Cheap Husband
Before coming, Bai Miaoke heard Lu Yu talk about the origins of the Xu family.
The Xu family has been loyal ministers for three generations. The current head of the family used to be a cabinet minister in the previous dynasty. Many officials in the court were his students, and there were countless poor students who benefited from his kindness.
Old Xu was a man of integrity and integrity, and he could distinguish right from wrong. More than 20 years ago, when the entire Yu family was executed, he petitioned the late emperor to investigate the matter, but to no avail. In anger, Old Xu retired and returned to his hometown, moving his family from the capital to Suzhou.
Later, when the new emperor ascended the throne, he invited him to come out of retirement many times and continue to serve as a cabinet minister, but he refused. None of his descendants entered the officialdom again. Instead, they engaged in business or practiced medicine. They lived in a corner of Gusu and were still considered one of the famous families in Gusu.
With the help of the letter from Lu Yu, Bai Miaoke soon met Xu Mingcheng, the head of the Xu family. Although he had abdicated for many years, everyone was still used to addressing him as Xu Ge Lao.
Bai Miaoke saw this old man with gray hair but a straight back, and bowed to him respectfully: "Lord Xu, I am Bai Miaoke, and I am here to see you on behalf of Lu Yu."
Lord Xu nodded, sat down on the throne at the top, and turned to look at her.
"Did Zicheng ask you to come to me?"
Bai Miaoke nodded and handed the letter over. She thought to herself quietly that since Lord Xu called Lu Yu by his courtesy name, they must have a good relationship.
The next second, after reading the letter, Mr. Xu slammed the letter on the table with a bang, splashing a few drops of tea on the table, and snorted heavily.
Bai Miaoke secretly thought that this was not good. She looked up at Lord Xu who was glaring at her with some trepidation. Suddenly, she became unsure of her previous guess.
"Why doesn't he come over himself?" Lord Xu's voice sounded old but full of vigor, not at all like a man in his sixties.
"He has some things to do in Huzhou and will be here in two days." Bai Miaoke replied with a smile as if she was treating an elder at home.
Then Lord Xu looked at Bai Miaoke who was sitting there calmly and elegantly, and suddenly asked, "What is your relationship with him?"
Bai Miaoke was still trying to figure out how to ask him to help find someone. When she heard this question, she was stunned for a moment, not knowing how to answer, so she just smiled embarrassedly.
"This brat didn't even bother to send someone to inform us when he got married." Lord Xu really saw what she meant, and his attitude softened a little.
Seeing that Lord Xu was about to be unhappy again, Bai Miaoke quickly interrupted him: "No, we haven't gotten married yet."
In order to prevent him from asking further questions, Bai Miaoke changed the subject abruptly: "I mainly want to ask you a favor."
Elder Xu was distracted and asked, "What's the matter?"
"You should have heard about the news that a group of people came to the city recently and were looking for someone. Those people were Lu Yu's men. I heard that they were arrested by the government. One of them who was not arrested was my friend. I wonder if she came to you for help?" Bai Miaoke looked at him hopefully after she finished speaking.
"Someone came to your house, is he your friend?" After Lord Xu finished speaking, he turned his head and whispered to the person next to him. Soon, a person came up.
Bai Miaoke's eyebrows jumped as she looked at the person who was tied up like a dumpling and unable to move. It was none other than Xiao Heng who had set out two days earlier than her.
But Xiao Heng is also one of the best masters. I don’t know what he did to be caught.
She covered her forehead with her hands, unable to bear the sight, and really didn't want to admit that this person was her friend.
Seeing that Lord Xu was still looking at her, Bai Miaoke decisively denied: "No, no, I don't know him."
"The person I'm looking for is a girl. She came here with Lu Yu's people. I don't know if she was also captured."
Xiao Heng was caught and tied up like this. This Lord Xu must be no simple person and must be taken seriously.
Bai Miaoke carefully chose her words and told Lord Xu everything about how she and Lu Yu were assassinated on the boat, and later got separated from Chun Xing and the others, and the two were forced to recuperate in the town, and after they recovered from their injuries, they received the news in Huzhou, but could not find the person.
The old man stroked his graying beard, squinted his eyes and looked at Xiao Heng who was still struggling and Bai Miaoke who was sitting obediently beside him, and said slowly: "I can help you find someone, but you have to tell me what you are doing in Gusu?"
Bai Miaoke didn't expect that he would ask the key question right away. After hesitating for a moment, she decided to get away with it first. He had a close relationship with Lu Yu, and he could reveal information about Lu Yu to him, but she still couldn't give up her cards too quickly.
So she blinked her eyes and said innocently, "Of course I came here with Lu Yu. I couldn't bear to be separated from him, so I followed him from the capital. He had something to do in Huzhou, so he sent me here to deliver a message."
It was not known whether Lord Xu believed what she said or not. He looked at her thoughtfully for a few more times, and said nothing more. He arranged for her to live in the backyard and asked her to wait for news in the room.
The Xu family occupies a large area, and the residence arranged for Bai Miaoke is located deep in the Xu mansion. She obediently followed the servant into the room.
After bringing the person in, the servant closed the door and left.
Hearing the footsteps fade away, Bai Miaoke walked to the door and pushed it, only to find that they hadn't locked it. It seemed that they didn't want to lock her up. She breathed a sigh of relief and sat back on the bed thinking about her next plan.
