Willow Dark
"Madam is truly a heroine. She is able to remain calm and collected at this time."
The carriage did not go towards the city gate, but turned left and right, and turned into a deserted garden. One of the men opened the carriage door and sneered.
Just now, Chen Yuanyuan had thought about shouting in the car.
But thinking carefully about what King Zhao said in Gong Tower, if she didn't shout, then she was just a mysterious beauty brought by Prime Minister Shen Qixing; if she shouted, the fact that she, the wife of the Right Prime Minister, was kidnapped in the street would be confirmed and spread, and only death would be waiting for her.
"Compared to His Royal Highness Prince Zhao holding a weak woman hostage, he doesn't even deserve the word 'hero'." Under the veil, Ling Wan's voice was as cold as broken jade.
Such a mockery immediately made the man furious, and he started to spit foul words all over the floor. Seeing that the people in the carriage were still calm and composed, the strong man had an idea and wanted to step forward and lift her skirt.
The ladies of the Zhou dynasty were not known to show their appearance to others. Chen Yuanyuan knew that his actions were an insult, and were intended to shatter the self-righteous nobility of the Right Prime Minister's wife.
This offensive behavior also made Chen Yuanyuan feel relieved.
"My wife is a first-rank lady appointed by the emperor himself. How dare you, a villain, disrespect her!" Seeing that the man dared to insult his mistress in such a way, Lu Yun rushed forward, opened his arms, and protected her behind him.
"Where did you come from, you bitch? Get out!" The man was quite strong and slapped Lu Yun out of the carriage. Another person watching the show from below immediately grabbed her and covered her mouth.
Xu Lingwan listened to Lu Yun's sobs and pinched her palms hard, forcing herself to calm down.
Seeing the hand outside the white curtain approaching, about to lift her veil, she said calmly, "You are from Prince Zhao's maternal family, right? Lord Pei has always been loyal to the emperor. I wonder what he would think if he knew that one of his subordinates dared to offend the imperial consort personally appointed by the emperor and disregarded him?"
The pair of hands with thick calluses on the knuckles paused upon hearing this, not daring to move forward an inch.
"Madam, you are truly eloquent." A graceful voice suddenly rang out from outside the carriage. The person before him trembled at the words, and then hurriedly retreated like a mouse at the sight of a cat.
Through the curtain, Ling Wan could only see that the man was wearing a green shirt, holding a Kongming fan in his hand, and dressed like a strategist.
"My name is Gong Yeming, an aide to the Pei Mansion. I have just offended Madam, and I apologize to her on behalf of the Duke of Zhao's Mansion."
Being able to claim to apologize on behalf of Duke Zhao's Mansion, this person must not be an ordinary staff member of the Pei family.
But this is interesting. The Pei family is the in-laws of King Zhao. Now King Zhao and the Pei family have conspired to plot against Shen Cong and abducted her. However, the Pei family's staff only mentioned the Pei Mansion and not King Zhao.
Gong Yeming originally thought that the captured right-hand wife would cry and make a fuss, or even threaten him with her family background. After all, she was not yet eighteen and was still a little girl.
But the reality was different from what he expected. The very young Mrs. Shen Er had been unexpectedly calm from the moment she was abducted. Even now, in this remote place, surrounded by many men, she sat in the carriage from beginning to end, with an upright posture and a calm voice.
When the gaze through the veil swept over him, Gong Yeming even instinctively bent down, not daring to look at her directly.
Ling Wan laughed: "Apologize, how do I apologize? Just now, the servant in the mansion beat my maid for no reason."
The word "house slave" caught Gong Yeming's eye, and he immediately bowed and said, "According to the Pei family rules, anyone who offends a noble will be flogged tenfold. I wonder if my lady is satisfied with this?"
Ling Wan looked at Lu Yun on the other side: "Lu Yun, what do you think?"
"Ten times is too cheap for him! Just now he even wanted to lift the veil of my lady and offend her!" Lu Yun broke free from the shackles, stood in front of the car, and said viciously.
"Oh? Is that true?" Gong Yeming's eyes turned and he glanced at the strong man just now.
The sturdy man immediately knelt down, his expression still uneasy: "Just now, the Right Prime Minister's wife insulted Your Highness, and I wanted to teach her a lesson on Your Highness's behalf!"
Gong Yeming snorted softly, his eyes filled with meaning. Then he looked at Xu Lingwan and said, "Madam, this servant of mine is also a member of the Zhao King's staff. As a counselor, I dare not overstep my bounds. How can I calm you down?"
Ling Wan chuckled, "Since he's a servant of the Pei family, how can he be considered presumptuous? Besides, the Pei family gave King Zhao such a rude servant, shouldn't they teach him a lesson?"
Gong Yeming paused, then bowed and said, "Madam, you are right."
