Chapter 34

Meng Dangni zi flew into a rage, slamming the table hard, "You're full of lies—indeed I've been too lenient with you all!"

"Houmen is locked, and it's not the way out from Qianting."

"Could it be that my Qinger has grown wings and can fly?!"

"Meng Dangni zi," Mu Nan Zhao said, "may I trouble you to take me to Houyuan to have a look?"

The corridor on the first floor of Zhenbaoge is the only necessary passage to Houyuan.

Houyuan isn't large, but it has been carefully tended.

Flower pots, shrubs and grass clumps can be seen everywhere, the ground paved with blue stone slabs, giving a deep courtyard feeling.

Mu Nan Zhao first had the servant maid point out where Xiao Qinger had last been playing.

He bent down to look at the ground, then walked straight ahead, stopping only when he reached the base of the courtyard wall.

Meng Dangni zi quietly asked Gu Xixi, "What is your husband looking at?"

Gu Xixi shook her head. "I don't know, but I trust him."

"Please, Meng Daniang, give him a little more time."

Mu Nan Zhao heard Gu Xixi's words and paused slightly.

Then he continued west along the wall base for ten steps and stopped again.

He bent down and pushed aside the weeds at the wall base, revealing a hole in the wall.

Meng Dangni zi gasped in surprise, "How could I not know there's still a hole here?"

The servant maids and helpers behind her also said they didn't know.

Mu Nan Zhao brushed aside the grass and said firmly, "There's fresh dust rubbed off here; the child must have come out this way."

Meng Dangni zi hurriedly called for someone to unlock the Houmen and went out to look for the child.

She was almost crying, "Qinger is so little—how could she possibly crawl out a dog hole to play?"

"Could it be that someone deliberately dug this hole to lure my Qinger out?"

"If this time it really is a bad person who abducted her, what are we to do?"

Gu Xixi said, "Meng Daniang, you'd better stay in the shop."

"If someone brings Qinger back, we can't have nobody in the shop."

Meng Dangni zi has only Qinger as a child, and she cherishes her more than her own eyes.

At this moment she is at her wits' end, and indeed not suited to go out looking for someone.

"But…"

"No buts." Gu Xixi comfortingly patted Meng Dangni zi's hand.

"We will surely bring Qinger back safe and sound."

Gu Xixi walked out the Houmen of Zhenbaoge.

Before her lay a straight Beixiang; she was looking around to decide which way to go.

Mu Nan Zhao said coldly, "This has nothing to do with me; believe it or not as you wish."

Gu Xixi turned her head, "I know that."

Mu Nan Zhao reached out and seized her wrist, "This way."

Gu Xixi stood dazed, letting Mu Nan Zhao lead her all the way out of the alley.

After asking several stall vendors on the street, they indeed gained some information.

An old woman selling large bowls of tea said, "I did see a little girl like that."

"But beside her was a boy about that tall, roughly six or seven years old."

"They walked hand in hand from here; it was just the time it takes to finish a cup of tea."

Although Gu Xixi wasn't thirsty, she still bought two bowls of tea to support the old woman's business.

While drinking tea, the old woman added, "I recall seeing that boy as well."

"He seems to be acquainted with the bun seller up ahead; you can go ask there."

Gu Xixi and Mu Nan Zhao exchanged a glance, set down the copper coins, thanked the old woman, and hurried to find the Baozitan.

The Baozitan owner, a middle‑aged man, said, "You're talking about the little Shitou from the fruit‑tree family, right?"

He raised a hand and pointed across the street, "He's right over there."

Across the street is a Chaguan; right now performers are doing acrobatics in the downstairs hall.

Two small figures, one tall and one short, were lying side by side outside the Chaguan window.

Gu Xixi recognized Xiao Qinger, smiled at Mu Nan Zhao, and let out a sigh of relief.

"Qinger." Gu Xixi walked over and called softly.

The little girl turned her head, blinking her big, watery grape‑like eyes, "Aunt Gu, why are you here?"

Gu Xixi poked her little nose, "You still have the nerve to ask me?"

"You ran off with someone else—how dangerous! Your mother must be worried sick."

Qinger tilted her head in puzzlement, "Shitou brother is Qinger's friend, not a stranger."

The boy named Shitou looked about six or seven, with dark skin and a slim, tall build.

He had big double‑eyelidded eyes, a high straight nose bridge, and on closer look was a good‑looking child.

From the moment Gu Xixi and Mu Nan Zhao appeared, he had been watching them warily.

Gu Xixi pulled Qinger to her side and asked the boy, "Are you Shitou? Did you teach Qinger to dig that wall hole?"

Shitou's eyes flickered, then he puffed out his chest and lifted his chin, putting on an indifferent air.

"Didn't I leave you a note?"

"Qinger said she'd never seen acrobatics, so I openly brought her out to play—it's definitely not abduction!"

Gu Xixi and Mu Nan Zhao stared at each other.

Mu Nan Zhao doesn't have Xixi's good temper: "What message did you leave? Where did you write it? Did you ever hand it over to his family's elder in person?"

Shitou said, "Of course it was written on the ground outside their Houmen, with characters carved using a stone..."

He started out confident, but as he went on, his voice grew weaker.

"Indeed, I didn't hand it over to her family's elder."

Gu Xixi broke into a cold sweat.

The characters carved on the ground with a stone were not very clear to begin with.

Just then, the staff of Zhenbaoge ran out again from Houmen to look for people; after being trampled, the traces of the characters are probably no longer visible.

Mu Nan Zhao said coldly, "You didn't give prior notice and just took someone else's daughter out, and you still say it's not abduction?"

Gu Xixi cleared her throat a few times, giving Mu Nan Zhao a look.

This child after all has no ill intent; there's really no need to be so strict.

Shitou lowered his head and stayed silent, his expression somewhat ashamed.

Gu Xixi bent over to look at him, smiling, and said, "Qinger's mother thought she had encountered bad people, and was very worried."

"Could you come with us to explain things clearly in person?"

Shitou glanced at Xiao Qinger, hesitated a moment, then finally said in a low voice, "I'll go!"

On the way back to Zhenbaoge, Gu Xixi asked, "Shitou, you can read, you've been to school, right?"

Shitou answered, "I have."

After a moment, he added, "But I haven't gone in a long time."

Gu Xixi was stunned, "Why not go? You're so young, this is exactly the time to study."

Shitou suddenly felt like he'd been pricked by a needle, his eyes widened and he growled low, "I'm not going, and it's none of your business!"

The atmosphere instantly froze.

Qinger looked at Shitou, worried and confused, "Shitou bro, what's wrong with you?"

Gu Xixi paused, "Sorry, I didn't mean to pry into your privacy; if you don't want to talk, you don't have to."

Shitou was somewhat surprised and lifted his head to look at Gu Xixi.

This woman actually apologizes to a child? She's different from those adults in his impression.

In the Houyuan of Zhenbaoge, Meng Dangni zi found her beloved daughter, and naturally gave countless thanks to Mu Nan Zhao and Gu Xixi.

Meng Daniang tightly hugged Qinger, and her emotions finally calmed down.

"Qinger, how have I usually told you? Don't go with strangers!"

Qinger pouted, "Shitou bro isn't a stranger; he always plays with Qinger."