After being jilted, the entire neighboring village was filled with deep regret.

"Village chief, don't panic. Here's what we'll do: send more people to search everywhere, and also the village dogs. We have so many dogs; they might come in handy."

Su Tai's words made the village chief's eyes light up. "That's right! How could I forget about the dog? But... how do we find someone with this dog?"

At this point, Su Tai had no choice but to let her three beloved black dogs out. Ever since the last time someone broke into her house, she had consciously trained the three dogs. They could not only identify their owner by scent, but they were also particularly fierce fighters, as ruthless as wolves.

Families who have lost their children should quickly find the clothes and blankets the child used and let their dogs smell them.

The dog started searching the village, and the villagers followed behind.

The village courtyard was brightly lit.

With a bitter face, Rong Laosi kept complaining to Liu Guangyao, "In all these years, our troupe has never lost a child. Xiao Shier is the youngest in our troupe. He was so well-behaved and was the next pillar of our troupe that I was training. Now he's gone just like that. This is going to kill me!"

Xu said indignantly, "If you really cherish them so much, why would you cut back on their food? Nine people only get three steamed buns and vegetables at night, and we don't know where the meat and other steamed buns we prepared went!"
"I brought food for the kids and your wife got upset, blaming me for meddling. She even said actors have to be slim! Bah! Look at them, all pale and thin. What does that have to do with being slim? It's clearly abuse by you!"

"Hey! You can't just say things like that!" Master Rong was getting anxious. He looked at Liu Guangyao and the village chief. "It's not right for an old woman like her to interrupt when we men are talking! In short, everyone in our opera troupe is a treasure. Now that someone is gone, you have to give us an explanation. Otherwise, we'll have no choice but to report it to the authorities."

"Don't report to the authorities! Don't report to the authorities! We've kept watch at the village entrance. As long as the person is still in the village, they definitely won't be missing." Liu Guangyao was extremely anxious, and he apologized in a low voice. "How about this, you go back and rest first? We'll keep looking. We'll definitely give you an answer in the next couple of days, okay?"

"No! We still have other opera performances to do! We can't afford to be delayed." Master Rong resolutely refused.

Liu Guangyao was stumped and had no idea what to do.

Su Tai entered from outside, accompanied by Madam He, and nodded slightly to the people inside.

When Master Rong and Madam Qiu saw her, their expressions changed instinctively.

They noticed Su Tai's presence when they were looking for a child, mainly because her temperament was too outstanding and the refined man sitting next to her was also extraordinary. So they deliberately avoided them when they were trying to steal the child. Now that she has appeared, what is her identity?
Su Tai smiled kindly at Master Rong and his wife and asked, "Where is the opera troupe going to perform next?"

"This," Qiu interrupted, "is a village on the outskirts of the county town. They're celebrating a big festival!"

"I see!" Su Tai raised an eyebrow, then asked, "I wonder how much silver they spent to hire the opera troupe?"

“One tael. No, one and a half taels! They’re offering one and a half taels!” Qiu gritted her teeth, her eyes full of shrewd calculation.

Su Tai smiled calmly, "In that case, we'll spend a couple hundred and a half taels to hire an opera troupe to continue performing until we find your child, how about that?"

“No!” Master Rong refused decisively. Perhaps realizing he had been too agitated, he calmed down and explained, “In our line of work, we can’t go back on our word, lest we ruin our reputation.”

Su Tai nodded, "That's true. There's another way. I have some connections in the county. Master Rong told me the location of that village. I'll ask someone to go and say that we'll give the village some compensation. I'm sure they'll be more willing. It definitely won't affect the reputation of the Rong family opera troupe. Do you think we're sincere enough?"

Master Rong's face turned pale and then red, furious, inwardly cursing Su Tai to the bone. Madam Qiu quickly said, "Why go through all that trouble? Just give us the money as compensation, it won't delay our business."

Everyone kept looking over.

Su Tai feigned shock, "Didn't the troupe leader say that the lost child was your star performer? Such a precious child cannot be easily measured in silver. Besides, all this trouble won't cost us much silver. If we really put it in silver, it would probably cost at least several dozen taels. We're not going to do a losing business."

When Rong Lao Si and his wife's intentions were exposed, they became somewhat embarrassed and angry.

He said irritably, "Then just wait. We'll definitely leave after dawn anyway. If you can't find us, we'll report it to the authorities."

Su Tai wasn't afraid at all, and simply said, "If you want to report it to the authorities, that's fine too. As victims and suspects, you can't leave the village."

"Why can't we leave?" Qiu's voice trembled with excitement.

Su Tai calmly explained to her, "Because you are outsiders, the village has been very peaceful all these years, and we haven't heard of any families losing children. You've only been here for one day and five families have lost children. We have reason to suspect you, right?"

Therefore, we also support reporting to the authorities. No one is allowed to leave the village until the authorities find the child. What's the problem?

"What if we absolutely have to leave?" Rong Laosi narrowed his eyes dangerously and threatened, "Let me tell you, our Rong family opera troupe has powerful backers in the county town. You ignorant country bumpkins can't afford to offend us!"

"Heh. What a joke! Backer? Which backer? Is it the Zhu family in the county town, the Bai family, or the Cui family that has already fallen? Or is it that the county magistrate can be your backer? Rong Laosi! Others may be afraid of you, but I'm not! This is Shenjiazhuang, our territory! Even the Heavenly King himself can't do anything here!" Su Tai's attitude was very tough, and she shut down Rong Laosi's words before Liu Guangyao and the others could even react.

Liu Guangyao looked at Su Tai with newfound respect and wisely kept his mouth shut, watching the show unfold.

Rong Lao Si was so angry at Su Tai that his veins bulged. Just as he was about to make a move, Shen Ying angrily rebuked him, "Master Rong! Let's talk this out. You can't be so ignorant of the principle that two fists can't fight four hands!"

“Shen Ying!” Liu Guangyao stared in astonishment.

Su Tai alone was enough to leave him speechless, but he never expected that Shen Ying, who was usually spineless, would be so tough. They've gone mad, they've all gone mad, they're all going to rebel!

He had a feeling that things wouldn't end well today.

Chunxiang and the others who were waiting for news outside the courtyard also heard the argument inside.

Chunqin sat on the bench, looking on with amusement. "I never thought the troupe leader would be at a disadvantage. Who is that lady? How dare she challenge the troupe leader?"

Before coming here, she thought the same as Rong Laosi: the people in the countryside were all ignorant peasants, and having a little money was useless; they were easy to fool. Now it seems that they were naive.

Winter shook her head. "I don't understand. Should we go look for Little Twelve? Maybe he's just hiding because he's scared. We can coax him and he'll come out." (End of Chapter)