Two people carried Gu Youyou as they ran swiftly; at the turning corner of the alley, Yue Ruxue blocked the way, halting the pursuing crowd.
"Everyone stop right there, this is the private affair of the Marquis Residence. Anyone who dares to intervene will have only themselves to blame for my lack of courtesy."
Yue Ruxue glanced at a row of bamboo poles leaning against the wall, kicked one out with her foot, and seized a rod thick as a small arm. With graceful efficiency, she swung it in a sweeping motion, forcing the advancing crowd to retreat several steps.
The ordinary folks had never seen such a spectacle before. Faced with this fierce and imposing lady of the Yue Family, they looked at each other in dismay.
After a moment of silence in the scene, someone murmured in a low voice, "It’s broad daylight, even the Marquis Residence can’t do as they please."
The expression on Yue Ruxue’s face turned instantly grim.
When one person took the lead, another voice, louder than the first, followed, "What has Doctor Gu done? Why does the Marquis Residence want to capture her?"
"What does it have to do with you? I will capture whomever I wish!" Unable to come up with a reasonable response, Yue Ruxue simply resorted to brute force, and that was how unjust she intended to be. What could you all possibly do about it?
"How can you be so unreasonable?" The voice was yet a little softer.
Bullying the crowd to the point of speechlessness.
Seeing that the two house servants had already gone far, Yue Ruxue, holding onto her dignity, did not want to argue with the commoners. She smiled proudly, lifted her chin, propped up the bamboo pole, spun around, and quickly disappeared in the depths of the alley.
The misses of the Yue Family are all capable of joining the battlefield, and the ordinary people dared not to engage in a hard fight with them, let alone catch up. Resigned to their helplessness, they looked at each other and could only let her leave.
"What should we do now?"
"Let’s go, let’s go to the Marquis Residence to find the Marquess. How can Miss Yue be so arrogant? Today she brazenly took Doctor Gu away; tomorrow it could be any one of us."
"Right, right, let’s go to Marquess Yue to demand an explanation. Marquess Yue is not that kind of person; he will surely handle it justly."
So, the common folks hurried off to the Yue Residence to find someone.
Banxia anxiously waited, unable to get Gu Youyou back, becoming increasingly agitated.
Just then, someone came to deliver a message. "Miss Banxia, oh dear, what are you still dazed for? Your Doctor Gu has gone missing."
"What?" Banxia had been feeling uneasy all this time. Could it be that something really had happened to Gu Youyou?
"Madam, what happened? Could you please explain in detail to Banxia?"
So, the woman narrated the incident she saw on the street today of Gu Youyou being captured and taken away.
After hearing this, Banxia turned pale with fright. She knew that Gu Youyou and her husband had some connection with the Marquis Residence, and it should have been a good relationship, but why was the Marquess’s daughter troubling Gu Youyou?
This won’t do; she had to inform Jin Zijin as soon as possible.
Banxia locked the door of Jisheng Hall, put out a closed-for-business sign, and hurriedly ran towards the city outskirts.
She couldn’t ride a horse, but luckily, due to years of gathering herbs in the mountains, her physical condition was still decent.
Panting for breath, she ran to the Lingnan Barracks, where she was stopped by the sentries.
The barracks were a critical military area where ordinary civilians were not allowed near. Anyone approaching would be thoroughly interrogated before being allowed to leave.
"I... I have urgent news for someone, for Big Brother Jin, Jin Zijin. Do the officials recognize him?"
Jin Zijin’s fame was quite significant within the Lingnan Barracks, so of course, they knew of him.
The two guards exchanged looks, and one of them asked, "Who are you?"
Banxia said, "I’m here to deliver urgent news. His wife encountered trouble in the city and was captured by villains; now her life and death are unknown... "