Chentan's Memories

No.40 Six times of serial lies

Last time I said: Lin Lang bid farewell to the other three people since noon, went to the blacksmith shop alone, and never came back.

Although he has lived in Chentan for a long time, Lin Lang rarely goes out to meet people in his daily life; there are no more than five street names in the whole town that he can name...

Tang Yushu was a little worried about him, so almost every quarter of an hour, he would call across the courtyard to the two children in the east wing: "Is Lin Lang back yet?" He always received a "no" response.

Lying on the couch tossing and turning, the more he thought about it, the more worried he became; halfway through the application time, Tang Yushu simply put on a coat, came out of the west wing room, and went out to find Lin Lang back.

When he came out of the wing room, Shun'er was sweeping the ground carelessly in the yard, only sweeping up the yard with smoke and dust.

Tang Yushu had no time to care about him, and hurried out the door and ran to the blacksmith's shop.When I rushed to the blacksmith shop, I was told that "Little shopkeeper Lin came and left in a short time"...

Therefore, Tang Yushu's small worry instantly turned into a big worry.

But when Tang Yushu ran out of the restaurant, he didn't tell Chen Ni and Shun'er that he was going to find Lin Lang.One is that he doesn't want them to go out and run around with him; the other is that he wants to find Lin Lang against the clock, and he doesn't want to delay for a moment.

So Chen Ni, who knew nothing about everything, leisurely and comfortably ate the fruit that Shun Er brought back from the back kitchen with Shun Er in the East Wing, lying side by side and chatting intimately.

When it was a quarter before You time, there was a small and slight noise in the yard.

Shun'er sat up, pushed open the window and looked out.

Chen Ni didn't take it seriously: "Maybe the broom fell down or something... You should just lie down and let's continue talking."

Shun'er looked at it seriously, but after looking at it for a long time, he still didn't see anything, so he lay down uneasy, but muttered: "Otherwise I..."

"I'll go out and take a look!" Chen Ni answered, to avoid Shun'er's worries, so he got up and went.

Because Shun'er was worried about the noise in the yard just now, Chen Ni came out to check for Shun'er.Except the East Wing looked around the yard, only to notice a package dropped abruptly in the middle of the yard.When Chen Ni got closer, he realized that it was Lin Lang's coat.

Chen Ni became suspicious - he saw that the two sleeves of Lin Lang's outer shirt were tied in a knot, and the whole dress was wrapped into a ball.Carefully unwrapping the knot, I saw a note wrapped inside. The handwriting on it was obviously written with my left hand to avoid being discovered, crooked.

What was written on the note was - "Collect 300 taels of silver before Haishi to redeem people."

There is an old saying that "the master and the servant are of the same heart", Chen Ni thinks this is true - if it were normal, even if the beams of the house collapsed, the confused Shun'er might not notice it; but today's little movement, he But so worried.

Here Chen Ni broke out in a cold sweat, and his back felt numb.

That Xiang Shun'er didn't know the situation, walked out from the room behind him, and asked Chen Ni: "What is it?"

Chen Ni is familiar with Shun'er's temperament, and he is afraid that he will lose control of his emotions after knowing the incident and make a public announcement... If Lin Lang is kidnapped, the kidnappers can also use some means to throw letters and Lin Lang's clothes into the restaurant, then the kidnappers must be there. A certain dark place secretly observes everything... When the enemy is in the dark and we are in the clear, if the kidnappers feel the danger signal with a slight movement, Lin Lang's life will be in danger.

In a very short time, Chen Ni quickly sorted out the situation, and decided to hide the matter from Shun'er, and discuss it with Tang Yushu when he came back.So he kept Lin Lang's coat in front of him as much as possible, turned his head and smiled at Shun'er, "It's nothing..."

Shun'er stood there in a daze, her footsteps seemed to be moving towards her.

