Xu Hanchao closed his account book and gestured for the maidservant to come closer and speak. He asked, “How did it go?”
The maidservant then told him how Yin Yiniang had instructed Shuzhi to go gather information from the eldest young master.
“Li Town?”
The maidservant quickly nodded, “This servant heard it clearly. They were indeed talking about Li Town.”
“Is the information reliable?”
“Third Young Master even argued with Yin Yiniang while trying to gather information for Miss Shuzhi.”
Xu Hanchao took out a piece of silver and dismissed the maidservant, thinking that Tianxiang was indeed clever.
Although he had not heard that Li Town had any silk, his elder brother had been managing the weaving workshop for years and would naturally know better about where silk could be obtained. He must get to Li Town before his elder brother and third brother tomorrow!
The next day, while it was still dark, Xu Hanchao left the Xu residence. His carriage headed towards Li Town, fifty li from Yongjing City. Just as his carriage left the residence, another carriage followed from the alley, tailing him out of the city.
That night, Xu Hanchao did not return home. Yurong waited until late at night, growing increasingly worried. Hanchao had left before dawn, saying he was going to find silk. Going to Li Town should have been a round trip in one day. Even if finding silk took some effort, he shouldn’t be out this late, right?
She ordered people to search for Hanchao in Li Town overnight, and she waited anxiously. But after waiting through an entire night and day, until after noon the next day, Hanchao still had not returned. The people sent to find him came back, saying no one in Li Town had seen Hanchao’s carriage.
Yurong panicked and hurried to find Madam Xu. As soon as she saw her, she began to cry, “Mother, Hanchao left early yesterday morning and still hasn’t returned. I’ve been worried sick all night.”
.” She couldn’t bring herself to finish the sentence, afraid that her worst fears might come true.
Yu Yi had just woken up from her afternoon nap, with a maidservant still behind her fixing her hair. Without turning around, she looked at Yurong’s blurry reflection in the mirror and asked, “Where did Hanchao go?”
Yurong hesitated, not daring to speak. After a moment’s hesitation, she bit her lip and concealed the truth: “I do not know where Hanchao went.”
Madam Xu, having been in the Xu family for many years, naturally had several trusted confidants. The night before, Yu Yi had already learned about the dispute in Yin Yiniang’s courtyard and knew that Tianxiang had secretly passed a message to Hanchao.
Although she couldn’t clearly see the hesitation on Yurong’s blurry face in the copper mirror, her hesitant response was crystal clear. Seeing that Yurong was unwilling to reveal Hanchao’s trip to Li Town, she said calmly, “Don’t worry unnecessarily. Perhaps Hanchao went far to collect silk and couldn’t make it back in time, so he’s staying overnight. Maybe someone will report his safety soon.”
With Madam Xu’s words, Yurong could only withdraw timidly.
After the maidservant finished fixing her hair and left, Yu Yi slightly lowered her head to look at the copper mirror before her. Although the copper mirror was blurry and slightly distorted, one could still see the cold expression on the aging face in the reflection.
After leaving Madam Xu, Yurong did not return to her courtyard immediately. After hesitating for a while, she mustered the courage to walk towards Hanzhong’s courtyard.
Xu Hanzhong had not yet returned, and Wanhua was surprised to see Yurong’s pale face and haggard appearance. She asked, “Sister-in-law, what’s wrong? Did Hanchao bully you?”
Yurong quickly shook her head, “No, big sister-in-law. Hanchao left early yesterday morning and still hasn’t returned. Yurong came to ask if big brother and sister-in-law know anything about Hanchao’s whereabouts.”
Wanhua heard this and felt a bit of schadenfreude: “Oh, where did the second brother go to collect silk? Even his wife doesn’t know, how would Hanzhong know? As for me, I certainly don’t…” After saying this, she saw Yurong’s swollen eyes blink and tears fall. Feeling somewhat embarrassed, she changed her tone and consoled, “Yongjing City and its surroundings are peaceful, and the second brother will be fine. He might have just gone far and couldn’t make it back in time, but he’ll return soon.”
Facing Wanhua, Yurong felt quite guilty. Hanchao had used underhanded methods to steal information from Hanzhong and Hanren. However, she suspected that Hanchao’s prolonged absence was related to Hanzhong. Seeing that she couldn’t get any information, she took out a handkerchief to wipe her tears and nodded, “What big sister-in-law says is right. Yurong was overthinking.
Yu Rong persuaded her a few words, and after chatting for a while, she couldn’t tell if Wan Hua knew Han Xiao’s whereabouts, so she bid farewell and left. She went to Yin Yiniang’s courtyard but found nothing and could only return to her own courtyard.
Yu Rong waited anxiously until dusk, but Han Xiao still hadn’t returned home, and no one had come back to report the safety of those who went with Han Xiao. She heard from the maid that the eldest young master and third young master had already returned home. She could no longer contain herself and hurriedly found Madam Xu, only to see Xu Hanchong and his wife were also there. Her face turned pale, and for a moment she didn’t know whether to speak or not.
Yu Yi saw her expression and raised an eyebrow, asking, “Han Xiao hasn’t returned yet?”
Yu Rong couldn’t help but burst into tears and then told everything in detail.
Yu Yi listened to her with a cold face and rebuked, “You should have said this earlier. Why did you delay for so long?!”
If something has happened to Han Xiao and he’s waiting to be rescued, a delay of even one hour could mean… And you, you’ve been hiding this until now!”
Yu Rong, full of regret and fear, sobbed softly, “Daughter-in-law did not dare to conceal it. Han Xiao had instructed her a thousand times not to tell.”
Yu Yi said coldly, “You were just hoping that if Han Xiao returned by himself, you could secretly send someone to look for him, and only speak up if you couldn’t find him, right?”
Yu Rong fell to her knees with a thud and begged, “It is daughter-in-law’s fault. Please punish me, Mother-in-law! However, Han Xiao has not yet returned home. Daughter-in-law begs Mother-in-law to send more people to search for Han Xiao!”
Yu Yi said, “Of course we will go look for Han Xiao first.” As she spoke, her eyes softened, though Yu Rong kneeling on the ground couldn’t see this.
A Zhu leaned forward to look, then inhaled a cold breath and stammered: “Young, young master, there are rob, robbers…”
“What?” Xu Hanxiao lifted the carriage curtain to look outside while reprimanding: “This is an official road, in the capital’s jurisdiction, in broad daylight, how could…” Before he could finish speaking, he saw several large men standing in front of the carriage, faces covered, holding gleaming large knives, staring at him menacingly.
His legs went weak, and he sat back in the carriage, too scared to say anything.
The lead bandit shouted: “Everyone get out!”
Xu Hanxiao came to his senses and hurriedly got out, pulling silver notes from his chest: “Gentlemen, all my valuables are here, please take them. As long as you let me go, I promise not to report this to the authorities.”
The lead bandit signaled his subordinates to take the silver notes but did not release them, ordering his men to tie up Xu Hanxiao, A Zhu, and the driver: “Is this all the silver the second young master of the Xu family brought?”
Xu Hanxiao secretly groaned. These people clearly knew his identity and were prepared.
