CHAPTER 221: CHAPTER 221: GO FIND SOMEONE

As soon as she finished speaking, her mouth was gagged by a clump of coarse sackcloth.

"Mmm-mmm-mmm~" Yan Chunxiao couldn’t speak, and could only look at Li Anzi tearfully and pitifully.

Li Anzi had lived for twenty years and it was the first time a girl had shown him favor, and he cared a lot about it. Seeing Yan Chunxiao tied up, he was somewhat anxious and wanted to go save her, but he was afraid of Gu Jinli.

This little girl was formidable; she had just slapped him twice.

Gu Jinli looked at Li Anzi’s anxious expression, really wanting to slap him another two times.

Considering that this man might be her cousin, and her father cared about Gu Daya, it was impossible for him to ignore Gu Daya’s family. In order not to cause trouble for her own family, she had to ask Li Anzi, "What did this Yan Chunxiao say to you? Did she say she’s still a pure maiden and wants to be sold to the same place as you, then plead with the new master to agree to your marriage? That she wants to live well with you afterwards, right?"

Li Anzi’s face turned red with embarrassment, and he lowered his head, too embarrassed to speak.

"Raise your head and answer me!" Gu Jinli shouted, causing Li Anzi to shiver, and he hurriedly said, "Yes, yes... Miss Chunxiao did say that."

Heh heh.

Gu Jinli said, "Well, now you listen to me closely. This Yan Chunxiao is no longer a maiden. She has spoiled her body and has been pregnant at least twice, with the most recent pregnancy aborted three months ago. She didn’t properly confine herself after the miscarriage, and her body is now ruined, and she likely still has postpartum bleeding. For her to become pregnant again in this lifetime is harder than reaching the heavens. She is deceiving you, making you pick up her damaged goods. Do you understand?!"

"Mmm-mmm-mmm!" Yan Chunxiao kept calling out, trying to speak, but she couldn’t say a word. She was furious, anxious, and full of hatred. She would never have thought that a rustic country girl could not only take pulses but also speak so uncaringly. Directly in front of Li Anzi, she laid bare all of Yan Chunxiao’s secrets.

Li Anzi was stunned and it took him a while to come to his senses: "What, what are you saying?"

Chunxiao was no longer a maiden, she had been pregnant, and she could no longer have children.

Then, what Chunxiao had said to him, that although she had served some time on the Old Master’s carriage, she was still a maiden, and that the Old Master doesn’t touch maids from the young ladies’ chambers, what was that all about?

Li Anzi wept; although simple-minded, he also knew that he might have been deceived.

In fact, he had heard whispers that the mistress had died and the concubines were either dead or no longer fresh, so the Old Master, fearing his own death on the escape from famine, and that he couldn’t enjoy life again, had the better-looking maids take turns coming to his carriage for his pleasure.

But he had always harbored a fantasy, thinking that Chunxiao must have regarded him as honest and wanted to marry him, to live a good life with him.

"Mmm-mmm-mmm!" Yan Chunxiao saw Li Anzi looking at her with a sorrowful face, realizing that the fool believed the words of the Gu Family’s daughter. She hurriedly called out to him, tears streaming down, hoping that Li Anzi would help remove the gag so she could speak.

With the gag removed, with her glib tongue, it wouldn’t be hard to sway Li Anzi.

Unfortunately, Gu Jinli didn’t give her the opportunity.

Jiang Jiao even said, "I didn’t expect this girl to be so vicious. She ruined her own body and still wants to deceive an honest man."

He said to Gu Jinli, "Xiao Yu, don’t worry, your Second Uncle Jiang has plenty of ways to deal with such people. I will sell her to the place she belongs, so she can never turn her life around."

Gu Jinli knew what place he was talking about.

However... with many wealthy clients in the brothel, relying on Yan Chunxiao’s looks, if someone influential took a fancy to her and helped her turn her life around to come after her family, that would be trouble.

"Second Uncle Jiang, sell her to the deep mountains, to those old bachelors who can’t get a wife."

Deep in the old forests of the mountains, it’s very hard to escape without a local guide. One would have to endure poverty for a lifetime, and dreaming of rising up to take revenge is just that—a dream.

"Wuwuwu!" This time, Yan Chunxiao truly wept. She hadn’t expected Gu Jinli, a mere youngster, to be so cruel as to sell her off into the deep mountains.

She knew the horrors of the deep old forests. While at the Li Family, she had heard of maids being sold into the mountains and being worn down by old men there. After a few years, they couldn’t bear it and died.

Those who survived kept giving birth, one after another, destined to live out their days in poverty, never able to turn their fortunes around.

"This is a good plan," Jiang Jiao said. "Niece Xiao Yu, rest assured, Second Uncle Jiang will make sure this matter is taken care of flawlessly."

Li Anzi felt that Gu Jinli was too cruel, hesitating to speak out: "Young Master..."

"Shut your mouth. If you dare speak another word for her, I’ll sell you off as well," Gu Jinli warned Li Anzi, fixing him with a stern look. "Don’t think that just because you might be my cousin, I would treat you well. If you dare cause trouble for my family, it doesn’t matter if your mother might be my aunt, or even if she were the Empress Dowager, it would be useless. I would sell you off just the same!"

If trouble could be reformed, then they would be her family. If not, why should she care for them? Does she have nothing better to do?

Li Anzi was truly frightened of this Young Master now and quickly nodded, fearing she might hit him.

"What’s the name of the Li Family’s relatives in the Prefecture, and where do they live?" Gu Jinli asked Li Anzi.

Li Anzi was still shivering slightly: "The the surname is Qi... they live, live in Linyang Street on the east side of the Prefecture... That’s, that’s all I know."

Gu Jinli looked at Li Anzi and felt a headache coming on, reminded of Gu Dashan, who really did resemble his uncle.

Gu Jinli took a deep breath, suppressed his anger, and then looked toward Jiang Jiao, saying, "Second Uncle Jiang, our family has to trouble yours again."

They needed to go to the Prefecture to look for people and would need a horse-drawn carriage. Horses are hard to buy, only officials like County Captain Jiang would have one.

And according to Li Anzi, he had a sister, already a grown girl. If they had bad luck and she were sold to some unsavoury place, they would be done for. They needed to find people urgently; they couldn’t afford any delays.

"It’s no trouble at all, just a small matter," Jiang Jiao said. "Whoever is going with you to look for people, you all quickly discuss it. Once everyone is ready, we’ll leave immediately."

"I’ll go!" Gu Dashan was the first to speak up. "I must go find Daya myself."

He hadn’t seen Daya for over twenty years, and initially thought that after she married Qi Panzi, her life would be better than when she was at home. To his dismay, she ended up selling herself into servitude.

Being a servant is not an easy life. He didn’t know how much suffering she had gone through these years, and he had to find her.

Third Grandpa said, "I’ll go too. We can’t go without an elder to accompany us."

Who knows how negotiations will go in the Prefecture? Will the master of the house be willing to sell Daya’s family to them?

"Count me in," Qin San Lang said from the side.

"Brother Qin, going to the Prefecture might take several days; can you afford to stay away from home for that long?" Gu Jinli didn’t want to cause Qin San Lang any delay because of his own family’s matters.

Qin San Lang said, "Getting official provisions is a big joyous event. Lord County Captain gave us three days to go home and celebrate. Three days should be enough to go to the Prefecture and find people."