Xiao Lu reported first: Tian Zhiyuan walked around the train station, asked someone for directions, went to the bus station, queued up to buy a ticket to Maoling area, then ate a bowl of hot rice noodles in soup at a state-owned restaurant near the bus station, bought a few multi-grain steamed buns, and then carried his cloth bag and huddled in a corner of the bus station to rest. His boarding time was two o'clock in the afternoon.
Meng Tao looked at the clock on the wall. It was half past twelve in the afternoon.
The Maoling area is marked on the map drawn by Shen Yu. It is very close to the border line and the jade mine is there. This means that Tian Zhiyuan really has nowhere else to go. The only place he wants to go is that jade mine.
Xiao Dong told me about the situation on Meng Wenlan's side: they started to arrange people to guard the station the day before yesterday. Every time a train arrived at the station, the young girls who got off the train were stared at by them. Those with outstanding looks were even questioned and asked to leave their addresses and work units, otherwise it would not be easy for them to leave the platform.
Meng Wenlan showed up yesterday with the portrait in hand, but instead of interrogating people directly, he looked for people who matched the portrait, but he hasn't found one so far.
Several people who worked for Meng Wenlan, some in uniform and some in ordinary clothes, obviously did not know each other. According to a plainclothes officer Xiao Dong found who often walked around the station, he was very confused and could not understand what these people were doing. Those in uniform should be on official business, but two of them in ordinary clothes were obviously local tyrants, suspected of being involved in "darkness" and "Imperial Governor" (harmony), and were related to many cases of missing women at the border. However, they were extremely cunning, and their fox tails were hidden very deeply, so no solid evidence was caught for the time being.
These two groups of people mixed together, could it be that they were going to carry out some special mission? Xiao Dong naturally would not answer casually.
After Shen Yu heard this, his face turned as dark as a cloud about to rain, and his body temperature seemed to drop suddenly to minus ten degrees Celsius. Xiao Dong was close to him and tried not to shiver, but he felt the hairs on his body standing up.
Meng Tao went to the kitchen to serve out the last dish of soup and invited the two comrades to have lunch together. Xiao Dong and Xiao Lu declined, so Meng Tao gave each of them a big red apple that she had saved in her space. Xiao Dong and Xiao Lu happily took it and said goodbye and left.
Meng Tao looked at Shen Yu and said, "It seems that Meng Wenlan doesn't want me to die immediately, but plans to hand me over to the local snakes and sell me abroad. I have heard other people's gossip and know how terrible the outside of Y Province is... I want to ask them in person, what is the grudge between me and them? Why do they want to push me into hell?"
Shen Yu hugged Meng Tao tightly, and after a while, he comforted her in a hoarse voice: "...I will take you there after I finish the call."
With a mother like Jin Yanyan, it is not surprising that Meng Wenxin can drug people, and Meng Wenlan's viciousness cannot be underestimated. So Shen Yu had already anticipated what Meng Wenlan wanted to do at the station. He did not say it clearly because he did not want to scare Meng Tao. However, he did not expect that Meng Tao knew so much about the situation abroad. When his own wife said it herself, he felt a chill, as if his heart was taken out, empty and painful.
Shen Yu asked Meng Tao to eat first while he went into the study to make a phone call.
Meng Tao had no mood to chew slowly, so she finished her meal hastily and went to the kitchen to cook some venison and wild boar meat for the journey. While the meat was cooking, she washed the clothes that the two had taken off and hung them on the balcony to collect when they returned.
Shen Yu came out half an hour after he finished a phone call and hurried to eat. Meng Tao poured him a glass of water. Shen Yu asked her to pack up her things and take them with her. After meeting Meng Wenlan, she would leave the provincial capital directly.
He wanted to drive himself and take a shortcut to reach that place before Tian Zhiyuan.
After Shen Yu finished his meal, Meng Tao also packed up and changed her clothes, then got in the car to meet Meng Wenlan.
The jeep stopped at the gate of a private house. From the outside, the house did not look like an ordinary home. From the courtyard wall to the gatehouse, everything was elegantly decorated with nobility. The gate was open, and one could see that the house was full of exotic flowers and plants, especially camellia and roses, which were particularly beautiful.
Shen Yu said that this was where an official of a high rank lived and he had a close relationship with Meng Shaoan. Meng Wenlan was Meng Shaoan's daughter, and it was understandable that the official received and took care of her when she came to Province Y. However, if he blindly followed Meng Wenlan's wishes in order to please Meng Shaoan, did not stop Meng Wenlan's misbehavior, and even used his power to help Meng Wenlan achieve her evil goals, then it would be absolutely unforgivable.
His official career will end here. If there is any problem in his position again, he will be dead.
Shen Yu led Meng Tao into the courtyard. It might be a prior arrangement that the owner was not at home. The courtyard was empty. In the main hall, a young woman was on the phone. Her voice was arrogant, self-confident and ostentatious: "...If she doesn't come today, she will definitely come tomorrow. I will be in charge personally. All kinds of people are ready. We have woven a net for her to fall into! She will regret showing up in front of Meng Zhehan. She thought that by finding the eldest grandson of the eldest house, she could enter the Meng family and become a noble lady in the capital? Dream on!
Yeah, I get it. Don't worry, I'm not unaccustomed to it. I live well and eat well at Uncle Wang's place. Uncle Wang has been a great help. Without Uncle Wang, I wouldn't be able to find those people in the party all of a sudden... I'll let Dad thank Uncle Wang later!"
Shen Yu and Meng Tao walked in, and the phone call just ended. The young woman sitting on the sofa turned her head and fixed her eyes accurately on Meng Tao's face. She immediately stood up and pointed at Meng Tao in surprise: "You, you, you..."
In a blink of an eye, he saw Shen Yu again, and his face changed with even greater shock.
The climate in Y Province is hot, so Shen Yu and Meng Tao were both wearing summer clothes, simple white shirts and black trousers. With Shen Yu's figure, he looked like a star.
Meng Tao was wearing a pink and purple chiffon dress. Shen Yu didn't know where he bought this dress, but it was definitely not made in China at present. Both the style and the fabric would still be considered high-end clothing decades later.
Meng Tao didn't dare to wear it in the mainland, but it was different in Y Province. There were many ethnic minorities, and people there openly wore ethnic-style skirts on the streets, tube skirts of various colors, pleated skirts, and clothes embroidered with flowers. So Meng Tao thought she could also wear a dress. She also wore a diamond-studded women's watch on her wrist, an imported product, as one of the betrothal gifts.
When she first came out in this dress, even Shen Yu was stunned. He always knew that his wife was beautiful, but when she put on this dress, he felt that she would fly. He hurriedly grabbed her, fearing that she would abandon him and really fly away.
At this time, Meng Tao was standing in front of Meng Wenlan. Even though Meng Wenlan was mentally prepared, because the photo of Meng Zhehan's grandmother was very beautiful, but when she saw such a beautiful and fairy-like Meng Tao in person, Meng Wenlan was still stunned. She kept saying "you you" for a long time, but nothing came of it.
(End of this chapter)