Mu family's little lucky girl

Chapter 228 A Night's Search (Two in One)

The night was not peaceful after all.

Zhong Shanghui finally found out about "Princess Qingyang"'s escape, he was furious, and immediately beat the two of them [-] times according to the rules of Wuji Pavilion.

Man [-] and Man [-] have given up more than half of their lives.

In order to perform well in front of Zhong Shanghui, Zhao Fan immediately sent people out to arrest him.

Just after the third watch, a group of dozens of yamen servants wearing fast uniforms hung their knives, braved the wind and rain, divided into several groups, and began to search every inn in Shilipo mightily.

"Bang bang bang!"

"Open the door!"

"Open the door!"

The innkeeper heard the sound of the door being slammed, and got up from the bed in a hurry to open the door. He didn't even care about putting on his clothes, and one of his shoes ran away.

When he opened the door and saw that there were many officials outside, the boss turned pale with fright.

"My lord, what are you doing here at the shop so late?"

"Arrest!" The leading yamen servant was tall and burly, with a stern face, "Go in and search for me!"

As soon as he gave an order, more than a dozen yamen servants rushed in in a swarm.

The sound of chaotic footsteps stepped on the rain.

The innkeeper looked blank, seeing that they were like robbers entering the village, he was panicked and anxious.

The innkeeper was puzzled.

When did the officials in Anling County become so arrogant?

He has opened a store here for more than ten years, and this is the first time he has encountered such a situation. However, it is not the first time that the innkeeper has seen officials entering the village like robbers.

In the inn on the north side of the Qinghe River, these things happen every three days.

However, the innkeeper never thought that he would encounter such a thing one day.

The leading yamen servant followed behind and also entered the inn.

The innkeeper was as anxious as an ant on a hot pot, watching the yamen servants act violently, forcing them to push the guest officials out of the room, dragging them all out of the door, and searching them randomly when they entered.

They don't let go of chairs, tables, clothes cabinets, etc.

The environment that the yamen servants passed through was a mess.

There are not only tourists who appreciate the mountains and rivers, but also some businessmen who come here to stay. They were sleeping soundly, but they were suddenly lifted from the bed and kicked off. Before they recovered, they watched the servants rummaging through the house in a daze. .

When they came back to their senses, none of them dared to speak out.

Standing outside the door like an angry little daughter-in-law and waiting.

The innkeeper looked at the mess in the room, and his head was about to grow big.

None of the dozens of guest rooms were spared.

The innkeeper was so anxious that he almost cried.

While apologizing to every guest officer staying at the hotel, he asked with a sad face:

"My lord, what is going on here?"

"What happened?"

"Speak up if you have something to say, I guarantee that you will know everything you want to say, and you must tell the official everything, so I ask the official to show your hand and let my little shop go."

"The small ones do some small business to make a living, and they can't make a lot of money all year round. Now, how can the small ones do business?"

A lot of clothes, shoes, socks and mattresses were thrown out in the corridor.

Inside the house was the sound of rummaging through boxes and cabinets.

The boss was so anxious that he was at a loss what to do, and the lady boss cried and her eyes turned red.

The leading yamen servant should be their leader. With his hand on his waist knife, his face was gloomy, watching a group of small yamen servants searching.

Hearing this, he looked at the innkeeper with heavy eyes, not angry but mighty.

"The government is arresting the criminal who fled. We received news that someone saw the criminal coming to Shilipo and has never left. She must be hiding in a corner here. We are ordered to investigate the case, and no one can wait to intervene! "

The innkeeper's heart skipped a beat.

Harbor criminals!

It was a serious crime in the Zhou Dynasty.

Emperor Gaozu of Zhou formulated strict punishments in order to prevent the common people from harboring criminals at the beginning of enacting the law.

Anyone who secretly harbors criminals will face prison if they are investigated and dealt with.

The lighter ones will be jailed for several years.

