Wei Luo cried for a long time. Her tears had dampened a large spot on Zhao Jie’ clothes. He didn’t know how such a small child could cry so many tears. Her sobs turned into wails. Eventually, her wails turned back into sobs. In the end, she rubbed her tears on his chest. Zhao Jie was worried that she would cry so much that she would end up fainting.
The winter night was too cold. It wouldn’t be okay if she continued crying like this. Zhao Jie could only use his sleeve to wipe away her tears. As he did this, he tried coaxing her,
Ah Luo, be good. Don’t cry anymore.
She moved her head to avoid his sleeve. Her long eyelashes fluttered. She quietly mumbled in her milky voice,
It hurts…
Zhao Jie stopped his action. It took him a few seconds for him to understand that the fabric on his sleeve was too coarse and had hurt her face. Without a better option, he used his fingers to wipe away her tears. His mouth didn’t say anything, but his mind couldn’t help thinking that such a delicate little girl didn’t voice a single complaint when they had been walking on the mountain path for a few thousand meters (a few miles).
After Wei Luo was done crying, the resentment and frustration that had been accumulating in her heart vanished like smoke in thin air. She would no longer have any connection with this couple or Longshou village. The thing that had hurt her most in her previous life had finally ended. She turned her head to look at the fallen Lin Huilian and the stiff Bai Yang,
Big brother, I loathe them.
Zhao Jie stood up. His palm was placed on her shoulder as if he were putting her under his protection,
How do you want to deal with them?
Hearing these words, Bai Yang’s body shook uncontrollably. He looked at the two of them and had a bad premonition.
Sure enough, Wei Luo’s following words were,
Since they’re so worried about their son, they should be buried with him to keep him company in the underworld.
Her sweet voice said such ruthless words without any fluctuation as if she were discussing an extremely common matter. Her idea was thorough. If they did this, then they wouldn’t have to worry that another person wasn’t doing a good job with taking care of their son. After all, they should be more assured if they did this themselves than if someone else did it.
Zhao Jie didn’t have any objections,
Okay, it’ll be done as you said.
Bai Yang’s eyes widen in panic. He shook his head,
No, no… Sir, please spare us…
On the side, Lin Huilian was listening to them. She tolerated her acute pain as she kowtowed for mercy. Her bloodied hands were placed on the ground,
We were just temporarily confused…
How could this be temporary confusion? They had prepared for this moment for several years. If they were going to come to their senses, then why wait until now? They were merciless and unscrupulous, so they couldn’t blame other people for being ruthless towards them.
Wei Luo didn’t have the slightest intent to change her mind. Her head was huddled into Zhao Jie’s shoulder to completely ignoring them.
If they were to simply bury them alive, this would be letting them off too easily. After Zhu Geng blocked Bai Yang’s pressure points that were for moving his limbs, he tied him up with rope and directly flung him into the coffin. Bai Yang was in so much pain that his face turned white.
Lin Huilian also had her hands and feet tied before being flung down with him. The coffin wasn’t big. It was a tight squeeze to accommodate two people and the skeleton. The two of them couldn’t avoid the painful sensation of pressing down on their son’s bones. In this desolate area outside of their village, this was quite horrifying.
Bai Yang was soaked through with sweat. Without regard to anything, he shouted,
Help!
After that word, the coffin was closed with a
bang
and blocked off his voice from the rest of the world and severed the rest of his hope.
Lin Huilian and Bai Yang’s hearts withered away into dust and fell into despair.
–
In the end, Zhu Geng didn’t actually bury them alive. He only left them in the coffin for one night as a punishment. On the next morning, Longchun’s villagers discovered that they were missing. A few people came up the mountain to look for them and found the coffin that had been left outside the grave. The villagers remembered what the couple had planned to do last night and couldn’t resist opening the coffin to look inside. Who could have guessed that Lin Huilian and Bai Yang would be lying inside?!
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Lin Huilian had lost consciousness due to excessive blood loss and Bai Yang couldn’t move his hands and feet due Zhu Geng’s actions. In the end, they were carried home.
