She was taken away
Around noon, a carriage stopped at the gate of Cheng Mansion. Pei Songsheng and Cheng Qigu got off first, helped Cheng Hongyi down, and slowly walked into the gate.
Pei Songsheng had changed into clean clothes, but his face was pale from the injuries he'd sustained, and the subsequent night's snowstorm. He maintained an upright posture, steadily supporting the shaky Cheng Hongyi as he walked forward. Cheng Qigu looked at his father worriedly and said, "Father, don't worry so much. My eldest brother will definitely find mother. Father, please take care of yourself first."
Pei Songsheng also said, "Since we know that my mother was taken away by a former fellow disciple, she hasn't fallen into the hands of treacherous people, and her safety is not threatened. Besides, Ah Zheng is here, so I don't think she's in a hurry to leave. As long as she's still in Shengjing, we can always find her."
Cheng Qigu was confused and asked, "What is Moxing talking about? What former fellow disciples?"
Pei Songsheng and Cheng Hongyi remained silent. Cheng Qigu sighed and said, "It's no wonder that Big Brother and Little Sister are angry. Father's concealment of this has even chilled me. What can't be said openly to one's own children?"
Cheng Hongyi said helplessly, "Do you think it's comfortable for your father to keep these things in his heart? These past few days, I've been thinking, why not tell it out loud? Can I keep it a secret forever?" He turned to Pei Songsheng and said, "A Zheng may seem gentle, but she's actually very stubborn. If I don't tell her the truth, she won't change her mind. Mo Xing, you two can't let a misunderstanding ruin our good marriage."
Pei Songsheng shook his head slowly but firmly: "I would rather be resented by her for the rest of my life than to see her suffer."
"Silly child, you've already endured enough. This is all the fault of the previous generation. How can I just watch you two become separated?"
As they were talking, they walked to the backyard. Lan Yue and Yi Xing came out to greet them. After taking a few glances, they asked in confusion, "Master, didn't the young lady come back with you?"
Everyone was stunned. Pei Songsheng asked in surprise, "Isn't A Zheng at home?"
The two maids exchanged a glance, sensing something was amiss, and told the story honestly: "When the young lady heard Madam was missing, she took the eldest young master's wife out to look for her. They said they had to go to the Pei Mansion first to gather information, and since it was inconvenient to mobilize a large force, they didn't let us follow."
Cheng Qigu said, "We've been out looking for them all day, but we haven't seen my younger sister and sister-in-law."
Pei Songsheng turned around without saying a word and went to find Jian Zhu. After asking him to go back to the mansion to ask, he found out that Cheng Yayin and Qi Sheng had never been to the Cheng mansion.
Dark clouds immediately enveloped the entire Cheng Mansion.
The news quickly reached Cheng Qiwang, who was still searching for his mother. Having not found his mother, and now his wife and sister, Cheng Qiwang was extremely anxious. He and Pei Songsheng searched almost the entire Shengjing City, but still found no trace of them.
As the sky darkened, Pei Songsheng had a terrible suspicion. He had previously assumed Cheng Yayin was in Shengjing, and his mother-in-law would never leave the city. But now, Cheng Yayin was most likely in her care. She would be desperate to find a place to deal with her, and might even have left the city.
He told Cheng Hongyi his thoughts and got his approval. He was about to go back and arrange people to track her down. At this moment, a servant from the Cheng Mansion came hurriedly to report that the eldest young lady had been found. It turned out that she had been in the woodshed of the mansion and had been unconscious before and had just woken up.
Pei Songsheng and the others immediately went to the woodshed. Qi Sheng was being helped by a servant into a chair brought in from outside. She was holding her forehead with her hand, still looking dazed. Cheng Qiwang strode over and scooped her up into his arms, as if she had just survived a disaster. He then examined her body, making sure she was alright. Only then did he breathe a sigh of relief and ask, "Where's Ah Zheng?"
"A Zheng..." Qi Sheng shook his head, trying to clear the fog in his mind, and recalled what happened, "A Zheng, she left with her mother. I wanted to chase her, but I fainted for some reason and woke up here."
