Chapter 36 Blaming Qingduo for harming Lu Nong.

Lu Nong was greatly startled and immediately let go. The old man then grabbed her arm, and Lu Nong angrily said, "Let go of me!"

The man said, "Don't be afraid, young lady. We won't do anything to you. We just want to talk to you about 'Painting Hall Spring.' As long as you agree to our request, we will respectfully send you away."

Lu Nong immediately realized they were Manager Sai's men, and struggled even harder, but the old man held her arms tightly and she couldn't break free. She desperately shouted, "Help! Help!"

The calls had an effect; a nearby courtyard gate creaked open, and two men stepped out. Lu Nong quickly cried for help: "Brothers, I don't know this man, and he won't let go of me! Please help me!"

The two men exchanged a glance, then stood with their arms crossed and laughed, "Liu Lao Er, you're just bragging! You said you could get things done, but how did you manage to scare the guest like this!"

They were in cahoots! Lu Nong felt a chill run through her body. As the two men approached, she was about to cry for help when someone swiftly covered her mouth, muffled her cries in their hand. Then, she was roughly lifted up and shoved into the courtyard.

The doors slammed shut, creaking intermittently. The alleyway returned to its former silence, as if nothing had happened.

*

The ice cream turned into warm cream, and then into hot cream, but Qingduo and the others still hadn't seen Lu Nong.

"Did Sister Lu Nong oversleep? Or did she forget our agreement?" Qing Duo guessed, then shook her head. She was capable of doing that, but Sister Lu Nong was the most meticulous; she wouldn't do that.

The moon rose above the willow branches, but Lu Nong still hadn't arrived. Qing Duo and Zhu Yi couldn't sit still any longer and decided to go to Lu Nong's house to look for her, only to find it locked. Qing Duo knew where Lu Nong hid her key, so she found it, and the two went inside to wait. But they waited until the crescent moon reached its zenith, and still Lu Nong was nowhere to be seen.

Now, not only Zhu Yi, but even Qing Duo became uneasy. She knocked on the doors of her neighbors on both sides and ran back with a mournful face. She said to Zhu Yi, "Sister Lu Nong went out this morning! She must have gone looking for us, but we didn't see her!"

This confirmed his ominous premonition. Zhu Yi felt all the blood rush to his head: "I feel so choked up! Something must have happened to her! I have to go find her!" He said, and was about to rush out.

Qingduo grabbed him and exclaimed, "Silly brother! We don't even know where she is, where are you going to look for her?"

“We can’t just sit here! I’ll go find my brother-in-law and ask him to send more people to search with us!”

Qingduo's eyes lit up, and she echoed, "Yes, yes, yes, let's find my brother-in-law!"

A loud knocking sound rang out, like the death knell of the King of Hell, startling a chorus of barking dogs throughout the alley.

He Jin hurriedly opened the door and found his brother-in-law standing outside. His dissatisfaction turned into a sigh: "Tiger, you're still as reckless as ever!"

"Brother-in-law, something bad has happened!" Zhu Yi shouted. Before he could finish speaking, the sound of a child crying grew louder as a woman with features somewhat similar to his approached. She carried the child and placed him in He Jin's arms. Then she grabbed Zhu Yi's ear and pinched it. Even with his martial arts skills, Zhu Yi was unable to dodge.

She gritted her teeth and said, "Zhu Yi! What's wrong with you! Knocking so loudly in the middle of the night! I just got Xiao Yan to sleep, and you, you idiot, woke me up! Now look what's happened, he's crying nonstop, you! You owe me peace and quiet!"

"And what's with all this 'brother-in-law is no good' stuff! Can't you say something nice?"

A petite woman suddenly appeared behind Zhu Yi, her exaggeration surpassing even Zhu Yi's. She gesticulated wildly, shouting, "Sister and brother-in-law, something bad has happened! No, it's not you two who are in trouble, it's Lu Nong, no, no, it's Zhu Yi's sweetheart who's in trouble!"

While patting Xiao Yan's back to comfort the child, He Jin frowned and asked his wife, "Can Niang, is this also your relative?"

