Your Majesty, Please Stop!

Chapter 53: Ambush in Disguise at Peach Blossom Town

The prefect yamen of Fufeng Prefecture is located in the center of the city. With its flying eaves, purple-black bricks, and tiles, the official building is guarded by strong and imposing guards. Ordinary people can't help but feel fear and dare not approach when they see it.

The front yard is the office of the "Local Six Departments," while the backyard is the residence of the prefect's family.

The rain has stopped.

In front of the yamen's gate, there are many elegantly dressed ladies, maidservants, servants, and some flamboyant young gentlemen.

A group of people stood on tiptoe and looked towards the end of the road until a carriage, surrounded by twenty catchers, slowly approached. They couldn't help but cheer and greet it from afar.

One of the gorgeously dressed middle-aged beauties, with red eyes, shouted towards the carriage, "Miao Jin, my child, you've suffered..."

Before she could finish her words, tears streamed down her face, and she stumbled.

Su Miao Jin opened the curtain of the carriage. With her snake-like bun and a white dress, she was so beautiful that she seemed otherworldly. She hurriedly jumped off the carriage and hugged the middle-aged beauty, her eyes also misting up. "Mother!"

The beautiful woman is none other than the wife of the prefect, Su Xing Ming. The couple had adopted Su Miao Jin for ten years, and although she was not their biological daughter, they treated her as if she were.

"Let Mother have a good look at you."

Su Miao Jin let go of her mother and was scrutinized from head to toe. As a mother who had given birth to two children, she naturally could tell if a girl had lost her virginity.

Su Miao Jin blushed. "Mother, I'm fine. That...thief didn't lay a finger on me!"

"Miss Su, you're mistaken!"

Before the prefect's wife could speak, a pale and weak young gentleman not far away flashed a hint of admiration and regret in his eyes. He cupped his fists and said, "I am Jiang He Zhu from the Du Kang Mansion. I have seen Miss Su. I thought the thief king treated you with respect, but the crime of offending Miss Su has been determined. I heard that the four major families' experts are going to hunt him down, and when the time comes, they will surely torture him to death."

Su Miao Jin frowned. She couldn't bear to hear about Xin Zhuo now. She didn't want to hear anything good, let alone anything bad.

Another young gentleman with a look of admiration on his face smiled and said, "What Jiang Gongzi said is true. I also believe that the thief king must be tortured to death to resolve my resentment."

"Well said!" A chubby young gentleman next to him clapped his folding fan. "The experts from the four major families have probably already captured the thief king. Now we just need to wait for him to be brought here for execution!"

"That's right, I bought three thousand taels from the Murong family!"

"Hehe, I did the same. Even if it's thirty thousand taels, what does it matter if it can help Miss Su vent her anger?"

The group of young gentlemen, in order to win the favor of the beautiful lady, became more and more outrageous in their words. Were they really praising me? As a woman captured by a bandit stronghold, they probably already despised me, right?

Compared to Xin Xiao Zhai's straightforwardness and shrewdness...

She didn't want to stay here any longer. She slightly bowed, pretending to be polite, and turned to enter the courtyard, leaving behind a group of young gentlemen still chattering.

The prefect's wife caught up and smiled lightly. "Miao Jin, are you annoyed?"

Su Miao Jin turned around and said, "Mother, why did these people block the door? No one dared to do this in the past!"

"This...," the prefect's wife sighed, "you don't know yet. Your birth father, the Duke of Nanli, his concubine, Lady Hua, went to the capital a few days ago to urge the Jiang family, a thousand-year-old gatekeeper, to arrange the marriage."

Su Miao Jin was stunned. In the Great Zhou Dynasty, girls usually married at the age of 15 or 16, unless they were women with extremely high martial arts skills who could marry a bit later. She had also wondered why that enormous family hadn't discussed marriage yet.

So...it's happening now?

The prefect's wife continued, "As a result, the old master of the Jiang family's words were evasive, and we don't know what he meant. It seems that something has happened to your fiancé. It is said that people in the capital haven't seen him for many years.

Lady Hua speculated that perhaps your fiancé died when he was young, which would be a burden on you. As a result, a big fuss was made...and Lady Hua was punished and expelled from the mansion by the old master of the Jiang family."

When the county prince's wife, who held a powerful army, was publicly beaten, the Jiang family dared to do so. Afterward, the county prince not only did not blame them, but also divorced Lady Hua...

