[Alternate t.i.tle: Yep, It Was A Bad Idea

Please read on chichilations. Reposts are not allowed anywhere else for any reason.]

Rong Jiahui's runaway mishap succeeded. It was the first time these Changfeng [3] armed escorts had seen a frail-looking seventeen-year-old girl bringing along two young maids on a journey out, and that's not saying anything about what exactly her status is. They've gone extremely far away in their line of business, but they've rarely gone over there, only one or two cases in decades. It's a little worrying, but everyone here is working for money, and there's nothing gained from asking. Since she can afford this high price, they'll just send a bigger group of workers to carefully escort her in regards to who she is.

Jiahui is very pleased with their att.i.tudes in only caring about money. As she left the city with a dozen people guarding before her feet, the Rong family was just setting out to quietly comb the city to look for someone.

There were currently people kneeling upright on the ground in the courtyard where Jiahui lived. The older maids Han Lu and Gu Yu were struck stupid, and the younger maids were all struck dumb.

Rong Chen sat before them, frothing with rage. “Where's the Young Mistress?” He asked sternly.

After everyone trembled, each one shook their heads. d.a.m.ned if they knew.

“Imbeciles!” Rong Chen cursed, his fury simply unable to be contained. They keep so many people around yet they can't look after one eighteen-year-old girl! They lost her sometime in the twinkling of the dawn early today! And they don't know how long she's actually been lost for! They're nothing but a bunch of imbeciles!

[T/N: I'm 90% sure Jiahui isn't fully 18 yet, but that's what the raw says…]

Mrs. Yu was also burning with anxiety at this time, and she speculated with slight hope to Rong Chen. “Ah-Chen, do you think Jiahui might have snuck out to a friend's house to play? Maybe… we should go to the Liu's home and ask? Or the Blest Prince's home, or the Xue's…”

He shook his head. “No. If she wanted to go see them, she'd just walk straight out the entrance. And why would she vanish into thin air? Tell me, Xiaohe, who has offended me?”

Mrs. Yu sighed, knowing that what she'd said was rubbish.

Rong Chen can't help but think up a conspiracy theory that there might have been some enemy family group that sent a martial arts master to capture Jiahui. As for the also-missing maids, maybe those two had discovered something amiss and were captured along with her!

The more he thinks, the more scared he gets, but he's always been good to others, so where would there even be an enemy family? Furthermore, he doesn't have any sort of talent or military expertise, so this is entirely outrageous. He's merely muddling through life and waiting for death as a Marquis due to inheritance from his grandfather. Those who could threaten him would have to have a lot of support, and if they did the wouldn't insist on kidnapping his daughter.

Furthermore, he feigned sternness in front of his wife and kids, when in reality he's inherently still that scared, cowardly man who dared to hide behind others' backs from those years ago on the Northwest battlefield. His daughter's sudden disappearance has frightened his mind into blankness.

“Search! Search the whole city! Go to every door to look!” His brows were furrowed, voice trembling as he commanded.

That's his darling daughter of nearly two decades, his first child. He was looking forward to when she would be born, and Jiahui had kicked him many times through his wife's belly way back then. It's a small thing, but thinking of it now warms his heart. Therefore, no matter what's happened to Jiahui, he must find her and bring her back.

Mrs. Yu places her hands on top of his shoulders, half in soundless encouragement, half in reliance.

Just as the people who were listening at Rong Chen's side were about to go down the city as instructed, Mrs. Yu's personal maid Yu Ru anxiously came out with a piece of folded paper.

“Madam! I just found this under the mattress, and it seems that the Young Mistress left it!”

Mrs. Yu jolted and hurried to take it, unfolding it to take a look with Rong Chen:

From your daughter, Jiahui.

Hearts at ease?! She can put her d.a.m.n uncle's heart at ease! Who the h.e.l.l'd be at ease?! Is the Northwest a place a little girl can run off to? Though womenfolk are to attend to their husbands, that's only for a right and proper wife that's properly married into his family tree, and furthermore, she's bringing a big grandiose display to escort her over! This girl has the great guts of a dog!