Deciding to send Shun'er away first, Chen Ni quickly made up a cover: "Go out... find Sister Aci to bring back two jars of wine!"

"Oh..." Shun'er didn't seem to notice anything unusual, but obediently responded, and went out the door with a skip.

Taking advantage of Shun'er's absence, Chen Ni hid Lin Lang's clothes back in the West Wing.Then he scrawled the note into his sleeve and ran out again.When they ran to the atrium, just as A Ci and Shun Er came into the restaurant with a jar of wine, A Ci smiled and asked Chen Ni: "Isn't your restaurant closed today? Why do you want wine?"

Shun'er put the jar of wine she was carrying under the wall.Chen Ni stretched out his hand to take the jar of wine from Ah Ci, and said nonsense to her: "Oh...it's not for guests, we plan to drink it by ourselves tonight...hehe!"

When he took the wine jar, the note suddenly fell out of his cuff; but Chen Ni's hands were already occupied by the wine jar, and he couldn't take it back first, so A Ci picked up the note...

Chen Ni took a breath.

Fortunately, Ah Ci is a steady person.Those short words were originally picked up by her, but she was stunned for a moment.Realizing that all of Chen Ni's actions were aimed at concealing the news, she calmly folded the note again and stuffed it back into Chen Ni's front.Then Ah Ci turned to Shun'er and asked, "Is there any hot tea?"

The innocent Shun'er didn't know that she was being kept in the dark, and nodded cheerfully: "Sister, wait, I'll pour it for you!"

Shun'er ran to the gap in the back kitchen, Ah Ci's expression quickly returned to seriousness, and he lowered his voice: "When did it happen?!"

Chen Ni also lowered his voice: "Just now!"

Tang Yushu also came back at this moment.It is the unitary time.

After coaxing Shun'er to go back to the house and "play by yourself!", the three of them stood in the yard blankly.

After thinking hard for a long time, Ah Ci said, "Did Lin Lang...offend anyone in the past?"

Chen Ni rubbed his head: "..."

Tang Yushu also rubbed his head: "..."

Ah Ci instantly understood the answer: "...Yes, he has offended too many people—but, although 300 taels of silver is not a small amount, it is really not enough to take such a big risk to kidnap people... "

Tang Yushu's face was full of anxiety, his brows were too low, and his double eyelids were squeezed out of the third crease.I saw him stand up suddenly: "I'm going to report to the official!"

"Reporting to the police is too dangerous!" Chen Ni pulled Tang Yushu back in time: "The kidnappers are in the dark and we are in the light. Our every move may be seen by the kidnappers—we are completely passive! If we want to guarantee that Master Lin It is absolutely safe, at this time we must not act rashly... we can only collect money for them first, and wait quietly for their follow-up orders!"

After listening to Chen Ni's words, Tang Yushu stopped walking: "Then what should I do?"

A Ci whispered: "Chen Ni is right—let's follow the kidnapper's wishes first... We'll see if we can catch any clues during the process... If it really doesn't work, it's worth 300 taels for Lin Lang to come back! "

"Of course it's worth it! 1 taels are worth it!" Tang Yushu stood there and clenched his fists angrily, hating the kidnapper hiding in the dark and not knowing where to swing his fist.

——The kidnapping letter was wrapped in Lin Lang's coat and thrown into the yard... So where is Lin Lang now?Will it be frozen?

The more he thought about it, the more flustered he became. Tang Yushu was sweating all over, and ran anxiously under the register to open the lock to find the money.

——If you can't report to the official, you can only find a way to collect money first, and wait for the kidnapper's next order.Wait, wait, don't panic, don't panic!

I scribbled some money in the restaurant, and the total sum was about 250 taels.Tang Yushu put all the money into one pocket, and carried it out of the yard with a clang: "This money is still far away..."

Chen Ni asked, "How much is the difference?"

"50 taels!" Tang Yushu frowned into a big pimple, unable to calm down: "What the hell!"

