Chapter 15 Looking for Her
"Since you want to find her, I will make it clear. From now on, Huo Aying will be your distant niece from Qingzhou, and no one is allowed to mention Lin'an anymore!" said the old lady solemnly.

"Yes." Even though Guan Yulan was reluctant, she knew it was a helpless move.

“Also, let’s suppress the matter between her and Chengyi for now. Anyone who mentions it again will be expelled from the Marquis’ Mansion! Changyue, you will be in charge of this matter. Make sure everyone is aware of it!” Xie Chongkun couldn’t let things get out of control again.

Chang Yue's expression was complicated, "Yes!"

"I'll take people to look for him!" Xie Chengyi stood up suddenly.

Xie Chongkun just arranged: "Keep a low profile!"

This was the first time Xie Chengyi was so willing to do something, "Yes."

***
At the pier, it was past noon.

Looking at the crowd, Zhan Li had no idea what to do. "How can I find so many people? What if they have already left the capital?"

Xie Chengyi frowned, "Ships leave Beijing at certain times. Go and find out which shiphouses the ships that have left Beijing belong to. Have you seen Ah Ying?"

"Yes!"

Zhan Li led his men to gather information separately, while Xie Chengyi looked around the dock, trying to find some clues.

Suddenly, a little girl selling velvet flower jewelry pulled Xie Chengyi's clothes and said timidly, "Sir, would you like to buy a velvet flower?"

Xie Chengyi was upset, so he said, "No."

The little girl shrank back in fear at Xie Chengyi's tone and turned her head away.

Before the little girl had walked far, a man took a cane and beat her viciously, "You useless thing!"

"Ah——" The little girl twitched in pain, shivering and begging for mercy: "I'll go sell flowers again, please don't hit me..."

Xie Chengyi watched the man beating the little girl violently from a distance, scolding her viciously, with extremely ugly curses. The little girl was beaten and curled up on the ground, tears in her terrified eyes, full of helplessness and fear. In his mind, he subconsciously thought about whether Ah Ying would be like this when she was a child...

An uncontrollable anger immediately rose in his heart, and he walked towards the little girl very quickly. At the moment when the man's cane hit the little girl, Xie Chengyi grabbed the cane tightly, exerted his strength, and knocked the man to the ground.

The little girl hid behind Xie Chengyi as if she had seen a life-saving straw.

The man stood up, cursing, "You're looking for death, how dare you ruin my good thing!"

Xie Chengyi said in a very calm tone: "I didn't even know there was such a person as you in this capital city!"

The man didn't waste any words. He spat out a mouthful of blood foam and glared at Xie Chengyi fiercely, "Get out of my way!"

Xie Chengyi slightly turned sideways, hiding the little girl behind him, and said in a calm voice: "Close your eyes."

Then, as the man rushed forward with the knife raised, a right hand followed the blade and wrapped around the man's arm. The next moment, the man's arm was severed, and he wailed miserably, "My hand!"

The patrolman of the dock boathouse came over quickly. Just as he was about to punish the troublemaker, he suddenly saw Xie Chengyi's figure. He immediately changed his bully look and bowed and smiled apologetically, "My Lord, why are you here?"

Xie Chengyi dusted himself off and said indifferently, "Is this your business?"

The leader nodded and said, "Prince's instructions."

Xie Chengyi turned around and looked at the little girl, and asked, "Is he your relative?"

The little girl was still shaking with fear, still tugging at the corner of Xie Chengyi's clothes, and shook her head repeatedly, "No, no, I was bought by him."

Xie Chengyi took out a few ingots of silver from his pocket and threw them to the man lying on the ground with a painful look on his face. He then said to the leader, "Check carefully to see how many lives he has taken!"

After saying that, he reached out and grabbed the little girl, saying in a deep voice: "Let's go!"

The little girl seemed unable to believe it. She was stunned for a few seconds and then quickly held up her dirty little hand.

Seeing Xie Chengyi's determination, the little girl pursed her lips tightly and almost cried, "Thank you, Prince."

"Don't be afraid, just follow me back home from now on." Xie Chengyi tried his best to make his tone sound softer.

The little girl nodded gratefully, "The general is as kind-hearted as that sister Aying..."

Xie Chengyi, who looked worried, was afraid that he had heard it wrong, so he turned around, leaned down, looked at the little girl and said, "You mean Ah Ying?"

The little girl was a little overwhelmed and said, "Well, Sister Ying bought me several velvet flowers."

"Where is she?" Xie Chengyi asked anxiously.

The little girl blinked and said timidly, "He was taken away by the uncle who just beat me."

Xie Chengyi let go of the little girl and strode towards the man. If he was just angry just now, he was now ruthless. He grabbed the man's neck and said with murderous eyes, "Where did you hide the woman you tied up?" The little girl ran out of breath and pointed at the man and said, "I saw Sister Ying fainted by you!"

The man's face flushed red and he almost died.

Xie Chengyi threw him to the ground, stepped on his face, and almost suppressed his voice: "Where is it?"

The man rolled his eyes, feeling the pain in his internal organs, and said in a vague tone: "Yi, Yihongyuan..."

