When Shen Qingyao woke up from unconsciousness once again, she found herself in a different place, just as she had expected. Rubbing her still somewhat heavy head, she frowned and muttered complaints while scanning the unfamiliar surroundings.
She didn’t appear particularly flustered, more like she had arrived at a familiar place, remaining remarkably calm.
[Host!!!!!!]
Shen Qingyao shook her head with a click of her tongue, thinking how every time she woke up, she had to endure this mental pollution, finding it quite annoying.
“Stop howling! I’m not dead yet!”
She turned over and sat up. Being kidnapped by that old man was actually a relief for her. She didn’t know how to interact with Lu Zhao anyway, so having some buffer time was good.
[Buffer time???] The system, which could hear her thoughts, shrieked: ]You call this a buffer??? Host, get a grip!!! Lu Zhao was about to turn evil just because you were sick! Now that you’ve been kidnapped while sick, won’t he turn the world upside down?!]
The system’s ultimate goal was to maintain the stability of various book worlds, so it couldn’t let these characters run wild!
The system was on the verge of tears, thinking how every host who transmigrated into the Shen family was more troublesome than the last.
Shen Qingyao smiled lightly, with a confidence coming from who knows where, convinced that the old man wasn’t a bad person. Mimicking the system’s tone, she said, “Kidnapping? You call this kidnapping? You…”
Before she could finish, as if in response to her words, the door was rudely pushed open. Several burly men with fierce expressions flooded in, practically writing ‘we’re kidnappers’ on their faces with their menacing smiles.
“Uh…” Shen Qingyao was momentarily stunned, then slowly said to the system, “What you said might make some sense…”
The burly men, seeing the completely unpanicked and even very composed Shen Qingyao, were slightly taken aback. After quickly exchanging glances, they gave her a malicious look. The leader, holding a whip in one hand, slapped it against the palm of his other hand, the snapping sound making Shen Qingyao’s heart tremble. She shrank back a bit, but the man seemed very satisfied with her reaction, his malicious smile widening as he approached step by step.
“Who…who are you? What do you want…” Shen Qingyao tried her best to maintain outward composure, asking coldly.
“What are you talking about, little Lady? We are mountain bandits, and you are our hostage, so naturally we…hehehe…” The burly man advanced, and this time Shen Qingyao was genuinely a bit panicked. Seeing the impenetrable wall of men in front of her, she knew escape was impossible. She screamed and grabbed the hairpin from her head…
“You dare to tie me up!! Do you know I am the Princess of Nanzhao! If you treat me like this, my brother the King won’t let you off!”
In Great Liang’s inn, Princess An’yu was thrown to the ground, tied up tightly. She yelled in anger, spitting out dust from her mouth. From childhood, Princess An’yu had never suffered such grievances, so she couldn’t help but threaten with her Brother’s power.
But no one in the room paid her any attention. Lu Zhao’s face was so gloomy that it was almost dripping water. He sat silently at the table, waiting for the guards who had gone out to report back. His mind was racing through every person Shen Qingyao had met and every action she had taken since arriving in Nanzhao.
If what Princess An Yu said was true and she hadn’t kidnapped Shen Qingyao, then who else could have done it? If she had… Lu Zhao’s eyes darkened, and he shot a cold glare at the still-yelling Princess An’yu, making her shiver and quiet down a bit.
“Princess, I advise you not to resist. Just tell us honestly, where did you take Yaoyao?” Shen Yushu squatted down in front of Princess An’yu. Remembering that he was an envoy and should not damage relations between the two countries, he suppressed his anger and spoke calmly.
At this point, Shen Qinglin had also dropped her disguise, standing with arms crossed, filled with regret. If only she had investigated more when she first sensed something was wrong, Yaoyao might not have been harmed by these people.
An’yu could only shout curses and say nothing else. Shen Yushu clicked his tongue, thinking to himself, “Who cares about diplomacy? Is diplomacy more important than my sister?”
