Chapter 175
Xu Erlei just remembered that the red hair tie he picked up might belong to Shushu.
He went home, rummaged around to find it, and wanted to return it to Shushu.
Stepping out of his house, he ran into Ye Yunniang, who was returning in a horse-drawn carriage.
"That's all I know," Xu Erlei said, hiding behind Granny Xu.
"Erlei, Auntie thanks you for telling me all this," Ye Yunniang said. After thanking him, she turned and ran toward the entrance of the alley.
Jiang Mingzhe nodded at Granny Xu and followed Ye Yunniang away.
"Granny Xu, did you see my mother?" Li Pan and his two brothers walked out.
"They went to the abandoned house by the river ditch," Xu Erlei spoke up first, revealing where Ye Yunniang had gone.
"What is my mother doing there?" Li Pan looked at Granny Xu in confusion.
"I'm not lying to you. Auntie really went to the abandoned house." Xu Erlei was unhappy that Li Pan didn't believe him.
"You've lied to us many times before." Li An felt it was only normal for them to suspect Xu Erlei of lying.
"Granny Xu, do you know what my mother went to the abandoned house to do?" Li Ping asked Granny Xu.
"Erlei found Shushu's red hair tie over there," Granny Xu explained.
Li An wanted to say something else but was pulled back by Li Ping.
"Thank you, Granny Xu and Brother Erlei, for letting us know. We are going to find our mother." Li Ping and Li Pan pulled Li An away.
"I wasn't lying. Why don't they believe me?" Xu Erlei felt upset.
Granny Xu patted Xu Erlei's head. "Erlei, don't tell lies in the future. Grandma believes that everyone will trust you."
Xu Erlei pouted and gave a hum of agreement.
Ye Yunniang and Jiang Mingzhe arrived at the abandoned house Xu Erlei had mentioned.
The abandoned house was in the opposite direction of the Zhou family's residence.
What was Cai Damei doing here with Shushu?
Ye Yunniang was puzzled. She wanted to go in but was held back by Jiang Mingzhe.
"Don't ruin the scene. Let's wait until the people from the yamen arrive before we go in."
"Are we just going to wait here doing nothing?" Ye Yunniang stomped her feet anxiously.
"Let's look around first and see if we can find anything."
"Alright." Ye Yunniang looked around, noticed a small path on the side, and was about to head toward it.
"Mother!" Li Pan and the other two ran over.
"Mother, why are you here? Where are Grandma and Auntie?"
"They're missing. I don't know where they went."
Ye Yunniang didn't hide anything and explained the situation.
"We'll search together." Li Pan and his brothers also wanted to help.
Li Pan and Li An accompanied Ye Yunniang, while Jiang Mingzhe went with Li Ping. They split up, walking around both sides of the wall.
"Mother, we will definitely find Grandma and Auntie," Li Pan comforted the nervous Ye Yunniang.
Without seeing them in person, it was too early to say anything.
"Mother, could Grandma have taken Auntie to see Master Bao?" Li An guessed.
"I already went looking for him, and they weren't there." Ye Yunniang scanned her surroundings, hoping to find a useful clue.
"Who could it be? Grandma hasn't made any enemies." Li Pan couldn't figure it out.
"Could it be the Xing family?" Li An voiced his suspicion.
Ye Yunniang suddenly realized—how could she have forgotten about the Xing family?
"Mother, look here." Li An found something.
Ye Yunniang walked over. It was a torn piece of cloth.
On the cloth, there was half of an embroidered orchid.
Ye Yunniang sewed all the clothes for the family. She recognized it at a glance; it was from Cai Damei's padded jacket.
"Yunniang."
"Mother."
Jiang Mingzhe walked over, carrying Li Ping.
"We didn't find anything on our side. Mother, did you find anything?" Li Ping shared their search results with the three.
"We found a torn piece of cloth. It belongs to my mother."
Before finding any evidence, Ye Yunniang had clung to the hope that Cai Damei might be fine.
The torn cloth in her hand shattered all of Ye Yunniang's wishful thinking.
"Bao Min has brought people," Jiang Mingzhe said, reaching out to take the piece of cloth.
