Marrying a concubine and swallowing her dowry? The mistress turns around and marries a high-ranking

Chapter 21

Hong Qing nodded: "This servant has found out that the two little boys and girls that Madam gave birth to are indeed safe and sound, and are being raised on a very remote estate!"

Hong Qing first went to the estates belonging to the Marquis of Yongning, but found nothing there. She figured the Marquis wouldn't raise a child on an estate under his own name; it would be too easy to be discovered.

The incident happened three years ago. Since Red Dragonfly couldn't find any clues, she could only use a clumsy method, checking each and every manor around Kyoto, which is why it took so long.

Finally, they found it at a manor fifty miles from the capital. This manor was not under the name of the Marquis of Yongning, but the owner was a member of the Qin family.

Shen Lingjun stood there blankly.

Her two biological children...

They're still there!

Countless emotions surged up like a tide, impacting Shen Lingjun's heart and instantly bringing tears to her eyes.

Her voice was even hoarse as she urgently asked, "How...are they?"

Hong Qing quickly reassured them, "Madam, please rest assured, the young master and young lady have not been mistreated. However, the young master seems to have a congenital heart condition and is rather frail..."

As Shen Lingjun listened to Hong Qing's description, his heart gradually calmed down.

Just as she had expected, her two children were, after all, of the Qin family bloodline. Qin Shaoze and Old Madam Qin had no reason to abandon or abuse them; they simply sent them away to be raised elsewhere.

Her son has a heart condition, which explains why Old Mrs. Qin did not object to Qin Shaoze switching the children.

Qin Xuanrui has no congenital diseases, and Old Madam Qin certainly hopes that the eldest son of the Marquis's family is a healthy child.

But heart disease was no problem for Shen Lingjun. Since her son had grown to the age of three and was only somewhat weak, it meant that his heart disease was not very serious.

As long as we bring her back, she will definitely be cured!

Shen Lingjun felt a lump in her throat, wishing she could see her two children immediately.

But by then it was past midnight, and the city gates were already closed; the only way to go was tomorrow.

Shen Lingjun couldn't sleep all night, tossing and turning, his mind filled with thoughts of how to take each step next.

The next day, Shen Lingjun pretended to visit Madam Wen at the Shen residence again and left the Marquis's residence early in the morning.

Once outside, Red Dragonfly had already prepared an ordinary carriage, without any markings of the Yongning Marquis's residence.

There was also a simple set of clothes and a veiled hat. Shen Lingjun changed his clothes in the carriage, carefully disguised himself, and then left the city.

She wanted to bring her two children back to the Yongning Marquis's residence, but that was no easy task and required careful planning. Today was just a preliminary visit to assess the situation.

Therefore, she must not be discovered, lest she alert the enemy.

The carriage left the city and traveled for half a day before arriving at the village that Red Dragonfly had mentioned.

Shen Lingjun disguised herself as a female itinerant doctor, passed by the village, asked for a cup of water, and casually inquired if anyone in the village was sick, offering to provide free medical consultation.

There were dozens of people in the village. The farmers worked hard all year round, and they inevitably suffered from headaches, fevers, backaches and other ailments. When they heard that a traveling doctor who didn't charge money had come, they all rushed over to see Shen Lingjun for treatment.

Shen Lingjun wrote out prescriptions for them one by one. This was something that came naturally to her.

Finally, a middle-aged woman hesitated before approaching. She was dressed much more respectably than the other servants on the estate, clearly indicating a higher status, at least that of someone in charge.

Shen Lingjun had heard Hong Qing's description and knew that this middle-aged woman was Li Ma, who was responsible for raising her twins.

Years ago, Li Ma secretly left the Marquis's mansion with a pair of twins, a boy and a girl, and came to the estate with two young maids. She raised the twins herself. Old Madam Qin would send people to visit them from time to time, and occasionally she would come in person a few times.

With a sorrowful and desperate expression, Li Ma asked Shen Lingjun with difficulty, "Doctor, I have a child here who has... a serious illness. Could you take a look at him?"

Shen Lingjun's heart skipped a beat.

A child with a serious illness...

Are you talking about her son?

Has his heart condition flared up?

Shen Lingjun immediately agreed: "Of course."

She followed Li Ma to a room in the back.

There was a boy lying on the bed in the room. Shen Lingjun realized that the child Li Ma was talking about was not her son, because the child was at least six or seven years old.

He was emaciated, breathing heavily in bed, trying to suppress his cough, and looked to be in great pain.

Shen Lingjun immediately recognized it: "He has... tuberculosis?"

Tears welled up in Li's eyes immediately: "Yes... he's my only son... I've taken him to so many doctors, but nothing worked... Some doctors wouldn't even examine him, saying he's... he's beyond saving..."

