Chapter 488: Chapter 457, Caught in the Crossfire_1
Outside the wing room, because they had gone to relieve themselves, Wang Manman, Bi Shi, and the maids of Dong Yuanyao, Hong Yu, and Hong Fang had not followed inside. Not far off, a few other maids were standing; they had come with Jiang Wanying and Chen Jiarou.
After waiting for a while and seeing no movement from inside the room, Wang Manman furrowed her brow, “Why haven’t the young lady and Miss Dong come out yet?”
Hong Yu laughed, “Yesterday, my young lady overindulged in eating milk custard, and this morning, her stomach was somewhat uncomfortable.”
Wang Manman showed surprise, “Why didn’t you say so earlier? My young lady has pills with her that will guarantee relief after taking just one.”
Hong Yu replied, “My young lady dislikes taking medicine the most, and besides, it wasn’t serious, so we didn’t mention it.”
Wang Manman nodded, not dwelling on the matter, and started talking about other topics.
On a large tree not far from the wing room, Yan Ying’s brows were slightly furrowed. He wasn’t quite clear on how long it should take for young women to relieve themselves, so he waited patiently for a bit longer.
When he saw another group of young ladies approaching from a distance, Yan Ying couldn’t hold still any longer. With a ‘swoosh’, he leaped down from the tree and slipped around to the back of the wing room. Out of consideration for the separation of genders, he didn’t directly investigate the situation inside but used a small stone to summon Wang Manman instead.
Wang Manman yelped in pain from being hit by the stone. When she turned around, she saw Yan Ying gesturing to her from behind a corner.
She had seen Yan Ying before and knew he was the young lady’s Hidden Guard. Without any hesitation, she walked over when he beckoned her.
Hong Yu and the other two maids were somewhat surprised to see this, but they all sensibly kept quiet.
“Quickly go inside and check, I feel something’s not right,” Yan Ying said with a sense of urgency as soon as Wang Manman approached.
Well aware of the Hidden Guard’s abilities, Wang Manman’s expression changed at these words and, without asking further questions, she ran into the wing room.
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Soon after, Wang Manman’s frantic cry echoed from the room, “Yan Bodyguard!”
Hearing the noise, Yan Ying could no longer care about other considerations and charged into the room at top speed.
The maids waiting outside saw a man rush into the room where the young ladies were relieving themselves. They opened their mouths to object, but before they could say anything, he was already inside.
Hong Yu and the others already felt something was amiss when Wang Manman entered, and they quickly followed Yan Ying into the room on his heels.
“Where did this shameless rascal come from? You dare to intrude where the young ladies are relieving themselves, get out of here at once!”
Chen Jiarou’s maid was a step behind, and as soon as she came in, she rebuked Yan Ying fiercely.
“Shut up!”
“Shut up!”
Wang Manman and Hong Yu spoke out simultaneously.
The maid who came in later seemed intimidated into silence, quieting down, and then she realized that something was off in the room.
Apart from them, where were their young ladies?
By that time, Yan Ying had already checked the entire room, his brows knitted as he looked at Wang Manman, “The incense burner contains a drugging incense!” Then he turned toward the wide-open rear window, his expression grave, “The young ladies are probably abducted, quickly go tell the masters, I’ll pursue them right away.”
After speaking, his figure flashed and he disappeared through the window in an instant.
The room fell silent, and the maids’ heads were still processing the words “the young ladies have been abducted,” their complexions turning ashen.
“Young lady!”
Jiang Wanying’s maid was the first to snap out of her daze, rushing swiftly into the inner room. Seeing no one there, her face instantly turned pale. After standing motionless for a moment, she turned and ran out, ready to dash away.
Having seen this, Wang Manman immediately stepped forward to grab her, speaking sternly, “What are you trying to do?”
Jiang Wanying’s maid trembled as she said, “The young lady is missing, I must inform Madam.”
Wang Manman frowned, “Running out in your current state, do you want everyone to know your young lady is missing?”
