A husband found in the village? I bought a regent for a penny!

Gu Xixi stood facing He Jinglan, paused for a moment, and felt a little guilty for some reason.

"……Um."

"Based on your description, it seems... it must be us."

He Jinglan said knowingly, "Then you also know who is looking for you?"

It was rare for Gu Xixi to have such a wandering gaze when she spoke to someone. "Maybe... I guess... it's Elder Fan."

He Jinglan fell backward, choking, "I knew it!"

"How could Gu Xixi do anything without thinking it through!"

He Jinglan took a deep breath, quickly composed herself, and grabbed Gu Xixi's hand as they went downstairs.

"Come on, let's talk in my car!"

The two girls walked hand in hand quickly across the inn's lobby.

An Qinghe and Jiang Mingyuan looked up in astonishment. Before they could ask any questions, He Jinglan simply said without looking at them, "I'm taking her away. Do as you please," and pulled Gu Xixi out of the inn.

The horse-drawn carriage moved slowly down the street.

He Jinglan stared at Gu Xixi, "Tell me, what's the deal with that girl who was traveling with you? While I wasn't around, were you picking up random people again?"

Gu Xixi had gotten herself into a lot of trouble this time. Knowing she was in the wrong, she could only mutter under her breath, "What do you mean, picking up random people again? When have I ever picked anyone up?"

He Jinglan said, "Isn't Mu Qixiu the one you picked up? He's in our village, under that big locust tree at the village entrance!"

Gu Xixi straightened her back and reiterated, "It was bought under duress for one penny, not found!"

He Jinglan waved her hand, "Alright, alright, one penny! What's the difference between that and finding it?"

Gu Xixi fell silent.

He Jinglan looked at her again, exasperated, "You, every time you pick someone up, the commotion you cause is earth-shattering, why don't you ever learn your lesson?"

"That old man surnamed Fan looks kind and gentle, but he is actually the most ruthless and vicious. He loves to stab people in the back. He probably has a lot of lives on his hands."

"If it weren't for my brother keeping an eye on the Fan family and sensing something was amiss, and finding your trail first, my heart would still be pounding just thinking about it!"

Gu Xixi looked up and chuckled sheepishly, "I know you're worried about my safety, you're really anxious."

She then asked seriously, "Has your brother not yet figured out why Old Man Fan is targeting us?"

Once He Jinglan started thinking, she forgot her anger and nodded, "Indeed."

“You’re a farming girl from the Northwest. You can’t possibly get in his way, nor do you have any chance to offend him.”

"It's even more impossible for Anqing to be a merchant from the Hu people."

"As for Jiang Mingyuan, Old Man Fan might be able to win him over and recruit him for his own use in the future."

Gu Xixi laughed, "You're absolutely right, I did offend him."

He Jinglan was taken aback, and said unhappily, "None of the three of you have a chance for now, so it can only be because of the girl you picked up?"

"You're almost being targeted by that old man, and you can still laugh!"

Gu Xixi said slowly, "If you had heard the reason from me, you would have done the same thing as me."

He Jinglan adopted an attentive listening posture, letting Gu Xixi tell her everything.

A cup of tea is over.

boom!

He Jinglan slammed her hand on the table, furious. "You scoundrel! You dog!"

"This corrupt official is in cahoots with the local tyrant; he deserves to be torn to pieces!!"

Now it was Gu Xixi's turn to persuade He Jinglan to calm down.

He Jinglan said, "For a young girl to encounter such a thing, to dare to travel all the way to the capital to clear her parents' name, what incredible courage she mustered!"

She turned to Gu Xixi, "Where is she now?"

Gu Xixi said, "Lü Jing left after arriving in Beijing."

"Old Fan's men failed to catch us on the first day they entered the city, and it's probably not that easy to find us now."

He Jinglan nodded. "After all, the Fan family's instructions were: a group of young people, two men and two women, in a carriage, including a Hu person, a scholar, and two beautiful girls."

"They have no portraits, only the characteristics described above."

"Therefore, it is indeed safer for Miss Lü to live separately from you."

The population of Beijing is so large that it is comparable to the number of grains of sand in the Yellow River.

Even if Gu Xixi appeared in public with An Qinghe and Jiang Mingyuan, no one could be sure that they were the people that Grand Secretary Fan was looking for.

He Jinglan pondered, "According to what you said, that bully is just a nobody from Nan Yi County, without any official rank. What about his parents? Who are his family members? Did Miss Lü mention them?"

Gu Xixi recalled, "Lu Jing said that his family had a large number of servants, unlike ordinary wealthy gentry."

"Furthermore, he is only twenty-two years old. Despite having elderly parents to care for, he can make all the decisions on his own."

“Even when he went out with his parents, he never rode in a sedan chair together. Many people have seen him yelling at his parents, while the old couple just lowered their heads and let him be disrespectful and unfilial.”

"Lu Jing said that people in their area say in private that the Fan family's elderly couple raised their son to be a tyrant."

At this point, the two looked at each other simultaneously.

He Jinglan asked, "You've noticed something's wrong too?"

Gu Xixi nodded.

He Jinglan said, "For that old man surnamed Fan to personally send people to resolve the trouble, perhaps Fan Dongping really is not just an ordinary distant relative of the Fan family."

"Yes, this is worth digging deeper!" She nodded, a confident smile spreading across her face. "I think there's someone who'll be most interested in this news!"

"Let's go tell him now."

Gu Xixi was startled, stood up and bent over, "I'm not going! You go yourself! I want to get off the bus!"

He Jinglan glanced sideways, "What are you thinking about? We're not going to the Regent's Palace."

“Mu Qixiu is busy with official business at the moment. If it’s not official business, even my brother won’t be able to find him.”

Gu Xixi sat back down, exhausted.

He Jinglan said with a hint of amusement, "Why do I feel like you seem a little disappointed?"

Gu Xixi vehemently denied it, "I didn't."

"I've made up my mind to curry favor with the He family. However..."

She looked at He Jinglan earnestly, "You said yourself that the Fan family is not a kind person. Won't this put your brother in a difficult position?"

He Jinglan also became serious, "No, it might be a confidential matter. All I know is that the Fan family's good days are numbered."

"And then there's Mu Qixiu, I know! I know you don't want to hear about him, and you don't care what happens to him."

Gu Xixi broke out in a cold sweat. She was really doing this on purpose!

He Jinglan smiled slyly, "I was just casually chatting with you. Everyone in the court knows that the Regent and Grand Secretary Fan are at odds. At first, the Fan family wanted to make amends and ease the tension. Thinking that the Regent was lonely, they sent him twelve extremely beautiful geishas, ​​plus two pretty concubine daughters."

"And guess what happened?"

Without hesitation, Gu Xixi replied, "What else can we do? You wrote in your letter that you'd give everyone the cold shoulder."

He Jinglan smiled and shook her finger. "No, no, no, he did not let these people into the mansion, but he also did not let them leave."

"The guards of the Prince's Palace took these people to the largest brothel in Pingkang Ward overnight."

Gu Xixi stared in disbelief, "A brothel?"

He Jinglan described vividly, "At that time of night, Pingkang Ward is at its most bustling, with dignitaries and nobles coming and going."

"The guards loudly announced the origins of these women outside the brothel, and said that if the Fan family did not come to take them away, they would have to sell them all to the brothel for a single penny by dawn."