Chapter 242: Separated! Luo'er Abducted!

Pei Lao Furen, face full of grief, slumped back into her seat.

"Whether he's truly mad or pretending, tie him up first."

"To the west of the city, quickly find people to plug every mouth! This matter is Li Kechuan's own doing, also his retribution; I believe Luo'er won't make a mistake."

"But this matter must not blow up."

"Li Kechuan may die, but he must absolutely not live to ruin Luo'er's reputation!"

"Luo'er herself may not care, but I must plan for her."

Zhang Mama kept nodding: "Yes, that's what the Old Lady said; I'll take care of it right away, making sure not a whisper of today's matter leaks out."

Zhang Mama rose and hurried out.

Pei Lao Furen suddenly called out to her again: "Wait! Where's Luo'er? Why hasn't Luo'er come back yet?"

Pei Lao Furen had originally planned to settle Li Chao Jing before Luo'er returned.

Because Luo'er knew that if her father came here, he would certainly be worried too.

But how come, until now, there's still no sign of her?

Could this child have done such a thing and implicated herself?

Li Qingluo had actually already escaped from the ruined temple.

However, she has run into a bit of trouble, so she hasn't been able to rush back home in time.

Because a cloth shop ahead caught fire.

This cloth shop's frontage is large, with several connected buildings on the opposite side of the street and on both left and right sides.

However, at this moment the flames shot up into the sky, about to set the whole street ablaze.

Between the two rows of cloth shops, a memorial arch still stood; now the arch has burned into a barrier that no person or carriage can pass under.

This side of the street had already been packed tightly shut.

Li Qingluo and her companions' carriage wanted to turn the horses and leave via another direction, but right now it's utterly impossible.

The bell tower of the Dali Temple sounded 'dong dong dong', and Deng Mama said: "The Water Dragon Bureau personnel should arrive shortly."

Li Qingluo wondered: "Water Dragon Bureau? Isn't that the imperial court's specialized fire-fighting team?"

Deng Mama nodded: "Yes, miss. When the General's Manor caught fire, the fire-fighting team also went; otherwise, relying on the General's Manor alone, the whole manor would likely have burned to ashes."

"But today's cloth shop fire is also suspicious... it's not night, so one wouldn't expect anyone to casually use fire."

Que'er stood on tiptoe to look inside: "I don't know if anyone else hasn't made it out. I hope no one suffers this innocent disaster like last time when our General's Manor was hit."

Li Qingluo's heart also felt heavy.

This cloth shop is as good as gone; with this fire burning, probably none of the goods can be saved.

Li Qingluo suddenly thought: "This cloth shop has nothing to do with Grandmother's Tianfeng Firm, right?"

Deng Mama shook her head: "No. This cloth shop belongs to the Baofeng Firm. The Baofeng Firm's master has unknown origins, no one has seen him; all we know is that the Baofeng Firm's business often deals with the Western Regions."

Western Regions?

Li Qingluo thought of the Maitreya Poison in the Nanjia Suo, which also comes from the Western Regions.

She suddenly grew anxious, continually looking up at the sun.

No one knows how things are at home yet.

Li Kechuan today, in the ruined temple, had set up a scheme for himself, hoping that grandmother would learn the truth and not be angry.

But the pressing matter now is that Li Qingluo worries even more that Li Chao Jing might harm grandmother.

"We can't delay. First abandon the carriage and leave on foot."

Li Qingluo put on her veil, and she and Deng Mama got down from the carriage.

Que'er and Zi Jin tightly linked arms with Li Qingluo; Wu Quan, Deng Mama, and several other mamas surrounded their young lady from all sides, front and back, left and right.

However, there were truly too many onlookers; even a single person could barely move, let alone Li Qingluo and her group clinging tightly together.

In an instant, due to the crowding from their outward push, the crowd also gained many complaints.

"What are you doing? If you didn't want to join the fun, why did you push in at the start?"

"Exactly, oh dear—my shoes, the new ones my mother just made for me—who stepped on me!!"

"My child, don't push, don't push——"

At the same time, several people from the Qu family were also pushing outward.

"Quickly search everywhere; is there any sign of the Fourth Young Master on this side?"

"No, not here, not there either. Steward Qi, what are we to do? The Fourth Young Master couldn't be in that cloth shop, could he?"

"What nonsense! Why would the Fourth Young Master go to the cloth shop early? Hurry up and look! Anyway, is it definitely not the west of the city? Make sure."

"It should be correct. The Fourth Young Master secretly left the manor early; aside from the note found in his room that still had the two characters 'west of the city', everything else was burned to ashes."

"Besides this west of the city, we have nowhere else to look."

"Hurry up and look!"

"Young master——Fourth Young Master——"

The Qu family's servants made quite a commotion looking for Qu Dao xun, but unfortunately, at this moment everyone had come to watch the cloth shop fire, so the ruined temple side didn't cause a stir.

Deng Mama said: "I was still afraid that if things blew up I'd get scolded by the Old Lady when I went back, so I had the few people who heard the commotion, and I still had Zheng Mama and the others press them down."

"Now, aside from the General's Manor's servant who saw it, it's just those beggars who know themselves... even if they sobered up, probably not a single one would survive."

"Miss, Li Kechuan's luck is also too good!"

"Originally I thought the ruined temple side would cause a big commotion, and those rumors would spread uncontrollably, but I can't blame them."

"Now it's actually good; because of this fire, no one is paying attention to the scandal at the ruined temple."

