The head of the Red Mansion

Chapter 329 Beating Drums and Gongs
On the official road, Kuroiwa Nami's mind was increasingly breaking down.

But she couldn't give up.

Finally, I spotted another elderly woman, and quickly called out to her, "Auntie~~~"

She thought she could still call out sweetly like before, but in fact, because her voice was hoarse and her mindset was off, the "auntie" sounded like a ghostly scream from last night, half laughing and half threatening.

"Oh my god!"

The old lady was startled by her; if it weren't for the fact that it was broad daylight, she would have thought she had seen a ghost.

When she realized people were coming her way, she took off running.

"Auntie, Auntie~~~"

Kuroiwa Nami wanted to chase after him, but she hadn't rested for a day and a night and was under a lot of stress. Now, not only was her voice sore, but her legs were also a bit weak.

She chased after them listlessly, but unexpectedly, the old lady yelled, "Da Niu, Er Dan, Wang Cai, Xiao Hei..."

A group of puppies that had been chasing and playing on the ridges of the fields in the distance all came running over.

Bite her!

The old woman pointed at Kuroiwa Nami, whose heart skipped a beat. As the puppies came running towards her barking, Kuroiwa Nami didn't have time to explain and instinctively turned and ran away.

"Pah! You're scaring people in broad daylight."

If this happened at night, she would probably be terrified.

The old woman watched as a pack of puppies chased the woman for over a hundred meters before calling out again, "Hey girl!"

"Woof woof woof~~~"

The girl stopped.

The other dogs also quickly stopped; they were clearly not really chasing Kuroiwa Nami, but mainly chasing her to scare her.

Kuroiwa Nami realized this too, but in broad daylight, before seeing Shen Shi, she couldn't draw the soft sword from her waist to kill the dog!
However, this village has dogs...

Kuroiwa Nami's dark eyes lingered on the village for a while, eventually circling around until she spotted a few children playing by the pond. "Whoever answers my question will get a coin!"

She no longer had time to play along with these people.

This time, Nami Kuroiwa went straight to the point.

They wanted to know if any of them heard the dog barking last night.

As she left the main road, she was unaware that a troop of soldiers had already arrived along the road. They dispersed in small groups, inquiring in the villages on both sides about any unusual people or strange individuals lingering around the villages.

The villagers, who were terrified by all the ghostly cries and laughter yesterday, felt they had something to say about this.

Jin Muchuan fought against the Mongols, fought against the Jurchens, went to the south, and also fought openly and secretly against the Portuguese and British. He may not have seen mountains of corpses and seas of blood, but he was not far off.

He wished there were ghosts in the world. He had so many brothers who had fallen on the battlefield, but he had never seen one of them in all these years.

The sudden appearance of so many men and women laughing and crying on the mountain means either someone is doing something "big" or someone is marking out territory.

"By the way, there's a strange man in front of Old Zhou's shop. He has slightly bowed legs and has been staring at the main road for a day and a night. When he dozes off, he asks Old Zhou to help him keep watch, saying he's looking for a woman who is dressed particularly well."

The old man who was speaking wanted to show it to Jin Muchuan, "Hey, he was just here..."

He craned his neck and looked around, finally finding him, but the man had already run quite a distance away. "It's him," the old man pointed, "How did he get away?"

run?
Jin Muchuan narrowed his eyes, waved his hand, and two personal guards immediately mounted their horses.

Before entering the mountains and forests, no matter how strong your two legs are, you can't outrun four legs.

Yamashita Haru was quickly caught and thrown in front of Jin Muchuan with a 'thud,' landing in a very embarrassing manner.

"My lord, my lord, I didn't do anything!"

"If you didn't do anything, why are you running away?"

Jin Muchuan drew his sword sharply, using the tip to lift Jin Muchuan's chin and force him to look up. "Speak," he said, "who is the woman you're looking for?"

Haru Yamashita: "..."

He glanced at Boss Zhou, who had been called out by the soldiers, and couldn't help but swallow.

Yesterday, in order to find someone, he described Shen's clothes and appearance in detail to Boss Zhou.

How to do?
In this life-or-death situation, Yamashita Haru's mind raced. "Sir, may I speak to you in private? My master is a prominent figure in the capital. His fourth concubine has run away, you know... this is a family scandal."

Ok?
Jin Muchuan did not act immediately.

He stared at the man trying to remain calm, and suddenly asked, "Where are you from?"

"Shaoxing Anchang..."

To avoid being discovered as odd, they all had to arrange for their hometown to be a particular town.

If you're really unlucky enough to run into someone from that town, just make up another story about a remote little village.

Using this tactic, they blended in with the Jiangnan region from the beginning of the previous dynasty and never made any major mistakes.

"Anchang!"

