Chapter 22 – Dawn Descent (3)
Jiang Pengji’s request was clear to Wei Jingxian and the others.
If their family followed the smoke and found the abducted noble girls looking disheveled and listless, their imaginations would run wild, and explaining later would be pointless. Even if they proved their innocence, gossip would surely tarnish their reputations.
Jiang Pengji gazed into the distance and suddenly remarked, “That useless lot has finally arrived…”
“Hey, how did Lan Ting notice?” As the daylight broke, Feng Jin could now clearly see Jiang Pengji’s appearance.
He had to admit, realizing she was actually a girl last night was quite a stroke of luck.
Now dressed neatly in fresh clothes, with her hair meticulously tied up, she appeared like a delicate scholar with elegant grace.
“The birds over there were startled… and they’re moving closer to us, likely the house servants and guards searching for us,” Jiang Pengji said with certainty, though she felt a twinge of regret inside.
If she were still her former self, at this distance she could discern the moving silhouettes with ease, and with the right tools, she might have seen even farther. Unfortunately, the body of Liu Lanting was lacking, forcing her to rely on the birds.
Feng Jin thought for a moment before asking, “Should my guards and I make ourselves scarce for now?”
They were all men, and while Jiang Pengji was also “male” and had stood guard outside all night, they were essentially strangers. If anyone decided to spin this into gossip to smear the noble girls, it would undoubtedly harm their reputations.
After some consideration, Jiang Pengji nodded in agreement, “I failed to consider this. I’m afraid we must inconvenience Huaiyu.”
This ancient era was exceedingly harsh, and as Jiang Pengji contemplated this, what was a previously decent mood grew clouded.
“Which family do you serve?”
Seeing Feng Jin’s group voluntarily step aside, Jiang Pengji calculated the time and made her appearance before the house servants.
Exhausted and starving from searching all night, the leading middle-aged, slightly plump man wiped his sweat and leaned forward to identify her.
“Who are you? Young Master Liu!”
Everyone knew, besides the missing noble girls, the Liu family’s second son, Liu Lanting, was also among them.
Widening his eyes, the man recognized the elegant youth standing before him, the very same Liu Young Master who had been missing for a day and a night!
“I’m the steward of the Wei household…” The plump man raised a hand to wipe his sweat, his bloodshot eyes revealing the strain of an all-nighter. Finally finding someone must have nearly driven him to tears, “The Eldest Lady and Young Master Liu were taken away by bandits… Young Master…”
The Wei steward was about to grasp Jiang Pengji’s hands, but soon sensed something was off…
Jiang Pengji smiled and replied, “Ah, so it’s the steward from Jingxian’s family. Rest assured, the Eldest Lady is perfectly fine.”
“This… Young Master… what time is it? Are you teasing me?” The steward seemed to doubt her words.
“Follow me. Jingxian and the others are safe, just a bit shaken up. They’ll need a few days to recuperate,” Jiang Pengji said, glancing at the fatigued faces of the house servants behind her, suppressing the urge to scoff.
The Wei steward knew of Liu Lanting’s engagement to Wei Jingxian and that the two families interacted frequently, so despite being an inconspicuous steward, he recognized Liu Lanting’s face. But for some inexplicable reason, the current scene felt strange…
“I feared you might not find us, so I kept a bonfire burning all day. When I saw the birds startled in the woods, I knew someone was approaching.”
Though their search had been dismal, their work efficiency was abysmally low!
“Jingxian and the other ladies are in that room… but for the sake of reputation, send in maids.”
With a composed face, Jiang Pengji stepped into the bandit stronghold, causing the steward and the house servants behind her to nearly collapse in shock.
To amplify the effect, Jiang Pengji specifically had Feng Jin’s guards help move the corpses of the bandits out, piled haphazardly in the clearing. Their blood had dried, ensuring that everyone entering would behold that spectacular sight.
“Young Master Liu… these… are…”
The steward trembled, nearly collapsing as he gazed at the calm and silent Liu Lanting.
Could it be… that the Eldest Lady had already perished, and the Liu Young Master was merely a vengeful spirit? Just like the other noble girls, filled with resentment and transformed into a ghost that night, slaying all the bandits responsible for their suffering? Was that the explanation for this scene?
“Those bandits, such audacious scoundrels! They must pay for their actions, like losing their lives and whatnot.”
Jiang Pengji replied nonchalantly without turning around, only to find the footsteps behind her had come to a halt. “What’s with those expressions?”
The steward looked utterly defeated, collapsing to the ground in tears, “Young Master Liu… you died so wronged…”
Internally, Jiang Pengji couldn’t help but retort: “I don’t quite understand the brain structure or thought process of these ancient humans…”
System: “No, perhaps they were just misled by you, accidentally getting scared out of their wits.”
None of them doubted the fate of the abducted noble girls.
Even while still searching, they were mentally preparing to discover a pile of corpses, and some families had even secretly begun to make preparations for funeral arrangements.
But what was the outcome? Jiang Pengji not only appeared unscathed, but a pile of bandit corpses also filled the hideout—wasn’t that frightening?
Inside, Wei Jingxian, hearing the familiar steward’s voice, was nearly moved to tears of joy. “It’s the steward from our household! They’ve found us!”
“Hmph, what a useless bunch! If it weren’t for Brother Lan Ting keeping that bonfire going for so long, who knows when they’d find us!” Shangguan Wan pouted in annoyance, “They might as well wait until the grass grows three feet high over the grave…”
“What nonsense! Who taught you such absurd talk?” Wei Jingxian reprimanded her firmly, “That’s inauspicious.”
Before long, steward after steward arrived, each with their groups in tow. Their reactions upon seeing the pile of corpses were all remarkably similar.
Despite the warm sun above, with plenty of clothes, they still felt an eerie chill deep to the bone.
However, Jiang Pengji waited for a while longer, other noble girl’s families all came, even the Hejian Prefect, appearing in his bulky frame, was supported by servants to climb up here. Meanwhile, Liu Lanting’s family was nowhere to be seen… which was rather odd.
“These… are the bandits that met their end?”
The Hejian Prefect wiped his sweat, breathing heavily like an ox. Seeing the bandits’ corpses lying with unblinking eyes, he shuddered, his bulk trembling. If not for the support beside him, he might have collapsed altogether.
Jiang Pengji clasped her hands and replied, “Yesterday, I was inadvertently captured by the bandits. After much contemplation, I found a solution—stirring up their internal strife, I seized the opportunity to take them out one by one, thus safeguarding the reputations of all the noble girls.”
Upon hearing that Jiang Pengji had killed so many bandits, the Hejian Prefect initially didn’t believe it and then felt a shiver run down his spine.
His brows furrowed tightly enough to squash a fly, calling Jiang Pengji forth, “Step forward and explain the details of what happened.”
