The destination of Sheng Weide and his party was Lingxi Mountain in the southwest corner of Nanfeng County. Lingxi Mountain is tall and graceful with beautiful scenery. It is said that white rhinoceros haunted this place in ancient times, hence its name.
From Nanfeng County to the foot of Lingxi Mountain, it is about less than a hundred miles, which is not a long distance. However, because I brought a female family with me, I had to adapt to the speed of the carriage, so I had to walk for three or four days.
They were caught up on the third day, when they had already sighted Lingxi Mountain. The first person to come was Sheng Lanci's most capable steward, Sheng Fu.
"My eldest son, I have been ordered by the eldest master to inquire about something important!" After Sheng Fu caught up with the team, he rushed to the carriage first, lifted the curtain, and looked at Sheng Weiqiao from head to toe. After confirming that the sweetheart of his immediate boss had no injuries other than being suddenly startled by him, Fang let out a long sigh and returned to his usual calmness.
After apologizing, he lowered the curtain and went to see Xu Baomo. Seeing that Xu Baomo was fine, he obviously relaxed a lot. After bowing with his fists in hand, before Sheng Weide could speak, something suddenly occurred to him, and his calm expression changed again. "By the way, why were the third lady and cousin not seen in the car just now?"
"Cousin and third sister?" At this question, not only Sheng Weide, but also Xu Baomo and Sheng Weiche beside them were shocked and said in unison, "Shouldn't they have returned to the house a long time ago?!"
Hearing this, Sheng Fu's face turned pale and he said, "Didn't the cousin and the third lady travel together with the team? Why did they turn back midway?!"
Sheng Weide was at a loss and said: "After leaving the city the day before yesterday, my cousin and my third sister had an argument for some unknown reason. They even got into a fight during lunch. I... I thought they were too noisy, so I ordered them to be sent back to the house and handed over to my grandfather. !”
"The day before yesterday?!" After hearing this, Sheng Fu's face became even more ugly. He squeezed the riding crop hard and then said in a deep voice, "Young Master, the two young ladies are just afraid... I'm afraid something will happen! The reason why the eldest master suddenly I sent the young one to catch up because someone discovered a corpse outside the city yesterday, and he was one of the guards who participated in escorting several people out on the road this time!"
The Sheng family is wealthy and often performs charitable deeds such as building bridges and paving roads. They are a typical example of benevolence for the rich that the government strongly advocates. Of course, the relationship between the two parties is very close. The guards in the mansion often interacted with the Yamen officers and were familiar with each other. Therefore, after the body was sent to the Yamen, the identity of the deceased was confirmed without the need to publish a list.
When the Sheng family received the news, they naturally suspected that something had gone wrong with Sheng Weide and his group - not to mention that all the older grandchildren of the Sheng family were in the team this time. The safety of Xu Baomo, let alone the Sheng family, was in danger. It is impossible for the officials in Nanfeng County to just sit back and watch!
The Shengfu and his party who will catch up are the ones with the best riding skills and the best riding skills. They are ordered by Sheng Lanci, so after seeing the team, the first thing to confirm is Sheng Weiqiao's safety, and the second It was Xu Baomo's turn.
Seeing that both of them were safe and the entire team had no intention of panic, Sheng Fu thought it was a false alarm. It happened after the guard left alone for some reason with the permission of Sheng Weide and other principals. , has nothing to do with the young masters of the Sheng family or Xu Baomo.
Who would have thought that a small group of people, including a young lady and a cousin, were missing? !
"How could this happen?!" Although Sheng Fu looked solemn, Sheng Weide only felt his eyes darken and almost fell off his horse!
He heard that Sheng Weirao and Shen Jiuniang had never returned to the Sheng Mansion, and they could still hold on to hope for the worst. For example, the two sisters were worried about being punished by Mrs. Sheng when they returned, so they temporarily hid somewhere else.
Now that the guard who followed them was dead on the roadside, he couldn't deceive himself any more - no matter what happened to them, Sheng Weide, who was responsible for sending them back by force, must bear the brunt of the responsibility!
What's more, even though Sheng Weide has a bad relationship with his half-sister Sheng Weirao, he is not vicious enough to want her to die. As for his cousin Shen Jiuniang, she has no grudges against him! These two are both girls. If something goes wrong, even if they are rescued, their reputations will be ruined!
At that time, how could he face them? !
"Such a thing happened!" Seeing that Sheng Weide's expression was wrong, Xu Baomo's eyes flashed and he said, "Then we wait for An Neng to continue to visit Lingxi Mountain? We will quickly return to the county to see if there are any Where you can be of service!”
