Chapter 228: A Scare, but No Danger

By the time Shao Liuer returned from the garden to her own courtyard, the sky was half dark and the lanterns were just being lit.

Servants moved back and forth setting dishes on the dining table. Shao Liuer sat down and ate at an unhurried pace, not yet daring to look at the message on the leaf for fear of revealing anything unusual.

There was a trace of worry between her brows, and her thoughts truly were in turmoil. It was not because she had been unable to see her beloved. Rather, far too much had happened in the family lately. Her second mother and two elder brothers had been poisoned and murdered inside the Provincial Provincial Inspector's Residence, while her eldest brother had been locked in the dungeon.

After the incident, her dispirited father had come to see her. The servants had not dared tell her anything; Shao Dengyun himself was the one who informed her.

Although Shao Dengyun had not explained the exact reason, she knew her eldest brother had always been at odds with Madam Ruan and her sons. For him to be arrested at a time like this inevitably led her to certain suspicions, but she did not dare think too deeply. Even the thought frightened her.

She had wanted to visit her eldest brother in the dungeon, but was not allowed inside. Shao Sansheng, the steward from her brother's residence, told her that her eldest brother did not want to see her. He merely said that nothing was wrong and that she should take care of herself and need not worry about him.

After dinner, she had lamps lit in the study and sat there alone. Only then did she take the leaf from between the pages of her book and study the message.

Usually this was the loveliest time of her day. But after reading what was written on the leaf this time, Shao Liuer could no longer remain seated. She abruptly rose and paced anxiously around the study.

Tan Yaoxian said he was leaving. He was going to leave Beizhou and wanted to see her one last time. What was she supposed to do? How could she bear to let him go?

She wanted to disregard everything and run out of the house to meet him, but her family watched her far too closely. They would never let her leave. The seven or eight servants attending her were all there to keep watch on her, every one of them assigned by her eldest brother. There was simply no way to slip free.

Force her way out?

She could not. The guards in the residence were not there for decoration. Besides, with the family in its current state, it was hardly a suitable time for her to make a great scene.

Go beg her eldest brother?

He was in the dungeon and refused to see her. Perhaps he was afraid she would ask about the deaths of her second mother and the others.

Thinking of how her second mother and the others had died, Shao Liuer suddenly stopped by the window. Something seemed to occur to her... Early the next morning, sunlight filled the courtyard. Tan Yaoxian returned from his morning reading outside.

The courtyard gate closed behind him, and he hurried inside. Lu Shengzhong had been waiting in the hall for some time. The moment they met, he asked, "How did it go?"

Tan Yaoxian nodded, sat beside the table, and took a leaf from between the pages of his book. Delighted, he said, "There's a reply."

Lu Shengzhong said, "Good! Quickly, see what she says."

Tan Yaoxian cupped the leaf in his hands and carefully deciphered its contents. He omitted all the affectionate words of longing, unwilling to expose those to Lu Shengzhong. "Liuer asks why I'm leaving. She says she can't get out. The maids around her were all assigned by her elder brother to watch her. Uh..." He faltered when he reached what came next.

Lu Shengzhong looked surprised. "That's all? Is it finished?"

Tan Yaoxian shook his head and stammered.

Lu Shengzhong grew impatient. "Brother Tan, could it be that you don't trust me?"

Hearing that, Tan Yaoxian hurriedly waved his hands. Embarrassed, he said, "Liuer says... she says that as long as she can deal with the servants around her, she has a way to sneak out of the Provincial Provincial Inspector's Residence. She wants me... wants me to find some knockout powder for her."

Lu Shengzhong was speechless for a moment. Then he burst into laughter. This Miss Shao truly was something. She actually wanted to drug the people around her.

It seemed his strategy had worked. Threatening Tan Yaoxian's departure from Beizhou and asking for one final meeting had indeed made the Eldest Young Miss desperate enough to come up with a method like this.

If Miss Shao truly had a way to escape on her own, it would save Lu Shengzhong considerable trouble. He had not expected Shao Liuer to cooperate so readily, even devising the method herself. It seemed that following the trail through Tan Yaoxian had, by sheer luck, led him in exactly the right direction.

