Government officials detained people
"According to the records of the guards at the city gate, Cheng Lixue left the city two days ago and went to study at Qingzhou County Academy with an acceptance letter from the academy."
After returning to her residence, An Hongdou obtained Li Zeli's permission and reviewed the registration information of people who had left the city recently.
“However, there is no record of Shen Fanghua, or even a lone woman of similar age,” An Hongdou said.
"Then let's go to Qingzhou County and find Cheng Lixue to ask him." Wu Linglong was always decisive and efficient in her work.
"Don't rush. We don't have any concrete evidence to prove that Shen Fanghua's disappearance is related to Cheng Lixue. If he denies it, we'll be at a disadvantage. Besides, Qingzhou County isn't our territory, so we're more constrained in our actions," An Hongdou advised.
After thinking for a moment, Wu Linglong said, "If Shen Fanghua really has an affair with Cheng Lixue, the Shen family may not be completely unaware. Why don't we inform the Shen family first?"
“That doesn’t feel right either. The Shen family already suspects us, so they might not believe us. But we can find another way to let them know,” An Hongdou said.
"What method?"
"You'll know when the harvest comes."
"Fine! You've been planning this all along, keeping it a secret from me!" Wu Linglong chuckled, tugging at An Hongdou's sleeve, demanding an explanation.
On the other side, Feng Nian remembered the instructions and led a few of her acquaintances toward the back door of the Shen family.
"Didn't Fengnian say he'd treat us to sesame cakes?" a little girl asked expectantly, pointing to a sesame cake stall by the roadside.
"Yes! But I know an even better place. Don't worry, everyone, just follow me."
After a while, Fengnian bought back the sesame cakes and said as he divided them up, "It's too dusty by the roadside, let's go eat in the alley! It's quieter there, and we can chat."
The girls' eyes were fixed on the pancakes, so they readily agreed to whatever Feng Nian said and followed her to the back gate of the Shen family's house.
It was time to prepare lunch. Feng Nian listened carefully and vaguely heard the sounds of the Shen family moving around in the yard. She took a deep breath and said everything she had thought about on the way.
"By the way, have you ever heard the love story between a rich girl and a poor scholar?"
“I’ve only ever heard my mother tell the story of the fox and the scholar!” a girl replied.
“Then let me tell you a story! Once upon a time, there was a scholar who was highly talented and handsome, but his family was poor. In order to study, he could only do odd jobs everywhere to earn money for his journey.” Feng Nian began to tell the story.
“There was a wealthy merchant in the area who was a great philanthropist. Seeing his pitiful state, he often hired him to copy books and draw pictures, and helped him complete his studies. Unexpectedly, after visiting the mansion many times, the scholar gradually developed an affair with the wealthy merchant’s daughter.”
"Ah! And then? Did the wealthy businessman agree to marry his daughter to him?" Hearing this, the girls became interested.
"I bet he will, and then, with the help of his wealthy father-in-law, he became the top scholar in the imperial examination!"
"I think this wealthy merchant is going to break up the couple! After all, this scholar is penniless, how could a wealthy merchant be willing to marry his daughter to him?"
The girls chattered amongst themselves for a while, then all looked towards Fengnian, waiting for her to reveal the ending.
Feng Nian cleared his throat and raised his voice, saying, "The wealthy merchant naturally refused, so he made things difficult for the scholar, demanding that he pass the imperial examination with top honors before proposing marriage. As a result, after the scholar passed the county-level examination, he tricked the young lady into eloping with him to study in another place!"
With a loud crash, the sound of something falling to the ground echoed through the alley. Feng Nian thought to herself, "The Shen family must have heard it." She then called her friends to go back together.
Wu Linglong was satisfied to learn about An Hongdou's plans for the year's harvest from her.
"If it's proven that Shen Fanghua has no relationship with him, are we just going to let Cheng Lixue go like this?" Wu Linglong has always hated evil and couldn't stand this kind of behavior.
"The most important thing right now is to find Shen Fanghua. As for his book fraud, the authorities won't investigate unless the people file a complaint."
"Besides, he has already left Qingyin County, so we can't pursue him on our own. If we follow the proper procedures, we'll need the cooperation of the Qingzhou County government. This back-and-forth will cause a lot of trouble, and it will also give Cheng Li time and opportunity to do his job."
"He'll explain that he left in a hurry and didn't have time to inform the shopkeeper, and that he wasn't trying to steal the book. There's nothing we can do about it," An Hongdou explained.
"Bah! These scholars can turn black into white! His trip to Qingzhou County was definitely not a spur-of-the-moment decision. Taking so many books at once, I think it was premeditated. Otherwise, the shopkeeper wouldn't have reacted so strongly!" Wu Linglong said indignantly.
“Let’s wait for the Shen family’s reaction. If they don’t look for Cheng Lixue, it means that Shen Fanghua’s matter is indeed unrelated to him. At that time, we can tell the bookstore owner that Cheng Lixue is studying in Qingzhou County, and the owner can decide what to do,” An Hongdou comforted her.
As the two were talking, Qiu Yu rushed over in a panic and said urgently, "Something terrible has happened! A young lady just came in and said she wanted to enroll in the apprenticeship class. When I asked her name, she said it was Shen Fanghua!"
An Hongdou was extremely surprised, and Wu Linglong even stood up abruptly, exclaiming incredulously, "How is this possible!"
The two hurriedly went out to see what was going on, but An Hongdou stopped halfway there.
"Qiuyu, take that girl to Fengnian's room first. Linglong and I will come over later."
Wu Linglong asked in surprise, "Shouldn't we go take a look first?"
