Chapter 158 The Fourth Sister Disappeared
After seeing Qiu Fu off, Qiu Heng climbed back inside the wall, checked that no traces were left, and returned to Lengxiang Residence.
Fangzhou was waiting anxiously when she saw Qiuheng enter and hurriedly greeted her: "Miss, has Fourth Miss been sent out?"
"Okay, let's go to sleep."
There's going to be some more excitement to come.
Lengxiangju fell completely silent.
Before dawn, an old woman who had been sleeping face down woke up, wiped the drool from the corner of her mouth, and looked around groggily.
Why isn't the light on? The candles burned out and weren't replaced promptly. How is Granny Yang keeping watch through the night?
Wait, no, it's that she's on guard duty for the second half of the night!
The old woman hurriedly looked towards the bed and rubbed her eyes hard.
What about the Fourth Sister?
She rushed over and touched the bed, still hoping against hope, but her heart sank completely: It's over, Fourth Sister is gone!
The old woman turned to shake the still-sleeping Granny Yang: "Wake up, wake up! Fourth Miss is gone!"
Granny Yang woke up groggily: "What's wrong? Is it dawn already?"
"Before dawn, the Fourth Sister disappeared!"
Granny Yang snapped awake and, like the old woman, rushed to the bedside, touching and feeling around.
"Where's the cabinet? Have you looked inside it?"
The two old women rushed to the cabinet and pulled open the door. The empty cabinet inside made their legs go weak, and they collapsed to the ground.
Then they started blaming each other.
"You were on guard duty all night, why didn't you wake me up?"
"Now you're blaming me for not waking you up? Why didn't you stay up the night? You were sleepy, but I wasn't?"
After the argument, we still have to face the harsh reality.
"Where could Fourth Sister, a young girl, possibly go at night?"
"Either with the old lady, or with the other girls..."
But no matter where they are, they are not authorized to conduct searches based on their status.
The two old women hurriedly went to report to Uncle Yongqing.
"What? Fourth Miss is missing?"
Yongqingbo was woken up, and after hearing what the two old women said, his vision went black.
"Where did it go? Tell me!"
The two old women knelt side by side. Old Woman Zhang spoke first: "Last night, we discussed that one of us would take the first half of the night and the other would take the second half. I went to sleep first, but when I woke up, I found the bed empty, so I quickly woke up Mother Yang."
Yongqingbo looked coldly at Granny Yang.
Granny Yang's face was deathly pale, and her teeth were chattering: "This servant saw with her own eyes that Fourth Miss was asleep!"
"You're going to sleep just because the Fourth Sister is asleep?" Uncle Yongqing gritted his teeth, wishing he could tear Granny Yang apart.
I was planning to go and give Fang Xiang a reply today. How am I supposed to explain this to him?
"I even drank tea to stay awake, and somehow I fell asleep... I deserve to die, I deserve to die!" Granny Yang slapped herself hard.
"Go find the Fourth Sister first!" Uncle Yongqing ordered people to search everywhere, and personally went to Qiansong Hall.
In Qiansong Hall, the old lady had barely slept a wink all night. When the maid reported that the old master had arrived, she turned to the inside and said, "Just tell him I haven't woken up yet."
Just as the maid went out to report, the Earl of Yongqing strode in and asked in a gruff voice, "Where did you hide Fourth Sister?"
The old lady suddenly stood up and stared at the Earl of Yongqing: "Fu'er is missing?"
Yongqing Earl sneered: "Don't play dumb. Where could a little girl like her have run off to? You must have hidden her away."
"Explain yourself, where is Fu'er?"
The Earl of Yongqing stared intently at the old lady: "You really don't know?"
"I'm asking you, where is Fu'er?" the old lady asked sternly.
She was not happy that Qiu Fu was gone.
She definitely didn't come here, so where did she go? Or did she hide somewhere and take her own life?
"Don't bluff!" Lord Yongqing didn't believe the old lady's reaction.
"Then search!"
It wasn't just Qiansong Hall that became lively; other courtyards did too.
