lovenovelstory Chapter 51, Huh? Is that even possible?
Chapter 51, Huh? Is that even possible?
"Ulinda, girls should respect and love themselves. I know you are wild and don't have any ulterior motives, but you are still a girl. Going to men's homes every day, it's not good to talk about that."
When Hongliu returned home, her father was not there, so she naturally faced the pressure from her mother. At this moment, her mother was kneeling on a prayer mat, and the glass Buddha statue had been placed in the shrine in front of her. Melodious Buddhist chants flowed from the base, and the colorful Buddhist light made the whole room shimmer with light and shadow.
The clock, which his children had given him as a gift, was placed to the side, carefully covered with a silk cloth, and someone would come every day to wind it up.
"Mother... I'm just making friends. I did the same thing back in the capital."
"This is Han territory. Ulinda, you need to know that those Han people are not like the people back home. They value etiquette and chastity. If you continue like this, you will really ruin your reputation."
Who is Hongliu? She's a wild child who roams freely in the mountains and forests, and she never listens to any rules of etiquette. Hearing her mother's words, she just smiled disdainfully: "Who cares about that stuff?"
"You don't care! I do!" The princess turned around and angrily rebuked, "You may be shameless, but I still have a sense of shame! You, a noble lady from a prince's family, spend your days mingling with those commoners and laborers. If word gets out, where will your father and I put our faces? You may be fine, but have you thought about your father and me? Have you thought about your grandfather? Your grandfather was the fourth son of the founding emperor, what an honor! Yet you mingle with those nobodies from the Song Kingdom. If he finds out, how heartbroken he will be!"
Hongliu lowered her head: "At worst, I'll just marry him."
"Say that again and I'll tear your mouth apart!"
The princess was like an enraged Siberian tiger. She stood up, turned off the Buddha's light, covered the Buddha statue with a red cloth, turned around and scolded, "Anyone can marry a daughter of the Wanyan family? If you are so shameless, don't blame me for sending you back to the capital."
Hongliu rolled her eyes, but didn't say anything.
"What kind of attitude is that! I'm telling you this for your own good, and that's how you treat me!"
Hongliu wasn't in a hurry or angry. She slumped into a chair and said, "Why don't you just kill me? Anyway, I'm just a worthless good-for-nothing who can't get married. I'm locked up here anyway. If you kill me, you can just bury me in the wasteland and that will be the end of it all."
"Ulin! You're getting more and more outrageous. Today I'm really going to teach you a lesson!"
The princess was truly unforgiving. This old woman from Northeast China, when angered, was the kind of person who would even lay a hand on a prince. Beating her own daughter was nothing out of the ordinary for her.
Hongliu wasn't stupid; as soon as she saw her mother grabbing a weapon, she took off running.
"If you've got the guts, then don't ever come back!" The princess chased Hongliu to the door of "Dare to Do It," hands on her hips, and shouted angrily, "Come back and see how I deal with you!"
"If I'm not coming back, I'm not coming back!"
After saying that, Hongliu vanished in a flash, and then truly disappeared without a trace, not reappearing until nightfall.
By now it was dark, and Lin Zhou was lying on the bed doing the math. After all, he was going to bring back a thousand catties of gold this time, which, according to the current gold price, was worth nearly four or five hundred million yuan. This was probably the largest sum of money he had ever dealt with in his life...
"Should I cut off the hair...?"
Just as he was having an internal struggle, the door below was being pounded on loudly, and Lin Zhou immediately shouted, "Brother Ying, go check it out."
The door to the next room opened, and Brother Ying, wearing only a coat, went downstairs. As soon as the door opened, a large group of people poured in, led by Yang Ti.
"Ulin! Ulinda!?"
Yangti searched everywhere, but when he arrived at Lin Zhou's room, he found that Hongliu was indeed not there, and he stomped his foot in frustration.
"What's wrong? Why are you in such a hurry?"
Lin Zhou, seeing his expression, became curious: "Looking for a cat?"
"Looking for a damn cat? Looking for Ulinda! Red Willow!"
Lin Zhou was taken aback: "What? What happened to her? Didn't she go home?"
Yangti, hands on his hips, sighed deeply: "This afternoon, Wulin had a fight with my mother. My mother got angry and was about to hit her, but with her temper... she ran away in the blink of an eye and hasn't returned since."
"Damn it!" Lin Zhou jumped out of bed in an instant: "Did you tell the Imperial City Guard?"
"We told them, but the Imperial City Guard couldn't find it either. Now even the Imperial Guards have been mobilized."