In severe cases, even the death penalty is possible.

The innkeeper was flustered.

There are old and young, and he just relies on doing some work to support his family. He does not steal or rob. He is an honest person. It was unexpected, but today he encountered such an unlucky thing.

When the proprietress of the inn heard that they might harbor criminals, she was greatly stimulated and almost fainted.

The innkeeper had quick eyes and quick hands, and hurriedly supported his wife, and helped her to sit on a chair.

Only then did he shout out his innocence, dragging his voice and crying.

"Officer, I have seniors and juniors, even if you lend me a thousand courage, I would not dare to harbor criminals."

"If I knew what the criminal looked like, I would immediately go to the Yamen and tell the official, I dare not harbor him."

"Did the officer make a mistake?"

The head of the yamen servant took out a piece of paper from his pocket.

Snapped!
Put it on the table.

"Look! Has the person in this portrait ever visited your store?"

The innkeeper picked up the portrait and looked at it carefully.

His inn receives hundreds of guests every day, no matter how powerful he is, he still can't remember everyone's faces.

Nervousness slowly expanded in my heart.

The proprietress only took one look, and immediately said, "I haven't been here!"

"Master, we have never been to this person in our store, and we have never seen him before."

The heads of the yamen servants did not believe what they said.

His face was very ugly, and he was suddenly arrested by Mr. Zhao in the middle of the night to arrest people. It was raining again, and he rushed here from the Xingzhou county government in the rain. It was a journey of more than ten miles, and he didn't even have time to take a breather.

There was a suffocating breath in my chest, and I couldn't go up or down.

It made him very irritable.

"Take a closer look, has she ever been to your shop?"

The proprietress has a relatively good memory, and she really hasn't seen this woman come to stay in the past two days.

Again.

"Never come!"

"My lord, such a beautiful girl is rare in the world. If you meet a little lady, you will definitely be impressed."

At this time, other yamen servants have also searched.

"Boss! I searched everywhere, but I didn't find her."

The man who was called the boss swept around the inn unhappily, waved his hand, and everyone followed him away.

These people come and go in a hurry, like wind and clouds.

Putting on the coir raincoat, he hurried away again.

It seems that it has never been here.

However, the mess in the inn reminded the innkeeper.

After the yamen servants left, the travelers and merchants were so angry that they didn't set off, and started to shoot at the innkeeper and the proprietress.

The innkeeper and the proprietress complained in their hearts, but they had nowhere to tell, so they could only apologize to everyone with a stern face.

……

The geographical location of Shilipo is very special. It is located at the junction of Xingzhou County and Anling County. With Qinghe River as the dividing line, the inn on the south side of Qinghe River is under the jurisdiction of Anling County, and the inn on the north side of Qinghe River is under the jurisdiction of Xingzhou County.

The innkeepers in Xingzhou County don't make such a clear distinction. When they see people wearing official uniforms, they behave very submissively, with low eyebrows and eyes, and don't think about whether they belong to the jurisdiction of these officials.

When the official came, they cooperated with the investigation.

Therefore, all the inns in the south of the Qinghe River were sent by Zhao Fan, the magistrate of Xingzhou County, to investigate without notifying the Magistrate Wu of Anling County.

After investigating the inn on the south side of the Qinghe River, they crossed the cross bridge and came to the north side of the Qinghe River on the other side of the river.

A new round of knocking on the door began.

Every inn cannot escape.

However, the person in the portrait was not found in every inn.

Everyone was almost exhausted.

The rain still showed no sign of stopping.

There is more and more mud under their feet, and their speed is getting slower and slower.

Everyone's emotions also became irritable.

It's almost five o'clock.

I searched continuously for an hour, but got nothing, and some yamen servants couldn't hold on anymore.

"Boss, do you think she guessed that we would go to the inn to catch her, so she hid on purpose?"

She is Princess Qingyang.

