Chapter 153
The sound of horse hooves was like thunder, raising clouds of dust. A group of officers and soldiers galloped past on horseback. Pedestrians on the official road avoided them one after another. After the horses passed, the pedestrians quietly raised their heads. Under the scorching sun, they seemed to be able to see the dark golden black eagles on the hems of the officers and soldiers' clothes. They couldn't help but be secretly shocked.
The emperor's guards!
Since the new emperor ascended the throne, the emperor's guards have not left the capital for a long time. Now they are leaving the capital in a hurry. Could it be that something big has happened in the capital during this period of time?
"Did something big happen in the capital?" a man in fancy clothes asked.
The owner of a roadside teahouse said, "A while ago, the legitimate son of a high-ranking official in the capital was abducted by kidnappers at a lantern festival. I heard the son had some connection to the royal family. This is already the fourth batch of the emperor's guards in the past two weeks."
There was an uproar among the crowd.
"These kidnappers have become increasingly rampant in recent years. They even dare to kidnap children in the capital who are obviously well-dressed."
"Last year, I heard that the six-year-old daughter of the Minister of War was kidnapped and has not been found yet."
"Tsk, I have a classmate whose four-year-old brother was kidnapped just before he was about to die. He fell ill upon hearing the news and subsequently missed the imperial examination."
"A five-year-old child from a neighboring family was kidnapped at a market. The wife of the family jumped into a well that same day, and the mother cried until she went blind."
"These kidnappers are truly despicable, forcing close relatives to be separated!"
A group of people were talking about kidnappers and were so indignant that they wished they could go and kill seventy or eighty of them themselves.
In the capital, the carriage stopped at the Qin Mansion. The old doctor in the carriage hurriedly got off with the medicine box and walked inside with the maid who had been waiting for him.
Ever since Qin Zhiyi, the eldest son of the Qin family, went missing half a month ago, the atmosphere in the entire Qin family has been depressing and suffocating. The maids were in a hurry, stepping lightly and not daring to make any noise. Even the imperial physician who came in felt depressed.
The head lady of the Qin family is the current emperor's most beloved younger sister, and the eldest master is Qin Yan'an, the head of the six ministries and the Minister of History, who is in charge of the promotion and appointment of officials.
Princess Yonghe and Lord Qin have been in love and treated each other as equals since their marriage. Qin Zhiyi is their first child conceived six years after their marriage, and he is also the eldest son of the Qin family. Madam Qin and Minister Qin naturally love him like a treasure.
Now that he was lost during the Shangsi Festival, it was like a knife cutting into their hearts. Mrs. Qin fainted when she learned of his disappearance.
The emperor was furious when he heard the news. The next day, the Chief Justice, the Commander of the Military Department, the Deputy Commander of the Military Department and other people in charge of the capital's public security were held accountable and demoted.
After taking Madam Qin's pulse, the imperial physician wrote down two prescriptions for regulating the internal organs and blood, and asked the maid to boil them and take them on time according to his instructions.
Qin Yanan sent the imperial physician out and asked worriedly on the way, "Imperial Physician Li, my wife..."
Doctor Li shook his head: "Madam, you have depression in your heart and anger in your chest, so your symptoms haven't improved for a long time. This is a heart disease."
And heart disease needs to be treated with heart medicine.
As Doctor Li staggered onto the carriage, he glanced back at Lord Qin. The loss of his legitimate son and his wife's illness had tormented this elegant and dignified scholar day and night, and he had almost changed beyond recognition in just half a month.
Qin Zhiyi went missing during the Shangsi Festival. On that day, he was taken out of the Qin family's tent by his cousins to stroll around the streets and watch the lanterns. Along the way, he met the young masters of the Zhou, Chen, and Jiang families, and they joined him.
Logically speaking, Qin Zhiyi is the legitimate son of the Qin family, and his mother is the most favored Princess Yonghe. He must be surrounded by many guards and servants, so the possibility of him getting lost is very small.
But that night, Chen Yichen, the youngest son of the Chen family, wore clothes of the same color as Qin Zhiyi. The Lantern Festival was already lively and crowded with tourists. When it reached its peak, the crowds surged and all you could see were heads.
