According to Qingwen, the bamboo forest is located near the Bee Waist Bridge, not very far from Yihong Courtyard - if you pass through the forest, it is much faster to take the Bee Waist Bridge to the gate than to take the Qinfang Bridge.

And after Qingwen's statement, Sun Shaozong also remembered that when he made a detour at noon, he had indeed passed a bamboo forest.

At that moment, Sun Shaozong first breathed a sigh of relief, the Jinlou where Gainjia Yingchun stayed was almost separated from the Yihong Courtyard by the entire Qinfang Pond, whether the thieves wanted to escape over the wall or find a place to hide, it was unlikely to disturb the Jinlou.

Therefore, he discussed with Jia Lian, now that the black light is blinding, it is inconvenient to search for thieves in the Grand View Garden, so it is better to break up these families first and send them to the courtyards of the female dependents - there is no need to rush to take the female dependents out, and each of them guards the door, so as not to take advantage of the chaos and hurt people.

As for himself, he naturally went to Yihong Courtyard to see what was going on, and if Baoyu was fine, he would gather the ladies in the garden one by one and take refuge in the front yard together.

"There must be people guarding the front yard here, otherwise those thieves will take advantage of the loophole and disturb the old lady and aunt and others, then our sin will be great."

"The stakes are big, and others are afraid that it will be difficult for them to take on this role, and I am afraid that they can only bother the second brother to sit here."

This naturally showed that Jia Lian was cowardly and did not dare to venture into the courtyard, so he deliberately gave him a step down.

And Jia Lian looked at the head arranged by Sun Shaozong, and he didn't need to risk himself, and he pecked the rice with the chicken on his head early, how could there be any disagreement?

So Sun Shaozong took the lead, leaving Jia Lian to lead half of the men and horses to guard the main gate and corner gate of the front yard, and the rest of the family members were six or seven people as a team, and they were assigned tasks to protect the female dependents in the garden.

Sun Shaozong asked the guards for whistle sticks and torches, and also led a team of men and horses, preparing to go to Yihong Courtyard through the bamboo forest—although it was unlikely that the thieves would remain in place, it was still necessary to investigate by the way.

Besides, I don't know if anyone has been injured by those thieves, and if any of the injured are abandoned near the bamboo forest, I can help them along the way.

"Master Sun!"

Seeing that Sun Shaozong was about to lead the team to set off, Qingwen hurriedly came up and demanded: "The slave is very familiar with this garden and is willing to lead the way for the adults!" ”

Sun Shaozong glanced at her, turned around and arched his hand at Jia Lian: "Second brother, I bother you to tie up this girl and send it back to me!" ”

As he spoke, he led the team into the garden without looking back.

Everyone was bustling, first along the willow embankment to the front of the Qinfang Bridge, most of the people crossed the bridge to find their respective goals, Sun Shaozong was an adult down the stream, from the bee waist bridge to the opposite bank.

Walking a hundred and ten steps on the opposite bank, I saw a small bamboo forest blocking the way.

Sun Shaozong turned around and saw the six people behind him, all of them were a little cowering, and said: "Don't be afraid, the official will explore the way in front later, and a few of you will line up in the back, each calling your own name and surname, if one of you is cut off, I will immediately go to the rescue, and I will never let you encounter danger." ”

Although those family members were still worried, they saw that Sun Shaozong was the first soldier, and it was difficult for them to retreat, so they all said that they would follow Master Sun to kill the thief and protect the master.

So Sun Shaozong took the lead in the middle, entered the dense forest, and just took a few steps forward, he listened to the screams of 'Deng Guida', 'Zhao Tiedan', and 'Wang Amao' behind him, and everyone was afraid that their voices would be covered by others, and they shouted hoarsely.

But this is also the effect that Sun Shaozong wants, after all, he is only infinitely powerful, and he is not invulnerable, if there is a thief sneaking up in secret, he will be hit.

And with these shouts, the thief will flee when he hears the wind, regardless of whether he can find the trace and catch up with the thief, at least his own safety can be guaranteed.

