Chapter 21: Set off at Daybreak (II)
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Jiang Pengji did not mind at all. “We are men who have become acquaintances after a chat. All I ask is to borrow your clothes, and I will return them to you soon after I reach home. My servants must not see me looking indecent when they find me tomorrow.”
Her collar had been cut when Liu Lanting protected Wei Jingxian from a bandit’s attack, before her soul was replaced by Jiang Pengji’s. Fortunately, she had no serious injuries, but the piece of cloth she had used to flatten her breasts was loose, and her male hairpin was gone.
Anyone looking at her could easily tell she was a girl.
But it was nothing for a boy to borrow clothes from his male friend after a chaotic situation.
The teenager certainly understood her reasoning, but his ears still became red. As an educated man, he must care for her reputation, despite her indifference. For this journey, his parents had ordered servants to prepare various sets of new clothing for him. While some had been lost as they escaped, they were able to keep the others. He told a guard to bring her a clean set from the clothes that had never been worn.
She thought his outfits would fit her because they were both thin, and he was only slightly taller. Jiang Pengji thanked him for his help.
Lancui Yu Buzhe: “Oh my god! Is the host going to take a shower before us?”
Toudu Feiqiu: “Probably not. Maybe she is ending the livestream.”
Of course, she would keep her privacy.
Host V: “It has been a long broadcast for today. Subscribe to this channel and there will be notifications when my next livestream is on.”
Shortly afterwards, she told the System to end the livestream.
“Making a live video is not that hard.” However, she still felt weird about being watched all the time.
The System wanted to sigh. “Please do not call that a livestream… That was far from what I expected…”
It should have known from the minute they met that its career was over. It could foresee no popularity for this channel.
The bandit village in the woods was quiet and still. Hejian, however, was shocked by the kidnapping.
Each family of the missing girls had sent servants to the mountain to search for their ladies at midnight. The province chief had been informed of the news as he was getting ready to sleep, and he had anxiously mobilized soldiers before his servants could finish tying up his hair or changing his clothes.
No kidding. A small province like Hejian accommodated eminent families, including those of the noble ladies. None of the houses would let him get away if any suffering came upon on their precious children.
The families wanted to hide the news, for it would no doubt harm the reputations of both the girls and the houses. No one could hope they were still pure after being taken by a gang for the night.
However, no matter how hard the households tried, the news spread rapidly in the town as if it had wings. Time passed, yet the ladies were not recovered. Not even a bandit was found.
Hope sank and died when the first beam of daylight shone upon the earth.
The loss of virginity before marriage was a heavy blow to all of them. After this incident, the best husbands they would be able find for their daughters would be illegal sons from less significant families or the legal offspring of commoners. Furthermore, the spouses and their families would, for sure, despise the brides and mistreat them for what had happened.
Noble ladies who could not bear these consequences would shave their heads to become nuns. For the rest of their lives, their flickering oil lamps and the ancient Buddha would keep them company.
As the sun rose, the servants were frustrated, for they had searched for the whole night. To minimize delay, they hadn’t dared to close their eyes when they were tired or take a sip of water when they were thirsty. Their stomachs ached due to hunger, and their legs were too swollen to take another step. Morning dew and fog in the forest soaked their clothes.
“Sigh! Our lady has been missing for a whole day. I wonder how she is now,” said one of them in a low voice as they continued looking for clues. “Our old lady almost passed out at the news.”
Discussion about the prestigious lady was strictly forbidden before, but things had changed during the night.
“How do you think she can be? The best we can hope is that she is alive. What the kidnappers did to her…”
The servant who first spoke disagreed. “After a night in the bandits’ place… I would say it is better to die.”
“Hush! Mind your tongue or it will be cut if our masters know what you said!” The speaker stopped him from saying more, but he seemed to share the same thought as his companion.
“Hey, wait. See the smoke? It must be the bandits’ place!”
The two servants widened their eyes.
They were uncertain whether their guess was correct, but after finding nothing all night, they were willing to take a look. Even if it were not a bandit village, there might still be some inhabitants who could shed some light on where their ladies were. Besides, in Hejian, most mountains were steep. They needed someone to guide their way before they got lost.
At the same time, the noble girls were cleaning their faces with the hot water that Jiang Pengji had heated for them, and they went to tidy their clothes and hair.
Feng Langjun looked at his guards, who had collected every piece of wood they could find and were adding them to the fire. He said half-jokingly, “It is clever to attract servants with smoke, but I wish my guards could have slept last night.”
Pengji spoke as if they were close friends. “Do you not want to get out of here after losing your bearings for several days? The servants are coming for us, not you, Huaiyu.”
The skinny teenager was called Feng Jin but also Feng Huaiyu.
The inefficiency of the servants’ search displeased Jiang Pengji. She wondered where they had been the whole night! If they hadn’t burnt logs to make the signal, would they have arrived after their hair turned grey?
She had considered leaving with the ladies, but that would have been very time-consuming, and the stakes were high. Although she could protect herself from the aggressive beasts in the forest, it would have been difficult to take care of so many girls at the same time. In addition, walking on the steep and slippery roads would be torture for the young ladies.
It was still early in the morning. She asked the pretty ladies to help each other with their hairdos. They must be look as dignified as they had always been.
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