Allure of a Country Maiden-Chapter 88 - 86: Imprisonment

The next day, the whole family woke up early as usual. When Xiao’er arrived at the main house, Mrs. Liu had just finished preparing breakfast. "Xiao’er has woken up, she should go to the front yard and call your father back for breakfast!"

Shen Chengyao was the earliest to rise, having already watered the flowers and vegetables in the greenhouse and topped up the charcoals in the charcoal stoves. He was currently busy sweeping snow in the front yard.

Xiao’er went to the front yard and saw that Shen Chengyao was almost done sweeping. She called out, "Dad, let’s have breakfast first!"

"Okay, you go ahead and eat first, I’ll join you shortly." Shen Chengyao quickened his movements.

At this moment, there was a frantic knocking at the front gate, and someone loudly shouted: "Open the door, open the door quickly!"

Xiao’er frowned, wondering why so many people had come so early in the morning, and it seemed like they were not friendly!

"Who is it, who’s there!" Shen Chengyao put down the broom and hurried to open the door. If he didn’t, the door would probably get broken from all the knocking!

"We are from the government, open the door quickly!"

The moment the door opened, a dozen officers rushed in. The one in the lead looked ferocious and asked, "Is this the home of Shen Chengyao? We heard that you privately owned a copy of the ’Qimin Yaoshu’?"

On hearing this, Xiao’er hurriedly said, "Officer, that book was not privately kept by us, it was given to us by a friend."

’Qimin Yaoshu’ was a forbidden book in this dynasty? Why was there talk of it being privately kept? This shouldn’t be the case. This book was one of several sent by Shangguan Xuanyi in the box last time. Shangguan Xuanyi wouldn’t intentionally harm her family, Xiao’er was very certain of this in her heart.

"So you do have it! We don’t care how you got it, as long as you have it! Arrest them all, leave no one behind! And find the book!" The leading officer waved his hand and gave orders loudly.

At this moment, hearing the commotion in the front yard, Mrs. Liu came out with the children. On seeing the yard full of officers, they were all dumbfounded, not understanding the situation.

Mrs. Liu asked in a trembling voice, "Officer, what’s happened?"

Jingrui and Jinghao were both holding books in their hands, one of which was indeed ’Qimin Yaoshu’!

Seeing the book in Jingrui’s hand, Xiao’er inwardly sighed, thinking that it’s like sending a pillow to someone who’s falling asleep, she had been intending to go back and put the book into her space!

But it was fine now, at least she didn’t have to turn her home upside down! Xiao’er tried comforting herself.

If Xiao’er could see the ’Qimin Yaoshu’, the officers could naturally see it too, "Good, we’ve saved quite a lot of effort, caught them red-handed! Take them all away!"

"Officer, please, isn’t there some misunderstanding here, we..."

"Enough talking, take them away!"

"Officer, look, the others in my family are women and children, can you just take me instead?" Shen Chengyao really couldn’t bear to see his wife and children go to jail, so he handed a piece of silver to the leading officer and pleaded.

"Shut up now, as long as you behave when the time comes, you’ll be out soon!" The leading officer took the silver and kept it well.

The family was taken out of their home under custody. Some early rising villagers saw this and were so frightened that they rushed back into their homes. In less than two hours, the news of Shen Chengyao’s family being arrested by the government had spread throughout the entire village!

The people who came to Doctor Luo for treatment today were late, and not everyone mentioned the incident in front of him. By the time he found out about the arrest of Shen Chengyao’s family, it was almost midday! The shock caused him to break into a cold sweat despite the chilly weather. If the Third Prince found out about this, he might have to await his execution!

Xiao Fuzi had travelled nearly ten days to deliver Shangguan Xuanyi’s New Year’s gift to the Shen family. He had originally wanted to arrive before their moving day, so he had hurried day and night, but still arrived a day late.

