Rebirth of the Marquis's Household Good Daughter 29th Chapter

  The sky outside had completely darkened and snow was falling, not heavily but the cold winter wind was biting and the snowflakes stung when they hit my face.

  Chun Xing feared that Gu Yuqie would catch a chill. She didn't forget to take out a deerskin cloak from the inn and draped it over Gu Yuqie's shoulders. The empty space in front of the inn was now filled with tents set up by the servants of various manors.

  Chun Xing held one hand with Gu Yuqie, and the other hand was holding an umbrella for Gu Yuqie. From time to time, she reminded her to be careful not to slip. At the same time, she went from stall to stall asking if anyone had seen a pair of twin siblings, but unfortunately, everyone she asked shook their heads.

  "Come to think of it, little brother likes horses, I wonder if he went to the stable behind the inn?" Gu Yuqiu asked.

  "They've been found, the horse keeper said he saw them, but Third Miss didn't like the smell over there, so they played for a while and came to the front." Chun Xing was anxious and almost broke out in a cold sweat on this snowy day. She also didn't like Second Master and Third Miss, but if they really got lost, not to mention her conscience wouldn't be clear, she wouldn't be able to explain it to Madame Liu either, and she had no idea how to deal with the mistress of their own household.

  "Don't worry, don't worry." Gu Yuqie was also anxious in her heart. But for now, she could only comfort Chun Xing with words. "You go back and tell your mother first, don't make a fuss, ask if Father knows where they went, who's following them, if Father doesn't know either, then have Mother let all the servants who came with us go find them. This town isn't big, those two are mischievous, but on a snowy day like today, they shouldn't be able to run too far."

  "Yes." Gu Yuqie's neat arrangement slightly calmed Chun Xing's heart as well, and she bowed to ask, "And the young lady?"

  "Don't worry, I know the way. I'll go along this road and take another look." Gu Yuqie pointed forward with her hand. "If I still can't find it, I'll come back myself."

  "But miss, this is a town, but who knows what might happen. The second young master and third young lady have already disappeared, if you..." She spat three times, "Look at my unlucky mouth."

  "You go back to your mother, I guarantee I won't get lost." Gu Yuqie patted Chun Xiang's hand, "Give me the umbrella, this town is lit up with wind lamps everywhere, I won't get lost. Ah, don't dawdle, hurry and go."

  Chun Xing knew that Gu Yuqie was clever and also knew that finding Er Gongzi and San Xiaojie was urgent, so she reminded Gu Yuqie a few more times before quickly walking into the inn.

  Gu Yuqiu walked with an umbrella in hand, heading down the road she had pointed out to herself. She remembered that at the end of this road was a City God Temple.

  On the way, Gu Yuqie didn't meet anyone from the townspeople, and every household was closed. Instead, there were many yamen runners who came and went patrolling to ensure the safety of these nobles from the capital. Gu Yuqie couldn't help but ask them, they saw that Gu Yuqie was born beautiful and dressed in finery, so they all replied respectfully, unfortunately no one had seen Gu Siyang and his sister. How strange! These two people could be made to disappear for no reason? When she arrived at the inn, she still saw Gu Siyang and Gu Suyu quarreling with each other. She walked all the way to the end of the road, and the City God Temple was indeed still there, but it was different from what she remembered. In her previous life, this temple had been rebuilt, although it couldn't be described as magnificent, but now the temple was dilapidated in the wind and snow, with a precarious momentum.

  "Gu Siyang, Gu Siyu, are you inside?" Gu Yuguang shouted outside the temple. Inside, it was pitch black and silent, with only the cold night wind blowing through the broken window frames, making a faint, sharp whistling sound that sent shivers down one's spine.

  "Stop messing around, if you're inside, come out quickly!" Gu Yuqie shouted again from outside, but still no one responded. Gu Sisun and Gu Siyu shouldn't have the guts to sneak into that dark temple.

  Gu Yuqiu waited for a while, just about to leave, when she heard a faint whimpering sound coming from inside. The voice was very small and almost inaudible amidst the howling cold wind. If Gu Yuqiu hadn't held her breath and listened carefully, she might not have heard it at all.

