Chapter 20 Chapter 20 Who is it?
"These are not worth much money, but they are just a little gift from me. Please accept them." The old man said loudly, then turned around and left in a hurry.
Song Jiaoniang stood up and whispered the old man's words to the father and daughter. Lin Zhi's heart tightened. While calling out "old man," she looked around and soon caught a glimpse of a familiar figure in the distance—it was the old woman who had spoken to her yesterday.
But this time she was not alone. Instead, she was supported by a woman wearing a bean powder jacket and a lotus green pleated skirt and went to the alley next to her.
"Dad, Mom, over there—"
Lin Sen and his wife looked in the direction their daughter pointed, their expressions changed slightly: "It's that old woman from yesterday!"
The three of them didn't have time to think about it and hurried to the alley entrance, just in time to hear a muffled sound coming from inside.
Lin Sen quickly asked his wife and daughter to call the patrol officers over. He then picked up a shovel from the side of the alley, peeked in, and was stunned: "Huh?"
Seeing that Lin Sen's reaction was not right, the mother and daughter hurried forward to check. They saw that the woman in the bean powder and lotus leaf green dress was pressing the old woman face down on the ground and tying her hands tightly with a rope.
Hearing the call behind her, the woman turned around vigilantly, revealing a familiar yet unfamiliar face.
Lin Zhi's eyes widened: "Hey!?"
Lin Sen and his wife were so shocked that their heads buzzed and they were speechless: "Thank you, thank you, thank you, my lady!?"
Madam Xie, who used to be well-dressed, wore this outfit today, with a fashionable bun and a vase hairpin stuck diagonally on her head. She looked like a girl from a wealthy family, so the three members of the Lin family didn't recognize her at all from behind.
When Madam Xie saw Lin Zhi and the other two, she breathed a sigh of relief: "Why are you here?"
"Sister Zhi saw the old woman, and we saw you helping her into the alley." As Song Jiaoniang was explaining, footsteps were heard from deep in the alley.
The Linzhi family looked ahead nervously, and soon saw Lü San and the others pushing a few people tied up like dumplings out from the depths of the alley. "Sister Xie, we've caught them! There are ropes and cloth straps hidden in their car. They must be the kidnappers... Hey? Brother Lin, Madam Song? And Madam Lin, why are you here?"
Lin Sen had no choice but to explain it again from the beginning, and finally said: "Just now, an old man told us that someone was following our family. I think it must be this woman..."
"It's not her." Lady Xie interrupted Lin Sen, frowning. Lu San also restrained his expression, a little more cautious: "When we first met this woman, she was about to attack another woman."
Lin Zhi subconsciously held his breath: Who is following my family?!
Just as I was thinking about it, there was a noise at the entrance of the alley.
Just as they looked up, they saw an idler in ordinary cloth clothes rolling in, banging his head against the wall, holding his head and crying out in pain.
?????
Before anyone could react, Chen Yan appeared at the entrance of the alley. He walked in slowly and kicked the man who cried out in pain. "He's the one following you."
After a pause, Chen Yan said, "I was just about to come over to help when I saw this man hiding outside stealthily."
"I originally thought he was an accomplice, but after listening to you guys, I realized that he was coming for you."
Upon hearing this, Lin Sen stepped forward, grabbed the idler's hair and pulled him up. A strange face came into view. "Who are you? Why are you following us?"
The idle man bared his teeth and said, "It's a misunderstanding, it's all a misunderstanding—"
He pointed to his face and said, "Yesterday I was standing in line at Fengji Steamed Bun Shop."
Lin Sen looked suspicious and said nothing.
The idle man hurriedly continued, "Mr. Zhang from the commercial street sent me here. He's willing to pay three hundred strings of cash if the young lady is willing to give him the recipe for Feng's Steamed Bun Shop!"
Madam Xie and the others were baffled by what they heard, while Lin Sen and Song Jiaoniang had strange expressions on their faces and couldn't help but pouting.
Seeing the change in their expressions, the idle man added, "If you're not satisfied with the price, Mr. Zhang said we can sit down and talk it over."
