Exile with Storage Space: Family Fortunes in the Barren Lands-Chapter 761 - 0714 Seventh Cousin Wei (1)

Pei Shenyan suddenly felt the pressure, "What if we can’t find her?"

"But we should still try to look, right? If we don’t, he’ll have an excuse to blame me. Since I already searched and didn’t find her, it has nothing to do with us." Li Yuwen removed his hand, "This is called doing our best; whether it succeeds depends on fate."

Pei Shenyan had to agree, "Let’s take the carriage; it’s hot, you should stay inside."

Li Yuwen nodded with a smile, "Okay."

.

After everyone had breakfast, they each went off to search for the person.

Li Yuwen and Pei Shenyan went to the east of the city, Li Yuzhu and Mu Yuanxiu went to the west, Da Chuan went to the south, Pei Ji went to the north, Jisheng searched within the city center.

Li Yuzhu and Mu Yuanxiu also traveled by carriage.

In the summertime when it’s hot, the windbreak panels around the carriage were removed and replaced with straw mats.

They offer privacy, block sunlight and dust, yet allow the wind to come through.

It’s very cool.

If we encounter strong wind and rain midway, we can just reattach the panels.

The removed wooden panels are stored beneath the carriage’s floor, ready to be put back any moment.

"Yuanxiu, let’s head towards the city gate; if Seventh Cousin Wei hasn’t left the city, we can search more in the west part here." Li Yuzhu remarked while looking at a portrait.

The Wei Family has many daughters, both from the main and branch families, adding up to twelve girls.

But only this Miss Wei Qi looks remarkably similar to her.

Li Yuzhu was very worried about her.

"Let’s go to a place first." Mu Yuanxiu drove the carriage to Yongyang Square.

Li Yuzhu lifted the curtain to look outside, "This is the most secluded place in the western part of the city, why did you bring me here? Oh, there’s a monastery."

Mu Yuanxiu stopped the carriage by the side of the monastery’s mountain gate.

He helped Li Yuzhu down from the carriage.

"Yuanxiu, why are we here at the monastery?"

"To make offerings."

Li Yuzhu, "..." She looked at him speechlessly, "Yuanxiu, finding the person is urgent."

"It’s not urgent now." Mu Yuanxiu pulled Li Yuzhu into the monastery.

The mountain gate of the monastery was wide open, and a little monk was sweeping the ground.

Seeing Li Yuzhu, the little monk opened his eyes wide in surprise.

Li Yuzhu asked curiously, "Little master, why are you looking at me like that?"

The little monk seemed flustered, mumbling, looking as though he dared not speak.

Li Yuzhu grew even more curious and wanted to ask further, but the little monk clasped his palms, held his broom, and walked away.

"Yuanxiu, that little monk was so strange." Li Yuzhu turned back, looking at the little monk.

"Let’s go and attend to our matters." Mu Yuanxiu paid no attention to the little monk and pulled Li Yuzhu into the main hall.

Inside the hall, a golden Bodhisattva was enshrined.

The Bodhisattva’s eyes were lowered, and a smile adorned its face.

Li Yuzhu didn’t believe in Buddhism, so she followed Mu Yuanxiu’s way of praying.

They offered worship to the Bodhisattva and incense before leaving.

As they reached the entrance, Li Yuzhu saw that outside in the courtyard, the little monk was speaking with an old monk.

The little monk appeared anxious, pointing toward the hall they were in, and then behind the hall.

Li Yuzhu tugged on Mu Yuanxiu’s sleeve and whispered, "Yuanxiu, look, that little monk is really strange." 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

"He’s pointing to the back of the hall; could there be something unusual there?" Mu Yuanxiu glanced at the little monk, gently pulled Li Yuzhu away, "Let’s go have a look."

Taking advantage of the monk’s inattention, they left the hall through a small door.

Behind the main hall, Li Yuzhu saw a courtyard enclosed on three sides by rooms.

The courtyard was quiet with not a single person present.

"There’s no one here; nothing seems unusual." Li Yuzhu assessed the surroundings.

But at that moment, someone carrying a tray of food opened a door to a meditation room in the far corner.

It was a maid in servant attire.

"Let’s go see there." Li Yuzhu pointed to the meditation room.

Mu Yuanxiu and Li Yuzhu walked over together.

The door was slightly ajar with voices coming from inside, "Miss Qi, have some food. Don’t be stubborn. Look, no one from your family has come to find you, clearly showing, they don’t care for you. Your life and death mean nothing to them. Why trouble yourself for them? In my opinion, you shouldn’t go back."

Li Yuzhu and Mu Yuanxiu exchanged a glance and pushed the door open together to enter the room.

At the same time, Mu Yuanxiu closed the door behind him.

The people in the room were startled to see them suddenly burst in.

The woman speaking exclaimed, "Who are you?"

Li Yuzhu glanced at her, ignoring her, and looked towards the young woman on the chair.

The woman also looked at her, "You..." She stared at Li Yuzhu in a daze.

Li Yuzhu smiled slightly, "You must be Seventh Cousin Wei? I’m Li Yuzhu, Third Lady of the Li Family."

She understood at that moment why that little monk had looked at her with such amazement.

Because Wei Qiniang bore a strong resemblance to her.

