Chapter 196: Wind and Frost (Part 1)

After seeing Mrs. Qiao off, Shiyi Niang returned to the inner room and saw Xu Lingyi leaning on the pillow on the kang by the window in a daze.

She smiled and walked over to make a cup of tea for Xu Lingyi.

Xu Lingyi came to his senses after hearing the noise and asked her, "How about leaving the child in my hometown and letting Xiangyi take care of him?"

The image of the sturdy but kind-looking woman emerged in Eleventh Lady's mind.

"She used to serve Mother." She smiled, "The Marquis is also familiar with her and must know her character. Since he thinks she is good, I think she is not wrong."

Xu Lingyi stood up and said, "Let's go to mother's place. We have to tell her about this."

Eleventh Lady thought it would be better for Xu Lingyi to discuss this matter with the old lady himself. If she were present, she would be embarrassed if the old lady was embarrassed.

"Won't the Marquis go to see the child?" she said. "He said he hasn't eaten yet. I've been worried about him."

Xu Lingyi hesitated for a while and said, "Forget it! I have to send her away in a few days anyway." He looked like he was afraid of having any more contact with her.

In a flash of lightning, Eleventh Lady suddenly realized.

People build relationships through contact. Although she was worried about the child's situation, she only asked Amber to ask about it and didn't go to see her. To put it bluntly, she was afraid that she would develop feelings for the child if she had more contact with him... She couldn't help but sigh.

Xu Lingyi thought that Shiyi Niang was disappointed in him. After hesitating for a while, he said, "Why don't you go and take a look yourself? I'll go to mother's place and talk to her about this."

Eleventh Lady didn't want to go in the first place, so she naturally agreed. After sending Xu Lingyi away, she was hesitating whether to go see the child when Amber ran in.

Her face was a little pale. She hastily saluted Shiyi Niang and winked at her: "Madam, Manager Bai asked me to come to you."

Manager Bai sent someone to look for her... Eleventh Lady's first thought was that something had happened to the child!

She immediately took Amber to the inner room.

Amber couldn't wait to say, "Master Fengqing is missing!"

Eleventh Lady's head buzzed and her heart pounded: "Explain clearly. What do you mean the child is missing?" Her face was as pale as paper.

Amber whispered, "I brought some food over, but Master Fengqing hid in the corner of the bed and wouldn't come over to eat no matter how we coaxed him. We could force him to take a bath, but as for food... Later, Sister Dongqing said, put the food on the kang, and when we all go out, he will eat it naturally. Later, we followed Sister Dongqing's instructions and put the food on the kang. After more than half an hour, Master Fengqing and the food were gone."

Shiyi Niang breathed a sigh of relief, "Maybe the child is hiding in some corner to eat." Amber shook her head, looking a little panicked: "Bai Songguan, Linbo, and Zhaoying all helped to look for him, but they couldn't find him."

Eleventh Lady suddenly remembered that the person who bought the child had never been found...

She felt that things had gotten out of hand.

"Go to the Madam Dowager and inform the Marquis without alerting others." Eleventh Lady's face was solemn, and there was a sense of trepidation between her brows, which made Amber's heart tremble. "I'll go to Banyue Pan."

Although Amber didn't know as much as Eleventh Lady, it was strange that a three-year-old child disappeared from Banyueyang.

She nodded repeatedly.

"Take a deep breath. Don't let anyone notice the flaw." Eleventh Lady instructed Amber and took a deep breath herself.

It has already happened, and there is no point dwelling on it. The only thing we can do now is to find a way to deal with it.

Thinking of this, my mind immediately calmed down.

Eleventh Lady walked out with an upright posture and Amber, who looked calm as usual, and then asked the maid to call Zhu Xiang.

"They are packing up their things at Ban Yue Pan now. Let's go and take a look." She told Zhu Xiang with a smile.