He was here as a guest, and the Sheng family was not a small family with insufficient manpower. Even if two girls were missing, there was no reason for him to go to the battle in person to help.
So these words were actually meant for Sheng Weide - Sheng Weide heard it and nodded gratefully towards him, saying to Sheng Fu, "Brother Xu Shi is right, Uncle Fu, are we going back right now?"
The reason why Sheng Fu explained the incident in front of Xu Baomo was actually because he hoped that they would stop going to Lingxi Mountain. After all, even if only Sheng Weirao and Shen Jiuniang were in trouble at the moment, who knew whether the person who did it was also targeting Sheng Weide and others
Until the truth of the matter is revealed, safety comes first.
However, Sheng Weide agreed with Xu Baomo's suggestion at this moment, which made him frown secretly and thought to himself: "No wonder the old man didn't bring any grandchildren when he visited Mr. Xu before! The eldest son has a kind-hearted character and is honest and thoughtful. But it’s so imprudent!”
- This trip was mainly to entertain Xu Baomo, so after hearing about the incident between Sheng Weirao and Shen Jiuniang, Xu Baomo immediately proposed to give up the trip. This was because he was a guest and was considerate of the host; Agreeing, but disrespecting the guest's performance.
Because this move means that Sheng Weide regards the affairs of the Sheng family as more important than entertaining Xu Baomo. This is very rude based on human relations.
If it were Sheng Fu, he would either solemnly confess to Xu Baomo, then order Sheng Weiche to take his place and continue to play with Xu Baomo, and return to the county alone to explain; or he would directly thank Xu Baomo for his consideration and concern for people like him. It is safe, so it is natural to agree to return - like Sheng Weide, he just nodded to Xu Baomo and said to go back. You must know that this is the first time for Xu Baomo to come to the Sheng family, and it is not that he grew up with the juniors of the Sheng family. Yes, the relationship between the two parties is not familiar enough to be completely informal, okay
But in front of everyone, Sheng Fu didn't want to mention the eldest son, but he thought about telling Sheng Lanci when he went back to make amends, lest Xu Baomo didn't say anything and underestimated the entire Sheng family. .
Seeing that the team had begun to turn around, Sheng Fu, Sheng Weide and Xu Baomo apologized, returned to the carriage, and briefly explained the reason to the surprised sisters Sheng Weiqiao and Sheng Wewu.
The two sisters were shocked when they heard this. Apart from being worried, they both regretted not persuading Sheng Weide to stay at that time, and also felt guilty for not accompanying Sheng Weirao and Shen Jiuniang back together: "In that case, the eldest brother will definitely arrange more escorts, maybe it won't happen problem occurs!"
Sheng Fu was perfunctory, but he was secretly glad in his heart - in fact, Sheng Weide arranged four guards, four male servants in their prime, and two mothers-in-law for the cousins, not counting the two girls' personal maids.
It was a clear day and it was only half a day away from the city. Who would have thought that something would happen to such a team
Fortunately, Sheng Weiqiao was not there, otherwise Sheng Fu wouldn't know how to explain to Sheng Lanci? !
After walking back for only half a day, they began to encounter the following troops who were catching up. When the third group came, it was Sheng Lanci who led the group himself.
Hearing that Sheng Weirao and Shen Jiuniang were both missing, and that everyone else was fine, Sheng Lanci wiped the sweat from her face, relieved her heart, and said in deep thought: "My niece and nephew have always been alone. Who would target them in the inner house?”
Shengfu whispered: "Could it be... that you are motivated by wealth?"
"It's unlikely to be a temporary act." Sheng Lanci shook his head, "According to De'er, the two children were not alone, and they were walking on a busy road. But if the body of the guard hadn't been discovered, , and asked the Yamen to recognize them, I’m afraid we still don’t know that something happened to them - if such a trick was done on the spur of the moment, how can it be an ordinary bandit? "
And Nanfeng County has been very peaceful in recent years. Not to mention the area near the county town, even in the remote corners, there are no established gangsters. It is impossible to kidnap so many people at once without even escaping alive!
Shengfu was silent for a moment: "Master, are you doubting...?"
"The most important thing now is to get the two children back!" Sheng Lanci looked at the crowd around him and said, "If you work harder, ask them to give you some horses that still have enough strength, and change horses immediately. I rushed back to the city to put up a reward: no matter who it is, as long as they can send the two children back safely, they will be rewarded with one hundred thousand taels of silver, and they will be treated as honored guests!"
"One hundred thousand taels of silver?!" Although Sheng Fu had been following Sheng Lanci since he was young and was used to seeing the scenes, he couldn't help but be surprised when he heard this. Even though Sheng Lanci went out for a trip, he spent one thousand taels to buy a dagger for his daughter. , that's because the Sheng family now has strong financial resources, and Sheng Lanci loves her daughter, so she is generous.
