Panic

The girl's black eyelashes like crow feathers trembled slightly, and after a long while, she finally opened her eyes slowly.

She moved her lips subconsciously, but found that she could only make some choking sounds because there was a thick piece of cloth tightly stuffed in her mouth.

This nauseating feeling made her frown involuntarily.

Feeling the bumps beneath her body, her eyes wandered around in the dim environment, and she could vaguely see that she was in a cramped carriage.

But the car windows were tightly sealed, and only a faint light could barely penetrate through the gaps, making it impossible to see the scene outside at all.

Apart from the rapid rustling of the wheels over the stones, there was no other sound in the quiet carriage.

She tried to move, but it was in vain because her hands and feet were tied tightly and she couldn't move at all.

An idea immediately flashed through her mind: she was kidnapped.

There was a dull pain in the head, and the memory of what happened before I was knocked unconscious gradually flooded into my mind like a tide, but the details were still blurry, as if shrouded in a layer of mist.

She vaguely remembered that she and Mu Wan'er left the house, but the carriage they had called in advance was late.

About half a minute later, the sound of horse hooves was heard in the distance, and then a simple carriage appeared in their sight.

After the driver stopped, he kept his head down and remained silent.

But at that time, neither of them noticed anything wrong and got on the carriage without hesitation.

Unexpectedly, just when they thought the carriage was about to set off, the driver suddenly lifted the curtain and slapped each of them cleanly, knocking them both unconscious.

The change came so suddenly that she didn't even have time to reach into her sleeve and take out the knockout powder before her eyes were shrouded in darkness.

However, when she fell into coma, she vaguely caught a glimpse of the driver's strong forearm, and it seemed that a word was carved stroke by stroke.

It seems to be 'li'.

This may be considered a weak clue. If we can escape this disaster, we should be able to search in this direction.

As her thoughts gradually drifted away, she realized that she should not be alone at the moment, as Mu Wan'er should have been knocked unconscious as well.

She blinked her sour eyes several times before finally noticing the figure lying limply across from her, leaning against another car window.

Although she couldn't see clearly in the darkness, her clear ears told her that Mu Wan'er should still be asleep.

At this moment, the most urgent task is to plan for self-rescue.

But considering the two of them couldn't even move at the moment, it was obvious that saving themselves would be as difficult as climbing to heaven.

However, since the driver had no intention of killing them and only tied them up, it meant that they were still useful to him and their lives should not be a concern for the time being.

After an unknown amount of time, the carriage, which had been speeding, finally came to a slow stop.

For some reason, she felt a vague sense of uneasiness in her heart, and her heartbeat seemed to rise to her throat.

Her soft eyelashes trembled slightly and she closed her eyes subconsciously.

Her intuition told her that the best option at this moment was to continue pretending to be unconscious.

In the darkness, people's senses seem to become abnormally sharp, especially hearing.

She could clearly hear the coachman shout "Call" and then jump off the carriage steadily.

At the same time, a series of erratic footsteps gradually came from outside. The sound was so light that it was almost negligible, but she still caught it.

Then, the groom's rough voice sounded, which seemed to carry a hint of respect and awe: "Master, the person is here."

Pavilion Master?

Hearing these two words, Mu An Ning's eyes moved involuntarily under his eyelids, as if the spring water was rippling, and his thoughts wandered back to the days in Wutong City.

She had also met a person who was called like this on the day when she was collecting herbs in the forest for the seriously injured Gu Huaizhi.

And that person...should be from Liang State.

Thinking of this, her slender fingers couldn't help but tighten the hem of her clothes, and her back felt a little cold.

In their Chu State, even five-year-old children knew that the people of Liang were cunning, cruel, and definitely not good people.

If the two people outside the car are really from Liang State, then she and Mu Wan'er...

Just when she was lost in thought, the car curtain was suddenly opened.

Although the light that hit her face was not particularly dazzling, it almost made her, who had been in the dark for a long time, subconsciously open her eyes.

Fortunately, she restrained herself in time, and even her eyelashes did not twitch at all.

It was unclear whether the person who lifted the curtain was the coachman or the man called the owner of the pavilion. He did not move for a long time and just stood quietly in front of her.

The man seemed to stare into the car for a long time before he finally spoke in a leisurely tone: "Carry her out."

Mu An Ning held his breath and concentrated, feeling someone approaching.

But just when she thought she was about to be carried away, she suddenly felt an empty space beside her. It must be Mu Wan'er who was carried away.

After waiting for a while, the man spoke again: "I'll do it."

The groom seemed to hesitate for a moment before he replied respectfully, "Yes, Master."

Just as she was feeling surprised, she suddenly smelled a strong masculine scent approaching. The strong feeling of oppression made her bite the cloth in her mouth unconsciously.