Ye Yunniang didn't let go. "I can do this."
With her mother gone, she was the backbone of the family.
Arriving at the entrance of the abandoned house, Ye Yunniang handed the cloth to Bao Min.
"It was from my mother's clothes."
Bao Min took it and asked where it was found.
The constables conducted a preliminary search and reported back to Bao Min.
Cai Damei and Shushu had likely been taken by three people and left through the back door of the abandoned house in a carriage.
The road from the back door of the abandoned house led straight to North Main Street.
Once on North Main Street, there were many carriages and pedestrians, so the trail went cold.
"Send more men to search," Bao Min ordered.
The constables acknowledged the order and went to search.
"What is Xing Jinxiu doing?"
"My men are keeping an eye on her. It's not her."
Bao Min understood Ye Yunniang's suspicion. His first suspect had also been Xing Jinxiu.
The people sent to watch Xing Jinxiu reported that everything was normal.
To Ye Yunniang, Bao Min's answer sounded like a cover-up.
"Are you sure you kept a close eye on Xing Jinxiu?"
"I am sure. Even the maids around her were watched," Bao Min answered affirmatively.
The maids were watched, but what about the older female servants?
Ye Yunniang recalled what Taohong had said.
"The one who sold you was an old woman with triangular eyes who looked at people with a gloomy, eerie gaze."
"There is an old woman with triangular eyes by Xing Jinxiu's side. Did you keep an eye on her?"
Bao Min looked at Luo Xin.
"There is no old woman with triangular eyes around Xing Jinxiu."
"Impossible. It was this terrifying old woman with triangular eyes and a gloomy gaze who sold me to the human traffickers. She is definitely Xing Jinxiu's trusted aide." Ye Yunniang was extremely frustrated with herself. She had been back for so long; how could she have forgotten about this?
"It is my dereliction of duty. I will go investigate right away." Luo Xin turned and took his men to investigate.
"It's getting late. Take the children back first." Bao Min knew how much Cai Damei cared about Ye Yunniang, Li Pan, and his brothers.
Ye Yunniang didn't want to leave, but she looked at the children who were involuntarily yawning.
"I'll stay behind to look for your mother. You take the children back to rest," Jiang Mingzhe suggested.
"Let me know if there's any news."
"Alright," Jiang Mingzhe promised.
Ye Yunniang took the children home. Looking at the pitch-black house, her heart ached terribly.
"Mother, Grandma and Auntie will be safe," Li Pan comforted Ye Yunniang.
"Yes, they definitely will be. You must be hungry. Mother will go cook." Ye Yunniang calmed her emotions and entered the kitchen.
"I'll wash the vegetables." Li Pan followed her inside and took the vegetables to wash.
"I'll tend the fire." Li An walked toward the stove.
Li Ping watched, seeing that there was nothing for him to do. He reached out and beckoned to someone in the shadows.
"Young Master."
"Go investigate Chunyao."
"Yes."
Ye Yunniang was in no mood to cook complicated dishes. She boiled some dried noodles and heated up the leftover food from lunch.
After a simple meal, she coaxed the children to sleep.
Ye Yunniang returned to her room but couldn't sleep. She got up, went to the kitchen, made some egg wrap pancakes, and put them in a thermal box.
"Someone come out."
A person guarding in the shadows stepped out. "Your subordinate, Jingzhe, greets Madam."
"The food on the kitchen table is for you all to eat. The box is for Jiang Mingzhe."
"Yes." Jingzhe took the box with both hands and went to make the arrangements.
Ye Yunniang didn't know what else to do and stared at the starry sky. Thinking of something, she went to Cai Damei's room in the backyard.
Lighting the candle in the room, Ye Yunniang looked around.
"Mother, why did you go see Auntie?" Ye Yunniang muttered to herself.
Ye Yunniang carefully searched through the room.
She didn't even know what she was looking for; she just felt that maybe Cai Damei had left some sort of clue.
In the corner by the head of the bed, Ye Yunniang found a slip of paper.
Opening the slip, there was only one sentence inside: "Madam, Wolf Fang, abandoned house."