Jiang Chuting brought Xie Zhen back to his and Lin Zhi's room, and Jiang Xian followed them in and closed the door.
Lin Zhi, who was sitting at the table idly waiting for someone, was delighted when he saw Jiang Chuting, but he quickly noticed that there were two other people there, one of whom was the father of the child he had met before.
Lin Zhi was surprised. She stood up and looked at Jiang Chuting, who had walked up to her, and asked, "Chu Ran, what's going on? Is he really at Changliu Manor?"
Xie Zhen was unaware of the reason for their arrival at Changliu Manor. Upon hearing this, a hint of doubt appeared in her eyes. "You... knew I was at Changliu Manor?"
Jiang Xian said to him, "We saw you being held hostage the night before. We wanted to rescue you, but we couldn't find you near Changliu Village."
"I see." Xie Zhen suddenly realized. Jiang Chuting asked him to sit down and said, "I searched the whole manor last night, but I couldn't find you."
Xie Zhen's eyes revealed grief and indignation. After a moment of tense silence, he said, "I was locked in a dark room."
Jiang Xian slammed his hand on the table. "I knew it! It must be like that."
Jiang Chuting could roughly guess what was going on from the marks on Xie Zhen's body and her resistant reaction, but Lin Zhi didn't know. He looked at Xie Zhen and asked directly, "What exactly is your grudge with Qiao Xun? Why did he want to arrest you?" Jiang Chuting tried to stop him from asking the question, but he didn't succeed.
Xie Zhen had long wanted to expose Qiao Xun's true colors in front of everyone, but he knew that Qiao Xun was too good at disguising himself. He always appeared to be a charming and refined gentleman. Hadn't he been deceived by him back then? He couldn't produce any evidence. If he spoke out, most people would not believe him and would think he was shameless and a laughingstock.
Moreover, Qiao Xun was a shadow that could shroud him completely. He was in a hurry to escape at the time, and then he had some unexpected health problems, so he couldn't carry out these plans. Over the years, he hid in places where there were few people, and as time went by, he became less and less willing to talk about that suffocating past.
But since he had been kindly rescued, he needed to give them a good reason to take him away from there.
Otherwise, if people don't understand the reason behind the situation, they might not continue to help Qiao Xun in order not to offend him.
So, although it was difficult to say, he confessed anyway.
“There’s no grudge. It’s just that he confessed his feelings to me back then, but I don’t like men and refused to accept him. So he knocked me unconscious and locked me up for almost half a year.” Xie Zhen’s eyes were bloodshot, and every word was filled with humiliation. His breath was also trembling. “I later escaped, but due to some… unavoidable reasons, I returned to Jiangling. Unfortunately, he found me again yesterday and brought me back.”
The three people in the room remained silent for a moment.
Jiang Chuting had some suspicions, but she didn't expect it to be even worse than she imagined. Qiao Xun appeared to be a gentleman, but he was actually such a person.
The most surprised person was Jiang Xian. Although he wasn't very familiar with Qiao Xun, he hadn't had a bad impression of him before. Hearing Xie Zhen's words, he was inevitably shocked.
"Qiao Xun, he really did that?!" But thinking about Qiao Xun's reaction, there was indeed something fishy about it.
Xie Zhen firmly stated, "Everything I said is true; there is not a single lie!"
Qiao Xun's actions were even worse than this, but although Xie Zhen was utterly disillusioned with Han Yunsi, she was unwilling to drag her, a woman, into the mess and expose the embarrassing truth. Moreover, since Han Yunsi was determined to stay by Qiao Xun's side, then so be it; even if they tried to rescue her, she wouldn't agree.
Just like she said, it was all her own choice, and she couldn't blame anyone else for the outcome.
Xie Zhen earnestly said to Jiang Chuting, "Great hero, when you leave, could you please take me with you?"
Previously, when Xie Zhen first met Jiang Chuting, he was in his most agitated state and didn't give Jiang Chuting and Lin Zhi, who had helped him, a friendly look. Now that he needed their help, he couldn't help but feel guilty. In his desperate situation, he was also extremely afraid that they would refuse him. Almost instinctively, he placed all his reliance on Jiang Chuting.
Because he seems to radiate gentleness and magnanimity from the inside out, he certainly wouldn't hold his previous harsh attitude against him.
Before Jiang Chuting could speak, Jiang Xian frowned and asked, "You've suffered all this, don't you plan to retaliate?"
Xie Zhen, her face pale, slowly shook her head.
Qiao Xun is a true villain, despicable, treacherous, and vengeful. If he is successfully lured out of Changliu Manor this time, Qiao Xun will hold a grudge against each of the three who helped him. He might secretly retaliate, not to mention retaliating. If Qiao Xun's reputation is truly ruined, what will happen to him is another matter, but it will definitely not be a good thing for these three.
A true gentleman will always suffer when confronted by a true villain. If anything goes wrong, he will be held responsible.
So all he wanted was to escape alive; he didn't want to implicate others or provoke Qiao Xun, that madman.
