The winter in Shuojing is getting colder day by day.

It rained at night, and the next morning, the ground was covered with a layer of dampness and coldness. On the tenth day of the tenth month, He Yan got up early.

He Sui and He Yunsheng left before dawn, one of them had to go to work and the other had to go to school. He Yan got up after they left, lit a candle, quietly washed up, and tiptoed out.

Qingmei was sleeping soundly, and it was not time for her to get up and cook. He Yan knew that Chiwu lived in an empty room in the yard, keeping watch in the first half of the night and resting in the second half. However, this person was very quick-witted, and fearing that he would be discovered, He Yan used the skills of surprise attacks and ambush that he had learned in the vanguard camp in his previous life, and walked this short distance from the yard to the outside of the yard.

Xiangxiang glanced at her, as if she was puzzled by her behavior. He Yan touched the horse's head. He Yunsheng really loved this horse and even specially equipped it with a saddle. However, he was reluctant to ride it. The saddle was new. But today she was going out of town, and now she was really poor and had no money to rent a carriage, so she could only ask Xiangxiang to help her take a ride.

He Yan jumped on his horse and galloped towards the outside of the city in the hazy morning light of Shuojing City on this winter day.

When the rooster crowed for the third time, Qingmei yawned and got up to boil water. The boiler was placed outside the yard, and the kettle was bubbling with steam, bringing a little warmth in the cold morning. She first went to the kitchen to boil the porridge, and then went to the yard to add water to the sink in the stable.

He Yunsheng loves horses like his life, and used to feed the horses himself, but now he has a heavy workload and has to go out early and come back late every day, so he can't take care of the horses all the time, so he gave this honorable task to Qingmei. Qingmei didn't dare to neglect it, and just treated Xiangxiang as the third young master in the mansion and took good care of her.

In the past, when she walked to the "stable", Xiangxiang would pace back and forth when she heard her voice, but today she was unusually quiet. Qingmei was a little worried, could she be sick? The weather has been very cold these days, and people are prone to catching colds, let alone horses. Qingmei walked to the stable, holding the lantern and took a look, and was stunned for a moment. After a moment, she came to her senses and hurried to He Yan's room, shouting as she ran: "Girl, girl, something bad has happened! Xiangxiang... Xiangxiang has been stolen..."

The door was pushed open, and Qingmei's voice stopped abruptly. The room was empty, and there was no one. She was panicking and looked around, but she didn't see He Yan. She was stunned for a moment and burst into tears.

With a bang, the door opened again, and a man's voice appeared in the yard: "What happened?"

Chi Wu rubbed his forehead. He had to admit that the He family was too poor. In the yard, there were no other guest rooms except for three rooms. He Sui was an honest man. He wanted to vacate his house for Chi Wu to live in. He Yunsheng also reluctantly agreed to live in the same house with Chi Wu, but was flatly rejected by Chi Wu. Although he was not particular about his life, he was not so desperate as to go to someone's house as a guard to protect the safety of the master and go to the main house of the master's house. In the end, after thinking about it, He Sui could only vacate the innermost room in the yard where miscellaneous items were stored.

The room was small. After removing all the clutter, there was only enough space for a bed. If Chi Wu wanted to leave, he had to lean sideways. Although he was also a guard in the Xiao family, the treatment was very different. Even though the He family had tried their best to provide him with the best conditions, many times, Chi Wu wanted to pay out of his own pocket so that the He family could move to a bigger house.

He had been on guard for the first half of the night and had gone back to his room to rest in the second half. When he woke up, he heard the little maid crying bitterly, so he got up and asked about her.

Qingmei turned around and was startled to see Chiwu. Chiwu usually stayed in the yard quietly, didn't eat with them, and slept among the sundries at night. He really had no sense of existence. So sometimes Qingmei almost forgot that there was this person in the house. At this moment, Chiwu appeared, and Qingmei seemed to have grabbed a life-saving straw. She rushed up and said, "Master Chiwu! The girl and Xiangxiang are missing. They were kidnapped!"

