Chapter 5 Disappeared

After the quiet of the night, Ye Xinyan looked at the time, it was late Zi Hour, and there was no sound outside. She and Nanny Jin, dressed in thin clothes, quietly left the yard.

Ye Xinyan led Nanny Jin to a hole beneath the back yard wall, one that a little maid had once crawled through in her memory. The two of them, exhausted, squeezed themselves through the tiny opening.

Once Ye Xinyan was out, she turned back to restore the weeds around the hole to their original state.

Under the empty wall, in the pitch-black night, the two of them re-tied their bundles and layered on three sets of different outer garments. They stealthily made their way towards the west of the city.

Along the way, in the dark and complex streets, Ye Xinyan exhibited unusual caution and wit. With every step taken, she ensured the next hideout was spotted, repeatedly avoiding several groups of patrolmen and city defense soldiers.

Nanny Jin, being a servant used to attendance, was not lacking in strength and had nimble feet. She closely followed the panting Ye Xinyan all the way. It wasn't until they reached a few dilapidated houses near the Western City Gate that the two finally stopped to rest.

Gasping for breath, Ye Xinyan said in a low voice, "Nanny, let's rest here. When the city gates open tomorrow, we'll follow the crowd out. It won't be light yet, and the Mansion probably won't have noticed our absence."

.....

The next day, as dawn just began to break, with the heavy and dull sound of the city gates opening, many who were waiting inside and eager to get on the road began to leave the city one after another.

Ye Xinyan and Nanny Jin also left with the flow of people at the first opportunity.

After walking with the crowd for a while outside the city, they left the main road to take a more secluded path. Taking advantage of the absence of people around, Ye Xinyan and Nanny Jin shed their everyday clothes and, with dirt from the ground and a piece of cloth blackened with charcoal, smeared their faces and necks, re-combing their hair after letting it down.

After this disguise, they looked like disheveled, dirt-streaked, and exhausted poor women, with not a trace of their former appearance. The two then split up and walked back, separately taking shelter in two decrepit inns in the west of the city that they had spotted the night before.

It wasn't until they had checked into the inns that Chen Hour had passed. Only then did the young maids in Ye Xinyan's yard at Duke's Mansion, noticing that the young lady had not stirred and Nanny Jin was also absent, boldly went in to check, only to be shocked.

The yard was immediately thrown into chaos.

...

Upon hearing the news of the young lady's disappearance, Duke An, his wife, and the Princely Heir, who had not shown themselves the day before, quickly gathered in the detested courtyard.

After hearing the servants' report, Duke An was greatly enraged and, without a second thought, arranged for several groups of people to secretly follow different directions to pursue the escapees before turning back to deal with the people in the courtyard.

At that moment, the letter that Ye Xinyan had written played a role. With her own daughter just gone and not knowing if she could be retrieved, the wife of the heir apparent wanted to leave some blessings for her daughter.

As Duke An contemplated how to deal with the dozen or so maids and old woman servants, the wife of the heir apparent tearfully pleaded for mercy, even showing Duke An the note written by Ye Xinyan.

Seeing this hideously written letter, Duke An, furious, further confirmed that Ye Xinyan had indeed run away.

"Look at what sort of daughter you both have raised! The legitimate granddaughter of the noble Duke's Mansion has caused such a scandal and, instead of sincerely repenting at the ancestral temple, she dares to flee!" The Duke's face darkened, as if it could drip with water, and glancing at the paper once again, he furiously threw it at his son, who had advocated for the execution of the servants.

This pig-brained boy, does he not know that the priority is to quietly find her and avoid letting Duke's Mansion suffer an even bigger scandal? Everything else is secondary.

"What on earth is in your head? At a time like this, you're still thinking about executing the servants? Are you eager for the entire capital to know that Duke An's legitimate granddaughter has eloped?" He scolded Ye Hongyang and then gave orders to the steward, "Take the servants from this yard to a remote estate. Tell them if they want to live, they'll keep their mouths shut. We must have a consistent story for outsiders; just say this scourge has already been sent to the ancestral temple." Having said that, he flung his sleeve and left with the Duchess.

Duke was quite displeased with his son's favoring of the concubine. However, since Maternal Aunt Liu knew how to conduct herself discreetly in daily affairs, it was not appropriate for Duke to interfere too much in his son's domestic matters.