Jin Muchuan looked at him and smiled, "Back when I passed by there, the donkey rolls from Old Yu's family were absolutely delicious!"

"Yes Yes Yes!"

Harumi Yamashita smiled and agreed.

"You've eaten it too?"

"I've eaten."

Yamashita Haru nodded and bowed.

"Ho~"

Jin Muchuan smiled sinisterly, then kicked him, sending him sprawling face-first into the dirt. "Do you know what it means to roll on the ground like a donkey?"

He stomped on her again, slamming Yamashita Haru's head hard onto the ground. "Tell me, where is the person you kidnapped? Did she escape? Which direction did she escape in?"

"My lord, my lord, you've misunderstood, it's truly a misunderstanding."

Haru Yamashita's face contorted.

He didn't know where he had made a mistake.

He remembered that "donkey roll" was something to eat!

"Misunderstand?"

Jin Muchuan plunged the knife down, pinning his hand to the ground.

"Ahhhh~~~~"

Yamashita Haru screamed in terror.

"You bastard!" Jin Muchuan shoved his head hard. "Do you know who I am? Is this how people from Anchang, Shaoxing talk? Don't even mention that there's no such thing as Lao Yu's donkey roll there. Even if there were, it would never appear in Anchang."

Haru Yamashita: "..."

His tears and snot were streaming down his face.

My hands hurt so much, they made my whole body weak, and I couldn't exert any force. One of my ears felt like it was being stepped into the mud.

If I had known this would happen, I should have fought harder just now.

"Tell me, where are the people you kidnapped?"

Jin Muchuan continued to exert force with his feet.

"They...they escaped."

Haru Yamashita wanted to have some backbone.

But it was he who had his head stepped on and his hands nailed.

If this person were to actually slash his neck, they could get a quick death, but judging from his appearance...

If he dared to hesitate, his legs would likely be broken by the backs of the soldiers' knives.

Which direction did they escape in?

"Mountain, mountain."

Haru Yamashita was about to cry.

Haru Yamashita pointed up the mountain with his only remaining good hand.

"You pretended to be ghosts last night because you were looking for her?"

Jin Muchuan glanced at it and then asked another question.

"Yes!"

Before he finished speaking, Jin Muchuan drew his sword and grabbed the man in one swift motion. "How many of you are there? Do you know roughly which direction she escaped in?"

"There are only four of us in total."

There's no escaping it; someone else will definitely suffer the same fate as him.

But as long as they weren't completely wiped out, they could always send a message back.

Therefore, they concealed three things without hesitation.

“She…she fled in roughly that direction,” Yamashita Haru said. “But we’ve been searching for her for a whole day and night and haven’t found her.”

Jin Muchuan: "..."

He looked in the direction the man was pointing, and his heart sank.

one day one Night.

Given the long period of time, if given the opportunity, Sister-in-law Shen will definitely return to Beijing.

If they haven't gone back yet, something must have happened.

"Immediately summon all the village heads, chiefs, and hunters in the surrounding area to come and see me immediately."

He threw Yamashita Haru to the ground, "Break his legs and interrogate him thoroughly."

The mountain is close to the village and there are no large animals, but there are many snakes in the summer.

No matter where they hide or fall, even a healthy person would find it hard to endure a day and a night like this, let alone Madam Shen, whose health had already been failing for some time.

Jin Muchuan couldn't help but be anxious.

After they returned to the capital, he visited her twice during his leave. Although he met her both times, he learned from Jia Zhen that she was ill both times.

now……

He feared that after she escaped, her health would deteriorate, she might fall ill somewhere, and she wouldn't be able to call for help.

Therefore, it is necessary to mobilize the surrounding villagers to go up the mountain together.

The villagers in the surrounding area know the terrain of the mountain best.

And those few Japanese.

Jin Muchuan didn't believe there were only four of them.

He had just received news that Jia Zhu had found five people from the Lai family.

Thinking of this, Jin Muchuan couldn't wait for the village chief to come over, so he went directly to find the village chief.

Meanwhile, Shen Ning was unaware that reinforcements had already arrived.

She was on the donkey cart, listening to Uncle Liu gossip about her family.

It's been through several hands and exaggerated a lot, but it still has a strange sense of humor.

Well, Madam Shen's beating swept across a large area, actually referring to the ten strokes she gave Jia Zhen.

However, being able to acquire so much more land means they've swept across a large area.

Shen Ning felt a surge of joy.

That was truly the most worthwhile punishment she had ever received in her life.

Although Jia Zhen was unlucky, he was able to expand the country's territory with just ten strokes of the cane. In Jia Zhen's own words, he could write a whole page about it in the family genealogy.

Moreover, Shen Ning heard from his later remarks that he also wanted to change that page of the family tree into a golden page.

