The Country Maiden: Fields and Leisure
Chapter 635 - 633: It’s Not Certain Who the Wolf Is Yet

Chapter 635: Chapter 633: It’s Not Certain Who the Wolf Is Yet

The door was opened by the young waiter standing outside. Seeing Wang Yongzhu drowsy and being supported by Wang Yongan, his eyes flashed for a moment, "Honoured guest? Have you finished eating?"

Wang Yongan pulled Wang Yongzhu closer to himself, then signaled to the young waiter, "The silver is in the purse, take it to settle the bill."

With a smile plastered on his face, the young waiter untied the purse from Wang Yongan’s waist, "Alright! Honoured guest, please wait a moment, let me get your change—"

"No need, keep the extra for yourself!" Wang Yongan was very generous, as he lifted his foot, ready to help Wang Yongzhu walk outside.

The young waiter’s smile remained unchanged, but he quickly stepped in their way, "This honoured guest, I’ll escort you out. As for this lady guest, she is a patron of our inn. You can leave her here, and I’ll have someone call her family to pick her up. There’s no need for you to trouble yourself!"

Wang Yongan’s complexion changed, "What do you mean by this? She is my sister, and I am her elder brother. Today, our family reconciled and everyone drank a bit too much. You quickly help my mother and my brothers into the courtyard. There should be a division between the sexes, I can support my sister myself."

The young waiter hesitated for a moment, went inside to check, and indeed found three people sprawled across the tables in the private room.

He hurried in and supported Wang Yonggui out, leading the way, "Honoured guest, please follow me, I’ll take you to the back courtyard—"

Wang Yongan nodded, indicating for the young waiter to go ahead.

The young waiter helped Wang Yonggui down the stairs and thus went towards the back courtyard.

It was only then that Wang Yongan, huffing with annoyance, supported Wang Yongzhu downstairs.

Seeing that the young waiter was not paying attention, he helped Wang Yongzhu exit the inn, pushed her into a small green-cloth-covered sedan chair that had been waiting at the door for some time, and then instructed the sedan chair carrier with a few words. He hurriedly waved his hand, signaling the carriers to lift the sedan chair and carry it away.

He himself hastily hired a horse-drawn carriage, climbed aboard, and headed in a different direction.

It wasn’t until the sedan chair was far away that the door next to the private room where Wang Yongzhu and the others had dined creaked open.

It turned out to be the man with an aura of slaughter that Wang Yongzhu had encountered earlier, along with his entourage, who had been in the room next door all along.

At that moment, another follower stuck his head out of the open window, watching the small sedan chair turn a corner and disappear from view.

Turning back, he said, "My lord, there’s obviously something fishy about the next room. That young lady obviously looks like she’s been drugged, and that so-called elder brother doesn’t look like a good person at all. Are we really going to stand by and do nothing, watching helplessly as a young lady falls into a den of wolves?"

Another man with a beard by his cheek glared at him, signaling him to stop talking.

The man referred to as ’my lord,’ his lips curved slightly, "Do you think that young lady was really drugged? I listened to her breathing and it wasn’t disordered at all. I’m afraid she’s just pretending to be unconscious. As for who the wolf is, it’s not yet certain."

The follower by the window was stunned and looked at his lord dumbfoundedly, stammering, "No... no way..."

A few other followers laughed and patted his shoulder, "Haha, you’re stunned, aren’t you, kid? You’ve still got a lot to learn! You’re in for a punishment when you get back tonight!"

The follower by the window grimaced, incredulously glanced outside the window, and scratching his head, fell silent.

***

Meanwhile, after climbing into the small green-cloth-covered sedan chair, Wang Yongzhu could hear Wang Yongping outside giving instructions, "Take the sedan chair carefully to the back gate of the County Yamen, knock on the door and say it’s from the Wang Family. Someone will naturally let you in. After delivering the person, go to the third house on the left-hand side of Hat Alley to settle the bill with me."

The sedan chair carriers agreed, lifted the sedan and slowly set off.

Wang Yongzhu secretly pushed aside the curtain of the sedan chair and watched Wang Yongping hail another carriage, heading in a different direction.

The sedan swayed gently through the crowd before turning into a small alley and coming to a stop.

Then the curtain was lifted, revealing a familiar figure before Wang Yongzhu.

Wang Yongzhu looked at Song Chongjin, who had appeared before her, and gave a slight smile.

Song Chongjin sized up Wang Yongzhu, and seeing her complexion looked normal, he finally felt at ease and reached out to help Wang Yongzhu down from the sedan chair.

As Wang Yongzhu stepped out of the sedan, she looked around. It was a quiet alley off the main street, deserted and peaceful.

Only after Wang Yongzhu had gotten out did Song Chongjin turn to instruct, "You leave and after the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, go to the Wang family and report that this sedan was hijacked on the way."

The sedan chair carriers responded and then roughed up their hair a bit and rolled on the ground to make themselves look more disheveled before lifting the sedan again and hurriedly running out of the alley.

It was then that Wang Yongzhu asked with a chuckle, "Are these your men? When did you have everything ready?"

Song Chongjin nodded, "These past few days, I have been having people watch Wang Yongan. He has been spending his days in that brothel with Gao Jin, happy and forgetting his woes. This morning your drug effect occurred, and you were in so much pain that he had someone call for a doctor from Peace Clinic first thing in the morning. Then he spent a high price on a bewitching drug, saying he really couldn’t endure the pain when it became unbearable and wanted to use the drug to knock himself out for some relief."

"The doctor from Peace Clinic gave him the bewitching drug and also an antidote. He returned to the County Yamen and who knows what he told Gao Jin before he came running to the inn. When I received the news and realized he was probably going to make a move against you, I hurried over."

Only then did Wang Yongzhu understand where Wang Yongan’s bewitching drug had come from.

"I thought, since Wang Yongan was already desperate, why not pretend to comply with his wishes? We could hide on the way, and when it’s time for Wang Yongan to hand someone over to Gao Jin, let’s see how he explains himself to Gao Jin," said Song Chongjin, revealing his plan.

Wang Yongzhu nodded. She had always been guarding against Wang Yongan in plain sight, but there would always be moments of neglect. It was better to turn his scheme against him and move to the shadows; she wanted to see what Wang Yongan could do then.

The two quietly made their way through the back of the alley, took a long detour, and arrived at the back door of the inn. Finding no one around, they slipped into Song Chongjin’s courtyard.

※※※

After Wang Yongan hastily stuffed Wang Yongzhu into the small sedan chair, he worried about being pursued by the people from the inn and hurriedly boarded the carriage to rush home.

Upon arriving home, Lady Qian came forward to greet him, "Official, you’re back—"

Now, after seeing those enchanting women in the brothel, looking at Lady Qian felt like seeing an old vegetable stalk, completely unappetizing.

However, today he finally managed to deal with Wang Yongzhu, sending her off to the County Yamen.

As long as the raw rice was cooked into a done deal, how powerful could Wang Yongzhu be even with her great strength? Could she compete with a County Magistrate? Besides, after all, if a woman gives her body, what else could she do but accept her fate?

Later, he would persuade Wang Yongzhu well, coax the antidote from her, and then wealth and honor would be within easy reach.

With this thought, Wang Yongan even found Lady Qian more pleasing to the eye.

He nodded without speaking and proceeded toward the house.

As he passed by Lady Qian, a breeze came with him, carrying a faint scent of alcohol and an indescribable fragrance of rouge.