"It's not Second Madam, but it concerns her. You few, change your clothes immediately and come with me. The rest of you, continue your search on the street as usual." Tang Xihua didn't tell everyone the full contents of the letter, just gave a few simple instructions.
A moment later, Tang Xihua and the others, now dressed in the robes of a security escort agency, left the inn through the back window of their room.
The group of people walked around the street, and when they found the Ya Xuan Tea House, they naturally went inside.
Before they could even ask where the private room with the character "Lan" was, the sharp-eyed waiter who had delivered the letter earlier spotted Tang Xihua and led her upstairs.
"Young lady." As soon as she entered, Tang Xihua greeted Hong Xiaoduo first. The others said that they only then realized that the messenger was this person.
Seeing Hong Xiaoduo nod with a smile, but her gaze was fixed on the waiter outside the door, Tang Xihua refrained from asking immediately and gestured for a bodyguard to stand guard outside.
"Does the young lady have any clues about my junior sister?" Tang Xihua asked urgently after the door closed.
Hong Xiaoduo pointed to the unconscious man by the table and said, "The clue is here." Then she recounted what had happened.
"I'm not very good at this kind of thing, so I didn't interrogate him on my own. I thought it would be better to leave it to you to handle. I can confirm that your junior sister's disappearance is definitely related to them, but I can't confirm whether they are local or from out of town."
"Now that we've handed the person over to you, we're also heading out," Hong Xiaoduo said.
"Thank you very much, young lady." Tang Xihua said gratefully.
“I just happened to hear that, so of course I had to let you know. There’s no need to thank me. Oh, speaking of thanking the guy who delivered the letter to you, you should give him some extra money for his service. I’ve already promised to do it for you,” Hong Xiaoduo reminded her.
Then he got up and called to the children to leave. He had said what needed to be said and done what needed to be done, so there was no need to stay here any longer.
Their escort agency has dozens of people who are always on the road delivering goods. Do they really need another helper like her?
Finally, news of her junior sister arrived. Tang Xihua wanted to thank her properly, but she knew it wasn't the right time.
The immediate priority is to interrogate the unconscious man as quickly as possible, lest his accomplices become aware of the situation and prepare accordingly, making the rescue even more complicated.
Tang Xihua and the other bodyguards were thinking about how to get rid of the unconscious man without being discovered by his accomplices when they saw Hong Xiaoduo walk to the unconscious man's side, untie the things tied to his hands and hand them to a child holding his waistband, and then squat down to untie the things tied to his ankles and hand them to another child.
Only then did they realize that the thing binding the unconscious man was the belt of the two children.
Hong Xiaoduo, who had gotten up and walked to the door, suddenly stopped and turned around. Tang Xihua thought she had something else to say, but instead she walked to the unconscious man and reached into the purse on his waist.
Huh? What's going on? Seriously, she's actually trying to steal this person's purse?
Hong Xiaoduo took out a piece of silver and said, "He said he was treating us to tea and snacks, so of course he should pay for it. By the way, please take care of these problematic pastries and tea." After saying that, she left with the child amidst the astonished expressions of Tang Xihua and the others.
Before leaving the teahouse after paying for the tea, I asked the waiter whether the osmanthus cake on the table was made by their own pastry chef or bought from an outside pastry shop. After learning that it was bought from an outside shop, I asked for the shop's location before leaving.
"Mother, are we going to buy osmanthus cake?" Yao Guang asked, both happy and a little uncertain, since they had already bought the pastries for the journey.
Hong Xiaoduo leaned down and tapped her nose, saying, "Yes, didn't our Xiao Yaoguang say that the osmanthus cake smells delicious? Of course we have to buy it and try it."
Yao Guang clapped her hands happily, about to say "Great!" when she saw her brothers looking at her. She quickly changed her mind and said, "Mom, just because it smells good doesn't mean it will taste good. Maybe we shouldn't buy it."
"Why not buy some? That osmanthus cake looks pretty good, I want to try it too." Hong Xiaoduo couldn't help but laugh when she saw Yao Guang looking at Tian Shu and the others with nervous eyes, saying things she didn't mean.
"Brother, did you hear that? Mother wants to try some too!" Yao Guang said loudly. She wasn't the only one who wanted to eat osmanthus cake.
Tian Shu, Tian Quan, and the others shook their heads speechlessly at their naive and easily fooled little foodie sister.
When I arrived at the pastry shop, I bought osmanthus cake. The shopkeeper recommended a new product, which I tried and found to be quite good, so I bought some more.
The group of one adult and seven children returned to the inn with a string of snack bags, as well as roasted sweet potatoes, sugar-roasted chestnuts, and sesame candy.
Fifteen minutes later, two carts, one pulled by a horse and the other by a donkey, slowly left the town.
In a house on the west side of town, a servant ran into the hall: "Sir, I couldn't find A-Yi, but I did see the young lady you mentioned with seven children. She bought some snacks and treats on the street, loaded them onto her cart, and just left town."
However, a few days ago, when A-Yi was drunk, he boasted to Xiao that he had a lover whose husband was a woodcutter, and that they had to wait for the woman's husband to go up the mountain to chop wood before they could have sex.
"Sir, do you think A-Yi is off having a secret rendezvous with that woman right now?"
If Hong Xiaoduo were here, she would definitely recognize that the "master" the waiter was talking about was the tall man who was with the short, thin man in the restaurant that morning.
Upon hearing his subordinate's words, the old man slammed his fist on the table in anger: "I knew this bastard would amount to nothing!"
"Sir, please calm down. Do we still want the one adult and seven children? They have a donkey cart attached to their carriage, so they're not going very fast. We can arrange for someone to catch up with them in time."
"Sir, didn't you say those eight were top-quality goods? We can take them and send them north along with the previous shipment. What troublemakers? A little 'softening powder' and they'll behave. They'll be trained over there," the servant said.
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