Kou Wan grasped Lin Hao’s hand, full of gratitude. “Elder Sister Lin, you don’t need to say anything more. I understand everything!”

Lin Hao: ?

What did Second Miss Kou understand? Also, how did “Second Miss Lin” suddenly become “Elder Sister Lin”?

Kou Wan dismissed her doubts and became concerned about the girls who had suffered the same fate as her. “Elder Sister Lin, there were three other young girls locked up with me!”

“My family’s people will temporarily care for them. After we turn the kidnappers over to the authorities, we’ll help them return home.”

Thinking of those three kidnappers, Kou Wan ground her teeth in hatred. “That old woman isn’t a good person either. She watched us especially closely…”

Not knowing what she thought of, fear flashed through the young girl’s eyes.

Lin Hao gently patted her hand. “Rest assured, not one of them will escape.”

“That’s good.” Kou Wan’s expression relaxed considerably.

“Does Second Miss Kou know the backgrounds of those three young girls? They must have been kidnapped for some time, right?”

“Elder Sister Lin, just call me Wan’er.” Kou Wan shook her head. “When I woke up, I found my mouth gagged. The three of them were the same—we couldn’t communicate at all. But from their appearance, they’d been confined for quite some time.”

Recalling the situation in that dark, cramped room made Kou Wan feel somewhat nauseated. She thought she would never forget that moldy smell for the rest of her life.

Seeing Kou Wan like this, Lin Hao asked no more questions and said gently, “Let me have someone send you back, so your family won’t worry.”

Kou Wan thanked her again and returned to Marquis Weiwu’s Mansion in an unmarked carriage.

The gatekeeper, upon seeing Kou Wan, hurriedly said, “Second Miss, you’ve finally returned! Madam has sent many people to search for you.”

Kou Wan nodded and went directly to her mother’s courtyard.

“Second Miss has returned!” called out the maid standing at the entrance.

Kou Wan walked in and saw a cold, stern face. She pressed her lips together and called out, “Mother.”

“You still know to come back!” Seeing her daughter’s casual manner made Lady Kou’s anger flare. “Do you know how many people went looking for you? Running outside at the drop of a hat—do you have even a bit of the bearing of a noble young lady…”

Kou Wan silently listened to her mother’s endless tirade. The heart that Lin Hao had warmed grew colder and colder.

A complete stranger, someone she had even treated unkindly before, had done everything possible to rescue her, yet her mother had only reproach.

Lady Kou scolded for a full quarter-hour. Seeing her daughter didn’t talk back, she was finally satisfied. “Go back to your room. When your elder sister returns next time, you’re not allowed to throw tantrums again.”

“I understand.” Kou Wan turned around expressionlessly. Walking out of the main courtyard, she was met with eyes full of brilliant sunset clouds, and tears couldn’t help but fall.

She thought of Lin Hao’s words and found them ironic.

Elder Sister Lin had worried that her changed clothes would be discovered by her family—what unnecessary concern.

For Marquis Weiwu’s Mansion, Kou Wan had merely run out willfully for half a day. It passed without causing even a ripple. Lin Hao, however, encountered a small difficulty.

The kidnappers were handed over to the authorities and would be fed prison meals, but of the three young girls, only one was sent away. Of the remaining two, one had been targeted by kidnappers when selling herself to bury her father and had no family left. The other had also lost her parents and, having accidentally overheard her brother and sister-in-law planning to sell her to a brothel, had run away and fallen into the kidnappers’ hands.

The two young girls looked at Lin Hao with hopeful eyes, not daring to cry or beg, yet their gazes said everything.

They wanted to stay. They wanted to live.

Lin Hao instructed the little maids to take them to wash up and eat, pondering how to arrange for them.

“Miss, are you going to keep them?” Baozhu couldn’t help asking.

Lin Hao, leaning against the beauty couch, raised her eyes slightly. “What does Baozhu think?”

Baozhu didn’t hide her sympathy for the two young girls. “This servant feels that although you don’t lack maids, Miss, our General’s Mansion is so large that arranging for two people wouldn’t be difficult.”

Lin Hao nodded. “Yes, it wouldn’t be difficult.”

Baozhu tilted her head, somewhat puzzled.

If Miss thinks so too, then what is there to hesitate about?

“Come, let’s go to my eldest sister’s place.”

Lin Chan was still “recovering from illness” and hadn’t left Jiaoyue Residence’s door. The flowers and trees in the courtyard had long since grown lush and verdant.

“Second Sister has come.” Seeing Lin Hao, Lin Chan showed no surprise.

During these days of seclusion, Lin Hao often visited, fearing she would be bored.

“There’s a matter I’d like to discuss with Elder Sister to make a decision together.”

Lin Chan took a soft pillow and gestured for her younger sister to lean against it while sitting. “What matter?”

Lin Hao recounted how she had coincidentally rescued several girls from kidnappers’ hands, omitting Kou Wan. “Now there are two young girls with nowhere to go—one is twelve years old, the other fourteen. I’m having a headache over how to arrange for them.”

“They’re both quite young. After learning under a steward for two years, they could be put to use.” Lin Chan’s first thought was the same as Baozhu’s, but then she realized, “Second Sister doesn’t plan to keep them as maids?”

Lin Hao nodded. “I know it wouldn’t be difficult for our family to support two more maids, but what if we encounter such girls again in the future?”

In the past, she wouldn’t have thought this much, but a momentary compassion that led to the Lin residence sheltering beggars gradually made her realize that supporting so many people by her own strength alone was impossible. If she wanted her kindness to be sustainable, there had to be more proper arrangements.

Lin Chan was somewhat surprised by Lin Hao’s thinking. “Second Sister means there might be such girls in the future?”

“If I encounter them, I can’t bear to stand by and watch.” Lin Hao said softly.

Because there were too many such girls—she had once been one of them.

While fleeing from her “man-eating” home, she had also received help from others, which sustained her until she met her teacher. When seeing girls trapped in difficulties, she couldn’t help thinking that perhaps with her small effort, these girls could have a different life.

Lin Chan smiled and smoothed Lin Hao’s hair. “Second Sister’s consideration is right. If you’re going to help more people in difficulties, simply taking them in isn’t a solution. It’s better to teach them to fish.”

Lin Hao’s eyes held a smile. “I was thinking the same thing. I just don’t know what arrangement would be best, so I wanted to discuss it with Elder Sister.”

“If they had embroidery skills, we could open a shop selling embroidered goods. Not long ago, I heard the steward say that our family’s shop on Wanqing Street has been operating poorly and we’re planning to do something else—the shop space is ready-made.” Lin Chan suggested.

“Those two young girls are both from poor backgrounds and probably haven’t learned delicate work like embroidery. If they start learning now, they wouldn’t even be able to embroider a handkerchief in less than two or three years…” As Lin Hao spoke, her heart stirred.

Embroidery skills couldn’t be learned in a short time, but some things could—for instance, making fragrances.

The women of the capital loved floral waters, and there were quite a few shops selling various floral waters on the streets. Whether noble ladies or daughters from modest families could all buy flower waters suitable for themselves. And when she watched her teacher making medicine, she had once heard him mention casually that if his method of purifying medicinal extracts were used to purify floral waters, they would be far superior to the flower waters seen on the market.

Opening a floral water shop that required hands at every step from picking flowers to selling would allow them to provide for quite a few people.

The two sisters discussed this matter at length. When leaving, Lin Hao carried a small box containing banknotes. In Lin Chan’s words, pocket money was just sitting there anyway—consider it invested capital.