Zhu Xiang was not suspicious and smiled, "I have always wanted to go and see it. Madam, do you want to go and see it too?"

"Yes!" Shiyi Niang chatted with her while taking her and Amber to the back garden. Amber parted ways with Shiyi Niang at the garden gate and went to the lady's place along the sidewalk beside the window wall. Shiyi Niang led Zhuxiang past the Biyi Pavilion, up the east-west bluestone corridor, past the Chunyan Pavilion, and went along a narrow path beside the hillside.

Zhu Xiang remained calm, noticing that there were occasional thorns sticking out from the side of the path ahead, and walked past Shiyi Niang to the front. Soon, she saw a river about ten feet wide, with a red plank bridge half a foot wide built over the river.

This should be the only small bridge leading to "Banyuepan" in the back garden that Luyun mentioned.

She turned around and helped Shiyi Niang: "Madam, be careful."

Eleventh Lady nodded and looked at the three thatched houses on the hillside in front of her.

The area is surrounded by towering trees that are as thick as a man's embrace, and there are human-high fences made of yellow mud and straw. Inside, there are plots of land, a well platform made of stacked adobe bricks, and a windlass made of willow wood. If you raise some geese and ducks, it will really look like a farmyard.

The two of them walked quickly to the gate and were about to call for help when a handsome boy of about sixteen or seventeen years old came out. When he saw Shiyi Niang, he was delighted and said, "Madam, you are here."

It's a reflection.

Eleventh Lady nodded.

Zhaoying came over in two steps and opened the gate: "I'm afraid that Young Master Fengqing is hiding somewhere, so the gate has been closed." He explained.

"It's better to be cautious!" Eleventh Lady responded as she and Zhaoying entered the "Ban Yue Pan".

Different from the simple and natural environment outside, the thatched house has a bluestone floor, glass windows, gauze cabinets and brocade partitions, and yellow pear wood furniture.

Chief Steward Bai and Lin Bo had hurried forward to pay their respects.

Eleventh Lady asked seriously, "Where did you search?"

There was a look of trepidation between her brows, which startled Chief Steward Bai and Lin Bo. After a pause, Chief Steward Bai said, "We have searched everything. We are preparing to search the outer courtyard." Before he finished speaking, Dongqing and Binju, whose eyes were as red and swollen as walnuts, walked out of the east room timidly.

"Ma'am, it's all our fault." The two knelt down at the same time, "We didn't do what you asked us to do."

"Get up!" What's the point of pursuing all these things now? The important thing is that everyone works together to find the person.

Zhu Xiang stepped forward and helped the two of them.

Shiyi Niang, accompanied by Chief Butler Bai, Linbo and Zhaoying, inspected the house.

The east room is the study. It is filled with books. There is a large kang next to the window, a large kang table, and a copy of the Heart Sutra on the kang. The west room is the bedroom. There is a six-post nanmu bed with a continuous inscription of ten thousand characters. There is a half-new stone blue brocade curtain, an indigo mattress, and a royal blue quilt. There is an agarwood screen next to the bed, a tall cabinet with four doors, a Longquan sword hanging on the wall, and a guqin on the long table next to the window.

"Where did the child go?" she asked.

Dongqing murmured, "It disappeared in the bedroom."

Eleventh Lady looked carefully but did not find a back door. She asked Zhaoying, "Besides the gate we just came in through, is there any other way to get out?"

Zhaoying led Shiyi Niang out of the door and stood on the steps, pointing to a small path paved with bluestone at the foot of the hillside: "From here, there is a passage leading directly to the outer courtyard. Go west and straight ahead. There is a corner gate. After passing the corner gate, you will reach the outer courtyard. However, this corner gate is usually locked, and only Linbo and I have the key."

As he spoke, he pulled out a brass key tied with a red string from his collar and said, "This is mine."

Lin Bo, who was standing by, also pulled out the copper key hanging around his neck and showed it to Shiyi Niang: "This is mine."

