"As far as I know, there are seven missing people. They have disappeared one after another from three months ago to now. The longest interval was half a month, and the shortest interval was only three days." Speaking of this matter, Liu Fangzheng said.
He stroked his beard and sighed: "Also, the missing people are all young girls. The eldest is eighteen years old and the youngest is only fifteen."
"Seven?" Chao Huan asked, "Didn't the letter say more than a dozen?"
Liu Fangzheng quickly wiped the sweat from his forehead and hurriedly explained: "Yes, it was said by the person who wrote the letter. He said that if the Lord of the City saw that more than ten people were missing, he would definitely send someone here immediately."
This means that I am deliberately exaggerating for fear of not getting the attention from above.
Hearing this, Pei Ziyan frowned and her tone was a bit cold: "Let's not talk about the lie. Since someone disappeared three months ago, why are we reporting it now?"
Chao Huan was also a little confused. There didn't seem to be many people in this village. If someone disappeared, they would be discovered immediately. Moreover, the missing people were all women. The village chief didn't seem so confused.
"This..." Liu Fangzheng hesitated for a long time. It was only when Pei Ziyan's face became increasingly impatient and she was about to leave that Liu Fangzheng quickly stopped him and expressed his willingness to tell everything.
Drinking hot tea, Liu Fangzheng sighed and finally revealed the secret.
The woman who first disappeared was abducted on her way to get married. The family wanted to marry their daughter to a middle-aged man with some money in the next village. The daughter was unwilling, but the father had already collected the money, so they ordered someone to drag the woman away.
After getting on the sedan chair, the sound of gongs and drums accompanied by the woman's cry left the village entrance. But in the evening, people from the next village came out early in the morning and said they saw no one at all!
This made everyone confused. They were sent out in the morning. No matter how slow the pace was, it should have arrived in a day. However, the man insisted that he had not seen anyone and said that the woman's family had defrauded him of money. He insisted.
Give me an explanation.
The sedan was carried away by people from Qingji Village who saw it with their own eyes. How could this be false? The villagers searched around for several times, but couldn't find any trace of the woman. They thought that the woman did not want to get married and ran away.
!
This matter was not glamorous. The village chief compensated the man's money and suppressed the matter.
As a result, ten days later, someone disappeared again. This time the missing person was a woman who went out to wash her clothes. When she was found, only the bamboo basket with her clothes was left by the lake because the woman's father was a famous drunkard in the village.
She was beaten and scolded at every turn, and the woman's life was very difficult. When the villagers saw her missing, they thought she had run away or jumped into the river. This incident became a gossip in the village for a time.
The third missing person was a little girl. She had a quarrel with her childhood sweetheart neighbor that day and ran out of the village in anger. When the little girl didn't come back that night, her family knew something had happened.
The fourth...the fifth...when it came to the seventh time, some rumors had spread in the village. Everyone was saying that there were monsters who were causing trouble and abducting those young women! For a moment, people were panicked.
Everyone no longer even dares to go out to farm. They stay indoors and dare not go out, for fear that they will become the next target.
"I already know the specific situation. We will solve this matter, but if you want to lie or hide something next time..." Pei Ziyan raised the corner of her eye. Even with this ordinary and pretty face, she has such aura.
But it was already so stressful that Liu Fangzheng was sweating profusely.
I thought that Liu Fangzheng, who had been the village chief for more than 30 years, would be frightened by a little girl, but Liu Fangzheng did not dare to say anything and just replied quickly: "I understand, I understand."
Although Chao Huan was a little dissatisfied with Pei Ziyan, the way she dealt with things seemed a bit like when the sky was clear, and she was somewhat appreciative. There were clear rewards and punishments for grudges, and she was worthy of being Qi Xiu's right-hand man.
only···
She remembered what Liu Fangzheng said just now, and she always felt that something was wrong.
Pei Ziyan and Liu Fangzheng were almost done talking, and they had the information they needed. Pei Ziyan stood up, glanced at Chao Huan, who was bowing his head in thought, and said, "Let's go, let's go take a look at the homes of these missing women."
Liu Fangzheng was afraid of causing dissatisfaction with the two big shots, so when he saw that they wanted to go to the homes of the missing women to check, he quickly stood up and led the way.
As soon as they got up, Liu Qin, who had been squatting in the corner and listening for a while, also got up. Only then did Liu Fangzheng realize that he was still following him and glared at him, "Liu Qin, what are you doing here? Go home quickly. Don’t miss the business of these two adults.”
Liu Qin looked miserable. He didn't say anything when he was chased away by the village chief. He looked at the two of them and left obediently.
Chao Huan looked at him and felt a little strange, "Don't all the people in the village stay at home and don't want to go out? How come he dares to go to work in geography and farming?"
"Oh, him, his family's situation is not very good, and the family of three depends on the one-third of an acre of land for food." Speaking of this, Liu Fangzheng was afraid that Liu Qin's attitude just now would displease them, so he helped Liu Qin. He explained, "His family situation is not good, but he is honest, capable, and good-looking. Many girls in the village want to marry him."
Pei Ziyan said "hmm". She didn't care about these things and just asked Liu Fangzheng to lead her.
According to Pei Ziyan's wishes, Liu Fangzheng first took them to the house of the woman who disappeared ten days ago. This woman's name is Liu Jie. She is sixteen years old. Her parents love her and her two brothers also take good care of her, so she lives a good life. not bad.
Now that he has disappeared suddenly, the family is worried. The elderly mother even fainted, and the originally happy family has been shrouded in a haze.
When the three of them came, Liu Jie's mother was doing laundry in the yard. However, she was too worried and sighed as she looked at the clothes in the basin. Until the footsteps outside caught her attention, she looked up and saw the village chief leading the family. Two young women he had never seen before came to the door.