Qin Zhiyi and others who were having an exciting time were deliberately separated by the crowd that suddenly rushed in. The guards whose vision was temporarily blocked immediately felt something was wrong and rushed towards the young master. However, there were too many people and Qin Zhiyi was too small, so the guards' vision was severely blocked and they could not tell where the young master was at all.
The guards could only approach the young master based on the direction he had previously traveled and the color of his clothes.
Halfway through the journey, they heard a young master calling for his younger brother Zhiyi. The guards immediately rushed towards the direction of the voice. When they arrived, they realized they had made a mistake. The person they found was Chen Yichen, the youngest son of the Chen family.
The guards broke out in cold sweats and immediately sent two people to find the military and the other to go to the Imperial Street to inform the Qin family. The rest of them immediately scattered to look for him, but in the end they still couldn't find him.
Mrs. Qin, who was sitting in the tent chatting with the ladies of various families, was so anxious when she heard the news that her chest felt constricted. She fainted without even catching her breath. The maid beside her quickly supported her and prevented her from falling to the ground.
It was chaos.
Later, as expected, the Chen family was blamed by Mrs. Qin. She didn't care whether it was reasonable or not. She only knew that her Mianmian was lost and now she didn't know where she was suffering. When Mrs. Qin thought of this, her heart ached.
She lay on the bed, her face pale and thin, almost unrecognizable. Tears streaming down her face, she held the hand of Mrs. Lin who came to visit her and said in a trembling voice, "Mother Lin, I dreamed yesterday that Mianmian was covered in blood and crying for her mother, crying out in pain, and crying out that she wanted to go home. When I woke up, my heart was broken."
Madam Lin suppressed her tears and took her hand, comforting her, "No, it's not like that. The old people say dreams are the opposite of reality. Mianmian is so adorable, no one would have the heart to harm such a young child. Besides, His Majesty is furious and has issued an order for all prefectures to cooperate with Lord Zhou in searching for Mianmian. Mianmian will definitely be found."
Madam Qin stood up in a daze: "I, I want to go to Zhenguo Temple to burn incense and pray for my son."
Mrs. Lin looked anxious: "Your health..."
"I must go." Mrs. Qin interrupted her with a firm look in her eyes.
Mrs. Lin sighed inwardly: "I will go with you to pray for Mianmian."
After the maids hurriedly packed their luggage, a group of people got on the carriage and drove towards Zhenguo Temple.
At Zhenguo Temple, after burning incense and lighting eighty-one longevity lamps, Mrs. Qin's body could no longer bear it and she was supported by Mrs. Lin and walked towards the meditation room in the backyard.
There is a bamboo forest in the backyard of Zhenguo Temple. In the bamboo forest there is a Tingyu Pavilion. In the pavilion, a little boy who is about five years old and wearing a beautiful blue silk robe is practicing calligraphy. Mrs. Qin, who is supported by Mrs. Lin, paused and looked straight at the little boy.
Sensing the gazes falling on him, Zhou Chenxu's eyes moved and he straightened his body even more.
From Mrs. Qin's perspective, the child in the pavilion seemed to have written the wrong word. He was pursing his lips in dissatisfaction, and dimples appeared on his cheeks because of this action.
After being secretly annoyed for a while, he put down his pen and carefully folded the paper with the wrong word in half, with the wrong word folded on top. Then he placed the folded paper on the upper right corner of the table. In this way, he could use the wrong word to remind himself not to make the same mistake again while writing.
Mrs. Qin, who saw this scene from afar, did not blink. This child was exactly like Mianmian not only in temperament but also in his little movements.
At this moment, a gust of wind blew and blew the paper to the ground. Zhou Chenxu hurriedly squatted down to pick up the paper.
Mrs. Qin's pupils shrank when she saw his face, and she blurted out: "Mianmian!"
She cried out, then rushed past Mrs. Lin like a madman.
"Mianmian! My Mianmian!" She pressed Zhou Chenxu, who was standing up after picking up the paper, into her arms, tears streaming down her face. "You're back? You're back? Are you really back?"
Zhou Chenxu was a little breathless from being held so tightly, and looked at Mrs. Lin who was walking towards him quickly with a helpless look.
Mrs. Lin was shocked when she saw his face clearly, and her heart sank. This child looked 70% like Qin Mianmian. If you say that they were 70% similar in appearance, then adding in the temperament and small movements, they were 90% similar.
