PNB Chapter 133 Accident
Chapter 133 Accident
The hooded woman then realized her foolishness. At that moment, she was alone against three burly men; if they were to do anything to her, she would be powerless to resist.
Therefore, she suppressed her anger and apologized: "I'm sorry, gentlemen. I was wrong. It was because I was too impatient that my temper was a bit bad." As she spoke, the woman bowed slightly, took out a few silver notes from her sleeve, handed them to the man who had been beaten, and said pitifully, "I only have this much silver left. Please help me find someone, considering the high price I offered."
The man took the silver notes, counted them, and nodded to the other two. They then raised their torches and began to search the area around the stream. They hadn't searched long when one of the men exclaimed, "Found them! They must have crossed to the other side from there!"
The man who took the money pulled the woman along and waded through the water with the other two men. Looking at the fresh, wet footprints, he said with satisfaction, "Looks like that little bitch Ni Chang has caught up. Let's hurry and chase after her."
And so, the group followed the trail left by Ni Chang and her servant. Once they were far away and all was quiet, Li Xiaonuan crawled out from a thicket of bushes. She steadied herself and ran wildly downstream along the stream.
At this very moment, Prince Jing, who had been sitting in the Fuwei Courtyard awaiting a report, also welcomed back the people he had sent out.
"Your Highness, we discovered a group of outsiders in the western suburbs of the city acting suspiciously, so we went to investigate. Unfortunately, they discovered us. We tried everything we could, and it wasn't until nightfall that we managed to shake them off." This was a man sent out by Prince Jing.
"Your Highness, while investigating Miss Li's whereabouts, we raided a human traffickers' hideout. However, we didn't find Miss Li. Therefore, it took us quite a bit of effort to interrogate those traffickers." This was said by someone sent out by Wei Yu.
Prince Jing nodded and ordered his men, "Take enough men and apprehend that group. Take my seal and go to the outpost to call for reinforcements." The man respectfully accepted the order and left.
Prince Jing then turned to Wei Yu's men: "Tell me, what have you found out about those human traffickers you interrogated?"
The man answered politely, "Those human traffickers said that someone had contacted them, asking them to help abduct a woman, and offering an extremely high price. However, they had just pulled off a big heist a couple of days ago and hadn't finished up yet, so they didn't immediately take on any more orders."
Prince Jing sat up straight and asked, "Did those people say who asked them to abduct someone, and who that person was?"
The man shook his head in disappointment and said, "No. The traffickers said the person who came was a man who was wrapped up very tightly, and they couldn't tell how big he was from his voice. However, the man walked with a limp. Because they hadn't taken any orders, the man didn't reveal who he was trying to kidnap."
Prince Jing leaned back in his chair with regret and said dejectedly, "Then you can continue your investigation."
After everyone had left, Prince Jing rubbed his aching forehead. He got up and paced around a few times in frustration before sending someone to fetch Zhao Wangchuan.
So, Wei Yu and Qi Ji, led by that scoundrel, arrived at a small village in the suburbs. There, a group of thugs were blocking the outside of a dilapidated courtyard.
The hoodlum pushed through the crowd and led Wei Yu and Qi Ji inside before turning back to the people blocking the courtyard and asking, "Are you sure everyone's inside? You haven't followed the wrong people?"
Nearly thirty thugs replied in unison, "We definitely didn't mistake them for someone else; they're all inside. They were just trying to slip away, but we stopped them."
Wei Yu then tucked the fan into his waistband and kicked open the door. The door had probably been neglected for a long time; Wei Yu nearly tripped and fell flat on his face from the force of his kick.
Seeing Wei Yu's somewhat comical actions, Qi Ji put away his fan and strolled into the door Wei Yu had just kicked open. Wei Yu touched his nose and followed. He kicked down almost every door they encountered along the way.
Finally, they pulled the people out of a large water vat inside the house. But when they saw them, Wei Yu and the others were stunned. Because things didn't seem to be as they had imagined.
After being dragged out by Wei Yu and his men, the woman and three men immediately knelt down in front of them, pleading, "Please, please don't take us back to Qunfang Tower, I beg you!" The woman cried as she knelt and begged.
A handsome man behind her said in a trembling voice, "Please, we know you are good people. We only infiltrated Qunfang Pavilion to find our young lady. But later we found out that our young lady had been sold by Qunfang Pavilion. That's why we escaped from Qunfang Pavilion and planned to go to Linhai County to find our young lady."
"That's exactly right. Our young lady is the legitimate daughter of the head of the household, but she was sold by the wicked second wife. We searched the manor for a long time before we found out that our young lady had been sold to Yongzhou Prefecture. So, kind people, please don't take us back to Qunfang Pavilion," the woman continued.
Wei Yu was somewhat surprised, as he had never known there was such a significant inside story. Qi Ji fiddled with his fan, seemingly lost in thought. Seeing this, Wei Yu shook his head helplessly. He called out to the outside:
"Qingyun, take four or five people with you and go to Linhai County to find the person. Once you find them, help them take them home. Remember, don't come back until the truth is out."
A moment later, four or five people from the crowd left quietly.
When Wei Yu realized it was a misunderstanding, he lost interest. Bored, he walked out of the courtyard, looked at the thugs, and asked, "Did any of you see two young women today? Just a village girl and a young maid."
The vagrants exchanged glances, and after a while, one of them said, "All I know is that two girls went out of the north gate this morning. But the little girl came back before noon."
Upon hearing this, Qi Ji felt there was a possibility, so he asked, "Where did that girl go after you came back?"
The thug said, "She went to a gambling den in a dark alley and hasn't come out since."
"The Dark Alley Gambling House, isn't that Erhuzi's territory? Let's go, let's go and have a go at him." Wei Yu got excited as soon as he heard the words "Dark Alley Gambling House" and pulled Qi Ji away.
Qi Ji remained silent for a few steps before leaning close to Wei Yu's ear and whispering, "Have someone investigate Qunfanglou. I have a feeling there's something fishy about it. It's better to shut down a place like that to prevent it from harming more people."
Wei Yu thought it made sense, so he summoned people and assigned tasks. Afterwards, their group headed in a grand procession towards the legendary alley gambling den. Because they were such a conspicuous target, they continued to gain many new members along the way.
And so, when Wei Yu and his companion finally stood outside the dark alley gambling den, the entire city already knew that these two young masters were looking for a village girl named Li Xiaonuan.