Chapter 179

Right after Gancao and that man went past the intersection and reached a path lined with willow trees, a group of men suddenly appeared from behind the trees. After a linen bag was placed over Gancao’s head and her hands and feet were swiftly tied up, they carried her away.

Gancao was being kidnapped in broad daylight! Ji Man anxiously shouted, “A woman is being kidnapped! Please save my servant girl!”

Anxiously running forward, Ji Man almost tripped. As she took a moment to stabilize herself, she looked forward at the intersection.

The kidnappers were very quick. By the time the nearby bystanders had heard her shout and looked in the direction, the kidnappers had already gone over a wall. Who knows where they were taking Gancao?

A deep feeling of dread rose in her heart. Ji Man felt utterly helpless. She had only watched as Gancao was kidnapped and hadn’t been able to do anything to stop them. Although the ancient world didn’t have anything as terrifying as black market organ selling, nothing good could happen to a woman after being kidnapped!

Ji Man hastily went to local authorities office to report Gancao’s kidnapping. Unfortunately, most of the people had already gone home today because it was New Year.

The head official could only apologize with a smile, “Madam Ning, don’t worry. This official will think of a way to find her.”

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By the time these people thought of a method, who knows where Gancao would have been sold off? With a stony expression, Ji Man started walking out of the office. Just as she was about to return to the marquis’s residence to ask him for help, she saw Ning Mingjie at the entrance. He looked a bit breathless as if he had been running around.

Ning Mingjie looked at her and asked, “Didn’t we said that we would meet at Yongning Street’s corner? Why did you come here instead? I’ve been looking for you everywhere.”

At the sight of this person, Ji Man almost couldn’t stop herself from crying. She quietly said, “Gancao was kidnapped by traffickers.”

Ning Mingjie froze in surprise for a moment. “How could that be possible?”

Lately, there had been many kidnapping cases in the capital. As a result, the emperor had specially ordered him to investigate this trafficking group. In the past two days, there had been a few servant girls in the marquis’s household that were almost kidnapped, and he had asked them questions to try to find clues to this case, but they weren’t able to prove any helpful information.

He hadn’t expected that he would encounter this situation today.

Ji Man said, “An honest-looking farmer came up to us to ask for directions. The place he wanted to go to was a bit remote. Gancao went with him to point out the directions, but a group of people covered her head with a linen bag and snatched her away. I only watched as she got kidnapped,”

For a moment, Ning Mingjie was stumped for words. This was the first time someone witnessed the crime as a bystander. “Which direction did they go?”

Ji Man hurriedly led him to the street corner and pointed the direction for him.

Ning Mingjie’s eyes brightened. “Go back with Steward Qian first. Let me handle Gancao’s matter.”

Ji Man looked at his appearance that seemed as if he had already had a well-thought out plan and nodded. There was no point in her staying outside to worry. She could only return home for now.

—

Lying in her bed after returning to her room, Ji Man felt somewhat uncomfortable. In addition, she had been feeling uneasy and had recently experienced something shocking. She rubbed her stomach and decided that she should call Doctor Li over.

Recently, Li Zixiu had become considerably haggard looking. He probably hadn’t recovered over what had happened with Muxu. But, he still properly bowed to Nie Sangyu when he entered the room and diligently checked her pulse.

“The fetus has been slightly disturbed,” he said, “You should drink some medicine to stabilize it.”

In order to avoid other people, especially Marquis Moyu, from finding out about her pregnancy, Ji Man hadn’t drank any common prenatal medicine.

But today, she didn’t have any other options. She ordered Dengxin to prepare the medicine for her and told her that it was just an ordinary bowl of nourishing soup. Anyways, other people wouldn’t be able to tell that it was pregnancy medicine just by smelling it.

Doctor Li didn’t leave behind a prescription. Instead, he personally prepared the herbs and brought them over, then he bowed before leaving.

Ji Man felt that this person was pretty good. Although he had initially helped Muxu by lying to her, he had been willing to turn back once he had found out about the truth. The fact that he didn’t say any useless words like he wouldn’t betray her again made her feel a lot more assured than anything he could have said.

After the herbal medicine had been cooked, just as Dengxin was about to bring a bowl of it to Nie Sangyu, she saw Wen Wan suddenly returning to Feiwan Courtyard.

Looking at the bowl of medicine, Wen Wan asked, “What’s that?”

Dengxin rolled her eyes and didn’t even bother with answering her question. Instead, she continued walking to Nie Sangyu’s room.

Unexpectedly, Wen Wan followed Dengxin inside. Looking at Nie Sangyu, who was lying on the bed, Wen Wan asked, “Madam, are you sick? The scent of this medicine seems somewhat familiar. What type of medicine is it?”

Ji Man raised her eyebrows. How could she have forgotten? Wen Wan had once been pregnant and would naturally be familiar with the types of medicines that a pregnant woman would take.

Ji Man smiled and said, “This medicine isn’t for me. Isn’t the marquis sick? I had Dengxin prepare this medicine for him. It’s a nourishing medicinal soup. It had ginseng and young deer antler.”

Wen Wan also smiled. “This servant was just wondering about this. How could Madam not show a token of her care when the marquis is sick? This servant had just come back to get my things. Since this servant happens to be here, how about this servant brings this over for Madam?”

“No need,” Ji Man said, “Dengxin can bring it over herself.”

Dengxin was stunned. Wasn’t this medicine for Madam because she wasn’t feeling well? How did it become nourishing medicinal soup for the marquis? Regardless of her confusion, she still had to listen to her master’s order. She immediately put the bowl of soup away and carried it to the western courtyard.

After placing the medicine on the table, Dengxin said, “Marquis, my master sent over this nourishing soup.” Feeling a little worried, she added, “If this medicine tastes too bitter, its okay to not drink it.”