After the fairy disappeared

Chapter 1341: The Non-Existent Village and the Non-Existent Daughter

When Wanqi Feng heard this, he couldn't help but interrupt: "Where is that little girl?"

Yes, everyone looked at each other in bewilderment. More than a hundred people were killed or injured in Chenjiazhuang, and Wu Ma's Green Villa was turned upside down, even the owner and his son died. And the cause of this series of events, the little girl whose origin was unknown, disappeared?
"A few hours after killing Wu Ma Xu, Tong Yan appeared in the north courtyard and killed Wu Ma Dan. The two demon puppets also went north before Tong Yan jumped into the well." Dong Rui was stitching the wound. His needlework was more beautiful than that of an embroiderer. "So, the little girl was hiding in the north courtyard at that time?"

Wanqi Feng pointed at the three black-armored warriors and said, "We searched the North Courtyard, and except for a few members of the Wu Ma clan, we didn't see any girls under the age of fifteen."

He paused and said, "Tong Xuan jumped into the well and escaped. He might have been chased by the lord. Xiao An is also missing. It is indeed a bit strange."

He Lingchuan's eyes gleamed: "You just said that Tong Bin is good at changing shape?"

"Yes." Dong Rui let out a long sigh and took off his spider silk gloves. "It's done. The heart fragments have been taken out. He will be able to recover within half a month."

In just over a quarter of an hour, he completed a highly difficult surgical operation.

Wanqi Liang looked at Pu Hua eagerly: "How long will it take for him to wake up?"

Dong Rui said casually, "About two hours, if I'm not mistaken in the dosage of the Wood-Transforming Poison."

Wanqi Liang swallowed his saliva and asked cautiously: "What if the estimate is wrong?"

"Then..." Dong Rui spread his hands and made a helpless gesture.

"..."

"It's not a big problem. I've tested it on the demon puppet many times. Considering his age and body, even if the wood poison is diluted 128 times, it shouldn't be a lethal dose."

Wanqi Liang scratched his head: "So this is the first time it's been used on a human?"

"What else?" Dong Rui said solemnly, "You didn't even give me a chance before."

"Shouldn't we go back now?" After catching three demon puppets from other people's homes, he felt like a cat scratching his heart, and he wanted to go back to Jucheng in one step, "Anyway, the masked man can't catch up."

"Be patient." He Lingchuan waved his hand. "Can you track down the whereabouts of your demon puppet?"

"Of course." Dong Rui understood immediately. "Oh, are you worried that he will chase you to Jucheng?"

"This demon puppet master can always catch up with Xiao An, which means he has set a tracking method on the little girl. How can he accept that we have captured all three demon puppets? He will probably come after us for revenge." He Lingchuan pondered, "So, you can't go back to Ju City."

The relationship between Yangshan Chamber of Commerce and the Black Armor Army must not be exposed at this moment.

"Then where can I go?" He needed a safe and quiet place where he could conduct his experiments freely.

He Lingchuan turned his eyes and smiled: "I thought of a good place. You can be undisturbed there."

Dong Rui parted ways with the Black Armor Army at location No. 3.

He Lingchuan and others left from other exits of the abandoned mine tunnel. They did not put away their armor and change back into their regular clothes until the soul-catching mirror confirmed that it was safe and there were no spies behind them.

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Back in Jucheng, everything was back to normal.

He Lingchuan talks business when he needs to, and socializes when he needs to.

Pu Hua also woke up, his condition was stable, and he gradually recovered. However, it took him five hours to wake up from the postoperative coma.

Not long after, Yu Hai came to Yangshan Chamber of Commerce to find He Lingchuan. As soon as they met, he said, "The missing person notice has been sent out. In addition, there is also some clue about the matter you want to investigate."

In addition to managing the hometown association, he is also a noble of Pei State and is now highly regarded by the monarch of Pei State. Liu County's efficiency is too low, and Li Xianwei can't find any information, so He Lingchuan has to ask Yu Hai to find a way.

He Lingchuan is now a popular figure in the Allied Forces, and is also investigating a murder case for Pei Guo. He can now mobilize some official resources through Yu Hai.

Some things are a hundred times more convenient to be handled by the government than by individuals or private forces.

"Please take a seat." He Lingchuan always treated him warmly, and called the servant at the door, "Bring tea!"

A tea party cannot just have tea, it also has to be paired with three flavors of tea, mung bean cake, candied plums and wind-blown cakes.

Yu Hai took a sip of warm tea to moisten his throat. "In the towns and villages within a hundred miles of Chenjiazhuang, the government is organizing people to post Xiao An's portrait and missing person notices, saying that she is a witness to the chain murder case. Anyone who provides clues will be given three taels of silver, and anyone who brings the little girl here directly will be given thirty taels of silver."

For ordinary people, thirty thousand coins is not a small amount. He Lingchuan smiled and said, "Thank you for your help."

Mobilizing the power of the masses is the best way at the moment.

"Oh, Brother He, why are you still thanking me? You are investigating a case for Pei State, and the king asked me to convey his thanks."

Yu Hai continued, "Maodun is a small town, 40 miles north of Liu County, with a population of about 2,000. The land is not fertile, but there are minerals and paint in the area. I sent someone to check in the town and found out that the woman named Ah Hui was a native of Maodun. Her father died when she was seven, and she married into the Li family in Liang County at the age of fifteen. She gave birth to two daughters, but her husband died of illness within two years. Her in-laws sold her two daughters to outsiders and sold Ah Hui to a peddler thirty miles away."

