Chapter 50

Chapter 50: Scratched by Her

Last night, Huo Zheng used the Shadow Guard just in time to find out that Chun Zhi had been thrown into a sack by Zhou Rong’s men and taken to the Zhou Family Ancestral Residence.

Zhou Rong was the son of the Nanzhou Prefect. Since an impostor calling himself Prince Chang’an was in Nanzhou, the prefect feared his always-troublesome son would catch the eye of Prince Chang’an, so he sent him back to the old house in Linshui Town for a while.

Huo Zheng had already ordered the Shadow Guard to tail Zhou Rong, hoping to use him as a breakthrough to clean up the Nanzhou bureaucracy.

Who knew that as soon as Zhou Rong arrived in Linshui Town, he set his sights on Chun Zhi and got caught by Huo Zheng’s hand.

Chun Zhi still did not know who Huo Zheng really was, and he could not tell her how he had found Zhou Rong. So he made up a reason and told her: “I have a close friend who works under Prince Chang’an. He happens to be in Linshui Town these days, so I asked him for help.”

Chun Zhi believed him and asked: “Then your close friend is an official, right?”

Huo Zheng answered vaguely: “Sort of.”

“You even have friends who are officials,” Chun Zhi muttered softly, and did not ask more.

She only half remembered that when Huo Qi burst in last night, he fought several men. Worried, she asked: “Last night… you didn’t get hurt, did you?”

“At the Zhou Family Ancestral Residence I wasn’t hurt,” Huo Zheng said as he showed the scratch marks on his back: “These are all from you.”

Chun Zhi went blank: “…”

She couldn’t hold it in and pulled the quilt over her head.

Huo Qi had not been injured outside, but after coming home, he got scratched by her on the bed. The thought made Chun Zhi want to hide forever.

Huo Zheng reached out and tugged down the quilt covering her face: “It’s already summer. Don’t smother yourself and get heatstroke.”

Chun Zhi had just opened her mouth to speak when her stomach grumbled.

She hadn’t eaten dinner last night.

Then they were busy all night.

Now she was starving.

Huo Zheng glanced at her, lifted the red gauze canopy, and got off the bed.

Chun Zhi guessed he might be getting up to make breakfast, but she wasn’t sure, so she asked: “What are you going to do?”

Instead of answering, Huo Zheng asked back: “What do you think I’m going to do?”

“Make breakfast?” Chun Zhi tried.

Huo Zheng did not answer.

[He didn’t deny it, so that means yes,] Chun Zhi thought, then asked: “Besides porridge, can you make anything else?”

Huo Zheng said: “No.”

“Then make porridge.”

Chun Zhi told herself not to be picky as long as there was food.

He did not tie up the gauze curtains again. Instead, he let them fall, dimming the light outside the bed.

Chun Zhi blinked and took it as a hint that Huo Qi wanted her to sleep more. So she closed her eyes and soon drifted off.

Meanwhile, at the Lu Residence.

Last night, Lu Jing Yun came home but did not touch Ji Ru Zhen.

Ji Ru Zhen grew even more upset. When she went with Lu Jing Yun to pay respects to his mother, she didn’t smile at all.

Madam Lu gave Lu Jing Yun several looks, telling him to coax his wife.

Lu Jing Yun pretended not to see. After breakfast with his mother, he got ready to go out.

Just then, the waiter Ji Ru Zhen had sent to the Zhou Family Ancestral Residence rushed back and blurted out: “Bad news, madam, terrible news!”

Hearing that, Ji Ru Zhen snapped: “What are you panicking for?”

The maid scolded the waiter too: “Madam is fine. Watch your mouth. Speak clearly, what happened?”

The waiter stammered: “At the Zhou Family Ancestral Residence… people are dead. Quite a few. Even the eldest young master Zhou was kidnapped!”

“What?”

Ji Ru Zhen knew Zhou Rong went to abduct Chun Zhi yesterday, but she hadn’t expected such huge trouble.

Lu Jing Yun knew the Nanzhou Prefect was Ji Ru Zhen’s uncle by marriage, and that the eldest young master Zhou Rong, famous for his lust, was her cousin. In these days, the prefect had told Zhou Rong to avoid Prince Chang’an, so he sent him back to the old house in Linshui Town.

Given the Zhou household’s status in Nanzhou, who would dare storm in, kill people, and even kidnap Zhou Rong? [If they took Zhou Rong, what do they want to do with him?] Lu Jing Yun wondered.

Ji Ru Zhen, clearly anxious now, said sharply to the waiter: “Then why are you still standing here? Hurry to Nanzhou City and report this to the prefect!”

Lu Jing Yun said: “Don’t worry, madam. I was just about to go to Nanzhou City. Why don’t you come with me?”

Ji Ru Zhen thought it over. She could not let Lu Jing Yun learn she had sent Zhou Rong to ruin Chun Zhi, so it was indeed best for her to go. She nodded: “I will listen to my husband.”

Lu Jing Yun and Ji Ru Zhen took the waiter and maid and set off for Nanzhou City.

News of the Zhou Family Ancestral Residence spread through Linshui Town fast.

No one knew who Zhou Rong had crossed. The Prefect’s Young Master had actually been kidnapped!

At that very moment, Zhou Rong was being tortured by a group of Shadow Guards, forced to confess all the illegal things he and his father had done in Nanzhou over the years.

Not knowing any of this, Chun Zhi slept soundly on the bed until noon.

Dragging her sore, weak body up, she saw Huo Zheng boxing in the yard.

The man’s form was bold and strong, his presence striking.

Chun Zhi leaned against the door and watched for quite a while.

Only when Huo Zheng finished and turned to her did he say: “Didn’t you say you were hungry? Why aren’t you eating yet?”

Today, Chun Zhi wore a new outfit in bamboo green, made from the fabric left over after she made Huo Qi’s robe earlier. She had sewn herself a little shirt.

And Huo Zheng was wearing that same bamboo-green robe today.

Dressed alike, the two looked even more matched.

“I’ll go serve it now,” Chun Zhi said. When she lifted the lid at the stove, she found that Huo Qi had not only cooked porridge, but also fried egg pancakes.

They had been kept in the pot, still warm.

A bit surprised, Chun Zhi asked: “Huo Qi, you can even make egg pancakes?”

“I watched you a few times, and I learned,” Huo Zheng said casually. He wiped his sweat, washed his hands, then came to her side and ladled the porridge.

He filled two bowls and carried them to the Eight Immortals Table.

Chun Zhi took two salted duck eggs from the jar, put the egg pancakes on a plate, and brought them to the table.

They sat close together and ate lunch.

After one egg pancake and half a bowl of porridge, Chun Zhi no longer felt ravenous and finally asked: “Do you know who kidnapped me last night?”

In a low voice, Huo Zheng said: “Zhou Rong, the son of the Nanzhou Prefect.”

Whenever he thought how Zhou Rong had nearly defiled Chun Zhi, he wanted to tear the man apart.

“What? He’s the prefect’s son? Then can we even stay in Linshui Town?” Chun Zhi was frightened. The only officials she had ever seen were the County Magistrate and Lu Jing Yun. A prefect was a much higher rank. She had never seen one.

Huo Zheng said: “Don’t be afraid. Did you forget my close friend is also an official?”

Chun Zhi didn’t know who that friend was, so she asked: “Is his rank bigger than a prefect’s?”

Huo Zheng said: “Even if his rank isn’t big enough, Prince Chang’an is still in Nanzhou.”

To Chun Zhi, someone like Prince Chang’an felt very far from her life: “But what kind of person is Prince Chang’an? Will he help us?”