However, as soon as Ruan Ning entered, a man in black slammed the door shut. A minute later, the door opened slightly, and a few women’s clothes were thrown in. “Wear them,” the man commanded coldly.
After changing out of the clothes torn by Wang Mengfu, Ruan Ning realized the door had been locked from the outside to prevent her escape. Stunned, she watched the sun’s shadow move up the window, feeling as if life were a dream. She wondered if she might suddenly wake up and find everything was just a dream, and she was still struggling to write.
At noon, the black-clothed man brought her food. Ruan Ning quickly asked, “Sir, can I go out for a walk? I’m feeling uncomfortable in this room.”
“No,” he replied, placing the food box on the table before turning to leave.
Frustrated, Ruan Ning sensed hostility from this stranger. She initially wanted to discover the identity of the black-clothed man’s master and understand the situation. However, his attitude made her feel unsafe, especially as night approached. Alone and held captive in an unfamiliar environment, she shivered and decided to escape.
The door was locked, and the window faced the courtyard, making discovery likely. How could she escape?
As the sun’s shadow moved, Ruan Ning locked the window, bolted the door, and moved a table onto the bed, placing a chair on top. Tucking her skirt into her handkerchief and holding chopsticks, she climbed onto the chair, reaching toward the ceiling. Ruan Ning smiled, thinking, “Although I’m a failed writer, I can be a mason!”
She found a spot with loosely arranged wooden strips and began digging with her chopsticks. Dirt fell as she worked, eventually clearing a patch. Holding her breath, she pushed up, lifting a roof tile to reveal a small patch of sky. Fresh air rushed in.
“This is the taste of freedom!” Ruan Ning wanted to recite a poem about freedom but recalled only, “For freedom’s sake, both can be abandoned,” which discouraged her.
Continuing to dig, she removed more tiles until the hole was large enough. The wooden strips were clear, and she pulled out the obstructions.
Despite the mess of wooden strips and dirt on the bed, Ruan Ning tossed aside the chopsticks and eagerly tried to squeeze through the hole—
But she got stuck.
Suddenly, the door was thrown open.
The black-clothed man entered first, bowed, and stepped aside for a man in a silver-red long robe. His expression showed surprise, anger, and amusement.
There she was, standing high on the bed, her slender figure outlined by her light-colored top. Her dress, hiked up, revealed silver-red embroidered pants and delicate red shoes. Her fair face was partially visible, with cherry-like lips, and her head was stuck in the ceiling hole.
Her soft voice came through the gap: “I’m sorry, could you help me get down first?”
The black-clothed man was stunned. Who could have thought this delicate woman would dig a hole in the roof to escape? He knelt, saying, “My lord, forgive me. I failed to watch over Miss Ruan properly.”
The man in the red robe glanced at him and said coldly, “Get her down and receive ten lashes when you return.”
“Yes!” the black-clothed man replied, relieved.
He stood up, approached the bed, and jumped, causing dirt and dust to fall. Ruan Ning cried out as she was blinded by the dust and began to fall from the chair.
The black-clothed man hesitated, not catching her but throwing a blanket on the floor instead. As Ruan Ning was about to hit the ground, a strong arm suddenly wrapped around her. Panicked, she clutched the person’s clothes, burying herself in their embrace.
The arm circled her waist, enveloping her in a mix of soft fragrance and dust.
Ruan Ning was about to get up when the person pushing her away suddenly stiffened and then forcefully pushed her back. She staggered, her legs weak as she sat on the bedding, meeting the man’s gaze.
He had features like a Greek statue—ink-dyed eyebrows, sharp sideburns, and three-dimensional contours—recognizable as the man in the reddish-brown robe from outside the Yuelai Inn. His expression was cold, with thin lips tightly pressed, and his narrow eyes filled with undisguised disgust. He didn’t speak, but Ruan Ning felt an oppressive pressure and lowered her head, not daring to look up.
After a long pause, the man in the reddish-brown robe said in a chilling voice, “Give her a broom and make her clean the room.”
Author’s note: Has anyone guessed why the system didn’t appear? Hahahahaha
Chapter 8: The White Moonlight Becomes a Mother-in-Law
Ruan Ning felt that the book she had transmigrated into was illogical and nonsensical. Who would expect a peerless beauty to be treated like this?
First, Ruan Ning was despised by the man in black, and now the man in the reddish-brown robe was forcing her to clean. She was a stunning beauty, not someone to be treated this way!
With dirt everywhere on the bed and floor, Ruan Ning swept halfheartedly, growing frustrated. She had been knocked unconscious and brought here; now she had to clean? While others who transmigrate conquer handsome men and the world, she was stuck with a broom. True, she had dirtied the room, but that was forced upon her. If those two heartless men hadn’t locked her up, she wouldn’t have made such a mess.
Angrily, she threw the broom on the ground and banged on the door, shouting, “Hey, is anyone alive? Let me out, I want to go home!”
The door opened, and the man in the reddish-brown robe stood a few steps away, expressionless. “Clean up first.”
“I won’t!” Ruan Ning shot back angrily.
The man replied, “Then you won’t leave.”
She stared at him for a moment, then suddenly started crying, covering her face. “Are you being reasonable? You knocked me unconscious and brought me here, and now you won’t let me escape? Look at my split fingernails! This is all your fault. I won’t clean, I just won’t…”
The corner of the man’s mouth twitched slightly, and he turned to walk out quickly.
Soon, the man in black said coldly, “My master says if you don’t clean up, you’ll sleep on that dirty bed tonight.”
Ruan Ning angrily grabbed the broom and threw it at him. “Are you even men? Can’t you give a stunning beauty the treatment she deserves?”
That night, Ruan Ning lay on a clean bed, her eyes curved like a crescent moon. The broom remained outside, untouched. She had found new bedding from a chest and thrown the dirty ones aside. She hated sweeping the floor, and those two un-manly men wouldn’t force her to do it!
The man in the vermilion robe’s expression darkened. Ruan Ning might do something worse than those women. That day, she had exposed her bare feet in public, being seen by many men, and was carried into a car by Wang Mengfu. Today, she was embraced without a hint of shyness. He would keep her for a few days, at least for her beautiful feet.
Early in the morning, Ruan Ning had just awakened when Chen Wu’s voice came from outside: “Food is outside, help yourself.” She quickly jumped up, hastily throwing on some clothes and leaping out of bed.
Chen Wu heard a cry of pain, followed by a thud. He instinctively wanted to push the door open to check, but then remembered Ruan Ning might be improperly dressed, so he quickly withdrew his hand and silently stepped back.
After a while, the door opened. Ruan Ning emerged, her waist-length hair flowing, hands covering her collar, hopping on one foot. Her beautifully drawn face was angry, her cherry-like mouth pursed.
Ruan Ning quickly spotted Chen Wu and pointed at him, puffing out her cheeks: “When are you going to let me go? I’ve sprained my ankle and need to see a doctor!”
“The master has arrangements,” Chen Wu said, feeling awkward and quickly turning away.
Ruan Ning hopped closer, shouting: “I want to see a doctor! I’ve sprained my ankle!”