Chiwu: “…”

He said, "I'll go take a look."

He Yan's bedroom was full of fancy things, with red curtains and sachets hanging everywhere. Chi Wu was frightened. If he had to go in, he would not want to see these things. He just didn't expect that He Yan was so coquettish under her casual appearance. He had to tell Bai Rongwei about this later, so that when Bai Rongwei decorated Xiao Jue's new room in the future, it would be exactly what He Yan wanted.

He only glanced at her for a few seconds before walking out of the room. Qingmei followed him and said, "Mr. Chiwu, how is it?"

"She wasn't taken away, she left on her own."

"How is it possible?" Qingmei didn't believe it. "How could the girl leave without saying anything? Even if she wanted to leave, she would have said goodbye. Master Chiwu," she looked at Chiwu suspiciously, "you are not afraid that you will have trouble reporting to Governor Xiao, so you are pushing the responsibility onto our girl."

Chi Wu could no longer bear it, "Look carefully, young lady, before your young lady was captured, she carefully folded her quilt." The quilt was folded the way the new soldiers of Liangzhou Guards folded it, square and square, like a square block of tofu, and it was obviously made by He Yan. "May I ask which assassin would wait until someone folded their quilt before capturing them?"

Qingmei: "But..."

"It's fine to arrest a person, but I've never seen a person and a horse being arrested together."

Qingmei stopped talking.

After a while, she seemed to have forgotten all the accusations and suspicions she had just raised against Chi Wu, and asked politely, "Then, Master Chi Wu, can you imagine why the young lady left without saying goodbye?"

"I'm sorry I don't know."

Chi Wu was also very angry. There were only Qing Mei and him in the yard. Seeing Qing Mei's silly look, why would He Yan go to such great lengths to sneak out of the house? It was undoubtedly to prevent him from following her!

Now that he was gone, if the young master asked about it later, he would definitely be in trouble. He Yan left easily, leaving him in a mess. He knew that this trip to the He family was not going to be an easy task, and it turned out to be true!

"What should we do now? Should we report to the police?" Qingmei was at a loss and could only stare at the only person in front of her who could still speak.

Chi Wu said, "No need, I'll go out and look for her." Since He Yan went out secretly, it was very likely that he was doing something he didn't want anyone to know about. It would be bad if he reported it to the police and made the matter bigger.

He had only taken one step when his sleeve was pulled by someone. Chiwu turned around and saw Qingmei holding him, as if she was afraid that he would also leave without saying goodbye the next moment, "I'll go with you."

“No need.”

"I'm the only one left in this yard. Even Xiangxiang is gone," the maidservant pouted, as if she was about to cry, but she forced herself to hold back. "Master Chiwu, I'll go with you to look for her!"

Chiwu: “…”

He said helplessly, "Okay."

…

He Yan could certainly guess how the family would be turned upside down after she left, but she also believed that Chi Wu could comfort Qing Mei, the crying baby.

She had no other choice. If it weren't for Nanny Qin's lover, Niu the Ironsmith, who only went down the mountain to the Changmao Iron Shop on the tenth day of every month, she wouldn't have come up with this idea. She couldn't let Chiwu go with her, so she could only go out secretly. As for the rest, she would wait until she found Nanny Qin and resolved this matter first.

Since Xiang Xiang came to the He family, He Yunsheng has been raising her with good food and drink. Occasionally, when she is not in school, she can take her to the nearby river for a run. The pony is still very fast when running. He Yan left the city smoothly, asking passers-by along the way, and finally arrived at the market at the foot of the barren mountain.

It's not as lively as the city. There's only one big market in the nearby villages. On the tenth day of every month, all kinds of businessmen would set up stalls here. Some sold herbs, some sold old clothes, some sold cattle and sheep. It was so lively that it was dazzling.

