December 1st, evening.
Wanzhan Province, a villa somewhere on the outskirts of Tianshui City.
"Eat quickly, eat quickly! If you don't eat, you'll starve! If you starve to death, you can chop it into meat paste and make meat buns!"
Ermao and a group of children who were tied up with ropes and had their mouths stuffed with rags were jolted on the carriage for an unknown amount of time before they were finally unloaded at nightfall and locked up in a dark house.
They were now untied, the rags removed. The woman who had tricked them away with a string of candied haws, her face trembling with flesh, threw each of them a steamed bun, and then shouted threats.
The younger children burst into tears as soon as their mouths were free. The older children were so frightened that they forgot to cry. Having been hungry all day, they could only instinctively pick up the steamed buns and start munching on them.
After resting for half an hour, Ermao and the other children were tied up again, gagged, and stuffed back into the carriage to continue their unknown journey.
"Master, at this rate of traveling day and night, we should be there tomorrow night."
Under the carriage, there was a strong woman in brown shorts, dressed like a housemaid, talking to a middle-aged woman in a Hunan green silk dress, who looked elegant and refined.
"Yes. Keep an eye on the goods for me, and make sure nothing goes wrong."
"Yes, Patriarch."
Si Tianyu looked at the dozen or so horse-drawn carriages loaded with "goods" of the Si family caravan and nodded with satisfaction.
Si Lingyun had previously planned to use the floating brocade to open up trade routes with the Zhaoyang royal family, but he was ripped off by unscrupulous merchants. Instead of expanding the Si Family Cloth Shop's business, the shop ultimately failed to make a single cent and even ended up costing the Si family several million taels of silver.
After this incident, Si Tianyu restricted Si Lingyun's operations in the Si family's business. After the emperor ordered the selection of a concubine for the princess, Si Tianyu used his connections to send Si Lingyun to the Imperial College, and finally got him into the East Palace's backyard as he wished.
Although Si Lingyun's plan to get the royal cloth supply of Zhaoyang Kingdom failed, Si Tianyu successfully found another way to cooperate with the imperial teacher of Zhaoyang Kingdom through his connections. That is, to take advantage of the Si family's caravans spread all over Laifeng Kingdom to transport "alchemy materials" for him.
The handover point for the cooperation between the Si family and the Zhaoyang Kingdom's national teacher was in the suburbs of Laifeng Kingdom, that is, the Xiangwang Taoist Temple on Qifeng Mountain in the north of the city.
"Set off!"
"Yes, Patriarch."
Following Si Tianyu's order, more than a dozen carriages of the Si family caravan left the villa and rumbled forward towards the capital.
At the same time, in Huaqiao Village, at the village head's home in the east.
"What should we do? Aunt Sufen, Uncle Qingyou, Ermao, could he have been captured by bad guys?"
The villagers of Huaqiao Village searched for a whole day today, and even asked around in the surrounding villages, but there was still no news about Ermao.
Cheng Minggui's eyes had long since turned red from crying, and his tears had dried up. He looked helplessly at Hua Sufen and Yu Qingyou's wife and husband, who had become all his hope.
"Ermao's father..."
Hua Wenjie, standing by, hesitated for a moment before speaking. "Although nothing has happened in Baishui Town yet, I heard from Aunt Yao from Yaojia Village next door that there have been reports of children going missing in several villages in Yunshui Town recently. I wonder... could it be the same group of people who did this?"
"Wenjie is right. This morning I went to the county government office, and the (new) county magistrate also asked me to inform the village heads in the surrounding area, saying that there have been bad guys who kidnap children recently, and asked us to notify the villagers to take good care of young children." Village head Hua Sufen sighed slightly.
Although she had rushed back to Huaqiao Village from the county, she had been a step behind schedule. Unexpectedly, a child had already gone missing in the village. And judging by the current situation, it was likely that, like in other places, they had been abducted by bad people.
"ah?!"
"Then what about my Ermao?"
"Will he be sold as a slave to be commanded by others, or will he be sold to a brothel and raised there to serve clients when he grows up?"
Thinking of those terrible possibilities, Cheng Minggui collapsed to the ground and howled loudly again. Although Cheng Minggui could no longer cry, his shrill cry still made people feel sympathetic.
"Mingui, don't be so desperate. Maybe Ermao just wanted to play around and ran away somewhere. Maybe someone who picked up a child will help you send Ermao back." Yu Qing couldn't bear it and tried to comfort him.
"Ermao's father, my father is right. After all, now is not the time to be sad. The most important thing is to find a way to get Ermao back first." Hua Sufen and Yu Qingyou's daughter Hua Xiuhong also advised.
"Sister Xiuhong, there are so many people in this sea of people. Even the government can't find those bad guys who kidnapped the children. How can I...how can I, a country widower, find them?" Cheng Minggui choked.
“Got it!”
"Ermao's father, our Huaqiao Village is not an ordinary village, but the village where a princess came from. The government is not capable enough, but Her Royal Highness the Princess must have enough ability, right? If we can ask for her help and order people to look for him throughout the Laifeng Kingdom, then the hope of finding Ermao will be greatly increased, right?" Hua Xiuhong, who suddenly had a flash of inspiration, couldn't help but remind him.
"Hua Qingcheng? No, Her Royal Highness the Crown Princess..."
Cheng Minggui's eyes widened slightly when he heard this, remembering that Hua Qingcheng had not only saved Ermao many times before, but also given him a job as a helper in the Hua family's fields, allowing him to have a stable income to raise his young son.
Hua Qingcheng used to be compassionate. Even though she was now a princess, if he just went and begged her, maybe he could really find Ermao. Cheng Minggui, who had already given up hope, rekindled his hope because of Hua Xiuhong's words.
"Xiuhong, don't say such nonsense! Her Royal Highness the Crown Princess is the crown prince of a country. She must be very busy every day. How could she have the time to care about a missing child?" Hearing her daughter's whimsical words, Hua Sufen couldn't help but scold her.
Although Hua Qingcheng did grow up in Huaqiao Village, her status is no longer the same as before. What separates her from these country folk is not only the long distance in space, but also the difference in status in that time and place.
If Cheng Minggui really believed Xiuhong's words and went to the capital to look for Her Royal Highness, and if he offended the noble and got into trouble, it would be difficult to deal with...
For various reasons, Hua Sufen opposed her daughter's suggestion to Cheng Minggui.
However, Cheng Minggui, who took Hua Xiuhong's words to heart, did not think so. After bidding farewell to Hua Sufen and Yu Qingyou's wife and husband, he returned to his home, packed his bags overnight, and set off for Beijing as soon as the next morning.
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