An Hongdou explained, "We just hinted to the Shen family that Shen Fanghua eloped and ran away from home, and then she came here. How can we explain that? Besides, to protect their daughter's reputation, the Shen family will definitely insist that it was related to us."
"That's truly a case of 'every pitiful person has something hateful about them'!" Wu Linglong said indignantly.
"Fortunately, Shen Fanghua shouldn't dare to make a fuss. Let Feng Nian go and find out what's going on first," An Hongdou arranged.
“That’s good. Feng Nian looks innocent and harmless, so she won’t be on guard,” Wu Linglong agreed.
Over here, Shen Fanghua sat in a chair, lost in thought.
Feng Nian brought in a cup of hot tea and handed it to her, saying, "Miss, please have some tea first. Our lady has something to attend to and will be here in a while."
Shen Fanghua thanked him and accepted the gift with both hands. Feng Nian seized the opportunity and said, "Miss, it's boring to wait around. Why don't we chat together? My name is Feng Nian. I'm a temporary helper hired by the manor. I probably won't have any work to do after the rainy season."
Hearing the voice, Shen Fanghua snapped out of her reverie and asked softly, "So what are you going to do then?"
Feng Nian chuckled sheepishly and continued, “My mother wants to marry me off to raise money, which is why I came here to work. If I lose my job, my mother will probably start thinking about it again, and I absolutely cannot go home like this. So I’m thinking of enrolling in an apprenticeship class to learn a skill to support myself. If I can help my mother out a little each month, I think she won’t be willing to marry me off.”
Shen Fanghua nodded and said in a complicated tone, "Yes, men's vows are unreliable. Women also have to rely on themselves to make a living!"
Feng Nian asked, "Young lady, what makes you want to sign up?"
Shen Fanghua was silent for a while before saying, "I came here because I didn't want to get married."
Seeing that Shen Fanghua was unwilling to say any more, Feng Nian made an excuse to leave and explained the situation to An Hongdou and the other person.
After listening, Wu Linglong said, "It seems that Cheng Lixue left without her. Maybe she's hiding here now because she's too scared to go home!"
Half an hour later, An Hongdou gestured for Wu Linglong and the other woman to go see Shen Fanghua together.
The long wait made Shen Fanghua increasingly uneasy. Upon seeing the two enter, she quickly stood up from her chair and bowed.
“Miss Chen, please don’t stand on ceremony. Sit down and let’s talk,” An Hongdou said, breaking the ice.
"Greetings, ladies. I have a solid foundation in needlework from a young age and would like to enroll in an apprenticeship to continue my studies. If you don't believe me, I can demonstrate some basic needlework techniques on the spot," Shen Fanghua said quickly.
After An Hongdou waited for her to sit down, she continued, "Miss Chen, your embroidery skills are not the most important thing right now. Do you know that the Shen family came to my place early the day after you left home to ask for your return?"
Shen Fanghua was somewhat flustered and hesitated several times before speaking.
“Miss Shen, the Shen family shouted for someone in and out of my mansion that day, and we made it clear that the person was indeed not here. Now that you have come suddenly, how are we supposed to explain this to your family?” Wu Linglong said upon seeing this.
Shen Fanghua was still a young girl who had not yet reached marriageable age, and she was at a loss for what to do. Tears kept falling from her eyes.
After she vented her emotions for a while, An Hongdou said, "As women, we don't want to make things difficult for you. But if you don't tell the truth, we don't want to cause trouble either. You can go home now."
Shen Fanghua immediately shook her head upon hearing this and truthfully recounted what she had experienced in the past few days.
It turned out that she had left home in a hurry without taking much money with her. Cheng Lixue spent all her money on romantic dates with her over the course of a few days. When he saw that she had nothing left to pawn, he changed his attitude.
Later, Cheng Lixue used the excuse of helping her get a travel permit to leave the city to abandon her and leave. She waited for two days without seeing him, penniless and afraid to go home, and only when she had nowhere else to go did she think of coming here.
After listening, An Hongdou felt somewhat helpless. After thinking for a moment, she asked, "What do you think now? Do you want to find an excuse to go home and cover up this, or do you really want to come to the apprenticeship class to learn a skill?"
Shen Fanghua wiped away her tears and said, "When I came to your house, I wanted to use this as an excuse to go home, but now I really want to stay. That Cheng Lixue is greedy for power and money, and other men may not be reliable either. It would be better to learn some skills and establish my own household. Besides, after what happened today, I'm afraid my family will not be able to accept me. If they just marry me off to someone else, my life will probably be even more difficult."
Seeing this, An Hongdou said, "Whether you want to stay depends on whether we accept you or not! Even if we do accept people, we have to do it openly and honestly, and make a name for ourselves to gain the people's approval. I'll send someone to the Shen residence later. You can think about how to talk to your family. Only after resolving these troubles will you have a chance to stay."
Seeing Shen Fanghua's hesitant expression, An Hongdou said, "Don't worry, we will keep today's events a secret. If you stay, no one will know that you eloped."
Wu Linglong also encouraged her, saying, "If you dare to do something, you must dare to take responsibility. If you don't even dare to face this little thing, where will you get the courage to start your own business in the future? No matter how much money you make, you probably won't have the ability to hold onto it!"
After they finished speaking, the two left first, leaving Shen Fanghua alone to think of a solution.
"Although it's been quite a journey, it seems we're about to recruit our first female apprentice!" Wu Linglong said happily.
Just then, Dongxue's voice came over: "It's terrible, Madam! I just heard them outside saying that Master Zeren and his goods have been detained by the authorities on the road!"
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