Chapter 493: Exposed

Nanny Yao was annoyed by Gu Yumei’s crying and gave her a slap on the back of her hand.

Slap!

"Shut up! What’s all this crying for? I brought you here to work, not to cry. If I hear you cry again, I’ll cut off your tongue!"

Upon hearing this, Gu Yumei was too scared to cry out loud, her tears kept falling as she trembled in fear.

Nanny Yao, clutching her neck, said: "Listen to me carefully. Go into the village now and, posing as their kinswoman, call out Gu Dashan’s two daughters. Just lure them to the edge of the village, and we will have ways to capture them."

Seeing Gu Yumei looking terrified, she shouted angrily again, "Did you hear me?!"

"I heard, heard it~" Gu Yumei sobbed and said, "But Gu Xiaoyu won’t believe me... What if I can’t trick them out?"

Nanny Yao was almost driven mad by Gu Yumei’s stupidity, poking her forehead and scolding, "You are their kinswoman, you’ve offended them, so you want to call them out to apologize. Don’t you even understand such a simple plan?"

Then she threatened, "This is the plan, you have two choices: either we catch you and sell you off, or we catch Gu Dashan’s two daughters. Make your choice."

Hearing this, Gu Yumei fell silent... after a while, with tears dropping, she said, "I, I’ll go and lure them out."

She still had to get married; she couldn’t allow herself to be ruined like this...

Nanny Yao laughed, "That’s more like it. Get up and go lure them out now."

Nanny Yao, afraid that Gu Yumei would run away, followed her to the village herself and pointed at Yang Laoda and his crew, "They will also sneak into the village quietly. If you dare to call for help, they will rush to your house and set it on fire."

She added with a cold laugh, "You know what happened to the Zou family’s fire, right? Tsk tsk, that fire killed many people—burnt to cinders. Some were burnt half-dead, lying in the courtyard wailing ceaselessly, worse than death itself. You don’t want your family to suffer a fate worse than death, do you?"

Gu Yumei shook her head hastily: "I don’t want that, please don’t burn my home... I’ll listen to you... I’ll certainly help you lure out Gu Jinxiu and Gu Jinli, and let you sell them off to Jiangnan."

She added, "Both sisters are very beautiful, especially Gu Jinxiu, unbelievably beautiful. You, if you sell her, she’ll be worth a lot of money. Don’t sell me, please, woo woo woo..."

She didn’t want to help these bad people; she was forced to. God wouldn’t blame her, and the ancestors of the Gu family wouldn’t either.

"Unbelievably beautiful?" Old San, who had a weakness for pretty faces, showed interest at these words, his eyes gleaming green as he asked, "Is that true?"

Gu Yumei nodded: "It’s true, it’s true, very beautiful, much more beautiful than me. If I could be sold for fifty taels, she could fetch at least... five hundred taels!"

Old San, rubbing his hands together, said to Nanny Yao, "Nanny Yao, Big Brother, we must capture that Gu Jinxiu. Such fine goods, we could make a fortune selling her to Jiangnan."

What’s the harm in having a bit of fun with her before that, anyway.

As for Gu Yumei.

Heh, this idiot really thinks helping them means she won’t be sold? Isn’t fifty taels money? Even without the fifty taels, it wouldn’t be bad for the brothers to have their fun a few times, and how can she still dream of going home?

Hearing this, Nanny Yao and Yang Laoda were also intrigued, nodding and saying, "If things go smoothly, let’s capture both sisters. If we encounter trouble, we’ll just capture that Gu Jinxiu."

Nanny Yao, Yang Laoda, and a few others huddled together for another discussion before Nanny Yao, escorting Gu Yumei, briskly walked down the path towards the village.

Yang Laoda, leading his five younger brothers, followed not far behind Nanny Yao, taking advantage of the dimming twilight to sneak into the village.

Yang Laoer expressed some concern about Wan Lifang: "That guy wouldn’t sell us out, would he?"

Yang Laosan replied: "With Wan Lifang being such a coward and a greed, how could he betray us? I’ve been talking him up these past three days; he actually wants to join us now. Don’t worry, Second brother."

"Stop talking and hurry up," chastised Yang Laoda as they took a shortcut on a deserted path and snuck into the village.

...

As night completely fell, Gu Yumei led Nanny Yao into the bamboo forest behind the workshop, planning to cross an empty stretch of land before entering the end of the village.

But just as they reached the bamboo forest, they heard the voice of Luo Huiniang: "Gu Yumei, is that you?"

The bamboo forest was planted with a lot of Mingya Grass, but recently, more wild rabbits had been invading and nibbling on the plants, causing considerable damage. She had told Gu Jinli about this and came here to set traps for the rabbits. Now, she was here to check on them before the family’s dinner was ready.

Gu Yumei shuddered with fright at the sound of Luo Huiniang’s voice, and quickly grabbing Nanny Yao’s hand, she asked anxiously, "What, what do we do?"

Nanny Yao seriously wanted to slap her. What to do? She encounters someone she knows and she’s asking me what to do?

"Keep calm," Nanny Yao replied, retreating a few steps and standing behind Gu Yumei with a knife in hand, ready to act at any moment.

Luo Huiniang, with a hemp sack over her shoulder and a pine oil torch in hand, approached and eyed Gu Yumei: "What happened to your face? Did your second aunt hit you again?"

Mrs. Chen was quick-tempered, and with Gu Yumei always stirring trouble, it wasn’t unusual for Mrs. Chen to give her a slap, so Luo Huiniang did not suspect anything.

Gu Yumei did not want to engage in much conversation with Luo Huiniang, fearing she might give something away, and brusquely said to her, "Get lost, don’t block my way."

Luo Huiniang chuckled: "Your way? Have you no shame? This land belongs to Xiao Yu, she’s the one who paid for it."

As she spoke, she noticed that there was someone behind Gu Yumei, pushed her aside, and looked at Nanny Yao, questioning, "Who are you? I haven’t seen you before, you’re not from our village, are you?"

Nanny Yao’s heart skipped a beat, grateful that she had quickly concealed her knife, lest the girl discovered it.

Nanny Yao replied with a smile: "You must be Miss Luo, who fled here from the famine last year. You don’t recognize me, but I know you. You’re surely aware of Lu Tianya’s family. I’m her maternal aunt. Knowing that they’ve been having a hard time lately, I worried and took the opportunity to visit while I was back at my parents’. It’s just an unlucky coincidence that I arrived late."

The master had briefed them about Da Feng Village and several families within, and after scoping out the area before their operation, they found lying and deceiving quite easy.

"You’re Lu Tianya’s maternal aunt?" Luo Huiniang narrowed her eyes, pointing at Gu Yumei she questioned, "Then why aren’t you at Lu Tianya’s home? Why are you with Gu Yumei? How do you know each other?"

Ever since Luo Wu became a Government Official, Luo Huiniang had learned some interrogation skills from him, and now, in questioning Nanny Yao, she seemed quite professional.

"And how did you enter the village? The uncles of the He family guard the village entrance, and strangers are not allowed in. Those who come to visit relatives or for other business are escorted in by the uncles of the He family."

Luo Huiniang, alarmed, exclaimed: "You weren’t escorted by the uncles of the He family; you must have sneaked in! You’re a bad person, aren’t you?!"