"We'll split up to search. Helian Yi, you two wait here and come back here in half an hour. If we don't find it, we'll send out the Five Cities Garrison," Lu Zheng said.

Everyone nodded and went their separate ways.

Gu En led Gu Si in one direction, Gu Yingxue and Cheng Huaijin in another, Lu Zheng in one direction, and Xue Qianyu and Gu Nian in another.

Gu Hui is pregnant and doesn't like crowds, so she didn't come out tonight. Peng Jia's second and fourth sons are with Xie Zhiyi and Huo Yanyu, and no one knows which street they are on now. They don't even know that Gu Xin and Gu Ren are missing.

The capital city is more troublesome than other prefectures. There are several bustling streets here with a lot of people, unlike in the prefectures where, during lively times like the Lantern Festival, people are mostly concentrated on the main street.

Half an hour later, everyone returned to West Street, accompanied by Xie Zhiyi, Huo Yanyu, Peng Erlang, Peng Silang, and several others, but Gu Xin and Gu Ren were not among them.

“Something must have happened. A child went missing on North Street, where we were just strolling, and they even reported it to the authorities!” Peng Silang said.

"I'll go find the commander right away and have him seal off the city! Xue Er, Peng Erlang, you two go in the southeast directions and tell him it's the commander's order. I'll go to the west gate! If they've really been taken away by the bandits, they might not even be out of the city yet!" Lu Zheng said.

After saying that, everyone got to work.

...

Gu Xin and Gu Ren were pushed away, and then they heard other people talking. They were moved to another place, probably getting into a carriage.

The city gates were closed shortly after the carriage left.

They exited through the south gate and headed south. After about an hour, the carriage stopped.

Gu Xin and Gu Ren were carried for a while longer.

The two men heard the dog barking, and then they heard the men who had captured them shouting "Big Black!" and then the dog stopped barking.

Then I also smelled the odors of pigsties and chicken coops.

After a short while, the people carrying them stopped.

"Including these two, we've caught twelve in total today. Hahaha, it's all thanks to those princes and princesses from the West! In previous years, it was very difficult to abduct children in the capital, especially on the Lantern Festival, when they mobilized all the troops from the Five Cities Garrison!"

"That's for sure. After the boss secretly set those fancy things on fire, things got chaotic, which made things much easier for us. The other brothers must have gotten their hands on some too. With this deal, we can live comfortably for the next two years!"

"Hahaha, fine wine and beautiful women, just thinking about it makes me happy!"

"..."

Gu Xin heard several people talking, so it seemed that, just as Renren had said, they had found their hideout.

There are eight people speaking right now, and from what they're saying, it seems there are more people behind them.

Gu Xin planned to wait until everyone else had arrived before taking action.

Even if there were twenty, she could easily subdue them, so she wasn't worried at all.

"Ouch!" Suddenly, she heard Gu Ren cry out.

"Renren, what's wrong?" Gu Xin asked anxiously.

"Huh? They're awake? These two siblings seem to be in good health; they woke up so quickly!" someone exclaimed.

"Wow! Sister, where are you? I can't see anything! Sister, I'm tied up! Sister, where are you?!" Gu Ren cried and screamed dramatically.

"Don't be afraid, sister's here, sister's here." Gu Xin forced a smile, trying to cooperate with Gu Ren, and asked in a trembling voice, "Who are you? What are you doing taking my brother and me?"