Whether it was height or features, even the thickness of their hair was the same.

After all, sometimes a close cousin can resemble more than a sibling.

The woman suddenly reacted and shouted loudly, "Someone—"

Mu Yuanxiu grabbed a cloth hanging beside the multi-treasure rack, quickly stuffed it into the woman’s mouth, pressed her onto a chair, and stripped off her outer garment, tying her onto the chair.

This series of moves took place within two blinks of an eye.

The woman was so terrified she did not dare to breathe.

Besides the woman and Wei Qiniang, there was Wei Qiniang’s little maid in the room, who was also looking at Li Yuzhu in astonishment, "Are you Third Lady Li? You really resemble our Seventh Lady."

"Third Lady, aren’t you supposed to be in Zhen An Prefecture? Why are you in the Capital?" Wei Qiniang sized up Li Yuzhu with disbelief.

This young cousin she had seen once or twice years ago resembled Aunt Princess Consort Luling, and upon closer inspection, she could trace her childhood features.

Li Yuzhu said, "Just days after you left home, I came to the Capital with Eldest Sister. Knowing you were missing, we helped Uncle to look for you." Li Yuzhu smiled slightly, "I was lucky and found you."

"My father would look for me? How could that be?" Wei Qiniang laughed bitterly, "I’m missing, so he can’t make silver."

"Things are not as you think, your father was deceived, Jingzhao Mansion has already judged the case, and the villains have been punished." Li Yuzhu informed her.

Wei Qiniang blinked, "My father was deceived? Who deceived him?"

"Yuzhu, let’s discuss this later; first, let’s interrogate this woman. What does she want by keeping Seventh Lady trapped here?" Mu Yuanxiu pointed to the woman.

Li Yuzhu glanced at the woman, "By the way, Seventh Cousin, how come you are here? Who is this woman?"

"I came out of the house, worrying about having nowhere to go, when I bumped into this woman on the road. She brought me here, claiming she was working at the temple." Wei Qiniang glanced at the woman.

Mu Yuanxiu walked over and searched through the woman’s outer garment, and soon found a waist badge.

The waist badge read Duke Zhongyi Mansion.

"She is not someone from the temple, she is from Duke Zhongyi Mansion." Mu Yuanxiu handed the waist badge for Wei Qiniang to see.

Wei Qiniang was shocked, "She’s from Duke Zhongyi Mansion? Someone from the Yu Wen Family?"

Her maid also exclaimed, "Seventh Lady, she’s a liar! She’s from Duke Zhongyi Yu Wen Family, yet falsely claimed to be a worker at the temple. No wonder she kept advising Miss that the Yu Wen Family wasn’t bad and persuaded Miss to marry into it. Hmph, thankfully Miss didn’t listen to her. No matter how good the Yu Wen Family is, it is still a concubine match. How is Miss inferior in any way to be a concubine to a thirty-five-year-old man?"

Li Yuzhu sneered, "It’s not just becoming a concubine, that Young Master Yu Wen is almost done for, oh, by the way, he contracted a venereal disease from the brothel, and can probably only live for a month or two."

"What?" Wei Qiniang’s maid was shocked, "How can the Yu Wen Family be so despicable and shameless?"

Wei Qiniang’s face also changed in shock, "Young Master Yu Wen is almost done for? How dare their family deceive me like this?"

Li Yuzhu spoke of the case’s judgment, "Seventh Cousin might not know what is happening outside. Upon discovering the fraudulent marriage, Uncle reported it, lodging a complaint against the Yu Wen Family. However, there was no evidence proving the Yu Wen father and son committed fraud today, so the Prefect only punished their servants, fined the Yu Wen Family for failing to supervise their servants properly, five hundred taels."

Wei Qiniang looked at the woman, "I also want to report to the authorities! Accuse the Yu Wen father and son!"

The woman glared at Wei Qiniang, shouting through the muffled cloth.

"Don’t try to scare me, I’m not afraid!" Wei Qiniang nodded towards Li Yuzhu, "Third Lady, please bother you to report it again for me."

Li Yuzhu smiled slightly, "Okay."

The woman was tied, and Wei Qiniang worried about someone coming in and arousing suspicion.

She called on Li Yuzhu and Mu Yuanxiu for help to drag the woman under the bed and hide her.

Wei Qiniang then sat back on the chair indifferently, urging Li Yuzhu and the others to help report to the authorities.

Li Yuzhu was uneasy about leaving Wei Qiniang here, and insisted on staying in the room to accompany her.

"The people in this temple are odd, I’m uneasy about you," Li Yuzhu held Wei Qiniang’s hand.

Wei Qiniang just laughed, "If they dare to harm me, they’re doomed."

"Don’t risk your safety," Li Yuzhu shook her head.

"Third Lady, if someone dares to harm me, doesn’t it precisely demonstrate that they colluded to deceive me here? Can the Yu Wen Family end well?" Wei Qiniang sneered.

Li Yuzhu was constantly worried with Wei Qiniang remaining here, and Mu Yuanxiu was equally concerned about Li Yuzhu.

Lastly, everyone discussed, letting the little maid go to report to the authorities.

As soon as the discussion finished, outside, a little monk brought people over.