Upon hearing this, Hong Yu and Hong Fang’s complexions changed, and they quickly closed the room door.
They couldn’t let outsiders know the young lady was missing. Otherwise, even if the young lady was found later on, she would not be able to show her face in society.
Wang Manman looked sternly at the maids present, “We must not spread word of this matter; we can only quietly inform our own households. We must not let outsiders sense that something is wrong. Otherwise, if the young ladies lose their reputations, none of us will live,” she said.
Seeing the maids from Jiang and Chen families calming down, Wang Manman let out a sigh of relief, “Now we go out as if nothing happened and report the young ladies’ situation to our households as quickly as possible.”
After speaking, she glanced at Hong Yu and the other two, then opened the door and hurriedly walked out.
…
Daohua awoke amidst the jolting and rapid motion, and as she opened her eyes, she saw Dong Yuanyao, Jiang Wanying, and Chen Jiarou lying beside her with their eyes tightly closed.
She looked around and realized they were in a fast-moving carriage.
Struggling to prop herself up with her elbows, Daohua shook her somewhat groggy head and listened intently to the sounds outside.
Other than the occasional whip cracks and commands to the horses, there was nothing else.
Daohua slowly sat up, taking care not to make a sound in the process.
It was obvious—they had been kidnapped!
Thinking back to the scent she’d detected in the room, she couldn’t help but want to slap herself. She was an expert in these tricks, yet she had been drugged and rendered unconscious by outsiders.
She pulled out a self-made detoxification pill from her pouch, and not long after taking it, Daohua gradually regained her strength.
Now with renewed energy, Daohua nudged Dong Yuanyao beside her and fed her a detoxification pill as well.
It wasn’t long before Dong Yuanyao slowly opened her eyes. Seeing her in a daze and about to make a sound, Daohua quickly covered her mouth, until Dong Yuanyao’s eyes cleared and Daohua let go, shaking her head to signal her not to make any noise.
She knew all too well that martial artists have an acute sense of hearing, even the slightest sound could be detected.
Dong Yuanyao was now fully alert, and after surveying the situation in the carriage, she quickly understood their predicament—the windows were sealed, making it impossible for them to jump out.
At that moment, voices could be heard outside.
“Hurry up, even faster, the Chen and Jiang families will soon realize their daughters are missing. If they catch up to us, we’re as good as dead.”
“Don’t worry, we’ve been out of the city for so long, and we didn’t take the main roads. They won’t catch us so easily.”
Hearing this, Daohua and Dong Yuanyao exchanged glances, both seeing frustration on the other’s face.
They were collateral damage!
The people outside were probably after Jiang Wanying and Chen Jiarou, but they were just unlucky to be caught up in the mess.
Sensing the people outside might open the carriage door, Daohua and Dong Yuanyao were startled, quickly resuming their original positions and closing their eyes.
“Creak~”
The carriage door was opened.
A big man with a face full of scars peered inside, saw the four unconscious figures, and then slowly closed the door.
“You’re too cautious. Yuniang used such a large chunk of mesmerizing incense, those fragile girls won’t wake up anytime soon.”
“Better to be safe than sorry, don’t want to mess up Old Fan’s business.”
“We’re about to reach the docks, nothing will go wrong.”
Meanwhile, at an abandoned dock several miles away, crates of glassware were being carefully loaded onto a ship by dockworkers.
“Be careful, handle them gently. That glass is expensive, if you break it, selling us all wouldn’t cover the costs.”
Sun Changze watched his clansmen running back and forth, giving orders here and there, and smiled as he shook his head.
Soon, the crates containing the glass were all loaded onto the ship.
“Brother Changze, all the boxes have been accounted for.”
Sun Changze nodded and, after handing over the cargo to the butler, the ship set sail.
Only when the cargo ship was out of sight did Sun Changze and his clansmen board a small boat nearby.
Just as they were preparing to set off, Sun Changze and his men heard the sound of horse hooves in the distance.
“Hey, this dock has been abandoned for years, why would anyone come here?”