Hong Xiaoduo didn't wait in the yard, but followed the convoy directly.
They hadn't gone far when the convoy stopped. Hong Xiaoduo still didn't go forward to check. After a short while, a message came from ahead: go into the inn first.
“At this hour, none of you have had lunch yet, have you? Why don’t you tell them to have lunch first? It won’t make a difference if it takes a little more time,” Hong Xiaoduo said to Huang Yixing, who was waiting for her outside the inn.
She watched as people got off the carriage; some were exhausted and almost fell over as they stepped off.
“Alright, but then I’ll have to trouble you to wait, Miss Hong,” Huang Yixing replied.
Hong Xiaoduo smiled and said, "It's alright. I'm neither working nor doing business, so I'm quite free. How about this, I'll go to the teahouse first, and you can let them have lunch and then rest for a while."
After Hong Xiaoduo finished speaking, she walked towards the teahouse diagonally opposite.
Hong Xiaoduo wasn't curious about what Master Huang had said to those families. Once inside the teahouse, she found a seat by the window, ordered a pot of flower tea, and pondered her thoughts while drinking it.
She didn't know why, but she felt inexplicably irritable.
It seems that it started after they learned that these families were coming as a group.
I'm fine when I'm with the children, but when I'm alone, I get really frustrated.
Hong Xiaoduo poured herself a cup of tea, smelling the faint aroma of jasmine tea, and told herself to stay calm and composed.
According to the initial information provided by Duobaoge, of the five families who came, four were boys and one was a girl who had gone missing.
Based on gender and age, the girl who matches is Yuheng, and for the boys, three match with Tianshu, and one matches with Tianji.
Before the paternity test was done, at least two families would have been disappointed.
Furthermore, the children's ages aren't necessarily accurate; the villain specifically targeted children around one year old, even though the seven of them grew up together.
However, although children can remember things at the age of two or three, their memories are mainly unconscious and specific, and usually cannot be retained for a long time.
Memory at this stage is mainly based on perception and imagery. Due to the limitations of brain development, children can remember daily events, people, or simple actions, but these memories are often difficult to actively retrieve later.
Children primarily form memories through their senses and repetition, such as remembering familiar faces, voices, or daily habits, but lack the ability to recall them actively.
Although children at this age can form memories, they generally have difficulty recalling experiences from before the age of three.
At birth, an infant's hippocampus is only 40% the size of an adult's, and only about 30% of its development is completed before the age of three. This results in weak memory storage function, making it difficult to effectively convert into long-term memory.
In other words, if the wicked man says how old they are, then they believe they are that age.
Although the ages of the three children whose families have been found so far are correct, it doesn't mean that the ages of the remaining four are also correct.
Of course, the final result can only be determined after she undergoes a paternity test.
Whether the age is accurate or not is irrelevant to the identification result.
When she thought about what she had told Xiao Yaoguang, that among the families who came to look for her relatives, none of them matched her age or gender, the little girl was clearly disappointed, but she immediately grinned and said, "That's even better, I can follow my mother, my master, and Sister Feiyan forever."
Yuheng's age matches that of the Prince Yi's daughter. If the paternity test confirms the parentage, then this girl is actually a princess.
Tian Shu's age matches that of the missing children from the three families: the fifth son of Censor Luo Yuansong, the third son of Prefect Ren Feizheng, and the fourth son of Magistrate Hong Zhixuan. It is unknown whether any of these three families have any of Tian Shu's relatives.
Tianji's age matches that of the second son lost by Prefect Zhong Ziwen.
In such matters, it's impossible to predict the probability. Tian Shu, whose age matches that of the three families whose children have gone missing, may not necessarily have any family members among them.
Yuheng and Tianji each have a household opposite them, which might actually be true.
Hong Xiaoduo wasn't in the mood to make any guesses; anyway, they would be able to get the tests done soon and see the results quickly.
It's alright. All five families who came already knew about her requirement for blood kinship testing. Except for Governor Ren Fei, who didn't come in person but sent his eldest son, the other four families were all fathers of the children.
Hong Xiaoduo had been sitting in the teahouse for less than half an hour when Huang Yixing came to find her.
In that short time, it's obvious without even asking that the five families only managed to eat something quickly, wash up briefly, and didn't rest at all.
Considering their eagerness, Hong Xiaoduo immediately followed Huang Yi into the inn.
As soon as I entered the inn, I saw people everywhere. Apart from seven or eight people sitting in the lobby, the attendants and stewards were standing all around.
The innkeeper and his staff were carefully pouring tea for the seated guests.
Upon seeing Hong Xiaoduo enter with Huang Yixing, the seated individuals all stood up and looked at her.
"My name is Hong Xiaoduo, and I am the person you have come to see. I am sorry to say that you have had a long journey." Hong Xiaoduo noticed that these people were a little unsure how to greet her, so she clasped her hands in greeting first.
After she spoke, Prince Yi took the lead in introducing himself, and the others followed suit.
They had been struggling with how to properly greet such a young person, especially a young lady, but with Prince Yi setting an example, things became much easier for them.
If even a prince refers to himself as "I" instead of "this prince," then these men would certainly not refer to themselves as "this official," especially since they came on private business and were asking for a favor.
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