This is a story from seven years ago.

The Meng family was originally a wealthy family in Qin County. Master Meng was a kind and generous man who often took his wife and daughters to raise funds and distribute porridge outside the city. He was a well-known philanthropist at the time.

The family was well-fed and clothed, and although their lives were simple, they were warm and happy.

Seven years ago, Meng's daughter went out with her maid to see the Flower Goddess, but she never returned.

The couple were so anxious that they immediately reported it to the authorities and sent their servants to search for her overnight. However, the constables and yamen runners searched the entire Qin County and even the surrounding suburbs but could not find the young Miss Meng.

Madam Meng was heartbroken and fell ill from grief. She was seriously ill that very day and lay on her bed, barely clinging to life.

With his daughter missing and his wife seriously ill, Master Meng seemed to have aged ten years overnight. He was determined to find his daughter no matter what, even if it meant spending all his wealth.

Money can be earned back, but his beloved wife and daughter are his only family.

At first, the couple lived in a three-courtyard house, but later they sold the house to search for their daughter and moved into an ordinary courtyard in a working-class neighborhood. Later, they couldn't even afford to live in the courtyard anymore, so Meng Zhiyuan could only carry his increasingly haggard wife on his back while treating her illness and searching for their daughter. When they were tired, they would rest in a small rented house.

In the third year of this search, Madam Meng could not hold on any longer and passed away in her husband's arms.

When she passed away, Madam Meng was so thin that she was skin and bones and could no longer be recognized as a human.

On her deathbed, she clung tightly to her husband's sleeve, her heart filled with worry for her daughter. She feared her daughter wouldn't have enough to eat, that her daughter would catch a cold, that her daughter would get hurt, or that her daughter would be bullied.

Having spent all the money he had, Meng Zhiyuan offered his wife an everlasting lamp at Hongfu Temple.

From then on, he became homeless, either sleeping on the streets or sharing a room with beggars in the City God Temple to barely get through the night.

A few years ago, Meng Zhiyuan would occasionally go up the mountain to the temple to wipe the ash off the lamps and say a few words to his beloved wife. But later, it seemed that he had a complete mental breakdown and went completely insane, and he never came back.

Because everyone said that kidnappers mostly sold children to brothels near Yaozhou City, or to wealthy families as maids. Driven mad, Meng Zhiyuan wandered the road between Qin County and Yaozhou City like a lost soul.

Just then, another family's little girl was kidnapped, and Meng Zhiyuan happened to witness it. He rushed forward like a madman and snatched the little girl back from the kidnapper, at the cost of breaking a leg.

Before the little girl's family could even express their gratitude, Meng Zhiyuan limped away to go look for his daughter.

You could say he's crazy, but he also seems to have a very clear head.

He remembered that his daughter loved to eat white sugar cake, and he remembered that his wife lived high up in the mountains. He would always hold a few copper coins that he had picked up from who-knows-where and mutter, "Buy white sugar cake for my little girl..." He would always stand at the foot of the mountain and gaze blankly at the mountain gate with his cloudy eyes.

Perhaps because he had not found his daughter for a long time, he was too ashamed to bother his wife anymore.

Originally, the eternal lamp at Hongfu Temple required a fixed fee to be paid for its renewal every year. In recent years, it has been the kind-hearted people who were helped by the Meng family in the past who have been voluntarily renewing the lamp. They are also poor and don't have much money, but it is not difficult to leave a memento for their benefactors.

After the young novice monk finished telling the story, Zhan Xinjia was stunned.

Seven years ago, during the Flower Festival... Could it be that the missing daughter of the Meng family was Qiaoqiao?

"Do you two young masters still remember the name of that young lady from the Meng family?"

"...I think her name is Meng Qiao?"

Upon hearing this, Zhan Xinjia sighed helplessly.

