Chapter 384: Chapter 393: So, You Refuse to Be Disciplined?
Shen Hua slept late yesterday, and was greeted by the noisy chatter from below the inn early this morning, disturbing her peaceful dreams. She emerged from her room, drowsy and yawning.
Her eyes misty with sleep, she covered her mouth and let out a soft yawn.
Leaning against the railing, she caught sight of a plump little boy sitting downstairs in the hall.
Her consciousness slowly gathered back.
The newly appointed Magistrate of Fengzhou. His sole and younger son by a year or so.
Even if unwilling to admit it, the laws of Da Qi clearly favored men and never showed the slightest bias towards girls.
Now the embroidery workshop was justifiably managed by Shen Qu, and if she were to grab it directly, it would appear illegitimate.
But this embroidery workshop should not bear the Shen name.
Wang Xu could indeed...
The creaking sound of a door opening came from behind, as Cui Yun, who had rested in the next room last night, walked out slowly. The young man who captivated souls when alone now appeared unreachable as the moon in the void, with a cold expression.
"Go have breakfast, and we’ll set off early."
Shen Hua no longer had the spikey edge she possessed yesterday. She responded and paused at the top of the stairs, turning to look back at the person behind her.
"Your words made me feel..."
She struggled to gather her thoughts.
"As if I’d be sent off to heaven as soon as I’m full."
Cui Yun: ...
Descending the stairs.
She took a seat by the window. Shen Hua had little appetite, especially upon seeing Nanny Cheng approaching with medicine.
Cui Yun was looking down at the map of Hengzhou.
Disliking the heat, she stirred the medicine with a spoon. While Cui Yun was not paying attention, she scooped a large spoonful and poured it out of the window in an impressively swift motion.
Nanny Cheng stood by, on the verge of speaking but stopped herself.
After pulling off the deed, Shen Hua’s eyes curved with triumph.
But a pain struck her head; Cui Yun had rolled up the map and smacked her with it from across the table.
"Rong drinks her medicine more obediently than you do."
Shen Hua retorted, "Her medicine surely isn’t as bitter as mine."
"Don’t overestimate her; she has someone to supervise her, knowing she needs to drink the medicine whether she wants to or not. If no one were watching, just see what she would do?"
Cui Yun pretended to have a sudden realization.
"So, are you saying you’re defiant of authority?"
The bowl in her hand was taken away; he tasted a bit of the medicine with the spoon. The bitterness was enough to warp one’s face, yet the young man’s expression remained unchanged.
After drinking some tea, Cui Yun spoke softly, "It must be tough for you to take this medicine."
Shen Hua appeared thoughtful.
"To be completely kind, why don’t you drink it all for me?"
"It’s a tonic, after all."
The little boy in blue was watching intently.
Wang Xu was sitting too far to hear their conversation clearly.
He had not expected that after admiring Shen Hua yesterday for not bending to the temptation of 300 taels, she would be sharing breakfast with that young man today.
And drinking a bowl of soup!
Wang Xu stood up and changed seats, finally catching a snippet of their conversation.
After Shen Hua downed the whole medicine under Cui Yun’s watchful eye, she pouted with a gloomy face, silently unwrapping the candy that Cui Yun had just handed to her.
Once Shopkeeper delivered the porridge and side dishes.
She glanced at the dishes and began to give orders.
"Spring rolls."
Cui Yun placed the spring roll from a low-hanging dish into her bowl.
What! Is that dish too hard for you to reach?
So affected!
Wang Xu felt he had misjudged her.
He shook his head and sighed while nibbling on his meat bun.
Shen Hua originally intended to make contact with Wang Xu.
But after turning to face his condemning and hesitating gaze, she felt that there might be something wrong with Wang Xu’s brain.
Thus, once they set off again, Shen Hua did not speak a single word to him.
This time, Ji Qing took the reins to drive the horse.
Inside the carriage, Cui Yun continued to unfold the map for close examination.
Shen Hua, on the other hand, read her book.
Time passed peacefully, almost unnoticeably.
But before long, the girl approached them.
She wrapped her arms around Cui Yun’s waist, her eyes blazing with a thirst for knowledge as she drew closer.
"I thought about it a lot last night, and indeed, there are differences between men and women. It was my ignorance that led me to blame you unfairly. But I really don’t understand why they are different."
She blinked and asked softly, "May I touch again?"
"Looking is also okay."
Her curiosity was overwhelming.
Cui Yun took the opportunity to hold her, yet prevented her from moving even slightly.
"You should still wish me well, after all."
"The teacher once said that knowledge should be acquired through one’s own efforts."
Cui Yun spoke indifferently, "I haven’t seen you paying much attention to the teacher’s words usually; you haven’t been to the academy’s school for a while, yet you remember what he said quite clearly."
Shen Hua didn’t make it difficult for him.
After all, she didn’t like being touched by Cui Yun recklessly either.
Cui Yun tried to remain calm; he was also a young man inexperienced in the matters of the heart, not much different from her in this respect.
His shyness was somewhat inevitable.
The girl felt a touch of regret, but being a reasonable person, she knew she couldn’t force him.
"Why are you looking so closely at the Hengzhou map?"
Cui Yun frowned.
"A message from a secret contact in Hengzhou informed us that there have been multiple cases of missing persons lately, several times more than usual."
He had a vague sense that something wasn’t right. For this, he went to see Zhou Zhangping specially, but to no avail; Zhou Zhangping, who was bruised all over from his time in jail, was also clueless.
——I had people look into it previously, and it went as far as the Ministry of Justice’s government office.
——I have been pondering these past days and think that the matter might have gotten too much attention, possibly implicating many issues. It must have been a scheme by my colleagues, and that’s why I ended up in such straits.
There’s something wicked afoot when things don’t follow their normal course.
"At first, many people reported to authorities, and Zhou Zhangping intended to investigate. But as disappearance cases grew more severe, they met the firm resistance of the Imperial Censorate. It was only when all the Imperial Censors jointly presented a petition that Hengzhou began to show any restraint."
This water is bound to be as muddy as it gets.
A Magistrate ending up in such a predicament indicates that those officials with malicious intentions must have already banded together tightly.
The specifics remain to be investigated.
That’s all Cui Yun knew, but he had his suspicions.
"Hengzhou is wealthy, with many mines cropping up recently."
Cui Yun suppressed his emotions: "If this issue is linked to the mines, I fear those people might have all been forced into labor."
Shen Hua responded seriously.
"I’ve never heard reports from Hengzhou officials about this issue."
She had barely finished speaking when she quickly realized the implications.
"Those people are really bold, this is a crime that could implicate the entire family lineage."
Cui Yun said lightly, "It’s just speculation."
"If there really were a mine, just skimming a little off the top would be enough, even if they had to take risks with knives at their throats."
He calmly pointed his finger at several spots on the map, circling them together.
"If they exist, they are likely to be in these areas."
Shen Hua said ’oh’ in realization.
"Would that be dangerous?"
Cui Yun rubbed the back of the girl’s neck, his expression turning cold, but his tone in responding was as calm as ever.
"It won’t be a problem."
After several days of travel, switching from land to water and back to land, even Yicui and the others were struggling to cope, let alone Shen Hua.
She halved her food intake, and her plump cheeks visibly sharpened.
Her daily routine switched too, sleeping on Cui Yun’s mats during the day and, at night, going with wide-open eyes to the bow of the boat to fish.
For three consecutive days, she didn’t catch a single fish.
Until Cui Yun had to carry her back, sternly correcting her sleeping patterns.
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