Milady's Fine Gentleman 112 INTO HIDING

It was the third week of September. The three months leeway that Teng Man Rui requested from Shi Fan Hai was almost up. Come October, he would have started his thorough search for her.

Teng Man Rui was staying hidden in the middle of nowhere in Southern China, near a temple. At first she decided to stay at a temple to serve and lead an ascetic life, but then she decided to leave after some time, only to settle in a cottage in the forest, just near the temple she stayed in.

She decided to become one of the village people and blend with them.

During the first month she had been to famous and extravagant places such as Paris, Venice, Brazil and Las Vegas, intentionally splurging her credit cards in a shopping spree. She was deliberately leaving behind her footprints. All her shopping items, she had sent to the main house of the Tengs.

On the second month, she totally went off the grid. She liquidated her savings into cash, turned off her phone, and never used her credit cards again. She then went in the deepest of the suburbs for a temple stay.

At first her family found her movements quite peculiar. She had been spending quite luxuriously out of the blue, then utterly stopped spending just like that. They knew Teng Man Rui wasn't a big spender to start with, but she did. It was fine because she was a lady of status, but what's more peculiar was that she stopped spending altogether, and went towards the exact opposite life – condemning any material things and choosing the path of an ascetic.

During her last phone call with her mother, she explained, "Mom, I'm fine. I'm just experimenting on life in general. I want to try out these things for once. I would like to try out the simple way of life, and I believe that it will enable me to appreciate the greatness of this world, and of the abundance that we enjoy every single day, more. This is temporary, mom. I will take care of myself and return to your side. Before you know it, I would have returned home."

What she told her mother weren't lies and, in fact, were quite aligned with her interests, and also served as an excuse of the real reason of her actions.

"Xiao Rui, you need security with you? Honey, it's dangerous out there." Her mother worriedly argued.

"Mom, I will live just like the majority. There's no need for security. I will be careful, Mom." She thought it through again. "Well, if you're really worried, you can send one trusted guard whose loyalty is to the Tengs only. Promise me, Mom, just one you can trust. And preferably a female who would not present herself to me. I don't want to see her or feel that someone's around me. I want this setup to be a secret, Mom."

That was the arrangement that she had with her family.

Teng Man Rui was the fourth child of the Tengs, and their only daughter. She had three older brothers. Growing up, she was pampered like a real princess, her family always giving in to her whims. Even so, she did not grow up to be a spoiled brat, because her family had successfully instilled to her and her brothers the essence of goodness and values. Since she had three brothers who were rough and who played among themselves, she found company with her cousins who were girls. They were constantly exposed to the socialite way of living, and were trained how to be ladylike ever since young. The Tengs owned a conglomerate of shopping malls all over the country, and just recently, her brothers were leading the expansion in the region and farther outside of it. Her family does not have any expectations from her, except to marry well and lead a happy and healthy long life.

Even if she had cash with her, she had devised a way to sustain her simple life through pottery. Being the artistic person that she was, she could create beautifully aesthetic original works with her bare hands. She created pots and vases made of mud and clay and other ceramic materials, ornately designed to her liking. These pots, she sold at a considerably attractive price in the village market, together with other villagers.

Just to ensure that her identity was hidden, she wore plain peasant clothes and even wore, at all times, a conical hat with a thick veil attached on its rim. When asked by the villagers why she had to wear a hat, she had explained that there's something wrong with her face, and that she's allergic to pollen so she needed the barrier from the wind. This explanation was bought by the villagers. They would not insist in seeing her face, if there's something unpleasant about it. They simply thought that not all females are gifted with beauty. What's important was that this new acquaintance was kind and good to them.

One day at the marketplace, a group of hideous men ransacked the place like a passing hurricane. They were asking for tributes and tithes due to them.

The marketplace was an open array of tables with native goods at one end of the village. Teng Man Rui's stall was located at the farthest, farthest end. Before they reached her, she already learned about the ruckus and was thinking hard what she would do. 'I don't want to be singled out. I might blow my cover.' She prepared the tithe readily. She decided to simply pay whatever they're asking just to do away with it.

But the gangsters stopped at her stall a little longer.

"You're new here. Who gave you the license to sell here? This is our territory."

"Here, here's the payment. Just let me do my business. I mean no harm." Teng Man Rui said.

"No harm? You already disrupted the course of business. You see, the buyers are all but the same. If they buy something from you, they might not buy from the other sellers anymore. The other sellers have signed contracts with us. You don't."

"I'll pay the price! What do you need?" She retorted.

"You have a lovely voice. Why don't you show your face?" The man was so eager to lift her thick veil to reveal her hidden face. Teng Man Rui struggled.

In her struggle, some of the pots broke.

"Look at what you've done!" Teng Man Rui burst in anger. She worked hard on her pots and vases – every single one of them are significant to her, like her babies.

"Now you owe me for these vases." She argued back.

The man grabbed her wrist with one hand, and with his other hand he was prepared to give her a beating.

A female silhouette that stayed hidden all this while changed her stance, to jump from the shadows and meddle. She's the female bodyguard protecting Teng Man Rui.

However, before she could act, she was beaten to it. She was located a relatively farther distance since she's hiding in the shadows.

A guy from behind grabbed the man's suspended arm that was supposed to hit Teng Man Rui. He pinned it behind his back then threw the man, face down on the ground. He secured him in place with his knee. The two other men tried to attack him as well. This time, Teng Man Rui's female bodyguard together with the villagers herded towards the two men.

All this while, Teng Man Rui closed her eyes, waiting for the hit to stike her, but it never came. She tentatively opened her eyes and gasped at what she saw. She saw the man who was supposed to hit her, pinned on the ground, and a man securing him in place, and there was another scuttle towards her left, with the villagers turned towards the middle with quite the hostility.

"Are you alright, Miss?" The man in front of her asked.

"Yes, thank you. I thought you'd never come. You're supposed to keep me safe, aren't you?" Teng Man Rui probed the man who was mistaken as her bodyguard. "I requested my mother for a female, but she sent a male instead. I guess that would be for the best." She added.

The man tilted his head, not understanding a thing. In the end, he kept his silence. The man surrendered his catch for the angry villagers to take care of.

"I'll take my leave, Miss. Keep safe." The man bid his farewell. 'I think I heard her voice before.' He kept on tilting his head slightly while trying to recall, and while walking away from the place.

Chapter end

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