Becoming a literary master starting from the story of Minglan

Chapter 461 The Groundhog's "Scream"

A moment later, the door to the Sheng family's study was flung open with a loud bang!

Madam Wang burst in, panicked, as if the sky had fallen. Her first words were, "Master! Master! Something terrible has happened!"

"Hmm?" Sheng Hong frowned, somewhat displeased. "How can you be so frivolous just as a housekeeper... you..."

Unfortunately, before he could finish speaking, Madam Wang interrupted him: "Master! Something terrible has happened! The sky has fallen!"

Madam Wang patted her chest, her voice shrill and urgent, almost as if she were about to faint: "Mo Lan! That damned little brat Mo Lan! She's run away! She's disappeared!"

"She...she swapped clothes with the maids below and slipped out the door while that idiot old woman guarding her wasn't looking!"

"what?"

Sheng Hong was already overwhelmed with the complicated accounts of the salt administration in the court. At this moment, he was so startled by the sudden scream that his hand trembled and the tip of his pen splattered a large blot of ink on the account book.

"What ran away? Who ran away? Explain yourself!" He irritably threw down his pen, his brows furrowed.

"Mo Lan! It's Mo Lan!" Madam Wang stamped her feet anxiously, her words incoherent. "That damned old woman Qian! She's incredibly stupid!"

"Mo Lan bribed her with a single gold bead, letting her out under the pretense of 'going to the outhouse'! And what happened? She never returned! She vanished without a trace! When Granny Qian went inside, she found that the person dressed in Mo Lan's clothes, with Mo Lan's hair styled in a bun, sitting with her back to the door, was none other than her maid Yun Zai, who had been punished!"

"That girl was terrified, her legs were so weak she couldn't stand, and she confessed everything! It was all Mo Lan's idea!"

Sheng Hong's mind went blank for a moment, a surge of anger rising to his head. Just as he was about to slam his fist on the table and shout angrily, Madam Wang, panting heavily, added fuel to the fire: "And another thing! Master! In the back garden... over by the rockery in the back garden... it seems there's a ghost there too!"

"At noon, Granny Wang, who guards the side gate, saw a suspicious-looking, shawl-covered, furtive old woman slip out from there! The direction she went... was towards the back mountain of Yuqing Temple!"

"Just now... Zhao San, who was in charge of secretly keeping an eye on the Fourth Miss's courtyard, also came to report. He said he vaguely saw that the maid named Yun Zai in the Fourth Miss's room... was wearing the moon-white ruqun that the Fourth Miss usually wears today. She was sitting with her back to the door, her figure... as stiff as a clay bodhisattva in a temple, not moving an inch! This... this is clearly a diversionary tactic! It's a clever escape, sir!"

Sheng Hong's hand holding the pen trembled violently, and another drop of thick ink slammed heavily onto the ledger.

His face instantly darkened to the point of being dripping with gloom, and his eyes were filled with dark, swirling doubts.

Mo Lan's unusual "quietness" after being confined to her home, Yun Zai's strange behavior, the suspicious old woman, the back mountain of Yuqing Temple... these words quickly connected and collided in his mind, and an extremely unsavory guess that could bring the entire Sheng family to ruin and make them a laughing stock in Bianjing instantly took shape!

A chill mixed with raging anger, like a double shock of ice and fire, shot straight to the head!
"Bastard thing!!"

Sheng Hong slammed his hand on the table, causing the brushes on the brush holder to jump around wildly.

He abruptly stood up, his face ashen, his eyes burning with the rage of being fooled and the extreme panic of his family's impending ruin: "Lead the way! Take a few trusted confidants who can keep their mouths shut! Quietly! Quickly!!"

He has to catch them in the act himself!
It's best to stop it before it happens!

If what he thinks is true... he dares not think too deeply about the consequences, but he is even more afraid that it will cause a great uproar and a storm in the city!

At this moment, the last vestige of hesitation he had for Lin Qinshuang, stemming from their past relationship, had been shattered by this potentially shocking scandal, leaving only the rage of being cruelly betrayed by his closest relative and the overwhelming panic.

……

Behind the Moon-Viewing Pavilion, inside the artificial cave.

The flames of lust have consumed all reason.

Confused and infatuated, Liang Han impatiently ripped open the ties of Mo Lan's inner garment, exposing large areas of her fair and smooth skin to the cool air. The delicate ties of her pale yellow bodice were also on the verge of breaking at any moment.

His burning hands, with an irresistible force, roamed and kneaded her slender waist and smooth back, his hot, heavy breaths spraying against her sensitive neck and ears.

Mo Lan's heart almost stopped. Her body was tense with a do-or-die determination, yet also with a twisted submissiveness, half-heartedly accommodating this final depravity.

Their rapid breathing intertwined wildly in the small, enclosed space, the air thick with the heat of desire and the desperate atmosphere of a last-ditch effort, on the verge of breaking through the last barrier of taboo.

At that critical moment, when the disgraceful act was about to be committed— "Ugh—!!!"

