As for those women taken away by the brokers from General Qing Xiang’s mountain camp, we are trying our best to identify them, because sometimes brokers also hire artists to paint portraits of live goods, and then send these portraits to potential customers’ homes.
We are investigating household by household, and we should have news soon... I hope those people haven’t thrown away the portraits.
In addition to this, we also sent people to Tian Nan County to investigate the servitude of that person called Xiaoluzi."
"Xiaoluzi..."
Xiaozhao.
Lu Ergou...
Brother Xiong...
Lines of information flashed through Yan Yu’s mind.
Yue Spirit didn’t notice anything unusual, but said: "Please rest assured, Eldest Granny Yan, Ancestor is the sky of our Shanbao County now. We will certainly do our utmost to do what the sky commands..."
"Hmm, thank you for your hard work." Yan Yu smiled and took a delicate small box from the side, handing it over, "The restaurant has tried producing some crisp candies to go with wine, but they also taste good on their own."
"Crisp candies? But they’re not sold at Hengwu Restaurant yet."
"They won’t be on the market for a few more days."
Yan Yu smiled as she stuffed the candy into Yue Spirit’s hand, "Take it."
Yue Spirit dared not refuse, nor was there any need to refuse such a gift of crisp candies, which indicated closeness, could bolster one’s reputation, yet were not expensive. So she hurriedly said: "Thank you, Eldest Granny Yan."
Initially, she thought Ancestor’s wife was a village girl, but over the years, anyone with eyes could see she was certainly not a village girl...
Intelligent, elegant, decent, compassionate, with an excellent reputation; except for not being a Martial Artist, everything else... there was virtually no flaw.
After Yue Spirit got off the carriage, Lady Yan softly called: "Old Zhou, go to the shed area."
The carriage wheels turned and slowly stopped at the shed area.
Squeak...
Groan...
The door creaked open, and the dilapidated house was filled with dust. Lady Yan glanced at the carriage behind her, then turned her gaze back, took a deep breath, and stepped into the inner hall.
On the table, letters and large coins from two years ago remained in their original positions, untouched.
Looking at the letters brought a sudden peace to Lady Yan’s heart.
She turned back and gently closed the door of the main house.
Inside, it became much darker, much quieter; at the end of her sight, a sliver of light fell through the crack in the door, casting upon Lady Yan and the dust-covered Copper Mirror not far away.
"Xiaozhao, you can see me, right?"
An unexpected, fragmented sentence spilled from the beautiful woman’s mouth.
In the eerily silent, cramped little room, it appeared somewhat haunting.
Yet the beautiful woman suddenly stood up, stepped toward the mirror, and said softly: "That day, I brought Xiaozhao here, and she reached out her hands. She wanted you to hold her, right?"
"In my dream, the house I always see is actually a cage covered in black cloth. You want to see me, right?"
"Had I known this, I wouldn’t have let you leave that day. You could have stayed with us and been fine..."
The beautiful woman’s voice was gentle, as she approached the Copper Mirror, breathing gently on it and wiping away the dust with her sleeve, then said: "My foolish sister... you have always been by my side, right?"
No response.
It was like a solitary whisper.
The beautiful woman was in no hurry; she picked up a comb from the side and gently untangled the long-dead strands of hair, saying: "Feng’Er, come out and see me."
As her voice fell, the old Copper Mirror suddenly became blurred, as if the rippling water pattern had been disturbed, and when it calmed again, a pale woman’s face full of cracks slowly emerged.
The woman’s eyes bled, and the cracks pulsated eerily, with every pulsation being a crawling, ghastly white female ghost.
These numerous ghastly white ghosts together formed a face...
That face was Feng’Er’s face.
Lady Yan felt her heart miss a beat, almost having a heart attack, her skin broke out in goosebumps as the chill surged, but she still wore a smile, her eyes wide, quietly staring at the female ghost in the mirror, then said gently in the tone of talking to a sister: "Long time no see."
...
...
"Sister Xue, could you help look after Xiaozhao for the next few days... cough cough cough..."
"Cough cough..."
"I am sick, cough cough, and Xiaozhao staying with me will also get sick."
Lady Yan had a fit of coughing.
The proprietress asked with concern: "Sister Yan, are you okay?"
"It’s nothing, just a bit of a cold that will get better in a few days. But it’ll be a little trouble for you." Lady Yan said gently.
The proprietress laughed: "It’s no trouble at all. My boy is too troublesome; your girl is much better. I’d even like to switch with you."
"No need to switch, you are also Xiaozhao’s mother." Lady Yan smiled, "Alright, then I’ll leave her in your care."
The two women chatted a bit more.
Lady Yan then retired to her room early, while the sky had not yet darkened and Xiaozhao was definitely not asleep, she took a dose of the doctor-prescribed sleeping aid and quickly closed her eyes to enter the dream.
Today was very smooth; she appeared directly in the black little house of the dream, unable to speak, unable to move, even unable to turn her eyeballs.
But in her heart, she shouted.
"Feng’Er, I want to move! To speak!"
"If your attachment is to me, then release my bindings!"
The next moment, she suddenly could move.
She walked to the window, gently calling: "Feng’Er."
But the white shadow gave no response.
Lady Yan kept murmuring, but still, the white shadow didn’t respond at all.
After a long time, Lady Yan looked at that mysterious white paper money on the table and said: "I want that money."
Still, no response from the white shadow, not even the slightest movement.
Lady Yan gritted her teeth, slowly walking toward the table.