When he arrived at Miss Xiao’er’s house and knocked for a long while without anyone answering, a kind villager passing by told him that the family had been taken away by government officials early in the morning for committing some offence. This news frightened Xiao Fuzi so much that his legs gave way. What on earth had happened? What crime had been committed? Why had they been taken by government officials! Did Doctor Luo know about it?

Thinking this, he immediately climbed into the carriage to head over to Doctor Luo’s house. If their master found out about this, he wouldn’t be able to handle it! Over the past few days, he had clearly seen just how much his master valued Miss Xiao’er. The Shen family had been thoroughly investigated down to their ancestors of eighteen generations by their people, so how could they commit any crime unknown to them?

Meanwhile, in the cell, Xiao’er was extremely upset. In her two lifetimes as a human, she had never thought she would end up in jail one day.

Confronted with a damp and dark unfamiliar environment, the young girl couldn’t stop crying.

The prison cell smelt musty and stinky, with rats and cockroaches occasionally scuttling across the floor. The family dared not to sit down and just huddled together. Shen Chengyao held Yun’er in his arms, while his three brothers shielded Xiao’er on the inside.

Seeing her younger sister wailing non-stop, Xiao’er suggested, "Mother, is the baby’s diaper wet?"

Mrs. Liu checked and admitted, "It is indeed wet, but we don’t have a spare diaper here!"

"With the weather being so cold, wrapping her in a wet diaper all the time isn’t a solution either. Take it off, and let her pee after a while," Chengyao suggested, furrowing his brows.

"We have no other choice!" Mrs. Liu sighed helplessly and began to undo the diaper.

"It’s all my fault. If I hadn’t taken that book out, it wouldn’t have had to be hidden, and none of us would be in prison now," Jingrui bowed his head in remorse.

"What nonsense are you talking! None of this is your fault," Mrs. Liu retorted in feigned anger.

"Someone must have tipped off the authorities," Xiao’er thought aloud, trying to figure out who the informer could be.

"Bad luck can’t be avoided. If someone wants to harm us, there isn’t much we can do," someone else added.

"Have any of you ever read this book in public? Did anyone see it yesterday?" asked Xiao’er.

"No, I always keep the books Brother Shangguan gave me locked away. With so many children around, I feared they might ruin them," Jingrui shook his head firmly.

"I recall an incident. Once when elder sister came to borrow embroidery thread from mother, brother and I were practicing calligraphy. The books were on the kang table; she saw them," Jinghao suddenly voiced his memory out loud.

"Think more carefully! We are dealing with the household of my elder brother here, again!" Shen Chengyao’s brow furrowed deeper in perplexity.

Other than her, there’s nobody else! Xiao’er was certain.

"Yes, no one else, only her. She even asked us when we bought so many books, whether we can read all the characters, whether we can understand them? And we rarely take out these books," Jingrui added on.

"Think again!" pressed Xiao’er.

"No, we took those books out only twice and the second time was this morning. No one else was there when we moved house," Jingrui shook his head.

Jinghao nodded in agreement.

"Or could it be that Bao’er blurted it out in passing and someone overheard and reported to the officials? We’ve never wronged her; what does she gain by having us arrested?"

Gain? There’s much to gain. Our house is not a mere empty shell, after all.

"Whether it’s her or not, we will know soon," Xiao’er proclaimed.

Just then, sounds of a rumbling stomach were heard from Jinghao.

"Hungry? We didn’t have breakfast, and it’s almost lunchtime now. Why has no one brought food yet?" Mrs. Liu glanced towards the door.

Xiao’er took out a bag of pork jerky from her space band and said, "I have a bag of jerky here. Let’s share and eat it first."

"Sister, how come you always carry jerky with you? That’s so clever! I should do it too. The next time we get in here, we won’t starve!"

"Shush! Out with it! I forbid such talk. Once we get out, we will never be brought back in," Mrs. Liu quickly silenced with a few ’spits’.

Just then, there was a noise at the prison cell door.