Pei Shi was stunned, his heart beating fast for no reason.
He did this secretly, and outsiders would never think that it was him who did it.
So what did the Wei family want to do by stopping his carriage? Blackmail
Pei Shixian sneered in his heart, but still said in a gentle voice: "Master Zhou's apprentice is missing, how could Pei know about it?"
Manager Feng touched his chin and said, "But Master Zhou asked me to meet Mr. Jiang Pei and ask you to come over and talk to him."
Pei Shixian's face changed, and after thinking for a moment, he took out a silver ingot from his sleeve and stuffed it into Steward Feng's hand. "Thank you for your reminder, Steward Feng. Pei will go to Master Zhou to take a look."
Manager Feng was holding the silver ingot in his hand, smiling and not moving.
Pei Shixian had no choice but to take out another silver note from his sleeve and stuff it into his hand, then he clasped his fists towards him and said, "Manager Feng, please make way."
Only then did Manager Feng ask everyone to disperse and let the carriage pass.
Pei Shi first drove the carriage to a secluded place and said to Han's mother and daughter, "You guys find an inn to stay in first. I'll go back and see what's going on."
Han said anxiously: "Husband, what should we do with our Yuanbao?"
She took her daughter out of the city but did not bring her youngest son Yuanbao with her, so she couldn't help but worry.
"Yuanbao will be fine." Pei Shixian gave a few more instructions and handed all the silver notes and change he had on him to his wife: "If anything goes wrong, don't go home. Take this silver and go directly to the capital to seek refuge with Grand Tutor Xiao."
Han nodded and turned to look at her daughter. Seeing that she was still dazed, she couldn't help but worry: "What's wrong with the second girl? Why is she so listless?"
"Maybe there's a knockout drug in that kid's blood. It's okay. It will be fine after a while."
Pei Shi first sent the mother and daughter to an inn, used his ID card to register for a room, and left the carriage to them. He also told them that as long as he did not come back the next day, they should leave the city quickly.
Afterwards, Pei Shixian walked slowly towards home.
Before I reached the door of my house, I met the Xiao family guards.
"Mr. Pei, the young master wants to see you." The leader of the guards said coldly.
Pei Shixian pretended to be calm and asked, "What's the matter, sir?"
"I don't know." The head guard didn't want to say more, and signaled his attendants to help Pei Shi get into a carriage first.
The carriage galloped all the way and finally stopped at the back door of Xiao's house.
Two guards carried Pei Shixian out of the car and took him directly to Xiao Weizhong's study.
Xiao Weizhong sat in the armchair, looked at Pei Shixian coldly, and asked, "Where did Mr. Pei go today?"
Pei Shi first straightened his robe, bowed respectfully to Xiao Weizhong, and replied: "I am going out of the city for a while, I wonder what you want, sir?"
Xiao Weizhong: "Mr. Pei, you don't have to hide anything from me. I just want to know, what is your intention in kidnapping Zhou Wuchang's apprentice?"
Pei Shixian's face turned pale, and he quickly bowed deeply to Xiao Weizhong: "My lord, you are very observant. I am just curious about why that child can be favored by Zhou Wuchang, so I..."
Xiao Weizhong fiddled with the teacup at hand, stared at him calmly, and motioned for him to continue.
Pei Shi first wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and said, "I calculated that although the child was born with good fortune, she would die young. I saw that her fate was strange, so I cast a spell to bless her so that she could live longer..."
"Is that really the case?" Xiao Weizhong picked up the teacup and squinted at Pei Shixian: "Where is that little girl?"
"She mistakenly thought that I wanted to harm her, so she ran away. I don't know where she went." Pei Shixian spoke more fluently and his expression became more relaxed.
Xiao Weizhong chuckled and put down the teacup: "In that case, you come with me to see Zhou Wuchang and explain the whole thing to him so that he won't misunderstand."
After saying that, he stood up and took Pei Shi out the door first.
On the way, he met his second son, Xiao Chengjun. Seeing that he was wearing armor and had a sword on his waist, he asked, "Chengjun, why are you back?"
Xiao Chengjun clasped his fists towards him and said, "Dad, I heard that there was a Taoist priest causing trouble in the city, so I brought some people back to take a look."