People also came to Lengxiangju.
"Fourth Sister is missing?" Qiu Heng looked bewildered. "Wasn't someone guarding her? How could she be missing? Here? She's not here. If you don't believe me, Granny, go look for her."
After the old woman sent by the Earl of Yongqing left, Qiuheng dressed and walked out of Lengxiang Residence.
As dawn broke and people began to emerge from each courtyard, a pale light began to appear on the horizon.
Qiu Heng walked towards Qian Song Tang.
Yongqing Bo did not leave Qiansong Hall. As the maids and servants who had gone out to search for people returned with their reports, his face grew increasingly grim.
When Qiu Heng entered, Master Qiu and his wife, Second Madam Lan, and others were already there, and no one asked her any questions about her arrival.
"What about the well in the garden? Have you gone to see it?" the old lady asked through gritted teeth.
A short while later, a servant reported back: "We checked, and there's nothing there."
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
"Could people grow wings and fly?" Uncle Yongqing couldn't understand, so he called over the head of the guards to ask.
"Reporting to Your Excellency, we patrolled all night and found nothing unusual."
"Tell the servants to keep their mouths shut. The matter of the Fourth Miss must not be spread outside!" After giving the order, the Earl of Yongqing looked around at everyone. "The Earl's mansion is only so big. It's impossible for someone to disappear. If the Fourth Miss is not in the mansion, then she has left the mansion."
The old lady remained silent.
Master Qiu frowned deeply: "Fu'er is so weak, how did she get out of the manor? And those two old women were sleeping so soundly, she even managed to avoid the guards on night patrol..."
“Someone must be helping her.” Uncle Yongqing glanced at the old lady.
The old lady didn't even lift her eyelids, but she was also thinking in her heart: Who else in this mansion can help Fu'er leave? Once Fu'er is outside, how will this pampered noble lady survive?
"Father, the most urgent task is not only to find Fu'er, but also to deal with the Prime Minister's residence. What should we do?" Master Qiu asked, wiping his sweat.
This is also a problem that is giving the Earl of Yongqing a headache.
He couldn't even imagine Fang Xiang's reaction when he found out the deal had fallen through.
That fourth girl, I'll break her legs when I find her!
After a long silence, Yongqingbo gritted his teeth and said, "What else can we say? We can only say that Fourth Sister has fallen seriously ill and doesn't have the good fortune to live to see her!"
Upon meeting Fang Xiang, the Earl of Yongqing said this with a fawning smile.
After listening to the story without expression, Fang Xiang gave Yongqing Bo a deep look and said, "If that's the case, then forget it. It's just that our two families are not meant to be."
"That girl is just unlucky..."
Fang Xiang ignored Yongqing Bo and got up to leave.
Yongqingbo bowed and waited for Fang Xiang to walk away. Recalling the look in Fang Xiang's eyes when he left, his body swayed.
Fang Xiang will definitely not let the Yongqing Marquis's mansion have an easy time!
Fang Xiang quickly returned home and told his wife about it.
"I was worried that the Yongqing Marquis's Mansion was unreliable, and sure enough, it didn't work out again."
"I've already sent someone to ask Doctor Yan; we'll get back to him soon."
Before Fang Xiang could get a reply from Doctor Yan, a head maid came in to report: "Madam, the person has been brought back."
"Bring him in so I can take a look."
Fang Xiang asked curiously, "Who is it?"
"I sent someone to Ji County yesterday to pick up Master Liu's youngest daughter." The old lady pursed her lips. "I was thinking it would be better to have another person to bring good luck, but thankfully I didn't rely entirely on the Yongqing Earl's Mansion."
After meeting the Liu family's daughter, the old lady asked Fang Xiang, who had returned from the front courtyard, "What did the Yan family say?"
"Doctor Yan said his daughter is already betrothed."
“Impossible. We made sure when we selected these three that none of them were engaged.” The old lady shook her head. “It seems that ordinary people are the most obedient.”
Fang Xiang's eyes turned cold: "Hmm."
(End of this chapter)
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