There was a shake immediately afterwards, and she was roughly lifted up, her body floating up in an instant like a fallen leaf blown by the wind.

She was carried on the shoulders!

As for how she discovered it, besides the tough feeling in her legs, there was the pain spreading from her abdomen.

The man's shoulders were hard, like rock, and they hurt her.

After she calmed down her breath, she squinted her eyes and tried to observe the surrounding environment.

The sun has already set, leaving only the afterglow of the sun slanting down like golden threads.

It was around the end of the night when she and Mu Wan'er were kidnapped. It seemed that this place was about two hours away from the house where the prince was recuperating.

This is a majestic and magnificent villa, surrounded by lush vegetation, making the entire courtyard even more hidden in the twilight, as if isolated from the world.

Apart from the footsteps of the owner of the pavilion and the groom, there was no other sound around, not even the chirping of birds or insects. The silence was so eerie that it was almost scary.

Just as she wanted to continue observing, she suddenly felt a large hand on her leg, and the pressure applied increased a lot, whether intentionally or unintentionally.

It was like... warning her.

She was startled and closed her eyes instantly.

*

When he heard the cry for help from outside, Gu Huaizhi's heart was in turmoil, like a torrent of water hitting the long-silent lake of his heart, causing ripples.

In almost an instant, he strode out of the room.

He had only one thought in his mind, and that was not to let anything happen to her.

But when he hurried outside, he found that he was still a step late.

He looked around, but there was no trace of the two sisters.

There was still some flying dust in the air, and on the ground there were more than one trace of wheel tracks.

It is obvious that someone deliberately tampered with it to hide the true traces.

In this way, he didn't even know where to start chasing.

Suddenly, he frowned and noticed the light blue sachet with gold thread edging lying on the ground.

The workmanship and style are exactly the same as the scarlet sachet he has been wearing for three years.

Almost instantly, the girl's gorgeous face and her shy and timid eyes on the day she gave him the sachet emerged in his mind.

However... on the day when the girl proposed to cancel the engagement, he handed the sachet to Gu Ji in a fit of anger.

If nothing unexpected happened, it should have been thrown away by now.

He felt a sudden pain in his chest and hurried over to pick it up.

He carefully brushed off the dust on it, and his fingers unconsciously rubbed it a few times, touching the words on it.

He slowly turned it over, and what he saw was a crooked, irregular word "Ning".

His Adam's apple couldn't help but move, because the same crooked words were embroidered on his sachet.

But, it is 'Huai'.

He remembered that he seemed to have laughed at her with disdain at her poor embroidery skills.

The guess was confirmed; the owner of this light blue sachet was Mu An Ning.

In fact, there is no need for that word. Just by the scent of orchid that penetrates his nose, he can associate it with the girl.

There was also a faint fragrance hidden in his sachet. If it weren't for that extremely soothing fragrance, he would not have worn a crudely made sachet for so many years.

After putting the object in his hand into his sleeve, he unconsciously tightened his fingertips. A feeling of powerlessness surged into his heart, like a thin thread constantly pulling at his heartstrings.

He regretted it.

He wished that time could go back so that he could scold himself for not knowing how to cherish things.

He wanted to find the sachet immediately, the object that carried the girl's love.

He wanted to say that he actually...didn't mind it.

On the contrary, without its soothing fragrance, he couldn't sleep all night.

But the girl's life or death is unknown at this moment.

Waves of dull pain surged through his heart, and he clenched his hands into fists, feeling the stinging pain in his palms.

*

Gu Yihan saw the tense face of the young man who strode into the room, but he remained calm and his voice was as cold as a breeze in the cold winter: "Ah Huai, I have sent Du Qi to chase him."

Du Qi was the guard who had led Mu An Ning and Mu Wan'er into the house.

Gu Yihan was still leaning on the couch, his face showing no sign of worry about his fiancée, as if matters of life and death were nothing more than trivial matters in his eyes.

Only a few people knew that he was recuperating here. Apart from the emperor, there were only Gu Huaizhi and a few of his close associates.

If what happened today was not done by these people, then his whereabouts had already been exposed to others.

Life is like a game of chess. One wrong move will lead to all wrong moves.

Upon hearing this, Gu Huaizhi nodded slightly without saying a word, and unconsciously tightened the sachet in his sleeve.

Since his cousin has already sent people to chase him, he will just wait for the time being.

Soon, Du Qi, with a frown on his face, came into the room.

Without him saying anything, the two people standing and sitting in the room had already roughly understood the situation, and their mood also sank.

Sure enough, the next moment, Du Qi bowed his head and said respectfully: "Your Highness, I am incompetent." He bowed his head even lower with a little shame, and said harshly: "The driver was too cunning, and I... lost him."

