pdf-ebookys Chapter 290: Reporting to the Yamen
Chapter 290: Reporting to the Yamen
Gu Feiyan also praised Li Xiaoxiao highly. He had never seen a woman like her.
As Li Xiaoxiao was talking, she pushed the door open and glanced at the two of them: "Are you saying bad things about me?"
"Of course not. If I say something bad about someone, I always say it to their face. I would never do such a mean thing." Zhou Lingfei was in completely different states when facing Li Xiaoxiao and when facing Gu Feiyan. She was bold, confident, and free and easy.
"Okay, I'm just kidding. How could I not know you? I have developed a new flavor. Would you two like to try it?" Li Xiaoxiao sat down and poured himself a cup of tea.
"Okay!" Gu Feiyan is a loyal customer of Longmen Restaurant. He loves hotpot the most. The spicy and numbing taste is simply irresistible. He comes to eat there every few days, and he likes every flavor.
"Yes, I want some too." Zhou Lingfei didn't eat spicy food before, but after eating Li Xiaoxiao's double-flavored hotpot, she now loves spicy food.
Li Xiaoxiao rolled her eyes at her with amusement: "Look how excited you are. I have already asked the kitchen to prepare it. Wait, it will be here soon."
"My little lady is the best." Zhou Lingfei pulled Li Xiaoxiao's arm like a spoiled child and shook it non-stop.
"Don't flatter me. If you keep eating like this, you'll end up as fat as a ball. Don't blame me if you can't get married." Li Xiaoxiao pretended to pull out her arm.
"Young lady, you are making fun of me again." Zhou Lingfei secretly glanced at Gu Feiyan and saw that he was drinking tea with his head down, as if he didn't hear what they were saying. She felt relieved and glared at Li Xiaoxiao in reproach.
Soon, the waiter brought all the prepared ingredients one by one. Li Xiaoxiao served a new flavor this time, tomato. Since there were tomatoes at this time, it was normal to make a tomato-flavored hotpot.
A big pot of red tomato sauce quickly boils, which makes people hungry just by looking at it.
Li Xiaoxiao picked up the ingredients and was about to pour them into the pot when there was a sudden urgent knock on the door.
"Who's outside?" Li Xiaoxiao asked.
"It's me, Si Er." Si Er's voice sounded outside the door, with urgency in his voice.
Although Si Er is usually a little erratic, he is always careful and cautious in doing things. Something big must have happened, because he usually wouldn't come in person.
Putting down the things in his hands, Li Xiaoxiao quickly stood up and opened the door for him: "What happened?"
Si Er looked into the room and saw Gu Feiyan and Zhou Lingfei looking at him.
"They are not outsiders, just speak." Li Xiaoxiao knew that Si Er must have some concerns, but she couldn't care less at this moment.
"Your sister and your mother are missing." Si Er said this.
"What? Missing? Tell me what happened?" Li Xiaoxiao asked anxiously. She remembered that when she left home in the morning, Sun and Li Ruolan said they would come to help her. How could they suddenly disappear in such a short time? They seldom went out, let alone offend anyone.
"In the morning, the two of them came here in a carriage. My people followed them from a distance. Suddenly, for some reason, the horse got scared and the driver fell off the carriage. The horse ran away all the way. When our people caught up, the carriage had stopped in the woods outside the city, and there was no trace of the two of them in the carriage."
Si Er told the whole story, his voice full of self-blame and regret. He should have sent a few more people to follow, maybe then nothing would have happened.
Upon hearing the news, Zhou Lingfei and Gu Feiyan also came over.
"Have you sent more people to look for him?" Zhou Lingfei asked.
"We have sent more people to look for them." As soon as he got the news, Si Er sent all the available people nearby to look for the two of them.
"Is the driver reliable?" Li Xiaoxiao forced herself not to panic, to calm down, and carefully analyze the incident. The first person she suspected was the driver.
"There's no problem with the driver." Si Er answered without thinking. He had trained the driver himself and he was absolutely trustworthy.
Li Xiaoxiao nodded and said solemnly, "Tell me the road section where the incident happened and who was nearby."
"The location was on the street that turns south after leaving the Si Mansion. Because we knew we were going to come here, our people did not ride horses, but walked behind the carriage. There were no suspicious people at the time, only a carriage passing by, blocking our view."
"After the carriage passed by, the horse suddenly got scared. The driver tried to control it, but it was too late. The horse ran around and then its front hooves flew into the air, throwing the driver off. He was closest to the carriage, and when he stood up from the ground, the horse had already run far away."
Because he did not see it with his own eyes, he was recalling what his subordinates had reported to him as he spoke, for fear of missing anything.
"The problem must be with that passing carriage. Do you know where that carriage came from?" Li Xiaoxiao quickly found the key to the matter.
"We don't know about that yet. Our people were only focused on chasing the carriage at the time." Si Er obviously thought of this as well and felt a little annoyed.
"Send someone to find the carriage first. Something must have happened to the two of them, otherwise they wouldn't have been missing for so long." There was a small forest outside the city, and Li Xiaoxiao knew where it was. If they really came down on their own, how could they not be found?
"Yes, I'll send someone to find it right away." Si Er nodded and left quickly.
"Miss, was this done by your enemies?" Zhou Lingfei asked anxiously.
"It should be. I can't accompany you well today. I have to go out for a while." The first person Li Xiaoxiao thought of was Si Wei Zhong. His two sons suffered a great loss at her hands a few days ago, so he was the biggest suspect.
"Where are you going? I'll go with you." Gu Feiyan took the initiative to speak. At this moment, Li Xiaoxiao must be feeling flustered.
"I'll go too." Zhou Lingfei also spoke up.
Li Xiaoxiao looked at them both gratefully, knowing that they were concerned about her: "Why don't Fei Yan follow me? Ling Fei, you go home first, and we will go to the government to report the case."
Zhou Lingfei is a girl after all, and it is not suitable for her to go to the government office.
"Okay, be sure to tell me as soon as you have any news." Zhou Lingfei did not hesitate and nodded in agreement. She knew what Li Xiaoxiao was worried about. She was the daughter of an imperial censor, and if she went in and out of the government office with others, she was afraid of attracting bad gossip.
"I will definitely bring them back safely." Li Xiaoxiao promised her, while also secretly warning herself.
Li Xiaoxiao and Gu Feiyan soon arrived at the prefectural yamen. Gu Feiyan introduced himself and the gatekeeper politely led them both in and asked someone to quickly notify the prefect.