He patted Tan Yaoxian on the shoulder and sighed. "Brother Tan is truly fortunate. It's obvious Miss Shao genuinely likes you."

Tan Yaoxian was moved, but also apprehensive. "Knockout powder? Where am I supposed to find something like that?"

Lu Shengzhong thumped his chest. "Brother Tan is an upright gentleman. How could you do something so underhanded? Leave the role of villain to me."

Tan Yaoxian looked nervous. "Is... is that really proper?"

Lu Shengzhong countered, "Does Brother Tan not want to see Miss Shao? Miss Shao's heart is wholly devoted to you. She's willing to go this far for your sake, and you still intend to keep failing her? If you refuse, how do you expect her to feel? Heh. You're an upright gentleman. Does that make Miss Shao a petty villain?"

"No, no, no! That's not what I meant!" Tan Yaoxian hurriedly waved his hands. An inexperienced scholar like him was no match for Lu Shengzhong. With only a sentence or two, Lu Shengzhong had already driven him into a corner. Tan Yaoxian hardened his heart and forced himself to ask, "Even if Brother Li can obtain it, how do we send it inside?"

Lu Shengzhong smiled slyly. "Since you have a channel for contacting her, naturally we can use it to send things in as well. Leave that to me too."

Tan Yaoxian looked moved all over again. "Brother Li has treated me with such kindness. I truly have no way to repay you!"

Lu Shengzhong's expression turned solemn. "The friendship between gentlemen is as plain as water. Why talk of repayment? I admire Brother Tan's character, and I'm willing to help bring about a happy union. Just don't forget this great matchmaker of yours in the future. When you and Miss Shao drink your wedding wine, you had better save me a cup."

Tan Yaoxian flushed with embarrassment. The words also stirred his imagination, and he found himself hoping he truly could spend the rest of his life with Shao Liuer.

"All right, Brother Tan. There are still some things we need to ask Miss Shao clearly. We can't afford to be careless..." Lu Shengzhong continued urging and instructing him.

He understood perfectly well that whether the attempt succeeded or failed, Shao Liuer would have only one chance to escape the Provincial Provincial Inspector's Residence this way. If she failed once, there would never be a second opportunity. He was somewhat worried about whether she could manage it, so he decided to clarify the circumstances first and help her plan everything carefully.

After telling Tan Yaoxian what questions to ask, Lu Shengzhong followed through on his offer. He left the Tan residence to prepare what Shao Liuer would need.

Inside and outside the Provincial Provincial Inspector's Residence, the two sides coordinated through their messages. After two days of clarifying the situation, Lu Shengzhong obtained a quantity of silver foil and rolled it into tiny needle-like tubes. He packed Shao Liuer's requested substance inside them, then inserted the little silver tubes into the stems of the leaves Tan Yaoxian had prepared.

This time they prepared a large number of leaves. Otherwise, there would not have been enough powder, and Shao Liuer would need to retrieve quite a few leaves herself...

Under candlelight in her study, Shao Liuer unfolded the little pieces of silver foil one by one and poured out the powder inside.

After fishing leaves from the stream for three days, little by little she had finally accumulated a small packet of powder.

Leaving the study, she summoned one of her maids and said that she intended to have someone go out the following day to buy a few things.

The maid asked what she wanted purchased. Shao Liuer said she had not decided yet and told the maid to go to the steward first and obtain an exit pass. Once she had made up her mind the next day, someone could immediately go out and buy what she wanted.

The Provincial Provincial Inspector's Residence had its own rules. Servants were not permitted to come and go freely; anyone leaving had to report it and obtain permission...

The next morning, Shao Liuer deliberately had someone prepare a large pot of soup. Later, she complained that too much had been made. Using her brother's rule against wasting food as an excuse, she called all the servants around her over and had them share it. Before long, servants were collapsing all across the hall.

One might guard by day and guard by night, but it was hardest of all to guard against a thief within the household!

