The guard who had been chatting with him was a good joke-maker. He pretended to be surprised and asked quickly, "Why do you say that, Chief? Those people look very ordinary to me. They don't look like they are any more vicious than you think."
Sure enough, the leader became more interested in talking and snorted coldly in response, "You are just a silly boy. You have only been out and about a few times. What can you see?
"Although the big man driving the cart didn't say anything, his left hand was always hidden at the back of his waist. He must have hidden a hidden weapon there. If anything went wrong with us, he would probably throw a flying knife at us immediately.
"And that old man said he was delivering something to the master's house, but the car was empty. He was lying!"
The young guard nodded as he listened. Thinking carefully, he realized that the big man was indeed fully prepared, but the old man was lying...
"Captain, how do you know the old man is lying? The carriage's doors and windows are all closed, so you can't see inside!"
The leader pointed at the wheel tracks beside him and said, "Look at these tracks. They're deeper in the front than in the back! If there were three people sitting on the front shaft and there was cargo in the back, the tracks in the back would be deeper and shallower in the front.
"But now it's obviously deep in the front and almost negligible in the back. That means there's no cargo in the carriage, or not much."
The young guard suddenly realized something, and bent down while sitting on his horse to carefully examine the wheel tracks. As a result, he could not tell the depth of the wheel tracks, but he did find something good!
"Hey, here's a purse!"
The young guard jumped down quickly, picked up the purse, and was even happier when he felt the bulge inside.
"There's money in this purse!"
Because of the snow, the dirt road was not very wide. When the guard stopped his horse, the convoy behind him had to stop as well.
The guard leader glared angrily and shouted, "Why don't you come up quickly? You're making everyone wait for you!"
The young guard shrank his neck and smiled awkwardly. He was so happy about picking up the purse that he forgot there was a convoy behind him.
He quickly jumped on his horse and handed the purse to the leader, "Look, leader, we've made a fortune!"
The leader took it, but before he could take a closer look, the carriage behind him opened its window and a middle-aged man asked, "What happened?"
The leader of the guards quickly rode over and said, "Boss, it's nothing serious. One of our team found a purse on the side of the road, and it looks quite full."
As he spoke, he handed over the purse and added, "I wonder who was so careless as to throw the money on the road like this."
The middle-aged man glanced through it briefly and replied, "Could it be something that fell from the carriage we just passed by..."
He suddenly stopped talking and shouted, "Bring the torches, quickly!"
Everyone was startled and someone immediately brought a torch closer.
The middle-aged man carefully checked his wallet, and the more he looked, the uglier his expression became.
"This is our family's purse. It has a nine-petal lotus flower that my sister loves to embroider!"
The guard leader was a little puzzled and responded casually, "Boss, why is our purse here?"
This sounded awkward, but the shopkeeper understood. He was none other than Chen Zhao, who had returned from the south.
The Zheng family was burned down by a fire. Except for Chen Ruiyang, no one survived, and naturally all their belongings were lost.
The reason why he was sure it was something from home was that the lotus on the purse was different from the ordinary lotus pattern with eight petals, but had one more petal.
At first, he was away from home all year round. His sister was worried but didn't want to stop him, so she could only wait for him to come back early at home while sewing clothes, shoes, socks and embroidering purses for him.
And the embroidery patterns used by my sister are mostly nine-petal lotus flowers, hoping that he will return safely and soon.
Now, apart from the few pieces of clothes and belongings he had left, only his nephew Ruiyang had this purse.
Could it be that Ruiyang went out and lost his purse when passing by here?
wrong!
Chen Zhao suddenly remembered another thing. When the old man of the Tai family was looking for Zhuzhu, he also rescued Ruiyang from the human traffickers.
My elder sister was very grateful. Not only did she prepare gifts herself, she also gave us many things she had sewn herself. For example, she gave purses filled with gold and silver ingots to each of the Tai family's children.
"I didn't hear clearly what you said about the car that passed by. Tell me more in detail!" Chen Zhao looked at the leader of the guards with a serious face.
The guard leader didn't know the reason, but he didn't dare to neglect it. He told the whole story about the three people's abnormality and the wheel tracks. Finally, he concluded, "Boss, do you suspect that those three people have done something bad, or is it related to our family?"
The guard leader had been Chen Zhao's subordinate for many years and was well aware of Chen Ruiyang's affairs. He lowered his voice and asked again, "Boss, is there something wrong with the young master?"
Chen Zhao shook his head and replied, "It may not be Ruiyang, it could be a member of the Tai family, or someone familiar with the Tai family!"
"Then what should we do? Should we quickly inform the Tai family?" The leader of the guards subconsciously looked at his own convoy and frowned.
This time they brought a lot of valuable goods. If they stopped rashly and got into trouble with the gangsters, they would suffer huge losses if they made a mistake.
Chen Zhao ignored all this and replied, "We must go and inform the Tai family, but we can't ignore this either. If there really are Tai family members in the carriage, we have to stop them. Otherwise, if we go south, there will be many forks in the road, making it difficult to track them."
After that, he ordered, "Take the purse and go to the Tai family immediately and ask if any family members are stranded outside. Then, you personally lead your men to follow the carriage from a distance. It's best to find out where the carriage is parked and what's inside! I will continue with the caravan and find a suitable place to camp. Keep in touch."
"Yes, boss." Although the leader of the guards did not quite agree, he did not refute it.
As a servant, it was his duty to obey orders. Moreover, over the years, the shopkeeper had acted prudently and rarely made mistakes in his judgment.
Soon, two guards rode on horses with purses and galloped along the road towards Tai'an. The leader of the guards selected four good men and quietly rushed back the way they came.
The convoy moved slowly, circled the top of the mountain, and when they were sure that the fire was no longer visible in the distance, they immediately chose a sheltered mountain cave to set up camp.
All the carriages were connected head to tail to block the cold wind. The remaining snow in the middle was cleared, and dead branches were placed on the bonfire, and it was lit.
Normally, sleeping outdoors at night is a tough job, especially on a winter day like this.
But almost all the people in the caravan were brought up by Chen Zhao himself. They had followed him in and out of the grasslands and the north and south of the Wei Dynasty, and had experienced all kinds of hardships. So they didn't find tonight unbearable.
Chen Zhao was worried and couldn't figure out whether something had happened to the Tai family.
The most important reason why he could go to Jiangnan without any worries was that his nephew was taken care of by the Tai family.
The Tai family treats their nephew as well as their own child. They don’t just spoil him blindly, but give him sincere guidance by praising his strengths and punishing him for his mistakes.
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