"What?" Jiang Ling stared wide-eyed at Zhao Qianyu, her tone becoming serious as she pressed, "What? Zhao, explain yourself!"
"Auntie, didn't you know that Yaojie and Miss Shen went to Guangping County a few days ago?" Zhao Qianyu asked curiously.
"How could I not know? Hurry up and tell me, stop keeping me in suspense!" Jiang Ling urged anxiously.
Unexpectedly, Zhao Qianyu wasn't in a hurry at all. His gaze fell on the vegetables in the spicy hot pot that Jiang Ling had just arranged, and he swallowed hard, saying, "Auntie, I...I'm hungry..."
Jiang Ling tossed a bowl to Zhao Qianyu with a hint of helplessness and said irritably, "This meal is on me, but if you can't explain this clearly, I'll beat up all the spicy hot pot for you!"
After hearing this, Zhao Qianyu stuck out his tongue. He still had many psychological shadows about the incident where Jiang Ling beat him up.
Jiang Ling skillfully filled a bowl with a spicy hot pot, adding her own special seasoning for a numbing, spicy, and fragrant flavor. Zhao Qianyu swallowed hard, picked up his chopsticks, and was about to dig in.
Unexpectedly, Jiang Ling took the hot pot away and said to Zhao Qianyu, "Tell me first, or I won't let you eat!"
"Auntie...you..."
"Um?"
Zhao Qianyu almost burst into tears upon hearing this, but seeing the glare Jiang Ling gave him, he knew that his tantrum was completely useless and might even backfire.
“Okay…okay, I’ll tell you, I’ll tell you…” Zhao Qianyu pouted and looked at the spicy hot pot in Jiang Ling’s arms. “A few days ago, when I went home, I ran into Jiang Yaojie and Miss Shen. The two of them were running towards the city gate in a hurry, followed by a group of servants from the Shen family.”
"Yaojie asked me to help stop those servants. After all, he's my good brother, so I used my position to stop them. I thought nothing of it, but yesterday the Shen family suddenly came to my father to report that their young lady had been missing for a long time. They said they saw her running out of the city with a man on the main street a while ago. They wanted to go and ask her, but I stopped them!"
"My dad immediately called me in as soon as he heard that, but you know how it is, Auntie, the reason they came to report the case was simply to test the truth of my previous identity."
"When they saw it was me, they were probably worried that I would target them if they angered me, so they immediately changed their story and said that they had mistaken me for someone else, and that the person was deceiving them by posing as Young Master Zhao!"
As Zhao Qianyu spoke, his gaze remained fixed on the spicy hot pot. He looked at Jiang Ling with pitiful eyes and said, "Auntie, can I have a bite first? I'm so hungry! I'm really so hungry!"
As he spoke, Zhao Qianyu deliberately slumped his face on the table, giving off an expression as if he were starving.
"Fine, fine, I give up. What kind of delicacies can't the son of a county magistrate eat? Why does he have to crave this?" Jiang Ling helplessly pushed the bowl of spicy hot pot in front of Zhao Qianyu.
Zhao Qianyu swallowed hard, picked up his chopsticks, and started slurping his food.
Halfway through the meal, Zhao Qianyu's face turned bright red from the spiciness. Seeing this, Jiang Ling quickly brought him some water. In no time, Zhao Qianyu finished the bowl of spicy hot pot, almost licking the bowl clean.
"Are you full? Can you talk now?" Jiang Ling glared at Zhao Qianyu and said, annoyed.
"Burp~" The only response to Jiang Ling was a loud burp. Jiang Ling looked at Zhao Qianyu in front of her and really wanted to give him a good beating.
Zhao Qianyu probably sensed Jiang Ling's murderous aura at this moment. He quickly wiped his mouth and continued to Jiang Ling, "After they left, I specially asked a trusted constable to follow them for a few days. I found out that they have already found Lu Family Village. I estimate that they may go there in the next day or two. Aunt, do you want to take Shen Congxin out to hide?"
"Hide? Why should I hide? If I really hide with Chen Congxin, wouldn't that confirm my crime of human trafficking?" Jiang Ling said disdainfully.
"Um...that's true. Don't worry, Auntie, if anything really happens, I'll find a way to help you sort it out!" Zhao Qianyu said.
Just then, Jiang Yaojie and Shen Congxin returned with their delivery. They were quite surprised to see Zhao Qianyu, especially Jiang Yaojie, who immediately sat down next to Zhao Qianyu and asked, "You weren't implicated in what happened last time, were you?"
"Tch. I am the son of Magistrate Zhao of Guangping County. Who dares to mess with me?" Zhao Qianyu immediately raised his head and said proudly.
"It's alright, it's alright. I was really worried about dragging you into this for no reason!" Jiang Yaojie looked at Zhao Qianyu and knew that he was probably not lying, so he breathed a sigh of relief.
"I'm fine, but your family's situation must be quite serious!" Zhao Qianyu said to Jiang Yaojie.
"What? Zhao Qianyu, what do you mean by that?" Jiang Yaojie asked, puzzled.
Zhao Qianyu looked up at Jiang Ling, and after getting Jiang Ling's permission, Zhao Qianyu repeated what had just happened.
Jiang Yaojie looked somewhat panicked, and Shen Congxin's expression was also not good. She clutched the hem of her clothes tightly with both hands, and her pale face was devoid of color.
"Don't worry, I told my aunt that if anything happens, I'll take care of it for you!" Zhao Qianyu repeated once again.
Jiang Ling glanced out the window and said meaningfully to Zhao Qianyu, "Qianyu, shouldn't you go back to school?"
Zhao Qianyu understood that Jiang Ling was telling him to leave. He nodded, said goodbye to the others, and left Jiang Ling's shop.
"mother……"
"Auntie..."
As soon as Zhao Qianyu left, Jiang Yaojie and Shen Congxin called out to Jiang Ling somewhat weakly.
"Don't worry, this day will come eventually! I have a plan!" Jiang Ling comforted the two of them.
Although Jiang Yaojie and Shen Congxin were somewhat troubled, the busyness of their business allowed them to temporarily forget their worries.
As they rode the oxcart towards Lujia Village, Shen Congxin finally couldn't hold back any longer and spoke up first: "Auntie, don't worry, I'll take responsibility for my actions. As long as I go back with them, they won't make things difficult for you!"
“No way!” Jiang Yaojie blurted out upon hearing Shen Congxin’s words.
Jiang Ling and Shen Congxin's gazes immediately fell on Jiang Yaojie, whose face flushed red. To cover his embarrassment, he coughed a few times and said, "I... I mean you can't leave! You're no different from a lamb being led to the slaughter!"
“Yaojie is right!” Jiang Ling nodded and said to Shen Congxin, “Congxin, Yaojie is right. Think about it, if you really go back with them now, what’s the difference between that and a lamb entering a tiger’s den?”
"Furthermore, your Shen family is so powerful and wealthy, finding you would be a piece of cake. Why did it take you so long to take action? And who do you think was behind all those notices on the street and in the money exchange?" Jiang Ling asked Shen Congxin with a serious look.
"This..." Shen Congxin was somewhat bewildered by Jiang Ling's question. After calming down and thinking for a while, a chill ran down his spine.
She looked at Jiang Ling with a trembling voice and said, "Auntie, I'm scared... What should I do?"
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