Chapter 242 Separated! Luo'er is kidnapped!

Madam Pei slumped back into her chair, her face filled with grief.

"Whether he's truly insane or not... let's tie him up first."

"Quickly find someone to shut everyone up in the west of the city! This is Li Kechuan's own doing, and it's his retribution. I believe Luo'er won't do anything wrong."

"However, this matter cannot be blown out of proportion."

"Li Kechuan can die, but he must never live to ruin Luo'er's reputation!"

"Luo'er herself may not care, but I have to think about her."

Zhang Mama nodded repeatedly: "Yes, the old lady is right. This old servant will go and do it right away. I will not let a word of today's events slip out."

Granny Zhang got up and hurried out.

But then Old Madam Pei suddenly called out to her, "Wait! Where's Luo'er? Why hasn't Luo'er returned yet?"

Madam Pei originally planned to deal with Li Chaojing before Luo'er returned.

Because Luo'er knew that if her father came here, he would definitely be anxious too.

But why haven't we heard from her yet?

This child did something like this; could it be that she's getting herself implicated?

Li Qingluo had already escaped from the dilapidated temple.

However, she is currently facing some trouble and has not yet been able to get home in time.

Because there's a cloth shop on fire ahead.

This fabric shop has a large storefront, with several shops connected together across the street and on both sides.

However, at this moment, flames soared into the sky, almost setting the entire street ablaze.

Between the two rows of cloth shops was a memorial archway, which was now burned into a barrier, preventing any person or carriage from passing underneath it.

The street was already packed with people.

It was impossible for Li Qingluo and her companions to turn their carriage around and leave in another direction at this moment.

The bell tower inside the Dali Temple rang out with a "dong dong dong," and Granny Deng said, "The people from the Water Dragon Bureau should be here soon."

Li Qinglu asked curiously, "Water Dragon Bureau? Is that the imperial court's special firefighting team?"

Granny Deng nodded: "Yes, young lady. When the General's Mansion caught fire, the fire brigade went there. Otherwise, the General's Mansion itself would probably have been burned down."

"But the fire at this cloth shop today is strange... It's not nighttime, so no one would use a fire so easily, right?"

Sparrow tiptoed inside, peeking: "I wonder if anyone is still trapped. I hope no one suffers the same fate as our General's Mansion last time, a result of this undeserved disaster..."

Li Qingluo's heart was also heavy.

This cloth shop is finished. If this fire breaks out, I'm afraid all the goods will be lost.

Li Qingluo suddenly thought, "This cloth shop has nothing to do with my grandmother's Tianfeng Trading Company, right?"

Granny Deng shook her head: "No. This cloth shop belongs to Baofeng Trading Company. The owner of Baofeng Trading Company is of unknown origin and no one has ever seen him. All that is known is that Baofeng Trading Company has frequent business dealings with the Western Regions."

Western Regions?

Li Qingluo thought of the 'Maitreya Poison' that Nan Jia had been poisoned with, which also came from the Western Regions.

She suddenly became anxious and kept looking up at the sky.

The family still doesn't know what to do.

Li Kechuan was tricked by himself in the dilapidated temple today. He hopes his grandmother won't be angry if she knows the truth.

But right now, Li Qingluo is more worried that Li Chaojing might harm her grandmother.

"We can't delay any longer. Let's abandon the carriage and leave on foot."

Li Qinglu put on her veil and got off the carriage with Granny Deng and the others.

Que'er and Zi Jin held Li Qingluo tightly, while Wu Quan, Granny Deng, and several other nannies surrounded their young lady from all sides.

However, there were just too many onlookers, making it difficult for even one person to move, let alone Li Qingluo and her group who were so tightly huddled together.

In an instant, their outward push and shove caused a lot of complaints from the crowd.

"What are you doing? If you didn't want to join in the fun, why did you even squeeze in in the first place?"

"Oh no—my shoes, the new shoes my mom just made for me—who stepped on them!?"

"My child, don't push, don't push!"

At the same time, several members of the Qu family were also trying to squeeze out.

"Quickly search around here, see if you can spot the Fourth Young Master?"

"No, not here, not there either. Steward Qi, what should we do? Could the Fourth Young Master be in that cloth shop?"

"What nonsense are you spouting?! What was Fourth Young Master doing at the cloth shop so early in the morning? Hurry up and find him! By the way, are you sure it's not in the west of the city?"

"Yes, that should be right. The Fourth Young Master secretly left the manor early this morning. Apart from the letter we found in his room that had the words 'west of the city' on it, everything else was burned."

"Besides this west side of the city, we have nowhere else to look."

"Find them quickly!"

"Young Master—Fourth Young Master—"

The servants of the Qu family made quite a fuss when they came to find Qu Daoxun, but unfortunately everyone was there to see the fire at the cloth shop, so the fire at the dilapidated temple did not cause a stir.

Granny Deng: "I was afraid that if things got out of hand, I would be scolded by the old lady when I got back, so I had Granny Zheng and the others suppress the noise, since there were only a few people who heard it."

"Now, apart from the servants of the general's mansion who saw it, only the beggars themselves know... Even if they regain their senses, I'm afraid none of them will survive."

"Girl, Li Kechuan is incredibly lucky!"

I originally thought that if things got out of hand at the dilapidated temple, and rumors started to circulate, I couldn't blame them.

Now, because of this fire, no one is paying attention to the scandalous affairs at the dilapidated temple.