Early that morning, she was about to follow Cheng Yayin to the Pei Mansion, but upon leaving, her mother-in-law stopped her. Cheng Yayin saw her mother, whom she hadn't seen for four years, and the two of them immediately embraced and burst into tears. Qi Sheng had many questions in her mind, but she couldn't bear to interrupt their reunion. She stood quietly to the side, waiting for them to calm down a bit so she could ask her mother-in-law why she was imprisoned in Ganye Temple and how she escaped.
She also noticed that her mother-in-law did not come alone. There was a carriage parked at the corner of the road. The carriage was ordinary, but the coachman sitting in the front room was unusual. He was covered with a cloak and looked very burly, but his head and face were hidden in the hood, and his true appearance was not revealed. At first glance, he looked strange.
She was puzzled and thought that perhaps it was with the help of this man that her mother-in-law escaped from Pei Songsheng's close supervision.
The mother and daughter cried for a while. The mother-in-law calmed down first and said that they were able to escape with the help of an old friend. However, after this incident, she had become disheartened with the entire Cheng family and wanted to return to her hometown and asked Cheng Yayin to go back with her.
Cheng Yayin was a little hesitant at first, but after her mother cried and complained about her grievances, she finally softened her heart and agreed to go with her.
Qi Sheng felt that the whole thing revealed an unusual feeling. She couldn't let Cheng Yayin leave like this. Just as she was about to stop her, the coachman suddenly walked in front of her like a ghost, raised his hand and waved it. She smelled a strange fragrance and then lost consciousness.
After hearing her words, Cheng Hongyi was already shaky, and was only supported by Cheng Qigu. He stared blankly into space and shouted in despair: "A Zheng——"
Pei Songsheng clenched his fists, his face pale.
Cheng Qiwang hammered the wall hard and said, "That driver must be a bandit. He's held both Mother and Ah Zheng hostage! It snowed heavily last night, making travel difficult. They must not have gone very far. If I chase them now, I'm sure I'll catch up!"
*
Last night's heavy snow had accumulated into a thick layer on the ground. The occasional bumps and slips in the carriage on the road made Cheng Yayin terrified. She asked the coachman outside if he could slow down, but he turned a deaf ear to her and just kept whipping the horsewhip without slowing down at all.
Cheng Yayin turned to her mother and said anxiously, "Mom, do we really have to rush home so quickly? The snowy roads are difficult to travel on, and New Year's Eve is just a few days away. Our family hasn't been together for a few years. This year, my eldest brother is finally home, so we should at least have a reunion dinner together."
Yue Qiongfang stared at the swaying curtain with empty eyes, "There will be no reunion in my life."
Cheng Yayin felt a prickling pain in her heart, and she lowered her head, speechless. The further they got from Shengjing, the more uneasy she felt. Her mother now felt so strange to her. She didn't know what she had been through in the past three years, and when she asked, she was vague. The driver outside was also strange, as if he couldn't stand being seen. He kept his heavy cloak covering his face, and she didn't know if he had a congenital condition, but she had never heard him speak.
Her mother said this was an old friend, which Cheng Yayin found very strange. Judging from this person's behavior and demeanor, he didn't seem like someone who could have been close to her mother. But Cheng Yayin was still young and knew almost nothing about her mother's past. Judging from her mother's expression, she probably didn't want to explain too much.
The carriage had been traveling for a whole day and had already left Shengjing. When they passed an inn, they stopped to rest for a while.
The few of them had hardly eaten or drunk anything that day. Cheng Yayin asked the store for some hot food and knocked on her mother's door with the tray.
While dining with her mother, Cheng Yayin keenly noticed that, for some reason, her mother wasn't as affectionate towards her as before. She wondered if it was the rift caused by four years of separation, but she felt sad and aggrieved, and didn't know how to say all the things she had prepared.
Yue Qiongfang glanced at her calmly and took the initiative to say, "Just say whatever you want to say. Why are you being so reserved with your mother?"
This sentence seemed to have echoed in her memory. Cheng Yayin breathed a sigh of relief and asked, "Mother, how long will we stay in our hometown this time?"
