Allure of a Country Maiden
Chapter 1031 - 1029_1

Chapter 1031: Chapter 1029_1

Xiao’er and Shangguan Xuanyi returned to the mansion, the day almost bright.

Their appearace, covered in filth, terrified the servants who were on night duty in the mansion, it made everyone believe that they had been abducted.

After leaving the secret passage last night, they had looked for traces of the escaped family, which was why they only returned to their mansion as dawn approached.

However, the heavy rain from yesterday afternoon had probably washed away any traces.

After Xiao’er had cleaned herself, Shangguan Xuanyi accompanied her to breakfast and said: "You should take a rest."

The color in the girl’s face had faded slightly, it had been a long time since he had seen her look so pale.

Usually, she brimmed with vitality and radiance.

"Aren’t you going to sleep?" Xiao’er asked, surprised.

They had been busy all day and night the day before, she was exhausted. Wasn’t he tired?

"You sleep first, I still have official duties to attend to. In the afternoon, I’ll ask Dr. Luo to check your pulse. You don’t look well today."

Xiao’er shook her head upon hearing this: "There’s no need, I don’t feel unwell anywhere, it’s probably because our space was locked and there’s no aura protection. Moreover, we were up all night. I’ll be fine after some rest, we can always call Dr. Luo if I still don’t look well after waking up."

Shangguan Xuanyi agreed with her reasoning and nodded: "Then you should rest."

-

After Shangguan Xuanyi left, Xiao’er laid back on the bed. She tried to enter her space dimension, but there was no reaction at all.

She attempted to communicate with Bai Tian, again with no response.

The aura in her space at this moment was almost non-existent, just as sparse as in the outside world. Bai Tian and the others had defended the soul of the space dimension all day yesterday, due to the decreasing aura of the space dimension, they are all now in a dormant state.

Xiao’er was a bit worried about Bai Tian and the others, they would definitely use their power to protect the space from being destroyed. She didn’t know what their situation was now.

Xiao’er remembered what Bai Tian had said to her. He mentioned that there would be no major problem as long as she didn’t casually put things into the space.

Since then, she had not put anything into the space! So why was the space still locked?

Xiao’er was sure that there wasn’t a single thing in the space that originated from the outside!

She vaguely felt she had overlooked something, just before she fell asleep, Xiao’er thought to herself.

Xiao’er slept soundly this time, she didn’t wake up until the evening. She hadn’t slept for such a long stretch during the day before.

Shangguan Xuanyi hadn’t returned yet, but she heard from Yang Liu that a wet nurse in Prince An’s Mansion had been cudgelled to death, and several maids were sold.

"What’s happened?" Upon hearing this, Xiao’er put down her drink and looked at Yang Liu.

"It seems Young Master was poisoned, he’s been vomiting and having diarrhea since yesterday."

Upon hearing this, Xiao’er slightly furrowed her brow. So Gong Qinghua’s reach extended as far as Prince An’s Mansion?

"Is Zhuan’er okay?"

"The Imperial Doctor has checked over him, the poison has been removed. He’s fine now."

Knowing that Zhuan’er was fine, Xiao’er felt relieved.

She longed to ask more questions but just then, Shangguan Xuanyi walked in.

Even though he hadn’t slept for two days, he looked as energetic as ever.

When Shangguan Xuanyi entered, Yang Liu tactfully curtsied and left.

Shangguan Xuanyi walked over to Xiao’er, took her hand and examined her complexion. Probably due to just waking up, her face was flushed, charmingly attractive, and he felt like giving her a gentle bite.

Shangguan Xuanyi couldn’t help but lean in and nuzzle her cheek: "Just woke up? Have you had something to eat?"

After sleeping for a day, he guessed she must be hungry.

"No, I was waiting for you." Upon waking, Xiao’er didn’t feel much except a bit sleepy.

So Shangguan Xuanyi ordered the servants to lay out food.

While eating, Xiao’er recalled Young Master Jiang’s matter and asked: "Have we received news from Young Master Jiang yet?"

Distracted by his thoughts, Shangguan Xuanyi shook his head after hearing Xiao’er’s words: "Not yet, it takes time for the information to reach us."

Nothing more was said after that.

After finishing his duties for the day, Shangguan Xuanyi returned to the farmhouse and the collapsed secret passage to look for evidence. The family had lived peacefully in the village for over ten years without leaving any trace, they were extremely meticulous.

The secret passage had collapsed, when Shangguan Xuanyi arrived, villagers were gathered around the large hole, discussing the situation.

Shangguan Xuanyi, in his capacity as a government official, deliberately asked the villagers about their impressions of the family, and he discovered a loophole. Before joining the army, the man didn’t know how to weave bamboo products, but he had an additional craft to support his family when he returned.

He thought about the bamboo products in the cellar, several of which were made differently from those in Minze Country.

Joining the army, people from all around the country gather, it is not unusual to learn a craft. Nowadays, the two countries have commercial exchanges, and many bamboo products from other countries are sold in the market. But there are no such coincidences in the world.

An Shier had previously investigated that the man had served in the military, then due to injuries sustained on duty had left the army. Following his return home, he had taken a wife.

The woman was a refugee, her hometown had suffered a severe drought. During the journey, her parents and relative had starved to death, leaving only her. She went around begging in town every day, then there was the man, who saw her plight and bought her a bun every time he was in the city. When the man’s mother found out, and seeing her son couldn’t take a wife due to his leg problem, she asked the matchmaker about the woman and then arranged the marriage.

They had checked the identities of the man and the woman, they indeed existed, there was no problem there.

What was problematic was the people, not the identities.

He had already sent people with the woman’s portrait to her hometown, to see if there were people who could recognize her.

That secret passage was probably dug by the couple secretly, as for whether or not the array was set up by them, it wasn’t known yet.

Because Shangguan Xuanyi was lost in thought, he didn’t react to Xiao’er after she had spoken for a good while. Xiao’er waved her hand in front of him and said dissatisfied, "Brother Shangguan!"

Shangguan Xuanyi came back to reality: "What’s the matter?"

"I said Zhuan’er is poisoned. I want to go to Prince An’s Mansion to visit him tomorrow."

"He was poisoned? What happened?" Upon hearing this, Shangguan Xuanyi was taken aback.

Xiao’er briefly explained the situation and added, "I never thought Gong Qinghua would be so obstinate, moreover, he could reach into Prince An’s Mansion so soon."

"No, that’s not Gong Qinghua’s doing." If Gong Qinghua had done it, Zhuan’er would be dead by now!

Being not Nangong Country, even if they had directly poisoned the son left behind by the Crown Prince of Nangong Country, nobody could say anything! His reputation as the emperor wouldn’t be affected at all!