Then, he impatiently grabbed a piece of cloth and stuffed it into Princess An Yu’s endlessly chattering mouth.
Feeling restless, he stood up and paced back and forth a couple of times before looking at Lu Zhao. Ever since they discovered Yaoyao was missing, Lu Zhao hadn’t said a word. Shen Yushu’s heart sank a little. The person most anxious about Yaoyao’s disappearance should be Lu Zhao, so he couldn’t help but comfort Lu Zhao, “Changfeng, don’t worry. Yaoyao will be fine.”
Lu Zhao gave a low hum in response, but his anxiety didn’t lessen; in fact, it grew with a touch of panic. What if Yaoyao wasn’t kidnapped but left on her own? Lu Zhao closed his eyes, not daring to think of that possibility. He knew Yaoyao had been upset with him recently, possibly because of the influence of the Gu worm, but also because he had genuinely made her unhappy, giving the Gu worm a chance to take hold. What frightened him the most was that he couldn’t recall what exactly had caused the little girl to be so unhappy.
“Young Master! Princess An’ya has arrived! But the guard who was with Princess An’yu is nowhere to be found,” someone reported hastily. Before the words were fully spoken, An’ya rushed in like a gust of wind.
“Young Master Lu!” Her eyes quickly spotted An’yu struggling on the ground, and she was shocked, “What happened here? An’yu… An’yu, she…”
Lu Zhao ignored her and looked up at the person who had reported, “Nowhere to be found?”
An’yu, on the ground, struggled with muffled cries; Wu Nan had been locked up by her, so naturally, these people couldn’t find him.
“Then keep looking!” Shen Yushu fumed, “Two living people can’t just vanish in a day, can they?”
He was referring to Shen Qingyao and Wu Nan, but no one dared to suggest that Wu Nan might have kidnapped Shen Qingyao. Lu Zhao was already on the verge of an outburst, and no one wanted to provoke him further without definite news.
“Vanish… who…” Princess An’ya was even more confused. Who has vanished?
“Hmph.” Shen Yushu snorted coldly and turned his back. Shen Qinglin also glanced at her with a hostile look and then gently patted her Eldest Brother, urging him to stay calm.
“Perhaps Princess An’ya should ask Princess An’yu over there about the Gu worm and where she has hidden Yaoyao?” Lu Zhao’s voice was icy, devoid of the refined demeanor of a noble Young Master. An’ya shivered at his demon-like presence; her initial enthusiasm upon hearing that Young Master Lu was looking for her had completely vanished.
Lu Zhao continued, “Since she refuses to tell us, we can only rely on Princess An’ya to ask. If she still doesn’t speak…” His eyes lifted, “If anything happens to Yaoyao, I don’t care what kind of Princesses you are. Even if I have to flatten Nanzhao, you’ll pay double.”
Everyone present was taken aback. They never expected such words to come out of Lu Zhao’s mouth.
“Gu worm? Kidnapping?” An’ya stood frozen. After a moment, she turned sharply to An’yu, “It was Gu that you used on her?”
She had always thought it was just some ordinary petty poison.
Hearing this, the expressions of Lu Zhao and the Shen siblings changed. So An’ya was aware of this too!
How did things end up like this?
Shen Qingyao mechanically held the bowl, mechanically lowered her head, and mechanically scooped a spoonful of the dark medicine into her mouth, wrinkling her face at the intense bitterness. Next to her stood a Nanzhao girl dressed in Miao attire, her silver ornaments clinking with every movement. Watching Shen Qingyao’s expression, she couldn’t help but laugh.
In the corner, the burly men who had just threatened Shen Qingyao were now huddled together, holding their heads. When they heard the girl laugh, they shrank back even more, squeezing together like canned goods stuffed into a bottle, leaving no room for air.
Shen Qingyao was momentarily silent, still in shock. Just a moment ago, these men had charged at her with whips and knives, and she had been prepared to go down fighting with a hairpin in hand. But then, grinning menacingly, they had pulled out a food box from behind them and said with sinister faces, “We are bandits, and you are our hostage. Naturally, we must… offer you some food first! Hehehe.”