Good on those Weiyuan escorts acting recklessly! They actually dared to take a Marquis's treasured daughter into the Northwest! Who gave them their bear hearts and leopard guts?!

The Northwest is so far out that they could turn east then west and then Heaven knows which road they've taken!

He took a deep breath, trying hard to get himself to calm down. Armed escorts must have a good relations.h.i.+p with both sides of the law if they want to be in business, and have authorities acting as backstage supporters for them. Rong Chen knows who the backstage supporter of the Weiyuan escorts is. He's some parts apprehensive, but, he might not be able to find her if he upended the entire city, and forcing the others to quickly get them back is possible. Having them find their own people is always a bit easier. Even if that wasn't happening, he'd still have to get them to settle a bit of a score!

Thinking that, after he sent people to go look in the Northwest, he decisively took others to head towards the Weiyuan guards.

He's in an important position, so they hadn't yet entered when Chief Escort Guan Ruis.h.i.+ rushed out to greet them face-to-face. Chief Guan was under the impression that he had some kind of precious object that needed transporting, only to see him fuming with rage, thusly thinking that that wasn't it at all.

Rong Chen just barely put both feet through the doorway when he bellowed with anger, “You've all got some great dog's guts!”

Guan Ruis.h.i.+ was astounded. “Marquis, which ones are the incompetent blokes that have offended you?”

“All of you escorts have offended this Marquis!”

Hah? Guan Ruis.h.i.+ is even more confused. They and Marquis Zhenguo's residence have had no dealings, nor did they have past grievances or recent animosity. How did they suddenly come to sin against this great ancestor?

Seeing this person currently still daring to play dumb, Rong Chen fumed, “How could you send my daughter off?! Hurry and find her, and bring her back to me!”

Marquis Zhenguo didn't love his son, only spoiling his precious daughter. This is something everyone knows. So… who'd even dare displace his family's Young Mistress?

Guan Ruis.h.i.+ spoke neutrally. “This lowly one had never seen Young Mistress Rong. Has something been misunderstood, Marquis?”

“Are written words to be faked? My daughter left a note for me writing about your escorts!”

“But, Marquis,” Guan Ruis.h.i.+ said, “no woman has come here today.”

Rong Chen grabbed him by the collar. “I don't care how much she gave you for it, I'll give you tenfold for you to hurry and catch up to her and bring her back safely! I'm not bothering with anything else! And if not, you're going to be shutting your doors for good!”

The logic behind this is unclear and Guan Ruis.h.i.+ doesn't have anything to say. He has no option but to instruct a servant to fetch their records and flip through it page by page for him to look. “Marquis, every business keeps a thorough record. You can take a look for yourself.”

Rong Chen skimmed through it to find that everything has been the transport of objects these past few days, with no persons to be escorted, yet he didn't believe this trick at all and huffed. “Maybe that d.a.m.n girl bribed you all to keep it in the dark.”

Guan Ruis.h.i.+ nearly vomits blood. This Marquis Zhenguo really is hard to deal with, regarding their place as a piece of cowhide candy [1], but looking at the Marquis's anxious appearance, he can't help but think of his own precious daughter. She's barely fifteen this year, pretty and lovable, and he's always kept her closest to his heart. With that in mind, if she was the same sort as this Young Mistress Rong, running off out of sight without a word, he likely would go mad, too. He suddenly was a bit more understanding to Rong Chen.

He sighed, urging him, “Marquis, we genuinely didn't receive Young Miss Rong, and there were no girls around her age. This Miss must have deliberately put the name of the Weiyuan escorts to send you off track.”

His words are ones that could startle one from their dream, but in Rong Chen's mind, suspicion has still not been washed clean from the Weiyuan escorts. There are several such armed escorts in all the capital and each one is a possibility, so much so that he felt the martial monks in monasteries were even exceptionally worthy of doubt.

Sheesh, these children really are a debt!

Meanwhile, Rong Jiahui, who was sitting in a carriage, promptly sneezed. The weather is just as cold as it was in early spring and she's wearing a few more layers. She secretly lifted a corner of the carriage's window to look outside, her heart packed full with a prevailing sense of quiet happiness. Having been cowering back for many years like so, she can finally be considered to have some real guts this time, and she's really proud of herself for not losing the face of her wild hero ancestors.

