Chapter 47 I won't do it again.
Pei Zhiwei was awakened by the pain.
My eyelids were so heavy; it took a lot of effort to pry them open even a crack.
A sharp pain shot through my back again, and I couldn't help but gasp.
She was still groggy and tried to sit up.
The thick smoke in the secret passage last night, the clanging chains on the iron gate, and the girls' heart-wrenching cries still linger in my mind. I feel uneasy, as if something is still unresolved.
What happened to those girls who were imprisoned in the end?
But as soon as her hand touched the bed, it was gently pressed back by a warm hand.
"woke up?"
Pei Zhiwei turned her head and saw Yan Jinghong sitting on a stool by the bed.
Yan Jinghong's eyes were a little red, and the stray hairs at her temples were not properly combed, making her look like she had stayed up all night without closing her eyes.
“Mother…” Her voice was a little hoarse.
Yan Jinghong quickly put the handkerchief aside, picked up the water from the low table by the bed, and carefully supported the back of her neck, letting her slowly sip some.
The warm water slid down my throat, and the dry feeling eased a little.
"Don't move. Your back injury has just been treated with medicine. The doctor specifically said that you have to lie flat for at least three days and you can't move at all."
When I carried you back yesterday, my heart was pounding in my chest.
Your back wound, your clothes are soaked in blood, I'm telling you..."
"What about the missing girls?" Pei Zhiwei interrupted her before she could finish, this was still what she was most concerned about.
When they were rescued yesterday, many people were trembling with fear. There was also a very young one who kept crying and asking for her mother. I don't know if she has calmed down yet.
Yan Jinghong sighed helplessly and reached out to tuck a stray hair behind her ear: "Don't worry, everything is settled."
The princess's residence specially cleared out a courtyard and even summoned a doctor to take a look.
Most of the girls had calmed down and were able to tell you where they lived.
Your father has already sent someone to contact the local government to help find your family.
There were two younger children who hadn't recovered yet, and the princess had sent a nanny to accompany them.
Your father and His Highness have been busy in the front hall all morning. They sent people to check on you twice just now, and they know you should be awake by now. They expect you to come over soon.
You should rest and relax. They'll handle the case; there's no need for you to worry.
Pei Zhiwei breathed a sigh of relief.
But the thought of not finding Sun Qiao'er yet, whether Ding Jin had contacted the government or not, and the fact that the deputy hall master was so stubborn, made him anxious.
As she tried to prop herself up with her arms, a sharp pain shot through her back, and she couldn't help but hiss.
"Look at you, you're not listening again!" Yan Jinghong quickly held her down, feeling both pain and anger.
"The doctor said that if your injury ruptures, you'll suffer again."
"Be good, lie down a little longer. I'll go get you a bowl of porridge. I just had the kitchen cook it; it has some yam in it, so it's soft and easy to digest."
Just as Yan Jinghong got up, the door was gently pushed open.
Pei Zhiwei looked up and saw that the first person to enter was Xiao Yunzhan. He was dressed in casual clothes, without a crown, and his hair was loosely tied with a jade hairpin. His eyes immediately fell on her.
Following behind him was Pei Lin, whose face was extremely grim, his brows furrowed, and he was clutching a scroll of case files in his hand. His steps were heavier than usual when he entered the room.
"How are you feeling?" Xiao Yunzhan walked to the bedside and asked softly.
"The doctor said your back injury is quite severe. Is there anywhere else that hurts badly?"
Pei Zhiwei wanted to shake her head, but was afraid of aggravating her wound, so she could only whisper, "It's okay, it just hurts a little when I move."
Pei Lin slammed the case file in his hand onto the table next to him, causing the table to tremble slightly.
"Do you think you're made of iron? You didn't say anything when you bled, are you planning to bleed to death before you complain?"
Upon hearing this, Pei Zhiwei immediately felt uneasy.
"I... I was just worried that the number of girls was wrong and they would get into trouble if I was a step too late, so I didn't care about myself..." Her voice grew softer and softer until it was almost inaudible.
"Didn't you have time for that?" Pei Lin scolded her angrily.
“You should have known once you left the secret passage that we had the situation under control. It wasn’t a life-or-death situation, and it’s not like your father can’t interrogate you. Why don’t you talk?”
Pei Zhiwei bit her lip, not daring to look Pei Lin in the eye.
She knew she had done something wrong, but when she came out of the secret passage and saw the main house on fire, she was afraid that all the evidence would be burned. Then she found that the number of missing women was not right, and she was even more afraid that there were other places where people were hiding. She was afraid that those girls had been silenced. She had long forgotten about her injury.
"It was my oversight."
Xiao Yunzhan suddenly spoke, his voice filled with obvious self-reproach.
He looked at Pei Zhiwei, his eyes full of apology: "Yesterday in the secret passage, I saw your hands were covered in blood. You said it wasn't yours, and I didn't think much of it. Later... it's all my fault."
Pei Zhiwei never expected him to blame her for this. In that situation, he anticipated the evidence would be lost even earlier than she did, so he was naturally more anxious and never imagined that she had concealed her injury.
"Your Highness!" Pei Lin interrupted him solemnly, his tone very serious.
"Pei Zhiwei is a sane and intelligent person, not an ignorant child. Why couldn't she have said something when she was injured?"
