Chapter 21 Find Her
Wen Rao was so jealous that she almost went crazy when she saw her sister grow up to be a beautiful and charming girl.
But on the surface, she still looked like a lady from a noble family. She said softly, "This is my little sister. She has been raised away from home since she was young. This is her first time seeing such a scene. She is unfamiliar with the etiquette. Please don't laugh at her, ladies."
"She was raised outside? She was born to a concubine."
"Even a proper lady would choose a good family background, but we shouldn't even consider a girl raised outside."
Several women looked disgusted, as if they were really selecting daughters-in-law for their sons.
Wen Rao walked over, gently took Wen Ning's hand, and said with a distressed look, "My sister was born with good looks, but she had a bad fate. She got married a few months ago, but her husband died on the first day. She looks so flustered today, I guess she ran away from her husband's house again. I will take my sister to the gauze pavilion to rest first, and then make plans. I won't disturb you ladies."
The plump and beautiful lady immediately let go of her hand. "What! She's a widow! What bad luck!"
"If she marries the man, he'll die. I'm afraid it's a curse on her!"
"Yeah, she actually sneaked out. We who are choosing our daughter-in-law really need to open our eyes and see clearly. Otherwise, if we are deceived by such a person, wouldn't it be laughable?"
Wen Ning had no time to care about the gossip of these people. She was always worried that the guards would come to the pleasure boat.
Wen Rao did not take Wen Ning to the gauze pavilion, but instead led her to the bottom cabin.
The lower cabin was dark, with occasional flickering candlelight illuminating the mottled shadows of the wall.
Wen Ning paused, a chill suddenly rising in her heart. She subconsciously took a step back, wanting to leave, but was suddenly grabbed by the wrists by two maids behind her.
"Ah! What are you going to do..."
The rough hemp rope cut into her fair flesh, and her arms were twisted tightly behind her back.
"You ran away secretly from your husband's house. What if the Liu family comes to ask for you? I think it's better to tie up your sister first to prevent her from running away somewhere else."
Wen Ning's wrists were painfully tightened by the thick rope, but she straightened her back. "Sister was engaged to that Young Master Liu. She knew he was terminally ill and would soon die, yet she forced me to marry him in his place. Sister didn't want to be a widow, yet she forced it upon me. Now, not only do you feel no remorse, but you're blaming me for running away."
Wen Rao pinched her face fiercely, her nails almost digging into her flesh. "This is your fate, a lowly child born from a concubine. It's a blessing for you to marry me. At least, you've been my wife for a few hours! Otherwise, a nameless and insignificant bitch like you would have married a butcher or a peddler."
Seeing that she was being unreasonable, Wen Ning took a deep breath and screamed with all her might, "Help! Help..."
Seeing this, Wen Rao shouted at the two maids, "What are you still standing there for? Hurry up and shut up this bitch!"
His mouth was instantly filled with the rough linen towel, and his cry for help was blocked, only a muffled "wuwu" sound could be heard.
Wen Rao stared at her, and suddenly a strange smile appeared on the corner of her mouth, "Why don't we play a game that we played when we were kids..."
Wen Ning's pupils suddenly shrank, and cold sweat suddenly broke out on his back.
Then she was locked in a cramped secret cell. The low ceiling made it difficult for her to stand up. Her nose was pressed against the moldy wooden board, and there was almost no space in front or behind.
She is autistic and becomes dizzy and confused whenever she enters a dark or narrow place.
Wen Rao knew that she had this hidden disease since she was a child. Whenever her father brought her back home, Wen Rao would lock her in a sealed cabinet under the pretext of playing together.
He would let her out only when he felt that she was almost suffocating in despair, and then he would say innocently: I just want to play hide-and-seek with my sister.
The damp and moldy smell kept drilling into my nostrils, the saliva-soaked linen stuck tightly to my palate, and my whole body could neither stand nor kneel in the narrow space.
The heartbeat in my chest suddenly became louder, and cold sweat slid down my spine.
A few strands of hair stuck to his face, and the wooden boards on both sides seemed to shrink towards him in the darkness, adding to the feeling of being restrained.