Li Qingluo, however, said indifferently: "No matter. Anyway, my goal has already been achieved; Li Kechuan's ruin and disgrace is a settled matter."

Having been drunk into a stupor by a gang of beggars, servants, and even his own cousin, what expression will Li Kechuan have when he sobers up?

Li Qingluo was actually looking forward to it, even feeling a bit regretful that she couldn't witness it herself.

At that moment, the cloth shop archway behind them suddenly, with a booming 'Boom—', crashed heavily to the ground after being burned.

The crowd watching the spectacle suddenly erupted into chaos.

Many commoners finally realized the danger and turned around, wanting to leave quickly.

But the crowding and noise startled many of the horses trapped inside; the horses neighed and trampled wildly, the crowd screamed in panic, and the chaos erupted completely at this moment—

It was at this very moment that Li Qingluo and her companions were also successfully separated by the crowd.

Li Qingluo was thrown apart by the huge impact, separating her from Que'er and Zi Jin.

Li Qingluo told Que'er to hold onto Zi Jin.

"Don't let her be seen by anyone from Prince Yun's mansion—hurry and go!"

Que'er glanced at the nanny and Wu Quan beside the young lady, but as she and the young lady grew farther apart, she could only hurriedly clutch Zi Jin tightly.

"Don't let go, absolutely don't let go!"

Deng Mama grabbed Li Qingluo tightly again, and she dodged a burly man lunging at her.

"Young lady, be careful!"

Li Qingluo lifted her gaze to the eaves beside her.

"Granny, do you know lightness skill?"

Deng Mama gave a wry smile: "Miss, you think too highly of this old servant; even alone, I would find it hard to escape."

Li Qingluo replied, "I'm young; if it's truly dangerous, granny, you don't need to worry about me!"

If only Prince Su were here.

He is highly skilled in martial arts, his lightness technique is superb, allowing him to come and go without a trace.

Moreover, he would surely send people quickly to stabilize the situation.

Li Qingluo looked at her wrist; if worse came to worst, she could escape using the fine silk, so she told granny not to worry about her if necessary.

The frantic horses and trampling behind had already drawn shrill cries from the crowd; Li Qingluo turned back and saw many children still in the throng, so she had Wu Quan lead people rushing back to first seize their own horses.

Turning around again, just then Li Qingluo spotted a familiar figure in the crowd.

"Pan Li?"

Pan Li was also being shielded and squeezed into a corner.

From her appearance, both she and her servant were unable to move, and Pan Li's expression looked extremely painful, as if she had suffered some injury…

Li Qingluo couldn't help shouting: "Pan Li!"

Pan Li looked up and saw her, but because Li Qingluo wore a veil, Pan Li didn't know who she was.

Yet she still slightly shook her head, opened her mouth as if to say: "Don't come over…"

But it was already too late.

Li Qingluo felt some force in the crowd suddenly and violently squeeze her, and Deng Mama beside her let out a muffled groan.

She lowered her head and saw a dagger embedded in her body.

Li Qingluo felt the world spin in an instant; she hadn't even seen clearly who had done it before losing all consciousness…

Although the officials quickly arrived to quell the chaos and disperse the crowd, still over a dozen innocent people died in the stampede.

Moreover, besides Xiuli Jiangjun Fu's carriage being brought under control early and led away, the horses of five other households were also seized by the officials due to this accident and led away, and each household could not escape being held accountable.

There were many bloodstains on the ground.

Besides the fire at the cloth shop not yet being under control, many injured people lay on the ground crying out in pain.

Deng Mama was shaken awake by Zheng Mama, her eyes red.

"Old Deng, old Deng? Old Deng, are you alright? You scared me to death—I thought you were dead!"

Deng Mama raised her hand and saw her palm covered in blood.

She clutched her lower left ribs, unable to cry out in pain, and anxiously grabbed Deng Mama with her other hand, shouting: "Quick! Quickly save the young lady—the young lady has been taken away—"

Zheng Mama exclaimed: "What!? Who was it?"

Deng Mama shook her head: "I don't know. I couldn't see clearly… Hurry, go back to the manor and inform the Old Lady—and also, go, go to Prince Su's mansion and notify Prince Su, Your Highness!"

……

Li Qingluo awoke in a pitch-black darkness.

All around was silent, and she could not see her own hand in front of her face.

Only behind her was a wall that Li Qingluo was leaning against.

She supported her heavy head and shook it, knowing she must have been drugged with a potent sedative, which caused her to lose consciousness instantly.

Had someone abducted her?

To dare openly seize someone in the midst of Jinling City— the perpetrators must have considerable backing.

Whether she merely happened to run into a plot aimed at Pan Li, or whether someone had deliberately targeted her all along, was still unknown.

Li Qingluo recalled that, before losing consciousness, she seemed to have seen Deng Mama being stabbed; she did not know if Deng Mama's life was in danger.

Li Qingluo's heart filled with worry unbidden.

She first felt around in her bosom, found a tinderbox, opened it, and immediately blew the spark into a flame.

Upon opening her eyes, she saw a bluish-gray face, which frightened Li Qingluo into quickly covering the tinderbox again.

What, what is that!?

Li Qingluo hesitated three times before steeling herself again, then relit the tinderbox.

One bluish-gray face, two bluish-gray faces, three, four, six or seven…

Li Qingluo swept the weak flame around the room and saw a total of seven bluish-gray faces, each with eyes wide open, positioned in the various corners.

Judging by the looks, they all appeared to be dead.