The young ladies imprisoned here had no idea why they were brought there.

Another young lady in a blue dress not far away answered, “I only remember hanging out with my family at the Mid-Autumn Festival. We bought delicious silver candies and beautiful masks to play with. As we walked, I forgot everything!”

Although being locked up here was indeed somewhat scary, once someone started talking, it seemed that the voice could dispel people’s panic. As soon as these words came out, they immediately attracted a lot of responses.

“I also came out to play during the Mid-Autumn Festival, but I forgot everything as I was walking,” another young lady continued, “I was here when I woke up and saw you all!”

Most of the young ladies here were brought here during the Mid-Autumn Festival, but not all of them were like this.

Amid the responses, someone’s voice was heard.

“I…I’m not!”

The voice was a little weak, and many of the young ladies who spoke turned to look at the person who spoke.

Since they were captured, those people had never taken care of them except for eating, drinking, defecating and urinating. They had not washed for who knows how many days, so naturally their bodies were all dirty.

The young lady who spoke raised her head and looked at everyone, but she was dirtier than most of the young ladies, and even covered in a lot of mud. Her face was pale, and the expression on her face was more of despair than the confusion of everyone else.

“I was caught earlier than you,” the young lady grinned. Because of this action, it seemed that some wound was involved. She gasped and said, “And… I tried to run away!”

There was more than one like her, there was also a young lady next to her who also had a wound on her face.

“The Zhenggou Oil Shop in the east of the city is run by my family,” the young lady said with a wry smile, looking at the young lady beside her who was also injured, and said, “This is Miss Chang from Changji Rice Shop!”

Although Zhenggou Oil Shop and Changji Rice Shop were not the largest industries in Chang’an City, oil and rice were things that people had to buy for daily consumption. These two shops had been open for many years, so naturally many people knew about them.

Sure enough, as soon as these words came out, a young lady who had been captured immediately said, “I came to your shop to buy oil for my mother!”

Someone nearby immediately responded, “My family has been buying rice from Changji Rice Shop for many years!”

“The rice we eat is also from your family!” said another young lady.

“And my family, my family also bought oil!”

…

The conversation between the girls should have been a happy one, but the ladies really couldn’t laugh!

Looking at the dimly lit dark room, thinking about the ferocious look of the man who came to deliver the food, a feeling of confusion came over them.

This kind of confusion completely turned into despair and fear after listening to what the lady from the Chen family and the lady from the Chang family said.

Compared to those young ladies who were abducted here at the Mid-Autumn Lantern Festival in a confused state, the ladies from the Chen family and the Chang family were abducted here consciously.

One met a destined person who picked up a handkerchief, and the other met a hero who saved a beauty, but their backgrounds and family backgrounds seemed to be cast in the same mould, and in the end, things ended up in elopement.

“Like Madam Chang, I packed up my gold and silver, sent my personal maid away, and eloped with that… that evil ghost in human skin!” Madam Chen couldn’t help crying when she said this, “Then… then that evil ghost took us to see those villains!”

No matter how naive they were, the moment they saw those fierce and intimidating men, the two realized something was wrong—what was the point of eloping if they encountered so many thugs?

“We were gagged, blindfolded, and thrown here with our hands and feet tied!” said Miss Chen. “We were very scared, so we naturally wanted to escape.”

“Once, we heard the guards outside were quiet, so we thought no one was there, so we tried to open the door, but we were seen by those evil people and we got beaten up!” Miss Chen couldn’t help sobbing again when she said this. “When we were getting beaten, they told us if the masters weren’t so particular, they would have sold us to the brothels to earn some money before sending us back!”

As soon as these words were spoken, the dark room fell silent. After a while, sobbing sounds began to rise one after another.

It was a blessing not to be sold to a brothel, but even a dumb person could understand the meaning of the villains’ words.

Who were those “masters” and what were they planning on doing?

The women of the Chen and Chang families who were talking were even more upset: thinking back to a month ago, they were still dreaming about those beautiful stories in the storybooks, but when they really happened to them, they found that they were not handsome men at all, but evil ghosts in human skin.

“If you think about it carefully, Sima Xiangru’s elopement with Zhuo Wenjun is not a good story! Zhuo Wenjun was a rich girl, but she followed him and fell to the point of selling wine! She was clearly suffering, how could there be any good thing?” When Miss Chen said this, she couldn’t stop crying, “I don’t know if I can see my father and mother again. I miss them!”

Miss Chang also began to lower her head and shed tears: “I still have an engagement, and the other party is not someone easy to deal with. Now, I fear my parents will be even more worried about me…”

……

Miss Chang’s worries were justified!

Not long after the people from the Dali Temple left in the morning, the Chang family came to the Dali Temple along with a mother and son.

Since Lin Fei, Liu Yuan, Wei Fu and others were not there, naturally only Bai Zhu, the only one left in the Dali Temple, had to come forward.

This time the Chang family came to ask about the case.

Bai Zhu naturally knew what to say and what not to say. He smiled and exchanged pleasantries with a few people, but did not reveal anything about the case.

The case was transferred from Jingzhao Prefecture to Dali Temple. Moreover, the news of the young ladies’ disappearance had already spread throughout the city. The Chang family naturally knew that the criminal was an extraordinary person, and at this time they would not disturb the Dali Temple officials from investigating the case without reason.

They had to come this time because they were pestered by that mother and son.

Bai Zhu had just spoken a few words to the mother and son when the old woman sat down on the ground with a plop and began to wipe her tears and howl.

The commotion was so loud that Tangyuan and Ah Bing could not help but run to check it out. After they came back, they told Wen Mingtang, “When we got there, we saw the old woman sitting on the ground making a scene. She was howling loudly while her eyes were darting around. She looked like a smart and capable person!”

“Originally, we thought she was worried about Miss Chang, but what do you think happened to her?” Tangyuan said to Wen Mingtang, her eyes widened with disbelief, “She was just trying to extort money from the Chang family by throwing a tantrum!”

Wen Mingtang paused while cutting vegetables and looked at Tangyuan in confusion: “What do you mean? How did she extort money from the Chang family?”

Tangyuan said, “She said that her son is Miss Chang’s fiancé.”

Her fiancé! Thinking of Miss Chang’s elopement, although she suffered, it was inappropriate after all.

Wen Mingtang thought about it and did not comment.

Wen Mingtang’s reaction was also within Tangyuan’s expectations. Tangyuan added, “It is certainly wrong for Miss Chang to elope with someone. She brought this suffering upon herself. But there is another hidden story behind this so-called fiancé!”

(End of this chapter)

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