Shen Qingyao : “?”
System : [?]
She was wondering if she had heard wrong when the leader of the bandits let out a howl, having been kicked from behind. He quickly moved aside, making way for the girl from Nanzhao who had done the kicking.
“What food! You need to take the medicine first! It must be taken on an empty stomach to be effective. Don’t mess with me!” The girl, despite her petite stature, was fierce, and the burly men seemed to fear her. Even after being kicked and scolded, they didn’t dare to argue and instead squatted in the corner with grins on their faces.
Shen Qingyao was stunned by what she saw and couldn’t speak for a while.
The fierce girl from a moment ago suddenly changed her expression upon seeing Shen Qingyao, now looking harmless and smiling as she approached with a bowl of medicine. “Don’t be afraid, they are not bad people! You were brought here by Grandpa Kong. We won’t hurt you!”
As she said this, she handed the bowl to Shen Qingyao and continued, “My name is Tu Lan. I’ll be taking care of you for a while! This is medicine from Grandpa Kong. Drink it while it’s hot!”
Who was Grandpa Kong? What kind of medicine was this? If they weren’t bad people, what were they? Shen Qingyao blinked her big eyes, overwhelmed with too much information and too many questions, not knowing where to start.
After a while, Shen Qingyao finally managed to piece together the situation. She was indeed in a bandits’ den, but it was one that had turned over a new leaf and was now no different from an ordinary village. The old man who had brought her back was the legendary miracle doctor Kong Lin, who was the Grandpa Kong Tu Lan mentioned.
It turned out that Kong Lin had found her at the inn after receiving a letter from her Second Sister.
This was a good thing, but why did they have to do it in such a bandit-like manner! Shen Qingyao drank the medicine in a daze, slowly realizing that Lu Zhao and her Eldest Brother must be worried sick, wondering where she had disappeared to.
Tu Lan, seeing that Shen Qingyao had finished the medicine, took the bowl with satisfaction and then went to the corner to kick one of the burly men’s buttocks. “What are you still squatting there for? Aren’t you ashamed? Why did you scare her! Just wait and see how I’ll deal with you! Now get out!”
The men ran off in a hurry, and Tu Lan winked at Shen Qingyao before also leaving the room.
This experience was surreal, and Shen Qingyao couldn’t snap out of it for a long time. Then she heard the sound of a cane tapping on the ground. She stiffened and looked towards the door. Sure enough, the legendary miracle doctor Kong Lin, who had ‘forcibly taken’ her, entered the room.
Recalling his promise to cure her illness, Shen Qingyao straightened up and, with a hint of respect, said, “Miracle Doctor…”
“Heh.” Kong Lin chuckled meaningfully and sat down not far from her. “Why so respectful, little girl? You weren’t this scared of me before!”
Shen Qingyao was taken aback. This was the second time the old man had mentioned the past. Did he know the original owner? She couldn’t help but wonder why, if they had met before, he hadn’t cured her then.
Her eyes darkened as she pondered this, realizing that the original owner had quite the complex network of connections, far from being a mere side character.
Just as she was about to explain that she didn’t remember the past, Kong Lin spoke again in a melancholy tone, “Six or seven years ago, you were so gravely ill that it almost ruined my reputation. Even then, you were fierce and unyielding. What, did sending your soul to another world for a while make you timid?”
Shen Qingyao’s eyes widened in disbelief. “What did you say?!”
Sending her soul to another world? She thought she had transmigrated into someone else’s body. Could it be that… she had actually returned to her own body?
Her face turned pale as Kong Lin, stroking his beard, continued, “I thought it would take ten years for your soul to heal, but you came back in just six? But something’s not right. You don’t seem to remember the past. Did something go wrong during the transfer?”
Shen Qingyao’s heart sank, her mind going blank. Whatever Kong Lin said next, she couldn’t hear a word of it…