Chapter 42 The school must have offended someone.
There were bright lights along the river. After searching for a long time along the dug shepherd's purse, Xin Ying finally stopped by the river.
The river reflected the torches, creating a hazy ripple. She stared at the river in panic until her shoulders sank slightly. In her reflection, she saw Prince Jin putting a cloak on her.
"We've already searched the river. Don't be afraid. It's late at night and the dew is heavy, so you still have to be careful."
He knew, of course, how much his younger sister meant to him; it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say she was his only concern in this world. He had been reborn to relieve her worries, but... this hadn't happened in his previous life.
He couldn't tell for a moment whether Ah He bumped into Huazi by chance or because of the change, he fell into a deeper conspiracy.
The King of Jin comforted Cong Ying, "I've sent people to search the four city gates, and even the servants who washed clothes by the river during the day. Since we have no leads right now, why don't you rest and wait a while?"
Cong Ying said, "I'm going to the Xie family."
"Looking for Xie San? I've already sent someone to look for him, but unfortunately he left the city this afternoon and hasn't returned yet."
Cong Ying shook her head. "Ah He doesn't have many friends. If her disappearance was intentional, it might be related to Congshan Academy... perhaps she accidentally offended a classmate."
The King of Jin said, "It is not convenient for me to show up in person. I will send a few people to accompany you."
Now was not the time to dwell on favors owed, so Cong Ying bowed deeply and said, "Thank you, Your Highness."
At the end of You and the beginning of Xu, Congshan Academy should have been closed for classes, but today it was unusually lively.
When Cong Ying arrived, he saw the school's guards and disciplinary inspectors carrying a young scholar and throwing him out the door. He spat in their faces. Behind them, a radiant young woman slowly emerged. It was Lady Xie Liu, Xie Miaozhu.
Xie Miaozhu said to the scholar, "I recognize you. You are the new favorite of the Qingliu faction in the Hanlin Academy. What's your name?"
The scholar wiped his face in anger, gritted his teeth and said coldly: "Wei Ji. I'm here to find Wei Yin'er."
Xie Miaozhu was accompanied by Wang Shiqi Niang's sister, the Ninth Lady of the Wang Family. Upon hearing this, she laughed and said, "Wei Yin'er, the top student in the Ding House? I heard she's from the Wei family in Hedong and has traveled thousands of miles to Yunjing to study. What relationship do you, a poor scholar from a humble family, have with her?"
Wei Ji said: "...I am her distant cousin."
Wang Jiuniang: "Look at his appearance, he looks like he crawled out of his mother's womb."
Xie Miaozhu sneered, "Could it be that some lowly person dared to impersonate the Hedong Wei clan, disrupt the school, and fool the Xie family? This villain deserves death, and the Xie family hasn't pursued him yet, yet you dare to come to our door? Come on, break his legs!"
"Sixth Lady, wait a minute!"
Cong Ying rushed to stop the guards before they could make a move, and greeted Xie Miaozhu: "I'm sorry to bother you with your late-night visit."
Seeing her, Xie Miaozhu raised her eyebrows slightly: "Oh, isn't this my future sister-in-law? You came to see my third brother? Unfortunately, he is somewhere happy and carefree."
Wang Jiuniang saw Jiang Si Niang in her true form for the first time. After taking a look at her, her eyes flushed and her face turned green. She said in a sarcastic tone, "Jiang Si Niang is so anxious. It seems like she's here for this crazy scholar. In the past, Old Censor Jiang was close to the upright. You two don't know each other privately, do you?"
Wei Ji looked at Cong Ying and thought, so this is Madam Jiang Si.
His close friend Lu Mu in the Hanlin Academy died in the infighting among the powerful. When he sent Lu Mu's parents back home, he heard them mention Jiang Si Niangzi, saying that she had cleared Lu Mu's grievances, wrote a petition for them, and asked the court for funeral silver and pensions.
Cong Ying ignored Wang Jiuniang and said to Xie Miaozhu, "My younger sister Ah He and Wei Yin'er were abducted at the same time. I want to go to the academy with Wei Hanlin to check if there are any traces."
