Chapter 82: Chapter 082: Fear Afterwards (Third Update)
Translator: 549690339
Shouts echoed back and forth, resounding through the alleyways, cries for mercy, which sounded like “Ouch” and “Spare my life”, were faintly audible.
Apparently, the two men had already been subdued by the crowd, trussed up like pigs for slaughter and ready to be handed over to the pavilion chief.
Zhuang Qingning breathed a sigh of relief. She wiped the sweat from her forehead and leaned against the blue brick wall to rest. She almost collapsed on the spot.
In the heat of the moment, she had clenched her teeth and fought for her life. She had thought of every possible way to deal with these people to avoid being revenged on in the future. All of this was only possible because of her sheer willpower.
Now that the matter was temporarily resolved, she realized that her back was drenched in sweat and her legs were trembling so much that she could hardly stand. The more she thought about it, the more frightened she became.
After all, these kidnappers made a living by committing unspeakable acts for money. They were absolutely ruthless and feared nothing. She could have been knocked out with a drug or stabbed with a knife. Anything was possible…
But thankfully, it was all over now. The kidnappers had been caught and were sure to be put in jail. She no longer had to live in fear.
Zhuang Qingning tried to gather her strength to get up, trying to calm her nerves. When her hauntingly pale face regained a bit of color and her lips stopped trembling, she slowly made her way back to the market stall to find Zhuang Qingsui.
Not far away, the curtain on a carriage was quietly lowered.
When Ning Feng passed by and heard a girl shouting about sharing found money, he was surprised and concerned that the crowd might rumble Chu Jinnian’s carriage, so he decided to stop for a while until it quieted down.
Unexpectedly, the incident of sharing money suddenly turned into catching a kidnapper. Chu Jinnian ordered his men to investigate to prevent the kidnapper from escaping and causing further harm to the people.
The man who had been sent out to investigate returned with news that the kidnapper had already been caught by the angry locals and was waiting to be handed over to the local pavilion chief for questioning. Ning Feng breathed a sigh of relief and relayed this message to Chu Jinnian.
“I hope, sir, you weren’t too alarmed,” Ning Feng said with a frown, “I never thought that the law and order here would be so terrible. The county magistrate has been negligent, and his governance is chaotic.”
“The county magistrate is in charge of all affairs of the county, while the pavilion chief and local officials are in charge of the town. It is the pavilion chief’s duty to ensure law and order, and the magistrate is also at fault for improper personnel appointments.”
“However, even in places with well-established laws and order, there will always be criminals. Since we can’t predict everything, we should remind the local county magistrate not to neglect the matter of security.”
Chu Jinnian’s tone was cold, but a playful smile danced at the corner of his mouth: “The girl who escaped earlier, she’s quite an intelligent one.”
Ordinary girls would probably have been frightened out of their wits by an incident like this, crying hysterically. But this girl had calmly attracted attention by scattering money, and had cleverly identified the kidnapper, allowing her to escape and catch the kidnapper, which was quite an achievement.
With such intelligence, if she were a man, she would likely achieve great things.”
“Sir…” Ning Feng pursed his lips, hesitated a moment, then said in a low voice, “This girl, I informed you about her last night. She found Chunlan’s purse and unusually didn’t ask for any reward.”
“Oh?” Chu Jinnian opened his eyes, which had been resting. His eyebrows slightly rose. “This is quite interesting.”
An intelligent girl involved in Chu J inzhou’s case presented quite the intriguing situation.
“I’ve instructed the men to investigate her background as quickly as possible,” Ning Feng hurriedly said. “Please rest assured, sir.”
“Let’s get moving.”
Chu Jinnian did not give any direct response, simply raising his hand slightly.
“Yes.” Ning Feng ordered the carter to drive on.
The carter cracked the whip and the carriage slowly moved forward.
When Zhuang Qingning returned to the tofu stall, her fingertips were still somewhat numb.
“Sister.” Zhuang Qingsui had been keeping an eye on the stall, and when he saw Zhuang Qingning, he eagerly rushed forward. “I thought you were gone for good, why were you away for so long?”
“I heard some commotion in the alley earlier. They said there was a kidnapper on the loose and many people went to catch him. It sounded really scary. Sister, you are not scared, are you?”
After Zhuang Qingsui had asked a series of questions, he noticed that something was off with Zhuang Qingning: “Sister, why is your face so pale? And why are your hands so cold?”
“I’m fine, don’t worry.” Zhuang Qingning bolstered her spirits, forcing a smile and asked, “Did we sell out the tofu?”
“It’s all sold out.” Zhuang Qingsui was full of anxiety, but since Zhuang Qingning didn’t seem to want to talk about it, she didn’t ask anymore. She brought over a small stool for her to sit on and asked, “Sister, are you thirsty? Shall I get you a cup of tea?”
“There’s no need for that.” Zhuang Qingning looked up at the sky and said, “It’s almost time for lunch. Let’s not go back home and cook, it’ll be too much of a hassle. Let’s just eat a bowl of wontons at a stall.”
After what had happened, she truly didn’t have the mood or energy to go back and cook lunch.
“Alright, let’s do as you say, sister.” Zhuang Qingsui helped clean up the bamboo baskets and things, and with Zhuang Qingning, they found a wonton stall and ordered two bowls of wontons.
The wontons, stuffed with pork and green onions, were aromatic and delicious. On top of that, they added flavorful shrimp from the river. The soup also had simmered onion oil, smelling strongly of onions and tasting incredibly delicious.
This stall’s wontons were the ones Zhuang Qingning always praised the most.
The stall owner recognized the two sisters and immediately invited them to sit down and served them each a bowl of wontons.
Because they were regular customers, he added an extra two wontons in each bowl.
As the wontons were ready and served, Zhuang Qingning took the chopsticks and soup spoon passed by Zhuang Qingsui, and began to eat her wontons.
The delicious wontons and rich soup warmed her empty stomach. It seemed like things were finally starting to fall into place. After she finished her bowl of wontons, Zhuang Qingning felt as if she had come back to life, and everything around her became real and reliable.
Especially when she reached out and pinched Zhuang Qingsui’s cheek, Zhuang Qingning let out a long sigh of relief.
She vented all of her pent-up fear and unease with that breath.
“Sister, you’re pinching my face again…” Zhuang Qingsui pouted.
“When did I do that?” Zhuang Qingning blinked, “I was just checking if there’s any fat on your face.”
By the way, she also satisfied her desire to pinch Qingsui’s chubby face.
Zhuang Qingsui jutted out her chin in disapproval.
Whether there was fat or not, one could see just with eyes, so why use pinching?
Clearly, she just found her chubby face comfortable to pinch, so she just pinched it.
Ah, this sister of hers.
Zhuang Qingsui couldn’t help but want to sigh and facepalm.
But seeing Zhuang Qingning’s expression return to its usual softness, instead of the soulless look she had before, Zhuang Qingsui felt a lot more settled.
If pinching her cheek could make Zhuang Qingning feel at peace, she wouldn’t mind being pinched until she looked like a pig.
Zhuang Qingsui bowed her head and drank the soup from the bowl of wontons, making a loud slurping sound.
After finishing the wontons and feeling full, the two sisters bought some necessities and rode a bullock cart home.
After having lunch and soaking the beans at home, all they did was sleep.
Zhuang Qingning was extremely tired after the ordeal she had gone through. As soon as her head hit the pillow, she fell asleep.
Seeing this, Zhuang Qingsui pulled a thin blanket over her, then lay down beside her and closed her eyes.
Gong Qingsheng felt that today was probably the busiest day of the year, without a doubt..
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