Mi Li ordered Wan Weiwei to close her eyes. "Since that's the case—this servant just hit my maid and tried to offend me. Lord Gongsun, please chop off his arms and gouge out his eyes to set the standard."
If she did not establish her authority, and if Gong Yeming was not around, she and Lu Yun would not know what kind of situation they would face.
Moreover, she also wanted to prove whether the attitude of the Pei family behind Gong Yeming was the same as she expected.
**
"Madam, you—"
Gong Yeming "invited" her to a small courtyard in the garden. Not long after the door was closed, Lu Yun carefully lifted her veil and saw her face covered with tears. She couldn't help crying and started crying again.
Did she cry? She didn't know.
Ling Wan patted her back again and again, trying to calm her down: "Silly girl, don't cry, don't cry. Aren't we all fine now?"
Luyun cried even louder.
Ling Wan thought for a moment and then comforted her, "Silly girl, stop crying. It's not good to hurt yourself. The Shen family must be looking for us everywhere now. I believe we will be rescued soon."
Not to mention this, as soon as Luyun said this, she paused, and then her crying turned into wailing.
Chen Yuanyuan: ······Luyun is the same age as Xu Lingwan. It’s okay to cry in a situation like this. Crying helps to recover one’s emotions.
So he held Luyun in his arms and patted her gently to comfort her.
"Madam, do you think the Second Master will come back to save us?" By the end of her crying, Lu Yun's eyes were completely swollen and her eyes were almost desperate.
"Why not? I'm his wife." In fact, Lu Yun didn't want to ask this. Even if outsiders didn't know that Mrs. Shen Er was kidnapped in the street, Mr. Shen Er knew about it, and the Shen family would also know about it.
Ling Wan knew what she really meant: even if she was rescued, would the Shen family tolerate a woman who had "lost her reputation"?
Chen Yuanyuan didn't dare to dwell on it, and couldn't offer any definitive answer. She paused for a moment, wiped the tears from Lu Yun's face, and changed the subject: "You've suffered this undeserved misfortune because of me. I'll take care of you once we're out of here."
"Miss, I'm not going anywhere!" Lu Yun realized the meaning of this and immediately knelt down, kowtowed to Xu Lingwan, saying, "Wherever Miss goes, I'll go! If Miss lives, I'll live; if Miss dies, I'll never live alone!"
How did this become a matter of life and death? Yes, it does become a matter of life and death.
If Chen Cong or the Shen family wanted her to die to preserve her reputation, unless Chen Yuanyuan was completely powerless to resist, she would definitely drag down whoever wanted her dead!
"Don't worry, they won't and dare not do anything to us at the moment. We will all live well and will not die." Ling Wan hurriedly pulled her up.
This silly girl was so stubborn that she got a big bump when she raised her head, but luckily her skin was not broken.
Ling Wan gently rubbed her forehead and began to comfort her, her voice softer than a feather, "Do you still remember that I used some money to let your sister Hongyue buy a house and more than ten acres of fertile land in Yangzhou?"
Lu Yun knew about this. Hong Yue was two years older than her and was supposed to return to Jiangling last year to marry the grandson of Liu Mama, the old lady's companion. However, because she couldn't bear to leave her own wife, she stayed at the Shen family and refused to go back.
Seeing Hongyue's loyalty, the old lady sent Liu Mama's grandson over as well. Seeing that Li Erge was reliable, the old lady changed Hongyue's slave status and also cancelled Li Erge's slave status.
"That was bought by your wife in the name of your sister Hongyue, so that if the Shen family bullies us, we will be protected."
Ah. Lu Yun was a little stunned. How could the Shen family bully us? Isn't the Madam very good to Master Shen?
No, didn't Second Master Shen like Madam before? But now that Madam has been in trouble, given Second Master Shen's temperament, he might even let Madam die to clear her name!
"What does Madam mean?" Lu Yun's eyes lit up.
Ling Wan pursed her lips and lowered her voice to an almost inaudible tone. "If the Shen family can come to rescue us, you and I can find an excuse to sneak away on the way back. We'll first go to Xiangfang to find Li Tongguang, and then take your sister Hongyue with us to Yangzhou."
"If the Shen family hadn't come to rescue us, your wife would have observed this garden along the way. This garden is abandoned, very large, with no noise around, and it's in a remote location."
"If we can escape surveillance and hide somewhere in the garden, there's hope of escaping. Then we'll go find your sister Hongyue's man and take him to Yangzhou."
"We both have hope and a way out."
"Madam is so smart and amazing!" After Lu Yun understood what she had said, she stopped crying completely. She would go wherever her young lady went, as long as she could be with her.
Now is the time to test your son-in-law. Chen Yuanyuan smiled faintly, glanced around the room, picked up a round fan with a picture of a lady, and fanned herself, thinking silently, "Let's see if he can find me before midnight tonight."
He was kidnapped around noon.
Six hours, twelve hours, Chen Cong, it's time to prove to me that you have all the power.
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