After the whole family was swept away, I lay down flat

Chapter 795 Excuses
Haitang originally just wanted to see Jin Jiashu off, but she didn't expect to run into the men in black who were lying in wait on the way. This delay wasted a lot of time. When she got home, it was already daybreak.

There was still no one in the alley, so she wanted to climb over the wall and go back to her backyard. However, as soon as she reached the top of the wall, she saw Xiangcao wandering around the yard anxiously like a headless fly.

Xiangcao's mother, Mama Li, told her not to worry and to calm down and talk properly. Xiangcao then said, "The girl is missing! She said she was going to exercise when she got up this morning, but when I got up just now, I couldn't find her anywhere. The girl is not in the backyard, nor is she practicing martial arts in the second courtyard in front. I have looked for her in the upper room of the main courtyard and the study, but she is nowhere to be found. What should I do?!"

Mother Li was also shocked when she heard this: "Could it be that you missed something? This house is so big, maybe the girl is hiding somewhere? You must have missed it. Otherwise, there are so many people at home, how could the girl be lost? She practices martial arts all day long, and so many villains came to the Jin family the night before yesterday, but none of them could match her. Is there anyone in this world who could kidnap the girl from the house without anyone noticing?!"

Mother Li didn't believe that Haitang had been in trouble. She thought that she must have gone to a room that Xiangcao hadn't looked for. She advised her daughter to keep looking. If she couldn't find her, she should report to the master and the mistress: "How can you look for her alone? Why don't you go and tell the mistress to send a few more people to search everywhere!"

Xiangcao hesitated. She had not been working for Haitang for a long time, but she had understood Haitang's temper to some extent. She knew that she would get rid of the people around her from time to time to do some secret things that she didn't want others to know. Now that she suddenly disappeared, maybe it was the same. If she couldn't find anyone for a while and started to make a fuss, and alarmed the master and the mistress, would it affect the girl's work?

Vanilla didn't dare to act on her own, so she said stiffly, "Then I'll look for it again. I haven't looked in the front yard yet, maybe the girl went out the second door early in the morning..."

When Haitang heard this, she quietly climbed down the wall and returned to the alley.

If only Xiangcao was in the backyard, she would just climb over the wall and go in, since Xiangcao wouldn't talk much to anyone. But Madam Li was there too. She worked in the upper room of the main courtyard, but she was on duty in the sewing room in the backyard at night. She would habitually report anything to Madam Ma, especially anything related to Haitang. Haitang didn't want to bother to explain her private trip in front of her grandmother, so she simply used a backup plan.

Haitang had made some preparations last night. Now she was floating in the alley. When she reached the front yard wall, she flew up to the top of the wall, climbed inside the wall, jumped under the eaves of the small building, and used the brackets to jump to the second-floor window sill. She had half opened the window last night, so now she could easily pry open the window leaf and climb the window sill to jump in.

At this time, Vanilla happened to come to the front yard and met Little Stone coming out of the room. When he saw her, he looked puzzled: "Why is Sister Vanilla here? Are you here to get breakfast?"

Vanilla hesitated for a moment, and before she could answer, she heard a creaking sound coming from above the small building. She looked up and saw that two windows upstairs were pushed open. Her daughter Haitang, wearing a cloak, was standing upright and gracefully in the window, looking downstairs.

She was immediately pleasantly surprised: "Girl! You are here!"

Little Stone also looked upstairs in surprise: "When did my sister come? I didn't hear anything!"

Haitang smiled and said, "When I got up early to exercise, I suddenly thought of something, so I came here. At that time, everyone was still asleep, and I was afraid of disturbing everyone's sleep, so I simply climbed over the wall to get out. I was in the building just now, thinking about something, and forgot the time. I was worried that Xiangcao would not be able to find me when she got up, so I was worried." As she said that, she closed the window very naturally with her backhand, and then walked downstairs slowly. Although no one lives in the small building at present, it was cleaned when the whole house was cleaned a few years ago, so there is not much dust in the building. She walked all the way, deliberately leaving a few footprints on the road, which was enough to deal with it.

After going downstairs, Haitang comforted Xiangcao with a few words, and Xiangcao no longer had any doubts, thinking that she had not come to the front yard to look for someone and had missed the girl. Now that she had found the girl, she began to worry about Haitang not having breakfast yet, and hurried to the kitchen.

Little Stone also felt a little hungry, so he asked Xiangcao to bring him some food. He turned around and casually said to Haitang, "When did you come, sister? I got up early to practice boxing in the yard and didn't realize you were upstairs."

Haitang smiled: "I was thinking about something at that time, why would I disturb you for no reason? You should practice your boxing skills carefully. When practicing martial arts, pay less attention to the noise around you and concentrate on it."

Little Stone said awkwardly, "I'm sleepy after getting up so early. Even if I want to concentrate on practicing martial arts, I can't help but be distracted by the noise around me...Okay, I'll concentrate next time. But sister, why did you come upstairs for no reason? What are you thinking about so intently?"

Haitang had already thought of an excuse when she went downstairs: "I suddenly thought, if our family is going to Beijing in the second half of the year, when will the date be set? If it is not a date set in advance, I am afraid that many things on the road will be difficult to arrange. At that time, should we follow others or go on our own? If we follow others, it's fine. The caravan has its own guards, so we don't have to worry about it. We just need to arrange the time. But if we go on our own, we have to hire guards in advance, otherwise, we may not be able to safely carry more than 2,000 miles with just the people in our family. We have a lot of valuables in our luggage. What if we meet a strong man on the road? I'm not afraid, but grandpa and grandma are old, and Second Aunt is also weak. There are more women and children in the family than young and strong people, and I'm afraid I can't take good care of them."

Little Stone was immediately solemn when he heard this: "Sister, you are right. We need to arrange this in advance. If we can find a big caravan to go with us, they will bring powerful guards with them, so we don't have to worry about this. But there are only a few big caravans in Chang'an, and their arrival time in Beijing may not coincide with ours. If it doesn't happen by chance, we can only hire people on our own."

Haitang nodded, "If we want to hire bodyguards, it's better to find a few with good reputations in advance, keep them at home, and get to know each other first, instead of waiting until we are about to set off. Even if there is something wrong, we can find out in time and replace them, which is better than finding out halfway that the two sides are not getting along. Otherwise, if he gets angry halfway and threatens to leave, where can we find someone to replace him in a short time? If we can't find a replacement, we either have to reduce the number of guards or agree to his price increase, which is not a good choice."

Little Stone understood: "If our family wants to hire guards in advance, the only place we can accommodate people in our house is the empty room upstairs. No wonder you came to see us specially, sister!"

Now that the family has grown a lot, the servants' room is no longer large enough, so some people have moved to the empty rooms upstairs. The new Qiu family members live in the east room on the second floor, but there are still many empty rooms left, which is more than enough for another ten or eight people. Although the upstairs room is not warm enough, after the beginning of spring, the weather has turned warmer, and without the kang and brazier, people will not feel uncomfortable living here.

Little Shitou felt that his sister was very thoughtful and far-sighted. He immediately said that he would also help: "Sister, just go and tell Grandpa and Grandma. As long as they agree, I will go out and help find out! I guarantee that I will find the most honest, reliable and skilled guards for our family to protect our family and bring them to Beijing safely!"

Haitang smiled and said, "Then I'll leave the task of finding out the news about the guards to you. But there's no rush. The city is not peaceful right now. Let's wait until spring comes."

(End of this chapter)