Shao Liuer quickly disguised herself as a servant, dressing as a man and darkening her face with makeup to conceal her delicate, refined features. She left her courtyard directly and went to a side gate of the Provincial Provincial Inspector's Residence, where she presented the steward's exit pass.

Servants were generally not permitted to use the main gate and usually entered and left through side gates instead. There were also people stationed there to inspect them.

Although Shao Liuer looked somewhat unfamiliar, the Provincial Provincial Inspector's Residence employed so many servants that an ordinary gate guard could not possibly recognize them all. Besides, a servant leaving the residence was hardly a major affair, and the person before them had a valid exit pass. After checking the token and finding nothing wrong, the guards let Shao Liuer through.

Only after she had walked several streets away did Shao Liuer, whose nerves had been stretched taut, finally release a long breath. She had been nervous too. Fortunately, it had been a scare, but no danger.

It also helped that she knew the workings of the Provincial Provincial Inspector's Residence intimately and could respond naturally to anything that arose.

When she reached the agreed alley entrance, a carriage was waiting for her. After confirming her identity, Shao Liuer climbed inside. The carriage immediately departed and left the city at once.

Outside the city, it stopped before a small farmhouse shaded by trees. Shao Liuer jumped down from the carriage, pushed open the rough wooden gate with an excited heart, and saw a man dressed as a farmer standing in the little yard. At a glance, she recognized Tan Yaoxian.

Tan Yaoxian had already been staring fixedly at the entrance after hearing the carriage arrive. When he saw the servant-dressed figure push open the gate, he too recognized Shao Liuer immediately. Emotion surged through him beyond restraint.

Shao Liuer was already hurrying toward him. All the longing accumulated over so long dissolved in that instant as she threw herself into his embrace. Tan Yaoxian, equally overcome, opened his arms and held her. They clung tightly to one another, as though wishing they could merge into a single person. Their hearts pounded, yet neither spoke.

Before this, they had only ever held hands. They had imagined embracing like this, but under the constraints of propriety neither had dared cross that line.

For the first time in her life, Shao Liuer was held this way by a man. Breathing in his scent, she felt her thoughts grow hazy with emotion. Holding the soft body in his arms and breathing in Shao Liuer's feminine fragrance, Tan Yaoxian was equally overwhelmed.

In the end, Shao Liuer was the first to lift her head and ask him, "Why are you leaving?"

That was the reason she had thrown everything aside to come out today. This was not a suitable place to talk. Tan Yaoxian took her hand and led her inside, then shut the door.

"Why are you leaving?" Shao Liuer asked again once they were inside.

Tan Yaoxian hesitated again and again before finally shaking his head in pain. "Liuer, I don't want to leave you either, but I truly have no way to establish myself in Beizhou Prefectural Capital anymore. The school dismissed me, and no one in the city dares employ me. You know what my family's circumstances are..."

Shao Liuer's eyes widened. "Is my family behind it?"

Tan Yaoxian lowered his head and said nothing. According to Lu Shengzhong's instructions, he was not supposed to say any of this yet.

Lu Shengzhong's plan had been to cook the raw rice into cooked rice first. Only afterward should Tan Yaoxian reveal his difficult circumstances, which would make it much more likely that Shao Liuer would agree to leave with him.

From Lu Shengzhong's perspective, if Shao Liuer refused to cooperate, getting a living person out of Beizhou would be extremely difficult. The moment the Shao family discovered she was missing, they would certainly search everywhere. Was he supposed to carry Shao Liuer away in his arms? Sling her over his shoulder? Binding and hauling a living person out of Beizhou would draw far too much attention and make escape even more difficult. Beizhou was the Shao family's territory.

Still, Lu Shengzhong had prepared a fallback. If Shao Liuer refused to cooperate, he would hide her somewhere secret and wait for Niu Youdao to send people to receive her.

Yet when the moment actually arrived, Tan Yaoxian, despite having been instructed so thoroughly, simply could not bring himself to do something so sordid.

"Why didn't you tell me earlier?" Shao Liuer's eyes reddened. She raised both hands to cradle his face, tears welling as she said, "My dear Tan, I'm sorry. I'm the one who brought this on you."

[End of Chapter 228]