Divorced woman with child travels through time

For a moment, everyone fell silent. Then they heard the low quacking of wild ducks among the weeds in the riverbed.

Suddenly, the sound of horses' hooves came from the road. "Uncle, someone's coming!" Chu Yi whispered.

Wang Erniu waved his hand, signaling him to be quiet.

Everyone held their breath as they watched four burly men on horseback, followed by a simple, unadorned carriage with a thick curtain drawn, slowly approach the entrance to the tunnel.

The coachman dismounted first. Several burly men also immediately dismounted and looked around. Everyone quickly crouched down and hid.

Wang Erniu looked over cautiously and saw a short, middle-aged man emerge from the carriage, followed by a little girl. They were too far away to hear what she was saying.

The man leading the group said to the girl who got out of the car, "Take good care of her later, understand?" The girl nodded.

"Is this the place?" the man asked again. The coachman nodded and pointed. "This is it!"

"You two! Come and pry it open."

Two burly men walked over, parted the dead branches, and moved a large stone under the tree, revealing a wooden plank about the size of a well opening.

The short man stepped forward and knocked twice on each of the four corners of the wooden plank. The plank turned into a small door and opened, revealing a round wooden lock with a rope attached. The man pulled the rope back, and it shortened and retracted, causing the two planks to close and lock together.

Meanwhile, the wealthy merchant inside the cellar heard a bell ring. He stood up, kicked Chen Wenfang, and said, "Madam Chen, wake up, let's go."

Chen Wenfang slowly woke up, pretending to be sleepy as she rubbed her eyes, and slowly sat up, saying, "Ouch, my back hurts a little, please wait a moment." As she spoke, while he turned around to get his luggage, she took the opportunity to run her fingers through her hair and pull the silver-plated iron hairpin off her head, hiding it in her sleeve.

Chen Wenfang obediently followed the wealthy merchant, walking step by step through the dimly lit cellar. She kept her head slightly lowered. The cellar wasn't very high, and there was a dim oil lamp lit every now and then. It took the two of them about the time it takes to drink two cups of tea to walk before they reached the entrance. The wealthy merchant fumbled on the wall and pressed something. A gust of cool wind blew by, and Chen Wenfang realized that the entrance had suddenly opened.

"Madam Chen, please go up first!" the wealthy merchant said.

Chen Wenfang did not resist and obediently climbed out of the cave step by step along the earthen steps.

The short man at the cave entrance was peering out. By the moonlight, he saw the cave entrance wide open, and a pretty woman crawled out from inside.

Wang Erniu, who had been hunting in the forest for a long time, had excellent eyesight. He watched as Chen Wenfang crawled out of the cave. The short man reached out to help her, but Chen Wenfang glanced at him, pushed his hand away, and crawled out on her own, clinging to the soil at the cave entrance. The wealthy businessman followed closely behind and also emerged.

The short man wasn't annoyed. He bowed and said with a fawning smile, "This must be Madam Chen, right? My name is Liu Yang. Please get in the carriage with me. This is the maid I've assigned to you. She will take care of you along the way."

Chen Wenfang said irritably, "Where are you taking me? I know where I'm supposed to go, don't I?"

The wealthy merchant raised his broken eyebrows, making them appear even more like willow leaves split open. "This, my wife, you don't need to know. You can just go with them."

Wang Erniu, watching from a distance, saw them about to take Chen Wenfang to the carriage over there and couldn't help but ask, "Lord Ma Liu, they're about to make their move. Are you going to watch or go with them?"

Ma Liu said, "What are you talking about? Of course we'll go together!"

"Go!" With that, Wang Erniu darted out. The others quickly followed.

"Oh no! Mr. Zhong, hurry!" the coachman exclaimed, and quickly climbed onto the carriage.

The wealthy businessman turned out to be Zhong Chang, a subordinate whom Zhao Qixin had recruited. Zhong Chang reacted the moment the coachman called for help, reaching out to grab Chen Wenfang, as did the others, who chased after her.

Chen Wenfang also realized what was happening and saw Wang Erniu in the distance, so she immediately ran towards him.

Seeing Zhong Chang about to grab Chen Wenfang's arm, Wang Erniu swiftly swung his arm, sending a dart flying towards Zhong Chang.

Chen Wenfang ran towards Wang Erniu with all her might. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed that Zhong Chang was about to grab her. She also realized that Wang Erniu was swinging his arm and was definitely going to throw a dart. In a moment of quick thinking, she lunged forward and fell heavily to the ground. The dart flew diagonally toward Zhong Chang's hand and hit his arm. The next dart she threw was blocked by a big man who caught up with her and fell to the ground.

Zhong Chang and the others were about to rush over to arrest her, but when they saw the officials rushing towards them, they turned around and ran away.

Ma Liu took the lead, shouting, "What are you running for? No way!" He stopped one of them, grabbed a large machete, and flew over to fight several burly men. The others were no slouch either, and they caught three people and started fighting. The coachman pulled the injured Zhong Chang away first, while the others held off the others.

With the addition of Wang Hanyang and Lü Xiong, the four burly men were ultimately no match for them. They fought and retreated, and the leader, seeing the situation was unfavorable, managed to escape, while the other three were captured. Wang Erniu, preoccupied with Chen Wenfang, only relaxed after discovering she was unharmed, tightly holding her hand and asking with relief, "Wife, are you alright? Why did they capture you?"

"I'm fine." Chen Wenfang shook her head. "They just want me to do things for them."

“Master Wang, the other men have already fled. We need to investigate this matter as soon as possible. The messenger has already told me what happened. Since Madam Chen is unharmed, we will go back to report.” Ma Liu said, clasping his hands.

Wang Erniu nodded, "Thank you all for your hard work. This matter concerns my wife's reputation, so please keep it a secret. I will host a dinner at Chen's Restaurant another day, and I would like to invite you all to join me for a meal."

Ma Liudao said, "Master Wang, you're too kind. It's our duty." The three of them then led the bandits away, taking the horses they had left behind with them.

Chu Yizhuang came over with concern and asked, "Godmother, are you alright?"

"Sister-in-law, are you alright?"

Wang Hanyang also asked, "Second sister-in-law, is everything alright?"

Chen Wenfang patted the dirt off her knees and said, "It's alright, it's alright, let's go back. How are the children?"

Wang Hanyang smiled and said, "Don't worry, Second Sister-in-law, Xiaoguang has already taken them all back. They must be resting well at the manor."

Chen Wenfang nodded, "That's good, let's go back!"

The group mounted their horses, and Wang Erniu pulled Chen Wenfang along on one horse. They returned to Chen's shop without incident. When they passed Zhong's grain shop, Chen Wenfang glanced at it and saw that the door had been sealed off.

"Who do you think did this?" Chen Wenfang asked, blinking her big eyes and leaning against Wang Erniu's broad chest.

Wang Erniu put his hand around her waist, held the reins, and the horse walked slowly. He was relieved that Chen Wenfang was alright.

"No need to ask, it must be the master behind Li Qingshan. If I'm not mistaken, it should be someone from the Zhao Prince's Mansion. This time, I was really scared." This was the first time Wang Erniu had ever hated someone so much. Since he hadn't stayed back then, he shouldn't have come looking for her again.