"Second Aunt, what’s wrong?" Lian Manman saw Lady He acting startled and asked.
"This house, this house isn’t your uncle’s house! I only recognized it from the back wall after half a day," Lady He said as if she had an epiphany, and peered into the wall on tiptoes.
Could it be that this house was the one that Lian Shouren and Lady Gu had once rented? Lian Manman couldn’t help but look back at Lian Duoduo and thought to herself, what a coincidence, Lian Duoduo had run away and ended up hiding in the house where she used to live.
"Hey, who are you?" Lady He asked the person who was peering over the wall.
It was a teenage boy dressed like a servant. He ignored Lady He and instead, asked the peddler, "Qian Huolang, what’s going on?"
"What’s going on? How did our family’s girl end up here?" Lady He said, "I’m asking you, who are you, is this house yours?"
"It’s ours, what about it?" The servant replied.
"Good heavens, our Lian Duo has lived here for several years, how could you not recognize her? You hid her like this; you must be in cahoots with this peddler, you’re the ringleaders!" Lady He jumped up and down, "Now we’ve caught you red-handed; none of you will get away."
The servant was now beginning to understand the situation and seed a bit frightened.
"Don’t speak nonsense. We never use this back door. How would we know that Qian Huolang hid soone here?" The servant defended.
"Just separated by a wall, you say you don’t know? Wait until Duoduo’s father, Scholar Master, arrives; you’ll see what’s coming to you." Lady He said.
"You are the owners of this house, then you must surely know Scholar Lian from Thirty Mile Camp. Recently, people from Thirty Mile Camp ca to town searching high and low for Lian Duo; did you know nothing about it?" Lian Manman also found it strange that the servant claid complete ignorance.
"We heard about it, but we never laid eyes on any Lian Duo," seeing Lian Manman speak more calmly, the servant tried to explain to her.
"My master is out today, this house, my master rented it from the original tenant, the Scholar’s wife. When we moved in, we only saw the Scholar’s wife, her eldest son, and daughter-in-law; we never saw anyone else... Qian Huolang ca from out of town to trade and wanted to rent a house, so my master rented him these two rooms in the alleyway."
The servant then pointed to a certain spot on the wall, indicating to Lian Manman and Lady He to look.
"There used to be a door here; since the house was rented to Qian Huolang, my master sealed this door. We don’t co to the back, how could we know that he lured a person to hide here."
"Young man, I didn’t abduct her," Qian Huolang defended himself.
The servant was solely concerned with clearing his own suspicion, not caring whether or not Lian Duo was indeed abducted by Qian Huolang.
"This house, you rented it from my sister-in-law?" Lady He’s eyes darted around, then she asked, "My sister-in-law is the Scholar’s wife."
"Yes," the servant affird.
"This house she also rented, how could she rent it to you?" Lady He asked again.
"She showed my master the property deed; isn’t this house hers?" The servant was sowhat astonished.
"You say she had the property deed?" Lady He stretched her neck to ask.
"If she hadn’t let go, how could my master rent her house?" The servant retorted.
Suddenly, Lady He slapped her thigh, about to say sothing, when she heard the sound of a carriage outside.
"What are you staring at, didn’t you hurry back to hide?" Lady He said to the servant, "Otherwise, if soone cos later, you’ll be captured too."
The servant had been curious, climbing the ladder to look when he heard so noise behind, but now knowing what the matter was, he too feared bringing trouble upon himself and quickly withdrew.
Why would Lady He be so kind-hearted? Lian Manman thought, could it be that Lian Shouren and Lady Gu had bought this house? Or was it that their lease hadn’t expired, so they sublet it to soone else to make so extra money. Either way, that house, or the rent money, should belong to the public. Lady He, at this mont, must also be thinking along these lines.
As Lian Manman was pondering, she saw Lian Shouren and Lady Gu quickly enter from outside, followed by Wu Lang and Lian Jizu.
"Duoduo, my Duoduo..." As soon as Lady Gu entered, she saw Lian Duo. She imdiately rushed over and embraced Lian Duoduo in her arms, bursting into loud cries. Lady Gu cried while complaining about how worried she was when Lian Duo went missing, how she couldn’t eat or sleep.
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