Lin Sen and Song Jiaoniang both looked at Lin Zhi, and Lin Zhi looked around at the people around her and said slowly, "Please tell Mr. Zhang that Madam Feng and I have already signed the contract, so there is no need to discuss it further."
When these words came out, Madam Xie, Shen Yan and others were stunned. Madam Xie was speechless: "Wait? Sister Zhi, Sister Zhi, you are not stupid?"
After these few days of contact, and considering their behavior today, Lin Zhi, who had already determined that the caravan members were officials, smiled softly, "I'm sorry, Sister Xie, for keeping this a secret from you all these days."
Lu San and others were even more dumbfounded. They looked at each other and felt dizzy - here we were hiding our identities as officials and yamen runners, and over there Zhi Jie'er was actually pretending to be crazy and stupid?
"Young lady, the price can be negotiated." The idle man, still unwilling to give up, tried to interrupt. But as soon as he opened his mouth, he was met with a cold and stern gaze. He shrank his neck in fear and tiptoed out.
However, Chen Yan had no intention of letting him leave, and signaled Lu San to tie him up as well, preparing to take him back to the yamen for questioning later.
In the alley, Madam Xie was shocked at first, but then she smiled. She raised her hand and gently placed it on Lin Zhi's head: "Why should I be angry? You're not sick, that's great!"
Lin Zhi's nose felt sore: "Yeah."
Lin Sen looked around. He wanted to explain the situation, but it wouldn't be a good idea to explain it here in a long-winded way, right?
After a while, he finally spoke up to remind them, "This is a long story. Why don't we send these kidnappers to the government first?"
Everyone nodded in unison and hurriedly escorted the man to the government office. Later, they gathered again in the inn, looking at each other in an extremely awkward manner.
After learning that Linzhi was not crazy, the Tao Yingce brothers also appeared in front of everyone and joined the discussion curiously.
After Lin Zhi roughly explained the whole story, Chen Yan also stood up and bowed: "It was my presumptuous proposal that made Miss Lin feel uneasy until now."
"No, no, no, we should be thanking you." Lin Zhi blinked and smiled, "If it weren't for your help, I'm afraid we might not be able to leave Xi Mansion smoothly, and we might even encounter more troubles."
Linzhi was sincere - if it was not Chen Yan who came, but a local idler, or if Chen Yan showed an unusual identity, it would be unknown whether their family could leave the prefectural government.
Just imagine, if the other party was a native of Taiping Prefecture, how could they leave Taiping Prefecture and go to Bian Jing to completely escape from Xi Zhizhou's sphere of influence.
If the person the third lady was referring to was a greedy, lustful, and idle person, he would probably be overjoyed to welcome him into the house, seize Linzhi's dowry, and even force Linzhi to do needlework day and night to support him.
Wasn't it because she had thought of countless tragic endings that her predecessor committed suicide in despair? Most women in this world have a hard life.
Song Jiaoniang's eyes welled up when she heard her daughter's unfinished words. She nodded repeatedly, "Sister Zhi is right, Chen Lang, we should be thanking you!"
Lin Sen also nodded in agreement. If they had not thought about the worst case scenario, why would they have secretly discussed that if they encountered such a despicable person, they would take action in advance and try to save their daughter.
Chen Yan was not used to the three people thanking him in turn, and a faint blush appeared on his ears. He took a sip of tea, put down the teacup and said, "No, you three, you are going too far. I just thought that this kind of host is not very decent."
He did not tell her his original plan, as he felt that doing so would appear to be showing off his ability and would also appear disrespectful to Miss Lin.
Lin Zhi stared at him for a moment, pursed her lips and smiled: "You are indeed a good person."
Even though Chen Yan had never told the three members of the Lin family about the future arrangements, seeing how well the team treated his family, he knew that there must be a reason for what Chen Yan had said.
Being able to do this for a stranger is like helping someone in need. Lin Zhi honestly doesn't think he can do this.