The rain was too loud, and the servant raised his voice and asked loudly.

The man called the boss had a sullen face and didn't answer him.

They came to the door of the last inn.

"Go and knock on the door!"

The man nodded yes, and knocked on the door, but he was sure in his heart that he couldn't find the person in the portrait here.

No one who came out to search knew who the person in the portrait was.

They just received an order from above. Mr. Zhao said that she was a repeat offender and ordered them to arrest her tonight.

But every yamen servant didn't think so.

The girl in the portrait is as beautiful as a fairy.

What crime can be committed?

Everyone knows that.

Eighty percent of the time Master Zhao snatched the little girl from somewhere and wanted to take her as a concubine, but the little girl refused, so she ran away.

He also deliberately said that he was here to catch criminals.

If they believe there will be ghosts.

Mr. Zhao has dispatched them more than once because of his own private affairs.

The most recent time, they were sent out to find someone.

That person was Mr. Zhao's concubine, and because he couldn't stand Mr. Zhao's strange demands in some aspects, he ran away privately.

With lessons learned from the past, they naturally would not believe that the woman in the portrait was really a criminal.

If it is a criminal, why haven't they heard anyone report the crime in the Yamen these days?
It is conceivable that Mr. Zhao is lying!
But these little ones can only obey and dare not speak nonsense.

The last inn.

"Boom boom boom!"

The boss, who had just fallen asleep, was woken up again by the knock on the door. This time, he was more angry than before. He took the oil-paper umbrella, put on his clothes and went to the yard.

As soon as the door latch was pulled open, he immediately said, "There are no guest rooms!"

"Go elsewhere!"

Before the words fell, there was a "bang".

The boss closes the door.

You can see how impatient he is.

A hand squeezed in through the crack of the door.

Then a group of people banged on the door.

Where is their boss?

When the proprietress put on her clothes and came to the eaves, she happened to see her husband being knocked to the ground.

He was lying in the muddy water, and he was out of shape.

Before the proprietress could react, these people rushed in like robbers. Someone bumped into her shoulder and nearly knocked her down. The proprietress turned around a few times to stabilize her figure.

The proprietress glanced at them and rushed into the rain to help her husband up.

The boss thought back and thought that the inn had been attacked by a group of robbers. He gritted his teeth and wished he could go up and tear them apart one by one.

However, there are too many opponents.

Outnumbered.

The boss had to endure it first.

At first, he thought that the other party was here to rob, to grab money, and he was bleeding with pain, and he was ready to be robbed by them.

If the money is gone, you can earn it again.

The boss comforted himself like this.

Turning around, he told his wife to quickly find a place to hide and not to come out.

He himself planned to rush to the yamen to report the case while the robbers were not paying attention to them.

As soon as the boss lifted his foot to leave, he was grabbed by his wife and pointed to those people for him to see.

When the boss saw what they were wearing, he was very surprised, his pupils were wide open, and he looked unbelievable.

"Master?"

The boss glanced at his wife, and saw confusion in his wife's eyes.

In the middle of the night, what are the officials going to do to mobilize the crowd?

The sound of rummaging through boxes and cabinets, the sound of tables and chairs falling to the ground, and the dissatisfaction and complaints of the people staying there recalled the couple's drifting thoughts.

The boss and the proprietress looked at each other and hurried into the lobby.

As soon as he entered the lobby, the boss was dragged to the side table by the head of the yamen.

"Ever met this man?"

His tone was cold and impatient, his face was tense, and he looked very scary.

The boss was pinned on the table by the head of the yamen servant and could not move.

Half of his face was pressed against the table.

The proprietress felt distressed, but she couldn't stop her.

The officials in Xingzhou County are all uncles. They have a bad temper and rough methods. If they have no money to spend, they will come to the store to ask for money openly.

If they don't give it, they will be beaten and smashed.

Ordinary people like them who make a small living rely on these to make money and support their families.