Xie Chengyi looked at Zhan Li in the distance and called out, "Zhan Li!"

Zhan Li came over quickly, leading the horse, "Prince."

"Yihongyuan! Hurry!" Before he finished speaking, Xie Chengyi jumped on his horse and said, "Go!"

Zhan Li's heart tightened. The prince didn't look so angry when he was facing the enemy.

***
Yihongyuan.

Huo Aying's hands and feet were tied, his mouth was sealed, and his eyes were blindfolded. Not to mention struggling, it was difficult for him to even know what kind of place he was in.

She wanted to go to Hangzhou to look for her relatives. She bought a simple dress and a veil because she thought the journey would be long and winding. But when she arrived at the boathouse, she was told that the boat to Hangzhou was full. She wanted to leave tomorrow and find a place to rest, but she ran into a little girl selling velvet flowers. To be honest, there are countless children from the lower class. Although Ah Ying felt sorry for her, she was powerless. She wanted to leave, but she heard the little girl crying and begging passers-by to buy a flower so that she could use the money to buy medicine for her mother. Maybe it was because her mother was not there, which made Ah Ying feel a little bit less defensive. When she took some change and gently comforted the little girl, she was probably targeted by the gangsters.

At this moment, Ah Ying couldn't help but think of a saying: spend money to avoid disaster. If she was willing to spend a few more taels and hire a carriage to go directly to Hangzhou, then none of these things would have happened. It was probably because she had lived in poverty since she was a child. Besides, she still needed the money for big things.

Outside the door, the footsteps became heavier.

"Open the door." A heavy female voice.

The next second, a man with a belly full of fat intestines and a woman with a mean face and gouging eyes walked in.

Ah Ying was shivering with nervousness when he suddenly felt the ribbon on his eyes being untied. A ray of sunlight shot into his eyes. It took him several seconds to get used to the sudden brightness.

"Sister Hua, do you think this young lady is okay?" The man smiled frivolously and lasciviously.

The eyes of the woman called Sister Hua lit up. She looked at Ah Ying for a long time without saying anything, but the brilliance in her eyes could not be hidden. "This woman——"

The man immediately introduced her enthusiastically: "Sister Hua, I'm not exaggerating, do you think there is such a beautiful woman in the whole capital? I fell in love with her as soon as she walked into the boat room. If I hadn't wanted to support Sister Hua, I would have taken her for myself."

Sister Hua did not refute him. This man was also very clever. Even a woman with an ugly appearance could be sold for money, not to mention such a beautiful woman. The price was much higher than that of ordinary women. But in business, all the words were half true and half false. "There is no such beauty and figure, but my Yihongyuan is not a charity. I have to feel that the money is worth it. If it was the woman in Lin'an City, I would buy her even if it cost one thousand taels of gold."

"One thousand taels of gold? Are you kidding me! What kind of woman can be worth one thousand taels of gold?" The man was a little unconvinced.

Sister Hua was in no hurry to explain, but just murmured, "That's because you don't know what capital she has..."

Huo Aying's heart moved.

The man quickly flattered, "Sister Hua, to be honest, this woman is a bit better than Su Yin from Jiyue Tower! Besides, as long as she has a good figure and looks, isn't it Sister Hua's specialty to train her to be an otaku?"

Sister Hua seemed to be very pleased with the man's compliments and flattery, and seemed to want to give in.

The man said quickly, "Sister Hua, when Miss Chunyang from Yihong Courtyard falls ill, isn't it like losing a cash cow? If you can make this young lady obedient, wouldn't you make a fortune?"

In one word, this hit Sister Hua's sore spot. If it weren't for the fact that her top girl in Yihong Courtyard was suffering from a serious illness, she wouldn't have been so anxious to find a stranger.

"This woman doesn't have any background, right?" Sister Hua asked quietly.

The man patted his chest and said seriously, "Don't worry, Sister Hua, when have I ever made you worry? This woman said she was going to look for her relatives. She doesn't know anyone in the capital. Even if she is dragged into Yihong Courtyard, no one will look for her."

Sister Hua was satisfied after hearing this, and she stretched out her hand to the man and said, "Go and get the money."

The man was pleasantly surprised and thanked her repeatedly: "Thank you, Sister Hua! Thank you, Sister Hua!"

After the man left, Sister Hua looked at Huo Aying again, the arc of her lips raised was full of calculation and shrewdness, "You, from now on, just follow Sister Hua and enjoy the good life..."

But to Ah Ying, these words were even more eerie and terrifying than eating meat and drinking blood.

How could she accept being manipulated like this? So, she looked straight into Sister Hua's eyes and fearlessly gestured to her to untie the cloth that was sealing her mouth.

Sister Hua seemed to be interested in it, so she simply said, "You can't leave Yihong Courtyard anyway, so just say whatever you want to say."

Then, he removed the cloth stuffed in Huo Aying's mouth.

Ah Ying retched for a while and couldn't help coughing violently, "Cough, cough, cough..."

After the discomfort was relieved, Ah Ying looked at Sister Hua and said, "Sister Hua, do you know Huo Ah Ying in Lin'an City?"

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