Ah Ci comforted: "Brother Yushu, don't worry, I'll go home and I can make up 50 taels!"

Tang Yushu's forehead was sweating profusely, like it was raining; when he heard that Ah Ci was willing to help generously, he immediately knelt on one knee, cupped his fists and nodded: "Thank you, Miss Bai! ——When Lang'er comes back safely, I'll make a custom one The horse rewards you!"

"Don't do this!" When Ah Ci helped Tang Yushu up, he could already feel Tang Yushu's hands were hot and trembling.Turning around, he told Chen Ni to "go back to the wing room with Young Master Tang to think about countermeasures - I'll come as soon as I go", and then ran out of the restaurant.

It was the first time Chen Ni saw Tang Yushu like this.

Thinking about the people who dealt with it under the shadow of swords and swords, they would be frightened into slurring their speech... It is expected that he regards Lin Lang more than his life.

Taking Tang Yushu back to the West Wing, he sat on the couch to rest for a while—he just ran back and forth to the blacksmith shop, and he got the news before he calmed down. Chen Ni was afraid that Tang Yushu would not be able to breathe. Come.

After Tang Yushu settled down, Chen Ni touched Lin Lang's coat again, observed it for a while, and picked out an inch-long grass mustard from it; after sniffing carefully, he felt that the coat seemed to be stained with the smell of livestock.

Fearing that his judgment was not accurate enough, Chen Ni passed it to Tang Yushu to have a look.

Tang Yushu held the mustard in his hand, looked over it over and over again, put it into his mouth and chewed it lightly, and came to the conclusion: "This is dried Tibetan grass - the best horse grass!" Pulled it from Chen Ni's hand again Passing Lin Lang's coat, he put it in front of his nose and sniffed vigorously several times: "It smells like horse manure!"

There is only one place in Chentan Town that has this kind of thing—"Xishi Mule and Horse Shed!"—the two said in unison.

Ah Ci came back with 50 taels of silver and went into the west wing.After the three got together and shared clues, they made a plan to search the mules and stables in the West Market:

——"Don't disturb anyone unless it is absolutely necessary!"

——"Let's sneak into the mule stable in a while!"

—— "Ah Chi, you let the wind outside!"

——"So, so, so, so..."

When they came out of the west wing together, Shun'er was standing in the yard, holding one of Lin Lang's boots and a note in one hand, trying to decipher the handwriting on the note.

The three were stunned, and after exchanging glances, Chen Ni ran over and snatched the note from Shun'er: "...Write...what did you write?"

Shun'er looked bewildered, pursed her lips and muttered embarrassingly: "I don't know the ones with radicals, and I only know seven characters without radicals..."

Chen Ni breathed a sigh of relief: It seems that this guy has not been alarmed.

Tang Yushu snatched the shoes from Shun'er, observed the muddy soles for a while, and was more sure of where Lin Lang was imprisoned. He raised his head and asked Shun'er, "When did you find it?"

Shun'er still looked blank: "Just now - when you were in the west wing room... I heard the sound and came out to see - why did the young master leave the shoes here? Where is the young master?"

Chen Ni was afraid that Shun'er would ask more and more questions, and everyone was already in a hurry, and it was too exhausting to deal with Shun'er, so he simply lied again: "Master...he went shopping, he will be right back! "

Shun'er was so deceitful, she didn't have any doubts when she got the answer, so she just hopped to the back kitchen to look for something to eat.

Chen Ni couldn't bear to lie to Shun'er in this way, but he was really afraid that the innocent Shun'er would not be able to digest the news that "the young master was kidnapped".Pinching himself angrily, he turned around and went out of the restaurant with Ah Ci and Tang Yushu.

The handwriting on the second note was also written by the left hand, crooked.

The note reads - "Before the first engraving of the first day of Haichu, put the silver in the western suburbs of Shigandan, out of the mountain pass, and the dog barks three times as a sign."