Chapter 351 – Mistaken as a pond fairy? (2)
Liu Hanyun slowly crouched down and whispered to Chunpi, “Go and point out the way for the marquis. It’s towards Jin Province.”
With reddened eyes, Chunpi said, “Master, why do you need to point out the way? If the marquis wants to go look, just let him look on his own. He might not be successful.”
Liu Hanyun bitterly laughed. She took Xi-er from the wet nurse and quietly said, “There’s no point in having him fruitlessly search for a long time. Sooner or later, Teacher Ji will be found. The marquis probably already knows that Teacher Ji’s disappearance has something to do with me. Let’s just end it here, so that I don’t end up implicating my older brother.”
Chunpi gritted her teeth and stamped her feet. “The marquis really doesn’t have a conscience. Master has saved his life and gave birth to Young Master Xi, but now, he’s treating Master like this over a man.”
Liu Hanyun shook her head and sighed.
—
Once Ning Yuxuan was told which direction to heard towards, he left the estate with Guibai and headed there in haste. Their horses’ hooves raised high as they galloped down the road. There was only one road from the capital to Jin Province, but it might take a lot of time to catch up to that carriage.
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Really, she was always making him worry. He didn’t have to come out himself. He could have sent Guibai to search for her. Perhaps, he was just having insomnia, so he decided to come out and get some air?
Again and again, the whip struck the horse to urge it to go faster. Ning Yuxuan chuckled. Yeah, that had to be the reason.
—
Ji Man didn’t know how far the carriage had gone, but it was already very dark outside. At some point, she had fallen asleep while she was leaning against the carriage. She didn’t wake up until the carriage had stopped, and the group of servants had pulled her out. It seemed that they were planning on spending the night in this grove. This type of grove was favorable to travelers because there were plentiful hares and pheasants in this area due to not having any natural predators. They could rest easy for the night after setting up shelter.
Ji Man accommodatingly sat on the side and didn’t cause trouble as the servants efficiently went about their work in starting a fire and setting up shelter. They were worthy of being servants from the marquis’s estate.
Ji Man remembered that the original Nie Sangyu had sent away Marquis Moyu’s bed servants. Perhaps, this was the same group of people that had carried out her orders back then. It was quite amusing when she thought of it that way.
She looked at the sky. They would probably be able to leave the capital’s surrounding area by tomorrow morning. She pondered for a moment before asking, “There’s probably a river around here, right? Can I go take a bath?”
The servants looked at her. One of them stepped forward to say, “I’ll go with you.”
The corners of Ji Man’s lips twitched. She nodded after thinking it over. She couldn’t leave the capital for real. In order to escape from this group of servants, she naturally had to employ some tricks.
The sky was black, and the moonlight was just right when they approached the river. She could faintly see the shimmering ripples in the river, and there seemed to be voices that were drifting over here from a distance.
It seemed that there were other people staying the night in this forest too. Thus, this river didn’t seem quite so frightful.
Ji Man took off her outer robe, and entered the robe while still wearing her inner robe and boots.
By the shore, the servant kept an eye on her while he taking off his own clothes, “Don’t try to play any tricks!”
“I won’t. It’s not like I can run away to somewhere.” Ji Man laughed and stayed in shallow area of the river. She waited until the moment the servant was distracted with taking off his clothes, then she dived head first into the water.
The servant’s laughter drifted over from the shore. “Don’t think you can escape by using the river. This river ends in a pond when you go further down.”
This was only a stream that had split from a bigger river, and it really did end in a tranquil pond. Even, if she dived into the water and swam over there, the servant could just go to the other side and block off her escape path as soon as he noticed that she was missing.
However, she had a skill that would save her life.
Changing her face.
While underwater, Ji Man removed the fake skin face mask and stuffed into her inner robe. Once she removed the wooden hairpin that kept her hair tied, her freed hair floated in all directions. She took off her inner robe next. With only her boots left, she allowed the river current to bring her toward that pool.
Seeing the clothes that had floated up, the servant shouted, “I knew you were up to something!” He didn’t bother entering the water. Instead, he ran towards the pond.
Just as that servant was about to reach the pond, he was stopped by a group of armored guards. “Halt! Don’t come closer.”
“This…” the servant felt a bit foolish. He stopped and explained, “A male servant from my household escaped to here from upstream. I came here to catch him!”
The guards frowned. One person left to report the matter.
Soon after, a young servant girl shouted towards the pool, “Madam, be careful! They said a male servant fled over her. Don’t let yourself bump into him.”
There was the sound of falling water. The servant from Marquis Moyu’s household was standing far away, and the guards blocked his view, so he only heard a woman saying, “There are only women here. How could there be a male servant amongst us? It must be some lechers trying to sneak a peak. Have the guards send them away.”
“Understood.”
The male servant was forcefully escorted away from the pond area.
One after another, the women got out of the water with rather dampened spirits. After the woman in charge put on her clothes, she lightly said, “We’ve almost reached the capital. Once we’ve returned, we’ll definitely have to make up for all the hardships that we’ve suffering on the journey there.”
“Yes, absolutely, ” answered a woman with a delicate voice, “Our lady has never had to sleep outside in wilderness before now.”
When someone happened to glance back at the water, she saw that a woman had remained behind in the pool. Smiling, she asked, “Who is this? Did you forget to bring your clothes? Why haven’t you gotten out of the water yet?”