Episode 164

Around the time Song Caitang arrived at the pier that she wasn’t supposed to, the Green Gang’s boat finally realized something amiss about their VIP passengers. They sent a homing pigeon with a message to the Guan’s in Luanze.

Guan Qing flung the teacup she was drinking from onto the floor.

“You said what? They’ve lost them?!” Guan Qing stared at Chunhong, her expression furious. “Did I hear you wrongly? Say that again?”

This was also the first time Chunhong felt so angry and panicky. Even her voice was trembling. “The Green Gang’s boat… something’s happened, and both Third Young Mistress and Cousin Young Mistress have gone missing…”

Something happened… they’d gone missing…

Guan Qing stood up with a start and didn’t care if the broken ceramic pieces on the floor would hurt her feet or not as she stomped over them to glare more closely at Chunhong. “Say that again!”

Chunhong fell to her knees. “Eldest Young Mistress, I wouldn’t dare to lie to you! Both Third Young Mistress and Cousin Young Mistress have really gone missing! I hope you can keep it together and think about how to save them! You can get angry after we find them!”

Guan Qing felt her head spin.

She grabbed hold of the table, her fingertips all white and her eyes red as she stared intensely at Chunhong. “They’ve seriously gone missing?”

“Y-yes.”

The night was too dark for her to even see her own fingers. There was a gentle breeze, but the room was deathly silent.

A gong rang in the distance. It was hard to say if it was from the temple bells, or the night soil man making his rounds.

It was late and it was terribly quiet.

Guan Qing did not faint, and she didn’t dare to either. She commanded herself to focus! To think! To think as hard as she could!

There had to be a reason why her younger sisters would run into something like that.

It could be a kidnapping, or a robbery. Was it for money or the girls?

If the other party wanted money, she had plenty of it. She was willing to part with any amount as long as her two younger sisters could be returned to her safely.

But if they wanted the girls… why?

She had to find out why this was happening. She wasn’t afraid of confrontation. Nobody in the Guan family would allow others to bully them!

Guan Wan was a timid girl, but she was an obedient girl who wouldn’t cause more trouble than she was already in. Song Caitang was very clever, so she would know how to handle the matter and stall for time. Guan Qing had time.

The family had no men at home, but she wasn’t afraid of being looked down upon. She was strong enough to hold up the entire household!

She didn’t even bother changing her clothes and just ran out of the room.

Chunhong ran after her and tried to call out to Guan Qing as softly as she could, “Eldest Young Mistress, it’s very late… Where are you going…”

But despite her efforts, Guan Qing still scolded her.

“Shush!” Guan Qing pointed to her grandmother’s room and warned her sternly, “Do not wake my grandmother up!”

Chunhong was always smart and quick on her feet. If Guan Qing could think of it, she had to take note of it. If Guan Qing was panicking and failed to think of something, she had to help her think of those things. Guan Qing didn’t want her grandmother or anybody in her courtyard to notice anything amiss, so Chunhong quickly ran to instruct the servants accordingly to make sure her young mistress could do what she needed to in peace.

Guan Qing ran out and kept going until she arrived at Cao Zhang’s place.

Cao Zhang was the leader of the Green Gang and was often required to oversee the work along the river, so his house was by the river. He was often not in, but he was in today.

When Guan Qing arrived, he had just opened the front door as though he was about to go out.

Guan Qing didn’t care about that. Since she was here, she was going to settle her matter first!

She narrowed her eyes, pressed a hand against his collar and pushed all the way until he hit a wall inside the house.

Chunhong nearly let out a squeak. Eldest Young Mistress, you’ve got to watch your behavior outside the house! You’re supposed to be the well-mannered daughter from a wealthy and influential family!

Chunhong wasn’t the only one in shock. The Green Gang members in the house were equally stunned.

Good heavens! Who in the world is this pretty but fierce young lady?

Their leader was the leader of the mighty Green Gang, a man who had killed countless people! Wasn’t she afraid of getting killed by being so rude?!

But reality proved that Guan Qing wasn’t being reckless. She knew she wouldn’t get into trouble. Not only did Cao Zhang not throw her out, he didn’t even fight back and allowed her to press him against the wall.

“Guan Qing, calm down.”

Even his warning was delivered with only a frown. It wasn’t threatening or nasty at all.

Those who realized what was going on among the members exchanged excited glances.

They could get their popcorn ready! There was a show to watch!

But their aloof leader wasn’t going to let them stick around and watch. He waved a hand to dismiss them.

The members were stunned once more.

Their leader obediently allowed himself to be pressed against a wall and even secretly dismissed them with a tiny wave of his hand, as though he was afraid that the young woman in the house would get angry. He was like an obedient little kitten.

These were all signs of a man who would be afraid of his own wife! Oh no!

