Becoming the Villain's Discarded Wife
Chapter 277: Escape in Secret

Chapter 277: Chapter 277: Escape in Secret

The He Family in Yan City had stood its ground for nearly a century, being the largest and oldest family in the city.

However, with the emergence of the other three major families, the He Family lost its initial glory. Thirty years ago, the family was thrown into chaos due to a woman. The family head killed quite a few people, resulting in casualties and injuries in the family’s main line. This allowed the other three families to take advantage of the chaos. Yan City’s power balance shifted from He Family’s dominance to the mutual checks and balances of the four major families.

The He Family had formed an under wraps alliance with the City Lord of Yan City many years ago, tipping the scales in its favor over the other three families. But when the City Lord was arrested two years ago, the He family lost more than half of its properties. Ironically, they were unable to protest, and could only watch half of their decades-long foundation slip away before their very eyes.

Thus, many branches of the He Family left Yan City and fled to other places. The helpless head of the family had to distribute their own properties. The Tavern, Zuitingxuan, became the last vestige of the He Family’s face in Yan City, which now faced a crisis.

With thoughts of past grievances flashing in her eyes, Lady He dismissed the servants and left the He Residence alone.

Peng Xin paced back and forth anxiously at home.

"My lord, what’s the matter?" his beautiful concubine asked in a soft voice, watching his agitation.

Startled by her sudden voice, Peng Xin shivered and ended up stuttering, "Pack up...fast, pack up."

He had already pinned the responsibility on his subordinates yesterday. If he fled quickly enough, he should be able to leave Yan City.

The concubine was befuddled by his words, but judging by his panicked demeanor, she guessed they were in trouble. She agreed and went back into her room to pack up the valuables.

"Mistress, what’s the matter?" The maid was puzzled as she saw her abruptly come back.

"Quickly, pack up. Something has happened, we need to leave quickly," the beauty explained as she rummaged through the chest for valuables, utterly devoid of her usual frailty.

Peng Xin, about to leave after packing, saw Lady He standing at the door.

"C,Cousin," Peng Xin stuttered, his already pale face becoming even whiter. Smothered in cold sweat, panic surged within him. Only after noting that no one else was with her did he sigh in slight relief.

"Cousin, what brings you here? I was about to, to go out," he said.

"Where are you heading, cousin?" Lady He wore an unhappy expression, maintaining a quiet dignity.

"Isn’t it, isn’t it perfect timing? To, to go to the tavern," Peng Xin made an excuse.

"Is that so?"

"Lord, I’ve packed everything!" His concubine held a maid’s hand and hurried over, stopping dead when she saw Lady He.

"Lady He, you’re here?"

With a sheepish voice, the concubine, aware that Lady He didn’t like her, quickly cast a pleading look at Peng Xin.

Meanwhile, he was filled with embarrassment and regret. Seeing that there was no way to avoid the confrontation, he finally pleaded, "Cousin, could you help me out this once? I really had no idea about this."

"I’ve helped you plenty of times already." The expression on Lady He’s face was far from pleasant.

If it hadn’t been for the favors that her uncle’s family had done for her, she would have definitely steered clear of this mess.

Remembering familial bonds, she couldn’t help but wonder what her cousin had gotten into this time.

"Cousin, this time it was truly unexpected. I never imagined that those, those Anis SeedIncenses would be fake." Peng Xin, realizing he couldn’t conceal anything further, began defending himself.

This time he felt unjustly accused!

He had simply heard that Baiweizhai had been taken over by someone who opened up Sanweiju. They had started offering even simple vegetarian dishes for a single wen coin by adding Anis SeedIncense, so he wanted to have a look.

He initially doubted the rumors as the current market price for Anis SeedIncense had reached ten taels of silver per pound. Even considering the wealth of the He family, it was unthinkable to sell dishes at a single wen coin.

But after tasting it, he realized that, while there was only a small amount, it was real Anis SeedIncense.

He was about to inquire about this from the pub servant when someone came to him.

They claimed to have a batch of spices on sale at a low price, which included the Anis SeedIncense from the Western Region.

Initially, he was sceptical. After all, Anis SeedIncense was a hard-to-find item with its price soaring recently, so how could it be sold at a low price?

But the person took him to see the goods. Not only did he personally confirm it to be Anis SeedIncense, but there were a whole two hundred pounds of the stuff in the warehouse.

The goods were not only plentiful but also cheap, priced at just one tael of silver per pound.

Upon verifying the goods, he purchased the whole lot and later sold it to Zuitingxuan at five taels per pound of Anis SeedIncense.

The batch of goods had been used for three days without any issues. Who could’ve foreseen such a major event taking place last night?

Thinking of the man shivering and foaming at the mouth last night, chills ran down Peng Xin’s spine.

Although greedy, he was afraid of death. He didn’t want his hands stained with blood!

"Where did you get those Anis SeedIncenses?" Lady He was deplete of patience seeing his constant evasions.

"I, I bought them from a foreign merchant. He lives in the south of the city." Peng Xin wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and disregarded the bundle on the ground. He hastily made his way to Lady He’s side.

"Why didn’t you inform me last night?" Lady He’s expression was unchanged, but her resentment for her cousin had increased.

Over the years, besides diligently managing He’s family, she often helped her uncle’s family as well.

However, this cousin of hers was a disappointment. Up till now, he was still living off He’s family. Though she was reluctant, she couldn’t ignore the blood bond. Now that he had caused this huge trouble and kept her in the dark about it, she was furious.

"I, I..." Peng Xin stuttered, unable to articulate his words. Last night, he had indeed contemplated going to his cousin.

However, he lost the nerve at the last moment.

He knew that his cousin had lost any patience with him and sent one of his servants to silence the people, rather than having the courage to confess to the He Family.

"If you had come to me last night, you wouldn’t have fallen into such a predicament today!" Lady He was trembling with anxiety and fury.

Her husband had already been displeased with her for helping her relatives, and now this happened.

"Cousin, please, I beg you...just help me once more..."

The concubine, who had been standing aside and overhearing the conversation, sensed Lady He’s fury. She quietly retreated to the side with her maid.

Lady He shot a glance at him and left for the study room, heaving her sleeve.

Seeing her movement, Peng Xin sighed with relief, aware that he should be safe this time. Then, he mustered up a flattering expression and followed her.

"Mistress, where are we going?" Seeing her mistress not only packing up silver, but also prying off the jade stones from the bed, the maid was quite startled.

"To run!" Stowing the jade stones in her pouch, the concubine continued to scan the room for valuable items while explaining.

"But the master..." The maid was stupefied by her words.

"I’m nothing but his concubine, and we never registered our relationship in court; once we escape, we can obtain a household registration with some silver. There’s nothing to fear." As she spoke, the concubine did not forget to pluck the silver pearls from the candlestick.

Each of these pearls had quite some weight!

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