More worried that without her protection, her mother would not be able to stand up for herself, and that the villagers would harm her behind her back, would her sister follow in her footsteps, or even have a more tragic fate? She resented fate for being unfair; she only wanted to live well, why was it so difficult?
Wu Caiwei soothed the restless resentment in her heart, knowing it was left by the original host. Since she had arrived, the original host's life was her life, and she would fulfill all her wishes for her.
She always felt that Liu Shan was the biggest hidden danger. That afternoon, Wu Caiwei made up her mind to find Shopkeeper Zhou and ask him to manage the Rouge Shop for her, as she needed to go on a long trip for some personal matters.
Shopkeeper Zhou readily agreed. It turned out that women's money was so easy to earn. The Rouge Shop was now the biggest source of income for the Zhou family. Even if she didn't say it, he would have guarded the shop well. Of course, he also wanted to maintain a good relationship with this partner who brought him wealth.
"The Zhou family has shops in every county. If Mr. Wu needs any help, please don't hesitate to ask."
Wu Caiwei looked at his sincere expression and quickly thanked him. She needed to investigate the truth of the matter carefully. If she really needed his help, it wouldn't be too late to ask for support then.
The next morning, she packed her belongings and, with a bundle, quietly returned to the county town.
To avoid attracting attention, she rented a small courtyard in the county town.
As the sun set, he rode his newly bought horse, wearing a large straw hat, and hurried out of the city before the gate closed.
He galloped all the way towards the village in his memory, occasionally inquiring with people he met. After all, the original host was a village girl, and the farthest she had ever been was the town. She longed for the outside world but was also afraid, as she remembered that when she was little, children from the town who went to the county town to play got lost and never returned.
Not long after nightfall, he finally arrived at the village where the original host had grown up. Fortunately, the village was not too far from the county town.
He tied his horse in a grove and used his lightness skill to reach the house in his memory. The house was dark. This was different from her memory. Although poor farm families were reluctant to use kerosene, they would occasionally light it to mend clothes.
Wu Caiwei quietly sneaked into the house and gently knocked on the door of the room where her younger siblings slept. After waiting for a while, there was no response. This was not right. When she knocked just now, she used three long and two short knocks, which was the secret signal her siblings usually used.
Her heart skipped a beat, and she quickly opened the door. Having practiced martial arts for so long, her hearing and eyesight were sharp. She saw at a glance that the bed was empty. She then rushed to her mother's room and found the situation to be the same.
She suddenly felt panicked, afraid that something had happened to them. Just as she was feeling dejected, she suddenly heard a dog bark from the east end of the village. She quickly jumped out of the yard and hid in the darkness.
Soon, she heard a woman's suppressed crying, "July is so young, how scared she must be alone in the mountains, why? Why did they have to take our daughter?"
"Of course, it's because that damned girl, June, ran away, and the mountain god is angry. Otherwise, why would he have taken our daughter? We raised her for so many years, didn't she know how much disaster her escape would bring us? And she has no gratitude at all," the man said, deliberately lowering his voice.
"There are so many girls in the Liu family, why our family specifically? When the mountain god chose the Liu family, mother said June wasn't our child. We've raised her for so many years, it's time to contribute. Although I was reluctant, I couldn't find a reason to refuse, so I had to agree. But July is so young, and the daughters of my elder brother and second brother are all older than her. Why her? To put it bluntly, it's mother's favoritism," the woman thought about the grievances she had suffered in the Liu family for so many years and was overcome with grief. For a moment, she wanted to cause a scene without regard for anything else. Thinking of her daughter left alone in the mountains, her heart ached unbearably.
Even if Wu Caiwei was slow-witted, she understood the truth. No wonder her mother always pushed her to the forefront for so many years. She knew that as long as she opposed her grandmother, she would surely be beaten and disliked by her family, yet her mother always looked at her with a pitiful expression.
The original host didn't know any of this and had always treated them as her own siblings. Those little ones, although they were taught by their mother to always hide behind her when there was trouble, they were usually sincere towards her. Although Wu Caiwei felt disgusted, she still had to save them.
She quickly walked in the direction she remembered and found that the forest was empty. She didn't know if she had come too late, or if they had moved elsewhere due to her previous escape.
Wu Caiwei quickly walked to the small wooden house. The lights she expected were not on. She waited for a while, and still, no one came. She quickly opened the door and found that it had been abandoned for a long time.
Standing in the open space, with the vastness of heaven and earth, she didn't know where to go. Last time, at the top of the large tree next to the small wooden house, she had personally seen the man, to avoid attracting attention, angrily take off his mask, stuff it into his怀, and walk towards the village.
That man was the village chief's son. She never expected that the usually fair and upright, hypocritical village chief would engage in such underhanded dealings with his son. Sudan Novel Network.
Wu Caiwei quickly ran back to the village and went to the only brick house in the center of the village. She gently pushed open the door and held a sword to the village chief's neck.
"Don't shout, or I'll kill you," Wu Caiwei deliberately lowered her voice, and before he could scream, she covered his mouth with a quilt.
The village chief nodded. When Wu Caiwei pulled away the quilt, he took deep breaths and then trembled, "Good sir, please don't kill me. We are just a poor village. If you want money, I have some, and I'll give it all to you."
"I'm asking you, where is your son? Didn't you say you were going to do business with me and give me girls? Where is he?" Wu Caiwei made up an excuse, fearing that he would retaliate against those who had given girls.
"It's just that the last business with you didn't work out. For the sake of safety, my son personally went to Huzhou to sell them for a good price," the village chief said. Hearing this, he misunderstood that she was part of that group and felt a little wronged. They were the ones who didn't want to pay a high price, and now these people were coming to him.
"When did he leave, and from where?"
"He took a direct water route from the pier in the next town. At this time, they should have already boarded the ship."
The village chief looked at her with a bitter face. It was the last time Liu family's June had scared his son, making him feel that the longer the delay, the more trouble. As soon as he got his hands on her, he had drugged her and put her on the ship, wanting to get the money early.
"Go and give me all the silver you have in your house. Anyway, this silver is not from a legitimate source." When he mentioned silver just now, Wu Caiwei suddenly thought that if she took away all his hard-earned money, would he be so angry that he would die?