Taking advantage of the fact that no one was paying attention, Cui Rou quietly left Tianxiang Tower and walked home along the familiar route she remembered.
The so-called home was nothing more than a small, dilapidated hut, barely enough to shelter us from the wind and rain.
She wanted to sneak a peek, but after searching around, she couldn't find Xu Mingzhi. Only Xu Jingui was lying on the bed, with a long-finished pipe still dangling from his mouth.
Cui Rou hesitated for a moment, but still decided to step forward and asked tremblingly, "Where is Zhi'er?"
"So, you shameless woman, you've finally decided to come back?" Xu Jingui started sarcastically as soon as he saw her, showing absolutely no concern.
After all, he was broke and hadn't had a good time in a long time, so his temper had naturally gotten a bit worse: "You've been away for so long, you just want to eat and drink well at Tianxiang Restaurant, don't you?"
He got angrier and angrier as he talked, and even got out of bed, kicked Cui Rou to the ground, and then grabbed her hair and hit her.
"I'm telling you, don't put on this act. Who are you trying to impress?" He cursed, his language getting increasingly vulgar.
Cui Rou dared not resist and could only weep silently.
After a long pause, she said tremblingly, "Stop hitting me... I can't hear anymore..."
As she finished speaking, her tears flowed uncontrollably.
"You bitch! How dare you lie to me!" Xu Jingui wouldn't believe such words.
All he knew was that because Cui Rou hadn't come back these past few days, he was even struggling to afford food.
As he spoke, his ear was right next to Cui Rou's right ear, and the loud sound made her ears ring.
Cui Rou forced herself to stay calm and shook her head: "I didn't..."
"No?" Xu Jingui said, slapping him hard across the face. "Can't you hear me?"
"You slut! Did you come back to cheat me out of money?!" He showed no mercy and wanted nothing more than to beat her to death.
While beating her, Xu Jingui rummaged through her pockets. Although there were only a few copper coins, they were Xu Jingui's happy money.
Having worked at Tianxiang Tower for so long, Cui Rou knew that Xu Jingui and Xu Mingzhi hadn't yet paid for the damages they caused. So she decided to use her own labor to make up for it. However, Zhou Wan and San Niang took pity on her and still gave her some money from time to time.
She saved money by living frugally to repay the debt, and naturally, she couldn't let Xu Jingui take it away now.
She desperately reached out to grab it: "No...you can't take it..."
"Get out of here! I'm telling you, don't come back if you don't have any money." Xu Jingui picked up Cui Rou with one hand and threw her out the door with the other.
It was raining outside, the autumn rain was icy cold, but Cui Rou couldn't feel it, because her heart was numb.
As she walked, she finally collapsed by the roadside, unable to get up again. She could only let the rain pelt her body, remaining unconscious.
...
So, Zhou Wan got up in the middle of the night and happened to pass by Cui Rou's room. She thought about going in to see how she was doing. After all, she had just lost her hearing, so there must be some things that were inconvenient for her. She was also afraid that Cui Rou might try to kill herself, so she was really worried.
She knocked on the door a few times, but there was no sound coming from inside.
Zhou Wan immediately tensed up, and even called out twice more, "Aunt Cui? Aunt Cui? Are you inside?"
Even so, there was still no sound from inside the room.
However, her voice actually disturbed Tiexiong.
He rushed out to check on her, and worried that Zhou Wan might catch a cold, so he draped a coat over her shoulders and asked with concern, "Wan, what's wrong?"
“Tie Xiong, I was worried that something might have happened to Aunt Cui, so I came to check on her, but there was no one responding inside.” Zhou Wan immediately grabbed Tie Xiong’s arm, her voice trembling.
Seeing her worried expression, Tie Xiong immediately pulled her into his arms and said, "Don't be afraid, let's go in and see if Aunt Cui is fast asleep."
“Okay.” Zhou Wan nodded quickly.
She gently pushed open the door and went over, only to find that there was no one on the bed and the room was empty.
Her heart skipped a beat, and she was no longer sleepy: "This...this..."
"Don't panic, maybe she just went out for a walk. Let's go out and look for her, and Third Sister too. We'll split up and find her." Tie Xiong comforted her repeatedly, afraid that Zhou Wan would try to pin all the blame on him.
Seeing Zhou Wan like this, he was also very frightened and immediately hugged the trembling Zhou Wan even tighter.
"Yes, yes, Third Sister..." After Zhou Wan realized what was happening, she immediately ran to call Third Sister, "Third Sister, something bad has happened, Aunt Cui has disappeared."
Upon hearing this, Third Sister quickly got out of bed, threw on an overcoat, and ran outside: "Zhou Wan, hurry back and put on some clothes, let's go out and look for her quickly."
"Okay, Third Sister," Zhou Wan replied, and hurriedly went back to put on her outer clothes.
Soon the group left the Tianxiang Tower and searched left and right, calling out as they went.
The two searched frantically for a long time but couldn't find anyone, so they had no choice but to return to Tianxiang Tower.
...
"Third Sister, what should we do now?" Zhou Wan's palms were already sweating with anxiety.
She was frantic; Xu Yuehuai had just handed the person over to her during the day, and then lost her that very night.
She had no idea how to explain this to Xu Yuehuai.
"If all else fails, we'll have to go find A-Yue." Third Sister sighed. "This is a matter of life and death, and we can't delay."
"But...but..." Zhou Wan stammered, completely unsure how to face Xu Yuehuai.
Tie Xiong naturally saw the dilemma in her heart, and quickly went up to hug her from behind, while constantly thinking of solutions for her: "Awan, you go with Third Sister to find Manager Xu first, and I will take some people out to look for her. We will definitely be able to find Aunt Cui."
Zhou Wan nodded, and the two immediately went to the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion.
When San Niang arrived at the door, she hurriedly went to find the servant at the door: "We are from Tianxiang Tower, and we have important business with Xu Yuehuai."
Fortunately, although the servant did not recognize the two women, he did know Tianxianglou and Xu Yuehuai.
Although the two women looked genuinely panicked and anxious, the servant was unwilling to take any risks and quickly asked, "Who are you from Tianxiang Tower? Do you understand? This is the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion. Not just anyone can come in casually."
"We really have something urgent to attend to, young man. Could you please go and tell A-Yue that Zhou Wan and San Niang have arrived? She will definitely see us." Zhou Wan was already anxious, and now she was even more flustered, stamping her feet in frustration.
The servant boy, however, remained hesitant.
Fortunately, at that moment, the maidservant beside the Duke of Zhenguo noticed the two of them.
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