"Nothing, just some misunderstandings, wait for your father to explain it clearly." Xiao Weizhong waved his hand at his son: "Go back to the barracks quickly, and don't act impulsively."
Xiao Chengjun frowned: "Dad, I'd better go with you. If someone makes trouble, we can't tolerate it."
Seeing that his son insisted, Xiao Weizhong said nothing more and walked out the door.
At this moment, Zhou Wuchang was sitting cross-legged at the door of Pei Shixian's house. When he saw Xiao Weizhong and others coming, he did not get up but closed his eyes and pretended to be asleep.
The eldest disciple Zhou Hao and the second disciple Zhang Min stood behind him, silently watching the person coming.
"Master Zhou, Xiao has brought Mr. Pei here. You can ask him whatever you want." Xiao Weizhong walked closer and said.
Zhou Wuchang opened his eyes, looked at the newcomer coldly, and said, "I have nothing to ask. If he doesn't send my disciple back safe and sound today, I will have to give him a taste of his own medicine."
I'm afraid these people have forgotten what he used to do, so they dare to attack their own apprentice.
Pei Shixian's face changed and he immediately clasped his fists and bowed: "I... I... know nothing." In the end, he did not dare to admit that this matter had anything to do with him.
Zhou Wuchang sneered, took out an hourglass from his sleeve and placed it on the ground in front of him. "When the sand runs out, I will do it myself."
Pei Shixian was sweating profusely and turned to look at his master. He pleaded, "My dear, please look..."
When Xiao Weizhong saw that Pei Shixian didn't tell the truth, he immediately understood something and frowned, saying, "Mr. Pei, just tell the truth."
Zhou Wuchang has a special identity and even the emperor can't do anything to him. I'm just a censor and I'm not in the right, so what can I do to him
Pei Shixian's hands and feet began to tremble, but he managed to calm himself down and said, "I'll tell you the truth... I just came back from outside the city, and I really don't know what Master Zhou is talking about."
He cleaned out the manor last night and sent away his disciples who participated in the kidnapping. Only two mute servants were left. Even if Zhou Wuchang found the place, he would not be able to find any evidence.
As for the child, Yue Niang and I covered our faces at the time, and then we gave her a knockout drug, so I don't think she knew what had happened.
Afterwards he gave the child a bowl of mute medicine, which made her unable to speak for a long time.
Even if we find the child, she is only a few years old and doesn't understand anything. What can she explain
Zhou Wuchang closed his eyes and meditated, ignoring Pei Shixian.
Xiao Chengjun, who was standing next to Xiao Weizhong, was angry when he saw how rude he was. He was about to step forward to say something, but was stopped by his father: "Chengjun, it's not right for you and me to intervene in this matter. Let's leave it to the government office to resolve it."
After saying that, he turned and left.
Pei Shixian saw Xiao Weizhong leave, hesitated for a moment, and walked into the house.
All his children huddled in the house, and his concubines dared not even breathe.
When they saw the master of the house coming back, they immediately surrounded him and started chattering and asking questions.
Pei Shixian interrupted them and asked, "Where is Yuanlang?"
The nurse came over and knelt down to greet him: "The young master has been crying all night and has just fallen asleep."
Pei Shixian took a step forward to check on his youngest son, only to see that he was indeed fast asleep, and he sighed slightly in his heart.
Turning to the nurse, he said, "Take good care of Yuan Lang. If anything goes wrong, you will be held responsible."
The nurse knelt down and responded.
Pei Shixian then left his youngest son's room and went to his wife's room to sort out things.
He packed up all the jewelry, silver banknotes, gold and silver utensils and jewelry, put them in his sleeves, turned around and walked out of the house towards the inn.
He wanted to send Han Yueniang and her daughter away to avoid any trouble.
Chen Tiantian is the person specially appointed by Grand Tutor Xiao to take care of, and she is also the lucky star who is the only one who can inherit the throne as the king. As long as he can get close to her, why should he worry about the prosperity of his family
By then, he will be the father-in-law of the future emperor, and his youngest son will be the brother-in-law of the future emperor.
From now on, he no longer had to be someone else's retainer, nor did he have to act according to the Xiao family's wishes.
It’s exciting just to think about it.
So he is taking a gamble now to pave the way for the future.
As the ancients said, people die for money and birds die for food. This is true.