Xie Yuancheng grinned wickedly beside me. I really wanted to punch him. I could never learn his thought process and cunning!
The next morning, Xie Yuancheng took me out. He said that the person Consort Ji had asked me to find was named Mao Gong, a recluse. Consort Ji somehow knew that he had been living in Linyang for a long time, so she sent me to deliver the message.
"Who is Mao Gong?" I didn't have this name in my mind. I guessed he was some kind of reclusive martial arts master that Consort Ji thought could bring her good luck.
"He's a highly accomplished person, but I haven't been able to meet him. It was Consort Ji who sent me the message not long ago. If we don't go today, we'll miss him again."
"My mother already sent you a message, and you still didn't take me out! Humph!"
I sat down to the side and ignored him. Xie Yuancheng came over happily and tugged at my clothes: "Ying'er~ do you need an outer garment?"
"Whether you want it or not, it's late spring now. I'll just go out in a light shirt."
"Okay, I'll put your shirt on right away~" Xie Yuancheng leaned over and tugged at my clothes again. He designed this whole outfit, and it was very comfortable to wear without feeling cold.
We were making a ruckus when the carriage suddenly turned, startling me so much that I clung tightly to Xie Yuancheng and leaned against him.
"Liu Qian, what just happened?" Xie Yuancheng patted my back gently to comfort me. I was indeed quite frightened. The carriage suddenly turned, and I thought it was going to overturn.
"My lord, the little beggar that Lord Lu kept came to stop our carriage, but I managed to dodge him."
I leaned against Xie Yuancheng to rest: "That bastard Lu Fengjun, why didn't he take her away? What's the point of leaving her in the city!"
"Ying'er~" Before he could finish speaking, I heard a baby's voice coming from behind the carriage.
"Master~ Madam~ I'm really a good girl, and I'm beautiful too, please take care of me~"
She chased after me again. I lifted the carriage curtain, and she ran even faster when she saw me. Xie Yuancheng threw a white cloth down to cover her face, but she was still running.
What kind of weirdo raised these kids? They can all run so fast, even though they're not wearing shoes.
"Madam, please adopt me as your daughter. I'm very well-behaved and will try to please you."
I almost spat at her, but I held back looking at her. Luckily, she didn't last long before a beggar by the roadside grabbed her by the legs and hung her upside down. She struggled, and he threw her into a haystack.
"Bastards! You sons of bitches! You've disturbed my peaceful life, do you poor wretches even have the money to compensate me?!"
That brat is just so stubborn. I closed the carriage curtain, too lazy to watch her arguing with the beggar, and glared at Xie Yuancheng angrily: "Aren't you going to come up with a solution?"
"Lu Fengjun's intention was to spread the news of her being here to the capital and see if anyone would come looking for her. However, he overestimated the conscience of the Empress and her group; more than two months have passed and there has been no response whatsoever."
"We can't just let her mess around here, complaining about everything. If she wants something good, we should see if she's even destined for it."
Anyway, I won't pity them, much less take them in. Anyone would be annoyed to hear that voice every day.
“Ying’er~ There will be soldiers on an expedition passing by tomorrow, they will take her away.” Xie Yuancheng massaged my shoulders, and I looked at him suspiciously.
Xie Yuancheng then explained to me that the soldiers sent to the border last time were the same as this one, and there were prisoners among them who were being sent to be exiled to the army. She would be arrested tonight and locked up with them tomorrow.
Lu Fengjun originally didn't want to send it over, but the brat couldn't see reality. How could he raise an ungrateful wretch, especially one who could kill him at any time? So he sent it over.
If he had known this would happen, he wouldn't have been so lenient in the first place; those people were all born and then abandoned. Perhaps there were just too many children, so losing a few didn't matter.
"But you can't go see her. She's very good at playing the victim. I bet some women will feel sorry for her, and she'll play along."
"I'm not going!" I lifted the curtain, suddenly remembering Bizhu's words: "Yuancheng, did their parents have too many children and then lose them?"
"Some of them are, the rumors outside are that some of them give birth to more than a dozen in one pregnancy, and the fewest are seven or eight, so they are raised like pigs. The people who give birth can't afford to raise them, and other people find it terrifying, thinking that they are reincarnations of sow spirits."
Furthermore, they were already disliked, treated like wild children, and happened to catch the eye of the Empress's people, which led to an uncontrollable situation.
I nodded, not wanting to think about these disgusting things and people, and started to change the subject. I told him about Zuixianlou and Zuilu wine.
"Ying'er~ I was planning to do something bad back then, but this time you volunteered to come with me, so don't push me away like you did last time~"
“I suddenly remembered that I have other things to do at the pawn shop with the same name. My sister also said that I should go for her next time, so I won’t go with you.”
Just kidding, how could I possibly let Xie Yuancheng take me back drunk? That would be like throwing a lamb to the slaughter!
"Ying'er~ You always bully me!" Xie Yuancheng said unhappily, turning to the other side. It's when you're unhappy that I'm worried.
Anyway, after I leave the pawnshop, I'll head straight to the Marquis's mansion and pretend to be an ostrich in Li Ruowei's courtyard.
Soon, the carriage stopped, and Xie Yuancheng and I got off. Nothing had changed. I followed him into the pawnshop. The clerks had changed; this was where the manager worked.
However, the new clerk said that the pawnshop owner had changed, and we and the shopkeeper had all been back from 2020, so we weren't surprised at all.
"The Marquis has arrived, what a rare guest!" A young man, who looked to be around thirty, came out from inside.
"Greetings, Master Mao." Xie Yuancheng glanced at me, and I then spoke to him. Master Mao invited us inside to talk.
The first time I went into the back of the pawnshop, there were rows of small cabinets, probably for pawning things. We walked through the corridor to the backyard and finally sat in a gazebo.
"Master Mao, there have been many things going on in Linyang lately, so we are late."
"I've heard about this matter. It's really troublesome. If we don't take action, more people will die. If we do take action, some people will feel guilty."
"Yes." Xie Yuancheng always manages to smile so gracefully at times like this, which leaves me completely dumbfounded.
Listening to their conversation, I learned that Mao Gong was a Taoist priest. Xie Yuancheng had said he would find a Taoist priest to examine me, and that was the one he had asked.
He and Consort Ji had known each other since childhood, and Consort Ji would always consult him when she had questions. The last letter she wrote was about whether she should try to win over Xie Yuancheng and exclude the Crown Prince.
The answer to that question is definitely yes. She's Xie Yuancheng's mother-in-law, so how could she not support her son-in-law's career?
Mao Gong was exceptionally talkative, and I became interested in many of the topics he discussed.
"Madam is the Empress's daughter, and she looks very much like her." When I first came in, Mao Gong was already looking me up and down, and now he directly praised me.
I was initially quite embarrassed, but Xie Yuancheng actually answered for me: "Yes, Ying'er is a bit naughty. If she were as gentle as Your Majesty, that would be wonderful. However, I suspect she might not be used to it."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com