Chapter 245

Li Qingluo blinked, looking at Pan Li with a half-smile, and asked her: "Do you know what's going on?"

Pan Li's eyes filled with tears, and she choked: "I'm not me…… but I am me…… How could you possibly guess something so unimaginable? This is impossible!!"

They hadn't spelled it out, but Pan Li could feel that Li Qingluo knew exactly who she was.

This made her feel even more shocked.

Li Qingluo: "Alright, let's talk about this after we get out alive. Right now, the urgent priority is to leave this Pei family dungeon and find out whether this person is friend or foe."

She lifted her head to look at the person who had saved them, and for some reason, deep down she felt an inexplicable, wonderful sense of familiarity……

Xiuli Jiangjun Fu.

Pei Lao Furen paced anxiously on the spot, her brows tightly furrowed, unable to let go.

A sound came from the doorway; she immediately looked up and saw Zheng Mama running over.

Pei Lao Furen immediately put on an anxious face and asked: "How is it?! Any news about Luo'er?!"

Zheng Mama shook her head, feeling ashamed.

"Old Lady, because of the big fire in the west of the city today, there are simply too many people over there, making it hard to find any useful clues now in the western part of the city."

"Who exactly took advantage of the chaos to abduct the young lady? This…… this is like looking for a needle in a haystack for us!"

Pei Lao Furen stumbled backward heavily, and Ying'er caught her.

"Old Lady? You, you don't rush……"

Pei Lao Furen shook her head with a sorrowful expression.

"Luo'er, my Luo'er…… please don't come to any harm. By the way, aren't the people from Prince Su Fu helping to look? Any clues?"

At this point, Pei Lao Furen no longer cared about keeping Prince Su away from Luo'er; as long as Luo'er returned safe and sound, nothing else mattered.

She took two more steps forward: "No, I'll go myself to beg Prince Su, Your Highness!"

Zheng Mama: "Old Lady, Prince Su, Your Highness happens to be away from Jinling City these two days, so when we went to Prince Su Fu to report this and ask for help, only one Po Feng guard was there."

"That guard has personally led people in searching, but…… it's also…… impossible to make a big show of the search, because if this gets out, it would affect the young lady's reputation…… even if we find her, what would we do afterwards?"

Pei Lao Furen: "What reputation at a time like this?! I just want Luo'er alive!! Hasn't her reputation already been ruined by her parents and older brother?! What else matters?! Search, give me a massive manhunt, turn the world upside down to find her!!"

Zheng Mama then said: "Yes, I'll take care of it right away!"

After Zheng Mama left, Zhang Mama came in again.

Pei Lao Furen had already slumped into a chair; seeing Zhang Mama, she asked: "Where's Deng Mama? How is her injury?"

Zhang Mama's expression was somewhat hesitant: "She's awake, Old Lady…… Deng Mama said, she said she has something to tell you……"

Pei Lao Furen waved her hand: "At a time like this, don't talk about apologizing—she barely escaped with her life; how could I blame her for not giving her life to protect Luo'er?"

Zhang Mama: "It's about clues to the young lady's disappearance; Deng Mama just said she's remembered some important things. But she needs to tell you in person……"

Pei Lao Furen immediately stood up: "Why are you only saying this now? Hurry and take me to see her!"

Pei Lao Furen rushed in a flurry to Deng Mama's room, and Deng Mama had already been bandaged.

Seeing Pei Lao Furen, she struggled to half rise: "Old Lady, that knife, it's a Pei family knife!"

Pei Lao Furen momentarily couldn't comprehend.

"What are you saying? What Pei family knife?"

Deng Mama anxiously explained: "The knife that stabbed me, I know it clearly, I'm absolutely certain—it's a Pei family knife!"

Pei Lao Furen stood there stunned for a moment, with no reaction.

Deng Mama hurriedly explained: "All the Pei family's knives have a special mark on the tip. Although I haven't seen one in decades, I just realized—isn't that exactly the kind of knife only the Pei family has?"

"When I lowered my head and saw the tip, I was just a bit muddle-headed, so I didn't think of it right away. But the more I think about it now, the more it seems off—could it be that the Pei family kidnapped the young lady?"

"Besides, the young lady was taken from right beside me without making a sound…… Old Lady, do you still remember the confusion powder?"

Zhang Mama, standing nearby, promptly responded: "Confusion powder? I remember!"

"Back when we were still at the military front lines, the old duke had a woman from the Western Regions by his side. This woman was mysterious and unfathomable, claiming to be a witch doctor, and she had all sorts of strange tricks up her sleeve. She possessed something that, with just a light flick of a fingernail, could instantly render a person unconscious, unresponsive, as if they'd fallen asleep—a kind of drug."

"This thing is called confusion powder!"

