Chapter 76 Lawlessness
When Xiaomei saw Song Quan running out of the yard, she finally found her bearings and burst into tears.
Song Quan held her shoulders and said anxiously: "Don't cry first, where did you lose the child?"
Xiaomei sobbed and said, "I went to the cloth shop to buy cloth, leaving my child beside me, and then in the blink of an eye, he disappeared!"
"Have you asked all the shops nearby?"
"We asked, but no one saw her... She's such a young child, she can't even speak clearly. If she's been kidnapped, where would we go to find her?"
Song Quan said, "Wait for me here!" and then ran towards the mansion.
It happened that Song Yuzhu was also preparing to return to the palace. When she saw Song Quan running over in a hurry, she wondered what was going on.
Song Quan knelt on the ground with a plop: "Your Majesty, please save my daughter!"
Song Yuzhu quickly pulled him up: "Didn't Xiaomei take her out just now?"
Song Quan's eyes turned red with anxiety: "Xiaomei went to the cloth shop to buy cloth and lost the child!"
Song Yuzhu's expression changed, and he immediately ordered the eunuch beside him: "Go back to the palace and inform the people from the Military Department to close the city gates in advance, and then go to Xu Bing's mansion to find General Zhao and Commander Liu!"
"Yes." The eunuch turned and walked out.
“Run!”
"Oh!" The eunuch was so scared that he quickly trotted out the door.
Jiang Rong quickly asked, "Where's Xiaomei?"
Song Quan: "Still at the door."
"Let her in quickly. It's so cold, don't let her catch a cold."
Song Quan wiped his tears and ran out to call Xiaomei in.
"It was fine when I left, how come it was lost in the blink of an eye?"
Xiaomei cried and shook her head, holding a few pieces of cloth in her hands that she was going to make shoes for her daughter.
Jiang Rong felt sad when she saw her crying. A child is the apple of his mother's eye. If Tongtong was lost, she might even want to die!
She stood up suddenly: "Madam... I'd better go look for her myself... I feel uneasy sitting here." She couldn't help but have wild thoughts. She was afraid that the child had been abducted and sold by human traffickers, that she had caught a cold, and even more afraid that she had met with an accident.
If I hadn't gone to buy the cloth, I should have held her in my arms when I bought the cloth. However, it's useless to regret it now as I knew it earlier.
Song Yuzhu said, "Don't worry, I will send someone to help you find it right away." He did not plan to mobilize the military and the army. Too large a presence would easily scare the human traffickers, who might just kill the child and bury him, and there would be no place to look for the child even if they wanted to.
Xiaomei nodded repeatedly in gratitude, her tears still falling.
Jiang Rong took a handkerchief and handed it to her to wipe her face, and she also shed tears. After living together for more than half a year, she had already developed feelings for the child. Who could have thought that such a thing would happen.
It was getting darker outside, and Xiaomei's tears gradually stopped. She stood nervously at the door, looking out again and again.
After the afternoon, Zhao Xiao and Liu Yanzi hurried over.
"□□ came to us and told us to come to the Song Mansion immediately. What happened?"
Song Yuzhu said, "Ping girl is missing."
Zhao Xiao immediately asked, "Where did you lose it? Did you send someone to look for it?"
"I only sent the servants in the mansion to look for it."
"Should I send someone from the barracks to look for it?"
Song Yuzhu shook her head: "Liu Yanzi."
"I am here."
"Use the power of Louwailou to search the city and make sure you bring the child back alive!"
"Yes, sir!"
Liu Yanzi said: "Please give me a piece of clothing or a toy for the child."
During the day, Song Ping'er often played with Tongtong in the mansion. There were many of her clothes in the mansion. Jiang Rong quickly asked the maid to find one and hand it to him.
Zhao Xiao said: "I will go and look for her too. Don't worry, we will definitely find her."
After saying this, the two of them left in a hurry.
At 3:30 pm, Song Quan came back again. Xiaomei immediately went to meet him, grabbed his arm and asked, "Did you find Ping'er?"
Song Quan shook his head.
