Horse Bandit Officer (IV)
When the sun brought back the first rays of light, the night gave Canyang a new look. When it was just dawn, Xiao Lin pulled Mu You to the street.
Tong Huan had a lot of official duties during the day. Although they were all trivial matters, they still took him a lot of time. Therefore, he could only hand over the task of retrieving Ai Ye to Xiao Lin, hoping that she could live up to everyone's expectations.
After all, it was Xiao Lin who asked for help, and if he was rejected, he would be slapping himself in the face.
But for her, this is by no means easy.
In addition to knowing that Ai Ye was in Hanlu, she also learned some of her facial features - a pair of almond-shaped eyes, brown spots on her cheeks, a bunch of fuzz on her forehead, and a shallow scar at the corner of her eye.
All I can say is that these statements sound unique, but it is actually difficult to find the person behind them.
Besides, ten years have passed, and her appearance may have changed a lot.
As he walked along the road, Xiao Lin couldn't help scratching his head in annoyance just thinking about Tong Huan's instructions.
Mu You was dragged out of bed, unable to resist the sleepiness. He yawned and grumbled, "I'm afraid no decent family would want to talk about this shameful thing about buying a wife. So how are we supposed to find one?"
"I have no idea either..." Xiao Lin became even more annoyed after hearing this and couldn't help but pout, "What else can I do? I'll just have to bite the bullet and look for it!"
Under the scorching sun, Mu You had some ideas. He immediately stepped sideways and stood in front of Xiao Lin, with a clever look on his face: "Xiao Lin, think about it, if you want to know the whereabouts of someone, who should you look for?"
"Who are you looking for?" Xiao Lin didn't understand what he meant, his eyes wandering over him. "Looking for a news dealer?"
Unexpectedly, Mu You turned half a circle, stretched out a finger and pointed at Xiao Lin's chin, saying slyly: "Wrong! It's the old lady at the village entrance."
Seeing his excitement, Xiao Lin didn't want to dampen his enthusiasm right away. However, after a moment's reflection, he felt it was inappropriate and decided to speak out, "But the village auntie's words are always true and false. Besides, buying a wife is not a decent thing. If you were a man, you wouldn't publicize it, right?"
What Xiao Lin said made sense, but it didn't resonate with Mu You.
He pretended to twist his fingers, closed his eyes, curled the corners of his lips, and said calmly, "It's definitely useless to ask directly, but wouldn't it be okay to ask in a roundabout way?"
"Take a detour? How do you do it?"
"Look, the daughter-in-law we bought is bound to have marital discord. At the very least, she's pretending to be deaf and dumb, and at the worst, she's actually deaf and dumb. Let's first ask around to see if there are any families with bad relationships. We can get some information from them, narrow down the scope, and then investigate one by one. We should definitely find some clues."
Unexpectedly, this kid Mu You is quite smart, but will this method work?
Xiao Lin didn't know, but he had to try. After all, it was faster than asking door to door.
So, under Mu You's constant urging, the two of them walked non-stop to a tea stall, hooked their backs, and immediately blended into the crowd.
At this time, several women dressed as farmers gathered at a table, cracking melon seeds and chatting about family matters.
Xiao Lin sat down beside a few people and ordered a cup of tea as a gesture, while Mu You was bold and went straight up to them.
She wanted to grab him, but her hand was a little slow.
Mu You rolled his eyes and carefully observed the expressions of each woman. Thanks to his nervous and cunning appearance, he was quickly noticed by the group of women.
Since that was the case, he simply stated his purpose: "Hello, sisters. I'm Xiao Mu. I just moved here. I'm sorry to bother you. I was just about to visit you. Since I met you first, this is a humble gift. I hope you sisters will accept it..."
As he was speaking, Mu You reached back his arm and grabbed a bunch of pastry bags from somewhere, and distributed them to the group of women one by one with a smile.
Xiao Lin sat beside him and took a sip of tea cautiously.
One of the women shook her neck, squinted her eyes, and curled her knuckles slightly artificially. She lightly took a bag of pastries from Mu You's hand and immediately put it to her nose and sniffed it.
Then, he sighed frivolously and said in a trailing tone, "Oh, it's Li's cake again? This is not cheap. I'm sorry, young master."