"We just checked, the lock on the corner door is fine, the secret mark we left last time is still there, no one has touched it."

Eleventh Lady nodded and went into the house with Linbo, Zhaoying, Manager Bai, Zhuxiang and others.

She instructed Zhu Xiang, "Go get pen, ink, paper, and inkstone, and write down all the places we have searched to see if there is any place we have missed. Then divide the places into blocks and search again - children are not objects that can move around." She looked at Manager Bai and said, "I will trouble Manager Bai with this matter. Just say that something was lost in the Banyue Pan. Please check if there is anyone else who has entered the Banyue Pan besides us. Tell me in half an hour. I will have an idea and can make arrangements."

When Chief Steward Bai saw that Eleventh Lady spoke softly but in an orderly manner and clearly, he thought that he could only arrange it this way. He also remembered that the Marquis had moved all his daily necessities to the main house... He replied respectfully, "Yes," and went to check the whereabouts of the maid.

Zhu Xiang first made a cup of hot tea for Shiyi Niang, and then got together with Binju, Dongqing, Linbo and Zhaoying to make a list of all the places they had checked.

"Under the bed, behind the curtains, behind the screen, in the tall cabinet, under the desk..." It seemed like every possible place had been searched.

Shiyi Niang asked Zhaoying: "Who is in charge of the east room? Who is in charge of the west room? Who is in charge of the living room?"

Zhaoying said, "Ms. Dongqing and Miss Binju are in charge of the east room. Linbo and I are in charge of the west room. Miss Amber and Chief Butler Bai are in charge of the living room."

"Okay. Now Dongqing and Zhaoying are in charge of the main hall, Binju and Zhuxiang are in charge of the east room, and Linbo is in charge of the west room. Let's search again."

The five people answered "yes" in unison and searched the three rooms again, but still found nothing.

Even under the supervision of a shrewd and powerful person like Bai Zongguan, there was no gain, so it was impossible for me to make a qualitative change by coming forward. This was within Eleventh Lady's expectations, but the matter was of great importance, so she didn't search again, and she was a little unwilling to give up.

Now it seems that all we can do is wait for news from Manager Bai.

Everyone was feeling depressed, especially the holly and chrysanthemums, which wilted like eggplants hit by frost.

You know, it was Dongqing who proposed it and Binju agreed. If we trace it back, they are the culprits.

Eleventh Lady smiled at everyone soothingly and said, "Sit down and take a break! You've been busy for most of the day and must be tired." Then she told Zhu Xiang to make everyone a cup of tea, "Refresh yourself. Let's search the yard again." No one wants something like this to happen, and they must remain calm. They must not pursue responsibility at this time, as this would discourage everyone. If they need to search for people again later, they will be afraid of responsibility, not seeking to make any achievements but only to avoid mistakes, and they will definitely not try their best.

Zhu Xiang made tea skillfully.

Except for Dongqing and Binju who still had tears on their faces, everyone else looked relieved.

But Shiyi Niang's mind didn't stop.

She always felt that if she was kidnapped, the kidnapper would not go to the trouble of taking away the food as well.

But we searched everywhere. If it hadn’t been captured, how could it have flown away?

The thought flashed through her mind, and she couldn't help but look up towards the roof.

Perhaps to reflect the simplicity of the thatched house, the "Ban Yue Pan" is not equipped with dust panels, but the beams and columns are painted black and left exposed.

"Linbo, Zhaoying, follow me!"

The two of them hurriedly dropped their teacups and followed Shiyi Niang to the west room which was used as Xu Lingyi's bedroom.

"You guys go up and take a look." She pointed to the top of the nanmu bed with six pillars inlaid with an endless pattern of swastikas.

They were both shocked and said nothing.

Linbo quickly brought a stool over, stepped on the stool, and leaned on the pillar to look upwards.

"Madam!" He turned his head with a look of joy, "Master Fengqing is upstairs."