Chapter 043
Chapter 43: Ruin Her Reputation
The shops under Xia Meng Yan’s name closed accounts every three months, and today was the day she visited them to check the books.
Worried about Xia Meng Yan’s health, Chun Yue suggested: “Why not have the shopkeepers come here instead?”
“No need,” Xia Meng Yan said. There is no such thing as guarding against thieves every day. After washing up, she took Chun Yue and went out.
The streets were crowded, and the cries of peddlers rose and fell. When Xia Meng Yan saw masks laid out on a stall, she remembered that today was the Bright Moon Pavilion’s monthly Masked Poetry Gathering.
Anyone who wore a mask could take the stage, no matter if they were a man or a woman.
It was truly meeting friends with words.
Standing at a stall, Xia Meng Yan picked up a mask and held it in front of her face for Chun Yue to see.
Chun Yue laughed and handed the peddler a few coins.
Because of the Masked Poetry Gathering, most shops had fewer customers than usual.
The shopkeepers had prepared ahead of time. As they reported, Xia Meng Yan did the math in her head and got the results quickly.
Near noon, she and Chun Yue went to the restaurant across from the Bright Moon Pavilion.
Thanks to the pavilion, the place always did well, and today it was packed.
Chun Yue handed a silver note to the shop’s runner, and he soon returned and said: “Miss, you are just in time. A guest just left. Please, the second floor.”
As Xia Meng Yan went upstairs, she felt eyes on her. She turned her head but saw nothing strange.
She opened the private room and listened to the scholars downstairs argue over poems.
Standing at the door, Chun Yue saw a few scholars arguing over a line until their faces turned red, and she could not help calling them bookworms.
She started to say: “Miss, listen to them, they—” but before she could finish, someone barged in and shut the door behind him.
Startled, Xia Meng Yan pulled Chun Yue back and asked: “What are you doing?”
Two big, burly men stood there in worn long robes, likely from the main hall.
“What are we doing? She just called us bookworms,” one of them said, pointing at Chun Yue, then added, “you must give us an explanation.”
Xia Meng Yan’s heart tightened.
Bookworms, my foot. One look at their build and it was clear they were trained fighters.
She said in a steady voice: “I am the legitimate daughter of the Xia Family. If you touch me, the Xia Family will not spare you.”
“The Xia Family?” one man laughed with pride and said: “If you weren’t the Xia Family’s legitimate daughter, we would not bother.”
Xia Meng Yan’s eyes narrowed. They were no lechers. They had come prepared, and their target was her.
The two men traded a look, then turned to her and said: “Do not blame us, Miss Xia. We are doing a job for someone. If you cooperate, we promise not to hurt you.”
“Did the Marquis of Ping Yang send you?” Xia Meng Yan tested them.
“Do not try us. We will not tell you,” one said.
Chun Yue stepped in front of Xia Meng Yan and raised her voice on purpose so the men could hear as she said: “Miss, run,” then she lunged at them.
“Do not,” Xia Meng Yan cried, reaching out, but she missed.
One man kicked Chun Yue flying. She hit the floor, and a wall hanging crashed down onto her head. She passed out at once.
The main hall was noisy. No one noticed what was happening inside the private room.
Cradling her belly, Xia Meng Yan’s mind raced.
Call for help? People from downstairs would not arrive before she was overpowered.
Jump out the window? She might lose the child.
After thinking it over, she said to the men: “Four times. Whatever they paid you, I will pay four times.”
She was betting that the men wanted money, not murder.
At four times the price, both men hesitated.
One rubbed his chin and said to the other: “Four times is more than ten thousand. We would not need to work for a while.”
“Are you stupid? If we break the rules, who would hire us next time?”
“You are right.”
Xia Meng Yan forced herself not to panic. Whoever hired them had tossed out thousands of taels to kidnap her, so they were not short on money.
She kept probing and said: “I am carrying the Ping An Marquis’s child. If anything happens to him, the Ping An Marquis will not let you go.”