"No, no!" Mu You's grin widened a few inches. "Won't I still need your help in the future? Compared to that, these are just small change, small money!"
At this moment, another woman leaned over, her face kind. "We are easy to talk to, so we will naturally help you. But if you need help in the future, you must find the right people. Don't go through all the trouble of making a trip only to be turned away."
Hearing the hidden meaning in her words, Mu You immediately became alert, frowned, and looked suspicious: "Sister, what do you mean by this?"
Before the woman could even begin to speak, another slightly overweight woman interrupted, "For example, the couple from the old Sun family in the west of the city have terrible tempers and quarrel every day. I advise you not to go to them if you have any problems; they won't help you."
"There's also the Luo family in the west of the city. They're obsessed with money. If you don't give them some benefits, they definitely won't help you."
"Also, there's Mr. and Mrs. Zhao from the north side of the city. They quarrel every day, and it's really fierce. I advise you not to visit their house, or you might get hit by a stool and get kicked out!"
…
It was at this moment that Mu You was able to personally experience the strength of the aunt at the village entrance.
I saw three or two women talking at the same time, telling all the gossip about their neighbors. Mu You was so dizzy that he lost his way for a moment.
Fortunately, Xiao Lin avoided them for a while and was not disturbed by their saliva. He gradually sorted out the clues in the hope of finding some useful information.
After a while, until Mu You's cup was covered with saliva, he finally got some interesting information out of the woman who first took the cake from him.
The woman said this last, her tone even hesitant. "By the way, there's that household. I don't know if you've noticed, but the woman selling glutinous rice dumplings next to Li's Bakery is from the Zhao family. You'd better not mess with her."
"Why?" Mu You asked subconsciously.
Faced with his question, the woman had an embarrassed look on her face. After she exchanged glances with the other women, she leaned over to Mu You's ear and spoke softly.
"I heard his wife killed someone."
What? Killed someone?
Although Xiao Lin was sitting nearby, he still managed to catch a glimpse of what was going on.
In this day and age, murder is not uncommon, but it is not common for women to kill others.
Therefore, the more Xiao Lin listened, the more excited he became, along with Mu You.
Mu You's pupils slightly dilated, and he whispered back, "Murder? What happened?"
As soon as he said this, he didn't wait for anyone to answer, so he could only roll his eyes, look left and right, with a pleading look on his face.
Fortunately, there was always Zhang Yang's wife. Now that things had come to this, she couldn't hold back any longer and went straight to the point: "There was something wrong with Zhao Mugen's wife the moment they married her. She had no parents, and judging by her appearance, she wasn't even familiar with Zhao Mugen. She looked sickly. We all secretly suspected that he had picked her up from somewhere. To put it bluntly, Zhao Mugen was a butcher, so could he have kidnapped her from somewhere?"
In an instant, Xiao Lin's leg bones became uncontrollable and began to tremble a little, which happened to hit the corner of the wooden table, making a knocking sound.
All of a sudden, all the women and Mu You looked at her, and Xiao Lin was so frightened that she had to stand there motionless.
Seeing this, Mu You quickly changed the subject and asked, "Abducted...abducted? What do you mean?"
"We were just guessing!" The woman dismissed it with a scornful look. "Tell me, Zhao Mugen is broke and plain-looking. What good girl would want to marry him? Who would have thought that one day a new wife would suddenly appear, a complete stranger at that? How could she possibly be from a decent family?"
"Later, everyone went to inquire and found out that she had murdered her husband and was imprisoned. After she became ill, the yamen runners threw her out. Eventually, Zhao Mugen picked her up and took her home. He spent a lot of money on her medical treatment, and after she was cured, she stayed in his house..."
"Over the years, she gave birth to several children for him, but some of them were unlucky and couldn't survive the winter. In the end, only the one next to her was left."
The more excited the woman spoke, the more suspicious Xiao Lin and Mu You became.
As they said, if an old bachelor who has been single for many years suddenly has a wife overnight, anyone would sigh that something is wrong and it is understandable that he would have some concerns.
Upon hearing the news, Mu You immediately stood up and was about to go with Xiao Lin to meet this Mrs. Zhao Mugen, but just as his buttocks left the stool, he was stopped by the women.
He wanted to thank them and then politely decline their offer, but what they said next threw him off balance again.
