672 Right beside you [Bonus chapter]
"Do you want to sit on the Jinjing?" Feng Lao asked Miaoran, who shook her head.
"You can get on Jinjing," Miaoran opined.
Feng Lao laughed to hear her. "People will criticize me for being on the horse while letting you walk. That will not look good at all. Let's walk then to your house," he asserted.
Feng Lao told her how Chen Xiao was imprisoned for nine months.
Miaoran tilted her head and asked him how that happened.
"It was bound to happen from the beginning. But you were too kind to him because his parents begged you," Feng Lao said. It appeared to be a taunt than a compliment.
"I could not see his parents crying before me. I didn't want them to curse me for no reason," Miaoran stated.
"Such people never change. They will keep pestering you if you keep your mouth shut. That's why they need some sort of punishment," Feng Lao said.
"I understand now," Miaoran asserted.
As they were walking, they walked past a lot of people. Miaoran noticed how people were gazing at her, which made her a little nervous and she asked Feng Lao if she had something on her face.
"No," Feng Lao immediately replied.
"Then, why are they looking at me?" Miaoran queried.
"You are thinking too much. When we walk, we end up meeting the gazes of the people," Feng Lao opined. He understood she wasn't used to many people around her.
Soon, they entered the locality where the people's presence was less in the day. "Your parents' house is close to the market," Feng Lao said and wondered where he should keep his horse. "Do you plan to go inside your house to see your parents or just from far?" Feng Lao asked.
"I have to see them from far, Feng Lao. Father will be furious to see me," Miaoran said.
"Hmm."
"I am coming here after a year. I was not allowed to leave the house without Chen Xiao's permission," Miaoran said.
"They tortured you a lot," Feng Lao remarked. "I can punish his parents as well for treating you like a slave. Even to a slave, no one gives such a treatment," Feng Lao affirmed.
Miaoran shook her head. "They are already punished, Feng Lao. Their immoral son is imprisoned and now, people will ask them about him all the time. You were right. I should have agreed to you and let Chen Xiao get punished earlier," she muttered and told Feng Lao she would never talk about Chen Xiao ever again because he was now her past.
After walking for over twenty minutes, they stopped two houses away from Miaoran's house and kept hidden behind the wall of the second house.
Miaoran peeked out to look at the door of her house. She didn't see anyone there when Feng Lao whispered in her ear, "We are not going to see them this way. At least, from here," he opined.
She turned her head to look and saw his face was close to hers. However, his gaze at the entrance of the house. When he didn't get a response from her, he shifted his gaze to her.
"Should we go ahead? You should not be scared of anything. All these years you lived in fear, but you should not do this anymore. You should fight, Miaoran. I will be right beside you, so you are not alone in this," Feng Lao encouraged her to go to her home.
Miaoran was deeply affected by his words and she decided to go inside her house. "Wait for me outside," she said.
"Are you sure?" Feng Lao asked her.
"Yes."
"Miaoran!"
They both heard a voice and looked at the old woman in front of them.
"Mother," Miaoran murmured as her eyes turned watery. She could not stop her feet and dashed to her mother. Miaoran tightly hugged her mother and tears rolled over her cheeks. She missed this warm embrace of her mother. She had even forgotten her surroundings for a moment and kept weeping while her mother.
Miaoran's mother kept her hand on her back and caressed it. "Calm down, my daughter," Lady Hui said and moved her hand to Miaoran's hair.
The two servants present with Lady Hui also turned emotional. They had heard how Miaoran was tortured in her ex-husband's house.
Lady Hui withdrew from the hug and wiped the tears from Miaoran's eyes. "Let's go inside," she said.
Miaoran sniffled and shook her head in refusal. "Father will be angry," she said.
"He will not say anything," Lady Hui stated and gazed at Feng Lao. "You too," she said and took Miaoran inside first. Feng Lao looked at the servants and asked them where he should keep his horse.
"We have house guards," one of them said and asked Feng Lao to follow them. He nodded and went after them.
The house guard held the reins on the horse while Feng Lao walked inside the Hui Residence. He was taken to the room where Lady Hui was present with her daughter.
"I can stay outside," Feng Lao said as he saw Miaoran in tears. He thought she wanted time with her mother.
"It's alright. Come inside," Lady Hui said. Miaoran had kept her head down as she was seated next to her mother on the broad chair.
"Thank you for keeping my daughter in your house and helping her get out of that abusive and torturous marriage," Lady Hui expressed her gratitude toward Feng Lao.
He smiled a little and told Miaoran not to cry anymore. "I wonder why Lady Hui did not come to see her daughter," Feng Lao stated.
"Because I did not want it to happen," Miaoran's father entered the room. They all stood up to see him and he asked them to take their respective seats after he settled on his place.
"I heard Chen Xiao is imprisoned. Thank you for doing this and I apologize for my that day behavior," Miaoran's father said. She looked at her father in bewilderment because he never acted that way before.
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