"All I want is... to escape and get away from here with my child."
Jiang Xian fell silent, and Jiang Chuting and Lin Zhi exchanged a glance. He certainly didn't want too many people to know about such a private matter, so it was best to respect his decision.
Jiang Chuting looked away and agreed, "Okay, we'll find a way to take you out tomorrow."
That night, Xie Zhen sat anxiously in Jiang Xian's room all night.
The next day, when Jiang Chuting and the others left, they took Xie Zhen with them. Surprisingly, Qiao Xun did not make things difficult for them at all. He personally saw them off, said goodbye with a hint of reluctance, and watched them leave.
But the more this happened, the uglier Xie Zhen's expression became. He felt that Qiao Xun's calmness was somewhat abnormal.
He asked Jiang Chuting several times along the way, and only after confirming that no one was following him did he breathe a slight sigh of relief, though he didn't completely let his guard down. He knew that Qiao Xun wasn't someone who would give up so easily.
The three of them accompanied Xie Zhen to an old woman's house to pick up his son, whom he was temporarily staying with. The little guy's eyes were swollen from crying. When he saw Xie Zhen, he burst into tears and called out in a hoarse voice, asking Xie Zhen to hold him. However, Xie Zhen did not hold him, and his expression did not change. He simply reached out and roughly wiped away the tears that welled up in his eyes.
This was Jiang Xian's first time seeing the child. Seeing the resemblance between the child's features and Xie Zhen's, he subconsciously assumed the child was Xie Zhen's son with Qiao Xun after their separation. However, in a moment of distraction, he suddenly realized the child did resemble Qiao Xun slightly, and he quickly suppressed this outrageous thought. Looking like both Xie Zhen and Qiao Xun—could this child be theirs? It must be just his imagination.
Jiang Xian had to continue his journey, so he bid them farewell here.
He had said everything he needed to say to Jiang Chuting, and after giving him one last deep look, he rode away.
Lin Zhi was particularly sensitive to Jiang Xian's expression and immediately became suspicious. Why did this guy have such a meaningful look on his face again? It was really annoying!
When Xie Zhen learned that Jiang Chuting and Lin Zhi planned to go to Misty Moon Valley, she was taken aback. "What are you going to Misty Moon Valley for?"
"I'm investigating something." Jiang Chuting didn't go into details, but asked him, "Which direction are you planning to go? We can give you a ride first."
Xie Zhen, holding the child's hand, hesitated slightly before saying, "To be honest, I used to be a disciple of Misty Moon Valley."
Xie Zhen had only given his name and had not revealed his identity, which surprised Jiang Chuting and Lin Zhi.
Jiang Chuting couldn't help but ask, "When you were captured by Qiao Xun, didn't your valley master do anything about it?"
Xie Zhen said self-deprecatingly, "Although there are not thousands of disciples in Miyue Valley, there are still five or six hundred. The Valley Master is always engrossed in studying medicine. Why would he care about the affairs of us junior disciples? Besides... Qiao Xun and my Valley Master should have some relationship."
Xie Zhen recalled the pill he had accidentally eaten when he was guarding the alchemy furnace, and then he remembered the one Qiao Xun had forced him to swallow yesterday, which must have come from Misty Moon Valley.
This further demonstrates that Qiao Xun and the Valley Master's friendship has never been broken over the years.
After a moment's thought, Xie Zhen said to Jiang Chuting, "Excuse my boldness, but may I ask what exactly you two are investigating in Misty Valley?"
Since he was a disciple of Miyue Valley, he might be able to provide some clues. Jiang Chuting roughly told him, and Xie Zhen became more and more surprised and suspicious as he listened. At the same time, he admired them for investigating this matter for so long. Others probably wouldn't have gone to so much trouble just because one or two male prostitutes had a strange illness.
Xie Zhen tightened his grip on the child's hand, his eyes lowered in deep thought. Stomach pain… Years ago, after accidentally ingesting a pill, he had also experienced stomach pain for a while, but the symptoms were different from those of the young male prostitute he described. Moreover, the pill he swallowed contained extremely precious ingredients, and he had worried about being punished if the Valley Master discovered it. Later, it turned out that the pills were probably just something the Valley Master had concocted out of curiosity, and he hadn't even bothered to inquire when any went missing.
If someone deliberately wants to torture those male prostitutes, a simple poison will suffice. Poison is available everywhere and won't have anything to do with the Misty Moon Valley.
Xie Zhen hesitated, but Jiang Chuting noticed his expression and immediately said, "You know a lot about Misty Moon Valley. If you have any thoughts, feel free to share them."
Xie Zhen said, "In my judgment, perhaps someone is using them to test drugs."
Jiang Chuting was taken aback. He had considered this possibility before, but hadn't thought about it too deeply. After all, based on the clues they had discovered, both he and Lin Zhi believed there was some extraordinary conspiracy behind it. The drug trial might not be enough to support their speculation.