When Yin Zheng followed the trail all the way from Hengyang Town, he first met Mr. Zhao and others who were waiting outside the forest.
Perhaps it was because he saw the miserable appearance of those little kids squatting on the ground and thought that Jiaojiao might have been beaten, he could not suppress the anger in his heart, and his initial idea of using silver to redeem Jiaojiao disappeared without a trace.
After kicking the thugs who surrounded him to death, he hurriedly checked the other two carriages. After not finding Jiaojiao on either of them, he looked at Master Zhao who was surrounded by thugs and guards.
After hearing the news about Jiaojiao from the half-dead Mr. Zhao, he hurried into the woods.
After finding Jiaojiao, he placed Jiaojiao not far away and planned to come back to destroy the body.
When they came out of the woods, they discovered that the abducted children had stripped Mr. Zhao and his men of all their money and clothes before running away.
Before Yin Zheng left, Master Zhao was still breathing, but now he was lying on the ground in a disfigured state, deader than dead.
He took one look at Mr. Zhao lying naked on the ground and knew that he had been beaten to death by those kids with stones.
Yin Zheng reached out and threw the corpse on the ground into the carriage. After cleaning it up, he went to a nearby place to pick up Jiaojiao and Qin Mianmian, got on the carriage and drove forward.
Along the way, he held Jiaojiao and Qin Mianmian in his arms. Jiaojiao and Qin Mianmian, who had never been in a carriage, had no idea what was in the carriage. The strong smell of blood made Jiaojiao wrinkle her nose and turn her head to bury it in her father's arms.
If Mr. Zhao and others were simply engaged in human trafficking, Yin Zheng would not have killed them, because human trafficking is legal, and many families who can't make a living will sell their children to human traffickers in order to survive.
But the prerequisite is that the source of the people being bought and sold is legitimate. The reason why he wanted to kill is that the source of Mr. Zhao's people is not legitimate. 60% of them are abducted. He has someone above him to back him up, so he has always acted unscrupulously.
Yin Zheng threw the bodies of Mr. Zhao and others down the cliff of the narrow path. Below were rocks and dead forests. Except for some wild animals, no one would go there.
In previous years, bandits often dumped corpses here, so few people dared to walk on this path. Only Mr. Zhao, who had many thugs, had no scruples.
When Yin Zheng threw the body away, he asked Jiaojiao and Qin Mianmian to cover their eyes with their hands and squat fifty meters away. This distance was neither too far nor too close, and it was the farthest distance Yin Zheng could reach the fastest.
It is not suitable for children to see corpses being thrown away, otherwise they will have nightmares at night!
Yin Zheng thought expressionlessly as he poured water from a bamboo tube and carefully washed his hands that had touched the corpse.
After washing his hands, Yin Zheng walked back and picked up Jiaojiao and Qin Mianmian and walked back. When he returned to Hengyang Town, he bought two sugar cakes for Jiaojiao and Qin Mianmian respectively.
Jiaojiao took a bite of the hot sugar cake, exhaled, and put the sugar cake to her father's mouth: "Dad——"
Yin Zheng lowered his head skillfully and took a bite, chewing slowly with his cheeks slightly puffed up.
Qin Mianmian, who was chewing on a sugar cake, glanced at Yin Zheng and Jiaojiao, who were each eating a bite of the sugar cake. She suddenly felt that this fierce-looking man was actually only a little scary.
He brought Jiaojiao and Qin Mianmian back to Lijia Village. As soon as he entered the village, he met Widow Li, who was holding a kitchen knife and looking for him with hatred in her eyes.
Yin Zheng pressed Jiaojiao into his arms to prevent Jiaojiao from seeing the ferocious look of Widow Li and being startled when she was sleeping at night.
Seeing Widow Li crying and chopping at him with a kitchen knife, Yin Zheng had no intention of getting entangled with her. He dodged to the side and walked towards the foot of the Fog Mountain.
He took big steps and walked very fast, so Widow Li couldn't catch up with him.
Although the villagers were very annoyed with Widow Li, they were afraid that someone would be killed, so they still endured their annoyance and came to dissuade her.
