Chapter 348: The Whole Story

After the morning meal, An Yi brought news, “Wangye, Jiangnan’s number one salt merchant, Salt Boss Tie, got………..” An Yi quietly glanced at Jing Wan, slightly deliberating for a moment, “…….got his offspring rod severed. From the initial conclusion, last night, Miss Bai Shao had came out from his villa. Located approximately seventy li north of Chuanzhou Fu city, there is a villa. As for that other one, Louxie Fang’s head courtesan, the day before yesterday, had her boudoir exiting ceremony, and got her first night bought by Salt Boss Tie with the high price of eight hundred thousand taels, separately adding on two hundred thousand taels, having the person taken away for three days.”

Jing Wan blanked, and momentarily after, reached out to pick up a crystal dumpling, nonchalantly opening her mouth, “Ah Yuan, that Salt Boss Tie should be on your blacklist, right?”

“En.” Li Hong Yuan indifferently answered.

This was also the reason why they were able to obtain information before Bai Shao and them woke up. Because the person needed to be disposed of, so naturally they had long been eyeing. Just, the people assigned to the job were the ones originally working in Jiangnan to begin with. As such, they didn’t know Bai Shao’s origins, and towards Salt Boss Tie bringing back women every couple of days, they were also accustomed to. Just, because something bad had happened, they thus quickly reported up.

“To be able to just casually throw out a million taels in a brothel, this number one salt merchant really is living up to his name. What was that saying called again, ‘to be poor with just money left’, probably refers to this kind of person, right? Just, this gut of his is quite big, just don’t know whether it’s having eaten a bear’s heart or a leopard’s guts, to dare directly kidnap someone of mine in the city.” Jing Wan’s gaze swept towards Li Hong Yuan, “They simply didn’t have you, Jin Qinwang, taken seriously.”

Seemingly having a bit of a mocking tone, but Li Hong Yuan didn’t take it seriously. However, this matter, he also had a bit of doubt. That day, during the hundred boat parade, Salt Boss Tie had specifically came looking. His intentions to express goodwill couldn’t be more obvious. A few days ago, he’d passed in a visiting card again, just it’d been tossed aside and didn’t get responded to. It can’t be that because of this, he just kidnapped Wan Wan’s servant girl, right? If he really was this stupid, then how could he have walked onto the position of Jiangnan’s number one salt merchant? He probably would’ve long been overthrown by others. That’s why, this matter, nine times out of ten, still has hidden secrets.

However, regardless of whether or not there were hidden secrets, originally it was just wanting to skin him alone, splitting up his family clan, but now, having made his wife unhappy, even if just three part guilt, still need ten times the punishment. Especially after seeing that Jing Wan’s breakfast intake was a third less than usual, he silently added to the offense again inside.

Jing Wan felt unwell, needing to look for a bit of something to do to distract herself.

“I saw that Wan Wan has drawn quite a bit of flowers and birds, as well as mountains and rivers, plants and trees, yet never seen portraits of people before. Why don’t Wan Wan have try?”

Jing Wan looked towards him. How come suddenly mentioning this? However, seeing a certain someone still very calm, seemingly not having any deeper meaning, Jing Wan also just lightly smiled, “Alright.”

Soon after, Jing Wan went to the study, just leaving behind Qing Ju to serve the brush and ink. The others were all sent to Bai Shao’s side. Last night, it was all quite tough, and because there needed to be someone by the side, they could only go rest in turns.

For human portraits, the first thing Jing Wan thought of was just ‘The Twelve Golden Hairpins[1]‘. Of course, this was also just a title. She naturally can also chose twelve beauties to paint. Regardless whether it was the beauties she had seen before, or slightly altering the face, it was all pretty good subject material.

After deciding on the subject matter, she just started setting to the task, directly painting altogether.

To want to paint well, one naturally can’t be distracted, needing sufficient concentration, spending a certain amount of time, thus having other matters temporarily forgotten.

The four servant girls, Mei, Lan, Zhu, Ju, in the past frequently served Jing Wan in painting, so won’t be a hinderance. On the contrary, the shade of ink for the initial sketch outline was all able to be mixed just right, needless for Jing Wan to carry out adjustments again. At the same time, regardless of which position she was drawing in, the blended ink would all be placed to her right. After getting used to, without even needing to use her eyes, she was all able to dip the ink by reflex, so naturally would save quite a bit of time. This kind of servant girl couldn’t be more considerate.

No one came to disturb her. Even when Bai Shao and Fu Xiao woke up, no one came over, because everything all didn’t need for her to personally come take care of.

About every hour, Jing Wan would take a break, stretching her muscles, sitting down to eat some dessert, then gaze out the window for a moment.

Jing Wan didn’t inquire about the situation outside either.

Afterwards, Li Hong Yuan came over, seeing that Jing Wan’s painting already had all the outlines drawn, even having a portion that had already applied a layer of color.

