Zhang Zhongjian said, "If she was Cai Yuanchang's woman, then she wouldn't be dead."
Sai Yuhuan disagreed: "Not necessarily. Yin Jiujiu said that the two people he brought back were both martial arts masters. And I've tested that little girl's skills. It's not surprising. She is definitely no match for that man."
Zhang Zhongjian couldn't recall the name of the little girl Sai Yuhuan mentioned. "What was her name? Old Zhu told me her name, but I can't remember it right now."
Sai Yuhuan said, "It seems her surname is Ni, and her name is Ni Jie. She's from Liyang. That's what the little girl said. I don't know if it's true or not."
The name Ni Jie sounded familiar to Zhang Zhongjian. He vaguely remembered that his aunt had a granddaughter with this name. He also remembered that year when his aunt brought her granddaughter to visit his home, his brother's little daughter was naughty and beat up his aunt's granddaughter, leaving her with bruises. In view of his niece's toughness, his aunt never brought her granddaughter to visit again.
Maybe it's the same name, just like the little girl he met by the stream today.
Seeing that he was a little stunned, Sai Yuhuan said, "Why are you being so stupid?"
"No." Zhang Zhongjian shook his head.
When they reached the cell, there was no sign of Hua Fushu and the other man. Only Brother Niu, who had fainted, remained. Zhang Zhongjian squatted down and used the lantern to investigate. He saw some white powder scattered on the ground and on Brother Niu's clothes. He sniffed Brother Niu's nose and found his breathing was even. Then he said, "Old Niu has been drugged."
Sai Yuhuan said with certainty: "It must be the drug that the little girl brought."
She ordered people to lock up Ye Zelin, and of course took away his weapons, hidden weapons, silver and banknotes, etc. He only did not search the little girl.
Zhang Zhongjian speculated: "Maybe they are in the same group." If the little girl called 'Ni Jie' was Cai Yuanchang's person, there is no way they would disappear together.
Sai Yuhuan muttered, "These court officials bring women with them when they go out to investigate cases."
Zhang Zhongjian glanced sideways and asked, "Didn't the two people the third brother brought back today also include a woman?"
Sai Yuhuan said, "I heard that the girl the third brother brought back was Yu Xuanji's niece."
Zhang Zhongjian said, "They shouldn't have gone far." At least they didn't leave the stronghold.
Sai Yuhuan understood immediately, took Zhang Zhongjian's lantern and strode down the mountain, "Zhongjian, follow me."
Zhang Zhongjian quickly followed.
The two of them went down the mountain. Sai Yuhuan found a gong and a wooden hammer in the Dayi Hall. She struck the gong with the wooden hammer in front of the hall. The sound of "dong dong clang" echoed throughout the whole village. The sleeping people woke up one after another, not knowing who had disturbed their sweet dreams, and reluctantly put on their clothes.
Soon, a man with his head drooped came over, trying hard to keep his eyes open. "Boss, Second Boss, what happened?"
He was yawning, his eyelids still fighting, when he heard the boss's thunderous voice: "The man ran away! The man that Third Brother captured ran away!"
"What?" He immediately opened his eyes wide and became alert. "He ran away! Boss, why did he run away?"
Sai Yuhuan struck the gong again and said, "I don't think they've escaped from the stronghold yet. Let's go find them quickly."
After receiving the order, he turned around and saw that the place was full of people.
Sai Yuhuan pointed a mallet at the group of twenty or thirty people in front of him and struck a gong. "What are you doing? Find them quickly. Don't let them escape from the stronghold."
"Dong-dong-clang, dong-dong-clang."
Sai Yuhuan struck the gong twice in quick succession, and the sleepy people woke up, scattered in groups to find their friends, some armed with weapons. Sai Yuhuan struck the gong again, and Zhang Zhongjian, who was standing beside her, released his hand from his ears and said to her, "Madam, please stop hitting the gong. You're going to go deaf if you keep hitting it."
Sai Yuhuan stopped beating the gong and smiled awkwardly.
The bandits searched the entire village and the surrounding area, but they couldn't find Ye Zelin and the others.
Sai Yuhuan didn't believe that anyone could fly out of the mountain stronghold, so he must be hiding somewhere. She asked people to search carefully again and not miss any place.
Zhu Fa took a few people to the gate of the mountain stronghold to look for someone.
At this time, two people were squatting under a square high-legged table in a room in the mountain village. They were Hua Fushu and Ye Zelin.
They were looking for Yu Chi Su, but Sai Yuhuan found out quickly and started looking for her by beating drums and gongs. All the sleeping bandits woke up, and Ye Zelin pulled Hua Fushu into this room to hide.
The rustling footsteps faded away. Hua Fushu lifted the floor-length tablecloth and stuck her head out. The next moment, Ye Zelin pulled her back and said in a low voice, "Don't go out. Hide for now."
Hua Fushu whispered back, "There's no one outside."
Ye Zelin said: "Even if there is no one around, we have to hide. Maybe he is still outside."
Hua Fushu nodded, being very well-behaved and obedient.
Two or three cups of tea passed, and the room was silent. Hua Fushu knew that the bandits outside must still be looking for them. He had been squatting for a long time and his feet were numb.
She sat down on the ground, stretched her legs, then bent her legs and leaned back.
Suddenly there was a sound. Hua Fushu was wondering what was happening, but she didn't know that there was a secret door behind her. She was caught off guard and fell into it headfirst.
She panicked and hurriedly grabbed Ye Zelin's clothes, but Ye Zelin was also caught off guard and fell into the secret door with her.
There was a sharp pain in her back, probably because she bumped into something, and her arm seemed to be cut by something. Before she could react, she rolled over again and fell heavily to the ground, but there was no pain throughout her body. However, there was a soft cushion of human flesh under her.
The human cushion was Ye Zelin. He endured the pain and said, "Fushu, get down."
"Oh oh." Hua Fushu just reacted, got off Ye Zelin, and helped him up in the dark.
Ye Zelin looked at the darkness before him and asked, "Do you have a tinderbox?"
Hua Fushu felt around and pulled out a small object, "Yes."
As she spoke, she blew on the fire stick to light it.
A small flame illuminated the scene in front of him. Ye Zelin looked around. It was a small secret room, a bit similar to the underground secret room in Luoyang Xu'ao Villa. What they hit when they fell was a large box.
There were more than ten large square boxes, six or seven in a layer, stacked in two layers.
Hua Fushu looked at the boxes curiously and found that the locks of two or three of them were broken. "So many boxes, what are they filled with?"
"Don't move."
Before Ye Zelin could stop him, Hua Fushu had already opened a large box, and the contents of the box were shocking.
These are actually silver ingots, one by one.
Hua Fushu picked up a fifty-liang silver ingot and looked at it. "Ye Zelin, look, there's a symbol here. It's very strange."
Ye Zelin glanced at the symbols on the silver ingot and was shocked. After a closer look, he was very sure, "This is official silver, produced by the imperial silver-making department."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