No one knew where Xiao Heng was being held, nor did he know what means they had used to capture him. He should be safe for the time being. The most important thing now was to find the whereabouts of Chun Xing and Rong Qing.
Thinking of this, she could no longer sit still, so she quietly opened the door and slipped out of the yard.
It would be difficult for her to rescue the people alone, but she should be able to go and take a look.
So Bai Miaoke wandered around Xu's house for nearly an hour before she found a door that led to the outside. It was not that she could not just fly over the walls and run away, but that would be too easy to be discovered.
After leaving Xu's Mansion, Bai Miaoke had no more worries and headed straight towards the government office.
When we got near the government office, we found that things were not as simple as we had imagined.
Waves of people patrolling back and forth nearby surrounded the small government office like an iron barrel.
Bai Miaoke squatted in a corner and observed silently, her big eyes fixed on the movements over there, like a leopard on the hunt, quietly looking for flaws.
After half a quarter of an hour, Bai Miaoke finally moved.
She stood up, rubbed her sore waist, sighed silently, turned around and walked back.
In fact, the guards at the county government office were too strict. She couldn't find a way to sneak through, so she decided to go back and think about it.
She sneaked back to Xu's house in the dark, intending to go back the same way, but met an unexpected person in a small garden halfway.
"Miss Bai, why are you here?" The man looked very surprised.
Bai Miaoke was also startled by the sudden appearance of this person. The man was dressed in red, with black hair like a waterfall and a face as white as paper in the moonlight.
Bai Miaoke almost thought she saw a ghost, but when she saw the iconic fox eyes with upturned corners, she recognized that this was Zhu Yu.
Thinking back to when he had helped her and Lu Yu before and bandaged their injuries, but they sneaked away, Bai Miaoke felt inexplicably guilty.
Praying in my heart that he had forgotten what happened before, I bravely greeted him, "Mr. Zhuyu, long time no see, why are you here?"
"This is my home." Zhu Yu's light words left Bai Miaoke stunned.
As if that wasn't enough, he continued to ask, "What is Miss Bai doing up at night? Taking the opportunity to run away?"
"He really holds a grudge." Bai Miaoke muttered softly.
"What?" Zhu Yu asked with a smile.
Bai Miaoke pretended nothing happened and asked doubtfully, "Are you from Lord Xu..."
After a moment's hesitation, he continued, "Son?"
"No." Zhu Yu denied.
"Then what is your relationship with the elder?" Bai Miaoke asked.
Zhu Yu walked to a nearby rattan chair and sat down, fanning herself and saying, "Tell me first what you are doing here? What are you doing out so late at night?"
It was almost winter at night, and this man was still fanning himself. Bai Miaoke took advantage of the darkness and couldn't see clearly, and rolled her eyes to the sky.
After thinking for a while, he finally came up with a lame lie: "I came to ask for help from Lord Xu. I couldn't sleep at night, so I got up and went for a walk."
"Why do you want to ask Mr. Xu for help? I can help you too." Zhu Yu did not expose her excuse and continued to ask.
Bai Miaoke raised her eyebrows: "I want to find someone, how can you help me?"
"Tsk, you're not looking for your cheap husband, are you?" Zhu Yu's tone sounded inexplicably disappointed.
Bai Miaoke was a little confused about what his strange attitude meant, but she subconsciously retorted: "It has nothing to do with him. My little sister is missing, and I came to find her."
"You have sisters?" Bai Miaoke felt that Zhu Yu's eyes seemed to light up.
Bai Miaoke was speechless, feeling that it was a waste of time to chat with him about irrelevant things in the middle of the night.
"If you have nothing else, I'll leave." Then he turned and left.
"Wait a minute, don't you want to know my identity?" Zhu Yu called her while sitting there, confidently waving the fan and waiting for her to turn around.
Bai Miaoke waved her hand without even turning her head, "I don't want to think about it anymore."
Upon hearing this, Zhu Yu could no longer sit still. Seeing that the cousin she had finally found was about to run away again, she quickly got up and chased after her.
Bai Miaoke was too lazy to care about him and returned to the courtyard assigned to her in the time it took to drink a cup of tea.
She also looked around to see if there was anyone around. It seemed that the Xu family really didn't send anyone to watch her. Bai Miaoke nodded with satisfaction, then fell asleep.
Bai Miaoke's first rule: If something cannot be solved today, solve it tomorrow.
But when she got up the next day and went to see Lord Xu, she was turned away.
"The master has something to do, Miss Bai, please go back first."
So Bai Miaoke was "invited" back to her residence.
Would Lord Xu go back on his word and refuse to help her? Would he take some time today to see where Xiao Heng was imprisoned? If they rescued him, maybe the two of them could just break into the government office and rescue him.
She did what she said. When Bai Miaoke was about to go out to rescue Xiao Heng, the courtyard door was suddenly pushed open.
The person who came was none other than Zhu Yu, whom I had just met last night.
Today he changed into a crimson robe and tied his hair up. He was not as scary as last night. Bai Miaoke even felt somewhat familiar with him.
"What are you doing here?" Bai Miaoke's plan was disrupted. She felt a little unhappy and was not so polite when she spoke.
"I have something to tell you." Having learned from his previous lesson, Zhu Yu decided to get straight to the point.
"Well, I'm your cousin."
Bai Miaoke: “Huh?”
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