Chapter 203 Bean Paste Dumplings (3)
The pile of ownerless masks left on the day of the Mid-Autumn Lantern Festival were all thrown into the warehouse of Jingzhao Mansion.
"I haven't touched the mask since I brought it back." said the Jingzhao Mansion officer who took Zhao You and Liu Yuan to the warehouse to get the mask.
After all, I was worried that Zhao You came to get the mask alone, and Liu Yuan also came with him.
Now that we are here...
"Can other items besides the mask be taken away with you?" the officer turned to ask Liu Yuan.
Liu Yuan thought for a while, nodded and said, "What other things are there? Let's take them with us too!"
"There is only a pile of masks on top of the lantern festival," the officer said, leading the two people into the warehouse, pointing to the letter next to the pile of masks, and said, "But the two young ladies who came to report to the official earlier did leave some before they went missing. thing."
Liu Yuan stepped forward and picked up the two letters, tilted his head and asked the officer: "Is this the letter you sir are talking about?"
The guard nodded: "It's the farewell letter left by those two young ladies who ran away from home!"
The handwriting has been checked, and judging from the word usage and handwriting, it seems to have been written by the young lady herself.
Although the sentences are different, the content is similar. They all said that they met their destined lover. That lover was the son of a rich family. The son's family would not allow them to marry themselves, so the two decided to elope for love and live with their beloved. Go ahead and find a future, and don't let your parents and family worry about it.
Although the governor of Jingzhao had already told Lin Shaoqing about this matter during the Lantern Festival, and they already knew about it, after reading these two letters, Liu Yuan couldn't help but cursed, "What a ghost!"
Isn’t he a “bad guy”? The middle-aged man on the side of the guard sighed and said: "My youngest daughter is now six years old. I have to educate her from a young age and teach her to be wary of such a messy husband!"
I really have read too many stories about elopements for love in storybooks, but I have forgotten to look beyond the stories to see the consequences of elopements that we see every day, and most of them are even worse for those women.
These women's families are not rich and powerful, but they have been loved and raised since childhood, so they are so naive that they don't know that things like daily necessities, food, clothing, and food are the most important things to juggle with each other.
Even if he is really the son of a wealthy family, who can be a responsible person who can do such irresponsible things? It's just that the two of them were lucky and never encountered bad people on the road. This money was enough to make life difficult for them. In the end, the young master was found by the clan and married a well-matched young lady. The eloped woman ended up miserable.
Not to mention looking at this situation, how could there be so many wealthy young men? I'm afraid he's not a kidnapper who does dirty things in the name of a rich man!
"One is a young lady from the Chen family of Zhengogouyoufang, and the other is Miss Chang from Changji Mipu. Although she is not rich, she has enough food and clothing." The officer said, "They both got lost a few days ago. Even during the process They are all the same. When they go out, they find an excuse to send the maid who is following them out to buy things, and then when the maid is not around, they disappear with the same soft letter that they had already packed. "
When Liu Yuan heard this, he couldn't help but sneer: "This rich man who appears from nowhere is really very 'charming'!"
"Isn't that right?" the servant said while helping to sort out the things and hand them over to Zhao You, "According to the memories of the two young ladies, the young master was thought to be different. One lost his handkerchief when he was offering incense and picked it up. The destined people who got the veil; one was the one who met a gangster while shopping and suddenly appeared and scolded the gangster for 'saving the beauty'!"
The lady of the Chen family lost her handkerchief when offering incense, but the handkerchief was worthless, and there were quite a few people who lost their handkerchiefs, hairpins, and even purses when they offered incense. There is a special novice monk standing at the door of the temple to take care of the lost things. There are a lot of handkerchiefs, hairpins, and purses there. If you lose something, just go there and look for it.
Not to mention a rich man who knows etiquette, even an ordinary person can just bring something to a young novice monk. Is there any need to go around asking who lost it with the handkerchief?
And the person the young lady of the Chang family met was even more wrong! In broad daylight, gangsters who dare to molest women openly must be very courageous. A few courageous gangsters will feel guilty or fearful of a few "sage words" from a helpless scholar, and then run away. What? It would be nice if the gangsters they saw didn't beat up the young master who came out to "meddle in other people's business"!
These two incidents were full of holes in the eyes of the people in Jingzhao Mansion and the elders of the Chen family and the Chang family. Naturally, they immediately reported the matter to the official as soon as they heard about this "beloved man".
"According to the maid's description, the two of them look different, so they are not the same person, but the method is a bit subtle." The servant sighed, "It seems that someone specially raised some fine-skinned and tender 'boys' like this. His purpose is to trick these women into taking the bait!"
At present, the portraits of the two "young masters" have been posted. I haven't received any news for several days, so they must have been hidden.
In this way, those "gentlemen" cannot show up after defrauding a woman, so they must be short of manpower. If they are short of manpower, those people will most likely... look around for poor scholars with acceptable looks to join their gang.
"The person behind this is extremely cunning. He must have known that abducting so many young ladies at the lantern festival would attract the attention of the government." Liu Yuan handed the things he brought back from Jingzhao Mansion to Lin Fei and said, "This matter has been spread outside. Now, on the way back with Zhao You, we rarely see any young ladies traveling alone!"
With so many people missing suddenly, parents with daughters at home must be careful not to go out unless absolutely necessary, and even if they go out, they must take someone with them.
"So now everyone's eyes are on the little lady. Those people may not take advantage of this moment to do the opposite and attack those poor students who look good." Bai Zhu said, "Buy one or two. A gorgeous robe and two priceless jade pendants can transform a poor scholar into a wealthy young man. Coupled with a few gangsters, the young master and the gangsters can easily deceive them by cooperating with them. Wait for the innocent little lady to elope!”
If they hadn't thought of this, they wouldn't have approached Xunzhou. Perhaps it is more likely to get clues from those poor scholars who are most likely to be disguised as "rich young men".
"But what do they want with so many young ladies?" Liu Yuan rubbed his chin and said to Bai Zhu beside him, "On weekdays, they seduce innocent young ladies and run away with them, but during the lantern festival, they simply kidnap people by force. These people must be A veteran who specializes in this profession has many people under his command, including many specialized thugs!"
Bai Zhu nodded: "These people must have been in this business for many years. It is impossible that they just started doing it now. It's just that they haven't been noticed in the past."
Therefore, you can also check the affairs of young ladies from various places who elope and never come back. It seems that it does not start with two young ladies, but has already started for many years!
These villains have been walking in secret for many years, but they were not discovered until now. I don’t know how many young ladies have been poisoned by these people!
When Liu Yuan was talking to Bai Zhu, Lin Fei did not speak. He just picked up the masks that Zhao You had brought back one by one, put them to his nose and smelled them.
After seeing every mask, Lin Fei stood up and walked out.