Moreover, as soon as he entered the room, he started taking off his clothes right in front of her.
This series of actions left Cheng Xiran utterly stunned.
"What on earth are you doing?"
"Hey, why are you taking off your clothes!"
"Let me tell you, I'm an innocent maiden. You mustn't act rashly!"
"Stop taking them off. You can't take any more off. I won't be able to look if you do!"
"Even if you're impatient, you can't just do this. At least give me some time to prepare, right?"
Cheng Xiran's repeated protests had no effect. Eventually, she simply covered her eyes but still peeked through her fingers.
To her surprise, she found that he was just changing into a set of night - clothes.
He Lianduo didn't stop what he was doing. Instead, he was both amused and exasperated: "What on earth do you keep thinking about in that little head of yours all day long?"
Cheng Xiran dropped her hands and pretended to be calm: "I saw you in such a hurry. I thought, well, you know..."
He Lianduo suddenly fixed his gaze on her: "Know what?"
"Never mind. Since you're going out, go quickly..." Cheng Xiran grabbed the candied fruits from the plate beside her and stuffed them into her mouth. Then she added, "Be careful and come back early. Otherwise, I'll go looking for you like I did at noon. After all, if you make a promise, you should strive to keep it. Otherwise, what kind of man are you?"
Only after she said this did she realize who the man standing in front of her was.
And the tone she had just used was like that of a wife admonishing her husband who was about to go out, filled with the daily sweetness amidst the nagging.
Judging from the smile that appeared on He Lianduo's lips, he clearly understood.
"Okay, I know. I'll come back as soon as possible. If you can't wait, go to bed early."
As soon as the words left his mouth, he disappeared into the night.
Cheng Xiran took out the unfinished sachet and continued stitching it up stitch by stitch.
She didn't know how long she had been embroidering. By the time her eyes were red from the red candle beside the desk, she began to feel a bit sleepy.
But He Lianduo still hadn't returned.
Thinking that she had forgotten which brothel he had gone to, on an impulse, she decided to wait outside the mansion gate.
When she got to the mansion gate, she saw Mrs. Qian just coming in from outside.
When Mrs. Qian saw Cheng Xiran, there was a slight change in her expression. But due to the deep night, Cheng Xiran couldn't see it clearly and wasn't sure for a moment.
"Oh, it's Mrs. He. Are you going out so late?"
As Mrs. Qian said this, she picked up the silk handkerchief in her hand and wiped away the remaining tears from the corners of her eyes.
Cheng Xiran shook her head with a faint smile: "My husband went out to buy me some local specialties. Since he hasn't come back for a long time, I thought I'd wait for him outside."
"Make sure not to catch a cold. There are mountains all around Fenzhou. At night, it's always colder than other places."
After saying this, Mrs. Qian staggered inside. After quarreling with Lord Qian today, she seemed to have aged a dozen years all at once, looking extremely haggard.
As soon as Cheng Xiran stepped out of the mansion, she saw several people walking towards the East Street.
The servants at the door saw her staring intently and started a conversation: "Those are all the wife's relatives. They probably came to accompany the wife tonight."
But Cheng Xiran spoke her mind: "But I don't think your wife's mood has improved even with her relatives around."
Her words left the two servants speechless.
Anyway, her intuition told Cheng Xiran that there was something seriously wrong with Mrs. Qian. In fact, her problem seemed even bigger than Lord Qian's.
But she had no evidence at all and couldn't convince herself or He Lianduo.
After chatting with the servants at the door for a while, she was hit by a gravel that fell from the eaves. At first, she thought it was someone's prank, but after thinking it over, she guessed it was probably He Lianduo. So she quickly entered the mansion and returned to the courtyard where they were staying.
As soon as she pushed open the door, He Lianduo had already changed his clothes.
Cheng Xiran smelled the scent of gossip and took the initiative to move closer: "So, who did Lord Qian go to meet?"
He Lianduo's expression was a bit strange: "He just went to meet some people in the jianghu about the disaster - relief funds. Lord Qian seems to have cleared his suspicion, but I still can't quite believe it."
At this point in the story, they couldn't guess what would happen next.
Seeing He Lianduo take off his outer robe, he sat down on one side with a teacup in his hand: "Tomorrow I'm going to visit the former governor's house to see if I can find out something. It's really troublesome. I don't have a single clue."
Everything took a turn on the afternoon of the next day.
He Lianduo had informed her in advance that he would be back after lunch, but Cheng Xiran still went out. It wasn't to look for him. Instead, he had given her two bags of silver early this morning and told her to spend it as she pleased, to buy whatever she wanted.
With money in hand, she felt like she could do anything. Besides, they had stayed in the Qian Mansion for a few days, and it was time to buy some gifts as a token of gratitude.
She thought that ordinary things might not catch Mrs. Qian's eye, so she went to the most famous jewelry shop on Ao Street.
She personally selected some uniquely - designed hairpins and hair ornaments inlaid with kingfisher feathers. After leaving the jewelry shop, she went to other places to buy some local specialties, planning to take them back to the capital for her grandmother and the others.
In short, she bought a whole bunch of things. But on her way back to the mansion, she saw someone forcing a maiden to go with him in broad daylight.
A large crowd had gathered around, but the poor girl was still being pestered by that grinning man.
His voice was unpleasant: "Baby, come back to my mansion with me. I've spent so much money on you today. Shouldn't you also make me happy?"
The girl pleaded desperately: "You bought those things for me voluntarily, and you never said the price was for me to go home with you... Someone, come and save me. I can't go back with him!"
The surrounding crowd began to murmur.
"She knew it was wrong but still did it. Isn't this girl a living example?"
"Yeah, why did she have to provoke this Young Master Li? Isn't she just asking for trouble?"
"Don't you know? This Young Master Li has Lord Qian as his backer. His family has power and influence. There are quite a few women who want to go back to his mansion with him."
"Who doesn't know? But it's rumored that Young Master Li likes to torture people. There have been many women around him, and none of them ended up well. Some died, some were injured. Sigh..."
Just by listening to what these people were saying, Cheng Xiran roughly understood the whole thing.
This man was Young Master Li, Mrs. Qian's younger brother and Lord Qian's brother - in - law. He was the root cause of the quarrel between the couple.
But it had always been Cheng Xiran's style to help those in need when she saw injustice.
But right now, neither Mu Li nor He Lianduo was by her side. What could she do?