Chapter 248 Search

Chapter 248: The Search

Pei Zhiyi praised her without hesitation, "Princess Ye, your smile is truly beautiful."

"I spent two years in the military camp and didn't see a single woman—I dealt with soldiers all day long."

"You're the first person I've met since I got back to the capital. Can I be friends with you?"

As she spoke, fearing that Ji Yuntang might refuse her, she quickly added:

"I know this might sound forward, but I really like you as a person. I think you're very smart, and I like being friends with smart people."

She was very straightforward, and her gaze at Ji Yuntang was open and sincere.

And that was a look Ji Yuntang couldn't turn down.

She held out her hand to Pei Zhiyi. "Nice to meet you, Miss Pei."

Pei Zhiyi was stunned for a moment before realizing what was happening. She immediately placed her hand on Ji Yuntang's palm.

Her face bloomed like a flower. "Great! I finally have a friend."

Ji Yuntang smiled at her but said nothing.

The group rode a carriage and soon arrived at Osmanthus Village.

It was autumn, the season of harvest. A quick glance showed many villagers working in the fields, showing a scene of a bountiful harvest.

Village Head Qin approached Ji Yuntang and asked nervously:

"Princess Ye, could there be some mistake? There doesn't seem to be anything unusual in Osmanthus Village today."

"To get out of the village, you have to go through this road. The man Widow Yang sheltered is an outsider. He wouldn't dare steal away the two children in broad daylight. If he did, the villagers would surely have noticed and tied him up by now."

Pei Zhiyi said, "What if he disguised himself as one of your villagers?"

"With everyone busy with the harvest, how could they all be keeping an eye on him?"

Ji Yuntang pursed her lips and said slowly, "Let's go to Widow Yang's house and see if the children are there."

No one objected to this proposal.

"Da Ya, Er Ya, Mommy is back!"

As soon as she pushed open the courtyard door, Widow Yang called out, shouting her children's names like she always did.

But after calling several times, there was no response. Widow Yang immediately ran into the room to look.

The room was in disarray. The furniture and wardrobe looked as though someone had rummaged through them. Children's clothes were scattered on the floor.

Unable to find her two daughters, Widow Yang's heart dropped. She hurried to the jar where she kept her savings and looked inside.

Opening the jar, it was completely empty—even the cloth bag she kept her money in was gone.

Widow Yang immediately beat her thighs and wailed, "It's all gone! The fifteen taels of silver their father left for the three of us—all gone! How am I supposed to live now!"

Village Head Qin, his face stern, said gravely, "Today, the young man Wang Sheng came to me and asked me to bring him to your house. When we came this afternoon, we didn't enter your home. Your two daughters were crying in the yard. Young Wang spent money to buy them some food from the village entrance and slipped it in through the crack in the door."

"It seems very likely that the man you took in is responsible."

Ji Yuntang's face was grim. She spoke calmly and methodically, "Village Head Qin, gather some villagers to search the area around Osmanthus Village for any suspicious person."

"Miss Pei and I will check around the village to see if we can find any clues."

Village Head Qin immediately agreed.

The group split up and began their search.

Ji Yuntang found an older woman working in the field and asked if she had seen anyone passing by, especially someone pulling a cart or driving a carriage.

After some inquiry, the woman told her:

"It rained recently, so the road is still muddy and hard to walk on. This afternoon, I only saw an old man pulling firewood on a cart. I didn't see anyone else."

"This road is a main road for our village. Whether going up the mountain to chop wood or leaving for the city, everyone passes through here. A lot of people travel it daily. One or two villagers pulling carts is nothing unusual."

Pei Zhiyi looked at Ji Yuntang and said, "Chopping wood on a rainy day... I find him suspicious."

Ji Yuntang agreed, "I think so too."

Given their size, to take them out of the village without alarming the villagers, Zhu Mian would have had to alter his appearance.

Disguising himself as an old woodcutter was quite possible.

"The old woman said he went along this road. There are still some cart tracks on the ground. Let's follow them and see if we can find any more clues," Ji Yuntang said.

Then she and Pei Zhiyi followed the road to search.

The mountain path was rough and winding. At a fork, Pei Zhiyi noticed that the cart tracks had vanished.

"The tracks are gone. How can that be?"

"Princess Ye, can you find anything?"

Ji Yuntang squinted. She slowly crouched down and ran her fingers over the damp earth.

This was a three-way intersection, surrounded by high slopes. The cart tracks shouldn't have disappeared here.

Suddenly, a flash of bright red caught Ji Yuntang's peripheral vision.

She stood up, walked quickly over, and picked up the item from the grass.

It was a red hair ornament, simple in style.

Pei Zhiyi said angrily, "That's obviously something a little girl would wear. How did it end up here? Have the two children met with misfortune?"

It's not surprising she thought that—the road below was a hundred-meter high slope, dense with trees, with no bottom in sight.

If Zhu Mian had indeed killed them and dumped their bodies here, it would be very hard to trace.

Ji Yuntang analyzed the situation in her mind and said calmly, "He needs the children as hostages. They should still be safe. Let's search here first and see if there are any other clues."

Pei Zhiyi nodded. One searched the left side, the other the right, and indeed Ji Yuntang found something suspicious.

The grass on one slope had collapsed, as if something heavy had flattened it.

Just then, Wang Sheng arrived with the government officials.

When the constables saw that it was Princess Ye and the Second Miss Pei themselves, they knew this was no small matter.

After all, these two were too famous in the capital; ordinary people simply dared not provoke them.

Widow Yang rushed over, knelt on the ground, and cried out, "Officer, you must save my two daughters! They have been kidnapped, and it's unknown whether they're alive or dead. You must help me find them."

The leading constable said a few words to comfort Widow Yang, then came over and bowed to Ji Yuntang and Pei Zhiyi. "I, your subordinate, pay my respects to Princess Ye and Second Miss Pei."

Ji Yuntang made a soft "hmm" and pointed at the flattened grass under the cliff, saying, "I suspect Zhu Mian is down there. May I trouble you, Officer, to take some men down to search."

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