Free Web NovelChapter 321: Chapter 322: Kidnapping
Blood immediately began to gush out.
But Liang Yong didn’t dodge or flinch, remaining rooted to the spot.
Li Ying lowered his hand and closed his eyes, his hoarse voice thick with exhaustion.
"Get out."
Liang Yong clutched his wound and staggered out.
When he reached the door, he stopped, looked back at the Fourth Prince, and said in a low voice,
"You may hate this servant, but please do not resent Mr. Wu. Everything he has done was for your sake."
Li Ying gave no response.
He didn’t want to talk to anyone right now.
When Hua Manman woke up, she found her hands and feet tightly bound by ropes and her mouth gagged with a cloth.
It was pitch-black all around; she couldn’t see a thing.
But she could feel the ground beneath her swaying rhythmically.
The sensation reminded her of a carriage.
She felt this same kind of swaying whenever she rode in one.
She tried hard to recall what had happened before she passed out—
After she had gotten into the carriage, He Qiuwen had grabbed her and chattered away nonstop.
Compared to her acerbity the last time they met, He Qiuwen had learned her lesson this time. She didn’t say a single word about asking for help, instead just relentlessly praising what a perfect match the Princess Consort and Prince Zhao were.
Hua Manman’s head was starting to ache from it all, and she silently prayed for the carriage to hurry up and reach the Zhong’an Bo Mansion.
However, after a long wait, the carriage still hadn’t stopped.
Hua Manman gradually sensed that something was wrong.
She tried to push open the window to look outside, but found it was sealed shut and wouldn’t budge at all.
Hua Manman then tried to push open the carriage door.
But the door opened first on its own, and three silver needles flew in through the crack, striking her, He Qiuwen, and Si Yun.
The silver needles must have been coated in a knockout drug.
After being hit, the three of them quickly felt dizzy and weak, their consciousness gradually fading.
Hua Manman didn’t remember what happened after that.
At this point, she understood she had been kidnapped.
’I wonder what their motive is?’
’It would be better if they’re after money.’
’Given how much Prince Zhao values me, he’d be willing to pay any amount.’
’The scary part is if the kidnappers don’t want money, but my life.’
Hua Manman called out to the system in her mind.
’Can you check where I am right now?’ ƒreeωebnovel.ƈom
A moment later, she heard the system’s reply.
"You’re near the city gate. The kidnappers are about to take you out of the city."
’Once we leave Shangjing City, the difficulty of finding me will increase dozens of times over.’
Hua Manman grew anxious. ’Do you have a way to help me escape?’
System: "Sorry, I can’t help."
Hua Manman: ’Don’t you usually give out lucky bags as rewards? Can you give me a few lucky bags now that could help me escape?’
System: "Lucky bags are rewards for completing quests. If you want a lucky bag, you must first complete a quest."
Hua Manman urged, ’Then give me a quest, quickly!’
This was the first time she had ever been so eager to complete a quest.
The system was actually a little touched.
’Its host finally has some ambition!’
To encourage its host, the system immediately issued her a quest without another word.
"Congratulations, Host, you have successfully triggered a random quest!"
"Please escape the kidnappers’ control and regain your freedom as soon as possible!"
"This is a timed quest of thirty days. Upon completion, the Host will receive one special lucky bag."
"If the Host is unable to complete the quest within the time limit, the quest will be considered a failure."
"If the quest fails, the Host will receive the heartache punishment."
"Please complete the quest as soon as possible!"
Hua Manman was so angry she nearly ascended on the spot.
’What kind of quest is this?! If I could escape the kidnappers and regain my freedom, would I even need your reward? Don’t you think your logic is seriously flawed?!’
The system sounded aggrieved. "The content of the quests issued by the system is generally based on what the host needs to accomplish most at the current moment. The system detected that what the host needs most right now is to regain freedom, so it issued this quest."
Clinging to a final shred of hope, Hua Manman asked,
’Can you give me a different quest?’
The system replied in a tiny voice, "Nope."
Hua Manman closed her eyes in despair.
’Forget it. This thing is useless.’
’I’ll have to rely on myself.’
The movement beneath her stopped.
’Looks like the carriage has stopped.’
Hua Manman immediately perked up. Though she couldn’t see anything, she could still hear.
She pricked up her ears to listen to the sounds outside.
There should be a lot of people near the city gate; the noise was deafening.
Amidst the cacophony, Hua Manman struggled to pick out a familiar voice—
It was the driver’s voice.
"We’re leaving the city to visit relatives. This is our road guide. Please take a look, Officer."
’Damn, the kidnapper even prepared a road guide in advance,’ Hua Manman thought in alarm. ’This was premeditated.’
A moment later, she heard the driver say,
"Thank you, Officer."
The carriage started moving again, its body resuming its sway.
Hua Manman desperately hoped the guards at the gate would inspect the carriage.
To attract attention, she started banging her head against the floorboards, each impact forceful.
The carriage floorboards began to THUD.
A city guard immediately stopped the carriage and asked suspiciously,
"What’s that noise inside your carriage?"
The driver laughed obsequiously. "My wife has a dog. It’s a mischievous little thing, always making a fuss for no reason. It must be jumping around in the carriage again."
Dizzy from the impacts, Hua Manman still made a mental note to get back at the driver.
’You son of a bitch, how dare you call me a dog? You’re finished!’
’Just you wait and see how I deal with you later!’
The city guard seemed half-convinced, half-skeptical of the driver’s words.
Just then, the driver lowered his voice and said something she couldn’t make out.
Then the carriage started moving again.
No matter how hard Hua Manman slammed her head against the floor, she couldn’t hear the guard’s voice anymore.
As the distance grew, the clamor of the crowd faded away.
With it, Hua Manman’s heart sank to the depths.
For the past two days, Prince Zhao had practically turned all of Shangjing City upside down looking for her.
The commotion was so great that even the Emperor in the Imperial Palace had heard about it.
He summoned Prince Zhao to the palace to ask about the matter from beginning to end.
When he learned that Princess Consort Zhao had been abducted by unknown assailants, the Emperor’s anger flared.
Even if he disliked how Prince Zhao threw all caution to the wind for a woman, that was still their own family affair. He could find a way to resolve it slowly himself, but he would not tolerate outside interference.
Especially since the perpetrators had dared to abduct someone right under the Emperor’s nose.
This was a blatant provocation of his imperial authority!
The Emperor immediately issued a decree, ordering men to search outside the city. They had to find Princess Consort Zhao.
Hua Qingqing had heard that something had happened to Princess Consort Zhao, but she didn’t know the details.
So, despite her large, pregnant belly, she rushed to request an audience with the Emperor, wanting to find out what had happened to her younger sister.
Who would have thought that she would run into Lady Liang on the way?