Lin Zhou didn't care that he was only wearing his undergarments, so he grabbed some clothes and went downstairs: "Brother Ying, keep an eye on the house. If Hong Liu comes over, cook her a bowl of noodles."
After saying that, he walked out along with the sheep's hoof.
"I'll go with you to look for her." Lin Zhou pulled his sleeves up and looked at the sky: "In this weather, she'll freeze to death overnight."
Yang Ti, standing nearby, was also getting anxious. This carefree young master was even on the verge of tears: "That brat... she's so stubborn! What are we going to do? Do you have any ideas about finding her? Neither the Imperial Guards nor the Forbidden City Guards can help."
"Give it a try."
Lin Zhou took down the lantern at the door and began searching with Yang Ti, but Lin'an City was so vast, with a population of 500,000, that such a search was like looking for a needle in a haystack.
Moreover, in this vast city, who knows what kind of people a girl might encounter at night? This place is a melting pot of all sorts of people. Let alone selling her somewhere, even dragging her to some dark woodshed and having sex with her would be unacceptable.
But Lin Zhou didn't dare to think about those bad things at the moment, so he could only quickly take Yangti to the South City.
This place is a forbidden zone for upper-class people like Yangti. The poor people here have a creepy look in their eyes when they see well-dressed people. As the place with the highest crime rate in Lin'an, people from the upper city usually don't come to this filthy place.
But Lin Zhou came. Not only did he come, but after he arrived, people around him began to bow to him as soon as he entered the South City. At first, it was just a few people, but later the calls of "Little Immortal" were coming from all directions.
"Old man, go and call my brother Xu for me."
"Alright, little fairy, wait a moment."
An old man quickly left, while Lin Zhou sat among the poor people without any tension. Yang Ti, on the other hand, asked curiously, "Are you familiar with this place?"
"So-so," Lin Zhou replied, "They were just too enthusiastic."
Not long after, Xu Shang, the Black Panther, came over. He actually held an official position, although it was only a ninth-rank official. But it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that he was the emperor of Nancheng. The emperor's orders couldn't reach Nancheng, but Xu Shang's orders would definitely be effective here.
"What happened, Brother Lin?"
"Don't even mention it, a little girl got lost." Lin Zhou pointed to Yang Ti: "My friend's sister."
"Lost in this weather?" The black panther looked equally astonished. "People could die."
"So that's why you came looking for me."
After listening to Lin Zhou's words, Black Panther began to look Yang Ti up and down. He was so well assimilated into Han culture that it was impossible to tell he was a Jurchen, but the people behind him were Jurchen imperial guards, which made Black Panther frown.
"A golden man?"
"Ah, a golden man."
Black Panther nodded slightly: "I usually don't concern myself with the affairs of the Jurchens, but since Brother Lin has spoken up today, I won't care where they are from. Just tell me what the woman looks like."
Yangti and Linzhou described Hongliu's physical characteristics in detail. After listening, Black Panther just whistled, and then several fierce-looking men walked over.
He gathered the men together: "You guys ask your men where that girl is, quick! She's Brother Lin's friend."
"yes!"
The group quickly dispersed into the crowd. The following night was going to be quite eventful. Not only did the Imperial Guards and the Imperial Clan mobilize, but all the local ruffians and scoundrels in the city also came out, causing chaos throughout Lin'an.
Lin Zhou and Yang Ti sat in Xu Shang's hut, warming themselves by the fire and drinking while waiting for news. Yang Ti asked curiously, "Brother Xu, does this guy have so much influence here?"
Xu Shang laughed heartily and patted Lin Zhou on the shoulder, saying, "Brother Lin's influence here is more than just face; his words carry more weight than mine."
"Brother Xu, are you flattering me? I don't have your abilities at all."
"Don't be modest. In this southern city, eight out of ten people owe you a debt of gratitude. This debt of life can't be settled by doing some work." Xu Shang picked up the large bowl and drank it all in one gulp. "To tell you the truth, young man, in this small town, Brother Lin is known as a little god. He can save thousands of lives overnight. Everyone knows him."
Yangti's eyes widened in surprise: "You're that amazing?"
Just then, a servant rushed in, shouting, "Master, I've found it!"
Everyone in the room immediately stood up. The servant said, "We found her in a cowshed three miles outside the city. It was a farmer's house. We didn't know she was in the cowshed. She said she was tired from walking and rested there, but at night she felt like she couldn't wake up. If our people had gone any later, she would have frozen to death."
"Where is he?" Xu Shang asked anxiously.
"Brother Chen is coming over in an oxcart with his men. I'm on my way to inform you and the little immortal."