"These people must have been working as a gang. Where are they hiding?"
These people not only committed crimes as a gang, but their leader was also a member of a gang in the capital, and they had government officials protecting them.
The hiding place was something many people didn't expect. Ling Yinghua borrowed servants from all her relatives and friends to search for the child, and they searched for three days and three nights.
The reason we couldn't find those children was not only because someone was interfering, but also because they were hiding in a place that was too unexpected.
As the first city of Dayan, Shangjing City had a vast underground waterway network, just as large as the city itself.
Many people live down there, mostly criminals. If the emperor could conduct a thorough investigation of the underground water system, he could catch many wanted criminals.
A glint flashed in Cai Xian and Wei Ping's eyes. The fugitives and enemy spies they were tracking were still in the capital, but they couldn't find where they were hiding, not even a single clue.
Now that they've heard what the divine artifact has to say, the person they're looking for is likely hiding somewhere in this underground network of waterways.
"Shouldn't that area be full of sewage? How can anyone live there?"
"Of course it's possible. The waterways below are extensive, and the main waterways are uninhabitable. However, some of the tributaries are too heavily silted up and have been abandoned, or their routes have been altered by people living below."
There's a hidden entrance in the well of the dilapidated temple in the south of the city. The 'beggars' living inside sleep all day long and eat their fill without begging. This is because these people are actually those people in disguise guarding the exit.
There was also a hidden entrance inside the orphanage in the north of the city. The director had long been in cahoots with those people, and some of the children from the orphanage were eventually sent down to the underworld, either as thugs or to entertain the people there.
There's also an entrance hidden beneath a statue of an Arhat behind a side hall at Chongming Temple in Xicheng District.
"Little Bead, what do you mean by someone interfering?"
[Logically, the Ling family would have discovered the child was missing very quickly and immediately started a search, before they even had a chance to go underground.]
They should have been able to find the child in time. Several times they just missed the place where the child was hiding, except for the Xia family's deliberate misleading.
Furthermore, an elder of the Ling family had a business relationship with De Ge, the leader of the beggar gang. This De Ge was nicknamed "Lame De Ge" because of his limp.
"Isn't it immoral to be a child predator? It's extremely immoral. After death, you'll be sent to the deepest hell to suffer for a hundred years."
Li Shu, a grandson of the Ling family elder, joined Brother De's gang and used his position to gather a lot of official information for Brother De.
That day, their family also joined the search for the child, deliberately providing cover for the people taking pictures of the child where they were hiding.
As soon as someone found that area, they would pretend they were looking for it too, and then loudly proclaim that they hadn't found anything unusual.
They fooled several groups of people in this way, and finally covered for those few people as they entered the underground area through the entrance of Chongming Temple.
"This family is related to the Ling family, yet they help outsiders harm their own relatives just because one of their grandsons is Brother De's man? The minds of mortals are truly complicated."
【Master, that's because these two families had a feud in the previous generation. Sometimes outsiders aren't scary; it's the betrayal from so-called relatives that's most deadly.】
"What grudge could there be? It's nothing more than money and status, isn't it?"
The elder's father and Ling Jijiu's grandfather shared the same father. Ling Jijiu's grandfather was the eldest son of the legitimate wife, while the elder's father was the youngest son of a concubine.
Later, Ling Jijiu's great-grandfather had a younger brother who died before he could get married. Feeling sorry that his brother had no descendants and that no one would offer incense after his death, he adopted his youngest illegitimate son into his brother's family.
Before his great-grandfather passed away, the family divided the property. The main branch received 60%, while the other 40% was divided among the brothers. The elder father felt that he was the one who inherited the lineage of his younger uncle's branch and was considered an independent branch, so he should receive a larger share.
Unfortunately, things didn't go as planned. Later, her aunt passed away unexpectedly, and the clan elder's father believed that Ling Jijiu's grandfather and great-grandmother were responsible, and from then on, he hated the eldest branch of the family.
Furthermore, her aunt died young because she was unhappy with her marriage, and her father blamed the eldest son's family for all of this.
The clan elders instilled hatred in him from a young age, so although their branch of the family still appears to be part of the Ling family, they have long been estranged from the main Ling family due to the entanglements of interests from the previous generation.
"Were all these things done by Ling Jijiu's grandfather?"
No, my aunt slipped and fell in the winter, and after more than half a year of recuperation, she passed away.
The younger sister also married into the family of her aunt's older sister. That family coveted the dowry and took in a new wife, and the younger sister eventually died in despair.
The clan elder's father, out of consideration for their kinship, never stood up for his sister. After her death, unable to reclaim her dowry, he blamed the Grand Master of Ceremonies for not intervening.
"I bet even Chief Minister Ling doesn't know he has such a big 'enemy' hiding by his side."
Ling Jijiu: Who would have thought that the uncle who always smiles when we meet is actually thinking about taking revenge on his family!
[This family later did quite well in Beili after the fall of the Dayan Kingdom, as they led the way in surrendering and were rewarded for their contributions.]
"How did they manage to gain merit during the siege? By opening the city gates?"
Emperor Mingxi and his ministers felt a chill in their hearts. Could anyone open this city gate?
Countless evils lurk beneath the capital city. When foreign enemies invade, many people here lead the way for the foreign armies, hoping to gain merit by following the emperor.
De Ge and Li Shu hid some of the alien soldiers underground and even dug a waterway leading out of the city, catching the Dayan army completely off guard...
"Let's leave that aside for now. It's all because of the incompetence of the court officials and the emperor that Dayan ended up like that. No one is to blame."
The emperor and his ministers of the Dayan Dynasty: As expected, the Little Immortal Lord is still the same heartless Little Immortal Lord; he didn't even consider saving their lives! (doge emoji)
Should the owner of the Ling family save these three children?
After thinking for a while, just when everyone thought she would refuse, they heard her say, "Children are innocent. We'll go see the lanterns later, and we'll pass by the Ling residence on our way, so we can go around and take a look."
Should we tell Lord Ling?
"Tell him what: that your grandson and granddaughter will be kidnapped by a beggar today and never be found again, and see if he believes you!"
Ling Yinghua nodded frantically in her heart. She believed it, of course she believed it, as long as the old man had to speak first!
[Then forget it. The master is still just a child in their eyes, lacking authority. They probably wouldn't believe him even if he told the truth.]
The ministers of the Great Yan Dynasty stared wide-eyed, as if their eyes could speak volumes, conveying the same message: Your master lacks authority?!
Her words were as powerful as an imperial edict to the people of the Dayan Dynasty.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