As for ordinary people, a family of six would only spend one or two hundred taels of silver a year based on the standard of having enough food and clothing and going to restaurants every now and then.
One can imagine what kind of figure one hundred thousand taels of silver is!
If Sheng Weiqiao is one of the people who might get into trouble, it would not be unusual for Sheng Lanci to offer one million taels of silver to Sheng Fu. But now the two girls are just Sheng Lanci's niece. Sheng Fu couldn't help but feel a little distressed. After all, the Sheng family's money was not earned by Sheng Weirao and Shen Jiuniang's parents. He couldn't help but whisper, "Master, Is this amount too big? How about I ask for ten thousand taels of silver first and then add more after two days depending on the situation? "
"People are important, those two children are girls!" Sheng Lanci's face was gloomy, "If the money is gone, you can make more money, but what should you do if someone makes a mistake?! You must not slowly increase the price for this kind of thing, otherwise it will be impossible If you encounter someone who is greedy and thinks you can make more money by sending someone back a few days later, wouldn’t you be harming your child?!”
He exhaled, his eyes full of gloom and worry, "Especially since it is already the third day that the two children have been missing - if the person who did it intends to kidnap them away, and hurry up, they will probably be out of the county by now!"
As one of the three most powerful families in Nanfeng County, the Sheng family is considered very powerful in Nanfeng County. However, outside the county, their influence has been greatly reduced. At that time, they would like help to find two people. Girl, that can only rely on the power of money!
However, even though Sheng Lanci offered such a huge reward, after the group returned to Sheng Mansion and waited for three full days, there was still no sign of Sheng Weirao and Shen Jiuniang, alive or dead, and there was no news!
The second wife, Mrs. Bai, was not a virtuous person to begin with. She had always disliked Sheng Weide, the first wife's legitimate son. Now she had a reason to make trouble three times a day, demanding that Sheng Weide repay her daughter's life!
Sheng Lanxin and his wife, who rushed over after receiving the news, were not as straightforward as she was, but they were quite resentful towards Sheng Weide. However, after the reason for the cousins' quarrel was found out, Sheng Lanci called someone directly Drag the Bai family back and lock it up, and then send her back to the Bai family after a lot of trouble. Don't ever enter the Sheng family again!
After all, if Bai hadn't tried to get Sheng Weirao to hook up with Xu Baomo, Mrs. Ming wouldn't have asked Shen Jiuniang to participate in the outing, so how could what happened now happen? !
Now all the targets were directed at the Bai family, Mrs. Ming was also involved. It was hard to talk about the son-in-law, but Sheng Lanxin cried and complained to Mrs. Ming in public: "What kind of person is the second sister-in-law? Who doesn't know this?! My mother knew that she was teaching Luo'er indiscriminately, but she didn't discipline her. Instead, she dragged my innocent Jiu Niang into the water! I only have one daughter, and I don't want to live if she has a bad girl! !!”
In fact, Sheng Lan also knew that Mrs. Ming was mainly afraid that Sheng Lansi would be implicated, so she hid it from the Bai family. However, she thought that her daughter was planning to return to the Shen family, and Mrs. Ming coaxed her into the outing. Since then, I have embarked on a road of no return. I don’t know whether I am still alive or not - I really can’t swallow this breath!
Under such circumstances, Ms. Feng could only call her daughter to tell her about her eldest nephew’s birthday: “Your aunt really shouldn’t have said what she said! Your grandmother was already blaming herself. Are you afraid that you won’t be able to think about it all of a sudden? Your father is a man, and he is in charge of the business of finding someone, so he has nothing to do. I have to take turns with your third aunt to accompany your grandmother these two days, and I really can’t leave! Fortunately, your aunt has always been considerate. , has sent someone with a message that we don’t have to go back this time. However, Zhiren is your eldest cousin and the eldest grandson of the Feng family. On his birthday, not a serious owner of our family will go, nor will he. Decent. You brothers and sisters are old enough, so you can send congratulatory gifts for me and say hello to the Feng family!"
Sheng Weiqiao pouted: "I'll just make this trip with dad on your behalf. Then where is Sheng Suihe going? What does he have to do with the Feng family!"
"You want to enter the ancestral hall again?" Mrs. Feng sneered and said slowly, "Because of the incident between Rao'er and Jiuniang, your grandfather has been in a very bad mood these past two days! Do you really think that this will hit him? Let’s talk about it first, your father and I are very busy right now, and we don’t have time to plead for you!”
"..." Sheng Weiqiao walked out of Chengchun Terrace angrily, but was stopped by the boy.