Xie Zhen quickly added, "I'm no longer a member of Misty Moon Valley, and I have no loyalty to the Valley Master. But based on my more than ten years of experience in the valley, to be fair, Misty Moon Valley has a group of people, both men and women, who take money to have pharmacists test their medicines. They wouldn't extend their reach outside. There must be something going on about Misty Moon Valley capturing that male prostitute. Didn't you say he was rescued? The Valley Master of Misty Moon Valley has a particularly eccentric temper and is fanatical about medicine and all sorts of difficult and complicated diseases. Perhaps... capturing him and feeding him medicine is to demonstrate his medical skills. But this is just my personal opinion; you can take it as a reference."
Regardless, his words gave them another perspective. Jiang Chuting nodded, "Okay, we'll try our best to find out the truth. Thank you."
Xie Zhen relaxed a bit and said, "I should be thanking you."
After Jiang Chuting and Lin Zhi escorted him for three days and confirmed that no one was following them, Xie Zhen, unwilling to delay their business, insisted on parting ways with them. He planned to take the child south and find a secluded village to settle down in.
When they parted, the child clung to Lin Zhi's leg, refusing to let go. For some reason, despite Lin Zhi's bad temper, he showed a certain gentleness towards the child, and the child seemed to like him.
He kept dawdling and unwilling to leave, so Xie Zhen frowned and shouted, "Xie Li, get over here now!"
Xie Li was afraid of being abandoned by her father, so she had no choice but to let go of his hand. Reluctantly, she ran to his side, took his hand, and was lifted into the carriage by him.
Xie Zhen bowed slightly to Jiang Chuting and Lin Zhiwei, expressing her gratitude once again, "Until we meet again, my lords."
Lin Zhi: "Until we meet again."
"Until we meet again." Jiang Chuting added, "Be careful on your journey, and it would be best if you could disguise yourselves."
"I know, thank you for reminding me." Xie Zhen said solemnly at the end, "Qiao Xun is a very sinister person. You helped me this time, so you must be careful in the future."
Even after the carriage had traveled quite a distance, Xie Li was still peering back through the window. Xie Zhen didn't stop her, remaining extremely indifferent, "Do you really enjoy being with them? Should I take you back?"
Xie Li quickly shrank back, waving her hands repeatedly, and looked at him with her clear eyes, saying softly, "No, no, I don't want anyone else, I just want to be with Father."
Xie Zhen remained expressionless in the face of the child's sincere words, seemingly unmoved in the slightest.
Ever since he was forced to give birth to this child, he has thought about getting rid of him for at least thirty days a month, and he has done so no less than a hundred times.
But even today, the child is still alive and well beside him. Even after being scolded and beaten by him in a bad mood, the child doesn't hold a grudge, only cries foolishly, and foolishly depends on him, calling him "Daddy."
Before he was one year old, he was always called "dog" in a harsh tone. Only after he learned to speak did he give him a name casually.
Xie Zhen couldn't help but hate Xie Li, because Xie Li not only had his blood flowing in his veins, but also the blood of another person he hated. But now, Xie Zhen knew that no matter how much he hated him, it would be difficult to get rid of him in a short time.
Xie Li rubbed his eyes, feeling sleepy. He wanted to snuggle into Xie Zhen's arms to sleep, but Xie Zhen pushed him away five times in a row. He opened his arms and persistently begged, "Daddy, hug me, hug me, I love you, I want you to hold me while I sleep, okay?"
Xie Zhen kept a calm face and finally didn't push him away for the sixth time. After he fell asleep, she took a small blanket from her bundle and wrapped him in it. The carriage continued to move forward smoothly.
That evening, Jiang Chuting and Lin Zhi found an inn to stay in in the town closest to Misty Moon Valley.
When Lin Zhi deliberately chose the most secluded room, Jiang Chuting understood what he meant. Sure enough, without even having dinner, Lin Zhi couldn't wait to take a shower with him, then pounced on him on the bed, his eyes burning with a savage intensity.
Jiang Chuting lay down beneath him, gazing tenderly at him with affectionate eyes, and gently stroked his cheek with her hand.
"Chu Ran, Chu Ran, Chu Ran..." Lin Zhi murmured his name and kissed him deeply. Finally, it was just the two of them. Finally, they didn't have to worry about other people's messy affairs for a while, and they could indulge themselves without restraint.
The bed in this room isn't very sturdy; it creaks and groans at the slightest noise, and you can tell what the person on the bed is doing just by listening.
Jiang Chuting wanted to change rooms, but Lin Zhi wouldn't wait even a moment longer and resolutely refused. Jiang Chuting had initially worried that the bed might collapse, but later she didn't have time to think about it anymore.
The intense creaking finally stopped in the middle of the night. Jiang Chuting was so exhausted that she didn't even have the strength to move her fingers. She closed her eyes and fell into a deep sleep shortly afterward.
Feeling refreshed, Lin Zhi used hot water to wash his somewhat disheveled body, smiled, kissed his forehead, and then hugged him tightly before falling asleep contentedly.
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It's in the pot.
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