Thrown out of the house, the wet nurse enters the noble household and becomes a person of high statu

When Liu Wenying saw who it was, her heart pounded wildly.

A chill ran through her body as she tried to stand up, but a sharp pain in her ankle caused her to fall to the ground.

"uncle……"

Pei Dingxuan's gaze swept over her pale face, the red marks on her neck, and her dislocated ankle.

Suddenly, an almost tangible sense of oppression and chilling atmosphere filled the surroundings, and the temperature in the river bend plummeted in the sweltering summer heat.

He dismounted and rushed over, lifting her by the waist to help her to her feet.

"Can you still move?"

Liu Wenying had no time to savor the concern in his deep voice; the pain in her neck and the piercing pain in her ankle were nothing compared to the anxiety in her heart.

She grabbed his sleeve with her muddy hands, briefly forgetting the proper etiquette.

"Sir, the young master and the other children are being watched by his accomplices not far away. Please go and save them, I beg you..."

Pei Dingxuan interrupted her in a low voice, his arms tightening around her.

"Don't worry, Ye'er and the other children have been safely rescued, and the kidnapper has been apprehended."

His men had already split into two groups: one went to the river to arrest the woman, and the other came to find the accomplices. Now it seemed that the other group had already succeeded.

Upon hearing the news that they were safe, Liu Wenying's tense nerves suddenly relaxed.

She looked at the man on the ground, who was dead beyond any doubt, picked up a stone, and hurled it at him.

Let him bully me. Even if he dies, he deserves to be whipped!

Liu Wenying hit the ground with such force that she lost her balance, but fortunately Pei Dingxuan helped her catch up.

"Your injury?"

"I'm fine..."

After her excitement subsided, Liu Wenying belatedly realized that she felt a chill.

Summer clothes are already thin, and after a struggle, her outer garment was almost torn to shreds, and her inner garment was also loose and worn, revealing large areas of skin and wounds.

She tried to cross her arms to cover herself, but as soon as she moved, her ankle suddenly started to hurt.

Pei Dingxuan carefully examined her current miserable state, and a surge of ferocity rose again in his darkened eyes.

Without saying anything more, he took off his dark blue robe with gold patterns and draped it over Liu Wenying's head, covering her tattered clothes and disheveled appearance.

The movements weren't exactly gentle, even a bit stiff, but they effectively shielded the viewer from the cool river breeze and the gaze of others.

When I put the coat on her, my fingertips touched the back of her neck and I realized that her body temperature was surprisingly high.

"You're not feeling well, I'll take you back."

Liu Wenying didn't even hear him finish a sentence before her consciousness was swept away by the heat wave.

She opened her lips, wanting to answer, but the world in her vision turned upside down, plunging her into a dark vortex, and she collapsed limply to the ground.

"Willow Singing Oriole!"

Pei Dingxuan pulled her into his arms, preventing her from slipping away.

Looking down, he saw that the woman in his arms had completely fainted. Although her face was pale, her brows were still relaxed, and the smile she had given after learning that Ye'er had been rescued was still on her lips.

He frowned even more deeply, his indifferent face revealing no other emotion.

He mounted his horse, held Liu Wenying firmly in his arms, and rode away with her and Ye'er.

The officers and soldiers were well-trained and took control of the scene, collected the bodies, and settled the rescued children without his orders.

……

Consciousness seemed to rise slowly and laboriously from a bottomless, icy pool.

The first thing to recover was the sense of smell.

A faint scent of herbs and stale wood lingered around my nose.

Liu Wenying opened her eyes and saw an unfamiliar blue tent ceiling.

She moved her fingers and felt as if her whole body was falling apart, especially her waist, ribs, and calves, which were throbbing with dull pain.

Liu Wenying struggled to sit up for a long time, her throat dry and burning. When she finally spoke, she was even surprised by herself.

Her voice was so hoarse that it was unlike anything she could produce.

Her awakening startled the people who had been keeping watch outside.

The door opened, and the young soldier, seeing that she had opened her eyes, immediately showed joy on his face. He clasped his hands and said, "Please wait a moment, I will go and report to you that the young lady has woken up."

uncle?

Liu Wenying's muddled mind worked slowly, and fragmented memories gradually pieced together: riverbank, blood, iron arrows, a dark figure...

Yes, it was the old man who saved her at the last minute. So where is this place...?

Liu Wenying turned her neck with difficulty to look around.

The room was spacious and simple, with no unnecessary decorations. The window was half-open, letting in the afternoon light.

It was not any courtyard she knew within the Duke's mansion, and the medicinal fragrance in the air was not the incense used in the mansion.

Before she could sort out her thoughts, the door was pushed open again.

Pei Dingxuan walked in, having changed into a wide-sleeved casual outfit, still in a somber black, which made his skin appear pale.

"Awake? Is there anything else that's bothering you?"

Liu Wenying tried to get up, but the movement aggravated her injuries, causing her to wince in pain.

"Don't move."

Pei Dingxuan approached the edge of the bed, carefully reached his hand behind her neck, and supported her shoulders and back with his other hand, helping her sit up.

Liu Wenying was in excruciating pain all over her body, but she gritted her teeth and didn't utter a sound.

Leaning back on the soft pillows, enveloped by the subtle, understated fragrance of agarwood emanating from him, Liu Wenying felt uneasy. She wanted to say thank you, but only a hoarse, breathy sound came out of her throat.

"Drink some water to soothe your throat before you speak."

Pei Dingxuan picked up the warm water from the side and brought it to her lips.

The warm water slid down my throat, relieving some of the dryness and burning sensation.

Liu Wenying drank about half a bowl before she could barely speak, "Thank you, sir, for saving this servant."

His voice was still hoarse, no longer clear and melodious, like a broken bellows, but he could still manage to form sentences.

Something extremely subtle sank into the depths of Pei Dingxuan's dark eyes, stirring up a gloomy ripple.

If we had found her sooner, she wouldn't have suffered so much, wouldn't be so badly injured, and wouldn't have lost her voice so badly.

Although these injuries will eventually heal, the suffering she endured was real.

He regretted not searching faster.

Even though the Duke's manpower had been mobilized, he still hadn't been able to get a full night's sleep for three consecutive days.

"Sir, Ye'er and the others..."

She wanted to ask Ye'er and the whereabouts of those children.

"Ye'er is safe. As for the children, they have also been rescued and will be sent home later."

"Those two, the couple, they're in cahoots, they specialize in begging for money..."

Liu Wenying spoke at great effort, saying a long sentence, expressing her deep concern for the fate of the wicked couple.

"Don't worry, the man is dead, and the woman has confessed. They are skilled at transferring money among the beggars, cunning and adept at erasing their tracks, making them difficult to track down in ordinary pursuits."

They handled no fewer than dozens of children, mostly kidnapping them when no one was looking, or receiving them from even younger kidnappers, and then selling them all the way north. If it weren't for your alertness, struggle, and leaving behind clues…”

He didn't finish speaking, but Liu Wenying understood.

If Liu Wenying hadn't marked the way and left traces, she, Ye'er, and those children would probably have disappeared into the vast sea of ​​people long ago, beginning a life of hell.

Now, Ye'er has been found, and the children have been rescued. Only she, who fought against the villains, was the most seriously injured.

He suddenly felt that the man had died too easily, with an arrow piercing his chest.

Pei Dingxuan's eyes reddened, and he whispered with tightly pursed lips, "I'm sorry, I should have come sooner."

…………