But even though they really wanted to stay and watch, they had to take instructions from their leader. They reluctantly shuffled out of the house, but purposely left a tiny gap when they closed the door behind them.

Guan Qing managed the family business and had been different from other girls her age since she was a child. She did not care about formalities or societal norms, but she knew how to take care of herself, so she knew when to behave and how to control herself in public. But she was really anxious today, and so she couldn’t hold herself back.

“I entrusted my younger sisters to you and this is how you take care of them? The Green Gang has control over the business conducted in four rivers, 16 travel routes, with money exchanging hands every single day. Your gang is great at bribing officials and killing people to ensure the smooth running of your operations but you can’t protect two harmless girls?! Cao Zhang, is this seriously all you’re capable of?”

Cao Zhang did not want to agitate her, but he didn’t like this situation either. His voice was stiff, “The Green Gang is in charge of protecting the goods that are shipped via our routes, and if our clients want to take the same boat as their goods to keep an eye on things, they’re welcome to do so as long as they pay a fee. But we don’t guarantee their safety. After all, you aren’t the Green Gang’s…”

He stopped talking suddenly.

Because Guan Qing started to cry.

She had been holding her tears back all the way from her house to his, and she finally couldn’t hold them back anymore. The hand she used to press him against the wall was shaking, and her eyes reddened and her eyelashes had been trembling slightly even as she glared at him. Tears kept welling up in her eyes.

She didn’t want to cry, actually. But when she blinked, the tears started falling.

Cao Zhang knit his brows more tightly. “You…”

Guan Qing knew that she had not behaved appropriately, so she let go of him and wiped her tears away hard.

Unlike other girls her age, even when she cried, she didn’t look weak. In fact, she looked even more obstinate.

Cao Zhang reached out to wipe her tears away. “Don’t cry.”

Guan Qing glared at him.

A warm tear landed on Cao Zhang’s hand and he felt his heart break.

This was the first time he had seen her cry.

This woman had never understood what gentleness was. She was always so unapproachable, liked to put up a strong front, and remained confident no matter what happened. Even if things weren’t looking good for her, she would find some way to resolve the issue. She had never lost to another person or admitted defeat. Describing her as frail or weak was simply impossible.

She fought through life like a man. She was loyal and trustworthy, but she was also able to scheme and plan ahead. Whatever was expected of a man, she possessed it. And even what a man lacked, she had it too. She had given up on things like crying.

In spite of that, she was crying now.

She had revealed a gentleness she had never shown anyone before.

Her two younger sisters were so important to her?

But when he remembered how Song Caitang and Guan Qing were constantly supporting one another, and Guan Wan, the little girl who was very good at taking care of others and was a fantastic cook…

He felt like he could empathize with her.

“It’s my fault,” Cao Zhang admitted his mistake without any hesitation. “I was about to go over and talk to you about this too.”

Even Chunhong was shocked to see her young mistress cry. Her eyes were wide as she just stared at Guan Qing.

Ever since she had been assigned to serve Guan Qing when she was nine years old, she had never seen Guan Qing cry. Regardless of how much trouble Madam Zhang gave her, or how others looked down on her for being a woman in business, or how she was already 19 but not betrothed or married – Guan Qing had never shed a tear.

But this time, Guan Qing was crying. Was it because of her Third Young Mistress and Cousin Young Mistress?

Cao Zhang invited Guan Qing into the room to have a chat.

Guan Qing took a few deep breaths and calmed down enough to let Cao Zhang tell her what happened.

After all, the ship belonged to the Green Gang, and while Guan Qing’s trade caravan was also on board, they didn’t have as much access to information and they were not as experienced as the Green Gang members, so their judgment of the situation was not as accurate.

Cao Zhang did not speak too quickly and gave an organized account of what happened.

Fifteen minutes passed by in no time and the candle in the lamp went out. Chunhong snipped the wick to relight it and refilled their tea.

Guan Qing’s gaze flickered. “So, you’re saying… someone has set this up on purpose to get the girls.”

Cao Zhang nodded. “Qingqiao and Xiaolan were fed a drug that doesn’t knock the person out, but it will put them in a daze temporarily and they will listen to anything the one who fed them the drugs says. The two women who fed the maids the drugs dressed up as Song Caitang and Guan Wan, donned a mili and returned to the boat that way, so they did not look suspicious. The women then jumped out of a window and swam away, while Qingqiao and Xiaolan were tied up in the room. But the maids were unhurt and they are safe and sound.”

If the other party was after money, they would have sent a ransom letter by now. But no letter had been received so far.

If the other party wanted to kill the girls, then at the very least, Qingqiao and Xiaolan should be the first ones to be killed.

The other party had made sure that nobody died or even got hurt. They had done their best to ensure that this whole situation didn’t get out of hand and did not affect others as much as possible, and… they also did not want Song Caitang and Guan Wan to bear any grudges against them.