Because the majority were all rolled up, Li Hong Yuan reached out to unfold, directly seeing the full picture clearly. With just a few strokes, the various sketched out beauties already made one warm to the heart. One can imagine, once finished, it will certainly be another stunning work, yet it was more than enough to show Jing Wan’s certain skills and knowledge. “This is Wan Wan’s first time painting something this big?”

“En, first time.” This painting most likely will take a very long time. Of course, this was still the situation where there was less time to concentrate on this. If relatively scattered, traveling and stopping everywhere, going on a scenic tour, one all may not necessarily be able to finish in a year.

Li Hong Yuan didn’t say any more, just he still wasn’t that pleased inside. As for the reason why he was annoyed, for his own wife’s ‘first time’ to actually not be him, it would be strange for him to be pleased. However, this time, he didn’t reveal his moodiness on the outside either. If because of a painting, he was all able to thoroughly overturn the vinegar jar, then Wan Wan most likely will also ignore him.

In reality, after marrying, the times Jing Wan painted really weren’t many. After all, a certain someone was too clingy. Sometimes, when painting, it will accidentally just change in nature, but there were still those few times when one was able to quietly paint. Li Hong Yuan turned to look at Jing Wan, “Need help?”

Jing Wan paused, turning back to look at him, “No need. Ah Yuan either stay to the side, or go out to do your own thing.” She carried a bit of firmness that didn’t allow for comment.

Li Hong Yuan made a fist, having his hand propped up by his lips, meaningfully smiling, “Wan Wan doesn’t need to be this nervous.”

Getting vaguely teased by this bastard again, Jing Wan shot a glare at him, “Wangye is not allowed to come within five steps of me.”

Li Hong Yuan nodded, expressing no problem.

But, with him agreeing this easily, Jing Wan started worrying again. Turning her head, she gave a strict order to Qing Ju, stay here, without her permission, no allowed to leave.

Towards Jing Wan’s ‘viewing the trees and bushes as soldiers’, Li Hong Yuan stuffily laughed, and just as expected, received Jing Wan’s angry glare again. Li Hong Yuan surrendered, expressing that he ‘didn’t dare’ anymore.

Qing Ju was also covering her mouth and secretly laughing to the side.

Afterwards, Qing Ju also got ‘implicated’ by her own master.

In the following time, all the way until the afternoon meal, Li Hong Yuan was all very ‘obedient’, leaning against the recliner with a languid expression, yet his gaze was exceptionally soft as he watched Jing Wan, as if in his world, there was just her. At first, Jing Wan perhaps would feel uneasy, but as time went on, she also got used to it, and occasionally would also turn back for a glance, carrying a light and gentle smile.

Excluding the matters outside, there was a kind of ‘the years all well and peaceful’ feeling.

All the way until noon, more or less around the afternoon meal time, Jing Wan and them finally left the study. While setting the table, Jing Wan inquired Gong mama about Bai Shao and Fu Xiao’s situation. As expected, they’ve both woken up already.

Bai Shao, needless to say, aside from the relatively few whip wounds on the surface of the body, the places injured by a sharp weapon weren’t just the abdomen. To want to completely move about freely, need at least half a month.

And Fu Xiao appear to just have injuries on the surface of the skin, but having been tortured for a longer period of time, aside from the face and her two hands, it was difficult to find places with intact flesh on her body. Everything else aside, it was just the kind of pain where the entire body was all burning. Presumably, not that many people were able to withstand.

In Jing Wan’s eyes, as long as the person can be saved, it was already of great fortune. What she worried about more was actually their mental state. Psychological trauma usually was the most fatal.

“Specifically what happened, did Bai Shao say?” Jing Wan asked.

“Yes, things were like this…………”

Bai Shao had gone out as per usual, just this time, she encountered Su Ting. That’s right, precisely a certain Inspector General Su’s shu daughter that had been sold to Salt Boss Tie. Su Ting naturally recognized Bai Shao, and Bai Shao couldn’t have possibly forgotten her either.

In terms of martial arts, Bai Shao can dispose of ten to twenty Su Wan Ting in seconds, but in terms of schemes, ten twenty Bai Shao all wasn’t her opponent. It was merely getting blocked to say a few words, yet Bai Shao immediately fell into her trap. The other party had used a certain kind of knock-out drug.

[1] The full title of this is ‘The Twelve Hairpins of Jinling’, and refers to the twelve most outstanding noble daughters in the classic novel ‘Dream of the Red Chamber’. The name is derived from Jinling, the setting where the novel takes place, which was the pre-Han dynasty name for Nanjing, roughly translating to ‘golden hill’, and hairpin is a literary way to refer to daughters.

T/N: Tbh one question that never got answered was what happened to the two servant girls that were with Bai Shao. A part of me feels like even the author forgot about them lol.