Chapter 702 Could this just be a coincidence?

Chapter 702: Could This Just Be a Coincidence?

Xingxing was still wondering who this unlucky fellow was when, under the moonlight, the teenage boy who had nearly been killed turned around.

The cold moonlight resembled ice, and Xingxing saw clearly—

From this angle, the boy bore a striking resemblance to Yu Mingzhu!

Moreover, Xingxing suddenly remembered that she had seen the boy’s profile before—likely at their newly opened Yu Family Textile Shop!

Back then, she'd gotten a splitting headache the moment she saw that family, and jumbled, chaotic images flashed through her mind. But when she tried to recall them later, they felt hazy and unclear.

Given how he looked, combined with the fact that someone had paid good money to have the kidnappers kill him…

Xingxing raised an eyebrow.

She asked Zou Minglei, "What’s your name?"

Zou Minglei, unaware of his narrow escape from death, simply thought he had been lucky enough to avoid being trafficked. He was still yelling for someone to get his parents and didn’t hear Xingxing’s question.

One of the guards grew displeased and stepped up and tapped Zou Minglei’s arm with the scabbard of his sword. "Listen, kid! Didn’t you hear the question?"

Zou Minglei was furious and about to curse when he suddenly got a look at Xingxing.

He gasped dramatically, his expression shifting as he stared at her.

In Zou Minglei’s eyes, the delicate young woman under the moonlight was as lovely as apricot blossoms trembling on a branch, making his heart race.

The guard was enraged and immediately stepped in front of Xingxing. "You little punk! What kind of look is that?!"

How dare he leer at their Miss Cen like that!

Xingxing, however, wasn't particularly bothered. Her mind was racing with a thousand disjointed thoughts, and she needed a way to string them together.

She patted the guard’s arm, signaling for him to lower his head, and whispered a few instructions.

The guard nodded and left, returning shortly with the leader of the subdued and trussed up escorts outside, tossing him at Xingxing’s feet.

The escort, tightly bound, lay on the ground looking miserable.

But he was adaptable and quickly discerned that Xingxing was the one in charge. With a bruised and swollen face, he managed a weak smile at her. "Miss, I was just following orders for money..."

Xingxing pointed at Zou Minglei and asked the escort, "Take a look at him. Is he the one your employer wanted you to find?"

The escort struggled to turn his head and glanced at Zou Minglei’s attire, nodding vigorously. "Moon-white robe, green bamboo embroidery on the hem, not bad-looking... Yes, yes! That's him exactly, Miss. It’s him!"

Zou Minglei, who had been staring fixedly at Xingxing, was now completely lost. "Did my family send you to find me?"

The escort glanced at Zou Minglei but didn’t respond.

Xingxing asked, "Who was the person who hired you?"

In front of Xingxing, the escort was smart enough to cooperate fully, spilling everything without hesitation. "He was a scrawny little guy, swarthy and sallow, short, with a thin mustache. His mannerisms were... well, downright girly. He told us to track down these kidnappers and strike a deal with them—to have them get rid of this kid quietly, without anyone noticing..."

At this, Zou Minglei yelled, refusing to believe it, "That’s impossible! My family would never want me dead!" He glared furiously. "You lying bastard! Not a word of truth comes out of your mouth!"

The escort ignored Zou Minglei and shot a nervous glance at Xingxing. "...That's everything, Miss. I haven’t hidden a thing. Any chance you'll let me go now?"

Xingxing glanced at the escort. "Go tell that to the magistrate."

With a wave of her hand, Xingxing had the guard drag the burly escort away like a ragdoll.

"Yes, lock him up and have his head!" Zou Minglei shouted angrily.

Perhaps because Xingxing had had the escort taken care of, Zou Minglei began to imagine that she must have done it to avenge him.

So when Xingxing asked him again, "What's your name?" Zou Minglei quickly replied, "I'm Zou Minglei. I live in Deng Lane, in a three-courtyard compound—very spacious—with several shops. My family is quite wealthy..."

Xingxing: "?"

What, was he showing off his wealth to her?

Not to brag, but in the entire capital, there was likely no young lady with deeper pockets than her...

Xingxing silently repeated the name "Zou Minglei." Deep in her memory, she seemed to vaguely recall something about those three words.