That afternoon, their crimes were brought to the attention of local authorities. The local authorities sent bailiffs to get them. As they were being taken to the law court, Lin Huilian and Bai Yang said they were wrongly accused. But, when they arrived, they immediately stopped speaking. Not only was Bai Lan there, the three people from last night that had taught them a lesson were also there. One of those three people was a luxuriously dressed noble that was sitting next to the district magistrate. The district magistrate was extremely deferential towards him and even personally delivered tea and water to him.
At this moment, the two of them realized that they had provoked extremely powerful people.
This legal case almost didn’t need to go through a trial for the judge to sentence a judgment. With Prince Jing as a witness and the words of Bai Lan, the victim, the district magistrate slapped down the wooden gavel. They were each sentenced to be beaten with a stick thirty times, then detained in prison until they were sent off to complete three years of forced labor!
In addition, because the common people of Longshou village didn’t report this matter, every household would be fined ten pecks (2.5 bushels) of grain. In this way, the matter was considered to be satisfactorily concluded.
Afterwards, with a smiling face, the district magistrate personally escorted Zhao Jie to the carriage that would take him back to the capital. He didn’t dare to do anything that would slight him. Additionally, he prepared a separate carriage for Bai Lan that would follow Zhao Jie’s carriage back to the capital.
Wei Luo had already asked Bai Lan if she would be willing to go with them to the capital as her servant.
Since Bai Lan had learned that Wei Luo had come here just to save her, she was grateful enough to shed tears. She responded at once that she would wholeheartedly follow her. As long as there was a place that she could settle down, she was perfect willing to be a servant. Besides, Bai Lan was currently homeless. She absolutely couldn’t return to Longshou village. That place would no longer tolerate her. So, the best choice was to go to Duke Ying’s residence to be a servant. At least, she wouldn’t have to go hungry or sleep outdoors.
Bai Lan sat in the back carriage and thought of all the good things that Wei Luo had done this year. She secretly promised in her heart that she would be steadfast in serving the fourth miss. She had to pay back the fourth miss’s kindness in saving her life.
T/N: Have to wake up super early tomorrow, so posting the rest of this a few hours earlier.
On the road back to the capital, inside the prince’s carriage.
Wei Luo pretended she couldn’t see Zhao Jie. She kept her head lowered to set herself against a pile of toasted pine nuts. From the time she entered the carriage, she had been eating pine nuts with a faint rustling sound as if she were a little squirrel. As she ate and ate, a pair of slender hands took away the jade plate that had been in front of her.
She didn’t have a choice. She could only raise her head to look across.
Zhao Jie placed the place at his side. His dark eyes calmly looked at her. His thin lips were slightly pursed. Although he clearly didn’t say a single word, it seemed as if he had already said everything.
His current reaction was normal. She had tricked him into coming here without explaining anything. Everything that had occurred was strange. If it had been anyone else, he wouldn’t have went gone along with this. But, for her, he was willing to obey her wishes without asking any questions until the matter was resolved.
On the way here, Wei Luo had felt grateful towards him and wasn’t as guarded against him as before. Her voice was as sweet as glutinous rice when she called out,
Big brother, I want to eat pine nuts.
This didn’t move Zhao Jie, but there was a smile in his eyes,
Tell big brother everything and you can continue eating.
Wei Luo blinked innocently and cutely,
What do you mean?
He thought-provokingly said,
What do you think?
After he said this, he remembered that he was facing a little girl that wasn’t grown-up enough to understand. His usual oppressive methods couldn’t be used, so he changed to say,
Why were you familiar with that place?
Wei Luo had thought of the answer to this question a long time ago. Now that he was asking her, she offered a realistic answer,
I’ve been there before.
Zhao Jie raised his eyebrows.
She continued,
Once, daddy took me outside with him. On the way back, there was a heavy rainstorm and we couldn’t continue traveling. We just happened to pass by someone’s home and stayed over for a night.
She said that person was Bai Lan. Bai Lan had also made and given her a silk flower. She still remembered that night.
Later on, elder sister Bai Lan came to the capital to sell silk flowers. I recognized her, so I had her delivering silk flowers to Duke Ying’s residence every half month.
