"Didn't you say you wanted my life? Take a good look—this is what your grandpa looks like! Don't go after the wrong person later!" The youth stood with one hand on his hip, pointing triumphantly at Concubine Fang with the hand holding a tattered felt hat.
Concubine Fang paid him no mind. Her gaze was fixed on the black-clad man still seated on horseback.
Two other men approached Concubine Fang's carriage while mocking the youth.
"You, a grandpa?"
"A grandpa who still wets the bed?"
Everyone except the youth burst into loud laughter, the atmosphere cheerful as if they were merely out for a horseback ride rather than kidnapping someone.
Nanny Yu poked her head out, utterly confused about what was happening.
The two men seemed intent on restraining Concubine Fang and Nanny Yu. Realizing this, Nanny Yu screamed in terror. Concubine Fang shouted sharply, "Get away! Don't touch me!"
She turned her gaze to the black-clad man, scrutinizing him as she said, "You're their leader? I think we should talk first!"
The man who had been about to seize Concubine Fang actually obeyed, refraining from touching her. Instead, he whistled and turned to tease the black-clad man, "Boss, she says she wants to talk to you! Does she know you still haven't taken a mountain stronghold wife?"
The black-clad man laughed and cursed, "Go to hell, you bastard!"
After cursing, the black-clad man indeed urged his horse closer to Concubine Fang's carriage, digging at his ear as he said, "Spit it out!"
Concubine Fang glanced at the others and said coldly to the black-clad man, "I'll only speak with you. Have them step aside."
The others whistled again, but Concubine Fang ignored them, keeping her eyes fixed on the black-clad man.
The black-clad man clicked his tongue and waved a hand. "You lot, scram for now. Let's hear what this woman has to say."
Though the other three appeared somewhat nonchalant, they obediently moved farther away.
Only after they had left did Concubine Fang turn back to the black-clad man and ask, "Are you all wanderers of the jianghu?"
The term "wanderers of the jianghu" was broad—people often used it to refer to laborers selling their strength, street performers, gang members, mountain bandits, and the like.
"Why so much chatter?" The black-clad man raised an eyebrow. "You called me over just to negotiate terms, to get me to let you go."
"What do you want? Name your price!" Concubine Fang said with restrained confidence, appearing self-assured.
The black-clad man stroked his chin, studying her before replying, "What if I said I wanted a thousand taels of gold? Could you give that?"
Concubine Fang frowned. "No. But I don't believe whoever hired you offered a thousand taels of gold. I can give you a hundred taels of gold if you let me go."
The black-clad man laughed, revealing a set of white teeth. He looked less like a bandit and more like a cheerful young man. "You, an unfavored concubine, sure have a bold mouth. Where would you get a hundred taels of gold?"
Concubine Fang replied coldly, "You just worry about collecting the silver."The man in black pondered for a moment, then smiled again. "That won't do. I can't accept this unless you explain where the money came from. Who knows if there's some trap? It's fine if I'm the one who suffers, but I have over a hundred brothers under me. By the way, don't tell me the Ren Family would spend money for you. I've encountered situations like yours before—husbands would rather let you die than pay to ransom you from bandits."
Concubine Fang gritted her teeth. "I certainly wouldn't ask the Ren Family for this money! My brother from my maiden family deposited some private savings for me at Guangli Bank, around eight or nine hundred taels. I originally intended to add it to my daughter's dowry."
Concubine Fang retrieved a small seal from the pouch she carried with her and handed it to the man in black. "Take this seal to Guangli Bank and tell the manager, 'Old Madam Bian is ill, and Bian the Third has come to withdraw money to buy medicine for Old Madam Bian.' The manager will give you the money."
The man in black took the seal and examined it. It was a very ordinary wooden seal, with no characters engraved on it, only a simple pattern. This pattern closely resembled the knot on the hemp rope he had previously untied from the crooked-neck tree.
The man in black knew there was something fishy about this seal, but he didn't show it on his face. Instead, he raised an eyebrow and asked, "Old Madam Bian? Who is that? Neither your husband's family nor your maiden family is surnamed Bian, right?"
Concubine Fang replied, "My mother's surname is Bian. This was a code phrase my brother from my maiden family arranged earlier. After all, it wouldn't look good if it were known that a concubine like me had such a large sum of money in private."
The man in black nodded, tucked the seal into his robe, and said, "Alright, get back in the carriage."
Concubine Fang said, "You can just leave us here. We'll find our own way back."
The man in black chuckled darkly. "Who said I was going to let you go back?"
Concubine Fang's expression changed upon hearing this. "Didn't you just agree to let me go after taking the money?"
The man in black bared his white teeth and said maliciously, "Did I agree? I don't remember that. Besides, talking about trustworthiness with a bandit is laughable, isn't it?"
Concubine Fang persisted, "If I go missing, Old Madam Ren, out of respect for my maiden family's reputation, will send people to look for me. You won't get away with it then!"
