Chapter 934: They’re heading north (2/2)

Mu Linger burst into tears. “I’m begging you both…” Before she finished, the old masked man had already lowered the curtains to ignore her. Unresigned, Mu Linger began to plead again. “I’m begging you both, please change to another carriage. If this jolting keeps on, the child in my womb will…”

The man driving the carriage abruptly stopped at her words before raising the curtains to stare at Mu Linger. Both she and Ning Jing were surprised, but there was no time to worry about that now. Mu Linger sobbed as she cried, “Sir, I’m begging you, the child is innocent! If anything happens to my baby, you won’t get any good out of kidnapping me anyways. Sobsob…”

Mu Linger’s bright, limpid eyes were quite affecting when she pretended to cry. It’d be impossible for the two men to doubt her. The older one gave a snort. “Gu Qishao’s seed?”

Mu Linger hadn’t considered the problem, but she nodded without hesitation at the misunderstanding. “It’s Qi gege’s. Please, as long as you can preserve the child, Qi gege will do whatever you guys want!”

“Interesting! Hehe!” the old man glanced at the younger one, whose eyes grew sinister.

“Having a baby without marrying first? You have no shame. What a slut!”

“Gu Qishao doesn’t know that Linger bears his child. Protect it and you’ll have an extra counter no matter what happens,” Ning Jing spoke up next.

The old man seemed moved, but the young man remained indifferent until Ning Jing added, “Sirs, if Mu Linger suffers a miscarriage in the middle of the wilderness like this, both mother and child could lose their life. Don’t regret it then!”

Mu Linger continued to weep. “Qi gege...sobsob...Qi gege, where are you?”

She’d started out acting, but her tears had touched on her wounded heart. Now it was impossible to hold herself back. The more she cried, the sadder she felt. Her pleas for “Qi gege” were enough to break a person’s heart. Even Ning Jing almost fell for her tale.

The old man chuckled. “Don’t even think of changing a carriage. We’ll just watch where we drive!”

“If you die, then it serves you right!” the young man chimed in.

The curtains were dropped sternly after that, but the carriage didn’t jolt as much as before. Their speed had fallen as well. Mu Linger silently exhaled and made a face at Ning Jing, who relaxed and grinned back.

Ning Jing murmured, “Mu Linger, I think the person who kidnapped you holds a strong grudge.”

Mu Linger gave a start before she suddenly realized something. “Manager Jin!” If there was anyone in Myriad Merchant Hall who had designs against her, it’d be him!

“If that’s the case, why did they kidnap you?” Mu Linger asked.

Ning Jing couldn’t figure it out either. Judging from the two men, they seemed less like master and subordinate and more like cohorts in crime. Ning Jing couldn’t guess who in Myriad Merchant Hall would want to kidnap her and knew Manager Jin.

“T-they’re not thinking of selling us off to Wintercrow Country as slaves, right?” Mu Linger asked in a frightened voice. Wintercrow Country was not only famous for its battle horses, but its slave markets as well!

“Neither of us would fetch a good price in Wintercrow Country, but we can be used to threaten Myriad Merchant Hall and Han Yunxi,” Ning Jing replied.

As they chatted, the carriage suddenly slowed to a stop. This time, it was the young man who entered. He looked at Mu Linger coldly but didn’t say a word. Ning Jing grew afraid, but the courageous Mu Linger only glared back without showing a trace of weakness.

“I’m very valuable!” she declared.

“Yes! Very valuable!” the young man echoed with a grin.

“You--what do you want to do?”

The man didn’t reply, but suddenly grabbed Mu Linger and placed her in a sitting position before loosening all her bonds except the ones around her legs. Then he tossed her a canteen of water and two cold mantou before withdrawing. Mu Linger rejoiced. Once she was sure the man wouldn’t come in again, she quickly used the hot water in the canteen to warm a mantou and handed them to Ning Jing.

“Hurry and eat them, quick!”

“I can’t eat this much, you eat too,” Ning Jing murmured back.

“I’ll only give you one, there’s no more even if you want more!” Mu Linger murmured before she wrapped the other mantou in a handkerchief and hid it away. “We need to save this for emergencies, who knows what they’re planning.”

Ning Jing’s eyes, which had been icy since her youth, suddenly warmed. She felt like crying.

--

Meanwhile, Tang Li and Fifth Elder had set their suspicions on Manager Jin.

“He’s supposed to pay his debts but never showed up. Who else could it be but him?” Tang Li said with a sinister expression. After searching through all of Willowflower Alley, he’d found nothing.

Fifth Elder was about to speak when a little pageboy dashed in. “Fifth Elder, Tang Clan Head, there’s news of Uncle Cheng!”