Xiaomei couldn't bear the blow. Her eyes went dark and she fell backwards.
Song Quan quickly supported her, and the maids hurriedly carried her to the low couch next to them.
Song Yuzhu took her pulse and gave her acupuncture. After a while, Xiaomei's breathing gradually calmed down.
"She is worried too much. I helped her calm her nerves. Let her rest for a while."
Song Quan wiped his nose and nodded.
*
After leaving the Song Mansion, Liu Yanzi immediately set off fireworks in the city and called her men over. Soon, thirty or forty people rushed over from all directions.
These people have all kinds of jobs, and many of them do low-class jobs. Although they are not presentable on weekdays, they have contact with many people and know people in the same industry, so it is most convenient to use them to find people.
Liu Yanzi said, "Immediately ask around in the city which shop has a new item, a two-year-old girl. Meet at Tianshun Casino in two hours."
"Yes!" The group of people received the order and dispersed.
Zhao Xiao asked: "Where should we go to find it?"
Liu Yanzi thought for a moment and said, "General, please follow me to a place."
The two walked through several alleys and entered a small lane. This was the most dilapidated street in Shangjing. It was hard to imagine that there was such a dirty and smelly place in Shangjing.
This was Zhao Xiao’s first time here, but he had an inexplicable sense of familiarity. It might have something to do with his childhood life. He was a frequent visitor to the slums.
When I reached the end of the alley, a light came into view.
"We're here. General, don't say anything for a while. I'll negotiate with them."
Zhao Xiao nodded.
Liu Yanzi didn't go through the main gate, but climbed over the wall into the yard, and Zhao Xiao followed her in.
There were two people sitting in the room eating.
"Damn it, I lost another thirty taels of silver today. What bad luck!" The person who spoke was a fat man, weighing almost three hundred pounds, with a shaved head and a hideous scar on his face.
A slender woman nearby sneered, "Don't gamble with your pig-head. I've never seen you win in all these years."
"Bullshit! It's not uncommon for me to win thirty thousand taels of silver in one night!"
"Where's the money? You must have lost it all. I call you stupid and you refuse to admit it."
The fat man was so angry with her that he picked up a big knife and was about to chop her.
The woman was extremely agile. She jumped onto the windowsill in the blink of an eye, picked up the stick next to her and hit the fat man on the head. The two of them actually started fighting in the house!
Zhao Xiao was stunned with surprise. Just as he was about to step forward to ask, Liu Yanzi quickly stopped him and shook her head.
The two men were very skilled in martial arts. They fought over a hundred moves in the room before stopping, spilling the food on the table to the ground.
Liu Yanzi went forward and knocked on the door: "Gentlemen, there is a job coming, do you want to take it?"
"Oh, Mr. Liu is here, what a rare guest!" They both turned their heads at the same time and smiled brightly.
Liu Yanzi took out a bag of silver from her bosom and threw it over: "Help me find someone."
The fat man was about to reach out to take the silver, but was stopped by the woman, who opened it and looked at it, then said with a smile: "Who is Mr. Liu looking for?"
The fat man huffed angrily: "Bitch!"
"Find a girl, two years old."
Bai Xiu came out swinging her hips and asked, "Are there any things for the kids?"
Liu Yanzi handed Ping'er the little clothes.
"To die or to live?"
Zhao Xiao said: "Of course you have to live!"
Bai Xiu looked at Zhao Xiao behind Liu Yanzi, with a hint of surprise in his eyes.
"Hey, why did Master Liu bring outsiders here?"
Liu Yanzi said with a stiff upper lip: "This is my friend, not an outsider."
"What a beauty."
Zhao Xiao had a weird look on his face. It was the first time someone called him a beauty at his age. He got goosebumps from embarrassment.
Bai Xiu walked over with her waist twisted, lowered her head and sniffed around Zhao Xiao, and instantly sensed a hint of murderous aura.
She immediately took a step back and said, "Okay, I'll take the job. I'll let you know tomorrow morning."
