Chapter 188 Looking for Someone
"Mother!" Fang Zhong stood up and ran towards the woman.
"Zhong'er!" The woman hugged her son, and the mother and son hugged each other and cried. Only then did her heart settle down.
Just now, she and her son were walking on the road when she suddenly felt darkness in front of her eyes and she knew nothing.
After sleeping for a while, she opened her eyes and found herself lying in an unfamiliar room, and her son was not around. She was so scared that she rolled off the bed, and rushed out of the room without caring about her disheveled hair, calling out her son's name.
After a while, the woman responded: "Why are we here?"
Deng Zhong took his mother's hand and walked to Song Yuzhu: "Mom, it was my benefactor brother who saved you!"
When the woman saw Song Yuzhu, she was so excited that tears filled her eyes and she knelt down and kowtowed again.
Song Yuzhu quickly pulled her back and said, "Madam, please get up quickly."
The woman kowtowed three times before she stood up: "If we hadn't met our benefactor twice, we would have been in great danger."
"When you are out and about, you should definitely help others if you can."
Zhao Xiao asked the waiter to order another bowl of noodles for Mrs. Deng. The woman swallowed her saliva and pushed the bowl in front of her son: "Zhong'er, you eat first."
"Mom, I just ate. I ate two bowls!"
Mrs. Deng looked at Song Yuzhu and Zhao Xiao with gratitude, picked up her chopsticks and started eating.
Song Yuzhu was afraid that she would be embarrassed, so she stood up and said, "We just bought a carriage and haven't gone to get the horses yet. You can rest here first, we will be back soon."
"Okay." Mrs. Deng quickly stood up and saw the two off.
Zhao Xiao paid the bill, and the two of them walked out of the inn and went along the same path they had just come from to look for the horse dealer.
When they arrived at the market, the horse dealer had been waiting for a long time and quickly led the horse over.
After Zhao Xiao checked the horse and confirmed that it was correct, he led the horse to the carriage. The carriage he had ordered from the carriage shop was a bit small, and it was a bit cramped to pull Deng Zhong and his mother, so he simply spent a little more money and changed it to a spacious one.
The owner of the car dealership also gave us seat cushions, so the car can easily seat five or six people.
After making all the arrangements, the two drove the carriage back to the inn. Mrs. Deng had already finished her noodles and was standing awkwardly at the door with her son, waiting.
Just now she was worried whether her benefactor could come back. After all, they were penniless now and had no way to repay him, and there was no reason for him to bring two burdens with him.
Unexpectedly, they really came back. Mrs. Deng's eyes were hot and she held her son's hand tightly.
The carriage stopped and Song Yuzhu opened the curtain and invited the two to get in.
Sitting in the spacious carriage, Mrs. Deng was filled with mixed feelings. Who would have thought that she had been on the run with her son the day before? Zhao Xiao was driving the carriage in front, and Song Yuzhu started chatting with the mother and son.
"Where is your hometown, Madam?"
The woman said quickly, "We are from Anyang County, Zhongzhou."
"Anyang County is not close to Hangzhou. Do you plan to continue looking for your husband or go back to your hometown directly?"
Mrs. Deng originally planned to take her son home directly, but now she was so angry that she didn't want to go back. She vowed to find Deng Fangyuan and ask him why he left a false address, causing the mother and son to be almost abducted by human traffickers!
However, it might be difficult to find someone in such a big state. These two people were kind-hearted and had already helped them and their son twice. It would be a bit too much to ask for help again.
Song Yuzhu seemed to see her concerns: "We came out this time just to relax, and there is nothing else to do, Madam, don't worry too much."
Upon hearing this, Madam Deng made up her mind and said, "I beg you to help me find my husband."
"Okay, tell me about your husband first. What kind of business is he doing in Hangzhou? Has he left you any letters before?"
Madam Deng nodded repeatedly: "My family used to be in the cloth business, but later on, as the number of cloth factories in Zhongzhou increased and prices dropped, we stopped doing it. A few years ago, my husband came to Hangzhou with a few fellow villagers and started the tea business."
"My husband took a lot of money from home as capital. He said the tea business was not easy to do, but if you did it well, you would make a lot of money. After that, he would send money home every year. Although it was not much, it was enough to cover the family expenses."
"During that time, he wrote several letters. It was because of the address on the letters that I dared to bring Zhong'er to look for him. Unfortunately, the letter was stolen along with the money in the package."
Deng Zhong said, "Mom, I have memorized the contents of the letter." Then he recited it to Song Yuzhu.
The letter contained little information, but it described Deng Fangyuan's life in Hangzhou and how he missed his wife and son because he was too busy with business to go home. At the end of the letter, he wrote his current address, which was in the second courtyard of Dongliu Hutong in Hangzhou.
After listening to this, Song Yuzhu rubbed her fingers habitually. Usually, Li Dehai would immediately hand her a pen at this time, but now he was out and about and had no banknotes on him, so he could only write down Deng Zhong's words.
"When you went to Dongliu Hutong, you knocked on the door and a woman came out?"
Mrs. Deng nodded: "Yes, she said she didn't know my husband and had never heard of this name."
"Do you remember what she looked like?"
Mrs. Deng recalled: "The girl was not very old, and she was pretty. She was wearing a pastel-colored skirt. I don't remember much else."
Song Yuzhu had a bad feeling in her heart: "Is it possible that your husband has married another woman in Hangzhou?"
Madam Deng was stunned and shook her head heavily: "No, Fang Yuan is not that kind of person."
