Transmigrated Farmgirl's Scheme to Get Rich - Chapter 169
Mo Zheng’s Kidnapping
The first person Mo Yan thought might be the kidnapper was Manager Liang.
If a person not from the local area had kidnapped Mo Zheng, the exchange point wouldn’t be as close as Qianshui Town, but somewhere Mo Zenian was unfamiliar with. It seems like they knew he’d go back home to collect enough money from the ransom, and be successful in collecting said money. [1]
Lu Junming asked Mo Zenian, “Did you know that Lin Xian’er was familiar with Manager Liang?”
He nodded, “She said he was her elder cousin.”
“As soon as you were fired from your job in Yi City, he immediately became the chief manager of the firm.”
“They, they…”
Lu Junming nodded, “Their affair has already become known to the Hu family, and I can’t imagine they’re having a very good time right now.”
Mo Zenian ground his teeth, “Could that woman also be involved in Mo Zheng’s kidnapping?”
Mo Yan didn’t want to discuss Lin Xian’er’s character with him, and said to Lu Junming, “We should go to Yi City later to learn more about those two.”
Since they were the only two going to Yi City, they’d arrive there on horseback quickly. However, Mo Yan wanted to set off after her uncle’s family had left, and Lu Junming agreed, “We won’t be able to do much in broad daylight anyways. It’s not an issue as long as we get there before the gates close.”
After having lunch and chatting with Liang Lan for a while, Mo Yan’s aunt remembered she had something to do back home, and called her husband and daughter back home. They had arrived by an ox-drawn carriage, and Liang Qiushi said that it was most practical to raise oxen, since they could draw both ploughs and carriages, and were stronger than horses as long as you didn’t have to go very far.
When they had left the courtyard, Mo Yan’s uncle said, “Sister, don’t hide things from us in the future and just tell us that you’re living just fine. After all, we’re siblings.”
Liang Lan tugged on Mo Yan’s sleeve excitedly, “I don’t want to go to school anymore, and asked daddy to buy me two lambs to raise. When they become yearlings, we’ll sell one to buy new clothes and kill the other for meat.”
Liang Jinhua also said, “Goats eat grass, so they don’t cost much and aren’t hard to raise.”
Ms. Liang replied, “I’ll buy two lambs to raise as well.”
She only went back inside the house when the carriage disappeared from eyeshot, and Mo Yan noticed her surreptitiously wipe her eyes with her sleeve.
She told Ms. Liang there was something she had to do at the firm, and Ms. Liang didn’t ask any questions.
When Mo Yan and Lu Junming arrived at Yi City, they went to their usual teahouse to ask for information about Lin Xian’er and Manager Liang. As they were asking in detail this time, they paid the waiter ten dollars, who spilled everything he knew.
After they were caught having an affair, the two were ordered to be beaten savagely by Hu Weiming, and kicked out. Rumour was that when Lin Xian’er was kicked out, she was only wearing underwear. The Hu family had even stripped her of her clothing, not to mention her jewellery.
Afterwards, something saw the two at the market at the south of the village. They were said to be selling miscellaneous goods and living a hard life.
Later, Manager Liang disappeared, leaving only Lin Xian’er. She was unaccustomed to hardship, and soon couldn’t bear weathering the elements as she ran her vendor, so went back to her old trade of prostitution.
“Where is she now?” Mo Yan asked.
The employee replied, “There’s a new brothel in Azure Bamboo Alley known as the Azure Bamboo Pavilion, and business is allegedly pretty good.”
The red light district is usually open at night, so Mo Yan and Lu Junming went to Azure Bamboo Alley at sundown.
They stood at the mouth of the alleyway fretting. Mo Yan didn’t want to go in, and she didn’t want Lu Junming to go in either, but how could she meet Lin Xian’er without entering?
A man in his forties passed by them, and Mo Yan shot a look at Lu Junming. He instantly understood, and stopped the man, “Excuse me, but are you going to the Azure Bamboo Pavilion?”
The man looked them up and down, and confirmed they didn’t know each other before asking, “What do you want?”
Lu Junming handed the man a few dollars before saying, “We have something to talk about with the prostitute Lin Xian’er, but don’t want to go in there. Please leave a message and ask her to come out.”
The man took the money and asked, “Is that it?”
Lu Junming nodded, “Yes, that’s it, please tell her that something happened to Mo Zheng.”
Pocketing the money, the man went into the alley and entered the brothel.