  "Gu Siyang? Is that you?" Gu Yuqie didn't care about anything else, lifted her skirt and stepped over the threshold that was as high as her calf.

  The sound seemed to be coming from the courtyard behind the temple.

  Gu Yuqiu thought of the time she came here before, behind this temple there was a very large liberation pool, outside the liberation pool there was a fake mountain, and behind the fake mountain there was a very large well.

  The well was dry, and she was curious at that time and studied it a little. Why did the liberation pool have water, but there was no water in the well?

  Gu Siyang and Gu Siyu won't have fallen in there, will they?

  The temple is very dark, the bright light of the wind lanterns outside can only illuminate the front half of the front hall, tonight is a windy and snowy night, there is no moonlight and starlight, the entire back half of the temple is really pitch black to the point where you can't see your fingers when you stretch out your hand.

  Gu Yuqiu couldn't see anything, and could only walk by relying on her previous memories of this place. She stumbled and staggered, occasionally bumping into some scattered objects in the temple, which made her knees and legs ache.

  "Gu Siyang, Gu Siyu! Are you inside or not?" Gu Yuguang finally managed to sneak into the back courtyard of the grand hall, and almost tripped over the high threshold. Her short legs really couldn't afford to get hurt. However, once outside, she could still make out the road by the faint light of the street lamps. Gu Yuguang carefully walked across the small bridge over the lotus pond, approaching the dry well.

  Wuuu, it's closer now. Gu Yuqiu heard clearly that there were voices coming from the dry well.

  Gu Yuqiu's heart was also a bit fuzzy, but she still plucked up the courage to walk over. "Who's inside?" Under the faint light, the entrance of the dry well seemed like the mouth of a monster that had grown in the darkness.

  "Wuuu!" The voice came out again, he had heard Gu Yuqie's voice, so he called out a few more times.

  "Why don't you speak?" Gu Yuqie cautiously approached the edge of the well, pondering whether to take a peek. On this snowy and windy night, it was pitch black, and if something were to emerge from the well, wouldn't that be enough to scare someone's guts out?

  Just as Gu Yuqiu was concentrating on whether to approach the well and take a look, she heard a clear and cold voice behind her, "Be careful!"

  Gu Yuqiu instinctively turned her head, but before she could see clearly, a strong gust of wind came from above her head. Before she could fully react, she was covered with a black cloth sack. Just as Gu Yuqiu was about to shout, someone poked two fingers at her, and her whole body went numb, unable to move or make a sound.

  Gu Yuqie struggled desperately, she couldn't see outside but could hear it.

  "You're really bold. With so many officials and soldiers patrolling outside, you still dare to kidnap people here." Then there was the sound of hidden weapons breaking through the air, and someone groaned twice, seemingly hit by a hidden weapon.

  I'm going! The voice was cold and clear with a hint of sarcasm. Wasn't it Yun Ke?

  Then Gu Yuqie was ruthlessly slammed to the ground, and she was covered in a black cloth bag. She felt dizzy and saw stars, but when the opening of the bag loosened, she quickly crawled out from inside.

  "Run!" In the darkness, two black figures had already lost their advantage and whispered a sentence. The two of them abandoned Gu Yuqiu and leaped into the air, flipping over the back wall of the Chenghuang Temple.

  "Asshole!" came Cloud's voice from behind the black cloth bag.

  You're stupid! Your whole family is stupid! Gu Yuqiu cursed in her heart, but unfortunately she couldn't move at all now and could only lie still inside the black sack.

  You're quite good at pretending! Didn't you say that we would never meet again in this life or the next? Yun Ke's skills are quite profound, so even in the dark, his eyes are more useful than Gu Yu Xue's.

  He first walked to the edge of the well, looked inside, and then threw a stone down. The person in the well was immediately knocked into a deep sleep, and the wailing sound suddenly stopped.

  "It's getting more and more ridiculous!" Yun Ke couldn't help but scold, "Don't you know to bring someone along when entering a place like this?" He took two steps forward, pulled out a lighter, lit it, then squatted down beside the black cloth bag containing Gu Yu Xiang, and untied the rope at the opening of the bag.

