Chapter 405: Chapter 259: That Woman
“It’s a very simple matter, you just don’t use your brain and always wait for someone to tell you what to do. Liu Qingsong, your IQ will eventually deteriorate to below sixty,” Ran Yan said slowly through the curtain.
Liu Qingsong’s mouth fell open, and after a long while, he said, “I’ve realized it now, Ran Yan, you’ve been hiding your true colors so deeply. Jiulang is nothing compared to you; you’re absolutely ruthless! I was completely fooled by that righteous face of yours!”
Ran Yan’s temperament was serious and upright. Although she appeared very indifferent, she gave off the impression that whatever she said was the absolute truth.
“Doctor Liu is overestimating me,” Ran Yan said indifferently.
Liu Qingsong pulled his head back in and, pinching Sang Chen’s philtrum vigorously, grumbled, “Look at you, a pure-hearted genius, why be so pessimistic? There are thousands and thousands of women in this world… You don’t want a title, do you? How about I introduce you to another woman? Hey, let me tell you, she’s a beautiful young girl with great prospects for the future. Her family name is Wu and given name is Meiniang. If you end up with her, I’ll stick by you in the future. I’ve got someone, otherwise I wouldn’t bear to introduce her to you…”
Liu Qingsong prattled on and on until Sang Chen gained consciousness with a faint voice, “Keep her for yourself… I don’t want her!”
“Why do you torture yourself !” Liu Qingsong watched him with his sleeves gathered.
Sang Chen coughed and said, “It’s okay, one can get used to fainting after a while.”
Liu Qingsong was stupefied, “What you said is so genius! Completely stubborn! No, foolishly stubborn!”
Sang Chen turned his head away awkwardly and stopped talking.
The carriage took different routes after entering from the vicinity of East Market.
Ran Yan’s carriage turned a corner near East Market.
Outside, there was hustle and bustle. Ran Yan lifted a corner of the curtain to watch the excitement.
“What happened over there?” Ran Yan saw a traffic jam in the alley between Pingkang Square and East Market and asked the coachman.
“Wife, today is the last day of the Oiran contest. After today, Chang’an will have a new Oiran,” the coachman answered cheerfully.
What would the Oiran of the whole Chang’an look like?
The coachman continued, “Madam should take a look. Although it’s unlikely to see her in person, you can clearly hear the music.”
“Not going.” If it were possible to see the person in question, there would be no harm in looking. Ran Yan did not particularly understand music, so what was the point of joining the commotion?
Ran Yan let go of the curtain, ready to rest with closed eyes, but just then, the carriage suddenly stopped, sending her lunging forward.
Fortunately, she grabbed the curtain in the chaos to avoid falling too clumsily.
“Madam, did you fall?” The coachman quickly pulled on the reins and turned to ask.
Ran Yan sat up properly and said, “No harm done, what happened?”
“Glad you’re alright, wife. It was a shabbily dressed woman who suddenly rushed out of the alley and threw herself in the middle of the road. We can just go around,” said the coachman, starting to turn the carriage around.
“Is that person okay?” Ran Yan asked.
“She’s fine, squatting in the middle of the road. She’ll probably recover after a short rest. We didn’t hit her,” the coachman replied.
Since they hadn’t hit anyone and no one was hurt, Ran Yan didn’t want to interfere unduly, so she said, “Let’s go.”
The coachman acknowledged, and Ran Yan, after saying so, still lifted the curtain to look outside. She saw a disheveled figure in homespun clothes squatting in the middle of the road, who could faintly be made out as a woman by her build. As Ran Yan looked over, the woman looked up, her eyes like stars, sharp as blades, half-hidden in her black hair, resembling a wary wild animal.
As the carriage began to move, Ran Yan stared into her eyes, and the woman also stared back intently.
Such eyes… only someone who lives in an environment surrounded by wolves could possess such a gaze!
Feeling intrigued by the woman, Ran Yan couldn’t help but say, “Stop the carriage.”
The coachman pulled over and stopped, and Ran Yan quickly jumped down from the carriage, striding towards the woman.
The woman kept staring at Ran Yan, and seeing her approach, immediately jumped up like a rabbit and dashed into the alley.
Ran Yan knew there were Secret Guards sent by Xiao Song nearby, and immediately called out, “Catch her!”
Bylookers turned their heads for a glance but continued indifferently with their own business. A beggar colliding with a noble on the street and being caught for a lesson was nothing new and had no entertainment value. A spectacle worth watching would be a wife catching her husband in infidelity.
Upon Ran Yan’s command, two figures dashed towards the alley where the woman ran off, and Ran Yan followed suit.
This was a corner of Pingkang Square, where the streets, unlike the bustling marketplace, were almost devoid of pedestrians, and the woman consistently headed into smaller alleys.