Li Qingluo said nonchalantly, "It doesn't matter. Anyway, I've already achieved my goal. Li Kechuan's disgrace is a foregone conclusion."

He was slept with by a group of beggars, servants, and his own cousin until he was completely out of his mind. What expression would Li Kechuan have when he woke up?

Li Qingluo was actually looking forward to it, and even felt a little regretful that she couldn't witness it in person.

Just then, the cloth shop's archway behind it was suddenly engulfed in flames and crashed heavily to the ground with a loud 'boom'.

The crowd of onlookers suddenly erupted into chaos.

Many people finally realized the danger and turned around, wanting to leave the place as soon as possible.

However, the crowding and noise startled many of the horses trapped inside. The horses neighed and trampled, and the crowd screamed in panic. At that moment, the riot completely broke out.

In that instant, Li Qingluo and the others were also successfully separated.

The immense impact separated Li Qingluo from Que'er and Zijin.

Li Qingluo had Que'er catch Zijin.

"Don't let anyone from Prince Yun's residence see her, get out of here!"

Que'er glanced at the girl, who was still accompanied by her grandmother and Wu Quan, while she herself was getting further and further away from the girl. So she could only quickly grab Zi Jin tightly.

"Don't let go, please don't let go!"

Li Qingluo was grabbed tightly by Granny Deng again and dodged a tall, strong man who was about to crash into her.

"Girl, watch out!"

Li Qingluo looked up at the eaves of the house beside her.

"Granny, do you know any light-footed kung fu?"

Granny Deng smiled wryly: "Miss, you think too highly of this old servant. Even if I were alone, it would be difficult for me to get away."

Li Qingluo replied, "I am young. If it is truly dangerous, Granny, you don't need to worry about me!"

If only Prince Su were here.

He was highly skilled in martial arts, and his lightness skill was also superb, allowing him to appear and disappear without a trace.

Moreover, he will definitely send people quickly to stabilize the situation.

Li Qingluo looked at her wrist. If all else failed, she could escape using a thin thread, which was why she told the nanny to leave her alone if necessary.

The horses' frenzy and trampling had already caused screams of agony from the crowd. Li Qingluo looked back and saw that there were still many children in the crowd. He then told Wu Quan to take his men back quickly and rein in their own horses.

Turning around again, Li Qingluo spotted a familiar figure in the crowd.

"Pan Li?"

Pan Li was also protected and squeezed into a corner.

Judging from her appearance, both she and her servant were unable to move, and Pan Li's expression looked extremely painful, as if she had suffered some kind of injury...

Li Qinglu couldn't help but call out, "Pan Li!"

Pan Li looked up and saw her, but because Li Qingluo was wearing a veil, Pan Li did not know who she was.

But she still shook her head slightly, and opened her mouth as if to say, "Don't come any closer..."

However, it was too late.

Li Qingluo felt a force suddenly and violently pressing down on her from the crowd, and the old woman Deng beside her let out a muffled groan.

She looked down and saw a knife stuck in her body.

Li Qinglu felt dizzy and disoriented for a moment. She didn't even see anyone clearly before she immediately lost consciousness...

Although government officials quickly arrived and quelled the chaos by dispersing the crowd, more than a dozen innocent people still died in the stampede.

Moreover, besides the carriage of General Xiuli's mansion being seized and taken away early on, the horses of five other families were also seized and taken away by the government because of this incident, and each family will be held accountable.

There was a lot of blood on the ground.

Besides the fact that the fire at the cloth shop was still out of control, many people were lying on the ground groaning in pain because they were injured.

Granny Deng was woken up by Granny Zheng shaking her with red eyes.

"Old Deng, Old Deng? Old Deng, are you alright? You scared me to death! I thought you were dead!"

Granny Deng raised her hand and saw that her palm was covered in blood.

Clutching her lower left rib, she didn't even have time to cry out in pain. She frantically grabbed at Granny Zheng with her other hand, shouting, "Quick! Save the young lady—the young lady has been taken away—"

Granny Zheng exclaimed in surprise, "What?! Who is it?"

Granny Deng shook her head: "I don't know. I didn't see clearly... Quickly, hurry back to the manor to inform the old lady—and also, go to the Prince Su's manor to inform His Highness Prince Su!"

...

Li Qing woke up in complete darkness.

The surroundings were completely silent; it was so dark you couldn't see your hand in front of your face.

Only behind him was a wall that Li Qingluo was leaning against.

She shook her heavy head, realizing she must have been drugged with some potent sedative to lose consciousness so quickly.

Has someone kidnapped her?

To openly kidnap someone in front of the entire city of Jinling suggests that the kidnapper must be someone of considerable influence.

Whether he just happened to run into someone targeting Pan Li, or whether someone was deliberately targeting him, remains to be seen.

Li Qinglu remembered that before she lost consciousness, she seemed to see Granny Deng being stabbed, and she didn't know if her life was in danger.

Li Qingluo's heart was filled with worry.

She first felt around in her bosom, found a tinderbox, opened it, and immediately blew on the sparks to light it.

Upon opening her eyes, she saw a pale gray face, which startled Li Qingluo so much that she quickly covered the tinderbox again.

What, what is that?!

After hesitating for a long time, Li Qingluo finally prepared herself mentally and blew the tinderbox again.

One bluish-gray face, two bluish-gray faces, three, four, six or seven...

Li Qinglu spun the dim firelight around the room and saw seven bluish-gray faces, each with wide-open eyes, in various corners.

Judging from their appearance, they must all be dead.