Chapter 37: Catching the rapist in bed
采花贼 cai hua zei – a flower thief, otherwise known as a rapist
The three of them had already put on their muslin veils when they stepped off the carriage. Yuan Qing Zhou had walked out happily, but because of the veils, he could not tell which one was the person he had been daydreaming about. His expression immediately sank as he wanted to step forth and tear off the three sisters’ veils, but the xiangfu’s guards had all stepped forward to block Yuan Qing Zhou’s path……
“Miss Yun, it’s me! I’m Yuan Qing Zhou, do you still remember me?” Yuan Qing Zhou hadn’t brought too many guards with him this time. Seeing that there were many servants from the xiangfu, he also didn’t dare to cause too much trouble, and could only stand in place and call out!
But with his shout, he attracted the sidelong gazes from all the customers in the tavern. As they all stared towards the doorway with curious expressions, some busybodies had even started to gossip amongst themselves furtively, wondering which family’s young miss had secretly exchanged feelings with outsiders, causing this Yuan Qing Zhou to come seek them!
From the moment Yuan Qing Zhou had started to speak, Yun Qian Meng had already guessed his identity!
Still, this Yuan Qing Zhou was really too much of a brazen and shameless rascal, actually calling out to another young miss in front of the public! If the news spread, then the xiangfu’s young misses’ reputations would be ruined!
As these thoughts turned over in her head, Yun Qian Meng surreptitiously pulled Yun Yan’s hand, turned to look at Yun Ruo Xue behind her, then nonchalantly brought Yun Yan with her and entered the tavern, passing by the searching Yuan Qing Zhou, and went upstairs to their rooms……
Yuan Qing Zhou looked at the situation, and immediately thought that the girl who was standing there motionlessly was Yun Qian Meng. He quickly wore a smile and walked over, “Miss Yun, a few days of separation, is really as long as three autumns!”
Yun Ruo Xue was already frightened by the previous incident, seeing that Yun Qian Meng and Yun Yan had left her behind, her heart grew even more irritated, and she immediately wanted to furiously catch up with them, but at that moment her path was unexpectedly blocked by Yuan Qing Zhou. She momentarily lost control of her temper and bellowed, “You rogue, hurry up and get out of ben xiaojie’s sight?!”
At these words, Wang mama behind her immediately felt that the situation was really bad!
The second young miss clearly wasn’t familiar the silver-clothed gongzi in front, but with such a response, wouldn’t it cause others to misunderstand?
This time, they were traveling without their parents to look after them, moreso, they were all girls, so they needed to pay even more attention to their words, actions and bearing!
But this second miss had to have such an irritable temper. At just the slightest feeling of dissatisfaction, she would become reckless and uncaring. With Wang mama’s slight moment of carelessness, something like this had already happened!
Thinking like this, Wang mama only felt cold sweat dripping from her forehead. She immediately stepped forward to support Yun Ruo Xue, and respectfully said, “xiaojie, we are complete strangers with this gongzi. Surely, he must have mistaken you for someone else! We had better go to our rooms to rest!”
As she spoke, Wang mama slightly exerted some force and lightly grasped Yun Ruo Xue’s hands, reminding her to pay attention to her dignity!
Yun Ruo Xue finally realized her own lack of manners. Her eyes that were burning with rage turned to glare fiercely at Yuan Qing Zhou through her muslin veil, then she allowed Wang mama to help her walk up to the second floor……
Yuan Qing Zhou who was insulted and disregarded in such a way, unexpectedly did not have even half a drop of anger. Instead, he looked greedily at Yun Ruo Xue’s graceful back, and lowered his voice to talk to Ming Xing behind him, “Ming Xing, I like this little girl! She’s unexpectedly spicier than those courtesans from the brothels!”
Ming Xing saw that his master was feeling good and immediately took the opportunity to lick his boots, “gongzi’s vision has always been good. Look at that xiaojie’s figure, truly a hundred times more alluring than those flighty courtesans!”
While Yuan Qing Zhou listened to him, Yun Qian Meng’s devastatingly beautiful visage couldn’t help but float into his mind. As he combined it with the burning hot figure right before him, he immediately became excited until he couldn’t tell which way was which. Rubbing his hands together vigorously, he couldn’t help but lick his lips with his scarlet tongue, as his eyes that were harboring evil intentions were further suffused with a lewd glaze……
“da xiaojie, we nucai have already bought out the second floor. You three xiaojie can feel at ease and rest. We will leave early tomorrow morning!” The guard captain shielded the ladies until all of them had reached the second floor, commanded a part of the guards to keep watch, then finally spoke while he stood outside the room Yun Qian Meng was temporarily resting in!