The man laughed heartily. "Still trying to threaten people at this point? You really are something! But who said you were kidnapped by us? Even your maid would say you ran away on your own, wouldn't she? You fled in fear of punishment after your misdeeds were exposed. How would the Ren Family have trouble explaining it to the Fang family?"
Concubine Fang and Nanny Yu were both shocked and horrified upon hearing this.
Nanny Yu pointed at the man in black and said, "You... shameless!"
Concubine Fang opened her mouth to say more, but the man in black refused to give her another chance. With a swift horizontal chop of his palm, Concubine Fang felt a sharp pain in the side of her neck, then everything went black as she fainted.
The man in black showed no mercy. Concubine Fang's head slammed heavily against the carriage door.
Next, Nanny Yu was also knocked unconscious by the man in black.
The three who had walked away earlier came running back.The boy bounded over, circling the black-clothed man excitedly. "Brother, what did she say to you? Why did she send us away so we couldn't hear? I saw her give you something just now—what was it? What was it? Why didn't she give it to me earlier?" As he spoke, he tried to reach into the man's chest to grab the item.
The black-clothed man dodged him and rapped him on the forehead. "Stop fooling around! Let's talk after we get back!"
The other two men continued teasing the boy. "You're still wet behind the ears, so of course she wouldn't give you anything good! She gave it to Big Brother because he's the best-looking!"
The boy retorted sharply, "No wonder she offered me fifty taels of silver and jewelry earlier but gave you nothing—she wouldn't even let you knock her out! Now you know how ugly you really are, don't you?"
Hearing this, the two men exchanged glances and burst into laughter, then stepped forward to ruffle the boy's hair.
"Not bad, kid! Sharp tongue! Who taught you that?"
The boy pushed their hands away and, like a monkey, leaped onto the black-clothed man's shoulders, wrapping his arms around his neck and refusing to come down. "Of course I learned it from my Brother Zhu!"
The black-clothed man—Zhu Ruomei—patted the boy's bottom. "Enough, now go drive the carriage and take them away. If we linger, someone might come looking, and that'll be trouble."
Only then did the boy stick out his tongue, slide off Zhu Ruomei's back, and hop onto the carriage.
The other two mounted their horses.
Zhu Ruomei tightened his legs around his horse's belly, gave a shout, and led them away.
A quarter of an hour later, Concubine Fang regained some consciousness. Before realizing the danger, she had secretly placed a pungent, mind-clearing pill in her mouth. However, Zhu Ruomei had struck her hard, and even with some awareness returning, she couldn't move.
She glanced at Nanny Yu, who lay unconscious beside her, and tried to peer through the gaps in the carriage curtain fluttering in the wind to see the scenery outside. But she couldn't focus her mind.
Finally, she barely managed to recognize that the carriage was heading toward Yunyang City.
Before losing consciousness again, Concubine Fang felt a flicker of relief. Fortunately, she had never trusted the black-clothed man from the start.
Now, with no way to escape on her own, she could only wait for those outside to learn of her situation and find a way to rescue her.
The seal Concubine Fang had given the black-clothed man earlier was indeed problematic, and the supposedly money-retrieving passphrase held its own secrets.
If ordinary bandits had taken Concubine Fang's seal to claim the money, they would have been tracked down and exposed.
Unfortunately for Concubine Fang, today she had encountered no ordinary bandits.
Zhu Ruomei took Concubine Fang and Nanny Yu to an ordinary-looking residence in Yunyang City, then went to find Yuan Dayong.
Ren Yaoqi first received news from Sun Shiyi Niang's side.
Xia Sheng had a maid relay to Ren Yaoqi that after slipping away from Ren the Fifth's men, Sun Shiyi Niang first inquired about her daughter's whereabouts. Learning that Yu Qingniang had been imprisoned and was to be sent to the authorities, she grew anxious but did not show herself.
In the end, Sun Shiyi Niang disguised herself, secretly hired a carriage, and went to White Cloud Nunnery.
Xia Sheng followed her the entire way, watching as she entered White Cloud Nunnery and made contact with one of the nuns there.
Ren Yaoqi had heard of this nun before—she was the flirtatious nun, Liang Guniang, who had previously been involved with Li Tianyou.Ren Yaoqi was somewhat surprised upon hearing this: "Baiyun Nunnery?"
Baiyun Nunnery, like White Dragon Temple, was located on White Dragon Mountain, and Zhu Ruomei and his group had been staying near White Dragon Temple all along.
By now, the matter of hiding troops in temples had become semi-public knowledge. After all, the imperial court in the south was wary of the Yanbei Army and kept a close watch on them. With so many soldiers hidden in the temples, who also needed to train regularly, it was impossible for no rumors to leak out.
However, would the imperial court really use these women as pawns?
It's best not to wait for updates after 12 o'clock. If the author doesn't manage to update on the same day, they will make up for it the next day.
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