"Sister, I'm kindly telling you one more thing. Don't mess with Liu Mancang's wife. Aunt Wang said that his wife is..." Halfway through her words, the woman glanced around, her eyes as cunning as a rabbit, afraid that anyone might be listening. She lowered her voice, "It is said that his wife was bought from a human trafficker..."
Bought it!
Then she is most likely Ai Ye!
When these three words came out, Mu You couldn't help but shudder.
Even though he knew how Ai Ye had gone through so many twists and turns and finally settled in Hanlu, when he actually heard these words, he couldn't help but feel a moment of fear in his heart.
Then the woman continued, "His wife had just arrived here, and she looked like she'd been beaten half to death. It was horrible! Everyone guessed that maybe Liu Mancang couldn't control his wife's mouth, and was afraid of gossip, so he kept an eye on her every day and couldn't leave her side!"
"Who would have thought that no matter how careful he was, this scandal would still be discovered by us. He didn't even pretend anymore and directly locked his wife in the house for a year or so..."
"After being locked up for so long, his wife still had no pregnancy. Later, he paid a doctor to find out that it was Liu Mancang's fault. He was so ashamed that he released his wife and she went to work in the fields with him every day..."
"The following year, his family had another child. They said his wife found him on the edge of a field while working. I think he's probably the same old man who couldn't change his ways and bought him from a human trafficker! I don't know whose poor kid this is. What a sin..."
These women smacked their lips as they spoke, feeling fortunate that this had not yet happened to them.
But the more Xiao Lin listened, the more worried he became. Just the few words that flowed from the woman's lips were enough to turn into a deadly sword, piercing into Xiao Lin's already fragile conscience, leaving him powerless to resist.
Those involved are confused, while bystanders can see clearly but feel the pain.
Whenever she thought of what Ai Ye had gone through over the years, she couldn't help but feel sympathy. She didn't even dare to think about it in detail. Just by listening to it roughly, the bloody scene suddenly appeared in her mind and could not be shaken off.
However, now is not the time for them to hesitate. Having received the news that it is suspected to be Ai Ye, they must set off quickly to save her from the danger.
Mu You covered his laughter and tilted his head to ask, "Then... where do the Liu couple live?"
The women had been smacking their lips and cracking melon seeds all over the floor, but after he asked this question, their expressions suddenly became quite nervous. They immediately gathered the remaining melon seeds into their palms and leaned back a little. "Why are you asking this?"
Mu You then remembered that they had repeatedly warned him not to get involved, but when he asked about it again, he ended up being slapped in the face by them.
He was speechless for a moment, and could only mumble incoherently.
Fortunately, Xiao Lin reacted in time. Seeing that Mu You was about to be swallowed by the wolf-like eyes of the women, she slammed the table and stood up from the side of the crowd.
When their eyes all met hers, she forced herself to suppress her panic and said nonsense, "At this point, there's no need to hide anything anymore!"
Mu You was stunned by Xiao Lin's action and didn't know what to do for a moment.
She then bowed to the women and said with a faint cry, "Sisters, I have heard so much and I feel your sincerity. Since that is the case, I will openly disclose our identities!"
"Xiao Lin, you..." Mu You shuddered and immediately jumped up from the stool.
Just as he was about to cover Xiao Lin's mouth with his hand, she deftly dodged it, giving him the chance to continue, "We two have come from afar, traveling thousands of miles, just to find our lost brother. Just as you said, we are really worried, so we want to go to the Liu family to take a look. Even if it's just a glance, just to see the child's face, we will be satisfied..."
As he spoke, Xiao Lin pretended to be sad, and his tears fell like lotus beads, wetting the muddy ground and the upper of one of the women's shoes.
Mu You was stunned again, and then he withdrew his arm that was about to cover his mouth.
Xiao Lin didn't give up. She bowed her head slightly, twisting her sleeves with her hands, her voice choking with sobs: "Please... please, sisters, please help... We... we just want to see that child once... Just one sight would end the three years of painstaking searching we've endured..."
It wasn't the first time that Xiao Lin cried like this, but this time his acting was so vivid that Mu You couldn't help but laugh.
For fear of being exposed, he turned his back and, in a corner where no one could see him, pinched his arm so hard that it actually made him cry.
