Chapter 82 Chance Encounter
Wu Daozi led Yingbao down the mountain and said as he walked: "I will take you to stay at an old friend's house for a few days. After I finish things here, I will send you back to Qinchuan County."
"Okay, thank you Uncle Wu."
The two walked through the snow and walked through two streets. When they passed near the alley of Mrs. Chen's house, they saw a mule cart driving out.
Ying Bao shuddered and subconsciously hid beside Wu Daozi.
That's Xiao Han's mule cart. Why is she back?
Wu Daozi also noticed Ying Bao's vigilance, glanced at the mule cart, and asked, "What's wrong?"
Ying Bao whispered: "It's the kidnapper, she's back again."
"Drive! Drive!" The driver whipped his whip repeatedly to urge the mule, and the mule cart quickly drove away and gradually disappeared into the distance.
Ying Bao kept her head lowered and her fingers tightly grasped Wu Daozi's sleeves. She didn't dare to raise her head until the mule cart could no longer be seen.
Xiao Han is definitely not well-intentioned when she comes here now. Maybe she wants to silence her, otherwise it doesn't make sense.
The journey from Qinchuan County to Zhouhe County is not one or two miles, but more than a hundred miles. Xiao Han just went back the day before yesterday, so there is no reason to rush here again today.
It must be A Niang who complained to the officials, and the officials had found some evidence, so Xiao Han hurried back to Zhouhe County to get rid of her.
No, she had to rush home as soon as possible.
Only when you return home can the danger be relieved and the murderer can be punished.
After walking for a while, Yingbao followed Wu Daozi to a house with two horse-mounting stones at the door.
He stepped forward and patted the door knocker. After a while, a teenage waiter opened the door. When he saw the person coming, he immediately opened the wooden door and said with a smile on his face: "It turns out to be Wu Langjun. My husband is taking a bath today."
Wu Daozi nodded at him, pointed at Yingbao and said: "This is a child from the countryside. I am going to take her to Qinchuan County. I want to stay in your house for a few days. Please help me inform your master. .”
The waiter quickly said: "Since Wu Langjun brought her, I will report to the mistress later and I will definitely make arrangements for her good life. Please bring her in quickly."
"Thank you very much."
Only then did Wu Daozi lead Ying Bao across the threshold.
Later, Wu Daozi was led to an outer courtyard, while Ying Bao was taken by a waiter and handed over to a rough-skinned maid.
The maid, who was thirteen or fourteen years old, looked at Ying Bao with disgust, but still brought her a basin of water and washed her hair and face.
Fortunately, although Yingbao's head and face are dirty, her body is not dirty.
The maid barely managed to look like a human being, and the maid was surprised. While wiping her head, she said, "What happened to you, little girl? Did you fall into the mud ditch?"
Yingbao nodded.
The maid wiped her hands and face and led her to a courtyard.
"Madam, the slave girl Wu Langjun brought has been cleaned. Do you want to see her?" the maid asked while standing under the eaves.
I heard a grandma inside say: "My wife has seen her. Take her to the guest house and find a room for her to stay. If you have nothing to do, get out of the house."
"Yes." The maid took Ying Bao to the guest house again, opened a door and let her in.
This room was small and dusty. It seemed that no one had lived in it for a long time. The small wooden bed had no bedding.
However, the maid quickly brought her another bed and a pot of hot tea.
Yingbao thanked her, climbed into bed, made bedding, and went to sleep.
The snow outside was falling harder and harder, soon covering the ground with a layer of white.
Qinchuan County.
Xu Chunniang held her eldest sister Jiang Yunniang's hand and burst into tears. "That Han family who killed a thousand swords must have hired someone to snatch my treasure away. Wuwuwuwu... I will not let them go."
Jiang Yunniang sighed, wiped the tears of her third sister-in-law, and said comfortingly: "Don't worry, Sun Lizheng has already handed your petition to the county government, and he will probably give an explanation soon."
Mrs. Jiang Liu wiped her eyes at the side: "Chun Niang, please stop crying. I feel uncomfortable in my heart. Although we didn't arrest anyone, someone recognized one of them as Chen Ergou. That damn beast hasn't answered back these days. Home, I don’t believe he will never come back.”
That day, two masked men snatched the child away and quickly disappeared into the reeds. The villagers chased them all the way without finding anyone. After a closer search, they discovered that they had escaped from the other side.
But someone still recognized the shape of one of them, who was Chen Ergou from the West Village. The other person was probably Chen Ergou's friend or some relative.
So Old Man Jiang went to Li Zheng to complain.
Sun Lizheng led people to search in several places but could not find anyone. Finally, he went to Chen Ergou's husband's house where he adopted his daughter. Only then did he find out that Chen Ergou had been living here these days, but he found that Li Zheng had brought someone here and had run away early. Damn it, even his son-in-law ran away.
No one was arrested, so Sun Lizheng wrote a petition on behalf of the Jiang family, accusing Chen Ergou of kidnapping the children. At the strong suggestion of Chun Niang, he added two Han sisters, the second daughter-in-law of Chen Laoshuan's family, to the petition because she Both are also suspected.
Originally, Fourth Aunt Wu was going to be sued as well, but Fourth Aunt Wu knelt down and swore that she knew nothing. She only took five taels of silver from the Han family and told her about the birthmark on the little girl's wrist, and nothing else. I don’t know.
So Chun Niang left her twin sons to her sister-in-law to take care of them, and she, her parents-in-law, and Sun Lizheng arrived at the county seat.
After Sun Lizheng handed the petition to the Yamen, he went to his son's house, while Chun Niang and her parents-in-law went to live with their eldest sister's house temporarily, waiting for news from the Yamen.
But after waiting for several days, there was no movement from the Yamen.
Chun Niang and the others did not know that after the petition was handed over to the county magistrate, Bo did not submit it to the county magistrate.
He went to Chen Guanglu with the petition and said with a smile: "Chen Guanglu, your wife is in big trouble."
Chen Guanglu was surprised: "How can Lin Master Bo say this?"
The forest owner Bo shook the paper in his hand and said, "Someone accused your wife of collaborating with others to hire thieves to rob children. Thirty villagers put their fingerprints on the paper, proving that the matter is true."
"What? Let me take a look." Chen Guanglu reached out to take it, but the forest owner Bo moved it away.
"You can't see it, you can't see it." The forest owner said with a smile: "This matter is not trivial. You should go back and ask for details. It happens that our Ming government is about to step down, so the lawsuit and other matters will be postponed for a while, otherwise I will not tell you this matter. .”
Chen Guanglu frowned and could only clasp his fists at the forest owner Bo: "I have been informed by Boss Bo that when I go back to ask for clarification, I will ask Boss Bo to give me some advice."
The forest owner smiled and said nothing while stroking his beard.
Chen Guanglu hurried home and when he saw his wife, he asked, "What did you do in Chuanhe Town this time?"
Little Han was startled and said slowly, "I'm just going to visit my eldest sister. What can I do?"
"Tell the truth!" Chen Guanglu slammed the table and shouted: "They have handed the petition to the county government, and you are still full of lies! Tell me! What good things have you done!"
Little Han was startled, and the teacup in his hand fell to the ground, shattering into pieces with a bang.
Seeing that her husband looked like he wanted to eat people, Xiao Han didn't dare to hide it anymore and told her what she had done in Chuanhe Town.
"...The child picked up by the Jiang family is obviously my eldest sister's, but they still insist on letting it go. I, I gave my eldest sister an idea and asked her to pay someone to take the child back... Is this wrong?"