Seeing Jiang Yu frowning as he looked at the rain outside, Zhang Liao stood beside him and said, "My lord, there is no need to worry. Shangjun is developing well now. As long as we lead these troops well, we have nothing to worry about, whether it is external or internal."
Jiang Yu was naturally not worried about this, but she simply nodded in response to his words.
The rain is quite heavy tonight; I wonder if Ah Nuan has fallen asleep yet.
Jiang Yu realized that she hadn't visited her for the past two days, and decided to spend more time with her once she finished her work.
"Old woman, what are you doing?"
An aged voice rang out, startling the old woman who was looking at Qi Nuan.
"There's a pretty girl here."
Upon hearing his wife's voice, the old man hurried over. By this time, the blood on Qi Nuan's body had been washed away by the heavy rain, but her face was frighteningly pale.
"Could it be some kind of spirit or monster?"
The old man looked at Qi Nuan, who had an exceptionally refined appearance.
"What are you talking about? Look at this girl, she's wearing clothes from a poor family." The old woman reached out and rummaged through Qi Nuan's clothes, finding only a few pieces of silver.
But... why is it so cold? The old woman withdrew her hand as soon as she touched Qi Nuan's body.
She saw the wounds on Qi Nuan's body.
He then tentatively placed his hand under Qi Nuan's nose.
He was so frightened that he backed away repeatedly, "Old...old man, this...this girl is not breathing."
The old man stepped forward and landed right on the dagger Qi Nuan was holding.
The old man picked up the dagger.
Upon seeing the dagger, the old woman became even more agitated. "What... what should we do?"
"Should we report it to the authorities?"
"No, if we report it to the authorities, we won't be able to explain ourselves." The old man held the dagger in his hand and felt it.
"There's a big river not far away; we can just throw her in."
"Is this alright?" the old woman asked hesitantly.
"We're both dead anyway, what's there to be afraid of? If we're discovered, even if we have ten mouths, we won't be able to explain ourselves."
"Alright."
The old woman nodded, and the two of them lifted the person up together. Not far away was a fast-flowing river. The two of them carefully looked around and saw that there was no one around.
They then worked together to throw the person into the river.
...
Ahua was busy at the [Guanwai Lamb] stall, and almost cut her hand with the knife several times.
The waiter looked at her and said, "Sister Ahua, are you tired? Go and rest."
Ahua nodded and sat down to the side. As night fell, she figured that Anuan and the others must have already gone far away. Ahua thought, "If I don't tell them that Qi Nuan has disappeared, I'll have to."
She returned to the Jiang residence, searched around, and asked others if they had seen Qi Nuan. She learned that no one had seen Qi Nuan all day.
Ah Hua rushed to the prefectural government office.
Seeing Ahua looking flustered and anxious, Jiang Ming came up to her and asked, "Sister Ahua, what's wrong?"
"Jiang Ming, where is the young master?"
"Young Master is discussing matters with the adults. What's wrong with you?"
"Anuan...Anuan is missing."
"What?"
"What did you say? Ah Nuan is missing? How is that possible?"
Jiang Ming's expression changed drastically, and he walked towards the room, saying, "Young Master, something terrible has happened, A-Nuan is missing."
Jiang Yuxiu stood up abruptly. "Explain yourself clearly. What do you mean by 'disappeared'?"
Song Jingning, Zhang Liao, and others followed them out.
Ahua recounted the events to Jiang Yu, "I sent Qingqing and the others to the military camp early this morning, but because it was so early, I didn't call Anuan."
As Jiang Yu listened, he naturally knew that Qi Nuan always got up relatively late.
"After dropping off Qingqing and the others, I went to [Guanwai Lamb]. It was almost dark when I returned home, but I didn't see Anuan. I went to her room but no one was there. I asked the people in the mansion, but they all said they hadn't seen Anuan. That's when I started to get anxious."
"I'll go back with you and take a look."
Jiang Yu's voice was extremely cold, "Jiang Ming, bring your men and come over shortly."
Jiang Ming agreed and immediately went to fetch someone.
Seeing his pale face, Song Jingning comforted him, "Perhaps it's just a false alarm. You'll see the person when you get there."
Jiang Yu shook her head. Anuan wasn't such a tactless person.
Jiang Yu led a horse from the stable, said nothing, and rode it towards the Jiang residence.
Song Jingning's expression was grave as he handed the order to Zhang Liao, saying, "Take this to Jiang Yu and inform me immediately if anything happens."
Zhang Liao nodded, took the token, and headed towards the Jiang residence with Jiang Ming and the others.
Ahua glanced at the city pass in Zhang Liao's hand, then looked away and followed in their footsteps.
Jiang Yu arrived at the Jiang residence, broke down the door, and everyone in the house stood up.
Qi Nuan was nowhere to be seen.
Tell me the last time you saw Ah Nuan.
There were only a few people in the mansion; those who remained were trustworthy individuals: a lame old man who opened the door, two maids who swept the courtyard, and a groom.
"The young lady hasn't left the manor for the past few days. I last saw her three days ago." This was the gatekeeper's statement.
“I saw the girl when I went to feed the horses yesterday; it was around noon.”
Jiang Yu looked at the other two.
“Yesterday at midday, I saw the girl walking around in the courtyard.”
Another maid stepped forward and said, "I also saw you yesterday around midday. You were walking towards the kitchen."
Jiang Yu nodded. "Anything else to add?"
"you say."
Seeing the doorman's hesitant expression, Jiang Yu directly pointed out the person.
“Yesterday, Miss Ahua returned around noon, and then left in a hurry.”
Jiang Yu nodded.
They then went to Qi Nuan's room. Qi Nuan's room was small and easily identifiable. There were no signs of disturbance; everything was neat and tidy, but...
His gaze fell on her bed, where there were some embroidery threads.
She was probably planning to do needlework, but something happened and she couldn't continue.
At this moment, the others arrived at the mansion.
"Young master, how is it?"
Jiang Yu shook her head at Jiang Ming.
Ahua's gaze fell on the embroidery thread and froze.
Looking up, she saw Jiang Yu looking at her. Ahua walked to Qi Nuan's bedside, picked up the embroidery thread on the bed, and said, "Was Anuan doing needlework before she disappeared? But I didn't see her when I came back yesterday at noon."
She paused for a moment and said, "I rushed back yesterday and took a few embroidered handkerchiefs with me before heading to [Guanwai Lamb]. If I had taken her with me, would Anuan have been able to stay hidden...?"
She stared blankly at the embroidery thread.
Zhang Liao stepped forward and said, "Miss Ahua, this is none of your business."
"Last night, you didn't see anyone, and no one noticed anything, right?"
Jiang Ming looked at everyone.
Jiang Yu tried hard to suppress her anger, but she knew that saying anything now would be useless.
He thought of the heavy rain last night, since he had gone missing yesterday.
My heart ached.
The person must have disappeared at the Jiang residence, but is definitely not in the manor now. Jiang Yu ordered some people to search the manor, while he took the city pass from Zhang Liao, along with Qi Nuan's personal clothing, and went to the prefectural government office to take the prefectural government's hunting dogs to search for the person.
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