Lin Xian’er came out half a minute later, and instantly spotted Mo Yan. She immediately ran over and asked, “What happened to Zheng’er? Is he ill?”
Seeing how worried she was acting, it didn’t seem like she was involved in the kidnapping.
Mo Yan shook her head, “He was kidnapped, and they’re asking for a ransom of a hundred silver taels.”
The prostitute froze, and laughed self-deprecatingly after she came to her senses, “A hundred silver taels? I wouldn’t have enough if I sold myself as a slave! Who’s the kidnapper?”
Her gaze flicked between Mo Yan and Lu Junming, wondering if this was another trick of theirs.
This time, Lu Junming replied to her, “We’d come here to see if you had any clues about who his kidnapper was.”
“Maybe it was the Hu family?” That was the only enemy Lin Xian’er could think of.
“Kidnapping is a major crime, the Hu family wouldn’t get embroiled in that kind of trouble just to get revenge on you.”
Lin Xian’er had indeed overestimated herself. The Hu family had wealth and prestige, and they had numerous ways of getting revenge on her. It wouldn’t be hard to eliminate her entirely, so why would they waste their time on kidnapping a small child?
“Do you know where Manager Liang is?” Mo Yan asked.
“Is it him?” Lin Xian’er’s face was full of suspicion.
Mo Yan shook her head again, “We don’t know, but he’s the most likely suspect.”
Lin Xian’er had clenched her hand into a fist, “I don’t know where Manager Liang is either, but I want to go with you to pay the ransom and see if it’s really him.”
“Sure, we’re handing over the ransom tomorrow night, at the fork north of Qianshui Town. Do you want to call the officials?”
After asking that, Mo Yan looked at Lin Xian’er’s face carefully.
The prostitute’s eyes darkened, and she clenched her teeth as she replied, “Call the officials, after all, I can’t pay the ransom. If that bastard had kidnapped my Zheng’er, I want him to face the heavens’ judgement and get struck by lightning!”
“Is Zheng’er his son?”
Mo Yan finally couldn’t help but ask that question. She asked extremely naturally, like she already knew the answer.
Lin Xian’er knew she couldn’t lie about this, and lowered her head, “Yes, when I initially told him that I was with child, but he said that he already had a wife and kids, so it would be hard for him to take a concubine.” [2]
“But Mo Zenian also had a wife and children!”
“I know what I did was immoral, but I couldn’t raise my son all by myself. Brother Zenian has a good temper and is easy to coax, and he believed me when I said the child was his. When Zheng’er was born, he fell in love with him, if it wasn’t for…”
What she wanted to say was, If it wasn’t for your meddling, I would’ve lived a good life with Mo Zenian. Lin Xian’er wasn’t apologetic about kidnapping Mo Ling in the slightest. It seemed like Manager Liang and her were a match made in heaven.
“If Manager Liang was the one who refused to make you his concubine, why did you get together with him again afterwards?”
Lin Xian’er didn’t know they were the ones to alert the Hu family to her affair, and thought they were referring to Mo Ling’s kidnapping.
“I was taking your dad’s future into consideration.”
Even now, she was capable of saying something this shameless. If she wasn’t fond of Mo Zheng and wanted to get revenge for Mo Ling by disposing of that bastard Manager Liang, Mo Yan really wouldn’t want to bother with this.
“So you went and did something against the heavens’ will and common convention?!”
Tears started flowing from Lin Xian’er’s eyes, “Then are you going to just stand by and do nothing, because Zheng’er isn’t of the Mo family?”
“No! Of course not!”
She froze for a second, before Mo Yan’s words registered with her, “Thank you! Thank you so much!”
Since Manager Liang knew Mo Zheng was his son, if he had actually kidnapped him for a ransom, then he’d be even worse than a beast!
After confirming Mo Zheng’s parentage, Mo Yan felt like a weight had been lifted from her chest, “I’ve heard that Yi City has a night market, Lu Junming, let’s go!”
P.S. I’m doing a comprehensive re-edit of the story, including better translation and more. I’ve currently done the first…not many chapters, but I’ll be trying to do a few chapters every week until I’ve caught up with the latest chapter. This will involve renaming and minor retcons, especially at the start of the story where some of the terminology was more confusing.
[1] It took me over a year, but I finally realised Qianshui City was supposed to be Qianshui Town. Uhhhh I am not the best native Chinese speaker out there.
[2] Lin Xian’er knowing that Mo Zheng is actually Manager Liang’s son seems strange. After all, she could have done the deed with both of them in relatively short succession.