Zhu Yi's older sister, Zhu Can, was stunned for a moment. She stared at Qing Duo and examined her closely. Her hand unconsciously loosened its grip, and Zhu Yi took the opportunity to escape. He hid in a corner and briefly explained what had happened. When Zhu Can heard that Zhu Yi had caused trouble again, she was furious and slapped Zhu Yi several times, making him cry out, "Ouch, ouch!"

He Jin offered a few words of advice, then pondered and said, "According to what you've said, this young lady has no dealings with anyone other than the two of you. The only person she has a grudge against is the manager of Shouzhen Hall. Now that she has disappeared without a trace, the most suspicious person is that guy surnamed Sai."

Zhu Yi shouted, "I'm going to find him and demand my people back!" He was about to rush out when Zhu Can grabbed him, saying urgently, "What good will it do you go! Will that shopkeeper admit to detaining people without permission? That's illegal!"

"What should we do then? Lu Nong left this morning. If she had been caught earlier, she would have suffered terribly!" Zhu Yi insisted. "There's no one else but him! If he doesn't confess, I'll search inside until I find Lu Nong!"

He Jin shouted, "Nonsense!" Zhu Yi, fearing his brother-in-law, immediately stopped and dared not say another word. He Jin handed the child back to Zhu Can and said, "I'll go and investigate. If we leave now, we might still find some clues. Besides, the missing person is a girl, so the sooner the better."

Qingduo clasped her hands in thanks and repeatedly expressed her gratitude: "Thank you, brother-in-law! Thank you, brother-in-law!"

He Jin and Zhu Can exchanged a glance; neither of them knew what kind of relative this was.

Zhu Yi rushed out first, followed closely by Qing Duo. "One Horse" turned around and ordered, "Qing Duo, go to Lu Nong's house and keep watch. If she comes back, come and tell us!"

Qingduo readily agreed, then turned and ran off, huffing and puffing.

*

In the stillness of the night, the moon was hidden behind a dark cloud, leaving only its silvery edge to indicate its presence. Qingduo sat on a cool couch under the apricot tree, the tree's dark branches rustling as if demanding to know where its master had gone.

Qingduo felt guilty and scared. She covered her ears, not daring to hear anything. She couldn't help but recall the words of her mother who had taken care of her when she was young.

When she was little, she never wanted to sleep and always wanted to play. But at night, after the candles were extinguished, it was pitch black and she couldn't see anything. So she would ask someone to catch fireflies, hide an empty duck eggshell, put the fireflies inside, cover the other side with paper, and then sneak her toys and the egg-shaped light into bed to play secretly. While playing, she would listen intently for her mother's movements. If she heard footsteps, she would quickly stick her head out, turn her back, and pretend to be asleep.

She felt her mother lift the bedsheet, and her breathing quickened. Her mother looked at her quietly for a moment, then said softly, "Oh dear, children who lie will be struck by lightning!"

Qingduo thought of the big willow tree by the pond, so thick and strong, yet after a thunderstorm, half of its branches were cut off, leaving it half-bald. If thunder did that to her, wouldn't she become "Tang Half-Bald"?

Thinking of this, Qingduo shuddered, immediately opened her eyes, turned around, and honestly confessed, "Mom, I'm still awake!"

She quickly added, "I'm not lying, please don't let lightning strike me!"

Mom snorted, threw back the covers, took away the duck egg lamp, and said, "I knew it was flickering under the covers!"

Qingduo learned her lesson; next time, she brought an extra box and threw the duck egg lamp into it when she heard a sound. Of course, she was discovered again because the sound of closing the box was too loud, which was another matter entirely.

My mother is very experienced in raising children; she raised Qingduo's mother as well. She taught me a lot of knowledge and principles. For example, children who lie will be struck by lightning; children who don't take a nap will be struck by lightning; children who cause trouble will be struck by lightning... In my mother's mind, lightning is like Bao Zheng from heaven, impartial and able to distinguish between the loyal and the wicked.

She herself was always half-believing her mother's words; when she was doing something, she didn't believe it at all; but when retribution was imminent, she believed it without a doubt. And now, more than ten years later, she has once again witnessed her mother's wisdom.

