Crossing the Mountains

Chapter 36 Give him an advantage
Shen Tuzhuo already knew that she was hired by the Tan family to impersonate them, but he had never thought deeply about how they found her. After hearing Tan Huaike's words, he suddenly realized that she was sold to the Tan family by a human trafficker.

Indeed, she had escaped the assassination attempt and, after entering the country, had surely intended to hide, waiting for the storm to subside before finding a way to make a living. If she had still had some valuables, she wouldn't have had to be manipulated by the Tan family and involved in this absurd marriage, where she was left without any control. The most likely reason for ending up in this situation was that she was picked up by a human trafficker, forced into a contract to sell herself, and then bought by the Tan family, who happened to be looking for a replacement.

However, Tan Huaike never told him about these difficulties.

Shen Tu Zhuo felt reluctant, afraid to touch her pain, and asked awkwardly, "Did the trafficker force you? Did he lock you up in the cellar? Did he...did he beat you?"

Tan Huaike, however, was nonchalant: "Of course I've suffered a lot of injustices. After all, who would be willing to sell themselves into slavery? But fortunately, I'm able to survive. Isn't my life pretty good now?"

"He deserves death for doing this kind of business of taking advantage of others and forcing them into slavery!"

"I'm not sure if the dead person is the trafficker who sold me, so I want to go to that yard to identify him." Tan Huaike said to himself, "If it really is him..."

"how?"

"Nothing, let's go take a look first." Tan Huaike said, "Uncle, can you find a way to take me there?"
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Shentu Zhuo asked Chi Fanyu indirectly.

Chi Fanyu felt a little strange: "Huh? Why are you suddenly interested in this case?"

Shen Tu Zhuo complained, "It's my sister-in-law. She's been running a shop lately and needs some help, so she asked me to find out where she can hire someone or buy a servant. I just heard about that trafficker, but he's gone. And his death was so tragic, people are saying it was his retribution."

Chi Fanyu lowered his voice, "Yes, that man's death was quite strange. I heard from my uncle that the county has searched the entire yard, the house, the woodshed, the cellar, everything. Apart from a few ropes used to tie people up, they didn't find any useful clues, nor the blade used to cut his throat and wrists."

"Didn't anyone around see or hear anything?"

"No, Wu Chou is very cautious. Many of his slaves have unknown origins, but their household registrations and slave contracts are readily available, so it's difficult to find evidence against him. His compound is quite far from the surrounding houses, so they don't interact much. I heard that this makes it easier for him to train his slaves."

"Training slaves?" Shentu Zhuo frowned.

"Yes, the yamen runners found a lot of whips and sticks in the cellar, all used to discipline slaves. He always had slaves who were disobedient and wanted to escape. If the whipping and the screams were too loud, it would inevitably disturb the neighbors. That's why he lived in a very remote and secluded place, so no one paid attention to the incident that day."

Hearing this, Shentu Zhuo gritted his teeth.

Whipping, slave training...

Being forced to sign a contract to sell himself, did Tan Huaike also suffer these hardships?
Such a good person was treated so badly! Cutting his wrists and slitting his throat was too easy for him!

After calming down, he asked, "So you can't find out who did it?"

Chi Fanyu sighed, "We can't find out. The court judge thinks it was most likely an escaped slave who killed him out of spite, but the slaves' indentures haven't been found, so there's no way to match them up."

"Is the case on hold for now? Is the yard still sealed off?"

"The guards have all been removed, but the seal is still there. Tsk, I guess no one will dare to live in this yard anymore."
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In the side courtyard of the Shentu Mansion, Pei'er came back from hanging up the clothes and said to Tan Huaike, "Madam, the second young master asked me to tell you that he will be waiting at the side gate at noon today and invites you to see a house."

"Look at the house?" Tan Huaike understood. "I understand."

"Madam, I, I have something to say..."

"What's wrong?" Hearing her hesitant words, Tan Huaike put down the account book in his hand and asked, "Pei'er, there's something wrong with you since you came back from Yunhexiangjie. Is there something you want to say?"

"Madam, I must first apologize to you." Pei'er suddenly knelt down and kowtowed to her, "That day in Yuefu, I didn't mean to hear you talking with the second young master. I thought you must be hungry and thirsty after browsing the shops for most of the day, so I wanted to send you chestnut cakes and tea, but I heard you say that you were sold by human traffickers..." "So that's what I thought." Tan Huaike hurriedly helped her up, "I'm not the real lady of the Tan family. I was sold into the Tan family by human traffickers, not long before you entered the Tan family.

"I didn't want to hide this from you, but I've been restricted everywhere in the Tan family. Tan Anfu was afraid that if I ran away, there would be no one to marry me, so she locked me up in the house. I didn't dare to let anything out. If something went wrong, it would implicate you. We can't relax for a moment after entering the Shentu Mansion. A while ago, Aunt Liao was watching us all the time, so I didn't explain it specifically.

"But I've already considered you one of my own. I'll have to tell you these things sooner or later. Why should I ask for forgiveness?"

"Madam, please believe me, I will never tell anyone. You are my benefactor. Following you, I feel that my life has hope." Pei'er said earnestly, "If there is anything inconvenient for you to do in the future, you can leave it to Pei'er. Madam, please rest assured that I will protect you."

"Okay, you and I are in the same boat. Let's support each other and things will get better."

The master and servant started talking, and at noon, they appeared together at the side door of the courtyard.

Shentu Zhuo, who had been waiting for a long time, glanced at Pei'er.

Tan Huaike said: "It's okay, Pei'er is one of us."

Shen Tu Zhuo touched the jade pendant and said jokingly, "Oh, she's one of yours, so it seems I am one too?"

Tan Huaike raised his eyelids and said sarcastically, "Of course, you are the powerful uncle who doubted me, threatened me, tested me, and exposed me."

Pei'er smiled secretly with her lips pursed.

Shentu Zhuo: “…” Are you so vindictive?
Soon, the three of them arrived outside the trafficker's courtyard. Pei'er saw the seal on the door and hesitated, "The government seal is still there. We can't go in, right?"

Shen Tu Zhuo waved his hand: "It's okay, I have a way!"

After walking a few more steps with them, I found a ladder on the secluded courtyard wall.

Tan Huaike was surprised: "You want to take us... over the wall? What if we get caught by the yamen runners?"

Shen Tu Zhuo said, "I've asked, the yamen runners have all left, there's no one inside."

So Tan Huaike didn't delay any longer and climbed the ladder and over the wall, pulling Pei'er up with him. Shen Tuzhuo's hands were awkwardly supported on the ladder. He had wanted to show off his skills and help her up, but he didn't expect that his skills would be useless.

There was a pile of firewood on the other side of the courtyard wall, and the three of them jumped into the yard smoothly.

Tan Huaike walked and looked, identifying the place.

In fact, when she arrived outside the courtyard, she vaguely knew that her prediction was correct. She tried to escape from here several times, but was dragged back by the human trafficker several times.

She was beaten, kicked, and insulted in this yard until she completely lost the strength to resist.

How could you forget?

Stepping over the dried blood on the ground, Tan Huaike stopped in front of the flap of the cellar.

She said, “This is it.”
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　Next Chapter: You are my sister-in-law now...

　　
　
(End of this chapter)