You can't argue with that.

She quietly provided a piece of gold, had it forged into sheets by a goldsmith, and gave them to him.

But this led Xiaodong to spread the word that since he was using the Golden Pages, his ancestors had to follow suit.

Shen Ning was afraid that he would get arrogant with more money.

He couldn't touch the gold and silver in the vault; if he wanted to get the gold pages out for his ancestors, he would have to slowly accumulate them.

Although he became an official, and a high-ranking one at that, he still had a lot of social obligations. It would definitely take him at least two years to accumulate a few "golden pages" (a term used to describe high-ranking officials).

Shen Ning sat on the donkey cart, her mind gradually drifting away.

Then I started thinking of my daughter again.

Even if the little guy doesn't sleep with her, he'll definitely look for her first thing in the morning.

Judging by the time, she had been unable to find her for two days in a row, and she didn't know how much she had cried.

As the donkey cart slowly moved forward, Shen Ning was unaware that the village she had first seen had been mobilized by Jin Muchuan, with a large number of villagers heading up the mountain. Not only that, but some of the bolder ones were even going to the abandoned cellar where she had been haunted and imprisoned.

What was the original state of Shunji Fukuyama's body, and what is it still like now?

Kuroiwa Nami and the others were so busy they didn't even have time to eat, let alone collect his body.

Fortunately, the temperature in the cellar was lower than outside, and after a day and a night, it didn't smell particularly bad.

But it was quite frightening for the villagers to suddenly see a dead body.

As soon as the commotion started, Jin Muchuan rushed over and went down to check on the situation himself.

"This is the place. When we came back, Madam Shen killed him."

Haru Yamashita was also turned around. "We've been busy looking for Madam Shen and haven't touched him yet."

"..."

Jin Muchuan remained silent. He stared at the hole dug in the wall and the bloody footprint on it, his heart sinking slightly.

Madam Shen was kidnapped at night, and she didn't even have a pair of shoes!
Back then, when the brothers got their paychecks, they would all go to the brothel to have some fun.

At one point, he was also encouraged.

It was Jia Jing who discovered him and restrained him.

He told him to get married.

It's said that rather than giving money to other women and getting nothing in return, it's better to marry a wife. Give the money to your wife, and she will give you a home.

They'll give you children, take care of your parents, and buy you land and build you a house.

He said that marrying a good wife brings prosperity to three generations.

He is obedient.

He does indeed have a fiancée in his family.

Having earned merit and a leave of absence, he was about to go home to get married. However, on the eve of his return, he gambled away all his money.

He lost his money and was to be punished by Jia Jing under military law.

Gambling was forbidden in the camp, and he made a mistake.

It was Madam Shen who took pity on him when she saw him walking with a limp, and gave him medicine and money, which is why he went home and got married.

Over the years, his family went from being extremely poor to becoming small landlords.

He has a son and a daughter.

"Find it! Find it for me with gongs and drums!"

Jin Muchuan lifted his foot and followed the hole Shen Ning had dug. As he climbed up, he shouted, "Summon the soldiers!"

Let the Japanese flee if they want; the key issue now is Madam Shen.

He needed to let her know that it was safe and she could come out.

……

In Ningguo Mansion, Jiao Da was old, and with Granny Lai arrested, they didn't bother to search for her everywhere.

But the fact that he doesn't seek help doesn't mean he won't cause trouble.

The old lady from the West Mansion has collapsed, hasn't she?

It's alright, we still have the housekeeper's second wife.

The fact that outsiders are allowed into the icehouse shows just how lazy the managers are.

Even though the steward had already been flogged by Jia Zhu and his entire family had been imprisoned, and they were to be sold off at a later date.

But if we don't let everyone remember today's lesson before selling it off, some people will forget the pain once the wound has healed in a few years.

The old man went to find Wang Xifeng in person.

Before long, all the maids and servants in the mansion, even Yuanyang and Hu Po, took turns going to the outer courtyard to witness the execution.

The entire family in charge were tortured one by one.

The bloody buttocks were enough to make the timid person's legs go weak.

"Grandpa Jiao, Grandpa Jiao!"

A servant came running over frantically, saying, "Lord Jin has sent word that he has found the Japanese pirates."

"Where's the wife?"

Jiao Da, who was observing the execution, suddenly stood up.

"The lady has run away. She ran into the mountains to escape the Japanese pirates and has been there for a day and a night."

what?
Wang Xifeng, who was inside the house, also rushed out. "Grandpa Jiao, you can take care of the people in the mansion."

Although Jia Lian and Lin Zhixiao had already taken quite a few people out, they could still squeeze some out if they tried.

Jiao Da nodded, gave her a slight bow, and said loudly, "Stop hitting her with the board, take your stick, and come with me."