"By the way, where are the two dogs?"
The servant in the main courtyard lowered his voice and asked in confusion, "Four fresh lambs that were just one month old have been prepared for them, but why don't they come over to eat?"
"I don't know. I just searched for a long time and couldn't find where they are. I didn't dare to shout loudly."
"Forget it, maybe they went out to play somewhere, and they will be back when the guests wake up."
The servants in the yard had different opinions, but no one thought that such ferocious wolfhounds would get into trouble. Only Qi Xu, who was hiding in the dark, knew that they really would never come back.
Just then, there was suddenly some commotion in the courtyard.
It turned out that the owner of this courtyard, Mr. Cao, had woken up.
As soon as she opened her eyes, she called two maids dressed in gauze to come in and help her wash and dress.
Afterwards, the steward who had been waiting outside the main door for a long time was also called in.
Master Cao sat on the bed, squinting his eyes while enjoying the two maids wiping his face and massaging his shoulders. He asked the steward, "Is the new batch ready?"
"It's ready." The steward said with a smile on his face, "Except for the disobedient ones who are still locked up, the others have been disciplined and are waiting for your trial, Master."
"Well, bring it here..."
…
Behind the small courtyard house, Wei Yunlan was about to turn over and enter the house through the window when he heard hurried footsteps outside the courtyard wall.
She immediately waved to the dark cloud in the house, left the house before the footsteps approached, and closed the back window again.
"Madame Song, Madame Sun, please call the girls out quickly. The master wants to interrogate them."
“Hey, here it comes!”
There was a sound from the next yard.
The footsteps did not continue to approach Wei Yunlan's courtyard. It turned out that they were calling the girls in the west courtyard next door.
They came and went in a hurry. Soon, more than forty young and beautiful women followed the two maids to the main courtyard with their heads lowered.
It became quiet here, and the courtyard where Wei Yunlan was seemed to be completely forgotten. From beginning to end, no one came in.
Taking advantage of the fact that there were few people around, Wei Yunlan climbed back into the house and came to the problematic floor tile. He squatted down and tapped it twice with his fingers. It was indeed empty underneath.
"Miss, let me do it." Suihe volunteered, squatted down and tried to move the brick, but even though she was as strong as an ox, she couldn't move the tile in one go.
It's not a question of strength.
There must be a mechanism hidden in this floor tile.
Thinking of this, Wei Yunlan began to observe her surroundings, and suddenly she vaguely felt that there seemed to be a sound coming from under the floor tiles.
I put my ear close to listen and it was the "shasha" sound that I had vaguely heard before.
The closer you get, the clearer you can hear it. The sound is not something else, but the sound of someone scratching the wall or stone wall with their fingernails.
Time is running out and we can't afford to delay any further.
It’s not known how long it will take for the research institute to come up with the solution, so they have to think of a faster way.
In a hurry, Wei Yunlan had a flash of inspiration in his mind. He placed his palms on the floor tile and kept repeating in his mind, "Put it away, put it away."
After repeating it for the third time, Wei Yunlan felt her palms suddenly become empty, and then she kept thinking "take it out" in her mind without stopping for a moment.
The cool touch of the stone bricks came again under my palm.
In just a moment, the brick went in and out of the space and finally left its original place.
Suihe didn't even have time to see how her young lady did it, before she saw that the big brick had already lifted up on the edge. Fearing that it would hit her young lady, she quickly stretched out her hands and lifted up the entire brick with force.
It was pitch black below, and a foul smell wafted out.
Wei Yunlan found the oil lamp, shone it downwards, and saw that the space below was not as mysterious as he had imagined. It was actually a secret room built underground.
At this time, there were nearly ten women in this secret room with their hands tied and cloth strips stuffed in their mouths.
Most of these women had their eyes closed, and it was unclear whether they were asleep or unconscious. Only the one sitting closest to the entrance had her eyes wide open, looking in the direction where the light was falling.
Wei Yunlan noticed that the rope on her hand had been loosened a little at some point, and unlike the others who carried it behind their backs, she now held it together in front of her.
However, the pair of hands that were tied loosely were no longer able to see, and the nails of all ten fingers were curled up and lifted up. The four words "bloody and mangled" were the most appropriate description.
Without asking, Wei Yunlan could already guess that the previous "rustling" sounds must have been made by her.
Perhaps because she had been in the dark for too long, the woman's wide eyes were filled with confusion. After a moment, she gradually focused her gaze on Wei Yunlan, and hope reappeared in her eyes.
Wei Yunlan winked at Suihe, and Suihe jumped down and first took out the cloth ball stuffed in the woman's mouth.
"You are not a member of the Cao family!"
"I am... the legitimate daughter of Jiang Lu, the co-magistrate of Danyun City. Please... save me!"
The woman's voice was a little hoarse because she hadn't spoken for a long time.
What he said was truly shocking.
Danyun City is the largest city in Huangzhou except for the provincial capital, and it has several county towns under its jurisdiction.
Danyun Tongzhi was at least a sixth-rank official. He was not powerful enough in the capital, but he was not insignificant in the local area.
Is Mr. Cao so bold that he even dares to kidnap the daughter of an official?
Even though he was frightened, Wei Yunlan did not agree outright. Instead, he spoke faster and said, "The people from the neighboring courtyard have all gone to the main courtyard, but I don't know when someone else will come over. To make a long story short, tell me the situation here first."
"Okay!" The woman nodded vigorously. Instead of being disappointed, there was even more hope in her eyes.
"The people here were all kidnapped from all over the place. We were captured a few days ago. We were locked up here for two days because we refused to listen to the nanny and learn the tricks to seduce men."
"They only sent people to check on us once in the past two days, but they didn't bring us any food or water. Several people couldn't stand it and some of them fainted. I guess they don't want to kill us, they just want us to be obedient and submissive."
Thinking of what Wei Yunlan said just now that the yard next door was empty, the woman became more and more anxious, "Once the people in the yard next door are taken away for interrogation, they will probably remember us. There is not much time left..."
Seeing that Wei Yunlan hadn't spoken yet, the woman continued anxiously, "I don't want to stay here. Please save me. My life, Jiang Wu, will be yours from now on. You can command me at will!"
"That's not necessary. Suihe, help her untie the ropes."
Facing the woman's suddenly bright eyes, Wei Yunlan said, "There are only two of us, and we may not be able to save you."
"But you can save yourself."
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