Destroy everything, and then they'll have to spend money to replace it.

In desperation, he had to pay money to eliminate the disaster.

Thinking of this, the proprietress felt envious.

Across the river, their treatment is very different.

The inns on the south side of the Qing River had never encountered a situation where they came to collect fees every three days or so. Except for the money they earned was handed over according to the standards set by the imperial court, the rest of the money was their own.

Throughout the year, you can earn a lot of money.

Unlike them, they have to pay money every now and then, and if they don't pay money, they will be beaten.

This is a good place. Originally, they could earn a lot of money by staying here all year round, but now, it is only enough to make ends meet.

The proprietress looked at a group of arrogant yamen servants, thinking that they had found a new excuse, and they just came to ask them for money.

What is puzzling is that they used to come here during the day or in the evening, but this was the first time in the middle of the night today.

The proprietress stepped forward and stuffed two taels of silver, and looked at her husband distressedly, her eyes were full of begging.

"Guard, look, if you have something to say, can you let my husband go first?"

The head of the yamen servant weighed the money and let go of the innkeeper.

"Come here late at night and take the liberty to disturb us. It's not what we want. It's really our duty."

"Take a look, both of you. If you have seen the woman in the portrait, you must report the truth without any concealment."

The boss rubbed half of his blushing face, and the boss and his wife went up to have a look.

Both shook their heads.

"Returning to the official, there has never been a woman like this in the shop."

"Look carefully!"

The two watched it several times.

Still shaking his head.

"My lord, there really isn't such a person in this small shop. This woman is so beautiful, she has a photographic memory. If the little lady sees her, she will definitely remember her."

The boss also hurriedly followed suit.

The other yamen servants did not find anything here.

The head of the yamen servant's face darkened, obviously displeased.

After working for several hours, I didn't even find anyone.

The head of the yamen servant looked at the two of them with unkind eyes.

"Let me remind you that the woman in this portrait is an important criminal. If any of you dare to harbor criminals, all of you will be put in jail."

"Tell me the truth!"

"Have you ever seen it?"

The boss and the proprietress were startled.

Why is there no excuse for wanting to impose a crime?

Plop.

The two fell to their knees.

"My lord, we really don't know."

"The woman in this painting has indeed never been to the shop. If we lie a little and deceive the official, we will be struck by lightning to death."

The proprietress made a poisonous oath.

To prove his innocence.

The boss stuffed a few pieces of silver into the hand of the yamen servant.

The official weighed again.

Adding one piece is worth five taels of silver.

His tense face gradually relaxed, and a smile appeared in his eyes.

"Since there is no one here, then we won't bother you."

He waved his arms.

"withdraw!"

During this trip, although the officials from Xingzhou County did not catch anyone, they made a lot of money.

Each inn "respects" a few taels of silver, and there are dozens of inns north of the Qinghe River.

Once they survive, these people can live happily for a while.

……

Meanwhile, the firewood room.

Chen Xiao and Mu Li woke up before the official messenger arrived at the inn.

Chen Xiao's hearing is extremely sensitive, he can hear everything that happened in the front yard clearly.

Mu Li doesn't have such good hearing, but she has hearing.

With the help of the listening pot, she could hear everything that happened in the front yard clearly.

It turned out that Zhong Shanghui's people had already discovered that she was gone.

Mu Li subconsciously touched his face.

Shouldn't she be thankful that it rained tonight and drenched all the imitation makeup on her face, so the boss and the boss's wife didn't recognize her.

otherwise……

There is bound to be a fight tonight.

It was five watch, and the sky was faint.

It rained less.

Their clothes were also dried by the fire.

Mu Li and Chen Xiao changed into their own clothes, neatly folded the clothes prepared by the proprietress, and put them on the bed made of assembled tables.

Before everyone woke up, the two quietly left the inn.

　I will try to make up for the missing chapters in the past few days~
　　
　
(End of this chapter)