Almost an hour has passed since Yunle was abducted. Although the lantern festival is not over yet, the traffickers are probably still searching for targets in the city and will not leave so soon. However, Cheng Ruyi really does not want to sit and wait for death, so she places all her hopes on an unreliable county magistrate.
“Registrar Peng, it’s really hard to sit and wait like this. I wonder if we could look for clues in the north of the city ourselves?” Cheng Ruyi planned to go directly to the vicinity of the Zheng family to see if she could find an excuse to go in and look for people.
"Oh? Does Madam Cheng mean that your daughter is in the north of the city? How do you know?" Clerk Peng raised an eyebrow, feeling that this Madam Cheng was somewhat strange.
After thinking it over, Cheng Ruyi realized that having worked with Manager Huang for so long, he was definitely a reliable person, so the registrar Peng whom he recommended should also be trustworthy.
After carefully considering her words, she began, "In all these years, our county has never blocked off the north side of the city during the Lantern Festival. And thinking about it carefully, the reasons for the blockade seem rather far-fetched. The key point is that this year's festival was entirely organized by them. So if they were worried about crowds and chaos, why did they go around advertising it beforehand? Wouldn't that just attract even more visitors and make things even more chaotic? This is contradictory and doesn't make any sense, unless that's their real purpose..."
She dared not say directly that the Zheng family was the mastermind, but anyone with eyes could understand what she meant.
After listening, Registrar Peng did not reply to her immediately, which seemed to indicate that he still had some concerns.
"I won't rashly go to their house and make a scene. After all, I have no evidence, and this is just my personal guess. So at most, I'll look around the neighborhood for any clues. Maybe I'll find something else?"
Cheng Ruyi looked at him sincerely, "If it's really inconvenient, then I won't trouble you. But could you please ask Registrar Peng to send someone to check if there are any other families whose children have gone missing and who were stopped from reporting to the authorities? I'm worried that the thieves are working in a group, and if so, there will definitely be more children being abducted!"
"Hmph~~ You underestimate me too much!"
Peng, the registrar, looked coldly at Cheng Ruyi, then took out a token and said indifferently, "Take this token. Go ahead and search if you want. No one will stop you!"
After Ruyi accepted the token, he turned and left, walking directly out of the county government office and heading towards the main street of the city.
At this moment, Cheng Ruyi didn't care whether she had offended anyone or not. She immediately grabbed Cheng Yan, who hadn't dared to speak since earlier, and ran towards the Zheng family!
Cheng Yan had just listened to his daughter's analysis and belatedly realized that his daughter suspected that the Zheng family had abducted Yun Le. His natural sense of trust made him blindly believe his daughter's words. However, he couldn't understand why the Zheng family, who were so rich, would do such things.
The two ran all the way to the vicinity of the Zheng family mansion before they discovered that the mansion was located at the northernmost part of the county town, and the north gate of the county town was not far from the back gate of the Zheng family mansion.
The Cheng family usually enters and exits through the east or south gate, rarely through the north gate. This is actually the first time Cheng Ruyi has come to the vicinity of the north gate since she transmigrated here so long ago.
As they got closer to the Zheng family's residence, they discovered that not only were there five or six strong men guarding the main gate, but there was also a team of guards patrolling nearby. This setup was even more exaggerated than that of the county government office; who would believe it wasn't a ghost?
Afraid of alerting the enemy, Cheng Ruyi could only pretend to be passing by and head towards the North Gate.
She tried to appear open and natural so as not to arouse their suspicion. Fortunately, they were all wearing new clothes for the holiday, so there was no problem at all in pretending to be rich people living in the north of the city.
The two dared not linger, and hurriedly passed by a street near the North Gate before turning in.
Cheng Ruyi found a secluded spot and whispered to Cheng Yan, "Father, it seems we can't get close to the Zheng family for the time being. How about this, we split up. You go and see if Registrar Peng has found anything, and I'll search other places in the north of the city. We'll meet at the county government office in 25 minutes!"
Based on Ruyi's observation, the patrol team's spacing wasn't perfect, and with her current skills, she should be able to easily avoid them. So she wanted to send Cheng Yan away and go check it out on her own.
After listening, Cheng Yan nodded in agreement without any doubt, but before leaving, he carefully instructed, "You must be careful and not act impulsively!"
