Chapter 112: Missed Again (Two Chapters in One)

Young Master Cui was stunned. Did they treat him as an orphan?

However, he is worse than an orphan now.

The orphan just lost his parents and relatives, but his relatives want him to die.

Young Master Cui lowered his head and tears fell from his eyes.

Zhao Shiqing walked up to him at some point and asked, "What's your father's name, and where does he work as an official?"

Young Master Cui didn't even raise his head. From childhood to adulthood, he was proud of his father. His father was a Jinshi, and his father was his pride.

How he wished he had wronged his father, but there was a voice in his heart telling him that it was all true, what the little girl said was true. Without his father's permission, the Cui family would not dare to kill him. Whether it was Aunt Wang's evil intentions or his uncle's collusion with Mr. Lou, all this happened with his father's tacit approval.

Even if it was Aunt Wang who contacted my uncle without telling my father at the beginning, but later on, Aunt Wang was just a concubine, and my uncle was the head of the Cui family and my father's eldest brother. How could he obey the orders of a concubine? Wasn't it because my father was standing behind Aunt Wang?

Young Master Cui felt that he was really ridiculous. No wonder people called him a fool. He was just a fool. There was no one more stupid than him.

Seeing that he didn't answer for a long time, Loach became unhappy: "Second Miss is asking you a question, why don't you answer? Do you still want Second Miss to find someone for you?"

Young Master Cui then raised his head, not because he wanted Zhao Shiqing to find someone for him, but out of politeness.

He is a very well-educated child.

"My father's name is Cui Rong, also known by his courtesy name Shangjing. He is currently the magistrate of Fuyun County in Liangdi."

Zhao Shiqing smiled. What a coincidence! This was Fuyun County. She was familiar with it. Her master was from Fuyun. She had also been to Fuyun with her master, but only once. That time, all her guards had followed her. A group of people with knives suddenly poured into the small county town, which soon alarmed the government office. When they learned that the person who came was the second daughter of Prince Liang's Mansion, the county magistrate personally went to the Murong family to pay her respects. In a moment, the whole county knew that she was coming.

From then on, every year when her master returned to Fuyun, she no longer followed him.

However, she remembered that the county magistrate at that time was surnamed Wang, not Cui, so she guessed that Cui Rong came later.

Sure enough, Mr. Cui told Zhao Shiqing that Cui Rong used to be the magistrate of Lang County and was later transferred to Fuyun.

Although they were both county magistrates, Lang County was a higher-ranking county, while Fuyun was only a middle-ranking county. Zhao Shiqing could guess without asking any specific questions that Cui Rong must have caused trouble when he was in Lang County.

However, Young Master Cui was preoccupied and obviously no longer in the mood to continue telling the story, so Zhao Shiqing did not ask him any more questions.

The next morning, everyone left Zhuxitang and set foot on the official road to Liangdi.

There were no extra horses, and Cui Sanshao admitted that he was not a good rider, so he received the same treatment as Zhen Wuduo and rode in a carriage.

In addition to the gifts they bought in Luzhou, there were two more baskets of things in the carriage.

One basket contained dried lettuce and bamboo shoots that Shuanzi’s grandmother had dried herself, and the other basket contained glutinous rice and dried lotus seeds that Lu Niu’er had given her.

So Zhen Wuduo and Cui Sanshao sat among a pile of things, with a basket between them.

There was no conversation along the way, and two days later, they arrived at Zhaoting Town.

Zhao Shiqing asked Xiuxiu: "Do you want to go into town?"

Zhaoting Town is the poorest town Zhao Shiqing has ever seen in Wu. There is only one leaky inn and the small restaurant run by Chef Zhang in the whole town.

In fact, Zhao Shiqing didn't want to live there either. Not only did the inn leak, but it also smelled damp.

Xiuxiu shook her head: "If you can avoid going, then don't go."

So Zhao Shiqing waved his hand and decided not to go into the town. He continued on his way and stayed at the next place.

Little did she know that her guards were in Zhaoting Town at that moment.

These people had originally been to Zhaoting Town, and they also heard in the inn that Zhao Shiqing had been there. They later went to other places and found Zhao Shiqing's whereabouts, but they were unlucky and missed Zhao Shiqing every time.

And the last place they went to was Luzhou City.

Zhao Shiqing lived in Luzhou City the longest, and just before leaving, they went on a shopping spree.

