The snowstorm had ceased, and the forest had returned to silence.
The person who delivered the second letter to the Pei Family had already turned back.
With his hands tucked inside his sleeves on the return trip, he saw the Young Master carrying a bowl of hot soup into his room and couldn’t help but tease, “Young Master, you already have a wife, so why not have her get up and serve you?”
“Go away!”
The youth scoffed at him.
“I prefer to serve my own wife myself…”
The man chuckled and went back to the main hall to report to the two family elders.
The door creaked open, and the person lying on the bed jumped like a startled rabbit, anxiously watching him.
The youth carried the hot soup to the bedside.
“Eat something.”
Since last night, Shen Youran hadn’t drunk a drop of water.
Though famished, she had no appetite.
Still, she obediently accepted the bowl and, under his watchful gaze, cupped the rough porcelain in her hands and sipped cautiously.
It was meat broth.
The meat had not been cleaned thoroughly, and lacking rich seasonings to mask the gamey smell, it was sprinkled with only coarse salt, making it both fishy and salty—extremely unpleasant.
Moreover, after hoarse shouting all night, her throat hurt terribly; the hot soup burning down her throat felt like torture.
But she dared not refuse.
She had to appear compliant and gentle, so as not to anger the only person here who still had a shred of kindness.
The youth did not stare at her the entire time.
Instead, he retrieved a bow from the wall and carefully wiped it, occasionally glancing up at her.
No wonder she was a well-bred daughter from a noble family, he thought.
Even after being hungry for so long, she ate so gracefully and elegantly…
Enduring the pain in her throat, Shen Youran finally finished the entire large bowl of soup.
She climbed down from the bed and timidly placed the bowl on the table.
When she opened her mouth, she realized she had lost her voice.
Straining her throat, she barely managed to croak hoarsely, “Pei Huaian…how is he?”
“He’s fine,” the youth replied casually as he polished the ebony bow until it gleamed.
“Big Dad and Second Dad demanded such a high ransom; they wouldn’t leave a single person unpaid. He’ll be freed in three days.”
“Can I see him?”
Afraid he would misunderstand, Shen Youran struggled to make her voice heard, “I’m not running away. I just want to see how he’s doing.”
The youth studied her for a moment.
Shen Youran nervously clenched her hands and kept her head lowered, avoiding his gaze.
“Alright,” he said, fortunately not angry.
“But you have to come with me.”
The youth stood and hung the bow back on the wall.
Then he grabbed a dagger and weighed it in his hand.
Shen Youran’s heart jumped.
“Why are you taking a dagger?”
“Just for show. Otherwise, the guards won’t let us in.”
“Oh.”
From his room to the shack where Pei Huaian was held, she endured many ill-intentioned looks and jeers along the way.
Biting her lip, she silently bore it, trailing behind the youth like a quail.
At the shack’s entrance, the two guards initially refused to let them in, but seeing the Young Master playing with the dagger, they thought it might be enough to intimidate, so they allowed them inside.
Before entering, the youth lifted the scarf covering his neck to conceal half his face.
Since this Seventh Young Master Pei would be released in three days, he naturally could not let him see his face.
The door opened, revealing two men battered and bruised.
Their faces were swollen and bruised, their wrists tied with bloodstained sleeves, and ropes around their ankles still dripping dried blood.
Shen Youran, who hadn’t cried even when terrified to the extreme last night, now couldn’t help but let tears fall.
The youth frowned and turned to the guards.
“How did you beat them up like this?”
“It wasn’t us,” one replied.
“They kept banging into the door themselves last night…”
“Do you think I’ll believe that?”
“Really,” the other explained, “That young lady screamed so terribly last night, they went mad banging on the door.”
The youth quickly averted his gaze.
Seeing Shen Youran kneel to pull the cloth from the mouth of the Pei Family Eldest Son, he didn’t stop her.
“Youran,” Pei Huaian eagerly asked once the gag was removed, “are you alright?”
Shen Youran then removed the blindfold from before his eyes.
The youth scratched his head, silently approving.
With the obstruction gone, Pei Huaian immediately examined her.
Seeing she bore no injuries, he sighed in relief, “You’re unharmed, that’s good…”
Shen Youran sobbed harder.
“Are you crazy? Why did you chase after me?”
Pei Huaian wanted to say he thought it was Shen Yunshu who had been abducted, which was why he pursued them, but then he realized that even knowing it was her in the carriage yesterday, he would have chased after her all the same.
She.
She was his sister-in-law, his good friend.
He couldn’t just ignore her.
He had heard those two piercing screams last night and guessed what she endured, yet he couldn’t break the door or rescue her.
He prayed she would survive, that she wouldn’t despair.
Poor girl—her voice had been completely hoarse from shouting.
Fortunately, fortunately she was still alive.
“AZR…”
“Hm?”
“My father is wealthy. He will definitely ransom us all,” Pei Huaian’s hands were bound, so he couldn’t wipe her tears away.
“Don’t cry anymore. Remember what I told you?”
