Because they were busy with their plan to kidnap the child, the two of them didn't notice anything unusual about Little Twelve.
After the play was over, all the villagers looked as if they were still not satisfied.
Many village heads came to Shen Ying to inquire about the money for hiring the troupe. When they learned that a play only cost one or two taels of silver, everyone was excited and clamored to collectively pay to invite the troupe to perform in their village for one night.
Since Mrs. Qiu and Rong Lao Si were not there, Chunxiang was pushed out by the others to deal with the matter.
Su Tai was not very interested. She led her child and walked with Ke Yunyun's "family of three". When they were almost at the door of their house, she realized something was wrong and turned back to look at the little figure in the shadows. "Are you following me home because of something?"
It was obvious that the figure was a child from the opera troupe.
Little Twelve's face was covered with tears and snot, and his frail body looked helpless and hesitant in the dark. He knelt down in front of Su Tai with a plop, "Madam, please save my life, Madam, please save my life."
"What's going on?" Ke Yunyun was a little scared.
Tang Yu guessed something and said hurriedly, "Let's go in first."
Su Tai first sent the two children home, locked the gate, and told the three black dogs to patrol carefully.
Then he took the child to the backyard and handed him over to Xiaoxi.
Xiaoxi is not a member of the village on the surface, and it is not appropriate for her to show up tonight, so she volunteered to take care of the twins at home.
Seeing that Su Tai looked unwell, Xiaoxi did not dare to ask more questions and just took the child to wash.
Su Tai went to Tang Yu through the small door.
Ke Yunyun took the opportunity to take Zhu Kangcheng back to the backyard of the cellar.
When Little Twelve entered the backyard of the workshop, all his worries and fears burst out and he burst into tears. He was still crying when Su Tai came over and was unable to speak at all.
Tang Yu was also good-tempered and waited for him to calm down without asking anything.
Su Tai was convinced, and quickly got some hot water for Xiao Twelve to wash his face. She then asked about his situation, "Are you in trouble?"
Xiao Twelve's logic was not very good, and he spoke in a disjointed manner before he could make things clear, "Madam, the class owner and the lady will beat me to death. I dare not go back."
"How ridiculous! The child is just hungry and wants something to eat. Is it that serious?" Tang Yu couldn't suppress his anger and wanted to go to the compound to argue with Fourth Master Rong and the others.
Su Tai hurriedly advised: "Don't be impulsive. The child's situation is a bit complicated, and his origins also need to be verified. So, you hide the child first, and we will wait and see what happens."
Tang Yu was not from Shenjiazhuang. Although he was angry, he knew that he could not cause trouble for Su Tai, so he could only nod and agree.
Su Tai couldn't bear to see the child wearing tattered clothes, so she turned around and got him a set of Zhu Kangcheng's clothes for him to change.
Tang Yu volunteered to take care of Little Twelve, which relieved Su Tai of a lot of worries.
They had everything discussed, but things were in chaos on the stage.
Xiao Eleven was in charge of the women's things, while Xiao Twelve was in charge of the men. Dong Ri saw Xiao Eleven moving things back and forth twice, but Xiao Twelve was nowhere to be seen, so he stopped Xiao Eleven and asked him about it.
Little Eleven looked confused and a little cautious, "Brother Dongri, I've been working, I don't know where Little Twelve has gone."
Dong Ri's face changed, and he quickly ran to Chun Xiang, "Chun Xiang, Xiao Twelve is missing."
"What!" Chunxiang's face turned pale immediately. After getting rid of the villagers, she rushed to the back of the stage. "What's going on? Aren't you all here? No one knows where Xiao Twelve has gone?"
Chun Xing frowned unhappily, "Sister Chun Xiang, we are all busy performing on the stage, how can we have the time to take care of Little Twelve! Besides, he is under the care of Dong Ri and the others, what does he have to do with us?"
Dong Ri was not happy. "Little Twelve followed you all the time before, calling us sister and sister all the time, and never paying any attention to us. Why didn't you make a clear distinction at that time? Now that he's gone, you're pushing all the responsibilities onto us?"
"Okay! Stop arguing! The most important thing now is to find someone, and we can worry about the rest later." Chunxiang was overwhelmed.
Chunqin said sarcastically, "How can we find it? It's dark and we are not familiar with the village at all. I think we should just tell the owner and the lady directly, and don't come back to scold us!"
"But if you say it directly, Xiao Twelve will be beaten to death." Dong Feng looked solemn and worried.
Chunqin laughed exaggeratedly, "Dongfeng, it's already this time and you're still pretending to be a good person! Ever since Xiaoshier ate the food given by the village, he was destined to be a different person from us! The most correct thing for us to do is to take the initiative to explain the matter. If you don't say it, I will!"
Chunqin walked out angrily, and Dongri, Dongshan and Dongchuan all followed her. Chunxing hesitated for a while and then followed them.
Only Chunxiang, Dongfeng and Xiaoyi, who was trembling with fear, were left.
"Sister Chunxiang, will Little Twelve be okay?" Little Eleven asked in a tearful voice.
Chunxiang thought of how Xiao Twelve had just been isolated, and felt annoyed. However, she could understand Xiao Eleven's difficulties, so she patiently comforted him, "Just do your job well and don't get involved. It won't get you into trouble."
Just as Mrs. Qiu and Rong Lao Si came back from hiding the child, they heard that Little Twelve was missing.
Rong Laosi was so angry that his face was distorted.
Qiu gnashed her teeth and said, "He is indeed an ungrateful person. Let's go! Let's go find the village chief. I don't believe that little bastard can get far!"
Rong Lao Si hesitated, "What if we are discovered?"
Qiu was filled with anger and did not think so much at all. "What are you afraid of! We hid the people so well and they are not in the village. There is no need to worry! That little bastard doesn't even know how to get out of the village. He must still be in the village. If we don't find him now, it will be too late when he runs away at dawn!
I will settle accounts with you guys after I find that bastard! You are a bunch of troublesome dogs, you just make me angry! What are you still standing there for? Go find someone!"
Chunqin and the others were scolded so much that their minds went blank. They ran out stupidly, looking for help everywhere.
Only then did the families who had lost their children realize the problem. The whole village was filled with cries and screams looking for their children. There were also two people from other villages who discovered that their children were missing before they even reached the village entrance.
After this incident, everyone panicked.
Liu Guangyao was still useful at the critical moment. He came out in time to control the situation and stopped the villagers who were preparing to return to the village.
Shen Ying took a few big men from the village to check door to door, and only let them go after confirming that everything was OK.
Mrs. Zhang and Shen Quezi sat on the side of the road and broke down crying, "Xiao Xi, Xiao Xi, where have you been? Xiao Xi! Come back soon!"
As soon as Su Tai came over, she heard Mrs. Zhang crying and yelling. She walked quickly to Shen Ying's side and asked, "Village Chief, what's going on?"
Shen Ying's eyes were red and swollen, and he was almost dying of anxiety. "The children are lost. Five children are missing, and one is missing from the opera troupe. If I had known, I wouldn't have performed any big opera. Xiaotai, what do you think we should do now?" (End of this chapter)
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