CH 51

Chapter 51 – Rescue

“Eldest Miss,” Seventh Uncle said somewhat sheepishly, “Don’t be afraid, they won’t do anything to you. It’s the Li family. Their family wanted to marry you, but your parents didn’t agree, so the Li family had no choice, but to resort to this.” The more he spoke, the more he felt his actions were justified, and his voice gradually became louder, “The second young master of the Li family really likes you. Don’t worry! Once you marry into the Li family and become his wife, you will understand. Seventh uncle will never harm you. I have already arranged with them that when the time comes, I will go with them and protect you.”

……

Yu Tang vehemently cursed in her heart.

Her previous life’s experiences really harmed herself!

She thought of a thousand different strategies, and guarded against all possible threats, but not for once did she think that at the critical point, she would be tricked by proper and decent people. Moreover, even after explaining, he may not even understand what he did wrong.

Yu Tang saw the group of ruffians quickly closing the distance, so she hurriedly left her outer garment in her seventh uncle’s hand and fled towards the house.

“Quick, catch her!” The leader of the gang saw this and yelled to seventh uncle, “If she manages to run all the way back to the Yu family’s estate, it’s over, we’ll have done all this in vain!”

Seventh uncle came back to his senses and chased after Yu Tang.

The wind blew fiercely passed by her ears and the wild, overgrown grass pulled at her skirt.

She stumbled along, not daring to stop as she cried out loudly for help.

The mountain forest was located behind the Yu family’s estate, but in order to reach the Yu family’s estate, she had to run along the path at the foot of the mountain and cross to the other side…. Or she could cross a small river and run towards the village instead.

The road along the foot of the mountain was rugged and much less travelled.

As Yu Tang turned the corner, she saw two strong men ‘nonchalantly’ guarding the road.

Yu Tang quickly changed her mind and jumped onto the bridge leading to the village and yelled for help.

However, the entire village was silent, only the two big cows tethered to a tree at the entrance of the village “moo-ed” in response to her.

Much to her dismay, she forgot that it was lunchtime and everyone in the village was probably in their homes having their meals.

Yu Tang lamented in her heart.

She couldn’t be that unlucky, could she?

Yu Tang quickly glanced behind her.

A few of the ruffians seem to be afraid that she would run into the village and alert the people, their expressions were ferocious and they were quickly closing in on her.

As Yu Tang turned pale with fright, she noticed a green curtain horse-drawn carriage winding down the dirt road at the village entrance.

At the front of the carriage sat a strong carriage driver and a child of about ten plus years old.

The twelve or thirteen year old child had a round, chubby face and his hair was combed in a double bun-style. He wore a parrot green silk robe. In his hand was some kind of white pastry and the corners of his mouth were full of crumbs as he ate happily.

It was actually the same child she met at Zhaoming Temple’s Brush Cleaning Spring!

Yu Tang was so relieved that tears fell down her face.

She ran towards the carriage, shouting “Help! Help!”

The carriage driver and the child looked over in unison.

The boy’s eyes grew round like logans, the coachman cursed and jumped off the carriage, and hurried over with a whip in his hand.

Yu Tang was overjoyed and kept shouting for help.

The whip cut through the air and swung directly behind her, brushing pass her ear.

A few wails and curses came from behind her.

The rough and burly man’s eyebrows went up and his voice was deafening. “How dare you bully a little girl in broad daylight and still have the audacity to yell out!”

He strode past Yu Tang, and the whip in his hand once again lashed across.

Yu Tang stopped running, only to find herself gasping for breath, her chest hurting as if it had been torn open.

She couldn’t help but bend over and brace herself on her knees.

“Older Sis!” A pair of fair and tender small hands with crumbs still stuck to them held her up, “Don’t be afraid, our master and Old Zhao are here, those people won’t dare to bully you anymore. Are you okay? Do you need me to help you to the stone over there to sit down?”

There was a big stone boulder at the entrance of the village, that was tethered to a cow.

Yutang had never ran like this before in her life. She was gasping hard for breath, unable to speak, and could only shake her head.

“Then, then I’ll help you to ……” the child seemed to be momentarily out of ideas.

It must be that he couldn’t find another place for her to sit, right?

Yu Tong wanted to laugh, but could not.

She looked up and saw the child’s face that was fair and pleasantly soft like a steamed bun.

“Thank you so much, you ……,” said Yutang.

The child shook his head quickly like a rattle. “Older sis, don’t speak anymore. Where do you stay? We’ll send you back.”

After taking in a few deep breaths, Yu Tang felt better. She stood up straight, thinking that she had to thank the child’s master before calling the village people over. However, who knew that when she looked up, she would see Pei Yan sitting in the carriage, looking coldly at her.

“Why are you here?” Yu Tang said in shock, taking two steps back.

Zhaoming Temple …… the child …… green-curtain carriage …… strong carriage driver……

Yu Tang looked at the child and the burly man who had beaten those ruffians to the ground, and then looked at Pei Yan. She said with a tremor in her voice, asking the child, “You, your master, he wouldn’t be the third master of the Pei family, right?”

“Yes, indeed he is!” The child said brightly, with an extremely proud look, “Our master is the third master of the Pei family! You know my Third Master? Our third master is so good that he not only waived the rent of the tenants, but also donated money for the gold plating of the Bodhisattva in Zhaoming Temple. You can tell our Third Master about this matter well, and let our Third Master send all these bad people to the magistrate.”

Yu Tang felt so embarrassed that she didn’t know what to say for a while.

Pei Yan looked at her and the corners of his mouth twitched lightly.

This Lady Yu, they met again.

