Miss and farmhand

"Why isn't he at the academy?!" Shen Yurui blurted out.

She ignored Huang Xingtong and asked Zhu Xiaoxu, who was standing behind him with a furrowed brow and no words in sight.

"Didn't Miss Luo come to see you yesterday?" The questioning tone was very intense.

Shen Xuying quickly pulled her sister back and asked Zhu Xiaoxu again in a gentler tone.

"Young Master Zhu, we know a little about your affair with Miss Luo. We're all family here, so let's not talk about anything else for now, and you don't need to hide anything from us. People are the most important thing. We need to find out where Miss Luo is first. This is no joke. We can talk about everything else later."

A hint of displeasure flashed in Zhu Xiaoxu's eyes, but he immediately lowered his head to cover it up and said earnestly, "Teacher's wife, it's not that I deliberately wanted to hide it. I explained to Madam Huang's son the day before yesterday that I haven't been at the academy these past few days because I was tied up at home. I only just returned yesterday. The people and teachers at the academy can all testify to this, and Master Huang can also testify."

Everyone looked at Huang Xingtong, who was instructing his servants to quickly go to the yamen to fetch the officials. He nodded and said, "It's like this, if I had known you had such a thing, I would have told you long ago. No one asked me, and you're all like headless flies. Why can't you wait even a few days? Don't you try to persuade Miss Biao? Even if you're anxious, you can't force her to go up the mountain in the dead of night to look for someone. She's a young lady!"

Shen Xuying only found out about it then, and she was annoyed that she hadn't discovered it sooner so she could have comforted her cousin.

But Shen Yurui understood that the tone of the conversation was actually still blaming her for nominally taking care of Luo San. If she hadn't stirred things up, Luo San wouldn't have done something so impulsive. Shen Yurui naturally felt that a girl who dared to elope, regardless of her influence, could do whatever she wanted, and she didn't feel responsible.

She immediately shifted the focus and continued to question Zhu Xiaoxu.

"But you came back yesterday, right? You must have seen Miss Luo San, right? She's looking for you; you're her only target. Where else could she go?"

Zhu Xiaoxu paused, then lowered his head and said, "I didn't see Miss Luo. It was too late last night, so I asked her to go back first through the gate. She said if there was anything to discuss, she should come to the teacher's house during the day. It's not proper to talk during the day if there's nothing to say; it's against the rules to do it at night. I sent someone to escort her down the mountain, but the boy reported back that he saw her return to the garden and enter the gate. We don't know why she disappeared after that."

"You won't even see her?!" Shen Yurui raised her voice. "She came all this way to see you, disregarding everything else, and you won't even open the door for her?"

"Enough." Huang Xingtong pressed his forehead. "Now is not the time to worry about these things. What are we going to say when the officials come? We can't hide this from them, otherwise, if we lose the clues and can't find her, how are we going to explain it to her parents?"

Zhu Xiaoxu said, "The key point is still what happened after Miss Luo returned to the garden from down the mountain. Did any servants in the household see her? If she wanted to return to the First Madam's place, which route did she take?"

Shen Yurui, who was listening nearby, immediately sensed something was wrong. Zhu Xiaoxu sounded like he was doing his best to provide directions for the search, but she wasn't so easily fooled. From his very first sentence, he was shirking responsibility.

He wasn't at the academy, having informed Miss Luo in advance; when she came to his door last night, he didn't open it or personally contact her; he also sent someone to escort her back to the garden to ensure her safety as she descended the mountain. She had come up the mountain for his sake, and he couldn't shirk responsibility for that part of the journey, but once she returned to the garden, it was her own home, and it was no longer his concern.

Zhu Xiaoxu couldn't refuse out of politeness, so he came along, but he had already made sure that regardless of whether Luo San was found or not, he wouldn't be implicated. And here he is, playing the innocent! He's already done all the groundwork!

Even as the officials arrived, Shen Yurui kept her eyes fixed on Zhu Xiaoxu, her gaze intense. Even Shen Xuying and Huang Chu, who were standing nearby, noticed this. Zhu Xiaoxu stubbornly refused to meet her gaze again.

Shen Yurui became uneasy. Zhu Xiaoxu said he only spoke to Luo San through the door, which shouldn't be a lie; otherwise, if Luo San came back, the two could verify it by comparing their conversations. But how much they actually talked through the door, only they knew. Did Luo San reveal whose idea it was? Zhu Xiaoxu might ask her how a young woman could have the audacity to do such a thing, and Luo San might blurt it all out in her haste. Did Luo San reveal her intentions? What else could she possibly want when she knocked on a man's door late at night? Zhu Xiaoxu hasn't said anything yet, so does he know? When the officials arrive, will he tell them? If something really happens to Luo San, and he has cleared himself of any wrongdoing, will he turn around and blame her?

The jumble of thoughts made Shen Yurui anxious, making her look like a concerned older sister who was worried about her cousin.

Shen Yurui forced herself to calm down. How could she be blamed? It was all Luo San's own audacity. If she hadn't provoked Zhu Xiaoxu first and indulged in wishful thinking, none of this would have happened. Shen Yurui was merely her cousin; seeing Luo San so upset, she simply tried to comfort her with a few words, but Luo San took it seriously. She only had herself to blame. Even if the officials came, she would still say the same thing.

Besides, what's so scary? Luo San ran away from her arranged marriage, and her parents didn't even send a single letter. It's clear they're furious and don't want to care about her anymore; they might even abandon their daughter altogether. If even her parents don't care, what power does a mere relative from her maternal side have to control her?

When the officials arrived, they were shocked to hear that a young lady from the Huang family had gone missing, and took it very seriously. They were naturally puzzled as to why the young lady had gone to the academy so late at night, but they didn't ask directly. Such private matters shouldn't be pried into; they only asked the most crucial questions and then dispatched men to search for her as quickly as possible.

Huang Chu couldn't help. After such an incident, her parents were even more worried about her coming and going, forbidding her from even going to the academy on the mountain, and not even allowing her to take Han Mama with her.

She was filled with regret. If she had known that Luo San was already this anxious, she wouldn't have hesitated so much yesterday and would have gone straight to the academy!

She sat on the veranda watching the officials and servants head up the mountain behind the town. They said they would search the mountain first, as there were likely snakes and insects on the mountain at night. If someone got lost at night, they were most likely to be bitten by wild animals and faint from fright. By mobilizing people to search the mountain now, the probability of finding them was higher, and as long as they weren't poisoned, there shouldn't be any serious problems.

This is the best outcome everyone could hope for.

In the vast search team, the man was at the very back.

He stood by the back gate wall, leaning against the door frame and looking down at something.

Huang Chu couldn't help but walk over, but as soon as he took a step, Han's mother followed closely behind.

"...I'm not going out, I'll just go take a look over there."

She quickly walked to the man's side. "What are you looking at?"

The man stepped aside and pointed to the marks on the lower corner of the door frame for her to see.

With just one glance, Huang Chu felt a chill run down his spine.