  If he hadn't quietly followed her just now, this foolish woman would have been kidnapped by the thief!

  The sack was pulled open from the outside, and Gu Yuqiu felt like someone had picked it up and turned it over, dumping her out of the bag like a piece of cargo. She landed with a thud, feeling a sharp pain. Yun Ke! You did that on purpose! Gu Yuqiu couldn't move or speak, she could only go crazy in her heart.

  Yun Ke saw that Gu Yuqie had been knocked out, and stood up with a hint of a smile, using her toes to nudge Gu Yuqie's calf. "Not dead yet?"

  Go die! Gu Yuqie raised her eyes and glared fiercely at the black-clothed youth standing in front of her.

  "Are you angry?" Yun Ke looked like he was in a good mood, with his hands clasped behind his back and looking down at Gu Yuqian. "I saved you again, so how are you going to repay me?"

  Pay you back, you big-headed ghost! Die as far as you can for Laozi! Gu Yuqiu was shouting in her heart, but now she couldn't speak, she could only stare at Yun Ke with her eyes. At this moment, she had already been angered to the point of madness, and she didn't even bother to pretend anymore.

  What's with the "again"! Where did this "again" come from?

  Yun Ke seemed to see through Gu Yuqie's thoughts, and with a smile, he leaned down and lowered his voice, saying in her ear, "I saved you twice today. The first time was at the inn, when someone asked you why you were alone with me." He reminded her quietly.

  No wonder Yun Yi would suddenly say that, it turns out it was Yun Ke's request. This kind of thing is naturally more convincing coming from the Fifth Prince's mouth.

  Gu Yuqie stared at Yun Ke with rolling eyes, hinting for him to unseal her acupoints.

  In his past life, Yun Ke's martial arts skills were of the unfathomable kind, which was why he had always regarded Gu Yu Xiang's two moves as mere fancy punches and kicks.

  He deliberately didn't let himself unblock his meridians, this guy is too despicable!

  He didn't rush to straighten his body after finishing speaking, but instead looked closely at Gu Yuqiu, his gaze seeming to outline the contours of her face, as if he wanted to see every inch of her face clearly.

  Gu Yuqie was looked at by him, making her whole body hair stand on end, and she couldn't help but want to jump up and punch him. But unfortunately, she couldn't move, and could only let him look her up and down from head to toe. Gu Yuqie felt that Yun Ke's gaze was like a poisonous snake's stare, making her heart feel terrified.

  It turns out that this dead woman was really born beautiful, although she is still young now, but these eyebrows, this face, these lips... The little person in front of him had eyes blazing with fire, and in the flames dancing on the lighter, it was extraordinarily vivid and lively, reminding him of her stunning dance in the firelight in his previous life.

  His heart seemed to be suddenly grasped, tightly shrinking, just like when he saw the two men in black cloth bags covering her and wanting to abduct her. He actually didn't think twice about rescuing her. If it were someone else, he should have quietly followed behind, investigating the truth before taking action, as for the life or death of the abducted person, it seemed to have nothing to do with him, but these people dared to kidnap in broad daylight, under the eyes of the town's nobles, that took some guts, worth investigating, he was indeed impulsive!

  "You owe me. I'll get it back slowly." Yun Ke suddenly smiled slowly, like a night-blooming flower, short-lived but dazzling, moving people's hearts. He raised his hand and lightly touched Gu Yuqiu's brow, "You remember that for me."

  She owed him a lot, a lot, even if nothing else is counted, just the lingering soul of the past few decades is enough for her to repay for a while.

  He waited until he stood up straight, his face restored to its usual calmness. He heard the footsteps coming from outside the temple, first using stones to wake up the person in the well, then flying over and hiding his figure in the darkness of the night. If it weren't for the shallow footprints left in the snow on the ground and the fire starter he left behind, Gu Yuqian would have thought that he had never appeared at all.

  Outside the temple, Chun Xing's shouting voice came, Gu Yuqie's heart moved, and she couldn't help but scold Yun Ke again. She didn't even know how to help her untie the acupoints! Is this going to be a big deal?!