She hurried out to greet Pei Ziyan and Chao Huan, and when she heard the village chief said that the two men were here to investigate the disappearance case, she hurriedly called all the family members and knelt down and begged Pei Ziyan and Chao Huan, which made Chao Huan very uncomfortable.
Pei Ziyan helped Liu Jie's mother up in a familiar manner and calmed her down with a few words. Seeing that she had stabilized, she began to ask about the situation on the day of the incident.
Speaking of this, Liu Jie's mother almost burst into tears, but with her son at her side, she managed to hold on and told her what happened that day.
"That morning, Girl Jie got angry with her eldest brother and insisted that her eldest brother take her out to play on the street. I quarreled with her. When she got angry, she ran out crying. Her eldest brother wanted to chase her. , but I was also angry, so I said leave her alone."
"I was just saying angry words at first. Girl Jie is a piece of meat that has fallen off my body. I have raised her for sixteen years and I know her temper very well. Although this girl's temper comes quickly, it also goes away quickly. .Even if I lost my temper like this in the past, I would come back obediently at night."
"But that day, I didn't see Jie Yatou back until midnight. I was so panicked that I quickly asked her eldest and second brothers to go out and look for her, but after searching for her for half the night, there was still no news."
After saying this, Liu Jie's mother couldn't stop crying because of her guilt. The eldest son beside her tried to calm her down with some good words.
After hearing this, Pei Ziyan thought for a few times and then asked: "Did you notice anything strange on the day Liu Jie disappeared?"
"Strange?" Liu Jie's mother and her eldest son looked at each other. They thought about it again and again, and finally just said that they didn't find anything wrong.
"Then where did you go to find Liu Jie?"
"Jie Yatou always likes to go to the mountains to play. Since the disappearance case occurred in the village, we have not allowed her to go. After the incident, we went to the places where Jie Yatou would go, and we also went to the mountains, but we did not find her.
Traces of.”
Pei Ziyan nodded, assuming she understood.
After coming out of Liu Jie's house, Pei Ziyan saw Chao Huan with a pensive look on her face, and suddenly she had a bad idea. She walked up and patted Chao Huan on the shoulder.
Chao Huan turned to look at her in confusion. She glanced at Liu Fangzheng who was leading the way diligently in front of her, lowered her head and whispered in Chao Huan's ear, "You have to be careful, the missing people are all young people."
Woman, be careful you are kidnapped too."
Her words were completely threatening, Chao Huan didn't care at all, but Pei Ziyan's move towards her made her stiffen.
She had never taken a good look at this person before, but now that Pei Ziyan came closer, she realized that, although she was also a woman, Pei Ziyan's figure was too tall, and she was probably not as tall as Lian Yunlan, who was a man.
Moreover, as she got closer, she could smell the faint smell of powder on Pei Ziyan's body. It was a very light smell. In addition, there was a smell that she felt was very familiar.
The smell was very familiar, but Chao Huan couldn't remember where she had smelled it. Something flashed through her mind so fast that she couldn't catch it at all.
Pei Ziyan wanted to scare her, but when she saw her body stiffen, she thought she was really scared. As if she thought of something, she squinted her eyes and smiled.
"I wish you don't have to worry, Miss. I borrowed you from the Pavilion Master, and naturally I want to return the jade to Zhao intact."
Chao Huan nodded silently, but her thoughts were all focused on the smell she just smelled. However, she searched through her memory and couldn't remember where she had smelled this smell. At this time, Liu Fangzheng had already led them to the second house.
In front of the door, Chao Huan had no choice but to calm down his thoughts and pay attention to the things in front of him.
It took two hours to visit all the homes with missing persons. It was already approaching evening. Liu Fangzheng looked at the two of them and asked cautiously: "Two adults, it's getting late. You two have worked hard all day, why not
Let’s go to the villain’s house to have a meal and rest? My wife has already prepared the meal.”
As a cultivator, Pei Ziyan's level was nothing, but she thought that Zhu Shu was just a mortal, and it was almost time to rest after running around with her for a day.
She nodded in agreement and went back to the village chief's house for dinner. Under the village chief's warm invitation, the two of them got an empty room to rest.
It is said that this vacant room originally belonged to the village chief's son and daughter-in-law, but it was recently vacant when the son accompanied his daughter-in-law back to her parents' home. The bed in this room is big enough for two people to sleep in.
As soon as Chao Huan came in after washing, she saw Pei Ziyan sitting beside the bed. She was sitting under the candlelight reading a book. The bright yellow candlelight shone on her face, and even her eyes, which were always affectionate and smiling,
It softened, revealing a different kind of softness.
Chao Huan wiped her hair with a dry towel. She was really sleepy after a long day's work, so she thought she might just go to bed, but Pei Ziyan suddenly looked over and waved to her.
"Here, let me help you dry your hair. Sleeping with wet hair is not good for your health." Pei Ziyan said this. Chao Huan hesitated for a few seconds, but chose to go. After all, it was good for herself.
She sat on the bed, and Pei Ziyan stood in front of her, taking a towel to wipe her hair. The warm spiritual power was poured from her palms to her hair, drying her hair little by little. Chao Huan was already sleepy, and her eyelids couldn't help but
The ride took off.
Pei Ziyan paused, lowered her head and saw that the other person was moving his head little by little, and rubbing her waist and abdomen from time to time. She didn't know whether to laugh or cry. After the long hair on her hands was dry, she hugged him to bed.
Outside the window, the bright moon was shining brightly. Pei Ziyan looked at the person on the bed for a long time, and finally turned around and left. This chapter has been completed!