Filled with humiliation, her hand trembled as she wrote. But the golden lacquer brush brooked no delay.
Beads of sweat dripped, blurring the red paper into flower - like patterns.
After finishing a hundred sheets, the steward quickly glanced over them and announced in a loud voice, "Miss Luo has written a hundred. They shall be sealed in public today and posted in the stables, the wood - shed, and the side gates. Wherever a cat can see, they shall be displayed for a month to clear her name!"
Luo Xiang's face turned from red to blue, but she couldn't even utter a single word of defense.
She almost fled in disgrace!
---
The night sky was like paper soaked in ink, heavy and dark.
Cui Jintang was not familiar with the area around Yingchou Gorge. In her memory, it was adjacent to the Xie Mansion. She was about to enter the palace to visit the imperial concubine Xie Rou.
Before leaving, she specifically told Yinglan, "No matter who comes to visit, tell them I'm not feeling well and not convenient to receive guests."
Somehow everyone got the news. Throughout the day, the threshold of the Cui Mansion had almost been trampled flat by the nobles.
Yinglan nodded. "I understand, miss. Please be careful on the way. I'll wait for you in the mansion."
Cui Jintang smiled and stroked her cheek.
"Whoa!"
Zhu Er fell off the horse several times. Sweating profusely, he knelt on one knee in front of Cui Jintang. "I've failed in my task. I've searched everywhere, but I still haven't found... Miss A Xun."
"What did you say?"
Cui Jintang almost lost her balance. She grabbed the handle of the carriage tightly with her left hand to keep herself from falling.
She tried to calm herself down. "When did this happen? Who did A Xun meet before she disappeared?"
Zhu Er quickly replied, "According to two students from Qingyun Academy, Miss A Xun met a paralyzed woman in front of the medical clinic yesterday. Since then, no one has seen her."
Cui Jintang stopped in her tracks. "A woman?"
She whirled around abruptly, her voice rising. "Cui Chunniang?"
Zhu Er wiped the sweat off his forehead. "Judging from the time, it should be her."
Hearing this, Cui Jintang closed her eyes and exhaled angrily.
She should have killed Cui Chunniang directly this afternoon instead of sparing her a few more days!
Cui Jintang suddenly opened her eyes, snatched Zhu Er's horse, and leaped onto it.
She pulled the reins, and the horse immediately galloped forward.
"Zhu Er, follow me."
Zhu Er quickly looked up, cut the reins of the carriage with his knife, led the horse, and followed Cui Jintang's back.
As she rode, Cui Jintang thought of all the possible places where A Xun might be.
When they were kids, every time A Xun was beaten, she would run alone to an abandoned fisherman's hut by the river.
When they were young, Cui Jintang didn't have the ability to take A Xun away from Cui Chunniang. So she bought all the land deeds of the place by the river for A Xun's convenience.
But since Cui Jintang redeemed A Xun from the brothel, A Xun had fallen in love with reading and playing the zither. She rarely went to that small dark hut anymore.
Gradually, Cui Jintang had forgotten about the land deed.
After all these years, the shabby little hut had been repainted, and a striking vermilion color had been applied.
A brand - new character "Fu" was hanging on the lintel.
When Cui Jintang arrived, the new tenant was a man with a fleshy face. He was holding a stick as thick as his forearm and beating at something behind the threshold!
Crouching behind the threshold like a wounded little beast, A Xun hugged her head and shrank back constantly.
The man was so angry that he grabbed A Xun by the back of her collar and pushed her out, shouting angrily, "Where did this beggar come from? I just renovated this place, and you dare to sneak in!"
A Xun's forehead hit the doorpost, and blood dripped down her eyelashes. But she just stared with panicked eyes.
Cui Jintang's breath caught in her throat at that moment.
She rushed over, grabbed the man's wrist, and said in a low but furious voice, "Let go!"
"Who are you—"
The man shouted and raised his fist as big as a sandbag at Cui Jintang, threatening to strike.
Before Zhu Er arrived, the long knife hanging from his waist flashed. With a thud, it hit the door behind the man heavily!
The man was so shocked that his chin almost dropped. He reluctantly withdrew his fist and released A Xun.
As soon as she saw Cui Jintang, the tears that had been welling up in A Xun's eyes rolled down instantly.
She showed Cui Jintang the bruises on her arm that the man had just made with the stick, just like when she was a child and would show Cui Jintang the wounds that Cui Chunniang had given her when she was wronged.
Cui Jintang felt heart - broken. She held A Xun's face in her hands. "Didn't I teach you? When something happens, come to me."
"When you're bullied, you should fight back hard."
A Xun was very aggrieved, but like a timid quail, she shrank her head and kept shaking it.
The man huddled in the corner looked at the burly Zhu Er and the machete in his hand, then silently swallowed his saliva.
Holding the stick, he asked warily, "Who are you people? You suddenly show up at my house! And this mute girl has damaged a lot of my—"
"If you don't want your tongue, I can cut it off for you."
Cui Jintang looked up, her face as cold as ice.
She stood in front of A Xun. "I'm her sister and the former owner of this house. I neither sold it nor rented it out. You moved in without permission. You're the uninvited guest."
"And now you dare to hurt my sister?"
The man stiffened his neck and said stubbornly, "You're talking nonsense! Can you just say whatever you want? You need to show evidence when you talk and act!"
Cui Jintang didn't want to waste any more words on him. She led A Xun onto the horse.
She called Zhu Er. "Arrest this man and send him to the government for breaking into a house with a weapon."
The man was still not willing to give up and was about to curse.
Zhu Er casually mentioned one of their miss's industries. "Think twice before you speak, kid. Our miss is the owner of Yongle Gambling House."
The owner of Yongle Gambling House? That was a really ruthless person!
The man's face turned ashen. He quickly threw away the stick in his hand.
---
At the Cui Mansion on Shili Street.
Cui Jintang almost forced A Xun to the wood - shed.
She made her take a good look at Cui Chunniang's miserable state.
Cui Chunniang was barely breathing, and there was not a single uninjured part on her body.
A Xun was so anxious that she kept pulling Cui Jintang, gesturing for her to save Cui Chunniang.
Cui Jintang was so angry that she grabbed A Xun's wrist and roared, "She sold her own children like pork. On a daily basis, she beat and scolded you. Do you still want to protect such a mother?"
A Xun was stunned and slowly lowered her head.
After all, that was her biological mother.
"If Cui Chunniang had shown the slightest bit of affection for you and your brother, I wouldn't have treated her like this!"
Cui Jintang was angry at her for being so weak - willed. "A Xun, if it weren't for me, would you really have to live so timidly all the time?"
A Xun shook her head.
While they were pushing and shoving, Yinglan ran over, out of breath. "Miss! Lord Pei has sent a visiting card—"
Cui Jintang didn't even turn her head. She roared, "I won't see him! I won't see anyone!"