Xie Miaozhu looked worried: "Since the person was lost outside the school, what does it have to do with my Xie family? You are helping outsiders to throw dirty water on the Xie family."
In addition, Wang Jiuniang was instigating her, so no matter how much Cong Ying tried to reason with him, Xie Miaozhu was unwilling to let him go.
At this time, Cong Ying had only one way to go, which was to break up with Xie Miaozhu and take the guards of King Jin to break into Congshan Academy.
If this is true, there is probably no possibility for her and Xie Xuanlan to be together anymore.
Zong Ying took a deep breath, his palms aching from clenching his nails. He reluctantly turned around and said to the accompanying guards of Prince Jin, "Please help me—"
Before he finished speaking, a gentle and calm female voice sounded behind him: "Aying is here, why don't you invite her in, Azhu, don't be so rude."
Cong Ying suddenly looked back and saw Mrs. Xie slowly walking towards him, as if she was grabbing a reed on the shore, and her eyes couldn't help but feel warm.
She hurried forward to greet them and explained the purpose of her visit in a few words. Mrs. Xie was indeed easier to talk to than Xie Miaozhu. She helped her up and comforted her with gentle words. At the same time, she sent someone to wake up all the students staying in Ding's residence in preparation for Cong Ying's questioning.
Then Madam Xie's gaze paused on Prince Jin's personal guards.
Although they were in plain clothes, their solemn demeanor was no less than that of the servants in the Xie Mansion. Madam Xie was an insightful person, so she naturally had some guesses in her mind.
But she saw Cong Ying's anxious and nervous look, hesitant to speak, so she didn't ask at this moment. Instead, she said, "Sanlang is not here. I'll ask the Prime Minister to send some people out to help you look for him. You just wait for news in the academy and don't run around, okay?"
Cong Ying felt mixed emotions, her eyes slightly red, and she said sincerely, "Madam, I will remember your kindness."
＊
At this moment, Xie Xuanlan was far away in the official road canyon a hundred miles away.
He held his clairvoyant in hand, staring motionlessly for three hours. His attendant yawned softly, and he asked cautiously, "How about I go in closer and find out how many men Wang Zhaoshen has brought with him? I can at least give you an 80% estimate."
Xie Xuanlan said, "Wang Zhaoshen's nose was honed chasing musk deer from the Western Regions. From a hundred paces away, he can smell you before you even see him. Besides, it's 80% certain it won't work. I want to know the true number of people he's bringing back to the capital this time."
Counting steamed buns under a dog's nose, the attendant thought to himself, how many can he count with his eyes numb?
Just as he finished speaking, he saw Xie Xuanlan put down his Thousand Miles Eyes: "Seven thousand three hundred and sixty-two."
Squire: "...Ah? How do you count this?"
Xie Xuanlan took off his clairvoyant glasses, rubbed his eyes, and said, "The road narrowed as we approached the canyon. Wang Zhaoshen changed the formation three times. The first time, there were nine soldiers, and there were no more soldiers left. The second time, there were eight soldiers, and there were two soldiers left at the end. The third time, there were seven soldiers, and there were five soldiers left at the end."
"Seven and eight multiply fifty-six, seven and nine multiply sixty-three, and the result is five hundred and four. There is a number that has a remainder of five when multiplied by seven, two when multiplied by eight, and zero when multiplied by nine, and this number is three hundred and six. Seeing that there are fourteen groups, multiply five hundred and four, add the remainder of three hundred and six, and you get seven thousand three hundred and sixty-two."
He didn't speak fast, but his followers were listening to a foreign language, and their ten fingers were almost twisted into knots.
Xie Xuanlan looked down on him: "I told you to read more books. Haven't you memorized Sun Zi's Mathematical Classic?"
The attendant shook his head in shame.
Xie Xuanlan: "I can see you don't have a lover who is well-educated. I urge you to study hard and make progress."
Retinue: “…”
Being away on duty until midnight, without having eaten or drunk anything, he also had to listen to Third Young Master Xie bragging about how he was going to marry a wife who was as talented and wise as Zhuge Liang. It was a double torture both physically and mentally.
But he didn't know Xie Xuanlan.
Rather than saying these words to show off to others, it is more like trying to cover up one's own guilt and soothe one's own unhappiness caused by anxiety and fear.
