The more cowardly a person is, the more wild they are; I've driven the villainous minister craz

Three days ago, in Shengjing.

After returning to the capital, Wang Wanshu did not go back to the Prince Chen's residence, but went straight to that house.

That house is still abandoned and unattended for many years, with only an old man guarding the gate.

The old man was shocked when he heard about Wang Wanshu's request.

But Wang Wanshu directly ordered Qiaobi to give him a silver ingot.

The old man immediately led the way without hesitation.

The abandoned house had been neglected for a long time, overgrown with weeds and in a dilapidated state.

It bears no resemblance to the new house in Wang Wanshu's memory, yet every road here somehow matches the house in her memory.

She remembered that the inscription was carved in the pavilion next to the pond in the backyard.

The group arrived at the backyard. Wang Wanshu stopped outside the pavilion and raised her hand to Qiaobi and the old man, saying, "You stay here, I'll go over by myself."

Taking a deep breath in secret, Wang Wanshu slowly walked towards the central pavilion.

The pavilion was nothing like the one she remembered, but she clearly remembered that the two inscriptions were on the pillar next to the water.

The closer she got, the more uneasy Wang Wanshu felt.

She was also afraid that what she had foreseen was just a dream.

She walked very slowly in the last few steps, and she didn't dare to look up at the place where the inscription should be.

It wasn't until Qiaobi spoke up from outside the pavilion, "Princess, what's wrong?"

Wang Wanshu turned her gaze to look at her, but her peripheral vision caught a dent in the wall, and she froze.

As if suddenly realizing something, a look of joy flashed across her face. She quickly looked at the dent and slowly reached out to touch it.

“Yun…Shu…”

"It's not a dream! It's not a dream!" Wang Wanshu touched those two words with great affection and laughed with joy.

The old man and Qiaobi outside the pavilion were both startled.

The old man felt a little scared at the sight and quickly said cautiously, "Honorable sir, I still have to guard the gate, so I'll go out first."

Qiaobi didn't stop her.

The old man fled quickly, and Qiaobi looked at the seemingly deranged princess with growing unease.

What's wrong with the princess?

While Qiaobi was anxiously pondering, Wang Wanshu had already regained her composure.

She calmly walked out of the pavilion, looked at Qiaobi, and said, "Do me a favor..."

***

A dilapidated temple in Huicheng County.

Yu Wan woke up amidst a suppressed sob.

The moment she regained consciousness, she couldn't help but cough violently.

"Sister." A small, thin hand reached out from the side, and something cold was offered to her lips. "Sister, have some water."

Yu Wan eagerly opened her mouth and drank the water that was handed to her. Only after she finished drinking did she realize what was happening. Startled, she suddenly opened her eyes.

He met a pair of thin, yet clear black and white eyes.

"Sister..." The disheveled little girl was probably frightened by her reaction, and shrank back a little, whispering, "Sister, would you like some more water?"

"The women who were brought here were all drugged, and their throats would feel very sore when they first woke up..."

Yu Wan opened her mouth, but no sound came out.

I felt like my throat was on fire.

She glanced around discreetly and realized that she was in a place that resembled a dungeon. Besides her and the little girl who was feeding her water, there were a dozen or so other disheveled girls huddled together in twos and threes.

They all looked to be no more than twenty years old.

Yu Wan had some guesses in her mind, and nodded to the little girl, indicating that she wanted to drink more water.

The little girl poured another glass of water and held it to Yu Wan's lips.

Yu Wan wanted to drink it herself, but her hands were too weak to exert any force.

The little girl explained in a soft voice, "Don't be afraid, sister. You'll have the strength again once the medicine wears off."

Yu Wan smiled at her and drank five glasses of water from her hand before the burning sensation in her throat subsided.

"I..." Yu Wan managed to utter a hoarse sound, her brows furrowed as she asked, "Where are we?"

The little girl sat down beside her, hugged her knees, shook her head, and said softly, "I don't know. We can't hear the sounds of pedestrians and vehicles here, but we can hear the temple bells ringing every day, though they are far away."

"Occasionally at night, I would hear the howls of wild beasts, and I guessed that we must be in some mountains."

Yu Wan was surprised that this girl, who looked only twelve or thirteen years old, could be so observant. She moved closer to her and said, "My name is Yu Wan. You can call me Sister Yu. What's your name?"

The little girl looked up at her, pursed her lips, and whispered, "My name is Er Ya."

Erya?

The name doesn't sound like that of a girl from a wealthy family, but the girl's calmness and meticulousness are not qualities that an ordinary family could cultivate.

Yu Wan was puzzled, but she didn't show it on her face. She smiled and praised, "It's a very cute name."

Er Ya seemed surprised by her words, and with a happy smile, she whispered in Yu Wan's ear, "Sister Yu, I want to run away."

She glanced at the girls around her and said sadly, "We tried to escape once before, but we were caught and beaten. After that, they didn't dare to run away again, but I want to escape."

“Sister Yu, these people who captured us definitely have bad intentions. I overheard the burly man guarding us saying something like, ‘The higher-ups are already contacting buyers, and this shipment will be sent out in the next few days.’ We’ll definitely be sold to a very far place…”

Yu Wan's heart sank.

It seems she really was captured by human traffickers.

She had seen many news reports about human trafficking groups using pregnant women to lower the guard of their targets, but she never imagined that it would happen here too!

What other settings did the original author write?

With some strength regained, Yu Wan patted Er Ya's hand and whispered, "Let's think of a solution together."

Er Ya's eyes lit up immediately.

Yu Wan whispered to her, "Tell me more about the situation here."

Yu Wan learned a lot from Er Ya.

Er Ya was among the first group to be arrested, and she has been detained here for five days.

Over the next five days, girls were brought in one after another, the youngest being only seven, eight, or nine years old, and the oldest no more than twenty.

Two days ago, Er Ya led a few daring girls to steal the keys and escape while the guards were bringing them food. However, they ran into human traffickers who happened to be returning from outside the dungeon as soon as they got out.

The leader was a woman with a large pregnant belly, followed by seven or eight muscular men.

Seeing that they actually wanted to escape, the woman sneered and ordered her men to beat them up, and then gave them no water or food for a whole day.

The girls who were abducted were all girls who had never experienced hardship. They couldn't withstand such torment and cried out their mistakes the next day, not daring to have any more thoughts about it.

Only Er Ya was still thinking about escaping.

Yu Wan thought that the pregnant woman Er Ya mentioned must be the one who abducted her.

The fact that the pregnant woman was able to abduct her so easily is probably inseparable from the owner of the spice shop.

Yu Wan didn't think Yun Shang would completely ignore her when he was discussing things with others, unless he was deliberately misled by the shopkeeper.