As a result, when he arrived, he saw Widow Li stumbling after Yin Zheng, but she couldn't catch up with him and could only curse at the top of her lungs.
The villagers were stunned for a moment, not expecting that they could avoid Widow Li in this way, and couldn't help but sigh in their hearts!
Jiaojiao, who was held in her father's arms, heard her father being scolded. She was so angry that she poked her head out of her father's arms and pointed at Widow Li behind her and said in a baby voice: "Bad guy, don't scold Daddy!"
Wow, this little kid is even protecting Yin Zheng!
The villagers were surprised, and then they saw Widow Li twist her foot and fall down the slope. The kitchen knife in her hand suddenly stabbed her neck, and blood instantly gushed out of her neck.
Seeing this, Aunt Li and others were so frightened that their hearts trembled. They shouted "Oh my God!" and ran forward in a panic.
If this really happened, their Lijia Village would become famous in Hengyang Town!
The sudden change behind him made Yin Zheng stop and look back.
The wound wasn't deep, but the blood was flowing a lot.
After discovering this, Aunt Li and the others finally calmed down and covered Widow Li's neck with shaking hands.
Widow Li, who was sitting on the ground, looked dazed, her sallow face turned pale with fear, and her body, leaning in Aunt Li's arms, was trembling unconsciously.
Aunt Wang and others were also very frightened and quickly took the blood-stained kitchen knife away from her hand.
"I told you a long time ago that Er Gouzi didn't deserve the beating he received. I told you not to bother Yin Zheng, but you insisted on coming, and you almost got yourself killed."
"Your Aunt Wang is right. A while ago, my eldest son went to the county to work as a carpenter and came back with news that there had been a decree from higher up that all kidnappers, regardless of the severity of the offense, would be sentenced to death. It seems a child from a wealthy family had been abducted by a kidnapper, and there was quite a stir!"
"Ergou was beaten badly by Yin Zheng, with his left hand and right leg broken and several ribs fractured, but at least he's still alive, right? If you really anger Yin Zheng, and he reports you to the government, your Ergou will be dead!" Aunt Li advised earnestly.
"If he dares, if anything really happens to my Ergou, I will run into a wall and die in front of his house!" Widow Li said with red eyes and gritting her teeth.
Ma Da Niang's face was filled with impatience: "Your Er Gou deserves it too. He actually took advantage of us going to Shangyou Village to make a scene and broke into someone else's house to steal a child and sell it. If it weren't for the pity for you orphans and widows, the village chief would have kicked you out long ago."
"From now on, we still have to keep a close eye on our little one. Who knows, your Ergou might steal him and sell him off again someday. If I were to ask you, the village chief and the elders are just too soft-hearted."
"That's right! If Li Changhe's seven-year-old daughter hadn't seen it and ran to Shangyou Village to tell us, by the time we got back, Yin Zheng would have been taken away by the traffickers and there's no way we'd have found him!"
"If you ask me, we should kick Li Ergou out, or he'll start to worry about the children in the village again."
"That's right, that's right!"
"Nonsense, my Ergou is the most well-behaved boy, he would never steal a child, you are slandering me! Yin Zheng beat my Ergou like that, if you don't give me an explanation, I will report you to the government office and ask the officials to put you all in jail..." Widow Li covered her neck and shouted at the top of her lungs.
The villagers all frowned, and Aunt Chen turned her head and spat, then stood up and stepped back, letting Widow Li, who was leaning on her, fall to the ground.
This widow Li is a reckless person. If they weren't afraid of ruining the reputation of Li Village, why would they care about her life or death!
Yin Zheng withdrew his gaze and looked at Jiaojiao, who was still sticking her head out of his arms and glaring at Widow Li angrily, then reached out and touched his round head.
Jiaojiao looked up at her father and patted his arm soothingly with her little hand: "Don't be afraid, Dad. Jiaojiao is here."
A wind blew, bringing with it the scent of the countryside mixed with the smell of blood. Widow Li's cursing voice passed by his ears. Yin Zheng looked at Jiaojiao, his dark eyes softened, and he responded in a low voice: "Well, I'm not afraid!" Then he turned and walked towards home.
I didn't mean to post this late, it's mainly because my cat was hiding the kittens everywhere yesterday, which made me upset all night~
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