He also turned around, tears welling in his eyes, and every word he said was heartfelt: "My brother is missing, and our parents are exhausted. Now they are bedridden. We only hope to find a child who looks like my brother and let them see him. We don't ask for anything else... We hope my sisters will help us!"
After they finished speaking, the two of them bent their waists lower in tacit understanding, and sobbing sounds continued to be heard.
"Alright, alright!" A woman couldn't bear it any longer and hurriedly helped the two men up. While wiping their tears, she said, "You are pitiful people too. Old Liu's family lives in the northeast corner. Just ask any shop in the north of the city. Everyone who lives there knows him."
"But whether I can bring the child back is uncertain..."
Seeing that the plan was successful, Mu You immediately stopped crying, held Xiao Lin's hand, said goodbye to the women, and immediately set off to find Liu Mancang.
The two of them walked quickly on the road, but it was the morning market, and there were many vendors and pedestrians. If Mu You had not held Xiao Lin's hand tightly, they would have been separated by the crowd.
For some reason, Mu You was walking in front, and he always heard a faint whimpering sound behind him. He hurriedly turned around and found that Xiao Lin was still crying.
He asked, "No, why are you still crying?"
"I...I can't stop crying...wait...it will be fine in a while..."
Mu You pursed his lips, but silently placed his hand on Xiao Lin's shoulder, wrapped her in his arms, and moved his fingertips rhythmically.
After walking through the crowded streets, raising clouds of dust and being wrapped in the aroma of bacon, Xiao Lin and Mu You finally stepped onto the bluestone slabs in the north of the city.
Following the instructions of the butcher from a butcher's shop in the north of the city, they soon found Liu Mancang's yard.
The yard was not big and was squeezed among many other courtyards, so it was not eye-catching.
His hut was low, with a few bundles of dry grass swaying in the wind at the eaves, and the walls were mottled and dotted with mud.
There is an irregular small courtyard in front of the door, with bare loess and a few wild vegetables growing tenaciously. Apart from that, the wooden gate has peeling paint, and looks old and weathered. There are also some broken farm tools piled on the side.
It was just a shabby hut like this, so poor that he could barely fill his stomach, but he still had enough money to give to human traffickers again and again in exchange for his illegitimate wife and a child without any blood relationship.
It's really ridiculous.
But Xiao Lin and Mu You didn't care about all that. Their purpose in coming here was definitely not to comment on whether the Liu family's thatched cottage was luxurious or not. They only wanted Ai Ye.
Fortunately, the two of them arrived at the right time. They tiptoed around the mud and water. Xiao Lin secretly tilted his head and caught a glimpse of a figure flashing in the Liu family courtyard.
Mu You immediately took a step forward, moved closer, and took a closer look - it was a woman!
"Mugwort!" Xiao Lin couldn't hide his joy and shouted to the Liu family.
When the woman heard the call, she straightened her back, raised her head and looked over here.
"Mugwort! Mugwort!" Xiao Lin shouted even more urgently, and her pace quickened a lot. In an instant, her eyes met the woman's.
However, when Xiao Lin finally had time to take a closer look at the person in front of her, Tong Huan's words echoed in her mind -
He has a pair of almond-shaped eyes, brown spots on his cheeks, a lot of fuzz on his forehead, and a shallow mark at the corner of his eye.
This is how he sees mugwort.
But the woman in front of him had a pair of narrow, upturned eyes, thin cheeks, and only a round nose.
Xiao Lin paused—she was obviously not Ai Ye!
She was about to stop when Mu You ran up first, still saying, "Ai Ye! Ai Ye! We're here to find you!"
The woman had a blank expression on her face. After a while, a half-grown child with pigtails appeared from behind her and put his arms around her thighs.
"I'm not Ai Ye, who are you?"
"Isn't it mugwort?" Mu You suddenly stopped walking when he heard this, and couldn't help repeating it in his mouth.
She is not Ai Ye, so where is Ai Ye?
Seeing the woman's increasingly sharp gaze, Xiao Lin and Mu You knew it was not time to bother her any further, and hurriedly explained, "Sorry, sorry, it was our mistake. We're sorry to have disturbed your sister-in-law..."
After that, the two of them joined hands to apologize and turned to leave, but when they moved their ankles, she stopped them.
"I'm asking, who are you to Ai Ye?"
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