Wen Ning moved her body, trying to break free from the hemp rope, but found it was useless.
The darkness seemed to have substance, pressing in from all directions. Wen Ning's chest was clenched by invisible hands, and she felt like she could hardly breathe.
Tiny white lights began to appear before my eyes, and my consciousness gradually blurred amidst the suffocation...
"My Lord..." She murmured two words unconsciously in her throat, and the outline of him that she had sketched became clearer in the darkness.
The pain once again made her briefly awake, but she found that the surroundings were still suffocatingly small and dark.
At this moment, the lights in the brocade cabin were bright, and the wine glasses were shining at the fingertips.
The screen door creaked open, and the noisy atmosphere in the room suddenly quieted down a bit.
The man was wearing a dark blue brocade robe, with a jade belt cinching his waist to show his straightness. He had the appearance of a dragon and a phoenix, a true descendant of aristocratic family.
"It's Marquis Anyuan!"
Someone let out a low cry, and everyone at the table suddenly started to rustle their clothes.
Everyone's backs were straightened, and the dissolute young man also put down his crossed legs.
Just now a stunningly beautiful woman came, and now in comes another one, the exiled noble Marquis Anyuan.
It was worth the trip.
It was not a wasted trip.
The teacup in Wen Rao's hand suddenly tilted. She stared at the man in a daze, feeling that all the men she had met before were insignificant.
Wen Chi, who was caressing the dancer's soft waist in the Cloud Pavilion, was called down. He hurriedly wiped the wine stains from his lips with his sleeve and said, "I didn't know that the Marquis was coming. I'm sorry for not welcoming you. I hope the Marquis will forgive me."
Qing Feng took a half step forward and saluted. "My Lord Marquis has no intention of disturbing your pleasure. I just wanted to ask where the woman in the moon-white silk dress I saw earlier is now."
Ning's mother and daughter were shocked to realize that the person the Marquis was looking for seemed to be that little bitch Wen Ning, and they were unable to guess what was going on.
Wen Chi was in the Cloud Pavilion and had no idea what had happened below, nor had he seen the woman in the moon-white silk dress. He was about to report it, but Wen Rao got there first.
She adjusted her hairpin and said in a delicate voice, "My Lord, the woman you just mentioned has indeed been here, but she has left and is no longer in this pleasure boat."
Although Wen Rao didn't know what the grudge was between the two, if someone found out that she had tied up that bitch and locked her in a sealed secret compartment, how would others feel?
In the shadow cast by Xie Jinglan's brow, his eyes suddenly locked onto her. "Really? But someone saw her get on this pleasure boat and never leave. Are you sure she's gone?"
When Wen Rao's lips met those cold eyes, she felt a chill on the back of her neck, but she still pretended to be calm and said, "I'm sure."
Xie Jinglan's eyes darkened, Qingfeng immediately turned around and took half a step forward, and more than 20 guards lined up and entered.
Qing Feng clasped his fists and saluted again, "Please continue your feast. We will not disturb your enjoyment while we are looking for someone."
In less than a moment, Wen Ning, who had fainted in the bottom cabin, was discovered by the guards.
The secret compartment was so narrow that only a small animal could fit in it. She was tied up with hemp ropes, her messy hair stuck to her pale face, and she was curled up in the corner.
Xie Jinglan's breathing stagnated as the knot was torn apart and then suddenly relaxed when it touched her skin.
He held her in his arms, wrapping her tightly in the black cloak so that no one could see her at all.
Wen Rao knelt on the ground, hunched her shoulders and sobbed, digging her nails deep into the cracks of the ground. "I am innocent. I ran away from my husband's house secretly. I was just... just afraid that my husband's family couldn't find her..."
She was so jealous that she was going crazy. How could she, a married woman, be related to Marquis Anyuan?
Everyone in Jincang sighed upon seeing this. Marquis Anyuan was on good terms with a widow?
Xie Jinglan's eyes darkened suddenly, and his gaze swept over her like a knife scraping at bones, "It's not anyone else's turn to interfere with this Marquis's woman!"
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