This was all trouble caused by his son's doting on the concubine. Besides quickly and quietly finding the person and sending her to the ancestral temple, what other solution was there?

At that moment, Duke could not imagine that, with the power and manpower of Duke's Mansion, they would actually fail to catch a pampered and thoughtless granddaughter, stumbling badly over such a trivial matter.

Princely Heir Ye Hongyang clumsily caught the piece of paper and, with utmost disdain, glanced over it a few times before scolding Madam Yin, "Look at the daughter you have raised! Not to mention whether she understands shame or decency, she can't even write a few words properly. Despite being the legitimate granddaughter of Duke's Mansion, aside from bringing disgrace upon us, what else can she do?"

Ignoring the resentful look in Madam Yin's eyes, he directly ordered his subordinates, "Go investigate how the miss managed to leave without anyone noticing. It must have been that dog of a servant Nanny Jin who helped with the arrangements; if it were up to Miss's foolish nature, I doubt she could even walk out of this courtyard! When we catch that wretched girl, we will immediately break her legs to see how she'll run then!"

At that time, Ye Hongyang only saw Ye Xinyan's escape as a disgraceful matter and was solely focused on how to punish her once she was recaptured, never considering what to do if she could not be caught.

Madam Yin watched angrily as Ye Hongyang left, seething with fury. No matter what, Ah Yan was also his daughter; he didn't seem at all worried about whether his daughter might face danger outside, only how he could punish his daughter to release his anger.

Maternal Aunt Liu was pleased. Hearing that Ye Xinyan had actually run away from home, she gained a deeper understanding of the stupidity of the Duke's legitimate granddaughter.

Sitting in her room with a faint smile playing at the corner of her lips, Maternal Aunt Liu contemplated that, with this scandal of fleeing home, even if Ye Xinyan were successfully retrieved by the Duke's Mansion, they might strictly supervise her for a while to prevent a recurrence and then quietly dispose of her.

If she could not be retrieved... it was even harder to say. A young woman of seventeen or eighteen, alone in the world, with a bit of beauty—it was easy to imagine the predicaments she might face.

The clever ones who didn't reveal the identity of the Duke's daughter might survive despite humiliation. If her identity were known, and once the Mansion found out, Duke would demand her life immediately.

No matter the outcome, Ye Xinyan was on a path with no escape.

...…

On one hand, Duke's Mansion arranged for carriages as if sending people to the ancestral temple, while on the other, they urgently deployed people to chase down Ye Xinyan.

Since they could not search overtly, those sent by Duke's Mansion could not reveal their identity and had to inquire discreetly about sightings of a young and an old woman together.

Several teams followed the trail out of the Western City Gate, but it ended there. People witnessed the described pair of old and young women leaving through the Western City Gate and walking in the southwest direction for a while, after which no one saw them again.

The people from Duke's Mansion chased down several leads, asking along the way, but could no longer find any trace of them. Two days later, the agents tasked with searching returned one after another, all empty-handed.

Duke and his son were shocked and puzzled. They were just two women from the back of the house, and in such a short amount of time, they could not have gotten far. They had dispatched forces at the first moment to search, and there were indeed sightings of the two leaving via the Western City Gate—how could they not be found?

The Duke and his son couldn't fathom that for the runaway of a minor girl from a deep mansion, they had to employ their advisors.

One of Duke's Mansion's trusted advisors suggested that while they search beyond the city, they should also inquire at various inns inside the city to see if there was any news. He subtly mentioned that it would be best to investigate places of pleasure and inquire whether any young women had been abducted in the past days.

Although Duke was furious, he followed the advisors' suggestions out of shock and fear, expanding the search.

It was these two days spent searching outside the city that gave Ye Xinyan some respite. By the time Duke's Mansion turned their attention back inside the city, Ye Xinyan had already rented a run-down courtyard in a poor neighborhood under the guise of a widow, and together with Nanny Jin, had settled the account and left the inn.

Besides, no matter how hard the people of Duke's Mansion racked their brains, they would never imagine that the spoiled miss of the Duke's Mansion would take refuge in a filthy slum, and even manage to live there undisturbed for a long time.