Those who cause trouble will be struck by lightning. But this time, the lightning struck Sister Lu Nong, which made her feel even worse than if she had been struck herself.

She couldn't answer the apricot tree's questions; she could only cover her ears tightly and curl up into a ball. But the questions still pierced through her hands and seeped into her heart:

"If you hadn't repeatedly angered Manager Sai in the street, would my master, Lu Nong, have been arrested?"

"It's all your fault for coming up with such a stupid idea!"

"It's all your fault! You never think about the consequences of your actions! But why is it my master who suffers!"

"You're the one who should be arrested!"

"Give me back my master!"

...

The dense apricot trees transformed into catapults, scattering their leaves into countless pebbles that hurtled towards the "culprit." Qingduo, without a shield, was overwhelmed by guilt, her hardened exterior crumbling, leaving her a mere pillar, about to be crushed into dust by the dense array of pebbles, tossed into the egg mixture to make custard…

Suddenly feeling warm all over, Qingduo was dazed: They're already in the steamer?

The character "Tang" already belongs to the "fire" element, yet her father insisted on choosing two characters belonging to the "wood" element for her name. Isn't that just making her burn even brighter? No wonder she's been going to be either in an oven or a steamer lately! This is her fate!

Just as she was filled with despair and resigned herself to her fate of being scorched, her hands, which were covering her ears, were abruptly pulled away, and the person took her icy hands in their own palms.

Zeng Zhengqing squatted down in front of Qingduo, gathered her hands together, breathed on them to warm them, and asked, "Why hasn't Madam gone home yet?"

Qingduo stared at him blankly, noticing his tightly furrowed brows and worried look in his eyes. Only then did she realize that she had been so preoccupied with Lu Nong that she had forgotten to tell her family that Qingqing must be very worried about her not returning home.

She remembered that Qingqing had told her not to go to the street and expose Sailinfu's shortcomings, but she hadn't listened. If she had listened today, Sister Lu Nong wouldn't have disappeared...

Qingduo bit her lower lip, not daring to look him in the eye, but when she looked down, she saw his outer robe draped over her body. In that instant, her eyelashes trembled, and tears of grievance welled up and swirled in her eyes.

"Don't cry!" She pulled her hand back, gripped the hem of her skirt tightly, and scolded herself in her heart, "Tang Qingduo, it's all your fault for being so clever, that's why Sister Lu Nong disappeared! What's there to be upset about! Don't cry!" She tried her best to keep her eyes wide open, afraid that if she closed them even slightly, tears would fall.

Zeng Zhengqing had a social engagement today and returned home later than usual. As soon as he got back to the mansion, Fangqing anxiously came to him, saying that Qingduo still hadn't returned. Zeng Zhengqing's heart immediately began to pound with anxiety. He prayed that Qingduo was at Lu Nong's house and had lost track of time while meeting with her friends.

When he saw Qingduo through the half-open courtyard gate, he breathed a sigh of relief. The words of reproach he had uttered on the way here vanished without a trace, replaced only by the ease of regaining what he had lost.

Soon, Zeng Zhengqing noticed something was wrong. The usually energetic and lively "squirrel" had turned into a curled-up "hedgehog." Upon closer inspection, the "hedgehog" was still trembling; she hadn't even noticed his approach.

A feeling of pity welled up within him, and he took her hand into his palm. Her fingers gradually approached his warmth, but Qingduo suddenly pulled her hand back. He saw her clenched fist and her thin shoulders trembling slightly, as if she was trying her best to endure something.

Zeng Zhengqing covered those hands again, gently stroking her head with his right hand, and asked softly, "What's wrong?"

A drop of water fell onto the back of his hand. At first, Zeng Zhengqing thought it was raining. But as the "rain" grew heavier, he realized that his wife was the "cloud."

Like muffled thunder rolling through the clouds, Qingduo choked back tears: "Qingqing, don't be nice to me... You, you can scold me... I've done something terribly wrong!"

"I...I...it's all my fault that Sister Lu Nong is in trouble!"