Seeing the doubtful look in Song Yuzhu's eyes, Madam Deng said, "I know you don't believe me, but my husband is really not someone who is obsessed with women. We have been married for more than eight years. Some people have offered him women before, but Fang Yuan always refused. If he wants to take a concubine, he can do it then, and I won't stop him. Why does he have to keep a woman secretly outside?"
This is strange. Since Deng Fangyuan is not a lustful person, why did he leave a false address and not return home for three years?
As they were talking, the carriage had already arrived outside the city of Hangzhou. Song Yuzhu lifted the curtain and looked outside. Both mother and son had expressions of fear on their faces.
"Don't be afraid, ma'am. My brother knows some martial arts skills. If we run into that gang of bad guys again, we will definitely arrest them and take them to the government."
Madam Deng nodded uneasily, "Come to think of it, has the benefactor's illness recovered?"
That day on the train, Song Yuzhu rescued Deng Zhong, but suddenly fainted after the rescue. Mrs. Deng wanted to visit her several times, but was stopped by the officials on the train. They did not meet again until they got off the train.
Seeing that he looked pale and weak, Mrs. Deng gave him the dates she had brought with her.
"It's already healed."
"Whoa~" Zhao Xiao stopped the carriage.
"What's wrong?" Song Yuzhu leaned out and asked.
Zhao Xiao said, "You need to check your travel permit or household registration to enter the city. Madam Deng and the others probably don't have it, right?"
When Madam Deng heard this, she said in panic, "Oh no! How could I have forgotten such an important thing? The pass and the silver were packed together. They were all stolen by the thief!"
You don't need a pass to leave the provincial capital, but you need a pass or household registration to enter the city. Without a pass, you cannot enter the city or buy a train ticket.
Before, Mrs. Deng was only thinking about money and actually forgot such an important thing. Even if she saved enough money, she couldn’t buy a ticket to go home!
She was so anxious that she burst into tears.
Song Yuzhu said: "Madam, don't worry. The pass can be reissued in another place. I will help you find a solution."
As expected, the carriage was stopped when entering the city, and the four people on the carriage did not have their household registration and travel permits.
Zhao Xiao originally planned to spend some money to get them into the city, but he didn't expect the gatekeeper to be so responsible. He refused to charge them a penny and refused to let them enter the city.
Zhao Xiao had no choice but to report his identity and ask him to go find Ding Daqian, the garrison commander of Hangzhou.
The clerk ran to report half-believingly, and within a quarter of an hour, Ding Daqian came riding over on his horse.
Last winter he went to Beiguan to deliver food and fodder, so he saw Zhao Xiao at first sight and was so scared that he almost slipped off his horse.
"Your humble servant, your humble servant, pays respect to the great general!"
Zhao Xiao waved his hand to signal him to get up quickly.
Ding Daqian stood up tremblingly and walked to Zhao Xiao: "General, why are you here?"
"It's a long story, so I won't tell you. My carriage has been stopped outside the city. Tell someone to let it in quickly."
"Hey, hey!" Ding Daqian waved his hand, and someone immediately ran over to drive the carriage into the city.
"General, do you have important business to attend to in Hangzhou? Just give me your instructions and I will do it for you!"
Zhao Xiao said: "Don't make it public, I don't want anyone to know that I'm here."
Ding Daqian's eyes rolled, thinking that the general had come to visit privately, could it be that something had happened to the prefect? He immediately nodded in understanding: "I understand!"
Just as Ding Daqian turned around and was about to leave, Zhao Xiao stopped him, "Wait a minute, do you have any money on you?" The banknotes he had brought out were almost used up.
Ding Daqian immediately took out a seal from his pocket and presented it with both hands: "This is the seal of my office in Daqi Commercial Bank. General, you can use it to withdraw money from my office."
"Thank you. I'll return it to you when I get back." Zhao Xiao returned to the carriage and drove it on.
Mrs. Deng was still feeling uneasy, but she was relieved when she saw the carriage finally entered the city. She thought that it must be the two benefactors who spent money to help her arrange it, and she felt even more grateful.
The city of Hangzhou is not big but not small either. There are four main streets in the main urban area, one each in the east, west, south and north. There are also many small roads around it, dividing the entire city into small pieces.
Zhao Xiao first took them to Dongliu Hutong where they had been before.
Counting from the front to the back, the second door should be the place written in Deng Fangyuan's letter.
He got out of the car and knocked on the door. After knocking for a while, he heard footsteps from inside.
Soon the door opened and a young woman poked her head in and asked, "Who are you looking for?"
"Excuse me, is Deng Fangyuan here?"
The girl said, "He's not here. You've got the wrong guy." Then she was about to close the door.
Zhao Xiao blocked the door with his foot and said, "He's really not here? His wife and son are about to be sold!"
The girl showed a puzzled expression on her face: "Hey, what's wrong with you? I told you that this place is not named Deng. If you keep making trouble, I will report you to the police!"
Seeing that she didn't seem to be lying, Zhao Xiao retracted his foot and said, "I'm sorry."
Back in the car, Song Yuzhu asked quickly: "How is it?"
"It's not here. Maybe Mr. Deng wrote the wrong address."
Madam Deng muttered, "How could that be? The letter clearly says Dongliu Hutong..."
Song Yuzhu said, "How about asking every household?"
Mrs. Deng had a disappointed look on her face: "Zhong'er and I have asked around before, and there is no family with the surname Deng in this alley."
"In this case, we have to think of other ways."
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
