As she was thinking, Su Xiaoliu couldn't help bursting into laughter. Just imagining that scene made her find it extremely amusing.
Zhong Fengyue saw her secretly smiling, with a glint of amusement in his inky eyes. He stretched out his slender fingers and gently caressed the surface of the qin, saying softly, "Is my wife wondering what the Heavenly Lord looks like?"
Su Xiaoliu paused, blinked her eyes, and looked at Zhong Fengyue. Suppressing her laughter, she straightened her expression seriously and said, "I just suddenly thought of it. I'm not interested in what the Heavenly Lord looks like at all." Little did she know that this sentence was like a self - confession, revealing everything.
Zhong Fengyue hooked the corner of his mouth and said with a smile, "If you have the chance, you can see the Heavenly Lord with your own eyes. It's too early to comment until then."
Blushing slightly, Su Xiaoliu let out a soft "humph" and gently pushed him, saying, "Hurry up and teach me to play the tune. Hurry."
Zhong Fengyue couldn't hide the faint amusement in his eyes. He pulled Su Xiaoliu in front of him. Under Su Xiaoliu's surprised and widened almond eyes, he trapped her in his arms and stretched out his slender fingers to gently pluck the strings of the qin.
The melodious sound of the qin spread out. Su Xiaoliu stared blankly at those long and good - looking fingers gently sweeping across the strings. As she watched, it actually became a kind of enjoyment.
Watching Zhong Fengyue gently pluck the strings, Su Xiaoliu's heart itched. From time to time, she would stretch out her onion - like fingers and follow to sweep the strings. The two of them were having a great time around a purple - wood qin.
On this day, the sun was shining brightly.
The weather in summer had always been fine. There were a few white clouds floating in the blue sky. Zhong Fengyue had gone to help tune the qin for a high - ranking official's family, while Su Xiaoliu was sitting in the shop, calculating the income of recent days with an abacus.
She never thought that the business of the qin shop would be so good. Besides the customers from the capital, even qin players from other places would come to choose qins. She would visit Boss Qin from time to time, and gradually they became familiar with each other. These days, she had also learned some tunes from Zhong Fengyue. When some customers came, she could even play a few tunes in a pretentious manner. When her mistakes were pointed out, she would humbly accept the suggestions. In the eyes of outsiders, there was a very kind - hearted female boss in the newly opened konghou shop in the capital, and her husband was also an extremely handsome and outstanding man.
Sometimes when some picky noble ladies came, Su Xiaoliu would push Zhong Fengyue to receive them, and the effect was as good as expected. Even many noble ladies became regular customers of the qin shop. If it weren't for Su Xiaoliu, they might even have wanted to take Zhong Fengyue away.
Speaking of this, Su Xiaoliu couldn't help thinking of the generous man she had met when the shop first opened. He was wearing a dark red begonia - patterned robe and covered by a black cloak. It seemed that he was not from the capital. After buying that qin, she never saw him come to the shop again. Su Xiaoliu felt a bit regretful. She wished that there could be more such important figures patronizing the business. In this way, within less than half a year, they could earn all the money that an ordinary qin shop could earn in a lifetime.
Her slender fingers gently moved the abacus beads, while the other hand held a writing brush to record in a notebook. Her long eyelashes drooped, and for a moment, she didn't notice the person who had walked to the door of the qin shop.
It was not until a shadow fell that Su Xiaoliu noticed that someone had come. She frowned slightly, raised her head, and her almond eyes quietly looked at the person in front of her.
Vaguely, there came a sobbing sound in her ears, and her body was jolting. It felt as if her bones were about to fall apart.
Su Xiaoliu slowly opened her eyes and frowned. Everything in front of her was swaying. Above her head was a red wooden board. It seemed that she was in a carriage.
A carriage?
Su Xiaoliu widened her almond eyes. Wasn't she just sitting in the qin shop in the capital, calculating the accounts? How could she suddenly be in a carriage?
She propped up the wooden board under her and sat up. Just as she turned her head, she saw two girls about fifteen or sixteen years old sitting in the carriage. Both girls were wearing gorgeous brocade clothes, with gold, silver and jade ornaments on their heads, and their long hair was coiled into the complicated buns that only young ladies would wear. One of the slightly thinner girls was lowering her head and sobbing softly. Her face couldn't be seen clearly. The other one was a bit calmer, just sitting quietly without saying a word. Su Xiaoliu looked closely at her face. She was quite good - looking, with delicate skin and big eyes. She looked like the daughter of some family.
The jolting made her body uncomfortable. Su Xiaoliu twitched the corner of her mouth and gasped. The calmer girl raised her eyes and looked at her. She just looked for a few times and didn't say a word.
Where was this carriage going? Su Xiaoliu looked around for the carriage curtain, but found that this big carriage was enclosed. There was only a small square curtain window in the direction close to the horses. Su Xiaoliu stood up and was just about to lift the small curtain when she heard a calm and nice female voice.
"Don't lift it."
Su Xiaoliu paused for a moment and retracted her hand that was hanging in the air. She turned to look at the person who had spoken. It was the calm girl.
Those big eyes looked at her, and then she slowly said, "Don't lift it. We are all trading items to be sold."
Su Xiaoliu slowly widened her almond eyes. She sat down abruptly. Only to hear the sobbing of the thin girl become more rapid. She glanced at the thin girl, and her gaze stayed on the calm girl who had spoken. She frowned and said, "What did you say? Sold?"
Didn't she hear it wrong? Sold?
Su Xiaoliu carefully recalled and suddenly remembered what had happened before she woke up.
At that time, she was sitting in the shop, calculating the accounts with her head down. Then someone came. Just as she raised her head and hadn't seen clearly what the person looked like, her mouth and nose were covered, and then she didn't feel anything anymore.
Could it be that person who had brought her into this carriage?
Su Xiaoliu was silent for a while. She vaguely remembered that the person was not very tall, but rather thin. The color of the clothes was not dark, but a light color close to white. Besides, she couldn't even remember the outline of the person's eyebrows and eyes.
The calm girl pursed her lips. Her delicate facial features were like a painting. Her big eyes looked at Su Xiaoliu and slowly nodded, saying, "Yes." She turned her head and gently glanced at the thin girl who was sobbing beside her, then looked at Su Xiaoliu again and said, "We were all abducted. My name is Song Ningzhi. I live in the capital. My father is a cloth - shop merchant. That day I was going out to deliver cloth. When I walked into a secluded alley, someone covered my eyes. Then when I woke up, I found myself sitting in this carriage."
With each word she said, Su Xiaoliu's brows furrowed even more tightly.
Were there human traffickers in the capital?
The calm girl named Song Ningzhi lowered her voice and whispered, "I've observed. The coachman is an extremely unfeeling person. He must have been bribed. No matter how I negotiated with him or how much money I offered, he ignored me. It seems that this employer must be a very powerful person."
Su Xiaoliu couldn't help laughing silently. Powerful? How powerful could they be compared to the leader?