He had never seen such a cunning person. He took one detour after another along the way, leaving him behind and fooling him, and disappeared without a trace in the blink of an eye.

He was very sure that this person must have undergone systematic training to achieve this level.

Gu Yihan didn't show much surprise on his face. He just nodded slightly and said coldly to his men, "Send more people."

After Du Qi left, Gu Huaizhi pondered for a moment, picked up the sword that had been placed on the table without hesitation, lifted his clothes, and walked out.

Gu Yihan seemed to be caught off guard by the boy's action. He moved his body, causing the wound to tug.

He coughed lightly and called his cousin in a gentle voice: "Ahuai, where are you going?"

Gu Huaizhi did not stop when he heard his cousin's words. He just waved his hand lazily and said, "Of course, I'm going to save her... them."

After all, they had been married before, and now that she was missing, he couldn't just sit there and do nothing.

Just think of it as...because of our past friendship.

However, he seemed to have figured it out.

Even though he has been reluctant to admit it these days, the fact is that the girl doesn't seem to want to see him, but his concern for her is getting stronger and stronger.

*

When the footsteps gradually faded away, Mu An Ning, who was lying on the ground, slowly opened his eyes, without a trace of emotion in his eyes.

Just now, the owner of the pavilion and the groom threw the two of them into this room and left without staying.

Fortunately, they did not deliberately test whether the two of them were awake.

The light was still dim, just like inside the carriage.

But she could barely make out that she was in a dilapidated woodshed, and the air was still filled with a stale, damp smell.

In the dim light, dust was floating in the air. Mu An Ning looked up at the wooden window on the top and found that it was not tightly sealed.

But...it was much taller than I had imagined, almost as tall as two adult men.

In this case, it seemed impossible to climb out of the window.

Now the only thing to do is to stay calm and find other ways to escape.

[Wow, my head hurts so much! ]

[My shoulders hurt too! ]

Mu An Ning gathered his thoughts and turned his gaze to Mu Wan'er who was twisting her body.

【My hands, my feet, my mouth!!】

[Hehe, I was kidnapped again...]

again?

Hearing Mu Wan'er's helpless voice, Mu An Ning's eyes moved slightly, and he thought carefully about when Mu Wan'er had been kidnapped.

Could it be the month she moved to Wutong City?

[By the way, where is my daughter? ]

Mu An Ning came back to her senses and saw Mu Wan'er looking around with difficulty, as if trying to find her.

Seeing this, she also tried to make some sounds from her throat.

But the cloth in her mouth was too thick, and every time she tried, she felt an uncomfortable dry nausea.

She didn't want to throw up all the food in her stomach, so she decided not to struggle any further.

After thinking quietly for a moment, her eyes turned and fell on the pile of dry firewood at her feet.

Although there was some distance between them, she took a deep breath, stretched out her foot and kicked, trying to attract Mu Wan'er's attention.

The first time, I missed.

She kicked several times in a row, and finally on the fifth kick, she used up all her strength and her toes touched the dry wood.

Hearing the slight friction sound, Mu Wan'er, who was in the middle of the woodshed, finally turned her head and, through the layers of firewood, barely made eye contact with Mu An Ning, who was lying in the corner.

A hint of joy suddenly appeared in her eyes, and she kept twisting her body: "Wuwu! (Sister!)" She said anxiously: "Wuwuwuwu... (Are you okay?)"

Although her voice was restrained, her urgency was evident.

Mu An Ning sighed helplessly in his heart, wanting to tell Mu Wan'er not to waste her energy.

She claimed that she didn't have the ability to understand her mumbling sounds.

At this moment, she really wished that the two of them could communicate in their hearts, just like Mu Wan'er and her system.

It wasn't like this, where she was the only one who heard Mu Wan'er's thoughts.

Although she didn't know what Mu Wan'er wanted to say, she still nodded slightly and gave the anxious girl a gentle look, trying to calm her down.

【I hope the goose girl is fine. 】

[But who put my daughter in that corner? ]

[Help, why does this damn plot seem so familiar? ! ]

*

The next day.

As soon as Mu An Ning opened her eyes, she saw a ferocious black and gold mask in front of her.

She quickly closed her eyes again and almost screamed out in shock, but the cloth stuffed in her mouth prevented her from moving.

Is this...the owner of the pavilion, or someone else?

After calming down, she slowly opened her eyes again and saw the man squatting in front of her, slowly pushing a bowl of food and a bowl of water in front of her.

He was very frugal with his words and said, "Eat."

Mu An Ning was stunned for a moment, staring at the two wooden bowls in front of him with a frown.

She felt an indescribable disgust when she heard this commanding tone.

Moreover, her hands were tied behind her back and her mouth was stuffed with a cloth. How could she eat?