"Thank you!" Liu Yanzi pulled Zhao Xiao out of the door and then breathed a sigh of relief.
Zhao Xiao: "Who are these two? Their kung fu is so high."
Liu Yanzi explained as she walked: "Have you heard of Black Knife and Bai Xiu?" Black Knife refers to the knife in the bald man's hand, and Bai Xiu is naturally the woman.
Zhao Xiao was surprised and said, "I have heard of it. I thought it was just a legend, but I didn't expect these two people really existed."
Liu Yanzi: "These two are very skilled in martial arts. Even if we join forces, we may not be their opponents."
"That woman named Bai Xiu seems to have a special skill. She can find things by smell. I asked them to help me find a friend before. He also asked for an object and found it by smelling it."
Zhao Xiao nodded.
Seeing that the time was almost up, the two walked towards the gambling house to meet up with the others.
*
In the Song Mansion, everyone was still anxiously waiting for news, and no one would feel at ease until the child was found.
When it was almost midnight, hurried footsteps were suddenly heard outside the door, and everyone hurriedly got up to see Zhao Xiao coming back.
Song Bai asked quickly: "How is it, have you found the child?"
Jiang Rong held him back and asked the maid to bring Zhao Xiao a cup of hot tea, telling him not to catch a cold as it was so cold outside.
"Thank you, Madam." Zhao Xiao knew they were anxious, so he didn't keep them in suspense and said directly: "Liu Yanzi sent people to search all the shops in the city, but they couldn't find her."
Song Quan's heart skipped a beat, his legs went weak and he almost fell down.
"But we have found another person to help, so we won't have any results until tomorrow morning at the latest."
Song Yuzhu nodded. If they couldn't find the child, they would have to mobilize the army. They would have to dig three feet into the ground to find the child!
Jiang Rong said: "It's so late, you two should go and get some rest."
"I'm not tired, Mom, you and Dad should go and have a rest."
Song Quan also came over to persuade: "I can just stay here and wait for news..." Song Quan was grateful from the bottom of his heart that the whole family was accompanying him, but he was also aware of his status. Even the emperor was accompanying him to wait for news, which was really a bit beyond his control.
Song Yuzhu patted his shoulder and said, "Don't worry. If there is no news tomorrow, I will send someone to look for him."
"Oh!" Song Quan nodded gratefully.
*
After three hours of agony, the sky outside finally turned pale, and Liu Yanzi arrived as promised: "We have found the child!"
Song Yuzhu was no longer sleepy and asked quickly, "Is there anything wrong?"
"It's okay. I'm fine."
Xiaomei and Song Quan excitedly rushed to him and asked, "Where is the child?"
"She was frightened and is now in the carriage outside the door. Go and pick her up."
The two of them ran out, and the others followed them.
Song Yuzhu asked as they walked: "Where did you find the child?"
"Your Majesty, the child was found in a den of human traffickers. He was indeed abducted. Fortunately, you closed the city gate in time yesterday, otherwise the child would have been sent out of the city yesterday."
Zhao Xiao asked: "Where are the traffickers?"
"Bai Xiu had a heavy hand and strangled him to death."
At the door, Xiaomei shouted hoarsely, "Ping'er!"
"Mom..." In the carriage, Ping'er heard Xiaomei's voice and burst into tears, stretching out her two little hands for a hug.
After losing and then finding it again, the mother and daughter cried together.
Fortunately, Ping'er was only slightly shocked and had no injuries. She looked the same as when she got lost. But her face was wet from crying and her eyes were swollen like two small walnuts.
Song Yuzhu walked to the child and touched her little face.
Ping'er was so scared that she shrank into her mother's arms.
Xiaomei and Song Quan knelt down and kowtowed to express their gratitude, and Zhao Xiao quickly pulled them up.
Let the couple take the child back home and take good care of him.
Song Yuzhu had to go back to the palace to attend the morning court. She hadn't slept all night, but now she wasn't sleepy at all.
In Kyoto City, at the feet of the emperor, those human traffickers are so bold as to kidnap children. It is simply lawless!
(End of this chapter)
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