A strange, grating sound, like someone strangling you or gasping for air in extreme terror, suddenly erupted from the hole, like a broken bellows being crushed!

The sound was short, sharp, and distorted, filled with unbelievable shock and anger and deep-seated shame. The last note trembled like a broken gong, just like the final, mournful howl of a groundhog struggling to its death as a wild beast grabbed it by the neck!
The light at the cave entrance was suddenly and completely blocked by a tall figure!

The person who arrived was none other than Sheng Hong!

Where was even a trace of the composure and dignity of an official of the imperial court?

His eyes were wide open like copper bells, his eyeballs almost popping out of their sockets, his mouth was so open that a fist could fit inside, and his face first turned as red as a boiled pig liver, then instantly lost all color, turning as pale as paper dusted with gold powder!
He clutched his chest tightly with one hand, as if in a spasm, as if his wildly beating heart was about to burst out of his chest at any moment!

His other hand gripped the cold stone wall like an iron clamp, his fingernails digging deep into the cracks, making a teeth-grinding "clucking" sound!

His violent panting made a terrifying "hoarse...hoarse..." sound from his throat, like a broken bellows being pulled. He was frozen in place as if struck by lightning from the heavens, trembling like the last withered leaf in the cold wind!
Behind him followed the somber-faced steward Dong Rong and two burly servants, who were all speechless with shock at the appalling scene before them.

Time seemed to freeze.

The two people entangled inside the cave were instantly petrified, as if they had been subjected to the most vicious immobilization spell!
The sorrow that Mo Lan had deliberately created on her face froze instantly, turning into ashen astonishment and... a hint of uncontrollable madness after her plan succeeded.
Liang Han's infatuated expression shattered completely, leaving only extreme panic and utter embarrassment, as if he had been caught red-handed in an affair and had been stripped naked and displayed to the public!

The hand that had been reaching inside Mo Lan's clothes, about to commit an evil deed, recoiled as if burned by a red-hot iron!
He jolted back several steps as if electrocuted, frantically grabbing at his loose collar and slipping waistband, his handsome face deathly pale, his lips trembling uncontrollably, his eyes darting around in terror, unable to utter a single word.

"Uncle Sheng..." Liang Han's smile was tinged with guilt.

"cough……"

Sheng Hong suppressed the metallic taste rising in his throat and the overwhelming rage that threatened to burst through his chest and tear him to shreds.

He stared intently at his daughter, whose clothes were disheveled and whose genitals were partially exposed, and the distraught, utterly lost young man. In his usually gentle, even somewhat cowardly eyes, a near-destructive, hellish flame was now burning—a icy blade forged from the extreme anger and shame of being betrayed by his own flesh and blood, driven to the brink of despair!

He didn't roar; instead, his voice became hoarse and low from being forcibly suppressed to the limit, each word sounding like blood and spittle squeezed out from between his teeth: "Good... very good..."

"Sheng Molan... the sixth young master of the Yongchang Marquis's mansion... you... are truly... excellent!!"

His gaze was like a dagger dipped in deadly poison. He first glared fiercely at Liang Han, who wished she could disappear into the ground. His eyes were filled with contempt and anger, but even more so with fear of the Earl's power and a reluctance to act rashly.

Immediately, his gaze, like a red-hot iron, was fixed on Mo Lan. His expression was so complex it was suffocating—it contained raging anger, deep-seated shame, incredulous shock, and a chilling coldness at being schemed against and driven to despair by his own daughter in such a despicable and shameful way: "Put on... your clothes! Get... out here!!"

He practically spat out the command through clenched teeth, then abruptly turned around, as if another glance at the filthy scene would make him vomit blood. He forced a sentence from deep within his throat at Dong Rong, his voice filled with undeniable humiliation and chilling coldness: 'Please…Young Master Liang…come to the manor…for tea! 'Treat him well…! There must be…not the slightest…mishap!!'

The words "please" and "treat them well" are emphasized with extreme force, conveying a profound sense of irony and helplessness.

He dared not arrest him, much less make a fuss about it; he could only suppress this source of trouble first, and then devise a difficult plan.

Dong Rong understood immediately and stepped forward. His posture seemed respectful, but his actions carried an undeniable force: "Young Master Liang, the master invites you to come to the front hall to rest for a while."

The two servants, like iron towers, silently blocked all of Liang Han's possible escape routes.

Liang Han was terrified and dared not resist in the slightest. His face was ashen, and he hung his head like a plucked, drenched chicken. Under Dong Rong's "respectful" but actually escorting "escort," he staggered away from this hellish scene that he would never forget.

Inside the cave, only Mo Lan and that trembling figure with their backs to her remained.

Mo Lan slowly gathered her torn and disheveled clothes, her fingers trembling slightly as she tied the ribbon, barely managing to cover up the glaring whiteness and the shameful mark.

The feigned fear and pitifulness on his face had vanished completely, replaced by an almost cold calm, and even the corners of his mouth couldn't help but curl into a faint, mocking smile.

She knew she had won this crucial first step.

Thank you so much for your support, Oo Cow and What's Up!