"Don't touch my sister."
When Mu Nanfeng returned, he saw Bai Yejing retreat. He sheathed his sword and examined Qi Chenyu.
In the dim light, Shen Yu, wearing a cloak, had no longer shown her protruding belly, indicating that she had given birth. He hurriedly helped Shen Yu toward the Mu family's gate.
"Fish, why did you run out just now? Come inside and we'll talk about it. Don't catch a cold."
Desperate to find her child, Shen Yu disregarded her own well-being and frantically pushed Mu Nanfeng away, shouting, "Don't touch me! If you don't want to adopt the child, you can just say so. Deceiving and then abandoning the child is too despicable. I need to go to the mass grave to find my child. If I'm any later, they'll probably be eaten by wild dogs..."
She hurriedly boarded the carriage, and the moment she raised her whip, Bai Yejing leaped onto the carriage and snatched the whip away.
"Chenyu, you sit in the back. I'll drive. Giddy up!"
As the carriage moved forward, Shen Yu hurriedly climbed to the back. In her search for her child, she no longer cared about her status as the eldest daughter of the Mu family. She plopped down on the carriage and gripped the side panels tightly with both hands.
"drive!"
The carriage accelerated, and Chen Yu's body suddenly leaned back and then returned to its original position. The fluttering veil and cloak were enough to prove that she had experienced everything that a woman in labor should not have to go through.
Witnessing this scene, Mu Nanfeng burst into tears. Of the fourteen children in the Mu family, his father loved Chen Yu the most. The fact that Chen Yu had suffered such a terrible ordeal would surely break his father's heart in the afterlife. He turned and ran into the Mu family home, heading straight for Yang Hua's bedroom, wanting to find out what had happened.
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The gate of the Mu family slowly closed, while the gate of the Jia family diagonally opposite slowly opened. Jia Lingyu, the daughter of the Jia family, hurriedly headed to the county government office with her entourage.
"Young lady, what brings you to the county government office?"
"Report to the authorities! The eldest daughter of the Mu family has escaped from the mausoleum, which is a defiance of the imperial decree."
"Didn't you like the eldest daughter of the Mu family quite a bit? Why would you..."
“You like him? But my Jia family can’t have an outsider’s child as our eldest son.”
It turned out that Shuxiang and the plump nanny, following Yanghua's orders, were taking the two children to the mass grave. Halfway there, Shuxiang turned back with one of the children and delivered it to the Jia family. Previously, Gu Xiaoliu had suffered a miscarriage and become infertile due to drinking Hongyu's poisonous herb, so she wished to adopt a son. Therefore, Shuxiang sent the baby boy to Gu Xiaoliu's courtyard, thus saving the child's life.
However… Madam Jia disagreed. Even if her own son agreed to adopt a stranger’s child, she absolutely could not allow that stranger’s child to become the eldest son! Therefore, Madam Jia instructed Jia Lingyu to monitor the Mu family and investigate the child’s origins.
It was Mu Chenyu's!
Not wanting to offend her sister-in-law Gu Xiaoliu, Jia Lingyu reported that Mu Chenyu had disobeyed the imperial decree and fled the mausoleum!
Before Chen Yu's carriage had even left the East Gate, it was stopped by Gu Erlang and several constables. "Seventh Sister, how dare you flee the mausoleum without permission? Someone reported it, and Father ordered me to arrest you..."
Shen Yu was anxious to find her child and naturally didn't want to go to the county government office. Before Gu Erlang could finish speaking, she snatched the riding whip from Bai Yejing's hand, lashed the horse's rump hard, and shouted, "Giddy up!"
The carriage sped away.
"Second brother, I will turn myself in once I find the child. Please don't chase after me."
"Quick, after them!"
As the carriage approached the East Gate, another carriage came towards it. Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be the Mu family's carriage, and it seemed that Shuxiang and the plump nanny were sitting inside.
"Whoa!" Shen Yu pulled on the reins. Before the carriage had even come to a complete stop, she jumped off and staggered toward the Mu family's carriage.
"Shuxiang, where are the children?"
The plump old woman poked her head out and was astonished to see that it was Chen Yu. She quickly got off the carriage and helped her up, saying, "Young lady, you... you're still weak. Why did you come out? It's chilly at night. Aren't you afraid of hurting yourself?"
"Where is the child? Was he abandoned in the mass grave?" Chen Yu said, pushing aside the fat nanny and tearing open the sedan curtain. The sedan was empty, so it seemed the child had been abandoned. She felt dizzy and staggered backward.
The plump old woman knelt down with a thud. "Miss, this old servant was only following the orders of the Old Madam and Princess Yanghua. Please forgive me..."
Shen Yu's heart sank, and tears streamed down her face. Ah! It's perfectly normal that her maternal family wouldn't accept a son of the Bai family. But what others don't know... is that he's actually Liu Yu's child!
She came to her senses and, pulling the plump old woman along, staggered toward the cargo cart. Through her blurry vision, she saw a tall figure walk toward her, pick her up, and place her in the Mu family's sedan chair.
"Take good care of your young lady, Fat Granny. I'll take you to the mass grave."
After Bai Yejing finished speaking, he turned the carriage around and continued speeding eastward.
After more than an hour of bumpy travel, the Mu family carriage stopped at the mass grave.
Shen Yu pulled the fat nanny down from the carriage. The moonlight was dim, and mounds of earth stood before them. Looking around, they saw the same scene everywhere.
"Where is the child buried? Go find him!"
The plump old woman nodded repeatedly and ran shakily towards the south, with Chen Yu following closely behind. Bai Yejing hurriedly stepped forward to support her.
She broke free from Bai Yejing's hand and shouted, "Go help the fat nanny, so we can find the child sooner!"
"good."
Bai Yejing helped the plump old woman through the mounds of earth. After a long while, the old woman stopped and squatted down. By the moonlight, it was clear that this was not a mound of earth, but a pit, with bedding placed beside it.
The plump old woman was shocked. "Miss, the child is gone! I was afraid she would suffocate, so I didn't dare bury her and just left her here. How come there's only the bedding left?"
Only bedding was left. Could it be that the child was taken away by a wild animal?
Chen Yu shoved the fat nanny aside, picked up the quilt and hugged it to her arms, tears instantly streaming down her face. Then she suddenly got up and, still clutching the quilt, scrambled through the mounds of earth, trying to find the child's body.
"Waaah..." A cry came from inside, and she was overjoyed. She murmured, "The baby is crying. Where is it? Listen."
Bai Yejing and the fat nanny were astonished. In this mass grave, apart from wild beasts and the cawing of crows, there was no sound of children crying.
Before the two could react, Chen Yu had already run away with the bedding.
Shen Yu ran towards the sound and indeed saw four figures. She could also hear a child crying in the shadows, so she ran even faster. However, she had just given birth, and she felt a surge of heat from her body, followed by excruciating abdominal pain, and collapsed to the ground.
"Chen Yu." Bai Yejing caught up and saw Chen Yu clutching her stomach and lying on a mound. He hurriedly picked her up, but why was her long dress soaking wet? She must have had a major hemorrhage.
Bai Yejing was terrified, thinking he should quickly take Chenyu back for treatment. But he had only taken two steps when he heard a faint pleading voice, "Young Master Bai, go after that carriage! The child has been taken away! Please..."
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