It turns out her real name really was Qiao Qiao. It turns out that Qiao Niang wasn't the name that old witch gave her. It was because Meng Qiao, who was already eleven years old at the time, still remembered that her name was Qiao Qiao even when she was delirious from the fever.

This is the name her parents gave her.

For so many years, Old Man Meng has been searching for his daughter in Qin County or Yaozhou City. Who could have guessed that there was already a river between him and his daughter that he could not cross even after seven years?

Once the matter in Yaozhou City is resolved, I need to find a way to take Uncle Meng to Qiaoqiao's place.

Having made up his mind, Zhan Xinjia turned around and was startled to find Yan Yuyao standing there with his incongruously cold face, embracing Cui Wanzhao, who had woken up at some point, and crying their hearts out.

"Oh no, this is terrible."

"Damn it, those damned human traffickers! People like that should be exiled to the Western Regions to shovel manure!"

Seeing that Cui Wanzhao had already started secretly blowing her nose on Yan Yuyao's robe sleeve, Zhan Xinjia raised his finger to his forehead, and three speechless black lines instantly appeared on his forehead.

She grabbed the two of them and started walking out.

"Alright, alright, Miss Meng, I know where she is. You two be strong, we still have important business to attend to!"

"Is this serious business?"

Yan Yuyao wiped her face. "By the way, you said you were Xiaoyue's friend who came from the capital. What about this Miss Cui?"

Under Cui Wanzhao's expectant gaze, Zhan Xinjia gave Yan Yuyao an awkward smile.

"Uh... she's probably your fiancée? You should pack your things and prepare to leave the monastic life."

"ha?"

Yan Yuyao looked doubtful.

After Zhan Xinjia finished explaining, Yan Yuyao became so anxious that he almost started gesturing wildly, nearly bursting into a recitation of "Eighteen Songs of a Nomad Flute." He took a deep breath, and with trembling hands, he stretched out one hand, pointing at the seemingly harmless little girl in front of him.

"You're even more ruthless than human traffickers?! Human traffickers know to arrange a buyer only after they've abducted someone, but you haven't even met me and you've already found a buyer for me based on just a name?!"

After saying that, Yan Yuyao gave Cui Wanzhao a hard elbow strike.

"She said your father is the county magistrate? I'm going to report this to the authorities! Get your father here right now!!!"

"Calm down! Calm down, Uncle!"

Since he is Yan Xiyue's uncle, it's alright for me to call him uncle, right? Zhan Xinjia tried to calm the victim down.

There's no time to mourn for Yan Yuyao's marriage; the most important thing right now is the plague!

After she subtly explained to the two how serious and terrifying the matter was, she finally made her way back to the kitchen and found the two cooks who were still frantically tossing the wok.

"Yaozhou City? I'm not too sure. Our organization used to have a very detailed and clear division of labor. That area of ​​business wasn't under our brothers' jurisdiction. I think the small leader was a guy called Rice Shovel Head."

The two masters were also dumbfounded.

Just when Zhan Xinjia thought the clues had run dry, one of the craftsmen scratched the back of his head again.

"Oh, but you can try to find an old man nearby called the Lonely Old Man. Back then, we were ordered to both harass Master Miaoyu and that Lonely Old Man. Good heavens, we were almost exhausted from running back and forth! They treated us like donkeys! Luckily, I've quit now. Cooking is more suitable for me."

"A lonely old man?"

"Hmm... I think he was a barefoot doctor. He had a terrible temper and was a bit of a weirdo. A few years ago, he lived alone in a small courtyard near the tavern on the north side of Yaozhou City, close to the city gate. I don't know if he's moved now."

After listening to the chef's words, Zhan Xinjia pondered to himself.

The person that Lan Jiang sent to find must be no ordinary doctor. Perhaps this lonely old man is the key to solving the plague. She must go and see him. Anyway, she has to go to Yaozhou City.

But there's one more thing she wants to know.

"Speaking of which, why do you all listen to the goddess so much?"