He Lingchuan said, "So she is from Maodun." Not from Xingyun Village.

"Her husband's family refused to say anything. It was the neighbors who told her," Yu said in horror. "When my daughter was sold, her husband's family locked her in the house. She cried for two days. The neighbors could hear it clearly and found it too noisy."

He Lingchuan nodded: "I see."

This is consistent with what Aunt Wu from Chenjiazhuang said.

"The peddler locked her up at home for more than half a year. It was not until she became pregnant that Ah Hui devotedly followed him." Yu Hai continued, "No one knows what happened. Five years later, the peddler went out to buy something and fell off a cliff and died, leaving behind her and a daughter."

At this point, he couldn't help but sigh: "Alas, this is really like a hemp rope that only breaks at the thinnest part, and misfortune only finds the unfortunate. Brother Situ was right when he said: the fate of ordinary people is not in our own hands."

The two were silent for a few breaths, and He Lingchuan just said, "Have some tea."

Yu Hai changed his tea and said, "About a month ago, Ah Hui ran away from her husband's house."

"With your daughter?" Aunt Wu also said that Ah Hui believed that her in-laws wanted to sell her and her daughter again, so she ran away.

"Yes, with my daughter."

Judging from her age, Ah Hui's daughter is almost five years old. "What's her daughter's name?"

"Wang Xiaoya."

He Lingchuan raised his eyebrows: "Isn't your nickname Xiao An?"

"Just call her Xiaoya." Yu Hai said, "Besides, it makes sense that Li Xianwei doesn't know about Xingyun Village, which you asked me to investigate."

"The village is too small? Too far?" Pei State was not big to begin with, and there were often small villages hidden in the valleys. He Lingchuan suspected that some of them were not even officially recorded.

"Neither." Yu Hai had a rare chance to tease him. "Since the officials in Liu County didn't know, I sent people to several nearby towns to ask the elderly. Most of them said they didn't know. Only one old blacksmith said that he had been there when he was young, and there was a big apricot tree at the entrance of the village."

"He reported the location, and I sent someone to check. Sure enough, the iconic old apricot tree at the entrance of the village is very beautiful, but the village is not Xingyun Village, but Dongbai Village."

Could it be that Xiao An remembered it wrong? He Lingchuan pondered, would a five or six-year-old girl remember her birthplace wrong?

Yu Hai ate a piece of mung bean cake, and his speech became a little slurred:

"The weird thing is this: According to the villagers, that place was indeed called Xingyun Village, but that was 20 years ago!"

"Twenty years?" This answer was beyond He Lingchuan's expectation. This matter seemed to be getting more and more interesting. "What happened to the village? Why did it change its name?"

"It wasn't a name change, it was destroyed in war. At that time, a strong man led his army to plunder Xingyun Village, killing many people, and the remaining villagers fled. After several years, new outsiders entered the original site and rebuilt Dongbai Village there." Yu Hai laughed bitterly, "The small village in the Situ family's territory was eaten by the Ghost King without leaving anything. This kind of thing happens occasionally here."

"Is there a missing girl in Dongbai Village named Xiao An?"

"No." Yu Hai shook his head. "There are only two girls under the age of five in the whole village. They are not called this name, and they are not lost."

He Lingchuan immediately thanked him: "I just had this sudden inspiration, I really troubled Brother Yu."

"It's just a small matter." Yu Hai has always been worried that he has no way to repay He Lingchuan's kindness. He would be happy if the other party assigned him to do something.

The two chatted for a while, and Yu Hai knew the opportunity to leave.

This person has a good sense of propriety and is able to get along with others in a comfortable and appropriate manner. No wonder he was able to form a hometown association.

After seeing him off, He Lingchuan stared out the window in a daze.

This spring, a pair of swallows built a new nest under the eaves of his study. They have been chirping these days, probably because some baby swallows were born.

Birds, beasts, insects and fish all have their own parents.

The soul-catching mirror asked him, "Think of something?"

Why did Ah Hui's daughter say that she was from Xingyun Village, a small village that disappeared twenty years ago?

"Could it be that Ah Hui told her daughter the story of Xingyun Village, and Xiao An remembered it?" Soul Mirror speculated, "This mother and daughter are both a little crazy."

"No, Xiao An is not Ah Hui's daughter." He Lingchuan corrected him, "Ah Hui gave birth to three daughters, and none of them was named Xiao An."

"Then what's going on with this mother and daughter!" The Soul-Capture Mirror considered itself knowledgeable and experienced, but now it was also confused.

"Look at it this way. Although Ah Hui is crazy, everything she says can be verified. Her words are trustworthy."

The soul-stealing mirror thought for a moment and said, "It seems to be true."

He Lingchuan continued to analyze: "Then, we use her words as a benchmark. If Xiao An's statement is inconsistent with it, it is contradictory and confusing."

"I'll go first, I'll go first!" Soul Mirror was very excited. "Xiao An said that her mother took her away from Xingyun Village to avoid monster attacks; but in fact, Ah Hui took her daughter away from her second husband's house. If there must be a monster chasing them, maybe it was someone who wanted to chase them back?"

(End of this chapter)