at Lu Qiqi with disbelief, as if she had discovered some great secret.
Her lips trembled. "You mean...you mean, those people shouted that on purpose, just to make Miss and me think that the Marquis's mansion was afraid of damaging its reputation."
Did they intend to frame the Marquis's mansion by sending people to silence us, so that Miss and I would never dare to return to the mansion to report the news?
Thinking this, Zeng began to shed tears again. She felt extremely guilty. All these years of hiding and not daring to return to the Marquis's mansion were all the work of a villain!
"It's all my fault! It's all my fault!"
There's no use blaming anyone now, especially since Zeng had narrowly escaped death, jumped off the carriage, swam to find Chen, and was then chased down.
In the heat of the moment, how could one possibly think of all this?
Those people take advantage of this psychology, which is why they deliberately release such information when they can't find anyone.
Lu Qiqi comforted Zeng Shi and offered further words of comfort.
Then she began to analyze, "According to what you said, the Lady of the Marquis's Mansion dotes on my mother."
Therefore, it is highly unlikely that he would send someone to hunt down his daughter because of his reputation.
There is only one illegitimate daughter born to a concubine in the manor who is of marriageable age. If my mother can return to the manor, she will still be the legitimate daughter of the Marquis's family.
Even though his reputation was not good, the Marquis of Lin'an had made meritorious contributions by following the late emperor on his expeditions, and was thus promoted from Huating Prefecture to the new capital.
It's not a problem at all to raise a girl in the family who will never get married.
Furthermore, if the Marquis of Lin'an were old-fashioned and rigid in his thinking, he would simply send people to a Taoist temple in the mountains and have my mother become a Taoist nun.
How could someone be so cruel to their own daughter?
Therefore, it must be the person who arranged the marriage with the Marquis of Lin'an's family who has caused the problem.
After calming down, Madam Zeng thought about it carefully and said, "Back then, Madam carefully selected the young lady and finally chose the heir of the Marquis of Anyang's family."
The heir of the Marquis of Anyang is of superior appearance, humble and polite, and a true gentleman.
At that time, the crown prince had just passed the imperial examination, and many noble ladies in the new capital wanted to marry him.
The old marquis has passed away, and now his heir has inherited the title.
If the heir of the Marquis of Anyang's household is truly as good as Madam Zeng described, then he is indeed from a very good family.
However, Lu Qiqi was not from this era. Although she had not personally experienced any bizarre blind dates in her previous life, she had heard of many.
Even though the salary isn't high, they praise the person for being good at managing their finances.
If someone isn't good-looking, praise them for not being a womanizer.
These are just terms used by matchmakers to facilitate the marriage.
Lady Lin'an must have sent someone to investigate the truth before agreeing to marry her only daughter to him.
However, as is often the case, there are always errors, and in the end, it was still an arranged marriage.
But why did the name Marquis of Anyang sound so familiar to her?
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