In a hazy memory, someone was cursing: "You little brat! Our Minglei letting you crawl on the ground like a dog is an honor! How dare you resist? You're asking for a beating!"

Then came a barrage of punches and kicks.

This memory made Xingxing's face went slightly pale.

Yu Yongbai, when he got word, hurried over. He brought a cloak and wrapped it around Xingxing's shoulders, disapprovingly saying, "...This place is dangerous. If Grandmother and the others found out, they'd be very worried."

The warmth on her shoulders gradually seeped into Xingxing's heart. She smiled and, ignoring Zou Minglei, told Lou Ruhui a word before leaving the small courtyard with Yu Yongbai.

Zou Minglei frowned as he watched Xingxing's departing figure.

...

After returning to the residence, Xingxing was forced to drink a bowl of ginger soup to fend off the chill and bad juju.

Wei Pozi went on and on, telling Xingxing to stay far away from such incidents next time and never get involved.

The other aunts and elders piped up too.

Xingxing felt warmth from head to toe.

She snuggled into Wei Pozi's arms, obediently agreeing to everything the elders said.

Seeing Xingxing so well-behaved, Wei Pozi and the others couldn't bring themselves to scold her.

Li Chunhua even directly chewed out Yu Yongbai: "It's all because you, as her second brother, didn't take good care of your sister."

With his own mother saying so, what could Yu Yongbai do but reply, "Right, right, you're absolutely right, Ma. I'll be more careful next time."

Xingxing started to feel awkward and was about to speak when Yu Yongbai, smiling, shook his head at her, signaling her to let it go.

Xingxing's heart warmed, and the icy dread brought by those fragmented memories melted away entirely.

...

Meanwhile, at the Zou residence, having received the official notice, they were overjoyed to bail out Zou Minglei from the yamen.

Zou Wan Shi happily held Zou Minglei's hands, looking him over head to toe while cursing the goddamn kidnappers. In her excessive joy, she almost let it slip: "...Getting you out so quickly must've been your—"

The word "sister" almost escaped her lips.

Fortunately, Zou Wan Shi caught herself in time and changed her words: "It must be that you're blessed by fate! The heavens must be watching over you!"

Zou Minglei, unsuspecting, complained to Zou Wan Shi: "Mom, I banged up my leg real bad—it’s killing me! I asked those constables to call a doctor, but they ignored me!"

Zou Wan Shi was heartbroken: "You hurt your leg too? ... Let me see quickly."

After examining Zou Minglei's wound, Zou Wan Shi was so distressed that she turned and slapped Zou Pingping's arm: "This is all on you, you wretched girl! What kind of sister just abandons her brother? If you hadn't left Minglei alone on the street that day, he wouldn’t have suffered like this!"

Zou Pingping had already been scolded and beaten more than once these past few days, so this slap meant nothing to her.

She watched as Zou Wan Shi and her father, Zou Haigui, doted on Zou Minglei like he was made of gold, and she curled her lips slightly.

But she couldn’t shake the memory of that highborn Miss who Zou Wan Shi had met the other day—the one who bore some resemblance to her younger brother, Zou Minglei...

Who exactly was she?

...

Meanwhile, Yu Mingzhu also received the news and her eyes nearly popped out of her head: "What?! The owner of the Yu family’s shops led a team to capture those kidnappers and rescued the victims?!"

Yu Mingzhu’s eyes burned with hatred.

The Yu family—again, the Yu family!

Everywhere Yu Xingxing goes, she ruins things for me!

Qi Huang said soothingly, "Don’t upset yourself, Miss. There will be plenty of opportunities later. If it’s truly urgent, I can sneak out in disguise and find a chance to take Zou Minglei out directly."

Yu Mingzhu glanced at Qi Huang but shook her head: "No, you’re my maid—too dangerous."

Drumming her fingers on the table, Yu Mingzhu pondered for a long while before suddenly speaking: "I remember you once mentioned a rather formidable faction called the Morning Sun Tower—they’ll do wet work if the price is right?"

Qi Huang frowned slightly: "The Morning Sun Tower nowadays mostly sticks to spy stuff now. They rarely take assassination contracts anymore..."

Yu Mingzhu paced around the room: "Rarely doesn’t mean never. In a few days, help me disguise myself again, and we’ll see if they’ll bite."

Qi Huang bowed obediently: "As you wish."

...

The next day.