Unlike the sly and cunning she displayed in the first meeting, her compelling beauty in the second, and the sloppy casualness in the third…… this time…. Pei Yan examined Yu Tang.

Yutang was perspiring hard, her hair was in a mess. Her dress was torn and dirty, and she only had one shoe on and the other was somehow gone. She looked like a trainwreck, like a woman on the run.

Following his gaze, YuTang couldn’t help but examine her own appearance.

The lilac dress she wore was torn at some point with a large gap near her left foot and showed her embroidered shoe and a dirtied white sock on her right foot.

Yu Tang’s face grew hot as if on fire.

She blushed and looked towards Pei Yan.

However Pei Yan turned his face away, as if he didn’t want to see her.

Yu Tang was a little embarrassed, but her embarrassment lasted for less than a few breaths before it dissipated.

Pei Yan had always despised her, not to mention the last time she was in Hangzhou, he saw her munching on a pig’s trotter with her hands, and even knew about her stomachache that happened because of her greed…… As the saying goes, “gluttony and laziness go hand in hand”. Previously, she had tricked supervisor Tong regarding that “Pine lake fishing hidden painting”, used the Pei Family’s name to intimidate Lu Xin …… so what dignity had she left in front of him to speak of? What pride does she have to display?

However, this time, it’s only her clothes that are not proper. Comparatively, it’s already quite good.

Yu Tang suddenly felt relieved.

She already had encounters far worse then these, so what should she be afraid of? What is there to be ashamed of?

After thinking things through, Yu Tang felt better and adopted the attitude of an unassuming, calm and soft-spoken lady.

She said: “Master Pei, thank you greatly for your help. My parents are in the country field estate, so if you don’t have any urgent matters to attend to, please come and have a cup of tea at our Yu family’s residence. This way, my parents can also show their appreciation to you properly.”

Pei Yan frowned as he asked, “You’re with your parents?”

Did he think that she came here alone?

Yu Tang nodded and was about to say a few more polite words to Pei Yan when sounds of horse hooves rang out nearby.

Both of them turned around in that direction.

They saw Li Jun and Shen Fang each riding a horse and galloping towards them.

Yu Tang’s face sank.

Li Jun and Shen Fang’s horses were soon in front of them.

Both of them pulled on the reins, the horses raised their hooves high, before coming to a halt.

“Lady Yu, are you all right?” Li Jun asked anxiously as he looked at her.

Shen Fang got down and walked over, he looked serious as he asked, “Lady Yu, are you okay?”

Yu Tang raised her eyebrows quizzically.

Li Jun quickly explained “I was drinking tea in the teahouse with Xiao Yan and a few others, and happen to overhear someone talking about Lady Yu. The person said that as Lady Yu’s family has a lot of money, so someone wanted to become their family’s son-in-law. He heard that you were going to the country-side estate today, and thus asked them to take Lady Yu captive. …… Although they did not dare to accept the job, but there was someone else was desperate enough to take the job. …… After hearing, I got worried. I happened to meet brother Shen who came looking for Xiaoyan, so I rushed over here with Brother Shen ……” After saying this, only then did he remember to greet Pei Yan. “Master Pei! It looks like you saved Lady Yu, this is really fortunate!”

He wiped the sweat from his forehead and then ran to the driver’s side with righteous indignation. He kicked those people a few times and said to Yu Tang, “Lady Yu, thank goodness you’re fine. When I came here, I already instructed my attendant to take my big brother’s name card to the magistrate to report this case, so they should arrive soon.”

Yu Tang stared at him from the moment he jumped off his horse until now, her mind racing all the while.

What did Li Jun mean?

Wasn’t it the Li family that wants to take her by force?

Was he really unaware of their intentions?

However, looking at his appearance, it doesn’t seem like he’s faking it.

Especially since Shen Fang came as well.

Although she and Shen Fang only met once at Zhaoming Temple, but seeing that he could make Fu Xiaoyan listen to him, it clearly showed that he’s not a person who can be manipulated at will. if the Li family wanted him to be a witness, it wouldn’t be that easy.

Yu Tang expressed her thanks to Li Jun and said calmly. “It’s good that Gentleman Shen suddenly decided to find Gentleman Fu and thus, came together with you. However, with just the two of you, it’s too dangerous. Should you encounter such a thing in future, you should find more helpers before coming.”

Shen Fang kept silent and gave Yu Tang a profound look.

Li Jun responded quickly, “Of course I would have! But at the time, I was so worried that I forgot. If not for Brother Shen’s reminders, I wouldn’t have even remembered to ask someone to report this to the magistrate.”

Yu Tang thanked Shen Fang again.

Shen Fang, however, said with some hidden meaning, “It was indeed a coincidence that I suddenly decided to come today. Otherwise, why would Ah-Jun say that it’s fortunate!”

This Shen Fang was also an astute person .

Yu Tang smiled and nodded at him.

Shen Fang showed an understanding smile.

Suddenly, Yu Tang’s heart lurched and a bold thought crossed her mind.

In her previous life, Li Jun passed away unexpectedly not long after their marriage was finalized.

She didn’t know him well.

What if Li Jun and the Li family were not working together?

Then it would all make sense.

The Li family wanted to force her to marry in, but without Li Jun’s cooperation, it wouldn’t work. Therefore the Li family tricked both her and Li Jun. First, they made her seventh uncle believe that he was helping her by doing this, and then they intentionally let Li Jun know about her situation and planned for Li Jun to save her.

However, it’s just that the Li family miscalculated and didn’t expect Pei Yan to pass by and for Shen Fang to accidentally meet Li Jun on the way.