Guan Qing narrowed her eyes. “If your logic is correct, it means that the other party needs something out of Caitang and Wan’er?”

Cao Zhang rotated the ring on his thumb with a sharp glint in his eye. “They definitely need them to do something, but whether the girls are able to help them with this matter, or what happens after the girls settle the matter, is hard to say.”

After all, people are nice to you when they need something from you. Once their need is satisfied, or if they no longer need you…

Guan Qing knew what Cao Zhang was getting at.

She didn’t want to think about whether her sister and cousin would be silenced. She stared straight at Cao Zhang. “So, we still have time!”

If they could find the two girls before they could help the other party, she wouldn’t need to worry about the girls getting hurt.

Cao Zhang nodded. “I’ve already sent my men to search for them, so we should get some news soon. The news… might be good, or it might not be good.”

If he got good news, then he would get the girls back. If it was bad news and he couldn’t handle it, they would at least find out who was behind this.

Guan Qing grew a little anxious and gripped her handkerchief.

“One more thing,” Cao Zhang dropped Guan Qing a hint, “It must have been hard for the other party to achieve this so seamlessly.”

He did not speak directly, but Guan Qing was very good at deciphering such talk. She got it immediately, “I’ve got a traitor.”

The Green Gang members on the boat would naturally take care of the ship itself and the people onboard, but they were not in contact with the girls. The ones checking on the girls twice a day were those from the Guan’s trade caravan.

Someone in her own team must have been bribed by the other party.

Otherwise, it would be impossible for the other party to have kidnapped the girls without anyone finding out until now.

“I’ll make sure I find this person!” Guan Qing turned to the side as she slammed the table.

Cao Zhang’s gaze moved from her smooth and fair forehead to her high nose bridge, to her pink lips and to her elegant neck.

Guan Qing was born with an extremely beautiful neck. Her skin was fair and smooth, and it glowed on its own. The candlelight accentuated the shape of her neck, and any skin that was not covered by her collar was mesmerizing to look at.

Cao Zhang had been in a gang for a long time now and had seen and done almost everything. He was acquainted with many courtesans as well, but his heart had never felt like this before. His emotions were as messy as a tangled ball of yarn.

And he was starting to feel really warm.

But even though he was about to explode from holding everything in, he didn’t want to do anything rude to her.

After he had finished explaining and analyzing what happened, Guan Qing finally calmed down. And she started feeling… a little embarrassed about how she behaved earlier.

Her slim fingers pushed the hair around her ears away to reveal her small and fair ears. She looked at Cao Zhang and cleared her throat. “I’m sorry, Leader Cao, for being rude just now.”

Her voice was a little stiff, and she realized that. But she didn’t realize that her face was a little red as well, and the subtle girlishness in her blushing made her look even prettier than she already was.

Cao Zhang was seriously going to explode.

Why was her face turning red? WHYYY!!!

This had to be sorcery! This woman was an enchantress!!!

Mao San knew what he had done. He had been nervous the whole time and stayed in his room all day without daring to come out. He would keep looking out of the window and prayed hard that the ship would go faster.

He prayed hard that the weather would hold up and that nothing would delay the boat. He prayed that the boat would reach the next pier as quickly as possible and he would be able to get off without any trouble.

And when the ship finally docked at the next pier, he was the first one to get off the boat, since he had been waiting for this moment for a long time.

He almost shrieked in excitement when he set foot on land.

Everything had gone smoothly! He had completed his mission successfully!

He had fooled everybody!

He was going to get a lot of money and he could live in luxury for the rest of his life!

Go to hell, Song Caitang! That’s what you get for ruining my plans! The bitch deserved it!

He got to the agreed place and got the money he was promised. He was less worried now, but he still made his getaway very carefully. Once he had moved far from the place, he started enjoying himself.

Mao San clearly did not understand the Green Gang or gangs in general very well.

From the moment he dared to cross them, he was doomed to die.

But of course, that’s another story for another day. Nobody had discovered him at this point in time.

Meanwhile, Song Caitang was faced with a whole bunch of men staring at her in disbelief.

Xin Yongwang, Zhuang Qingyu and the young man whom she didn’t know the name of, had the exact same expression on their faces. They wanted to know how she knew!

“How did I know there’s a dead body?” Song Caitang smiled faintly as she scanned all three of them. “Of course it’s because you guys told me.”

The youngest among them immediately shouted, “It wasn’t me! I didn’t say anything!”

Everyone turned to glare at him.

Even Guan Wan threw him a sympathetic look.

She didn’t know what was going on and was equally curious, but exclaiming like that was only giving himself away.

Song Caitang smiled. “Not only did you tell me that there’s a dead body, but you’ve also told me that all of you are very close to the deceased.”