Zou Wan Shi waved a tin of salve excitedly and said to Zou Haigui: "...See? Ming Zhu hasn’t forgotten her family, has she? She must have helped yesterday—that’s why Minglei was rescued so quickly. And today, when she heard Minglei hurt his knee, she even went out of her way to send this fancy medicine!"

Zou Haigui was equally smug: "Of course. After all, she’s our own flesh and blood."

Then, his expression darkened with anger: "Speaking of which, what kind of monster would collude with kidnappers to harm our Minglei?!"

Last night, when Zou Haigui and Zou Wan Shi went to the constabulary to pick up Zou Minglei, they were shocked to hear the constables mention this.

The constables didn’t elaborate, only telling them to go home and wait while they investigated further.

But Zou Wan Shi hesitated: "Do you think... it might just be a coincidence? We’ve only just arrived in the capital—who could hold a grudge against us? And Minglei is such a handsome, likable boy—who’d shell out a hundred taels just to see him dead?"

Zou Haigui nodded in agreement: "Yeah. Even the cops said last night it might be a misunderstanding. Minglei is just a child—he’s never had any enemies. That hired thug probably got the wrong kid."

Zou Wan Shi nodded repeatedly: "Then let’s wait for the constabulary’s investigation results. For now, I’ll go rub this on Minglei’s knee."

She hadn’t even made it to the door. Zou Minglei limped into their courtyard, hollering from outside: "Father! Mother!"

Zou Wan Shi and Zou Haigui rushed out to meet him.

Zou Wan Shi was especially distressed: "Oh my boy, your knee is still injured. You should be resting in your room! If you needed anything, you could have just sent someone to tell us."

Zou Minglei impatiently waved off his mother's nagging. He said, "Mother, I want to go out!"

Zou Wan Shi was startled: "Your leg isn’t healed yet. What’s the rush to go out?"

Zou Minglei’s mind was completely occupied by the image of Xingxing under the moonlight last night.

He felt his lips go dry and licked them, saying, "I've got things to do!"

Zou Wan Shi thought Zou Minglei was still fixated on buying a maid. Feeling sorry for her son’s ordeal, she said, "Then I’ll accompany you to the Changyan Dao official market to pick a maid you like?"

Zou Minglei liked the sound of that.

Last night, he'd even dreamed about Xingxing, but in the dream, she ignored him and kept walking ahead.

He chased after her the entire time but couldn’t even catch up to her.

Now, waking up, Zou Minglei thought of going to the area near where he had been yesterday—maybe he’d see that girl again!

However, since his mother suggested buying a maid, Zou Minglei hesitated but eventually agreed.

That little girl under the moonlight was still far out of reach, so getting a maid he liked now to relieve his urges would do for now...

After thinking it over, Zou Minglei agreed and even bargained with his mother: "If I really like them, I'm getting two!"

At this point, Zou Wan Shi would've given him the stars in the sky. Two maids was nothing—she bit her lip and agreed. "Fine, fine, whatever you say."

Only then did Zou Minglei happily get ready to leave with Zou Wan Shi.

Since Zou Minglei’s knee was injured, Zou Wan Shi had a sedan chair brought.

While waiting at the estate gate, Zou Pingping, who'd somehow heard that Zou Wan Shi and Zou Minglei were going out, came rushing up: "Mother, take me with you!"

Zou Wan Shi snapped, "Take you along to lose your brother again?"

Zou Pingping quickly promised, "This time, I’ll stay right with my brother and not leave his side."

Zou Wan Shi looked Zou Pingping over before reluctantly agreeing.

Zou Minglei didn’t care whether Zou Pingping came along or not. Glancing at her from the sedan chair, he saw her flash him a sycophantic smile.

This time, the Zou family’s trip to the Changyan Dao official market went off without a hitch.

The broker eagerly presented ten young girls.

Each of the ten girls was rather skinny, their clothes worn but clean, standing shyly in line for the Zou family to choose from.

The broker praised, "These girls are all from respectable backgrounds—each sold to us due to family hardships. Our governesses have already trained them, and the ten I’ve brought out today are all hard workers."

Zou Minglei scanned the ten girls, unconsciously comparing them to Xingxing.

The more he compared, the more restless and irritable he became. Finally, he angrily cursed, "Not a single one is pretty!"

He hadn't taken a liking to any of them!