"I'm going to stay there from now on. That's where I grew up and where my father is buried."
Cheng Yayin was a little surprised. Growing up, she had hardly ever heard her mother mention her grandfather. This topic seemed to touch upon her mother's hidden pain, something even her father wouldn't bring up. Cheng Yayin asked cautiously, "Mom, do you miss Grandpa?"
Yue Qiongfang didn't say anything, but gave her a deep look that Cheng Yayin couldn't understand. Cheng Yayin sensed that she didn't really want to talk about this and was determined to leave. She said anxiously, "What about Father? If we leave without saying goodbye, he'll worry."
Yue Qiongfang sneered and said, "Your father is just a vain man, otherwise he wouldn't have married you to Pei Songsheng."
At the mention of Pei Songsheng, Cheng Yayin unconsciously clenched her hands, a bitter feeling spreading through her heart. She thought for a moment, then said solemnly, "Mother, after we return to our hometown, I will stay with you for a while. When you feel better and no longer need your daily care, please allow me to arrange everything before returning to Shengjing."
Yue Qiongfang frowned, "I've already told you what kind of people your father and Pei Songsheng are. Why do you still want to go back?"
Cheng Yayin shook her head. "I'm not going back for others. I have my own things to do. Mother may not know this yet, but I have run an academy in Shengjing. In my spare time, I will go there to teach. If I leave for too long, those children will miss me, and I will miss them too. Besides, I'm quite famous now. Many people like to read the stories I write. If I leave Shengjing and can no longer submit my manuscripts on time, my friends will come after me with knives. As for Pei Songsheng..." Cheng Yayin bit her lip, and when she raised her eyes again, her expression was much more determined. "I still have a lot of things to figure out. I can't end this with him in such an unclear way."
"What else is unclear? He coveted you and even poisoned you to make it impossible for you to refuse to marry him. Why would you go back and get entangled with such a person?"
"What mother said, I have thought a lot along the way. No matter how I think about it, I don't believe he is such a person." Cheng Yayin said firmly, "There must be some misunderstanding. Mother, think about it, what kind of family background does he have? He is also father's favorite student. If he really wants to marry me, would father agree? Why would he use such despicable means to calculate the marriage? And mother, you don't know, I didn't trust him from the beginning. We went through a lot together before we gave our hearts to each other. In the three years before that, he was always polite to me and never got close to me. If he really is a person who will do anything to achieve his goal, then after the marriage, it will be legitimate and he can get what he wants. Why should he treat me with respect?"
The more Yue Qiongfang listened, the uglier her expression became, and her voice became sharper: "You mean I framed him?"
"No, mother, I have never thought of it that way. What I mean is that you must have misunderstood him. Mother, please believe me, he is really a very good person. Even if you don't believe him, you should believe father. How could father hurt you?"
Yue Qiongfang was furious and completely disregarded her words. She waved her hand to interrupt her and said resolutely, "For a man you've only been with for four years, you dare to disobey the mother who raised you. There's no room for negotiation on this matter. You must come back with me. And you will never be able to return to Shengjing."
The last words carried a chilling chill. Cheng Yayin looked at her mother, whose expression was completely unfamiliar, and a cold sweat immediately broke out on her back. She instinctively knew that something was wrong and she had to leave immediately. She stood up, her eyes wandering as she said, "My daughter has made me angry. I will reflect on this myself. Please don't say such angry words again."
Cheng Yayin walked quickly to the door. Just as her fingers touched the latch, she heard her mother say behind her, "I wanted to endure this all the way. I didn't want to break up with you so soon. It was you who forced me to do it. Senior Brother!"
Cheng Yayin turned around in confusion, but the door was suddenly opened. She looked over in surprise and saw the driver standing at the door, but this time he was not wearing a cloak, and his face was completely revealed in front of Cheng Yayin - it was the doctor Hu who gave her the heart-breaking grass!
"You..." Cheng Yayin had just said one word when Doctor Hu suddenly raised his hand and waved it in front of her. Powder seemed to be flying in the air. Cheng Yayin smelled a strange fragrance and lost consciousness before she could catch her breath.
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