Deng Mama: "Exactly. This substance is colorless, tasteless, and induces unconsciousness, making it extremely terrifying! Old Lady, you used to dislike that witch doctor, thinking her methods were sometimes too cruel and strange. But what if, what if the young lady was actually affected by confusion powder this time?"

Pei Lao Furen: "You mean, that Western Region witch doctor woman has been in the Pei family all these years?"

Deng Mama: "I don't know, but the young lady's disappearance must be related to the Pei family!"

"Furthermore, the young lady had seen the eldest daughter of the Pan family several times today, and right before her disappearance she also happened to see that Pan family eldest daughter."

Zhang Mama: "Then I'll go inquire whether that Pan family young lady has also gone missing."

Pei Lao Furen weakly raised her hand: "Go, hurry."

After Zhang Mama hurriedly left, Pei Lao Furen also turned and slowly walked out.

"Someone! Help me put on armor, and let's go to the Pei family!"

Li Qingluo and Pan Li walked in the narrow, dark passage for who knows how long, until Pan Li could barely move and finally plopped down on the ground.

"I can't go on……"

Pan Li: "I'm both hungry and exhausted…… if I keep walking like this, I'll die……"

Li Qingluo was actually quite tired too.

They had been struggling with those people and Pei Sanlang in the dungeon for so long, and then continued walking nonstop in this passage for at least an hour.

By now, both feet were already hurting to the point of almost losing sensation.

She glanced back at the road behind her.

Seeing no footsteps following, she then looked up at the person ahead: "Sir, would it be alright for us to rest here for a moment?"

That person had been walking very slowly.

Moreover, they seemed tired from walking, and Li Qingluo had already seen them several times lean against the wall to stop and catch their breath.

At that moment, hearing the voices behind them, they turned halfway and said, "All right."

Li Qingluo then let Pan Li sit, while she herself began to look around.

Li Qingluo felt the dampness on the wall.

Then she tilted her ear and listened all along, finally hearing a faint drip from somewhere behind her.

She immediately took out a fire striker, lit it, and saw water droplets occasionally falling from the corner of the wall.

Li Qingluo quickly took out a handkerchief from her bosom and used it to catch the water droplets.

Since the droplets were really too slow and too few, Li Qingluo waited a good while before the handkerchief became half wet.

But having some is still better than having none.

She hurriedly got up and went back to Pan Li's side: "Come, wet your lips, wipe your face."

Pan Li took it without a word and pressed it to her mouth.

Li Qingluo returned to her previous spot, caught a few drops with her fingers, and directly smeared them on her mouth.

The tall, thin man who had been silently watching her do all this suddenly burst into a violent coughing fit.

"Cough cough... cough cough cough..."

Hearing that sound, Li Qingluo feared he might cough himself into passing out.

Immediately afterward, he seemed to suddenly be unable to catch his breath, taking deep gulps of air in succession, looking very painful.

After all, this person had appeared and saved her and Pan Li; although Li Qingluo still didn't know his purpose, she hurriedly went over and sincerely asked, "Sir, is there anything I can help with?"

The man weakly pointed to his waist; seeing that it was inconvenient for him to move himself, Li Qingluo said, "Then I'll offend you."

She first handed the fire striker to Pan Li beside her, then stepped forward and lifted the outermost thick fur on his body, seeing that indeed a water pouch hung from his waist.

Li Qingluo quickly took the water pouch, but the man shook his head: "Medicine... in my bosom..."

Medicine in his bosom?

Li Qingluo did not dare hesitate, reached into his bosom and felt around, indeed finding a medicine bottle.

She quickly took out the medicine and poured one pill into her palm.

At this moment, the man again burst into violent coughing.

Li Qingluo paused, then reached out and began patting his back gently: "Are you still okay? How many pills should you take?"

"One... one pill will do."

Li Qingluo then helped him swallow the pill; amazingly, after just a moment, he actually became much more stable.

This medicine, is it truly a miraculous elixir?

"Miss, if you don't disdain it, this water can be used."

Li Qingluo dared not disdain it.

She and Pan Li did not know how long they had been brought here; now they were so hungry their fronts stuck to their backs, and because they had gone so long without water, their strength was also gradually fading.

At this point, they could no longer bother with gender distinctions; both hurriedly drank from the water pouch.

However, they also dared not drink too much; each took just a few sips and then returned it to him.

"May I ask your esteemed name, sir? Why did you save us two today?"

"Besides, this is the Péi family prison; how did you know this place, sir? Could you also be a member of the Péi family?"

Since they had already arrived here, Li Qingluo also directly asked.

At that moment, in the dim light, the man slowly raised his head to look at Li Qingluo.

Li Qingluo also looked at him.

The man's appearance actually made her feel somewhat familiar, yet she couldn't recall where she had seen him before.

She just couldn't remember, no matter how she tried.

He had somewhat feminine features, his eyes and nose unusually handsome.

Just looking at his body, it was indeed extremely weak, as if even breathing was difficult.

He, who exactly is he?