“You’ve worked hard, go and take a rest!” Yun Qian Meng’s gentle voice sounded from within, unexpectedly causing the captain’s face to slightly redden. He faced the door and bowed silently, then turned to leave……
After wiping both her hands clean, Yun Qian Meng pulled out the booklet with the list of gifts and took a look. She realized that Qu Ruo Li, when she was getting married, actually had many manors and villas in her dowry. And these lodgings were distributed in between the capital and Su city, presumably specially prepared by the Qu family for their daughter to visit her parents later!
If no accidents were to occur, other than the tavern they had stopped at today, they would be staying in these lodgings for the following days!
Yun Xuan Zhi had always paid attention to his family principles and reputation, so the servants in these residences were definitely his trusted aides. It was likely that Su Qing wouldn’t have the means to take action against her there!
That meant, that tonight was their best opportunity!
After her analysis, Yun Qian Meng immediately spoke with a solemn expression, “mama, go tell sanmei, after lights out tonight, she must not fall asleep, nor should she undress from her clothes!”
When Mi mama saw that Yun Qian Meng was showing a rare grave expression, her heart immediately tightened, and she turned to go at once……
Yun Ruo Xue sat angrily on her soft bed, then readily took the teapot from the table and threw it to the ground……
Wang mama saw that she was going to start cursing again, so she immediately went over to appease her, “xiaojie, now is not the time to get angry! furen already has everything set-up, we musn’t let da xiaojie and san xiaojie notice any irregularities!”
Yun Ruo Xue heard that her words were reasonable, and also knew that the three sisters’ rooms were not that far apart; if she were to rain curses freely, it would surely be heard by others. Only then, did she finally retract the words she was about to say!
Yet the anger on her face hadn’t decreased by even the slightest bit, as she coldly swept a look at Wang mama and said in a bad mood, “mama, are er jiujiu’s people reliable? Why haven’t they made any moves?”
When Wang mama saw that she had finally listened to her words, she slowly put down her hanging heart, then leaned closer to Yun Ruo Xue and answered in a low voice, “xiaojie, for this kind of thing, we naturally have to wait until it’s dark to make it more convincing! nubi will first wait upon you while you rest in bed. Wait for midnight, then we will go and watch the good show! nubi has already sent people to keep an eye on any activity from those two!”
While Yun Ruo Xue imagined scenes of Yun Qian Meng and Yun Yan being derided behind their backs in the future, her mood immediately improved. She then nodded at Wang mama’s words, let the yatou help her throw off her outer clothes, and somewhat tiredly lied down inside the quilt. It didn’t take long for her to enter dreamland……
At night, the tavern closed its doors and turned out the lights, while all living things began to sink into a slumber……
Yet Yun Qian Meng was sitting fully-clothed beside the table, while Mi mama and Mu Chun stood behind her loyally……
Suddenly, a black silhouette jumped in from the tightly closed windows. Mu Chun and Mi mama immediately acted as if they were facing a great enemy, and straightened their backs together to guard in front of Yun Qian Meng……
Yun Qian Meng saw under the hazy moonlight, that the person’s build was tall and straight. The black clothes on his body were shining with a deep luster, while his tied hair was unexpectedly flickering with specks of golden light. As her heart gradually cleared up, she asked fearlessly, “Who?”
The person heard her closely whispered question, and immediately searched towards the voice while Yun Qian Meng had already fished out a flare from her sleeves. As a flame was lit in the limited space, Yun Qian Meng saw an elegant young man walk towards her……
“Qu Chang Qing!” The man, obviously astonished by Yun Qian Meng’s alertness, immediately let out a deep breath, and reported his own name!
When Mi mama and Mu Chun heard his distinguished name, they immediately understood that he was Fu Guo gongfu’s di sun shaoye, and Yun Qian Meng’s biaoge. The two of them wanted to greet and bow, but noticed that Qu Chang Qing was making a silencing expression!
They only saw him fearlessly move to the doorway. Under the feeble firelight, he deliberately circled around a few times, before quickly coming before the three of them to blow out the flame. Then, without making a noise, he jumped out of the same window he used to come in!
At this moment, a shrill shouting voice resounded from outside the doorway, “No good! A rapist has entered da xiaojie’s room! Someone come quickly……”
Immediately, all the lamps on the second floor were lit. Yun Ruo Xue’s face was flushed fully red as she rushed over with her clothes still unkempt. Without taking a clear look at Yun Qian Meng’s situation, she shouted while enjoying the other’s apparent misfortune, “jiejie, how could you do such an improper and humiliating thing?!”
For a moment, everyone cast their gazes towards Yun Qian Meng who was the picture of calm, while Yun Yan who was held up by Wang mama outside the door could only worry helplessly, as her eyes couldn’t help but turn to look into Yun Ruo Xue’s wide open room. Immediately shocked by the scene inside, she couldn’t stop herself from exclaiming, “er jie, why is the rapist on your bed?”