  She couldn't move or respond to Chun Xiang's voice, and in her anxiety, she couldn't even scratch her ears or cheeks. She ended up scolding Yun Ke from head to toe again.

  It turned out that the person in the well had started to make a "wu wu wu" sound to seek help, and although the voice was small, it still had some effect. Chun Xing obviously heard the voice and came in with a lantern, followed by Liang Huaiyu and two attendants brought from Jiangnan.

  As soon as she saw Gu Yuqie fall by the well, Liang Huaiyu was so frightened that she almost fainted. She hurriedly rushed to Gu Yuqie's side and helped her up, checking her all over before anxiously asking, "Ah Nu, what happened to you?"

  "It seems like Miss has been acupunctured." Chun Xiang saw clearly, raised her hand and tapped twice on Gu Yu Gui's body, Gu Yu Gui finally let out a breath, "Mother, I'm fine, quickly find someone to check what's in the well;"

  Spring Apricot immediately ordered the two guards to shine their lights and investigate the dry well. Liang Shi pulled Gu Yuqie, wanting to scold her but couldn't bear to. The footsteps outside grew louder, and she had wanted to ask why Gu Yuqie was lying here, with a black cloth bag next to her that had been sealed with acupoints. However, fearing rumors would spread if too many people found out, she could only temporarily hold back. She had already checked, and apart from some dirt on her clothes, Gu Yuqie had no other injuries, not even any torn clothing. With the fastest speed, she tidied up Gu Yuqie's disheveled hair, not letting anyone notice anything unusual.

  "Replying to the mistress, it's our household servant from the well." Chun Xing had already looked into the well and was shocked. She ordered the two guards to pull the person up, while she came over to report back.

  At this time, Gu Huai Zhong also led some house servants and guards from the mansion to come over with a look of urgency. Before entering, he was already shouting outside the door, "Madam, Chun Xiang, have you found Si Yang and Si Yu?"

  Li's family was so angry that she wanted to slap him, originally he had boasted that he would take care of Siyang and Suyu himself, no wonder Liu's family had blown wind in his ear, wasn't he afraid that he couldn't take good care of the two children? Letting those two children suffer in secret! Fine, he wants to bring them, let him bring them, she can finally have a break, but where did he end up bringing the kids?!

  Now that Siyang and Suyu are nowhere to be found, even Guyu Kui has been missing for a moment. He's fine, shouting and calling out loud, coming in without asking if Guyu Kui has been found, but only asking about Gu Siyang and Gu Suyu. Does he think that only those two children are his own flesh and blood, and Gu Yu Kui is just a pick-up?

  Seeing the anger in her mother's eyes, Gu Yuqie hastily grasped Liang Shi's hand, "Mother, it's more important to find Gu Siyang and Gu Siyu first."

  It's not the time to be angry with Gu Huai Zhong. Liang Shi quickly rolled up and hid the black cloth bag before others came in.

  Gu Huaizhong didn't delay for a moment and brought people to this place. With many hands, they quickly pulled out the house servant from the bottom of the well. However, he was tightly bound by ropes and had a cloth stuffed in his mouth, so all he could do was make "wu wu" sounds at the bottom of the well.

  "What about the second young master and third young lady?" Gu Huai Zhong was truly anxious this time, and with one kick, he sent the poor house servant tumbling to the ground. "The lord told you to follow them, how did you follow them?!"

  That servant was almost wronged to death, kicked until he could hardly breathe, still clutching his chest, and hastily said, "The second young master and third young lady ran here, insisting on coming in, I had no choice but to follow them in. Who knew that as soon as we came in, we were beaten unconscious and thrown into the well? If it weren't for the eldest young lady finding me, I'm afraid I would have frozen to death here today."

  "When you came, did you see your brother and sister?" Gu Huai Zhong suddenly remembered Gu Yu Qie and asked in a hurry.

  Gu Yuqiu shook her head, "The daughter didn't see."

  "Right, when the young lady came over, I seemed to hear a fighting sound." Ding added. "I was so scared that I fainted, and when I woke up, Chun Xiang had already brought people to search for me, and I continued to struggle to ask for help." He wasn't frightened into fainting, he was knocked out by Yun Ke, Gu Yu didn't have the nerve to say.

