Yang's sister-in-law shook her head helplessly again, silently packed the fabric that Li Qianqian had given her, smiled at Xiaoyue and said, "I'm leaving now, your brother Yang is still waiting for me at home."
As she spoke, she pushed open the door to the house, and Xiaoyue immediately followed her out: "I'll see your sister-in-law Yang off. If you need anything, just let me know, or I can have Li Xu send a message."
Sister Yang looked at Xiaoyue's smile and nodded.
After seeing Yang's wife off at the gate, Xiaoyue was about to close the gate when she saw Liang Qi, Xu Fanyuan, and Gao Yu walking towards her house from not far away. Xiaoyue stood at the gate and waited for the group to pass before welcoming them into the courtyard.
Xiaoyue followed the others back to the east room. Liang Qi deliberately lagged behind the other two or three, walking alongside Xiaoyue. As soon as he opened the door and entered the room, he explained to Xiaoyue why he was late:
"Xu Fanyuan woke me up early. A few of us buried Xiao Sunshi together with an old mat. Only one of Xiao Sunshi's nephews came from her family. He didn't even ask about her, and he didn't go to the grave to check on her all morning."
Liang Qi stepped into the house, still turning his head to Xiaoyue and said, "After returning from the cemetery, I stopped by the Ge family's house, and then I came to your house. Xu Fanyuan and Gao Yu were also coming, so I brought everyone along."
Xiaoyue knew that Liang Qi was worried about her sending Li Lei to his house late last night, so Xiaoyue said gently to Liang Qi, "Sister-in-law Yang came this morning, and Brother Yang knows nothing about it at home."
“They didn’t come here for this.” Liang Qi pondered for a moment and said, “The New Year is just around the corner, and Gao Lei and Hu Banxia haven’t gone home yet. Gao Yu came to me and Xu Fanyuan this morning, wanting to take your family’s donkey cart to the county to pick them up.”
"Sure," Xiaoyue said to Xu Fanyuan, "I was just about to go to the county to check if the clothing shops had been affected."
Liang Qi then interjected, "You shouldn't go. It's safer to stay at home. The news is spreading like wildfire outside. There have been reports of people going missing for several days in a row."
Xiaoyue ignored Liang Qi's rambling and said directly to Xu Fanyuan, "Take out the finished clothes that Li Qianqian gave you in the warehouse and put them into the basket with the cloth sewn on it."
Let's go to the county together. We'll assess the pros and cons of each item as we go. If the clothing stores are open, I'll just deliver these; if they're closed, I'll bring them back.
Xiaoyue then murmured, "I don't plan to go to the county again before the New Year."
Liang Qi nodded in annoyance; she really couldn't do anything about Xiaoyue.
After Li Lei hitched up the donkey cart, he went up to Xiaoyue and whispered, "Didn't you say you'd let me drive the cart when we went to the county?"
Xiaoyue nodded, and then got on the donkey cart with Gao Yu, Liang Qi, and Xu Fanyuan.
Lu Xiaomei found the blankets that used to be used in the oxcart and asked Xiaoyue and the others to put them in the donkey cart.
Li Qianqian also came out and pieced together a cotton cloak from scraps of cloth for Li Lei, handing it to him and saying, "Brother, tie it on, don't mind it."
Li Qianqian went to the donkey cart again and handed Xiaoyue a bag of steamed buns. Xiaoyue looked at Li Qianqian and couldn't help but pinch her cheek. Li Qianqian jumped and ran away.
Xiaoyue jumped onto the donkey cart again, filled a gourd with water, and hung it on the hook on the cart's canopy.
Gao Yu sat to the side next to Xu Fanyuan, Liang Qi sat opposite them, and Xiao Yue sat on a bench placed horizontally, with a quilt from the oxcart draped over her lap.
Upon arriving at the eastern gate of Yingkou County, we found many soldiers and officers outside.
The notice board at the city gate was covered with a dense array of notices.
Xu Fanyuan and Gao Yu jumped off the donkey cart and went over to watch for a while.
Li Lei drove the car to the side of the road, intending to wait in a slightly secluded spot.
The donkey brayed and swayed its body incessantly. Li Lei jumped off the cart and scanned the area around it, but he didn't find anything. However, the donkey became increasingly uneasy. Li Lei looked around again, but still found nothing.
Having no other option, Li Lei could only drive the donkey a little further away, at which point the donkey stopped moving.
Li Lei was a scoundrel, but after he and his sister moved into Xiaoyue's house, he became much more obedient. However, he was still a cold-hearted and ruthless guy at heart. So, after Li Lei stopped the donkey cart, he saw that Xu Fanyuan and Gao Yu had not returned yet.
We arrived at the donkey's previous resting place, and gave it a little rub to see what made it react that way.
At this point, only Xiaoyue and Liangqi remained in the donkey cart. Xiaoyue immediately felt uncomfortable and got off the cart. When Liangqi saw Xiaoyue get off, he also jumped off the cart.
Xiaoyue didn't want to be alone with Liang Qi, so she hurried over in Li Lei's direction.
Li Lei picked up a stick to see what was wrong with the donkey.
At this time of year, the area outside the city was covered in snow, and there were obviously other vehicles parked there. But where Li Lei parked, there were no other cars, not even a tire track.
Xiaoyue immediately noticed that something was wrong.
He took off his gloves and touched the exposed soil with his hands. The soil was dry and hot to the touch.
Li Lei also took off his gloves, touched them, and exclaimed in surprise, "Really, they're still hot to the touch."
Just then, the two men who had gone to check the notice returned. Upon seeing Liang Qi, Xu Fanyuan said to Liang Qi, "The county government is offering a reward. If anyone can find the missing person, they will be rewarded with five taels of silver per person."
Gao Yu said excitedly, "That's much better than building houses, it's easier and you can make money."
Li Lei returned to the car, and the group got back onto the donkey cart. They first went to Wanghuitou Clothing Shop, where everything was normal. Xiaoyue carried a basket on her back and went into the shop.
The young man was yawning listlessly, showing no energy whatsoever.
Upon seeing Xiaoyue, he put on his usual smile, but there was no joy in his eyes. Xiaoyue asked, "What's wrong?"
The young waiter said dejectedly, "Manager Ning has been missing for over ten days."
Xiaoyue asked with concern, "Did you go to another clothing store, or was something delayed?"
The young waiter forced a dejected smile and said, "No, the boss has already reported it to the authorities."
The young shop assistant helped Xiaoyue take off her basket and asked, "Why didn't you bring anyone else?"
Xiaoyue smiled and took out the forty-five pieces of clothing one by one, saying, "We only made forty-five pieces. A few days ago, a few people went missing in our village, and everyone was panicking. I didn't want to go out, so I thought we'd just make as many as we could. We plan to finish the rest and send them over after the New Year."
The young shop assistant waved his hand and said, "No need to make any more. I've already taken the forty-five pieces you brought. You don't need to make any more. There's no guarantee that things won't change in our shop."
Xiaoyue paused as she picked up the clothes and asked, "Is it that serious? Is the county not peaceful either?"
The young shop assistant put his index finger to his lips, signaling to keep quiet, and whispered to Xiaoyue, "You said it yourself, things aren't peaceful. I've only sold three pieces of clothing this month. Usually, I sell more than three hundred pieces near the New Year."
"I don't know if you noticed when you came, but many shops were closed."
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