The person, holding a gold-coated folding fan, slowly walked over.
"Young Master Wang," Lian Shouxin hurriedly clasped hands in greeting, "my niece Lian Duoduo left ho at noon and has not returned yet. She lives in town and isn’t very familiar with the village paths. We fear she has lost her way and have co out to look for her."
Both Lian Huahua’s burn injury and Lian Duoduo running away from ho were not good news. If word got out, it would tarnish the Lian Family’s reputation, as well as the maidenly virtue of Lian Huahua and Lian Duoduo. Therefore, Lian Shouxin chose to conceal these incidents.
Lian Manman silently nodded in agreent. Lian Shouxin could be counted on far more than Lady He and was also much kinder at heart.
"Lian Duoduo is missing?" The man stopped in front of Lian Shouxin. By this ti, the sky had already darkened, and Lian Manman could finally see clearly that this man was Wang Youhuai, the eldest son of Scholar Wang.
Lian Shouxin nodded.
"Have you been at the door all along, did you see Lian Duoduo?" Wang Youhuai then asked the two family retainers following him.
"She’s about ten years old, tall as..." Lian Shouxin pointed to Lian Manman, "approximately as tall as my second daughter." He wanted to make sure the two retainers would recognize Lian Duoduo, so he described her appearance to them.
"...round face, with her hair in a caught-up style, wearing two red velvet flowers on her head, dressed in a light red tunic and skirt, with tiny feet." Lian Manman added.
Lian Shouxin nodded approvingly, very satisfied in his heart. Not only because Lian Manman’s description was clearer than his but also because of her efforts to find Lian Duoduo. The main branch of the family had wronged them in many ways, especially by almost causing Lian Manman to lose her life. However, at this mont, Lian Manman was wholeheartedly searching for Lian Duoduo. Lian Shouxin thought his daughter could be quite harsh in speech sotis, liked to make clear distinctions in matters, but she was fundantally a kind-hearted and warm-hearted good child.
"To answer Young Master, this entire afternoon, there hasn’t been such a young girl near here," both retainers reported to Wang Youhuai without hesitation.
As customary for a prominent family like the Wang Family, there were always one or two retainers at the gate. Since they said they hadn’t seen her, Lian Duoduo surely hadn’t co this way.
"We’ve troubled you long enough, Young Master; we’ll go and search elsewhere," Lian Shouxin said.
Wang Youhuai nodded.
Lian Shouxin then turned around to head back ho, with Lian Manman and the group of children also turning to go back. Only Yingzi, instead of turning back, took a few steps forward.
"Isn’t this Yingzi?" Wang Youhuai shook his fan and looked at Yingzi with a smile that wasn’t quite a smile.
"Young Master Wang recognizes ?" Yingzi’s eyes lit up as she took two more steps towards him, twisting her body and curtsying, "Yingzi gives Young Master... No, I an... my respects."
Wang Youhuai burst out laughing. A country girl trying to ape the city’s manners and yet not mastering them—it was quite amusing. However, his gaze shifted from Yingzi’s face down to her body, circling her twice.
"Sister Yingzi, we’re all from the sa neighborhood, think of as your brother, no need for so much formality," he said.
"How dare I," Yingzi replied, even though her face flushed with a mix of shyness and delight.
"What happened to the Lian Family, what happened to Lian Duoduo?" Wang Youhuai asked in a hushed voice looking at the group that had reached the edge of the woods.
Seeing how intimately Wang Youhuai spoke to her made Yingzi feel a sweet flutter in her heart.
"Young Master Wang wouldn’t know, but I heard that..." Yingzi then told everything she had heard from Lady He to Wang Youhuai.
"Lian Huahua was injured, Lian Duoduo ran away?" Wang Youhuai snapped his fan shut, tapping it in the palm of his hand, his eyes squinting slightly.
As Lian Manman entered the woods, she suddenly realized that Yingzi hadn’t followed them back. She stopped and looked back for Yingzi, only to see her near the Wang Family’s shadow wall, almost shoulder to shoulder with Wang Youhuai. She couldn’t make out their facial expressions, but seeing Wang Youhuai leaning in slightly and Yingzi with a hand to her mouth, whispering into his ear, she knew they must be talking intimately.
"It’s getting late, should we call Yingzi over?" Lian Zhizhi asked.
"Never mind. Yingzi is no little child."
Past the poplar grove and back to the well, by now night had completely fallen, but thankfully the moonlight was bright enough to see the path clearly.
"Father, it’s already dark. Let’s get Er Ya and the others ho first," Lian Manman suggested to Lian Shouxin.
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