He Yan led his horse to a wine shop, and the shopkeeper greeted him with a smile: "Young man, do you want to buy some wine?"

He Yan dressed up as a man for the convenience of going out today. He smiled and said, "I'm going to get a pair of horseshoes for my horse. I heard there's a iron shop nearby called 'Chang Mao Iron Shop'. Does the shopkeeper know where it is?"

Upon hearing this, the shopkeeper pointed He Yan in a direction, "Go straight along this road. When you reach the end, look to the right. That's Changmao Iron Shop."

He Yan thanked the man and walked towards the other end, holding Xiang Xiang’s hand. When they reached the end of the road, he turned around and saw a shop facing them. On it were the words “Changmao Iron Shop” scrawled.

He Yan tied the horse outside and walked in. There was only an old master with gray hair inside, sitting in front of an iron stove, knocking on a black iron vat with a clanging sound.

"Master." He Yan called him.

The old teacher raised his head and glanced at He Yan, then asked, "Sir, what do you want to fight with?"

"Sorry," He Yan said, "I'm not here to forge iron. I'm here to ask my master about a man called Niu the Blacksmith. I heard that he comes here on the tenth day of every month. Has he been here today?"

He Yan was a little uncertain. Fuwang only said that Niu the Ironsmith would come on the tenth day of every month, but he didn't say when. Given Niu the Ironsmith's cautiousness, he must have left after finishing his business. She came here from the city, and it was almost noon now. Maybe Niu the Ironsmith had already been here and left.

The old master stopped what he was doing when he heard that. He stood up, picked up a wet towel, wiped the dirt on his hands and said, "Lao Niu hasn't come today. However, he is already late, and this is the first time he is late."

He Yan: "Too late?"

"He comes here to deliver the goods on the tenth morning of every month. Lao Niu's craftsmanship is very good," the old master said with some emotion, "I originally wanted him to work in my shop. The monthly salary was much higher than what he could make on his own, but he refused. So forget it. According to the schedule, he should have come here at noon this morning to hand over the ten iron slings I asked him to make last month, but it's almost noon now," the old master looked at the sun outside, "he hasn't come yet."

"Maybe something delayed him on the way." He Yan said this, but her heart sank. She was afraid that Xu Zhiheng had already found the whereabouts of Nanny Qin before her, so she couldn't see Niu the blacksmith now.

"Lao Niu is a stable person. He won't be late unless it's something urgent." The old teacher asked He Yan again, "Young Master, why did you ask him to do something? Since I met him, he has always been a loner. Young Master, do you know Lao Niu?"

He Yan smiled and said, "We don't really know each other. I went to see him just to ask him something."

The old master nodded and pointed to a wooden board nearby. "Then you can sit here and wait for Lao Niu to arrive before we talk."

He Yan sat down as he was told, but he didn't expect that he would sit there for the entire day.

The sun was setting and the sky was getting dark. The old master finished his work for the day, washed his hands, changed his clothes, stood up and said to He Yan, "Young Master, it looks like Old Niu won't be coming today."

"The market is almost over by this time, and I'm going to close the shop too." He tactfully signaled to He Yan that it was time to leave.

He Yan's heart sank as if a stone had fallen off his chest. He forced a smile and said "OK". But he was still worried, so he said to the old master solemnly, "Master, please don't tell anyone about what happened today. The same goes for Niu the blacksmith. I will come again in a few days."

The old teacher responded, and He Yan led his horse and left.

The people in the market dispersed in twos and threes, leaving only the mess after the bustle in the daytime. A mother and her son from a poor family were bending over and picking up leftover vegetables and fruits on the ground. Lanterns in the distance gradually lit up. He Yan walked slowly, leading his horse. It was really hard for him to be happy.

I originally thought that Fuwang had found a clue and would follow Niu the blacksmith to find the whereabouts of Qin Ma Ma when he came here today, but I didn't expect to get nothing.