The guards easily found out that five teenagers with foreign accents, two men and three women, had bought a lot of things.

Although there was an extra girl, the guards were still able to confirm that this was the person they were looking for.

There are three reasons:

First, someone heard the leading girl being called the Second Miss;

Second, there was a young boy among them who was prettier than the girls;

Third, there is a small dark-skinned boy.

As for why there was an extra little girl (Xiu Xiu), the guards were no longer surprised. It was normal for their second young lady to pick up children. If she didn't bring back one or two little kids every time she went out, she would not be their second young lady.

More importantly, these people are buying gifts, gifts for family and friends.

The guards discussed it and understood that the second young lady was going back to Liangdi!

Of course, as long as they return to Liang, there will be no risk.

But I can't come out and not even see the second young lady.

So they thought about it and came up with a place, which was Zhaoting Town.

No matter which route you take from Wu to Liang, Zhaoting Town is a must-pass place.

Moreover, Zhao Shiqing had been to Zhaoting Town, and there was a legend in the only inn that she had been to.

To be on the safe side, they even bribed the yamen runners at the city gate and learned that several young men and women had left the city early in the morning. Why were they sure that it was Zhao Shiqing and others? Because the yamen runner said that he saw with his own eyes an eagle land on the girl's shoulder. Although it only landed for a moment and then flew away, this strange sight was unforgettable.

The guards immediately rushed to Zhaoting Town. They thought they were chasing, but they didn't know that Zhao Shiqing had gone to Zhuxitang first. As a result, the guards were ahead of them and arrived in Zhaoting Town earlier than them.

If Zhao Shiqing and his companions entered the town at this time and stayed at the only inn in the town, they would see twenty eager people standing in front of the inn door in the drizzle, looking up.

That’s right, it’s raining in Zhaoting Town again.

The winter rain falls on my face and makes me cold to the heart.

Unfortunately, they waited in vain.

As night fell, it was another disappointing day and the guards were dejected.

In order to boost morale, the captain of the guard Jiang Han decided to go out for dinner tonight.

When the guards heard this, they finally smiled.

It's not that they are picky, but the food in this inn is really unsatisfactory. They would rather eat at a roadside stall than eat this expensive and unpalatable food in the inn.

But they didn't seem to see any restaurant anywhere.

Everyone asked the innkeeper, and he pointed in the distance: "After leaving the inn, go east, south, west, south, west. There's a magnolia tree on the side of the road. That's the restaurant."

When everyone heard this, they thought, what are we waiting for? Let’s go to the restaurant.

There were twenty of them who came here in batches in disguise. They thought they were hiding well, but there were only a few outsiders coming to Zhaoting Town in a month. With so many of them coming at once, even a fool could guess that they were all together.

Now, in order to have a good meal, they simply stopped pretending and twenty people acted together.

Looking at their backs, the waiter of the inn twitched his lips. Chef Zhang's small restaurant couldn't accommodate so many people.

The twenty people finally found the magnolia tree, but discovered that the gate was closed with a padlock hanging on it.

Everyone was dumbfounded. What kind of hell was this place? The only restaurant was closed. Did they have to go back and eat pig food?

At this moment, a little boy came over with an umbrella.

"Are you here to eat?" asked the little boy.

Jiang Han nodded: "Yes, we are here to eat. Is this your family's business?"

The little boy's voice was cold, which was inconsistent with his age. He took out the key to open the door and said, "Something happened at home. My father is not back yet, so I won't be doing business today."

The guards were disappointed.

I didn't expect that after finally opening the store, they would not be doing business.

"You should be able to cook too, right? Isn't it said that being a chef is a family tradition?" said a smart guy.

The little boy answered honestly, "I haven't learned even half of what my father did. You should go somewhere else."

As he said this, he opened the door and entered the yard, then turned around to close the door.

"Don't close the door. Just cook a few dishes for us. As long as they taste better than the ones in the inn, that's fine." Everyone didn't want to leave.

At this moment, a cold voice came from behind them: "Who are you and what are you doing at my door?"

Everyone looked back and saw a big fat man.

Nine out of ten cooks are fat. It seems that this one is the cook here, the father of that child.

"Is this your restaurant? Great, you're finally back. We just wanted to come here to eat." Jiang Han explained with a smile.

Chef Zhang's face was livid, his eyes filled with anger. "No business today, all of you get out of here, or don't blame me for being rude."

The guards were stunned at first, and then became angry.

