Fatty Wang said he had a very good relationship with Shu Yan. Now that Fatty Wang's closest relatives are gone, Gu Xin doesn't want Fatty Wang to lose his cousin as well.
"What the Third Miss said is absolutely right. I will definitely investigate this matter thoroughly when I get back." After calming down, Master Shu continued, "However, I still plan to take Yan Yan back with me. Yan Yan's mother was most worried about her before she passed away. I need to take her back to pay respects to her mother and let her know that Yan Yan is still alive and well."
"Mm." Gu Xin nodded. This was someone else's family matter; she could only mention it briefly, and it wouldn't be appropriate to interfere further.
"Third Miss, please rest assured, I will take good care of Yan Yan. I know your concerns, and I will definitely not let what happened ten years ago happen again," Master Shu said solemnly.
Gu Xin remained silent. Promises were useless, no matter how firm or earnest they were when they were made.
Master Shu was lost in thought about what happened back then.
At that time, Shu Yan disappeared. For the first two days, they did not report it to the authorities. After all, the sudden disappearance of an unmarried girl would be bad for her reputation. Moreover, Shu Yan had just come of age and was preparing to find a husband.
Two days later, all the forces of the Shu family were mobilized to search for it, but they still couldn't find it. It wasn't until the third day that the matter was reported to the authorities.
The officials said, "Two days have passed. If you had reported this to the authorities earlier, we might have been able to catch him. Now, after two days, we don't know which direction he went. How are we supposed to find him? We definitely can't find him in the city or the surrounding area. Sending people in every direction is impossible; the government simply doesn't have enough manpower. We can only inform the surrounding government offices to keep an eye out."
Master Shu decided to offer a reward, a large sum of money, to anyone who found Shu Yan.
That year, many people did help look for Shu Yan. The Shu family had a large business, and at that time, Fatty Wang's father had become a prefect, but he had not yet been transferred to Tongzhou. Therefore, the government officials were very helpful.
However, a month has passed, and not only has Shu Yan not been found, but there has been no suspicious person or thing either.
Shu Yan's mother also fell seriously ill around that time.
Then she fell seriously ill and couldn't get out of bed. All she could think about every day was finding her daughter. After only three months, Shu Yan's mother passed away. Before she died, she held Shu Da's hand and asked him to promise that she would find their Yan Yan in this lifetime. Otherwise, she would not recognize him in the afterlife.
Master Shu had a deep affection for Shu Yan's mother, and he wanted to go with his wife. However, he had kept living because he had promised Shu Yan's mother, and he continued to search for his daughter.
At that time, Zhang Liu's family also reported to the authorities. However, there was a two- or three-month difference in the time between the two sides. Moreover, the Shu family had been searching for people almost entirely in the Jiangnan region. They had also inquired in Tongzhou. However, the Tongzhou prefect at that time was an incompetent man who did not take the situation reported by Zhang Liu's family seriously at all, so they missed the deadline.
Shu Yan was thrown into the river after her mother passed away. Master Shu was heartbroken over his missing daughter and also mourned his deceased wife. No one in the entire Shu family cared about Shu Yan as much as he did.
Master Shu mustered his energy again to search for the person, which was six months after Shu Yanniang died, when he was woken up by his parents' scolding.
But with so much time having passed, it's even harder to find.
He has become somewhat disheartened over the years.
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