In the past few months, the blacksmith went to the iron shop on time every month to deliver the goods, but today he didn't come. I waited from morning to night but there was no sign of him. It couldn't be that he was late. Either Niu the blacksmith moved away again with Nanny Qin, or he was no longer able to come.

He Yan's eyes darkened slightly.

…

When they got home, the house was already in chaos. He Sui hadn't come back yet, He Yunsheng was getting ready to go out, and the family was noisy. When He Yan was leading the horse back, Qing Mei was at the door. When she saw He Yan, she thought she had seen it wrong, rubbed her eyes, and rushed over, shouting, "The girl is back!"

Before He Yan could even open his mouth, He Yunsheng took the lead and said, "Where did you go? And you took Xiangxiang away with you!"

He Yan didn't know for a moment whether he was concerned about Xiang Xiang or himself. After thinking for a while, he said, "I just had nothing to do today. I haven't been out for the past few days, so I took Xiang Xiang out for a walk."

"If you're going out, why don't you bring someone with you?" He Yunsheng glanced at Chi Wu who was silent on the side, "You didn't even say hello."

"Ah," He Yan pretended to be surprised, "I left a note on the table when I left. Didn't you see it? If you didn't see it, maybe a swallow flew in from outside and took it away."

"Where did the swallows come from in the dead of winter?" He Yunsheng looked at her coldly as she made up a story. "Where on earth have you been?"

"I just went out for a walk, I didn't do anything. I saw that it was still early and Chi Wu hadn't woken up yet, so I thought I shouldn't wake him up since I'd be back soon anyway. I didn't expect that I hadn't been out for a long time and I forgot the time as soon as I went out. I'm sorry, I was just having fun this time, I won't do that again next time." He Yan apologized insincerely.

Chiwu: “…” Are you saying that he slept too soundly?

He Yun was furious: "He Yan!"

"I'm hungry. Has Qingmei cooked yet?" He Yan touched her stomach. This was true. She had been guarding the blacksmith shop all day and had not left for a single step. She was afraid that she would miss the blacksmith Niu. She even bought two steamed buns at the door for food.

"It's done." Qingmei hurried to the kitchen to bring out the food. "If you're hungry, eat first. I've been warming up the porridge. It's perfect for you to taste it now."

"Thank you." He Yan replied with a smile.

He Yunsheng was furious with He Yan, but he could do nothing about it. Whatever He Yan wanted to do was out of his control. He was both angry and helpless at the same time, so he had no choice but to sit down at the table with He Yan, pick up his chopsticks and eat without any appetite.

Chi Wu stood at the door, also confused. He Yan had been out for a whole day. During that day, he and Qing Mei looked everywhere for him but couldn't find He Yan's whereabouts. He Yunsheng was about to report to the police, but now He Yan looked safe and sound, and his expression was not too broken.

But...what on earth did she do?

…

In a remote courtyard in the house, a man and a woman sat opposite each other in a room. They were both quite old. The man had dark skin, wrinkles all over his face, and dirty fingers. He was strong and muscular, and at first glance, he was a man who did manual labor. The woman was in her forties. Although she was dressed in ordinary and inconspicuous clothes, her skin was delicate and she still had some of the looks of a middle-aged woman. She didn't look like she had experienced hardship.

The man was in better condition, but the woman looked extremely frightened. Both of them had their hands and feet tied with ropes and could not move at all. They could still speak, but since they got here, they had called for a long time but no one responded.

"Lao Niu, what on earth is going on?" the woman asked, her voice filled with uncontrollable panic.

This man and woman were exactly the blacksmith Niu and his lover Nanny Qin that He Yan was looking for.

Niu the blacksmith shook his head. This man looked dull, but his eyes were shrewd. He looked around and said, "Maybe it's someone from the Xu family."

When she heard the word "Xu family", Nanny Qin couldn't stop shaking all over.

