Chapter 23: The Eldest Miss Was Missing

It was almost noon when they arrived in town. Su Muge first went to the pharmacy to buy medicine and then bought some warm winter clothes for Zhang. With all those done, she returned to the town gate, waiting for Zhao Dalang.

Soon Zhao Dalang returned with a jar of liquor and a basket.

He put them away on the cart, groped up and down in his clothes for the oiled paper bag, and handed it over to Su Muge. “It’s already afternoon. You must be hungry, right? I bought you a dough cake made from distillers’ grains. It’s sweet.”

Shopping for grandma was Su Muge’s top priority, so she forgot to eat something for lunch. It would still take about another one or two hours before they could get back, and she didn’t want to be hungry in this long trip. She reached out her hands and took over the bag as Zhao Dalang was looking at her, expectantly and carefully.

“Thank you very much.”

Zhao Dalang burst into laughter as he gave it to her, riding his bullock cart out of the town.

When she opened the oiled paper bag, a strong scent of wine greeted her, with the tantalizing smell of the deep-fried dough cake.

As a heavy drinker in her previous incarnation who was never beaten by alcohol, she didn’t take it seriously with the content of the distillers’ grains. She started eating it slowly.

With the dough cake in her stomach, her whole body started to turn warm.

It was autumn, and the temperature went low in the afternoon even before the sunset. Su Muge, however, felt warm, and in other words, even a bit feverish. She was dizzy and drowsy, looking at Zhao Dalang riding the cart with double shadows.

She raised her hand to patter her cheek. It was burning.

Sensing something not right, she pinched herself fiercely. The pain made her awake for a moment.

Was she drunk?

How could she forget that it was the credit of her body in the previous incarnation that kept her sober after drinking, but now, it was all different…

As more and more heavy shadows gathered in front of her eyes, she could even hardly tell Zhao Dalang’s approaching face…

“Cousin, cousin…” Thrilled and nervous, Zhao Dalang’s heart was almost jumping out of his chest.

He was told by his father that a girl like Su Muge could not hold much liquor, and thus he asked the owner to mix some wine in the distillers’ grains dough cake. He didn’t even expect she became such weak after eating it!

Anxiously, he rode the bullock cart into a nearby wood. He remembered what his mother said: once physically related, his cousin could be his wife!

He carried Su Muge down the cart and put her under a tree. It was dark and concealed.

Looking at that dark grey face of Su Muge, he turned aside to dip his sleeve in the jar of liquor and wiped her face. The dust on her face had been bothering him for a long time.

When her face was cleaned with dust removed, her true appearance showed up. Zhao Dalang stood surprised.

Such a look was much prettier than the girl his mother had arranged for him.

There was still one thing on her face that annoyed Zhao Dalang, the veil that was covering one of her eyes. He had always wondered what’s the veil for, and therefore, he took it down with his hand out of curiosity…

“Shit!!!”

Screaming, and seated on the ground in fear, he stared at her with eyes widely open.

“Ghost, she’s a ghost, a ghost!” He scrambled the way to cart, jumped on it, and hurried away.

When Su Muge was lying on the ground, a silver needle between her fingertips fell to the ground with a slight tremble.

She was drunk with her body feeling numb, yet her mind sober. She could only blame herself for the carelessness, leaving a chance for Zhao Dalang to take the advantage!

The distillers’ grains she ate must be the strong type; otherwise, she couldn’t get so easily drunk in such a short time. It was not difficult to solve this problem of drunkenness, though. The only thing she needed to do was to prick herself with a few needles for acupuncture, and then she could recover little by little.

The wood was not too far away from the town. If she had started heading back after she sobered up, she wouldn’t have returned to the Zhaos until the next morning. However, nothing could be worse than an unmarried woman staying out all night!

Such things having happened, she could no longer wait until the next day to go back to her mother’s. She had to advance the plan, leaving her grandma to those people. She believed her grandma could deal with them.

On the other hand, it was already late at night when Zhao Dalang returned to the village. He jumped out of the bullock cart and rushed into the yard, almost running into someone.

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“Ouch!”

One step back, Wang almost scolded out, but then she saw it was Zhao Dalang. She glanced at his back for a few times.

“You naughty young man! How can you come back so late! Where’s she?”

“Mom, I’m not going to marry that ugly monster!” He said so and pushed Wang aside, stepping into the room.

Stunned and confused, Wang followed him inside.

“What nonsense you are talking about! Where’s your cousin?”

Picturing the red spot on Su Muge’s eye when taking off the veil, he mumbled for some while and finally spoke, “Still in the wood…”

Wang was frozen with shock. “What are you talking about? Leaving her alone in the woods!”

Half waken, Zhao De sat up upon hearing Wang’s yelling.

“Dalang’s back?”

“Darling! Dalang left that girl in the woods!”

“Mom, she is an ugly monster. No wonder she covered her eye with a veil all the time. She was hiding her ugliness! I’ll not marry her as long as I’m still breathing!” Zhao Dalang shouted.

“Explain all this!” Zhao De slapped him on his head.

He then told them what happened.

“Uh, a horrible-looking face. That explained why our brother-in-law was not worrying about her coming here alone!” When Wang heard it, she was a little unwilling to make Su Muge her daughter-in-law. She wouldn’t let the people in the village mock at her son.

“Exactly.”

“It was a small wood after all, and usually with no wild animals. Just let her stay there for one night. It won’t hurt.” That was Zhao De’s final decision.

Zhao De was in charge of a pub in town and had experienced almost every hue of men and things. He would definitely be more discreet than his wife and son. Su Muge was the daughter of a public official. Once known by others she was out all night, or even worse, if Zhao Dalang became the man be to blame for such a situation, the Zhao family would lose their say!

At the thought of being able to make an offer with his brother-in-law who was an official, Zhao De nearly lost his mind to the tiny triumph. Why did he have to bother whether Su Muge was alive or dead?

In the wing-room where Zhang lived, she had fallen asleep early because of the medicine…

…

In the Su Mansion of Shunyang prefecture.

An was seated lazily in a wood soft couch carved with pear blossom, leaving Li Mama squatted on the small couch beside her feet, manicuring her nails.

“Madam, Madam, they, they are back…” A maid with hair worn in a bun ran to the room in a hurry and was stopped out of the door.

“Where are your manners! How can you break into Madam’s room like this!”

The maid was paled with fear.

An took her hands back when hearing the noise.

“Let her in.”

“Yes, Madam.”

Hongyu opened the curtain and let the maid in.

“My sincere greetings to you, Madam.”

“Come on, what’s the matter?”

“Madam, the people who escorted the eldest Miss to the Nancheng prefecture are back, but, but…” The maid kneeled on the floor, with her voice trembling in panic.

A stringent look flashed in the eyes of An. “But what?”

“But, but the eldest Miss was missing!”

“What are you talking about!” Abruptly, An stood up from the couch, with tea spilled on the floor with clatters.