Though he didn’t specify which words, Shen Youran knew.
“I remember. I kept repeating your words all night.”
“Your sister is still waiting for you to come home. Your father, your mother, my eldest brother—they’re all waiting for you. Nothing else matters. Staying alive is what’s most important. Understand?”
Shen Youran never thought that one day he would speak such grand truths to her, just like his elder brother.
Thinking he misunderstood her loss of purity but only out of fear she’d despair, she managed a tearful smile.
“I know. I won’t do anything rash.”
“That’s right. Qing Wu and I are here with you. Don’t be afraid.”
Shen Youran pressed her lips together, holding back more tears.
“You don’t have to be afraid either. In a few days when the ransom arrives, you’ll be able to leave. When you return, take good care of my sister, study well, don’t let her worry too much…”
“Why suddenly say that?”
Pei Huaian’s heart tightened, his expression frozen.
“Shen Youran, those words…keep them for your sister…”
“She can’t leave.”
The youth spoke for her.
“What do you mean?”
Pei Huaian looked at the youth.
“Wasn’t it said that after the ransom is paid, one of us could be released? I don’t have to go back. Just release her.”
The youth scoffed.
“She’s mine now. She’ll have to come with me.”
“Nonsense!”
After a moment of shock, Pei Huaian cursed loudly.
“You bastards! Bullying a weak woman isn’t impressive! If you have the guts, keep me here and release her. Release her…!”
“Well, still got energy to curse?”
The youth yanked Shen Youran up and dragged her toward the door, instructing the guards, “Just give them some water to drink. No need to feed them.”
“Yes.”
The two guards went in and gagged the shouting men once again.
Shen Yunshu tore the cloth from Lu Yi’s mouth, coldly watching him as she struggled to control her anger.
She asked again, “Where is the Third Young Miss?”
Lu Yi’s upper body was tied to the bedpost, his legs bound at the knees and ankles with wooden blocks wedged beneath his calves, forcing his feet upward.
Though the method seemed unremarkable, the pain made him sweat profusely.
Yet despite this, he refused to confess.
“A-shu, I don’t know where the Third Young Miss is. Your imprisonment and use of torture is a crime…”
Shen Yunshu had no time for his nonsense.
Seeing he still resisted, she picked up another wooden block.
Xiao Ci took it from her.
“I’ll do it.”
As the third block was wedged under Lu Yi’s legs, Shen Yunshu again covered his mouth.
“If anything happens to the Third Young Miss, I swear I’ll take my own life and drag you down with me…”
Unable to bear the pain of his legs being pulled, Lu Yi finally spoke.
“Thirty li east of Chaoyang City’s gate—Qingsong Mountain, Songlin Ao.”
Pei Huaijin and Xiao Ci exchanged glances.
Leaving Shen Yunshu and two guards to watch over Lu Yi, they immediately rushed back to the Dali Si to summon reinforcements and headed toward Qingsong Mountain.
However, Qingsong Mountain was vast, and the bandits were experts at hiding.
Pei Huaijin and Xiao Ci searched for two days and one night without finding the so-called Songlin Ao.
Returning to interrogate Lu Yi, he said the bandits had laid traps throughout the forest, making entrances and exits hard to find.
Whenever he went in or out, someone guided him.
By the third day, the Pei Family had received another letter detailing the time and place to deliver the ransom.
The time was the hour of You in the afternoon, just as dusk fell.
The location was not in the Ao nor on the mountain, but an abandoned temple in a desolate wasteland.
The Pei Family ransom did not reach two hundred thousand taels, only thirteen thousand plus.
Pei Huaijin suspected that since the bandits planned this in advance, they likely knew the Pei Family’s wealth and expected the ransom to fall short of two hundred thousand taels.
Therefore, they wouldn’t simply release all the captives; finding their lair was still necessary.
At this critical moment, someone found several crane feathers in the forest.
Previously, the snow in the forest had concealed the feathers, blending them in.
With bright sunshine over the past two days melting the snow, the white feathers emerged against the brown earth.
More and more crane feathers were discovered.
Pei Huaijin and others followed the trail and finally found the elusive Songlin Ao.
Deep within the forest clearing, smoke rose, signaling inhabitants.
Truly hidden well.
Rescue.
Besides the Dali Si officers, Pei Huaijin requisitioned several elite soldiers from the military.
Liang Xu brought friends from the Zhao Jian Ban to assist.
After noon, Da Dangjia ordered his men to fetch the two young men from the shack, preparing to take them to the agreed location to exchange for the ransom.
The men, starved for three days and two nights, still had strength.
Somehow, one of them had secretly loosened his bindings.
As soon as they were brought out, he tore off the blindfold, spat out what was in his mouth, snatched a dagger from a guard, and pressed it to his own neck.
“Where is Shen Youran?” he shouted.
“Release her, or don’t expect me to be exchanged for ransom!”
Da Dangjia laughed coldly.
“You’re just a hostage and dare to bargain with us?”