No one noticed that Liu Cuiming, standing behind them, had a cold, sharp smile on her lips, a smile that sent chills down everyone's spine.
It turned out that Liu Cuiming had spoken with the madam the day before, and she was willing to pay twenty taels of silver to buy Jiang Qianqian, even bringing out the standard indenture.
“You’re bringing her over,” the madam said, glancing down at Liu Cuiming. “Before that, you must get her to sign this. This is a duplicate, so it’s considered a joint document. If anything goes wrong in the future, the authorities can investigate and use this as a record, so they can’t do anything to me.”
"rest assured."
Liu Cuiming rolled up the paper, tossed it into his sleeve, and left with a sense of accomplishment.
She's been looking for an opportunity since yesterday afternoon.
Finally, we saw Jiang Qianqian all alone.
Just then, Zhou Wan had finished preparing food for everyone, and Xu Yuehuai went to scout ahead, with A Qi accompanying her.
As for Jiang Shichen, she was only interested in studying the classics, and no matter how bored these people were, they would never chat with her. Taking advantage of this, she had the perfect opportunity.
Jiang Qianqian went to her husband's house for a walk, but by the time she realized that someone was following her, it was too late.
She turned around and saw the encroaching darkness, and indistinct silhouettes within it. When she confirmed that the other person was Liu Cuiming, she was shocked.
"Qianqian."
Liu Cuiming went over to greet him with a fawning grin.
Jiang Qianqian naturally sensed something was amiss and didn't dare to approach. "What are you doing?"
"What else can we do? Let's chat." She moved closer.
But her enthusiasm was met with indifference. Jiang Qianqian turned to leave, but Liu Cuiming was fully prepared. Just as Jiang Qianqian was about to leave, she strode over to her.
At the same moment he got close, following the madam's hint, he pressed the handkerchief soaked in sleeping potion under Jiang Qianqian's nose. In that instant, Jiang Qianqian's vision went black and she fainted.
Liu Cuiming was somewhat surprised to see Jiang Qianqian faint.
She was ruthless, but she was also worried that she would be seen by some spy. But she was extremely lucky today. Even when she turned around, she didn't see anyone.
"Gagaga".
In the darkness, Liu Cuiming let out a terrifying laugh.
In less than half an hour, Liu Cuiming brought Jiang Qianqian to a brothel.
The madam frowned, looking at her like she was looking at livestock.
Or perhaps, the women she treated were no better than livestock; she practically wanted to pry open their mouths to check their teeth. Liu Cuiming, on the other hand, seemed quite anxious.
"Twenty taels of silver, let's do it cash on delivery..."
The madam chuckled softly. She realized that buying a beautiful young girl for twenty taels of silver was a sure thing; in the future, the wealth this girl would create for her would far exceed twenty taels.
But nowadays, it's the emperor who's not worried, but the eunuchs who are.
The madam sat upright and proper.
She looked at the other person with a calm expression, finally taking a deep breath, "Do you have any talents? Like playing the zither, chess, calligraphy, or painting? You don't mean you don't know any of them?"
"How can you talk like that?" Liu Cuiming pulled the limp Jiang Qianqian up. "Our family's girls can do everything, of course."
In reality, the madam's true purpose was to bargain.
Hearing Liu Cuiming say that, she pursed her lips and shook her head.
“It’s not a good time to show it now,” she said. She knew the child’s origins were questionable, so she deliberately delayed. Liu Cuiming couldn’t hold back and was anxiously scratching her head. The more the madam noticed Liu Cuiming’s behavior, the easier it was for her to manipulate her. “Who knows if he’s healthy or not?”
“My dear aunt,” this sudden revelation startled Liu Cuiming. So, I went to great lengths to send this person to you, and you say the person isn’t healthy? “Of course they’re healthy, they’re perfectly fine.”
"I won't know until I'm fully awake in two hours."
The madam spoke deliberately in a slow and deliberate manner.
This made Liu Cuiming extremely anxious. "What exactly do you mean?"
"What do you mean?" the madam said. "I have to guarantee that the person is alright."
Finally, she understood the other party's ulterior motives.
"You want a price reduction?"
"Fifteen, no more, no less. And the indenture? Give it to me." Now that the madam has taken the offensive, she's not in a hurry at all.
Seeing this, Liu Cuiming became even more anxious, "Fiveteen it is."
She followed a man into a dark room at the back and counted the silver.
That can be considered a successful completion of one's mission.
After leaving the brothel, Liu Cuiming acted furtively. At first, she was worried about being exposed, but she found that everything went so smoothly. Back at the company, no one noticed Jiang Qianqian's presence.
In reality, Jiang Qianqian had very little presence.
When Xu Yuehuai woke up the next morning, she realized that Jiang Qianqian was gone, and she immediately became anxious.
No one could go anywhere; they could only wait where they were.
“Let’s go find Qianqian,” Xu Yuehuai said, looking at Aqi and Zhou Wan. “It’s not safe here, let’s split up and go find her.”
Both of them nodded in agreement.
A moment later, the group went outside and searched in all directions, but they couldn't find Jiang Qianqian after searching for a long time.
Inside the brothel at this moment.
Jiang Qianqian finally opened her eyes, and what she saw was an ugly face covered in makeup.
She inhaled a strong, cheap perfume smell and saw a room with highly saturated colors, with many colorful ribbons hanging from the pillars. Jiang Qianqian had never been here before.
There was even a sense of unknown fear surrounding everything here.
The two looked at each other in bewilderment.
The madam stared at Jiang Qianqian's bright, watery eyes, and was pleased with herself. She smiled faintly, "She's not bad-looking, pretty, and has clear eyes. Can she talk? Talk to your mother."
"Mother?"
Jiang Qianqian finally pieced together her fragmented memories bit by bit, and was immediately terrified, jumping up in a flash.
Because his head had just been damaged by the sleeping potion, even though he moved quickly, he was still dizzy and disoriented. "Whose mother are you?"
“From now on,” the madam said with a grin, sitting on the edge of the bed and reaching out to pat Jiang Qianqian.
Jiang Qianqian felt a chill run down her spine and dodged away.
But the madam pressed her luck, smiling sinisterly.
She pointed to herself, then to Jiang Qianqian, "I am your mother. You must listen to me. My every word and action is your standard, understand?"
"You're my mother?" Jiang Qianqian shrank back. "Who are you to me as my mother?"
"You little brat," seeing that she couldn't reason with Jiang Qianqian, the madam took out two copies of the indenture and threw them in front of Jiang Qianqian with a clatter, saying sternly, "You should look at it carefully too."
Jiang Qianqian had no idea what it was.
When I opened it now, the words inside were densely packed and I didn't recognize any of them.
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