Chapter 34 Discovering a Hole in the Backyard Wall
Madam Meng was furious and slammed the table. "You are full of lies. It turns out that I am too lenient with you guys!"
"The back door is locked, and you don't go out through the front hall."
"Could it be possible that my Qing'er has grown wings and can fly?!"
"Mrs. Meng," Mu Nanzhao said, "Can you take me to the backyard?"
The hallway on the first floor of the Treasure Pavilion is the only way to the backyard.
The backyard is not large, but it has been carefully maintained.
Bonsai flowers and trees, shrubs and grass can be seen everywhere, and the roads are paved with bluestone slabs, giving a sense of deep courtyards.
Mu Nanzhao first asked the maid to point out the place where Xiao Qing'er had played last.
He bent down to look at the ground, then walked forward and stopped at the foot of the courtyard wall.
Madam Meng asked Gu Xixi quietly, "What is your husband looking at?"
Gu Xixi shook her head, "I don't know. But I believe him."
"Please give him some more time, Sister Meng."
Mu Nanzhao paused slightly when he heard Gu Xixi's words.
Then he continued walking ten steps west along the wall and stopped again.
He bent down and pushed aside the weeds at the base of the wall, revealing a hole in the wall.
Madam Meng gasped in surprise, "Why didn't I know there was a hole here?"
The maids and servants behind her also said they didn't know.
Mu Nanzhao pried through the bushes and took a look, then said confidently, "There is fresh dust here, so the child must have left from here."
Mrs. Meng quickly asked someone to open the lock and went out through the back door to look for the child.
She was almost crying, "Qing'er is still so young, how could she possibly crawl through the dog hole to go out and play?"
"Could it be that someone deliberately dug this hole to lure my Qing'er out?"
"What if it's really a bad guy who kidnapped her this time? What should I do?"
Gu Xixi said, "Sister Meng, you better stay in the shop."
"If someone brings Qing'er back, the shop won't be empty."
Mrs. Meng has only one child, Qing'er, and she values her more than her own eyes.
She was already at a loss at the moment and it was indeed not suitable for her to go out and look for someone.
"But……"
"No buts." Gu Xixi patted Madam Meng's hand comfortingly.
"We will definitely bring Qing'er back safely."
Gu Xixi walked out of the back door of the Treasure Pavilion.
There was a straight back alley in front of her, and she was looking around to see which way to go.
Mu Nanzhao said coldly, "This matter has nothing to do with me, it's up to you to believe it or not."
Gu Xixi turned around and said, "I know."
Mu Nanzhao reached out and grabbed her wrist, "This way."
Gu Xixi stood in a daze and let Mu Nanzhao lead her out of the alley.
After asking several vendors on the street, I found out that I did get something.
An old woman selling big bowls of tea said, "I saw a little girl like this."
"But there was a boy next to her who was about the same height, about six or seven years old."
"It would only take them a cup of tea to walk across here hand in hand."
Although Gu Xixi was not thirsty, she still bought two bowls of tea to take care of the old woman's business.
While drinking tea, the old woman said again, "I remember I also saw that boy."
"He seems to be familiar with the buns shop in front. You can go over and ask."
Gu Xixi and Mu Nanzhao looked at each other, put down the coins, thanked the old woman, and hurried to find the bun stall.
The bun vendor was a middle-aged man. “You are talking about the small stones from the fruit tree vendor, right?”
He raised his hand and pointed across the street, "He's right there."
There is a teahouse across the street, and at this moment there are artists performing juggling in the lobby on the first floor.
Two small figures, one tall and one short, were lying side by side outside the teahouse window.
Gu Xixi recognized Xiao Qing'er and smiled at Mu Nanzhao and breathed a sigh of relief.
"Qing'er." Gu Xixi walked over and called in a low voice.
The little girl turned around and blinked her watery eyes, "Auntie Gu, why are you here?"
Gu Xixi poked her little nose and said, "How dare you ask me this?"
"It's so dangerous for you to run out with others. Your mother will be worried to death."
Qing'er tilted her head in confusion, "Brother Shitou is Qing'er's friend, not someone else."
The boy named Shitou looked to be about six or seven years old, with dark skin and tall and thin stature.
He has big eyes, double eyelids, and a high, straight nose. Upon closer inspection, he is a good-looking child.
Ever since Gu Xixi and Mu Nanzhao appeared, he had been looking at them warily.
Gu Xixi pulled Qing'er to her side and asked the boy, "Your name is Shitou? Did you teach Qing'er to drill the hole in the wall?"
Shi Tou's eyes shrank for a moment, then he straightened his head and chest, looking nonchalant.
"Didn't I leave a letter for you?"
"Qing'er said she had never seen a circus before. I brought her out to play openly. It was definitely not kidnapping!"
Gu Xixi and Mu Nanzhao looked at each other.
Mu Nanzhao was not as good-tempered as Xixi. "What letter did you leave? Where did you write it? Did you give it to his family in person?"
Shitou said, "Of course it was written on the ground outside their back door, with words scratched with a stone..."
He sounded confident at first, but as he spoke further, his voice became weaker and weaker.
"I didn't give it to her family."
Gu Xixi broke out in a cold sweat.
The words written on the ground with stones are not very clear.
Just now, the guys from the Treasure Pavilion ran out from the back door to look for someone. After the trampling, the handwriting was probably no longer visible.
Mu Nanzhao said coldly, "You took someone else's girl out without informing me in advance, and you still say it's not kidnapping?"
Gu Xixi cleared her throat several times and winked at Mu Nanzhao.
After all, the child didn't mean any harm, so there was really no need to be so harsh.
Shitou lowered his head and stopped talking, looking a little ashamed.
Gu Xixi bent down and looked at him, smiling and said, "Qing'er's mother thought she had met a bad guy and was very worried."
"Can you please come with us and explain it to us in person?"
Shitou glanced at Xiaoqing'er, hesitated for a moment, and finally said in a muffled voice, "I'll go!"
On the way back to the Treasure Pavilion, Gu Xixi asked, "Shi Tou, you can read, so you must be in school, right?"
Shitou replied, "Yes."
After a while, he added, "But I haven't been there for a long time."
Gu Xixi was stunned for a moment, "Why not go? You are still young, it is the right time for you to study."
Shitou suddenly felt as if he was pricked by a needle. He widened his eyes and growled, "I'm not going if I don't want to go. It's none of your business!"
The atmosphere suddenly froze.
Qing'er looked at Shitou worriedly and confusedly, "Brother Shitou, what's wrong with you?"
Gu Xixi paused and said, "I'm sorry, I have no intention of asking about your privacy. If you don't want to talk about it, then don't talk about it."
Shi Tou looked up at Gu Xixi with some surprise.
This woman actually apologized to a child? She was different from the adults he remembered.
In the backyard of the Treasure Pavilion, Madam Meng found her beloved daughter and expressed her gratitude to Mu Nanzhao and Gu Xixi.
Aunt Meng hugged Qing'er tightly and finally calmed down.
"Qing'er, what did mother tell you every day? Don't go with strangers!"
Qing'er pouted, "Brother Shitou is not a stranger, he always plays with Qing'er."
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