Their eyes flicked to her belly.
She was already over three months along, and her belly had begun to show.
“Do not worry. We will not hurt the child,” one said.
Hearing that, she felt some of the tightness in her chest ease.
As long as the child was safe.
She said: “I will walk on my own.”
“Good,” they said, and they did not make it hard for her.
She planned to open the door and rush into the corridor to shout, but the moment the door swung, her vision went black and she fainted.
When she came to, everything was dark. Her hands and feet were tied.
She felt a jolting motion and guessed she was in a carriage.
She did not know how long it took before the carriage stopped. Cold wind blew in as someone dragged her down.
With her eyes still covered, she stumbled forward.
She heard a door open, then felt a push that made her fall inside.
She forced herself to speak calmly and said to where the voices had come from: “Elder brothers, please, let us talk this out. I beg you, do not hurt my child.”
“Do not worry. We want you, not your life,” one of them said, pulling off the black cloth and warning coldly, “we are after money, not blood. Do not make us use force.”
She nodded again and again and tried to look very compliant.
After checking that the knots were tight, the two men went next door to drink.
Xia Meng Yan scanned the room and found nothing she could use.
Who would kidnap her but not harm her?
No, she suddenly thought she knew the plan.
They wanted to ruin her reputation.
But she was already a divorced woman. Her name was already damaged. Who else would want to stomp on it again?
No matter who it was, she had to get out first.
She struggled hard, but the rope was tied too tight to slip free.
Thinking of the child not yet born, she decided that the pain in her wrists meant nothing.
The rough rope soon turned bloody, and a deep cut opened on her wrist.
She did not care. Every moment she stayed here, the gossip outside would grow, and when the child was born, it would bring him more curses.
At last, effort paid off. The rope around her hands gave way, though her wrists had almost no strength left.
She did not dare to hesitate and forced her hands to stop shaking.
She crept toward the door. Hearing loud snores next door, she felt a hidden relief.
She pushed the door open and was about to run when she ran straight into someone.
The newcomer asked in surprise: “Why are you here?”
It was Duan Yi Chen.
He wrapped an arm around her waist and said: “Leave first,” then led her out of the courtyard at a quick pace.
Soon they reached a side road, where a horse waited by the path.
“We cannot be seen together,” she reminded him.
She still remembered what Duan Yi Chen had said at the Bright Moon Pavilion that day. Since they had decided to stop contact, they could not feed any rumors.
Duan Yi Chen untied the reins, tugged the horse over, and said: “I know. Chun Yue is waiting for you at the city gate. Leave the rest to me.”
She wanted to go, but pain shot through her wrist, and she could not mount. She said: “I want to stay.”
She also wanted to see who dared to kidnap her.
“Be good and go back first,” Duan Yi Chen said. At last he dared to look straight at her. No one knew how many days he had waited at the Bright Moon Pavilion. No one knew that when he saw Chun Yue running over from across the street with blood all over her face, his heart had almost leaped out of his chest.
“I am not going back,” Xia Meng Yan said. Facing Duan Yi Chen gave her a powerless feeling. Friends with a barrier between them were like people standing on opposite riverbanks. They could see each other, but they could not hold hands.
“You…” Duan Yi Chen was helpless. He wanted to protect her, but in his current situation, things might only get worse. He said: “I will send word for people from the Xia Manor to come get you. To the outside, we will say you went out of the city on business and stayed overnight at a country estate.”
They returned to just outside the courtyard and found a hidden spot to wait.
“Thank you. The Xia Family will send silver to the Marquis of Xuan Ping’s manor later. Please accept it, Heir Apparent Duan,” Xia Meng Yan said from behind the bushes. The quiet air made her feel very uneasy.
At her words, Duan Yi Chen’s eyes flashed with shock, then he gave a brief, self-mocking smile and said: “As you wish.”
“Someone is coming,” she whispered.
Half a stick of incense later, a dark figure moved toward them.