Chapter 708 Are you really just here to give a gift?
"Why do you look so bad? Yan Chen, quickly send Qingxuan back to his room."
Just as Madam Gu finished speaking, Cao Yun, the new county magistrate who served as an attendant to County Magistrate Tang En, came to the door with several runners carrying several gifts.
The Gu family knew that Tang En was not someone to be trifled with, so they were a little wary of the government officials suddenly coming to their door with gifts.
Although it was unclear what Tang En meant, there was no reason to slack off now that he had arrived.
Gu Feng and Gu Yanzong were both unable to move around easily, so the five brothers took turns entertaining the guests throughout the day.
At this moment, because Gu Yanchong, Gu Yanjing and Gu Yanrui went to rest, only the two brothers Gu Yanxing and Gu Yanchen were present.
Gu Yanxing had already gone to greet him, but Gu Yanchen originally didn't want to pay attention to him and just wanted to send Ran Qingxuan back to the house to rest.
"You go and entertain them first. After all, it's not easy to neglect people from the government."
Gu Yanchen was about to say something but stopped himself. Ran Qingxuan squeezed his fingers soothingly.
"It's inconvenient for you with your big belly. Let your sister-in-law take you back to your room to rest."
Ran Qingxuan smiled and nodded, then watched him leave.
After everyone left, she turned to Zhou Furong and said with a smile, "Sister-in-law, I can handle it myself. There are many guests coming now, so I'll trouble you to stay by my mother's side and greet them."
It seemed a bit tiring for Madam Gu to take care of everyone alone. Zhou Furong nodded and told her to go and have a rest.
As dusk deepened, Gu Yanchen looked towards the inner courtyard for the third time.
After leaving the gifts, County Magistrate Cao Zheng did not leave with the officials. The Gu family was holding a buffet to celebrate their housewarming today, and there were guests coming in an endless stream morning and night, so there was no reason for them to chase them away.
In the main room, the village chief Zheng Linsui was drunk and chattering with Cao Zheng about the potato harvest in the village. The bright lanterns stretched their shadows very long.
The villagers outside were a little reserved when they saw the officials, but after three rounds of drinking, they followed the officials and drank together.
After entertaining the guests for a while, Gu Yanchen finally couldn't help himself. He made an excuse to add more tea and walked towards the backyard with the hot food that had been prepared in the kitchen.
He walked quickly through the corridor holding a lantern. The vermilion lacquered railings of the new house still smelled of tung oil. Because he was concerned about his wife who was resting and had not yet eaten, his brocade boots quickly stepped on the bluestone slabs, startling a few roosting birds.
"Qingxuan, are you awake?"
He knocked on the door, but no one answered.
He reached out and pushed open the carved wooden door, but the room was pitch dark. Only the moonlight from outside the window filtered in, illuminating the empty bed.
Gu Yanchen tiptoed closer and lifted the curtain, only to see that the quilt was neatly folded on the bed, without even a wrinkle on the bed.
The food in his hand fell to the ground with a clang, knocking over the lantern and the flame quickly jumped up and licked the gauze cover.
Gu Yanchen felt as if all the blood in his body was frozen. He frantically opened the bed curtains and rushed to the closet, but there was no one there.
The croaking of frogs in the fields outside the window made the house even more dead silent.
"Qingxuan, Qingxuan!" The screaming sound startled all the nightingales in the tree, and the first one to run over was Gu Yanjing.
This usually calm elder brother still had some wine stains on his collar. Seeing that Gu Yanchen was crazy, he immediately reached out and pressed his brother's trembling shoulders.
"Sixth brother, what happened? Why are you calling your sixth brother's wife by her name?"
"Qingxuan...is missing...she clearly..." Gu Yanchen pointed at the bed incoherently, and suddenly rushed out the door.
"She...she must have gone to the toilet!"
In a panic, Gu Yanchen kicked over three pots of flowers and almost overturned the succulent flower stand in the courtyard.
When Mrs. Gu was supported by Zhou Furong and rushed over, she saw Gu Yanchen kneeling in the small garden in the middle of the courtyard, with his ten fingers unconsciously digging deep into the soil.
The handsome Gu Liulang now had bloodshot eyes and his hair was askew, making him look like a wounded beast.
"What's wrong? What happened?"
Old Madam Gu hurriedly walked forward and tried to help the man up.
"mother!"
Gu Yanchen raised his head suddenly, stood up and grabbed the old lady's sleeve with such force that he almost tore his mother's sleeve.
"Mom, Qingxuan is six months pregnant... and she's gone... where could she go..."
His voice stopped abruptly, and he suddenly staggered to his feet and asked Zhou Furong.
"Sister-in-law, didn't you send her back to her room?"
When Zhou Furong heard that Ran Qingxuan was missing, she turned pale with fright. ,
"I, I was going to send my sixth sister-in-law back to her room, but she said that mom couldn't leave without someone by her side, so she asked me... asked me...
I saw her walking towards the room, how could she not be in the room..."
Before he could finish his words, Gu Yanchen had already let go of her and staggered towards the door.
Gu Yanrui stopped him in one step, and the two brothers fell heavily to the ground, splashing a cloud of dust.
"Sixth brother, don't be anxious..."
"Let go, I want to find Qingxuan!"
Gu Yanchen struggled, but his hands were tied behind his back and held down.
"Xiao Liu, calm down first!" Gu Yanrui said in a low voice, panting.
"The village is so small, maybe my sixth brother and sister-in-law are bored at home and want to go out for a walk..."
As they were talking, Qu Feng and a few others who were drinking and chatting with the two families outside heard the noise and rushed to the backyard.
After learning that Ran Qingxuan was missing, Qu Feng's face turned pale.
"What are you waiting for? There are villagers outside. Light a torch and ask them to help you go out and look for someone right away!"
“But…” Madam Gu thought more and lowered her voice.
"As for Qing Xuan, we in the family definitely know what kind of person she is, so we won't say too much."
"But after all, a married woman disappeared in the middle of the night. If so many people went out to look for her, people who didn't know the truth would definitely criticize her..."
Madam Gu's words served as a reminder to everyone. The Gu family was naturally concerned about the missing Ran Qingxuan, and Qu Feng and the others were even more worried about their good friend.
But just as Madam Gu said, women in ancient times valued their reputation, so it was indeed inappropriate to search for her in such a high-profile manner.
"Then our family will go out and look for someone right now..."
"Without a direction, what's the difference between going out and looking for a needle in a haystack?"
When the argument was at a standstill, Chen Wan'er went to the couple's room with an oil lamp. She was always meticulous, and she held the oil lamp to examine the furnishings in the room inch by inch.
Suddenly, her pupils contracted...
In the gap of the carved wooden window, there was a half-finger-sized piece of indigo cloth with a slightly uneven shape, as if it had been hastily cut off and hung there.
"Sixth brother..." she called out tremblingly, and when everyone rushed in, she hurriedly pinched the cloth to show it.
"This material...is not what we are used to at home...and it is not the color of the clothes that my sixth brother's wife is wearing today..."
As the weather has become warmer since spring, Ran Qingxuan has been wearing a light blue double-breasted long skirt embroidered with orchids these past two days. The fabric is not silk, but it is not indigo cotton or linen either.
At the same time, under the crooked willow tree at the entrance of the village, Gu Yanjing and Gu Yanxing, who had chased out without making a sound, found two deep ruts in the mud.
The wheel marks extended towards the official road, and the same indigo cloth appeared beside the ruts.
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