They made haste to drive forward for two days, Jiahui feeling that everything she saw was a novelty, this outside venture being rather interesting. The inns are small, but they're not horrible, and the taste of the food is unique.

It's just that these armed escorts are more stuffy than she'd imagined. They've been going for two or three days and not a one of them has said a word, drawing back to avoid troubles with her maids; no matter whether they've stopped for a snack or are staying at an inn, they don't see each other and are determined to keep it that way, and that's not even talking about her. She's concerned that, so long as they keep hanging their heads low enough to look at the ground when they face her, they'll probably only know what the hem of her skirt looks like. Even so, she still isn't bored, as she can talk well with the girls accompanying her. She insisted on bringing them with so she has to include them completely.

As she was thinking, the carriage suddenly came to a halt. Jiahui startled, her two maids exchanging a dismayed look. What's happening? Are they stopping for a bite to eat? But… they're in the middle of some mountains.

She raised the curtain to peek out, only saw strips of bramble on the road before them, and sighed in relief. Who'd do something so senseless? Can't they just pick those little things up, though?

Yet, the escorts didn't pick them up. The appointed harker in the front shouted something she couldn't figure out, like “hold down”. [2]

What does that mean? Is this… the so-called s.h.i.+ning might of the guard told of in stories?

Afterwards, she found someone else had joined in; was it a secret pa.s.sword? She hurriedly lifted the curtain with her hand, not knowing what to expect. Her heart burning with energy had gone a bit cold, and she was suddenly a bit scared.

The guards outside the carriage are exchanging words with an unknown person. It's all jianghu folk slang; it seems like she can understand each individual word, but when they're put together, she can't understand one sentence. All she knows is that they don't seem to be having a good talk, and the other party is clearly unfriendly.

As she couldn't know what they were saying, all that was in Jiahui's stretched-taut mind was bandit jargon, and after the others responded, there came sounds of a fight from outside…

They must have come across some bad-mouthing mountain bandits, came a flash of an idea in her mind that was anything but rea.s.suring, and she knew that this time her guess probably wasn't wrong. She gulped in terror, knowing that she was truly afraid. Her hands grabbed tightly onto her seat, her pretty face suddenly going white as a sheet.

The other two had grown up in the same way a Young Miss like her had; how could they have ever run into something like this? Shuang Jiang heard the noise outside and very nearly shrieked, with Bai Lu at the side rus.h.i.+ng to cover her mouth and saying with a trembling voice, “Don't make a sound!”

Jiahui stared dead-set at the curtain that slightly billowed in the blowing wind, her entire person shaking. She still didn't have regrets in making this trip, merely having a bit of regret that she hadn't made half of all the Changfeng escorts accompany her. That was seriously unwise.

Suddenly, a big rough hand roughly lifted the curtain. When the owner saw the people sitting inside, he was a bit astonished. The average escorted visitor is a wealthy man, and even if there's a woman brought along, it's a wife, concubine, or maid. When would there only be three pretty girls inside? After his surprise, though, this bare-armed, dark-skinned, rough man put on a big, yellow-toothed grin as he looked eerily at them.

“There's some real good luck today!”

They're still currently in hand-to-hand combat outside as he reach out and pulled at Jiahui, the one closest to him, wanting to take advantage of the panic and confusion to drag her out of the carriage.

The author says: Believe in the female protagonist's halo~

The translator says: He touched Jiahui, he needs his hands cut off.

[1] It always astounds me when I can find zero English sources for a really basic Chinese thing… “cowhide candy” is a jelly-like treat made of syrup and coated in sesame seeds.

[2] 合吾 – A slogan ancient bodyguards used to warn bandits away; that they wouldn't have to fight if they let it be.

[3] 長風 = lit. Eternal Wind, possibly taken from idiom 長風破浪; grow the wind, break the waves; to have no fear of ambition.

[4] 威遠 = lit. Faraway Might. Also a place name, hence why I couldn't decide whether to translate both parties literally or not…