After confirming that Cheng Yan had left, Cheng Ruyi lightly leaped onto the adjacent courtyard wall without making a sound.
She carefully crouched low and slowly walked towards the Zheng family's house, her light body weaving through the night, as nimble as a cat.
The Zheng family's house was smaller than she had imagined. Only the third daughter could enter the courtyard. Cheng Ruyi circled around outside but didn't find anything. The glowing red line disappeared after passing through the Zheng family's courtyard wall. Unless she went directly inside, she couldn't see its exact location.
For a moment, Cheng Ruyi was at a loss. Should she go in directly to look for her? Or should she go back to the county government office first to see if the "powerful older sister" Yun Le had mentioned had appeared?
Just as she was hesitating, several men dressed as servants suddenly passed by carrying a cart full of boxes. Cheng Ruyi, who had been keeping an eye on the Zheng family's front gate, clearly saw the men exchange glances with the people guarding the gate before pretending to be passing by and heading towards the north gate.
"We've finally waited for you!"
She knew that with so many people in the county town today, although it would make it easier for them to commit the crime, it would also greatly hinder their moving work. The south and east gates were crowded with people at the moment, so if they wanted to move the people away without anyone noticing, they could only choose the north gate!
Cheng Ruyi hesitated whether to continue following the cart. What if the cart went directly out of the city? There might be someone waiting for it outside the city, which would be very troublesome.
Fortunately, the cart didn't continue towards the North Gate, but instead turned into the alley behind the Zheng family's house and disappeared. It just so happened to be a blind spot, and she hadn't dared to get too close before, so she hadn't seen it clearly.
After the patrol team passed, she nimbly jumped off the courtyard wall and quickly ran into the alley to observe carefully.
The alley ends at a wall, offering no way out. The cart that had just entered the alley has now vanished...
This scene looks so familiar...
Cheng Ruyi immediately searched the wall and, sure enough, after taking out one of the bricks, a familiar lotus jade carving was revealed.
Judging from the size of the box on the cart, it is highly likely that it contained abducted children. However, it is now almost certain that whether it is Yunle or the other children, they should all be in Zheng's house at present!
So what she needs to do now is to go back to the county government office immediately to find help!
After putting the bricks back in their place, she was about to turn and leave when she suddenly remembered something. She quickly made a few movements and slipped away quietly, avoiding the patrol team once again. No one noticed her until she left the Zheng family's territory.
Cheng Ruyi deliberately took a different route back to the county government office, and from afar she saw a group of people gathered at the entrance of the county government office, who were arguing and talking about something.
"Ruyi! You're finally back!" Cheng Yan's heart finally settled down when he saw his daughter. He regretted leaving as soon as he left, fearing that his daughter might impulsively force her way into the Zheng family's house.
"Father, could these people be...?"
“That’s right! They are all people who have lost their children. Most of them are ordinary people living in the southwest of the city, and a few are from nearby villages and towns who came to see the lantern festival. At first, they just thought their children were lost, but as they searched, they found more and more people looking for their children, and that’s when they realized something was wrong. They wanted to report to the authorities, but they were stopped by the yamen runners. They were only able to get in because Registrar Peng let them through!”
Cheng Ruyi counted the number of people; there were about thirty, which meant at least a dozen children had been abducted!
There may be more, after all, not everyone will choose to report to the authorities immediately. Most people's first reaction may just be that the child is lost and they can just look for him themselves.
Cheng Ruyi saw Peng, the registrar, surrounded by a crowd. Next to him was Jiang, the head constable, who was helping to maintain order. Next to Jiang was a slightly plump man dressed in a rather wealthy manner. From the conversation of the crowd, Cheng Ruyi learned that this man should be the county magistrate.
So Jiang Dutou is back? But he only brought back the county magistrate? What about the county magistrate? Is he still admiring the lanterns at Baizhen Tower?
She felt this was highly likely, which suggested that our county magistrate was indeed unreliable.
Fortunately, her target is the "powerful older sister," and only by finding her can Yunle be saved!
Unfortunately, she searched carefully around the chaotic county government office several times but found nothing.
Although there are several women on the scene who fit the "older sister" description Yunle mentioned, they all look like ordinary girls, and they all look anxious and on the verge of tears. They don't seem to have any "powerful" qualities at all. What should we do?
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