readsfreenovel Chapter 208 Mr. Kobayashi
Chapter 208 Mr. Kobayashi
The arrogant soldier who was beating the gong flattered him, "Mr. Kobayashi is so wise! He's like Zhuge Liang reincarnated!"
Mr. Kobayashi looked aloof and arrogant, his eyes squinting. He snorted softly, "Then let's get started! One by one!"
The arrogant soldier bowed and saluted: "Yes!"
One after another, women were driven like animals, one after another, before Mr. Xiaolin. Mr. Xiaolin sat on his horse, looking down at the women in ragged coarse clothes as they approached. In a moment, he became impatient: "No! None of them! Hurry up! Speed up! Can you see for yourself whether these women are the stunningly beautiful Concubine Yi? Lan Qingwu's reputation and beauty are not well-known in the border areas. Who knew she was so stunning? The Lan family really hid her well!"
The soldiers nearby hurriedly sped up their pushing movements: "Faster! Faster! Faster!"
Mu'er was pushed down with great force and fell right in front of Mr. Kobayashi's horse. Mr. Kobayashi looked at the small piece of the woman's arm that was exposed like wheat and couldn't help rolling his eyes: "No! Quick! Next one! There's no one in this town, so we have to search the middle city and the inner city! We can still sneak into the middle city, but we definitely can't get into the inner city! We have to think of some way! We have to speed up the search..."
Zhi'er was among the crowd that had already been checked. She used all her strength to control her feet and eyes tightly, not daring to show any sign of unwell on her face.
The arrogant soldier said cautiously, "Mr. Xiaolin, I heard that you and Concubine Yi were engaged, but you've never even met her? You don't even like the beautiful Widow Li, so what does Concubine Yi look like?"
Mr. Xiaolin—Lin Shaojie narrowed his eyes: "Huh! The Lan family hid their people really well! If I had met Miss Lan once back then, I wouldn't have been so... Anyway, Concubine Yi is a beauty that can topple a country. Once we catch her, brothers will be able to open their eyes!"
The arrogant soldier listened to Mr. Kobayashi's description and imagined the beauty's appearance. He was filled with strength and started shouting again: "Quick! Quick! Quick! Next one!"
After about an hour, Lin Shaojie finally lost his patience. "Are there no more women in the house? Look for yourselves, even driving out a sixty-year-old woman! Can this be Concubine Yi? Does she have any brains?"
Lin Shaojie pointed at an old woman with gray hair and a wrinkled face. "How can she be the most favored concubine in the harem with this look? Can you guys use your brains? I'm going to be pissed off to death by you rough guys! Hurry! Get ready to go to the next town!"
Lin Shaojie rode off first, the wind stirring up a cloud of dust. He left the arrogant soldier behind, who reached out and shoved the old woman, "What bad luck!"
The old woman was frightened and was pushed down by the adult man with great force. She couldn't get up for a long time.
A group of people arrived in a rush, arrogant and domineering, and left in a flash, cursing and swearing. The women in the town also scattered and ran towards their homes, fearing that if they ran too slowly, misfortune would befall them. They were grateful to have avoided another crisis.
Mu'er watched the group of people walk away, and hurried forward to help the old woman up. At the same time, another middle-aged woman came forward and helped the old woman up carefully: "Grandma, are you okay?"
The old woman shook her head, and the middle-aged woman said to Lan Qingwu, "This is my mother-in-law. Thank you."
Lan Qingwu shook his head: "It's just a small favor, why thank you so much."
They chatted for a few minutes and walked towards their home. Lan Qingwu and Ruping then discovered that the old woman and her daughter-in-law lived next door to them. They were the ones who had given them advice last night.
The four of them nodded in greeting and went into the house.
As soon as she entered the house, Ru Ping locked the door tightly: "Master, that man is Lin Shaojie! That ungrateful bastard! He actually defected to Prince Shen! And he calls himself Mr. Xiao Lin!"
The suppressed emotions in Lan Qingwu's eyes slowly burst out: "Yes! I can't believe it! The supposedly gentle and elegant young master of the Lin family actually aided and abetted the evil and fell into such a state!"
Ru Ping deliberately lowered her voice but couldn't suppress her anger: "What gentle and refined! What elegant! Now it seems that he is just a villain! Who knows how many people he has harmed! Fortunately! Fortunately, you didn't..."
Lan Qingwu's face darkened. "Ruping, even though they've searched here, we're still not out of danger. We need to do two things now. First, gather information and find out what's going on. Second, find a way to get to the inner city of Jiazhou City. His Majesty may not know we're trapped there, so we can only save ourselves. Going to the inner city is the fastest and most effective way. But before that, we have to survive!"
Ru Ping nodded in understanding. "Master, just in case, from now on, you stay inside and don't show up outside! I checked the surroundings last night and found an empty house not far away. Tomorrow we'll say goodbye to the old woman and create the illusion that we're leaving. You can hide in that empty house, and then I'll come back and tell them that you've found your family! At this point, the fewer people who know about it, the safer we'll be!"
Lan Qingwu whispered, "Then you'll be the only one dealing with them outside."
"Master, this is necessary. It's easier for this servant to handle some things in the open!"
Lan Qingwu said worriedly: "You must be careful!"
Ru Ping assured: "For the sake of the master, I will also be careful!"
As for why there were so many empty houses in this small town, they both had their own guesses, but they both tacitly kept it to themselves and didn't say it out loud.
The disaster caused by Prince Shen is even worse than that caused by the King Jialu back then!
After that, the two of them lived in a regular manner for a few days. Ru Ping went out in the middle of the night and brought back a lot of food and daily necessities. Lan Qingwu also moved to another empty room. Ru Ping stayed next door to the old woman during the day and sneaked into Lan Qingwu's room at night.
Ru Ping gathered a lot of information, but none of it was encouraging. The town was mostly populated by the elderly, women, and children, with almost no young men. The inner city was heavily guarded. Prince Shen and Lin Shaojie seemed certain Lan Qingwu was still trapped in the outer city, so they tightened the security there as well, forcing no movement between towns or villages.
Another day passed like this. That night, Ru Ping came back from getting some news. As soon as she entered the house, she shook her head at Lan Qingwu. Even though Lan Qingwu was mentally prepared, he couldn't help but feel disappointed: "Still no good news?"
She didn't know how the two children would cry if they couldn't see their mother! Especially the Seventh Prince, who had been weak since birth, and she was worried about him no matter what.
Ru Ping was a little depressed. She just lowered her eyes and suddenly shuddered, "Master——"
Her voice changed in pitch. "A team is coming into town! The sound of hooves and footsteps! I'm going to check it out!"
Ru Ping flew as fast as the wind, and in just a few breaths she was back in the house.
Lan Qingwu's bad feeling intensified: "Did you lock the door? Did Prince Shen's troops enter the town? It's the middle of the night..."
Ru Ping said directly, "It's definitely not a good thing to do this late at night! Master, there's a cellar under this bed, you go in and hide first!"
Lan Qingwu grabbed Ruping and said, "Let's go in and hide together!"
Ru Ping looked at Lan Qingwu steadily: "Okay, you go down first!"
Lan Qingwu didn't suspect anything. As soon as she turned around, Ruping hit her on the back of the neck. Lan Qingwu seemed in disbelief and fell into coma the next moment.