358 Very Strange (2)
Song Jingchen nodded.
The old woman guarding the door watched as if she had seen a ghost as Advisor Ma politely led these people in. Her eyes rolled back and she fainted.
This old woman guarding the door was really unlucky. Previously, because she was collecting money from others to help pass the message, she was caught by Advisor Ma and had her monthly salary deducted. Not only that, but she was also beaten up.
It was because of this that she had such an attitude just now. She did not expect to offend a benefactor on her first try.
Advisor Ma led them into the reception pavilion and instructed a servant to report to Fan Mingyuan. He also summoned a maidservant to serve tea before saying, “My lord was injured a few days ago and had to stay indoors. Young Master Song, please wait here for a moment. I’ll go…”
“There’s no need. I’ll go over directly.” Song Jingchen frowned and stood up to interrupt Advisor Ma.
Recalling his master’s relationship with this person, Private Advisor Ma did not stop him and led him straight to the inner courtyard.
As soon as they arrived, they bumped into Fan Mingyuan, who had rushed out after receiving the news.
“Eldest Young Master, you’re back.” Fan Mingyuan did not hide the joy on his face.
However, perhaps because he was injured, his face was pale. He stood there, looking like he was about to collapse at any moment.
No matter how worried Song Jingchen was about Madam Li and the others, it wasn’t appropriate for him to ask here. He frowned and said, “Let’s go in first.”
“Alright.”
Shen Yijia followed behind, staring unblinkingly at the back of the woman who was supporting Fan Mingyuan.
It was fine if Fan Mingyuan was injured and needed someone to help him walk, but the woman was wearing an apricot-colored dress and was not dressed as a maidservant.
Fan Mingyuan’s weight was on the woman. The two of them looked too intimate.
In this ancient era where men and women were on guard, this was already considered a huge overstep.
Her beautiful husband never let other women get close to him.
Shen Yijia frowned. Wasn’t Fan Mingyuan already engaged to Xiao Ruoshui?
She remembered that Xiao Ruoshui had written to her that the wedding was scheduled for the beginning of spring next year. She even asked if she could help her put on makeup.
Could it be that Fan Mingyuan could not wait for Xiao Ruoshui to marry into the family and was preparing to get himself a concubine?
If that was the case, she had to persuade Xiao Ruoshui to marry someone else.
After all, they were her friends. She could not suffer like this.
However, it seemed normal to have three wives and four concubines here. Would Xiao Ruoshui care?
Thinking of this, Shen Yijia shook her head. The most important thing now was to find her mother and the others.
She could put aside Xiao Ruoshui’s matter for now. Anyway, her wedding was still a few months away.
Shen Yijia followed Song Jingchen into Fan Mingyuan’s study in the backyard.
The woman helped Fan Mingyuan sit down and bowed before leaving. She did not look up or say a word.
“Master’s wife and the others are fine, but I don’t know where they’ve been hidden by your people.” Fan Mingyuan knew why Song Jingchen was looking for him.
Speaking of this, he was also very speechless. A few days ago, there was a difficult case in a village further away. He brought his men over and only returned the next day because he was too busy.
Before they could reach the county office carriage, they were stopped by two men who said that two families in their village had disappeared.
When Song Jingchen wasn’t at home, he often visited the Song family.
He did not know the man with the bandit leader on his face, but he had seen the other man a few times. He lived next door to the Song family and had the surname An.
He asked the coachman to stop the carriage and asked with a frown, “Are you from Xiagou Village?”
An Dong also recognized him. He did not expect the man he had seen a few times at the Song family’s door to be the county magistrate of Anyang County.
He was stunned for a moment before quickly telling her about the Song family’s disappearance overnight.
Fan Mingyuan was shocked. He did not even have time to return to the county office. He instructed a bailiff to call for more people and rushed to Xiagou Village with his men.
Just as the two of them had said, other than the traces of a fight, there was also dried blood in the Song family’s backyard. It was obvious that Madam Li and the others had not left on their own.
He followed the clues and found the back mountain. Coincidentally, Rooster and Forty Thousand, who had returned to clean up the traces, bumped into them. It would have been fine if it was just them.
However, just as they were talking to each other, a few men in black rushed out.
Every one of those men in black was an expert in combat, and the people he brought were only government officials. It was obvious that they were no match for the men in black.
Rooster and Forty Thousand took advantage of his men’s life-and-death struggle to stall for time and ran into the forest.
They really ran away without looking back!
That was how Fan Mingyuan got injured. When he escaped, he was stabbed in the abdomen and rolled down the mountain. When he woke up, he was in a wooden house.
