Chapter 93: Arm-bound Moonlight softly falls on the shadows that cling to each other. ...
Lin Meizhu held her breath and sat down across from him. Shen Changfeng, knowing when to stop, spread out a map on the table, and gestured for her to look at a few marked locations. "Our men arrested several Black Wind Village members outside the city. They said they mostly took goods and money during the robbery, not girls of Xiaoman's age. At least the bandits who fled to the northeast didn't take anyone or any goods with them."
Lin Meizhu breathed a sigh of relief, and then heard Shen Changfeng say, "I have already sent people to search outside the city. If she was swept out of the city by the crowd, she may have gotten lost and that's why she didn't show up."
"With her energy, she won't be able to get far." Shen Changfeng pointed at the two lines of defense on the map. "One group will search from the inside out, and the other from the outside in. We'll search day and night, and we'll probably get news soon."
"As for your concern about Xiaoman being scammed, I've also left two teams to conduct inspections along the Linjiang Alley leading to the city gate, focusing on those with a history of criminal activity. I've instructed my men to act immediately and rescue any unusual behavior from these individuals without reporting any issues."
"Of course, the people of Jiangling County are simple and honest, so we can't just assume the worst. The brothers have also passed the news to the spies in the city. If they find any family taking in Xiaoman and treating him, they must report it as soon as possible."
Seeing her expression soften, and even taking a sip of the tea beside her, Shen Changfeng knew that the anger in her heart must have subsided. He seemed to have accidentally discovered a new pleasure, his eyes moving around her face several times, holding up the teacup and taking a sip of tea.
As the tea went down his throat, Shen Changfeng's evil thoughts started to rumble.
After finishing the serious talk, Lin Meizhu had no need to stay. She took two steps and found that Shen Changfeng did not follow her. She felt a little strange and took another step. She heard some other subtle sounds amid the creaking sound of the attic ladder. She listened carefully for a while and it seemed like the cry of a kitten.
Lin Meizhu's expression gradually changed. She knew it! Why was Shen Changfeng so easy to talk to? He was sure that she would come back to find him!
Lin Meizhu hurried back to the attic, and was not surprised to see a little three-flowered cat in Shen Changfeng's hand. He brought the kitten to his mouth and kissed it, only to find that Lin Meizhu had returned. She asked in surprise: "Why are you back?"
He was leaning against the small couch, and the little calico cat was climbing up his waist and abdomen, trembling and stumbling. As soon as he spoke, the kitten lost its balance and stumbled, its pink paws flapping in the air.
Not long ago, a cicada gave birth to a litter of kittens. Lin Meizhu, too busy to care for them, asked her friends and family to take them in. However, this little calico cat took such a fancy to her that she couldn't bear to give it away. The kittens, having just opened their eyes and still naive, were at their most adorable. They were soft and fragrant, with even their noses and paws adorably pink. Because they seemed a bit shy, Lin Meizhu hadn't been willing to give them up. But now, this adorable, soft, and unsociable kitten was persistently trying to burrow into the lapel of her long windbreaker!
Shen Changfeng fished out Little Sanhua with a smile and said, "I think it might have misunderstood something."
Lin Meizhu asked: "Why is it here with you?"
Shen Changfeng replied: "I don't know, it suddenly appeared on the bed."
I've heard that mother cats might take their kittens to a new nest after giving birth. Could it be that Aunt Zhang's frequent checks on the cat's nest have made Xianchan feel unsafe, so he moved the nest? But why here? Xianchan even leaves the kittens in the attic without worrying about going out. It looks like he's been back there countless times!
Lin Meizhu was simply furious and gritted her teeth, "This is my cat!"
Shen Changfeng rubbed the kitten's neck and said, "Ah? But I've already written the cat contract."
Lin Meizhu followed his gaze and saw, indeed, a written contract on the small table. Her anger surged, and she grabbed it. Just as she was about to tear it up, she realized her name was the first one on it. She resisted the urge. She crumpled the contract and stomped on it. "What you wrote doesn't count! Give me back the cat!"
Shen Changfeng replied lazily with "OK", but his hands did not move. The little three-flowered cat crawled to the crook of his neck and meowed against his cheek. Shen Changfeng squinted his eyes in satisfaction and reached out to scratch the kitten's belly. Every time he touched it, the kitten meowed louder.
That’s not all, Xiao Sanhua also stuck out her tongue and licked his face!
Lin Meizhu felt her kitten had been defiled, her heart breaking. She cried out, "It's still so young! What's the difference between you and an animal?"
Shen Changfeng couldn't help laughing and explained himself innocently: "It's really unfair, I didn't do anything."
Lin Meizhu snorted coldly, "Xian Chan likes mice the most."
Shen Changfeng was afraid of angering her, so he let her take advantage of him. He took Xiao Sanhua in his palm, slowly sat up, and said, "Okay, I'll return it to you."
He placed Xiao Sanhua on the ground, pointed in Lin Meizhu's direction, and said, "Go over there quickly. Don't call you... Grandmother is getting anxious."
Lin Meizhu: ...
Lin Meizhu squatted down and called softly to the kitten, "Sanhua, Xiaohua, dear, come here..."
But the little Sanhua looked at Shen Changfeng's fingertips, circled half a circle and crawled to his feet again.
Shen Changfeng turned the kitten's head with one hand. When he took his hand back, the kitten followed too closely and lost its balance, falling backwards. It performed a very clumsy backflip for the two of them, revealing its tender pink belly.
Shen Changfeng exclaimed, "That's a good seedling!"