What the hell is this person? I’ve seen people chasing away customers, but I’ve never seen anyone chasing away customers like this.

However, this is Wu, not Liang. Jiang Han didn't want to cause trouble. He suppressed his anger and said to everyone, "If they don't want to do business, then let's go to another one."

Although the guards were very angry, since their leader said so, they stopped talking and followed Jiang Han back the same way.

Looking at their backs, Chef Zhang's eyes narrowed into a line. Something was wrong. These people were all martial artists, and they spoke Mandarin with an accent.

People from Wu do not speak Mandarin in Wu, especially the Mandarin spoken by these people, which is obviously not the accent of Mandarin spoken by people from Wu.

The reason why Chef Zhang chose to hide in Zhaoting Town was because Zhaoting Town had too few resources. Although it was located on the official road, it was far more isolated than other places. Few outsiders came here. Everyone in the town knew each other. If a stranger came, the whole town would know about it soon.

Ever since they found the missing person notice posted in the town, Chef Zhang and his son have not stopped. Not only did they tear up all the notices in Zhaoting Town, they also went to the nearby Jiuhong Town and tore up all the notices they could still find in Jiuhong Town.

Because of this, Chef Zhang was careless and did not notice that a group of strangers with martial arts skills suddenly appeared in the town.

What is the purpose of these people who should not be in Zhaoting Town?

Are they coming for Cui Niang?

When Chef Zhang returned home, the rain had stopped, but it was already dark.

A moment later, Chef Zhang changed into a nightgown. His fat body was surprisingly flexible and he quickly disappeared into the night.

Chef Zhang didn't know that as soon as he left, Jiang Han sneaked into his yard.

Chef Zhang could tell that Jiang Han and the others were martial artists, and Jiang Han not only saw that Chef Zhang had martial arts skills, he also felt the murderous aura emanating from Chef Zhang when he spoke harshly to them.

This is definitely not an ordinary cook!

Jiang Han thought: Miss Murong is an excellent cook, and the second young lady grew up eating the food she cooked. Even if she returns to the palace, the chefs in the palace are all former imperial chefs.

The pig food in the inn is so hard for these rough guys to eat, how can the second young lady be able to eat it?

As the only restaurant in Zhaoting Town, the second young lady has most likely been here.

There is something wrong with Chef Zhang, and it is a big problem. The second young lady and her friends are just kids, and they might have really fallen into trouble at the hands of this chef.

As a captain of the guards with lofty ideals and eager to make meritorious deeds to atone for his sins (he could not find the Second Young Lady's guilt), Jiang Han decided to get to the bottom of it. If this cook really had plotted against the Second Young Lady, it would be possible that they would get rid of Chef Zhang and the Second Young Lady would be happy and wave her hand to let them atone for their sins.

This is what Jiang Han thought and did.

They are professionally trained guards of the palace, and they have a strict set of tracking methods.

As soon as Jiang Han entered the yard, other people followed Chef Zhang.

There was a lantern lit in the yard, and the little boy was peeling peanuts under the lamp.

Jiang Han appeared silently in front of the little boy. The little boy was startled and was about to call for help, but suddenly remembered that his father was not at home and he was the only one at home.

"Don't be afraid, just follow me."

Before Jiang Han finished speaking, he had already picked up the little boy.

But he didn't leave. Instead, he carried the little boy into the house.

He thought the little boy would cry and make a fuss, but to his surprise, the little boy did not cry or make a fuss, but just looked at him curiously.

Jiang Han felt embarrassed by being stared at by a little kid, but he didn't want to waste time, so he got straight to the point: "Where's your dad?"

Jiang Han was just testing, he guessed that the little boy would not tell the truth.

Either say nothing or lie to him.

But he never expected that the first words the little boy said were: "Are you here to arrest my mother?"

The second sentence: "Are you from the government?"

Jiang Han immediately realized that this matter was beyond his imagination. He asked in a cold voice, "Who is your mother?"

Little boy: “I won’t tell you.”

Jianghan...

He looked the little boy up and down, and suddenly found that the little boy's arms were bulging. He tore open the boy's clothes on his chest, revealing three pieces of paper folded neatly.

He unfolded the three pieces of paper and found that they were three identical notices.

The notice contained a portrait of a woman whose face was unfamiliar, but Jiang Han knew that this woman was the mother the little boy had mentioned.

"Luzhou, wanted, Zhang, Cui Niang."