On the way, Xiao Tao said with a hint of realization, "No wonder that young master Liu suddenly arrived early this morning and stopped you from leaving. Could he have known that Yang Jie was coming to kidnap you today?"
Zhao Feiyan asked in surprise, "Young Master Liu?"
Xiao Tao nodded and explained, "Young Master Liu and this Yang Jie are cousins. Didn't you casually mention to Young Master Liu a couple of days ago that you were going on a picnic with Miss Tong today?!"
Zhao Feiyan's expression turned rather unpleasant.
Xiao Tao added, "It seems that Young Master Liu is quite sincere towards you, Miss. Knowing that Yang Jie would come to kidnap you, he tried to stop you from doing so."
Zhao Feiyan snorted, "Yang Jie must have told him that we came on a picnic."
Xiao Tao said, "That's true, but he certainly didn't know Yang Jie was planning to rob someone when he said that. When he found out, he rushed over to stop you, which shows that he's not a bad person at heart."
In the original owner's life, Zhao Feiyan broke off her friendship with Young Master Liu and later sued him and Yang Jie in court. Because the emperor secretly intervened, Yang Jie was not punished for this matter, but he was punished when the time was right.
As for Young Master Liu, the emperor merely exempted him from two months' salary. This shows that, in the emperor's eyes, Young Master Liu's slip of the tongue wasn't a serious offense.
Ultimately, the original owner's death couldn't really be blamed on Young Master Liu. Young Master Liu only knew that Yang Jie wanted to kidnap Zhao Feiyan, and he never expected that this unscrupulous cousin would kidnap Tong Nian when he found out that Zhao Feiyan hadn't come, and even torture Tong Nian to death a few days later.
Chu Nian sighed and remained silent on the matter. Although the original owner didn't hate Young Master Liu, she also had no intention of speaking up for him. As for whether Zhao Feiyan would break off her friendship with Young Master Liu as the original owner had done, that was up to Zhao Feiyan herself.
Unexpectedly, before their car even entered the city, they ran into Young Master Liu and his group. Seeing that Zhao Feiyan was unharmed, he breathed a sigh of relief.
Seeing this, Xiao Tao winked at Zhao Feiyan, meaning: See, I wasn't wrong, was I? Young Master Liu is quite sincere towards you.
Unfortunately, in Xiao Tao's eyes, it was already quite good for a prostitute to be treated like this by a young master from a prestigious family, but in Zhao Feiyan's eyes, this was nothing. In her opinion, this was trouble caused by Young Master Liu, so shouldn't he take some responsibility?!
"Sister Tong, it's all thanks to you for bringing more people with you today, otherwise we two girls would have been in trouble," Zhao Feiyan said to Chu Nian in a sarcastic tone, giving Liu Gongzi a disdainful look.
Chu Nian said, "Feiyan, you don't think that our encounter with the thugs today is related to Young Master Liu, and you don't blame him, do you?" As she spoke, she winked at Zhao Feiyan: They had someone beat up Yang Jie, but if they pretended not to know Yang Jie's identity, they naturally shouldn't know that the thugs were related to Young Master Liu.
Zhao Feiyan was still furious and said, "What right do I have to blame Young Master Liu? He's a noble young master, while we're just prostitutes in a brothel. Even if we're innocent, these people can still trample on us!" Anyway, she never said that the rogue had anything to do with Young Master Liu, humph!
"Miss Fei Yan..." Young Master Liu rode his horse to the carriage, bent down and looked into the carriage, calling out helplessly.
Unexpectedly, Zhao Feiyan snatched the coachman's whip and lashed it at him.
Young Master Liu was startled and quickly dodged, but as a frail young man, he was not able to dodge the sudden whip.
Chu Nian reached out and grabbed the riding whip.
"Sister..." Zhao Feiyan tried to pull but couldn't, and couldn't help but frown and call out with a hint of resentment.
Chu Nian said, "Stop fooling around, let's go back!" As she spoke, she unconsciously turned her head and glanced in another direction.
In that direction, two people rode on two horses. The one in the lead was tall and handsome, exuding a heroic and dashing aura on horseback. The one behind him was clearly his servant, whose imposing presence was somewhat diminished, but still surpassed that of the young master Liu in front of him.
The two men were looking over curiously when Zhao Feiyan flicked her riding whip. The handsome man chuckled, probably finding the girl's feisty nature amusing. But when he saw Chu Nian reach out and grab the whip, a look of astonishment flashed in his eyes.
Indeed, Chu Nian's hand, which was grabbing the riding whip, moved faster than expected, which was no simple feat. She only reached out to grab the whip when she saw that Young Master Liu couldn't dodge it.
Through their interactions over this period, although Zhao Feiyan considered Tong Nian an ancient person, he was a very special one. Zhao Feiyan was quite convinced of this "ancient person," so when Chu Nian said that, Zhao Feiyan just snorted and didn't say anything else. She returned the whip to the coachman and ordered him to spur the horse and hurry away to get as far away from this young master Liu as possible.
She also saw two people in another direction and sensed that they were extraordinary.
"Sister Tong, those two people at the city gate just now... who do you think they are?" Zhao Feiyan asked thoughtfully.
Chu Nian: "His status must be extraordinary." Just by looking at that servant, his aura was stronger than Young Master Liu's.
Because Tong Nian had already died when the male protagonist appeared in the book, Chu Nian did not have any memories of him. However, she guessed that the handsome man she had just seen might be the male protagonist, the current emperor Sima Xiu—his temperament was so unique that it made her think of the highest-ranking person in this world.
Back at Cuihong Tower, everyone tacitly avoided mentioning the attack in the suburbs. They had been pretending not to know that the attacker was Yang Jie, and had chased and beaten him for quite some time. If the madam found out, who knows what trouble it would cause?
When they returned, it was already getting dark. Li Wenzhuang had already arrived and was anxiously waiting for Chu Nian.
Yesterday, Chu Nian had just asked him to take the painting of the solitary chrysanthemum that she had finished a couple of days ago to the Confucian Academy. She intended to have the painting auctioned off at the Confucian Academy and was curious about the outcome, so when she saw him, she closed the door and asked him about the painting.
Li Wenzhuang chuckled and said, "Niannian, the Confucian Academy didn't object to your wish at all. They said there's an auction in three days that will auction many famous calligraphic works and paintings, and they've decided to use your 'Lone Chrysanthemum on a Cliff' as the final piece, making it the last one to be featured."
Furthermore, I've already spread the word that within the next three days, everyone in the capital will know that your masterpiece will be auctioned at the Confucian Academy.
"Hehe, look how hard I've worked for you, how are you going to thank me?" He said, leaning closer to massage Chu Nian's shoulders.
Chu Nian: "How do you want me to thank you?"
Li Wenzhuang: "Um...you've come with me..." Before he could finish speaking, a sharp slap was heard, and Chu Nian had already raised her hand and slapped him.
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