Lin Meizhu didn't show it on her face, but she was jealous inside. She thought to herself: I wonder what kind of magic potion he used to make her cat willing to be close to him, and even learned a backflip in such a short time!
She gave up the idea of letting the kitten come over by itself and walked forward. The little cat heard the footsteps approaching and slowly shrank back, hiding under an armchair on the side.
When Lin Meiju leaned over to look, she heard a loud "bang" from the bench next to her ear. When she raised her eyes, she saw a white shadow flying across the crossbeam.
The cicada opened its mouth, placed the little three-flowered creature on one of the grids, turned around and walked to the innermost low grid with a carved edge, curled up in a ball, and licked its paws slowly twice.
Lin Meiju reached out to grab the kitten that kept crying, but couldn't help but blame Xianchan, how could he not care about the life or death of his child like that?
The cicada dozed off amidst the complaints, with no intention of moving at all.
Lin Meiju tried to reach the bed on tiptoe several times but failed. She was thinking of finding a stool when she turned around and saw a figure approaching.
Shen Changfeng stretched out his arm, gently knitting the little sanhua cat's belly with his knuckles, and slowly lowered the helpless little creature from its perch. He took her hand with his other hand, placed the kitten in her palm, and leaned over to affectionately touch the soft little thing in her palm.
The way he lowered his head and frowned was so gentle, and when he moved closer to her it seemed as if he was going to kiss her belly. Lin Meiju suddenly felt that what she was holding in her palm was not a kitten, but a chubby white baby, and her heart skipped a beat.
When I looked down, I saw a fat white thing in my arms... It was holding a cicada and I wondered why it was so heavy.
Shen Changfeng carried Xianchan in his arms, and the latter did not resist at all, and found a more comfortable position in his arms without any hesitation.
Lin Meizhu took advantage of this opportunity to distance herself from him and asked, "When did this start?"
Shen Changfeng touched the cicada's head and said, "I'm afraid it will be earlier than you think."
In fact, he had encountered the cicada when he first came to this attic. After all, this place had been abandoned for a long time and was infested with rats. The cicada loved to tease its prey, so this was its favorite place to visit. But Shen Changfeng would not reveal this, otherwise wouldn't it confirm her previous suspicion? He didn't smell like anything bad.
Shen Changfeng offered to take her back, and Lin Meiju did not refuse. The cicada was very heavy, and she only had two hands.
Paper lanterns swayed lazily by the roadside, and cicadas chirped softly in the distance. Lin Meizhu walked in front and behind, holding the smaller one, while Shen Changfeng followed behind, holding the larger one. The small Sanhua chirped occasionally, and when it got too loud, Lin Meizhu would stop, pet its furry head, and then walk on. Whenever she stopped, Shen Changfeng would stop too, standing by to watch her movements.
The clouds in the sky were blown away by the wind, and the moonlight floated down, gently falling on the shadow nestled on the ground.
In this quiet night, Shen Changfeng's voice was as soft as if soaked in water. "I don't know when I'll be back tomorrow, so don't wait for me. If there's any news, I'll send someone to give you a message, and then you can come back."
Lin Meizhu's voice drifted to his ears on the wind, "It's not you I'm waiting for."
Shen Changfeng simply understood that she would still wait for him, and couldn't help but curl up the corners of his mouth, "Okay, then I'll come back as soon as possible." He added: "Don't feel restrained when you are here, just treat it as your own home. You can ask Suo Zhu to do anything."
Lin Meizhu muttered to herself, "Who wants to be the head of this shabby little building of yours?" She didn't want to talk to him any more, so she just brushed it off vaguely.
Shen Changfeng seemed to mention it casually: "If you have nothing to do in your spare time, you can also bring some work to the attic to kill time, such as needlework or something, so as not to get bored waiting for a long time."
Lin Meiju understood the hidden meaning in his words and looked up. The man was indeed looking at her eagerly. When he saw her looking at him, his eyebrows immediately curved and a tiny light scattered in his black eyes.
Lin Meizhu stood still with the food box on her shoulder and asked, "What do you want?"
Shen Changfeng pretended to be stupid at first, and said in surprise: "I have it too? That's really..." Seeing Lin Meizhu's increasingly impatient expression, he changed the topic and said: "Anything is fine, I like everything you do."
Lin Meiju agreed, thinking that she would go to the market to buy some ready-made shoes, socks and clothes, bring them back and mend a few stitches on them, and that would be considered her work.
After taking two steps, Shen Changfeng suddenly called out softly, "Bad cat!"
Xian Chan was awakened by the sound. He looked around and then closed his eyes in a daze.
Holding the cat, Shen Changfeng fiddled with the arm restraints twice, motioning for Lin Meizhu to watch. "It keeps fiddling with these arm restraints. They're not durable..."
The arm restraints were made of cotton armor with iron sheets embedded in the fabric. The style was very simple, without even a pattern, and the color was the most common black. Lin Meiju didn't know why Xianchan loved this boring thing. After looking at it for a long time, she could only see that the rope seemed to be worn, but she couldn't find where the wound on the arm restraint was.
On the other end, Shen Changfeng was still recounting the evidence of Xianchan's crimes. Lin Meizhu felt a headache and interrupted him helplessly: "I know."
Shen Changfeng was delighted, and then asked in a calm tone: "Know what?"
Lin Meizhu closed her eyes and said unhappily, "What else do you want?"
Seeing that she had taken the bait, Shen Changfeng slowly raised his lips and said, "Can you ask for anything?"
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