Chapter 619: Chapter 534: Returned

Sun Meirong had tried to come between her and Gu Shaojun. Since Gu Shaojun had already rejected her in no uncertain terms, Xiao Man didn’t make a big deal out of it. This was mostly for Elder Sun’s sake—a way to give Sun Meirong some face and hope she would come to her senses. Xiao Man was willing to let it go, since confronting her would have been embarrassing for all involved. But she never imagined that Sun Meirong would not only be ungrateful but would actually have the audacity to blame her, accusing her of stirring up trouble from nothing and preventing her from getting close to the Gu family!

’And now she was slandering her? Ha!’

The more Xiao Man thought about it, the angrier she became. ’I’ll just tell Sun Yiming everything,’ she decided. ’He needs to get his sister under control. If she dares to mess with me again, I won’t be so courteous.’

In the end, Sun Meirong didn’t show up for dinner, and Gu Shaoling was nowhere to be seen either. Grandma Tang, as a fellow elder, inquired about it. Granny Gu sighed. "A friend invited her out. She said she’ll eat when she gets back. Ai, I used to think having a girl would be so much easier than those rambunctious little monkeys, but this child is such a handful. The older she gets, the more willful she is. Let’s not worry about her. Let’s eat!"

Xiao Man looked over at Gu Shaoqin. He was blowing on a spoonful of broth to cool it before feeding it to Shaoying, not even lifting his head, as if he hadn’t heard what the two grandmothers were saying.

Xiao Man smiled. It was obvious Gu Shaoqin had said something to Granny Gu, and Granny Gu had decided to simply keep Gu Shaoling from coming out. That way, Sun Meirong wouldn’t have to show her face either. ’I just wonder how they’ll get dinner,’ Xiao Man thought. ’Are they having a private meal in their room?’

’This is fine, too. Gu Shaoling gets to avoid a punishment, and there’s no one at the table to bother me. I can actually eat in peace!’

After dinner, Xiao Man sat with her grandmother and the other mothers for a while, listening to their conversation. Then Zheng Shaolian came and led her away. She went to Grandpa Gu’s study and spoke with several of the adults for over an hour. Afterward, Xiao Man said goodbye to Grandpa Gu and her father, then headed home. Ai Wenli, finding it difficult due to her pregnancy, had already left earlier with Grandma Tang.

Back home, Xiao Man sat on the sofa making one call after another, and taking a few in between. Before she knew it, it was past midnight. Seeing that their granddaughter was glued to her phone, her grandfather and grandmother went to bed. Dad Tang escorted Mrs. Ai upstairs, then came back down to sit in the living room with his daughter, one of them flipping through a magazine while the other talked on the phone.

When Xiao Man finally finished her calls, Tang Qingshan walked over and sat down beside her on the sofa. He didn’t ask about her calls, but instead expressed his surprise regarding "the disappearance of Wu Qin."

Xiao Man proceeded to tell Tang Qingshan the entire story of how Wu Qin was attacked on the street and subsequently taken to the Bai Mansion by Bai Lihua.

And just a moment ago, Yang Liu’er had told Xiao Man on the phone: after Bai Lihua took Wu Qin, she was never sent to a hospital or seen by another doctor. She was kept at the Bai Mansion, where they treated her themselves. The people monitoring the Bai Mansion saw the trash they threw out; it contained bloody gauze, empty bottles of anti-inflammatory medicine, and the dregs of traditional herbs. According to Lu Jian Country, the person who grievously wounded Wu Qin was a trained martial artist. Victims whose limbs he broke were usually beyond healing and would be crippled for life. Furthermore, when the group abducted Wu Qin, they had tossed her back and forth like an object in a relay race. Her head and body were battered, leaving bleeding wounds everywhere. By all rights, even if Wu Qin had managed to cling to life, she shouldn’t have survived for long.

Lu Jian Country was very curious to see if the Bai Family could actually heal Wu Qin, so he had his people keep watching. He even used his various connections to bribe a Bai Family maid for inside information. He learned that Wu Qin had been saved and was doing surprisingly well—she could eat and drink, though she remained immobile. Then, two nights ago, a strange guest arrived at the Bai Mansion. Despite the sweltering heat, he wore a thick, blue, medium-length traditional tunic and layered cloth shoes. He also wore a wide-brimmed felt hat that obscured his face. All they knew was that he was a sturdily built, middle-aged man.

That guest was closeted with Old Master Bai in the study for most of the night. By the next morning, the guest was gone—and so was Wu Qin. The maid said the guest must have been the one who took her.

After Xiao Man finished her account, Tang Qingshan’s brows furrowed slightly. "The Bai Family took in and treated Wu Qin, clearly intending to use her to get the herbs from your Grandpa’s place in Gongdao Village," he said. "Based on the maid’s story, that guest certainly is peculiar. If he’s really the one who took Wu Qin from the Bai Family... think about it. Who else has designs on the herbs in Gongdao Village?"

Xiao Man paused for a moment before answering, "The Gongsun Clan. The Bai Family summoned the Gongsun Family to Beijing with information about a ’Spirit Plant.’ The two families have been working together."

"Exactly. Right now, the only Cultivation Family that has surfaced is the Gongsun Family. We can suspect that the person who took Wu Qin belongs to the Gongsun Clan."

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