Chapter 82 - 82: Chance Encounter_l

Translator: 549690339

Wu Daozi led Yingbao down the mountain, saying as they walked, “I’m taking you to an old friend’s house to stay for a few days. After I take care of some things here, I’ll send you back to Qinchuan County.”

“Okay, thank you, Uncle Wu.”

The two of them trudged through the snow, passing two streets. When they were near the alley of Aunt Chen’s house, they saw a mule cart emerging from within.

Yingbao shivered, instinctively hiding behind Wu Daozi.

That was the mule cart of the Han Family. Why had she come back?

Wu Daozi also noticed Yingbao’s vigilance. He glanced at the mule cart and asked, “What’s wrong?”

Yingbao whispered, “It’s that kidnapper, she’s back.”

“Go! Go!” The coachman waved the whip and urged the mule forward. The mule cart quickly pulled away, disappearing into the distance.

Yingbao kept her head lowered, her fingers tightly clutching Wu Daozi’s sleeve, not daring to look up until the mule cart was no longer visible.

The Han Family member must have had unspeakable motives coming here. Maybe she intended to silence her, otherwise it wouldn’t make sense.

The journey from Qinchuan County to Zhouhe County was more than a hundred miles, not just a mile or two. The Han family’s woman had just returned the day before yesterday, it was unreasonable for her to hastily return today.

There must be that her mother had informed the officials, the government had already found some evidence, so the Han family’s woman was in a hurry to return to Zhouhe County, intending to deal with her.

She couldn’t let that happen; she had to hurry home.

Only by returning home could the danger be lifted and the instigator be brought to justice.

After walking for a while, Yingbao followed Wu Daozi to a house where two horse-mounting stones stood at the entrance.

He knocked on the door knocker and soon a teenage servant boy opened the door. Upon seeing the visitors, he immediately opened the wooden door with a full-face smile, “It turns out it’s Master Wu, our master is free today.”

Wu Daozi nodded to him and pointed at Yingbao, “This is a child from my hometown. I plan to take her to Qinchuan County. I would like to borrow your house for a few days. Could you please convey this request to your master for

The servant boy hurriedly said, “Since it’s a guest brought by Master Wu, I’ll inform my lady right away. We will definitely arrange for her properly. Please come in.”

“Thank you.”

Only then did Wu Daozi lead Yingbao across the threshold.

Shortly after, Wu Daozi was led to an outer courtyard, while Yingbao was handed over to a dark-skinned maid by the servant boy.

The maid, who was about thirteen or fourteen, looked at Yingbao with disdain, but still brought her a basin of water to wash her face and hair.

Fortunately, while Yingbao’s face and hair were dirty, her body was not.

After washing some semblance of cleanliness, the maid was surprised and said as she wiped Yingbao’s hair, “What happened to you, little girl? Did you fall into a mud ditch?”

Yingbao nodded.

The maid cleaned her hands and face and led her to a courtyard.

“Madame, here is the girl brought by Master Wu. I have cleaned her up. Would you like to meet her?” The maid asked from under the eaves of the house.

They heard an old woman’s voice from inside, “The mistress has already seen her. Take her to the guesthouse, find her a room and let her stay there. She should not leave the courtyard unless necessary.”

“Yes.” The maid led Yingbao to the guesthouse, opened the door of a room and let her in.

The guest room was small and full of dust, as if no one had lived there for a long time. There were no covers on the small wooden bed either.

However, the maid soon brought another quilt and sent her a pot of hot tea.

Yingbao gave thanks, climbed onto the bed and spread the quilt, before going to sleep.

The snow outside was getting heavier and heavier, quickly covering the ground in a layer of white.

Qinchuan County.

Xu Chunniang was in tears, clinging onto Sister Jiang Yunniang’s hand. “It must be the cursed Han Family who hired someone to abduct my Baobao, ugh…

I will not let them go.”

Jiang Yunniang sighed, wiped her sister-in-law’s tears, and comforted her, “Don’t worry, Sun Licheng has already submitted your statement to the County Government. There should be a verdict soon.”

Jiang Liu’s wife also cried, “Chunniang, stop crying. I’m also feeling terrible.

Although we didn’t catch anyone, someone recognized one of them as Chen

Ergou, that damned beast. He hasn’t returned home these days, and I don’t believe he’ll never come back.”

That day, two veiled men took the child and quickly disappeared into the reeds, leaving no trace. The villagers chased them for a long time and couldn’t find anyone. Upon closer inspection, they found that they had escaped from the other side.

However, someone recognized one of them as Chen Ergou from West Village— the other person was probably Chen Ergou’s friend or relative.

So Old man Jiang went to Lizheng to file a complaint.

Sun Licheng searched several places but didn’t find anyone. In the end, he went to the husband’s family where Chen Ergou had arranged for his daughter to be adopted, and learned that Chen Ergou had been living there these past few days. However, noticing Sun Licheng and his men arriving, he and his son-in-law had already fled.

Having failed to catch the culprits, on behalf of the Jiang family, Sun Licheng wrote an accusation asserting that Chen Ergou had abducted the child. At Xu Chunniang’s strong suggestion, they also included Han’s family sisters, the daughters-in-law of Chen Lao Shuan, as they were also suspects in the accusation.

They initially wanted to include Aunt Wu as well in the report, but she took an oath, claiming that she knew nothing, but admitted to receiving five taels of silver from the Han sisters for revealing the birthmark on Han’s youngest daughter’s wrist. She denied knowing anything beyond that.

So, Chunniang left her twin sons in the care of her sister-in-law and traveled with her in-laws and Sun Licheng to the county seat.

After Sun Licheng submitted the document to the government office, he went to his son’s house. Chunniang and her in-laws stayed at her elder sister’s house to wait for news from the government office.

But they waited for several days without any news from the government office.

What Chunniang and others didn’t know was that, after the complaint reached the bookkeeper at the County Government, he did not report it to the County Magistrate.

He took the written accusation to Chen Guanglu and laughed, “Chen Guanglu, your wife is in big trouble.”

Chen Guanglu was surprised, “What do you mean, Master Lin?”

Lin, the bookkeeper, shook the report in his hand, “Someone has accused your wife of hiring others to kidnap a child. Thirty villagers have put their fingerprints on the report as evidence that this is true.”

“What? Let me see.” Chen Guanglu extended his hand to take a look, but Lin moved it away.

“You can’t see it, you can’t see it.” Lin laughed, “This matter is serious. I suggest you go back and ask for details. Fortunately, our honorable Mingfu is about to step down, so legal matters will be postponed for a while, otherwise, I wouldn’t tell you about this.”

Chen Guanglu frowned and could only thank Lin, “Thank you Master Lin for informing me, once I find out more, I’ll have to bother you for guidance.” Lin stroked his beard and smiled without answering.

Chen Guanglu rushed back home and asked his wife as soon as he saw her, “What did you do in Chuanhe Town?”

Little Lady Han was startled and slowly said, “I just went to visit my sister, what else could I do?”

“Tell the truth!” Chen Guanglu slapped the table and shouted, “The complaint has been submitted to the County Government, and you’re still lying! Tell me!

What have you done!”

Little Lady Han was startled, and the teacup in her hand fell to the ground and shattered.

Seeing her husband’s furious expression, Little Lady Han dared not hide it anymore and told him all she had done in Chuanhe Town.

“…The child picked up by the Jiang family is clearly my sister’s, but they stubbornly refused to let go, so… so I suggested to my sister to hire a man to take him back…. am I wrong to do so?”