Chapter 341 Jiang Feiyan
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Qiu Yingxian made a mistake, and Yan Jiuniang was "kidnapped" by someone.
At the city gate of the prefecture, Li Qingyun, disguised as a merchant, was driving a donkey cart loaded with goods, waiting in line to leave the city.
Among the dozen or so large wooden crates stacked on the donkey cart, the small crate in the very middle contained a child!
This child is naturally Yan Jiuniang's cousin!
As for the rest of the Yan family, Cousin Yan left Andong for Jiangnan under the pretext of studying abroad before the Deer Cry Banquet.
After the Prince of Zhenbei was poisoned, Yan's cousin also went to Jiangnan. However, when she left Andong, she used the excuse of going to Jiangnan to take care of her cousin Yan who was preparing to study at the Jiangnan Academy.
Therefore, only Uncle Yan, Aunt Yan, and Little Sister Yan remained in Andong, while Uncle Yan and Aunt Yan had already left the city early on with the cart that carried out night soil.
The two of them endured the filth and stench, hiding inside the latrine bucket, and followed the cart through the city gate before finally leaving the city.
As for Yan Xiaomei?
Although Yan Xiaomei was only seven years old, she was certainly big enough to fit into that tall wooden tub that held night soil.
After all, a wooden bucket that can hold an adult can't hold a child.
Although the latrine bucket used to hold night soil was washed every now and then, the accumulated stench was truly unbearable for ordinary people.
If it were an adult, it would be fine; at least they could control themselves and endure it.
How can you expect a child who is only seven years old to endure this?
Therefore, Li Qingyun put Yan Xiaomei into the wooden box, pretending to be a merchant who had just bought goods from the prefectural city and was about to leave, so that he could take Yan Xiaomei out of the city with him.
After queuing for a while, it was finally Li Qingyun's turn.
Li Qingyun took out his own money and handed it over, also giving the inspecting soldier a piece of silver, behaving no differently from the other merchants being inspected.
After inspecting Li Qingyun's quarters and asking him a few questions, the soldier asked Li Qingyun to open a box to see what was inside.
Li Qingyun didn't refuse. Following the soldier's suggestion, he opened a wooden box filled with dried mountain delicacies. "...Things from these deep mountains are very..."
Li Qingyun bowed and scraped as he spoke to the soldier, and then handed him a small piece of silver.
Only then did the soldier nod to his colleague and release Li Qingyun.
Li Qingyun left the city gate and drove the cart onto the main road. After traveling on the main road for quite a while, he turned at a fork in the road and drove the cart for a while longer before arriving at a thatched hut.
Judging from its appearance, this house must have been built by the farmers who guarded the fields here, probably to keep an eye on the crops during the autumn harvest.
As soon as the donkey cart stopped, two smelly people rushed out of the thatched hut.
It was Uncle Yan and Aunt Yan!
"Taoist Master! My little sister, she is...?"
Li Qingyun quickly called the two men forward to help, and they moved aside the wooden boxes that were blocking the way, revealing the smaller wooden box inside.
Li Qingyun stepped forward, took the key, and unlocked the box. The three of them then saw Yan Xiaomei lying asleep inside the wooden box!
Li Qingyun stepped aside, and Aunt Yan pushed aside Uncle Yan, who was blocking her way, and picked up Yan Xiaomei from the wooden box.
After Yan Xiaomei was taken away, Uncle Yan finally noticed that there were ventilation holes on the sides and bottom of the wooden box.
"I gave her some calming herbal medicine, which is good for her energy and spirit and won't do her any harm. She'll wake up on her own once she's had enough sleep."
Aunt Yan was relieved after hearing Li Qingyun's explanation.
She had called Yan Xiaomei several times while holding her, but Yan Xiaomei didn't wake up, which made her a little panicked.
Li Qingyun removed the reins from the donkey pulling the cart, letting it graze on the ground, and then went into the thatched hut with Uncle Yan and Aunt Yan, who was holding Yan Xiaomei.
The room contained only a wooden bed, a square table, and a few stools; it was very simple.
As soon as they entered the room, Aunt Yan put Yan Xiaomei on the wooden bed. Then the couple looked at each other and knelt down in front of Li Qingyun.
"Hey, why are you kneeling before me? Get up right now!"
Li Qingyun stepped forward to pull Uncle Yan up, but Uncle Yan struggled and couldn't get up. "Our whole family is so grateful to the Taoist priest for saving us!"
If it weren't for you, Taoist priest, the three of us wouldn't know when we would have been able to escape from the palace!
Who knows, the three of us... the three of us might really never get out again!
Uncle Yan's voice choked as he spoke, and he was on the verge of tears.
Meanwhile, Aunt Yan was already crying. If she hadn't been afraid of disturbing her sleeping sister Yan, she probably would have burst into tears.
But it is this silent, suppressed crying that is most heartbreaking and unbearable to watch.
Finally, Li Qingyun helped Uncle Yan up, and Aunt Yan also got up.
The group sat down at the square table. There was no hot tea; the table only contained a few rough porcelain bowls and a pot of water.
"This water was prepared by someone beforehand; it's clean and drinkable!"
Only then did Uncle Yan and Aunt Yan dare to pour water for themselves, but Uncle Yan still poured a bowl of water for Li Qingyun first.
After drinking water and quenching his thirst, he felt a little more at ease. He turned around and glanced at Yan Xiaomei, who was still sleeping peacefully on the wooden bed. Only then did Uncle Yan turn around and look at Li Qingyun with a worried expression.
"Don't be afraid. In the afternoon, the people that Ninth Sister arranged will come to pick you up."
"Once you're on the ship and have left Andong, everything will be fine."
"Taoist priest... how did you know we were in the north courtyard of the Prince's mansion?"
When Uncle Yan asked about this, I had to explain it in detail.
Last night, how exactly did Li Qingyun, Ma San, and the others manage to rescue Uncle Yan and his family of three from the Prince's mansion?
All of this, of course, is inseparable from Liu Tan's assistance.
Currently, Liu Tan's family is not among the permanent residents of the Zhenbei Prince's Mansion; they usually live in the General's Mansion.
But before Liu Tan got married and left the palace to establish his own residence, he naturally continued to live in the palace.
And because he was the eldest son born out of wedlock, and later became a general with military power, his courtyard in the Prince's Mansion was quite large.
With such a large courtyard, servants were naturally needed.
Therefore, these servants were Liu Tan's spies in the Prince's mansion.
Even after he got married and left the palace, these servants still stayed in the palace to live.
Of course, the rescue of the Yan family was also inseparable from the help of Liu Tan's birth mother, his biological mother, the illegitimate daughter of the former Protector of Andong, and the concubine of the Prince of Zhenbei—Jiang Feiyan, the concubine of the Prince of Zhenbei.
Previously, Yan Jiuniang had learned from the Prince of Zhenbei that he had sent people to arrest the Yan family and imprison them in the dungeon of the Prince's mansion.
When the Yan family members were first brought back, they were indeed imprisoned in the dungeon.
However, the Yan family was only imprisoned for less than a day before being transferred from the dungeon and moved to a courtyard in the north of the Prince's Mansion that was rarely inhabited.
The person who went to plead with the Prince of Zhenbei to stop torturing the Yan family was none other than Jiang Feiyan!
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