As she spoke, Li Ma was overcome with grief and could no longer hold back. She rushed out into the courtyard, squatted down, and burst into tears.

Shen Lingjun followed.

Tuberculosis is indeed considered an incurable disease by most people, and it is also contagious, so it's no wonder that some doctors are reluctant to treat it.

But she is not an ordinary doctor.

Shen Lingjun calmly said to Li Ma, "I can cure your son's illness."

Li Ma's crying stopped abruptly.

She looked up at Shen Lingjun in disbelief, her eyes wide.

"Doctor...you...you're telling the truth?"

Shen Lingjun didn't say much. He took Li Ma's son's pulse and listened to his lung sounds. Then he took out paper and pen and quickly wrote out a prescription.

"There are many medicines here, but you probably can't buy them. I'll have someone deliver them to you later. Take them for half a month, and I'll come back to check on you after that."

He further instructed, "When you come into contact with your son, both of you must cover your mouth and nose with a cloth to reduce the possibility of infection."

Li Ma was stunned for several seconds, as if she had seen Guanyin Bodhisattva appear, and she knelt down before Shen Lingjun with a thud, kowtowing frantically.

"Thank you, thank you so much! ...I could never repay your immense kindness, even if I worked like a slave..."

After writing the prescription, Shen Lingjun prepared to leave.

No money was charged. Not charging money makes it seem more credible.

As she walked out of the courtyard gate, she saw a little girl and a little boy, both around three years old.

The two children look very alike, both resembling Shen Lingjun.

The girl had large, clear black and white eyes, and wore two small braids. She was as pretty as a doll that had stepped out of a New Year's painting. The boy was a little thinner, with a pale, sickly complexion and bluish lips and under-eyes, which indicated a heart condition.

Neither of them were dressed badly, and they were quite clean, but there was something inexplicably off about them.

It's like... they don't seem like three-year-olds.

Shen Lingjun was shocked!

These two children must be her twins, a boy and a girl!

Her heart was like a raging torrent, and tears almost welled up in her eyes, but she tried her best to hold them back and showed no emotion.

Now is not the time, not the time...

Shen Lingjun clenched her hands tightly under her sleeves, forcing herself to look away and walk straight past without stopping.

But what she didn't know was that after she walked over, the boy's eyes followed her intently until she disappeared from sight.

His dark eyes trembled slightly, glistening with tears, and shimmered with a complex light that was not at all like a child's.

"mother......"

......

Shen Lingjun returned to the city dejectedly.

Her mind was filled with the image of the two children she had just seen.

Although it was just a brief encounter, she seemed to have imprinted every single detail of them in her mind, so clearly and vividly.

Lost in her own thoughts, she didn't notice that when she left the manor, the sky was already overcast and a strong wind was blowing all around.

After the carriage had been traveling for half an hour, the rain began to pour down.

The rain grew heavier and heavier, and the strong winds, carrying the downpour, wove together a white curtain between heaven and earth.

The official road quickly became very muddy, with puddles of all sizes everywhere, making it increasingly difficult for the carriage to move forward.

Suddenly, the carriage veered sharply to the side and came to a stop.

The coachman cried out from outside, "Madam! The wheels are stuck in the mud! They're stuck!"

Red Dragonfly quickly got out of the car to help push it.

Shen Lingjun had no choice but to get out of the carriage. Although it was raining heavily outside, she couldn't stay in the carriage any longer, otherwise the carriage would be impossible to push out, and she was in a hurry to get back to the city.

There was an umbrella on the carriage, but in such a fierce wind and rain, the umbrella was better than nothing.

Shen Lingjun had only been out of the carriage for a few moments when she was soaked to the bone. The umbrella was being blown askew by the wind, and she couldn't hold it steady at all. The rain was being blown over by the wind and poured all over her body.

The official road was surrounded by open fields, with nowhere to take shelter from the rain. Shen Lingjun had no choice but to stand still, holding the umbrella as low as possible, watching the coachman and Hong Qing struggle to lift the wheels out of the mud pit.

Although the wheels were lifted out, they were already damaged when they got stuck in the mud and could no longer be driven normally.

The coachman, soaked to the bone, stood there helplessly in the pouring rain, utterly bewildered: "Madam, what... what should we do? We can't fix the carriage ourselves in this desolate wilderness..."

Shen Lingjun wasn't in much better shape either; she was also very troubled: "We can only wait and see if the rain stops."

Just then, she turned her head and saw two people on two horses approaching one after the other through the vast rain.

Both of them were wearing straw hats and raincoats, which was much better than using an umbrella in such windy and rainy weather.

A man rode up to the front, reached out and lifted his bamboo hat, revealing a face that was both effeminate and beautiful, and whose gender was indistinguishable.

Mo Chonggui looked down at Shen Lingjun with a half-smile.

"Madam Shen looks quite disheveled?"