Zhao Jie thought of Yang Hang’s reports. He had indeed mentioned a girl that would go to Duke Ying’s residence every half month and seemed familiar with Ah Luo.
Ah Luo held her cheeks and sighed sadly,
Elder sister Bai Lan told me one time that she wouldn’t be able to come again. I asked her why… At first, she didn’t want to say anything. She only told me after I pleaded with her.
The little girl flattened her lips and made a look as if she were about to cry,
Later on, she really ended up not coming back. I was worried that something had happened to her, so I asked for your help to bring me there.
Having said this, she raised her head to look at him with teary eyes. Her eyes were clear. She didn’t seem like she was lying.
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Zhao Jie looked at her without speaking. He raised his hand and slowly rubbed the red birthmark on her eyebrow. This little girl’s explanation was fair and reasonable. But, he didn’t know why. He just couldn’t accept this as completely true. She was tricky and cunning. Her thoughts were complicated. Did she really want to come here for such a simple reason?
Then why did she cry as if she were broken-hearted and wronged last night? Why did she feel such resentment and bitterness towards that woman? It was shown the moment that she viciously struck down with that hairpin. This couldn’t be explained in a few words.
Wei Luo saw that he didn’t have any reaction. She called out once to get his attention and pointed at the jade plate next to him to ask,
Can I eat now?
Zhao Jie bent his lips and soon, he slowly said,
You can eat.
Perhaps he was overthinking. Or, perhaps she really was hiding something from him. If it were the latter, it was okay. If she didn’t want to say, he wasn’t in a hurry to force her to tell the truth. Inevitably, he would know everything eventually.
–
The carriage slowly traveled through the capital and eventually stopped at the entrance to Duke Ying’s residence.
Wei Luo hadn’t returned last night. Wei Kun was worried to death and had ordered people to search the capital. From beginning to end, they didn’t find her. If Prince Jing’s servant hadn’t come early in the morning to tell him that Ah Luo was with Zhao Jie and that she wasn’t in danger, he might have already gone insane from worry.
After Wei Kun learned that the two of them had gone to save someone last night, he was shocked. He waited until Zhao Jie left, then he hurriedly asked Wei what had happened. Wei Luo repeated what she had told Zhao Jie. But, she took out the part about Wei Kun and her passing through Longshou village.
When she was three years old, Wei Kun had indeed taken her out on a trip that was far away, but they didn’t pass through Longshou village and there wasn’t a heavy rainfall. Their return to the capital had been smooth and unimpeded. Nothing had happened.
After he finished listening to her, he carried her onto his lap. With lingering fear, he said,
Ah Luo, in the future, no matter who is in trouble, you can’t go to such a dangerous place.
Wei Luo muddled-headedly nodded to show that she heard him.
She wouldn’t go there. She would never go back to that place again. In this life, she was Duke Ying’s family’s fourth miss that lived a life of luxury like a princess. She didn’t have anything to do with that little girl who had combed her hair into unadorned plaited braids and wore simple clothing with scattered flower blossoms design.
–
After Zhao Jie returned to his residence, he ordered Zhu Geng to investigate. Five years ago, Wei Kun had indeed gone to Yangzhou and had taken Wei Luo and Chang Hong with him. On the way back to the capital, they would have passed by the road to Longshou village. But, as for whether or not they had stayed in that village overnight, it was too long ago. It wasn’t possible to verify.
–
At Duke Ying’s residence.
After this event, Wei Luo accepted Ah Dai as a personal servant girl. She thought that Ah Dai as a name was too casual and simple, so she let her continue using Bai Lan as her name. She ended up keeping this name for many years.
Wei Luo silently grew up in Duke Ying’s residence without notice. The place that she went to the most often was Han-shi‘s Orchid Courtyard. She would use Han-shi‘s body products to wash her face, rinse her mouth, and take baths. She became more and more tender and lovely. In the blink of an eye, many years had passed. The little girl that used to be as beautiful as carved white jade had now grown into teenage budding beauty with an incomparable appearance.
End of chapter 42.