He turned to his daughter and continued to scold her, "It was so dark last night, and you were wearing dark red clothes, so the blood seeping through was not visible at all."
Everyone was busy putting out the fire, counting the girls, and anxious about the burned evidence. Who could have imagined that you would be hiding your injuries and remaining silent?
After a pause, Pei Lin's tone became more forceful, carrying a hint of threat.
"Let me tell you, if you do this again, you'd better stay in the capital and don't come out here to investigate cases!"
Do you think investigating cases is a joke? You can't even take care of your own health, how can you investigate other people's affairs?
Upon hearing this, Pei Zhiwei immediately begged for mercy.
"Dad, I was wrong! I'll never do it again!"
From now on, whether it's a minor scrape or bleeding, I will definitely tell you immediately and never hide it.
Please don't stop me from investigating the case! It's still unsolved, and we haven't found Sun Qiao'er yet..."
Seeing her so anxious she was about to cry, Pei Lin relaxed his furrowed brows a little, snorted, reached out and took the case file from the table, handing it to her.
"Alright, stop with the act. If you do it again, I'll teach you a lesson."
Regarding the case, listen to the details first, then think about what leads you.
Xiao Yunzhan quickly moved the small table next to the bed closer to her, and Pei Lin placed the case file on the small table and opened the first page.
"Those people from the Taihu Gang are all locked up next to the woodshed in the Princess's Mansion. There are yamen runners watching them, so they can't escape."
That deputy head of the hall was interrogated for half the night yesterday, but he was very stubborn.
He insisted he knew nothing, saying that Ding Jin did everything, and that he was just a handyman who didn't even know where the girls were locked up, and that Ding Jin never let him manage anything.
Moreover, last night, the bodyguard who was watching Ding Jin returned and reported that after seeing the signal, Ding Jin immediately crawled into the drainage ditch.
The guards never saw him show his face again, nor did they find his body, so they guessed he had already prepared an escape route.
Pei Zhiwei pondered to herself: Ding Jin spends most of his time by the water, so he must be a very good swimmer. He probably slipped out of the city through the drainage ditch.
"So, the most crucial thing now is to get the deputy hall master to talk?" Pei Zhiwei looked up and asked. "As a deputy hall master, there's no way he wouldn't know nothing."
Xiao Yunzhan nodded: "He knows in his heart that as long as he doesn't confess anything, he can wait for the government to rescue him."
So we need to find a way to let him know that the people behind him won't come to his rescue, and if we don't speak up now, we'll miss our chance.
Pei Zhiwei suddenly remembered the places where the women had disappeared. Each place was passable by a carriage, but there were two particularly narrow alleys that only a driver who knew the place very well could drive a carriage in.
Those people will definitely need people like this to transport people away.
So who exactly was responsible for bringing the kidnapped girls back to the gang?
“By the way,” Pei Zhiwei said, looking at Xiao Yunzhan.
"Since there is no strong evidence at the moment, why not ask the gang members if there is anyone who is particularly good at driving and knows the roads in Suzhou very well?"
Furthermore, on the day of the Cold Clothes Festival, who was responsible for transporting the abducted women to the Tibetan settlement?
Xiao Yunzhan was taken aback: "Why do you ask that?"
"You forgot?" Pei Zhiwei explained.
“When we investigated the places where the cars went missing, we found that every place was passable by a horse-drawn carriage, except for two particularly narrow places that only experienced drivers could get through.”
If they really relied on horse-drawn carriages to transport people, there would definitely be a lot of people like this.
If we can find this driver, we might be able to get more clues out of him.
For example, where do they usually transport people? Have they ever seen Ding Jin associate with anyone?
She continued, "There's also the Cold Clothes Festival. Sun Qiao'er disappeared on that day, and the case files also record that a boy went missing on the Cold Clothes Festival in the eighteenth year of the Tianqi reign."
The Cold Clothes Festival is a time of many people and distractions. If they kidnapped someone, there must be someone specifically responsible for bringing them back.
Finding out who was in charge that day might lead us to uncover more abduction methods, and even how those chosen girls were sent onto the merchant ships.
Xiao Yunzhan thought about it for a moment and felt that this idea was feasible.
“I’ll have someone go and ask right away.”
Most of those gang members were just low-level thugs who had never seen anything like it.
Besides, if they haven't been involved in kidnappings, they might not be able to guess what we're trying to ask if we suddenly ask them, and they'll probably tell the truth.
After saying that, he and Pei Lin exchanged a glance, and then the two of them left the room.
Pei Zhiwei breathed a sigh of relief, but as soon as she relaxed, the pain in her back surged up again, and she couldn't help but frown.
Upon seeing this, Yan Jinghong quickly came over to check her wounds, his tone softening.
"Alright, alright, let them handle the case. Your priority now is to recover from your injury."
The princess already had someone in the kitchen prepare pigeon soup for you; it's nourishing. A maid will bring it over in a bit.
Pei Zhiwei had no choice but to nod.
She knew she couldn't help much right now and could only rely on her father and Xiao Yunzhan, but the thought of the girl still missing, Ding Jin still on the run, and the mole in the government still not caught made her restless. She felt she had to do something to feel at ease.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com