  "Ah?" Gu Huai Zhong was taken aback, "You were also attacked by someone?"

  Gu Yuqie was at a loss for words, seeing more and more people gathering outside. She couldn't say in front of so many people that Yun Ke had saved her, chasing away the two black-clothed masked men. She had already been questioned once inside the inn about why she was alone with Yun Ke in the Princess's courtyard, and only cleared her name after Yun Yi intervened. If she told the truth this time, it would inevitably raise suspicions again.

  "Dad, can we go back and talk about it?" Gu Yuqie said in a low voice. "First send someone to follow the footprints outside the wall of this courtyard to see if there's any discovery. Those two people who wanted to kidnap my daughter should be injured." Otherwise, they wouldn't have given up their plan so easily and slipped away in such a hurry.

  At that time, Gu Yuqie couldn't see or move, but she heard the two men in black say a word of retreat, their voices filled with pain, and it seemed that Yun Ke had hit them with some kind of hidden weapon.

  Liang called out for his two guards from Jiangnan to chase after them, he didn't trust the people brought by Gu Huai Zhong. Gu Huai Zhong also climbed over the wall and chased after them.

  "Let's go back to the inn first." Liang said decisively, fearing that outsiders would come in and cause trouble.

  She walked out of the broken temple with Gu Yuqiu and Chun Xing, when the streets were already filled with servants and guards from various mansions helping Gu Huaizhong search for people. The small town was in an uproar, with Cloud Wing and Cloud Ke bringing their own guards, making it a chaotic scene.

  After returning to the hostel room, Gu Yuqie recounted what had happened, but she didn't say that the person who saved her was Yun Ke. She just said it was a stranger who beat away the people holding her and then chased after them outside. Then Liang Shi and Chun Xuan arrived.

  How dare they kidnap someone at this time? This human trafficker must have eaten the heart of a bear and the gallbladder of a leopard.

  "Mother, don't worry." Gu Yuqie thought carefully, "I think this matter is very suspicious."

  "What's the trick?" asked Liang.

  "How did they know that Da Di and San Mei would go into that broken temple? Were they waiting there specially?" Gu Yuqie had been thinking about this question all the way back to the guest house.

  There are also people who have already prepared to catch themselves, just waiting for the opportunity to take action. It seems that they are targeting the three siblings, rather than other young masters and misses in the mansion. If it were ordinary flower snatchers or human traffickers, not only would they not dare to act in front of so many princes and nobles, but even if they did, how could their purpose be so strong? Where is there such a coincidence that all the people caught are from Dingyuan Hou Mansion?

  "Has Father ever offended anyone?" Gu Yuqie asked.

  "Are you saying this is aimed at our mansion?" Liang Huaiyu said with a frown, and after thinking carefully for a moment, he couldn't come up with any leads.

  Gu Huaizhong is a new noble in the imperial court, even if he offended other nobles in the imperial court, it would not be so severe as to take away all his children.

  If it wasn't done by people from Zhongzhou, then who would it be?

  Liang was helping Gu Yuqie change her clothes and wash up, while deep in thought. Gu Yuqie was also thinking, so for a moment the room fell silent.

  Gu Yuqiu had been frozen outside for a while, her hands and feet were all cold, and Liang Shi ordered someone to bring some hot food over.

  Gu Huai Zhong and the two guards from the mansion climbed over the back wall of Cheng Huang Temple, and indeed found three rows of footprints in the snow, just as Gu Yu Xue had said.

  Gu Huaizhong was overjoyed and led his men to follow the footprints, chasing them out of the town until they reached the foot of a mountain outside. The footprints became disordered and seemed to show signs of a struggle.

  Gu Huaizhong slowed down his pace and carefully distinguished the footprints, seeing that they went all the way into the forest at the edge of the mountain.

  As they entered the forest, they suddenly saw two black-clad masked men motionless, lying under a large tree with tattered clothes. Gu Huai Zhong went forward to check on them and found that they had stopped breathing and were dead. Gu Huai Zhong pulled down their masks, and in the light of the torches handed over by the guards, he couldn't help but take a deep breath. "Rouran people!" He exclaimed in surprise.