Chapter 12: No Experience In Escaping
Tian, Lang?
Shang Wan halted her steps.
Wait, could that man who caused chaos at the Li Family funeral in the room be the Tian Sheng she had been searching for so long?
So he came here for adultery.
Don’t ask her why she knew it was adultery; which proper husband and wife would not even spare someone else’s funeral?
Besides, this was the Li Family backyard, and all the guests who came for mourning were in the front courtyard. Who else but the Li Family women could be in this room now?
Li Wen Hua had only one main wife, who had died long ago, while Li Can had quite a few wives and concubines.
Shang Wan secretly clicked her tongue; Li Can’s head was a bit green.
They were handling affairs right now, so it wasn’t convenient for her to peep; what if she got a sty in her eye?
Shang Wan hid behind the bushes in the corner of the courtyard, bored as she listened to the movement in the room. It went on for nearly two quarters of an hour before stopping.
Not long after, the door creaked open, and out came a short, round-faced man with a hooked nose—it was Tian Sheng.
The servant at the courtyard gate nodded and bowed to Tian Sheng. When Tian Sheng asked if anyone had approached earlier, the servant quickly shook his head, guaranteeing that not even a fly had flown in.
Tian Sheng tossed reward money to the servant and left satisfied. Just as Shang Wan was about to stand up and chase after him, the room’s door opened again, and out came a young woman wearing sackcloth and mourning, her face like spring water.
Yo, the one who pretended to faint in the mourning hall.
Having suddenly eaten a big melon, Shang Wan waited until they had left before coming out, and by the time she reached the front courtyard, she happened to see Tian Sheng coming out of the office, instructing people to prepare the carriage.
The carriage ran on the street, Shang Wan followed on the rooftop, and even bought two steamed buns to eat along the way.
She wanted to buy meat buns, but meat buns had a smell, making it easy to be discovered by following the scent.
Following all the way to the Tian Mansion, Shang Wan watched Tian Sheng enter the study room. Not long after, the Tian Mansion steward Yang Rang also went in.
Shang Wan lay in the shadow of the beam, carefully shifting a roof tile to make a gap, then squinted to peer into the room.
Yang Rang stood in front of the desk reporting on farm matters, while Tian Sheng held a tea cup, sipping tea and listening.
After Yang Rang finished reporting, he took a folded letter from his sleeve and handed it over with both hands. “A letter from the capital city, just delivered a quarter of an hour ago. Please take a look, Lord.”
Tian Sheng immediately set down the tea cup, took the envelope and opened it, scanning it ten lines at a glance. After finishing, he stood up excitedly, A hearty smile on his round face.
Yang Rang was very perceptive and smiled as he bowed with clasped hands. “Congratulations, Lord, on getting what you wished for.”
“Cough, the transfer order hasn’t arrived yet, so it’s not certain.” Tian Sheng lightly coughed to cover his earlier gaffe, sat back
Yang Rang only glanced at it once before withdrawing his gaze, standing quietly with hands at his sides.
Shang Wan on the rooftop listened in complete confusion. She really wanted to see what was written on the letter paper, but even if her eyesight was excellent, it wasn’t x-ray vision.
After a good long while, voices speaking could be heard in the room again.
Tian Sheng folded the letter paper neatly and put it back into the envelope. He instructed, “Tonight at the hour of Hai, you personally escort Geng Hao out of the city, via the East City Gate.”
“Lord, shall we…” Yang Rang made a cutting motion across his neck with his hand.
Tian Sheng lowered his gaze to stare at the envelope, “Safely send off.”
He bit down slightly harder on the two words “safe.”
Yang Rang immediately understood, bowed respectfully with clasped hands, then withdrew from the doorway.
Shang Wan hesitated for a moment but still chose to stay and continue monitoring Tian Sheng.
An hour later, the sun completely disappeared below the horizon, and night fell.
Shang Wan changed to another rooftop to hide and watched the Tian Family eating from afar.