At first, she followed He Wanru into the Xu family. He Wanru was favored, and she, as a wet nurse, also had a good life. The food and clothing were much better than in the past in the He family. Unfortunately, the good times did not last long. After He Wanru died, she lived a life of wandering and hiding.

Thinking of He Wanru's death, Nanny Qin couldn't help but shudder.

He Wanru was the child she raised with her own hands. Although she was a little arrogant, she trusted her nanny very much. Nanny Qin had reminded He Wanru that some things were secrets and the fewer people who knew about them, the better. If someone told you a secret without any cover-up, it was not because they trusted you, but because in the eyes of the other person, you were already dead.

The dead are the best at keeping secrets.

It's not like she hadn't persuaded He Wanru to pack up her belongings and run away with her. It's a pity that He Wanru didn't believe her words, so He Wanru died in Xu's mansion. Before He Wanru's death, Nanny Qin anticipated her fate, so she wrote a letter to this old friend, hoping that Niu Blacksmith could help take care of her family after her death.

Although Niu Tiejiang was a craftsman who did rough work, he had a quick mind and had some true feelings for Qin Mama, so he gave Qin Mama an idea, saying that if she died, Qin Mama's children and grandchildren would still be in danger. It would be better to escape, and Xu Zhiheng might not dare to attack Qin Mama's family because of his concerns.

When Nanny Qin heard this, she felt that what Niu the blacksmith said made sense. As for where to escape to, that was naturally up to Niu the blacksmith.

In the past year, she and Niu Tiejiang had lived in the deserted mountains and had indeed lived a peaceful life. But last night, for unknown reasons, a group of strangers suddenly broke into the thatched house on the mountain, subdued them easily and took them away. When they woke up, they were already in this house.

"Lao Niu, are we going to die?" Nanny Qin said timidly, "If they find us, they won't let us live... My grandson... and you, I'm the one who implicated you."

Niu the blacksmith said, "Ah Qin, don't be afraid. I don't think they want to kill us."

Nanny Qin raised her head: "What did you say?"

If there is a glimmer of hope, who would want to die easily? Nanny Qin didn't want to die either. When she heard what Niu the blacksmith said, a gleam of light immediately flashed in her eyes.

"If it was Xu Zhiheng, he would have taken action when he found us, and would not have spared our lives until now." Niu the Blacksmith comforted her, "At least we are not in danger now."

"So... so what you mean is that the one who arrested us was not Master Xu?" Nanny Qin asked doubtfully, "Then what on earth did he want to do by arresting us?"

“I don’t know about that either.”

Nanny Qin fell silent. Sometimes the fear of the unknown is the most terrifying. The other party just left the two of them here without paying any attention to them, which made people more suspicious than revealing their identities from the beginning.

After an unknown amount of time, someone's voice was heard outside. Nanny Qin perked up and looked towards the closed door expectantly.

The door was pushed open and someone walked in. The first two people who came in were dressed in black, a man and a woman, and their expressions did not reveal anything. The next person who came in was a young man, who was extremely handsome and judging by his clothes, he was not from an ordinary family.

Nanny Qin had served the Xu family for many years, so she had some sense. When she saw the three people, she knew that the last handsome young man was the master, and she immediately said, "My lord, please spare my life, my lord, please spare my life!"

However, Niu the blacksmith said nothing and just looked at the person who came.

The handsome young man sat down on a chair in the middle of the room. Two men in black stood beside him. His eyes swept across the two of them and finally landed on Nanny Qin.

It was clearly a calm expression, but it gave Nanny Qin a chill.

"Are you Xu Jiahe Wanru's wet nurse?" the man asked.

Nanny Qin's heart sank. She had been feeling lucky before, but now that this person had spoken, she knew that he was here for the Xu family's secret. She said, "Indeed... Young Master..."

Before she could finish her words, she was interrupted by the other party. The young man said calmly: "How did He Wanru die?"

"I……"

"If he lies, he will die." He raised his chin slightly and looked in the direction of Niu the blacksmith.