Xie Xuanlan rubbed his numb shoulders and stood up. "Let's go. We'll ride back quickly and stay at the West Camp. Tomorrow morning, we'll go directly to the city gate to welcome the Cavalry General."
At noon, Xie Xuanlan arrived at the West Camp. He had no time to rest and simply took a bath and changed his clothes. Then he summoned several generals from Fengchen Guard and explained his plan in detail.
Meanwhile, after searching the city all night, the Prince of Jin's personal guards went to Congshan Academy and reported their findings to Congying:
"Everyone along the river has inquired, and it is certain that a washerwoman saw four little girls wandering along the riverbank, two of whom were carrying baskets and heading north."
"We have visited all the people listed in the official register, but there is no sign of the two girls."
"I checked all the city gates and saw no suspicious people coming in or out yesterday afternoon."
Cong Ying was flipping through the daily homework of the students in Ding She. Upon hearing this, she put the book down and pondered for a long time. Wei Ji, who was listening in, couldn't help but ask anxiously, "Could they still be staying in the city?"
Cong Ying said, "The city gate isn't the only way to enter and exit the outer city. Many powerful families in Yunjing have built secret passages leading to the outskirts of the city."
"She must have been abducted by some ignorant playboy," Wei Ji's voice trembled slightly. "If anything happens to my sister, I will skin alive these evildoers!"
Cong Ying glanced at him and saw that the hatred on his handsome face did not seem fake. She couldn't help but sigh in her heart that this Wei Hanlin, who came from a poor family, seemed to have a strong hostility towards the aristocratic families, but asked his own sister to pretend to be a member of the Hedong Wei family and enter the Congshan Academy to study.
She saw through it but didn't ask any more questions. Wei Ji appreciated her kindness and respected her very much.
Cong Ying said, "Four little girls appeared by the river yesterday. Besides Ah He, Wei Yin'er, and Lian Jun, I wonder who the other one was. Wei Hanlin, please think carefully. Has your sister really offended anyone in school?"
Wei Ji: "Yin'er is well-behaved and sensible, she won't take the initiative to make enemies..."
He pondered to no avail, so he buried his head in the list of students' hometowns in Dingshe. He walked aside from Ying and whispered to the Prince of Jin's personal guard, "Does His Highness have any other instructions?"
The guard was surprised by her sharpness and nodded, saying, "His Highness said that General Wang Zhao will be in the capital today and will be present at the morning court. He told the Fourth Lady not to be impatient and to wait for him to find out whatever he discovers."
Cong Ying frowned slightly: "The General of the Cavalry entered the capital early this morning?"
The guard confirmed: "Yes."
That's really strange, Cong Ying thought, Wang Jiuniang is the younger sister of the General of the Cavalry. Why was she not waiting in the mansion to welcome her brother last night but lingering around Xie Liuniang?
She turned around and searched through the pile of documents, and soon found the examination documents for the previous academic quarter. Sure enough, Wei Yiner's evaluation scores were better than Wang Shiqi Niang's in every aspect.
She glanced at Wei Ji, thought about it, and decided not to disturb him with this matter for the time being. She took Lianjun's hand and walked out.
The sky gradually brightened. Congshan Academy encouraged people to get up early and study hard. The students who stayed overnight had already started their morning recitations. The young men and women returning home also stopped their horses in front of the gate and walked into the school in groups of three or two.
Amid the hum of reading, Cong Ying stood in the hallway of the school, dressed in a plain blue dress. Though unwashed all night, she looked unfazed. Her demeanor was calm and composed, as if softened by the morning breeze and moistened by mist and dew. Passing students, young and old, male and female, would steal a glance at her.
This was the scene that the two ladies of the Wang family saw when they entered the house.
Lianjun followed Ying's instructions, half-hiding behind her, and deliberately pointing at Wang Shiqi Niang and whispering. No one knew what she said. Cong Ying looked at Wang Shiqi Niang coldly, and sure enough, she saw her face change drastically. She turned around and tried to run, but was pulled back by Wang Jiu Niang's arm.
It's too late, your weakness has already been exposed.
Cong Ying had a guess about Ah He's whereabouts.
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