The Tian Mansion’s household is quite simple. Besides the servants, there are four masters: Tian Sheng, Tian Sheng’s wife, Tian Sheng’s son, and Tian Sheng’s daughter.
Judging solely by Tian Sheng’s gentle and concerned demeanor toward his wife, one could not at all tell that he would commit adultery with his former superior’s son’s wife at his former superior’s funeral.
Seeing that this meal would still take some time to eat, Shang Wan simply slipped into Tian Sheng’s study room, searched inside and out, and found no things with strange smells; surprisingly, there was no hidden poison.
In disappointment, Shang Wan settled for the next best thing and took out the letter that Tian Sheng had hidden.
He looked down and was dumbfounded.
She actually doesn’t recognize a single character.
She wasn’t illiterate during the apocalypse either.
After turning the letter paper over and over, examining it from various angles, Shang Wan sadly confirmed the fact that she had truly become illiterate.
Originally thought to memorize the content on the letter paper, but now it has to be copied down verbatim.
Not knowing how to use the writing brush, Shang Wan casually broke off a branch, dipped it in ink to use as a charcoal pencil, and finally copied it out before her patience ran out.
She put the envelope back, then returned the things she had touched in the study room to their places. Shang Wan pocketed the paper and left the Tian Mansion, rushing toward the East City Gate.
The city gate had not yet closed. Shang Wan smoothly left the city. She did not hurry back and found an inconspicuous place to hide. She took out the chicken leg she had swiped from the Tian Mansion kitchen from her space, ate it while listening intently to the movements from the city tower.
The evening drum sounded, and the city gate closed.
Shang Wan waited patiently.
Just at the beginning of the hour of Hai, the closed city gate suddenly opened. Yang Rang drove the carriage out.
Finally came.
Shang Wan stood up and stretched her waist, then exerted force under her feet and quietly followed behind the carriage.
The carriage didn’t run fast, and after traveling about two li, it stopped.
Yang Rang jumped off the carriage first, followed closely by a man carrying a bundle and wearing a blue cloth shirt who came out from the carriage.
“I’ll see you off here; I still need to go back and report to the lord.”
As Yang Rang spoke, he pulled out a stack of silver notes from his bosom and handed them over. Geng Hao took them and counted them one by one under the moonlight.
A cold glint flashed in Yang Rang’s eyes. Taking advantage of Geng Hao’s inattention, he drew the dagger hidden in his sleeve and stabbed toward his chest.
“Whoosh——”
A small stone broke through the air, striking Geng Hao’s knee bend with great force. He cried out in pain and knelt crookedly, as the sharp dagger just grazed the side of his face, drawing a vivid line of blood.
Geng Hao’s pupils shrank in shock; this old guy actually wanted to kill him to silence him.
Yang Rang missed with one strike, flipped his wrist, and slashed the dagger toward Geng Hao’s neck.
Geng Hao leaned back to dodge, and taking advantage of the gap as Yang Rang turned, he kicked hard at his leg, knocking him to the ground.
He grabbed the bundle on the ground, got up, and ran desperately toward the woods not far away.
Shang Wan in the shadows tsked lightly; it was clear at a glance that he had no experience being chased.
If she were Geng Hao, she would definitely first pick up the dagger on the ground and kill Yang Rang, then drive the carriage and run. How could an ordinary person’s two legs outrun a horse?
Geng Hao, who had run some distance, obviously reacted as well. He turned around, but it was too late; Yang Rang had already jumped onto the carriage and was driving it toward him in pursuit.
He cursed inwardly and continued to sprint toward the woods on his two legs.
The small path in the woods was not as easy to travel as the official road, and the carriage’s speed gradually slowed.
Geng Hao specifically picked crooked paths to drill through, going wherever it was narrow, gradually pulling away from the carriage.
Seeing the situation was bad, Yang Rang simply abandoned the carriage and rode the horse to chase after him.
Hearing the horse hooves getting closer behind him, Geng Hao gradually felt despair.
In a one-on-one fight, he couldn’t beat that old guy Yang Rang, let alone that the old guy had a knife. Was he really going to die here today?