The whole world is spreading rumors that this marriage is likely to end, so those young gentlemen outside dare to come...

"I understand."

Su Miaojin lacked interest and led her maidservant straight to her own east wing.

The plum blossom courtyard was extremely elegant. At this time, the autumn plum blossoms were blooming, emitting a intoxicating fragrance. Fifteen maidservants were already waiting in line.

Su Miaojin went straight into the room, picked up a letter on the table, casually glanced at it, and sighed leisurely, looking out at the blooming autumn plum in a daze.

Her biological father finally decided to bring her back to Nanli soon.

"Miss!"

At this moment, her personal maidservant, Dongling, came forward with a mischievous look on her face. "I heard that the odds for killing the bandit leaders at the Jin Gou Gambling House have skyrocketed. Shall we place some bets? This servant is prepared to bet thirty taels and buy the Yuan family!"

Su Miaojin remained silent for a moment and said, "Take all of my private funds, four thousand taels, and give five hundred taels each to Mr. Xu and Mr. Haoxue for medicine. The rest..."

A beautiful smile curved at the corner of her mouth. "Bet that the four young masters of the prominent families will be captured by the bandit leader, Xin..."

That little thief is cunning. He dares to face thousands of constables with just six people. I heard he even injured Mr. Haoxue. I don't believe that the people from the four prominent families can deal with him.

"Ah? Miss, you...?" Dongling and the group of maidservants opened their mouths wide.

...

Taohua Town is located on a flat area next to the main official road west of the Fulong Mountain Range. The town is not big, with sixty or seventy households and only one main street.

Because there are often tourists passing by on the official road, there is a tavern, a noodle shop, an inn, and a braised meat shop that imitates the capital city's Lu Xiang Zhai on the street.

Unfortunately, due to recent bandit eradication in the mountains, tourists are rare, and today only the noodle shop is open.

The noodles are handmade by the shop owner, and the soup is made from boiling beef bones for two full days. Just three hundred meters away, one can smell a strong aroma, making one's stomach growl uncontrollably.

"Gulu gulu..."

Yuan Yourong's stomach rumbled, and she touched her flat belly. Biting her pearly white teeth, she angrily cursed, "That damn little thief, he knows how to run. He made me wander in the mountains for several days, and my stomach is about to starve. These people in the town... huh? Where is that fragrance coming from?"

A young practitioner from the Yuan family next to her pointed to the noodle shop. "There's a noodle shop!"

"Forget it!"

Yuan Yourong waved her hand, and immediately seven people dispersed cautiously throughout the town. Only then did she walk to the front of the noodle shop with her hands behind her back, looking up at the signboard of the noodle shop that read "Noodle Shop," and smiled, "Sure enough, there is a noodle shop. The owner is an interesting person."

Inside the shop, the sitting shopkeeper saw customers and hurriedly ran out, bowing: "Guests, you've come at the right time. Our noodle shop has plenty of noodles and soup!"

Yuan Yourong's pretty face carried a mischievous smile as she looked at the bruises on the shopkeeper's face. "Did the shopkeeper get a new injury? Could it be from your own wife?"

The shopkeeper's face tightened, and he quickly said, "My wife is very fierce. When this old man lost half a tael of silver, she directly started a fight. I will divorce her sooner or later! Um... how many bowls would the guest like?"

Yuan Yourong covered her mouth and giggled, "Nine, nine bowls will do!"

"Alright!" The shopkeeper hurriedly went inside to get busy.

Yuan Yourong then scanned the entire town and asked, "Ada, do you think it's possible for Xin Zhuo to be in this town?"

Because there were too many false clues left by Xin Zhuo and his group, after Song Dongxi left, she separated from Chen Guiyan and Murong Lei's families. Chen Guiyan's family went to another town in the southwest, while she brought her people to this town.

"It's easy to be noticed if a fire is started in the mountains. If Xin Zhuo and his people want supplies, they can only go to nearby villages and towns." The young practitioner called Ada pondered for a moment and said, "Murong and Chen's families went to Jianxia Town, and Song Dongxi went to the Fierce Tiger Stronghold. We came to Taohua Town, so there must be a route where we can meet them."

"You make sense!" Yuan Yourong smiled and, as she raised her head, she saw two ragged and dirty little servants coming out of the noodle shop, carrying bowls of noodles.

(End of this chapter)