The man watched her expression change with interest, as if he was observing a trapped bird, imprisoned in an invisible net, deprived of the freedom to fly.

After a while, he let out a weird laugh that seemed to be in frustration, which made people shudder: "I forgot."

Although she couldn't see his expression beneath the mask, she could feel the corners of his lips raised in playful expression.

Mu An Ning's eyelashes trembled slightly because the man in front of her had a big, bony hand that was slowly approaching her lips.

In a flash, she felt her mouth become empty and the strip of cloth was pulled out.

But that hand, which was a little cold, stroked her slightly swollen lips, whether intentionally or unintentionally.

Mu An Ning felt a slight pain and bit her lower lip involuntarily, smelling a hint of blood.

The man rubbed his fingertips gently and uttered a word slowly: "Eat."

[What the hell? I saw this when I woke up! ]

[What is this villain doing behind my back, molesting my girl?! ]

Mu An Ning was stunned when he heard this. Before Mu Wan'er could make a sound, he endured the pain on his lips and said harshly: "...I'm not hungry."

Her voice was a little hoarse, like fine sand blown by the wind.

The man stared at her with his pale grey eyes for a long while in an ambiguous manner. Then, he slowly picked up a piece of cake and brought it to her lips.

A faint aroma wafted into her nose, and even though she didn't like sweets, her stomach couldn't help but growl.

However, she still pursed her lips and turned her head away calmly.

Who knows if there is something strange in the food? She would rather go hungry for the time being than take the risk.

Although...the masked man in front of her didn't seem to have any intention of killing her.

He seemed to be only interested in her weak appearance at the moment.

The man was not angry, he just smiled playfully and twisted the small pastry with his right hand with great interest.

After a while, he suddenly stretched out his left hand and grasped her chin decisively.

His force was neither light nor heavy, but she could clearly feel the thin layer of cocoon at the bottom of his fingers and the base of his thumb.

This is the place where people who practice martial arts usually have silk coffins.

Of course, she was not a martial artist. The reason she could see it so clearly was because Gu Huaizhi was in the same position and also had a thin layer of coffin.

And she had touched it accidentally before.

Her thoughts were suddenly withdrawn as the man was slowly straightening her head which had been tilted to the side.

Then he applied a little force and pinched her cheeks tightly.

Under such control, her lips involuntarily opened slightly.

It seemed that if she did not obey his wishes and swallow the cake, he would not let it go.

[Oh my god, what is this villain doing?! ]

[You bastard, let go of my girl! ! ]

Seeing that Mu Wan'er, who had calmed down, was about to make a sound, Mu An Ning wanted to speak again.

She thought to herself that she might as well eat it, after all, it was just a piece of cake.

If there was indeed poison in it, she would accept her fate.

At least it was better than Mu Wan'er making any noise and angering the man in front of her who was not sure whether he was an enemy or a friend.

Just as she closed her eyes and was about to swallow the cake, there was a dull knock on the door.

The man paused in his movements, and with displeasure shifted his gaze from Mu An Ning's fair face to the wooden door.

The person outside the door did not step in, but he did not seem to avoid the presence of her and Mu Wan'er. Instead, he directly said respectfully: "Master, the deputy master is looking for you."

*

As night falls, heaven and earth gradually sink into darkness.

There were very light footsteps outside the house, accompanied by the sound of the door lock being gently turned.

Although these sounds are subtle, they are particularly clear in the quiet night.

Mu An Ning had been sleeping soundly to begin with, and at this moment he woke up immediately, suddenly opening his eyes.

She still maintained the same posture as before, lying motionless in the corner, blocked by some firewood.

She hadn't eaten for a whole day and night, so even though she wanted to have a good sleep and recharge her energy, the protest in her stomach wouldn't allow it.

The owner of the pavilion during the day never came back after being called away, and no one came to bring them food anymore.

Mu Wan'er had slept enough during the day, so she couldn't fall asleep at all.

After hearing the noise, she opened her eyes wide and immediately looked vigilantly at the wooden door facing her.

Finally, with a "bang", the door was pushed open.

What came into her sight was Gu Huaizhi in a scarlet brocade dress.

His tied-up black hair was a little messy, and he was breathing heavily, his breath was thick and uneven, as if he had been rushing for a long time.

His eyes scanned the dim woodshed and finally stopped on Mu Wan'er.

At that moment, Mu Wan'er's heart skipped a beat, and her pupils trembled, revealing a look of despair.

[It’s over, it’s over. So this plot that made my daughter so heartbroken that she turned evil is still going to happen? ]

[I was wondering why there were two kidnappings this time in the book. It turns out that they were waiting for me here...]

[Supporting male character, please stop looking at me. Why don’t you look over there? ]