Chen Yan had never been directly praised since he was a child, so for a moment he didn't know how to respond. After a long while, he squeezed out three words dryly: "Nothing."
Seeing Shen Lang at a loss, Lin Sen smiled and changed the subject: "Since everyone has reached a consensus, that's good. Besides, the marriage-"
Lin Sen actually felt that Chen Yan was a man of noble character, making him an excellent candidate for a son-in-law. However, Chen Yan was supposed to be an official, while his family were ordinary people without even a house or land. If he shamelessly took advantage of a favor and made an offer, there was no doubt that resentment would linger on both sides, and the outcome would be regrettable.
So, despite Lin Sen's regret, he still followed the original plan of the others and said, "I'll return the betrothal gifts to you, Brother Yan, later. As for the travel expenses for the next few days and the boat fare..."
Chen Yan shook his head: "Forget about these. Your family of three will have to find a place to stay when they arrive in Bianjing, and you will need money when the time comes."
Lin Sen shook his head repeatedly. "As the saying goes, brothers should settle accounts clearly. How could I take advantage of you for nothing? Besides, you are officials. All your expenses when you go out have to be paid into the government. If there is any mistake, it will put you in a difficult position."
Seeing that he was determined, Chen Yan stopped refusing.
As everyone was chatting and laughing, there was a rapid knock on the door. Lü San entered with a grim expression, "Master Tao, Master Shen, the government has already interrogated them. The four men admitted to abducting the woman, saying they were taking her to their private kiln. They deny murder or robbery!"
Chen Yan and Tao Yingce's expressions suddenly changed.
Madam Xie's expression also changed: "How could it be?"
Linzhi and his companions were listening and just now learned that the caravan had just received news about a group of bandits on their way back. It was said that these bandits committed crimes along the waterways and were extremely brutal. Most of the missing adult men were killed, while the whereabouts of women and children were unknown. Therefore, they suspected that they had a way to sell women and children.
After learning that the Linzhi family had encountered suspected human traffickers and provided a portrait, the caravan members targeted the woman today and arrested her before she could make a move.
I thought I could follow the clues to find the culprit, but I found the wrong person!
Just as they were rushing to the government office, Lin Zhi suddenly spoke up, "If that's the case...why don't we investigate the idler who just followed us?"
"Isn't he here to deliver a message?"
"If you were just helping to pass the message, why would you follow me all the way?" Lin Zhi asked back.
Lin Sen was startled and fell silent.
When the old man told them this, the man should have followed them for a while, but he did not come forward to talk to them. Instead, he followed them all the way, as if he wanted to find where they were staying.
When the idle man explained the situation earlier, Lin Sen and his wife didn't feel much, but now they felt creepy.
Lin Zhi continued, "Now that I think about it, their rhetoric was a bit strange. After all, we've already signed the contract. If they want us to break the contract and sell the recipe to them, they should have mentioned Mr. Zhang's identity and abilities to allay our concerns. But they only said 'Mr. Zhang from the Merchant Street' and that they were willing to invest 300 strings of cash, without any further explanation."
At that time, the common people always called the rich "Yuanwai", which roughly means "boss" in later times. But a family with a hundred strings of cash could be called "Yuanwai", and a family with thousands or even tens of thousands of strings of cash could also be called "Yuanwai".
Lin Zhi spoke with increasing conviction, "There's also the three hundred strings of cash. He seemed to know the transaction amount between Madam Feng and us, so he deliberately said a slightly higher, but not exaggerated, number. He didn't realize that in this situation, simply raising the price wouldn't be attractive to us at all."
"Anyone who does business should know this, right? How could they tell the messenger their price right from the start and close a deal so carelessly? Either the other party doesn't intend to do this deal, or it was a lie from the start."
Chen Yan walked out: "Just now, because that person followed Miss Lin and her family, I also sent him to the government office."
Upon hearing this, Tao Yingce shouted, "Ride! Sister Xie, take Lu San and the others to the ferry. Find an excuse to seize all the boats and don't allow any to leave!"
If this idler is really an accomplice of the gangsters, this might be their last chance!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