Just like this, when he arrived in the middle of the bamboo forest, Sun Shaozong suddenly felt that his eyes suddenly opened up, it turned out to be a vacant land, and a small pavilion was built with bamboo, which was quite interesting to see.

However, this pavilion that is ventilated on all sides cannot be hidden at all, so Sun Shaozong didn't pay much attention to it, lowered the torch in his hand, and prepared to pass through the middle of the pavilion.

As soon as he entered the pavilion, he stepped on a few gravels, and Sun Shaozong immediately stopped half a step back and looked at his feet suspiciously.

Although the upper part of the pavilion is made of bamboo, the lower part is a stone platform, which is more than three inches higher than the ground.

But Sun Shaozong looked down and saw that on the bluestone slab, there were not only a few pieces of gravel, but also some moist soil, and a circle was scattered on the ground irregularly.

This is......

Sun Shaozong held the torch and swept around again, and found that except for his feet, the other places were very smooth, and he had not seen any stones and soil.

"Master Sun, did you find something?"

At this time, he heard someone behind him timidly asking, Sun Shaozong turned around and saw that it was two family members with torches, and they had also searched this open space, so he said casually: "It's nothing, it's just some footprints left by those thieves." ”

As he spoke, he glanced at the dirt and gravel a few more times, and then picked up the torch and continued to search.

And this time, until I stepped out of the bamboo forest, I didn't find anything else.

But outside the bamboo forest, a few lanterns were thrown in a mess, as well as an embroidered shoe with high clogs.

Sun Shaozong immediately ordered: "You spread out and shout and shout to see if there are any injured people who are abandoned in this vicinity." ”

Out of the forest, those few family members were much bolder, and they all scattered and shouted, but they didn't hear a response for a long time, so they gathered around Sun Shaozong again.

So Sun Shaozong took them to Yihong Courtyard again.

Who knew that when I arrived at Yihong Courtyard, it was empty inside and out, and there was no one there!

"Sun ...... Lord Sun. ”

Several family members couldn't help but panic, and one of them couldn't help but say, "It can't be those thieves who have arrested Bao Erye and them, right?" ”

"Do you think it's possible?"

Sun Shaozong asked the family a rhetorical question, and when he saw that this guy nodded stupidly, he couldn't help but be speechless: "Even if the three thieves can hold this courtyard full of old and weak women and children, the dozen or so brought by Steward Zhou are all the courtyards in the house, and they won't be held hostage by them, right?" ”

Sun Shaozong said, then led everyone into the west wing, opened one of the cabinets, and saw that there were intimate clothes such as belly pockets, and reopened the other one with an expressionless face, pointing to the traces of the burden that had obviously been turned over, and explained: "When the people in this courtyard left, they also brought a change of clothes, and they obviously didn't leave in a panic - if they were held hostage by thieves, how could they be so calm?" ”

"In my opinion, eighty percent of them have been escorted to the front yard by Steward Zhou, and it is only because of the bee waist bridge we walked on, so they are staggered from each other."

When I turned around, I saw a few sturdy descendants, all salivating at the little clothes in the closet, how could anyone care about their reasoning?

Sun Shaozong sighed speechlessly, took these few fools out of Yihong Courtyard, and went all the way north into the garden, preparing to turn around counterclockwise and escort all the ladies in the garden out.

After traveling north for a distance, Sun Shaozong led everyone to abandon the road and go east along the trail, about dozens of steps, and saw a temple faintly visible in the mountains and forests.

This realm is naturally the temple to lead the cultivation of the hermitage.

Seeing that it was quiet inside, only the oil lamp was lit in the central Buddhist hall, Sun Shaozong couldn't help but have some suspicions in his heart - it stands to reason that he had delayed a lot of effort in the bamboo forest, and the people and horses assigned to the Lucui Nunnery should have arrived a long time ago.

Ignoring his doubts, he strode to the gate of the mountain, and shouted loudly: "Miss Miaoyu is inside?!" ”

As soon as the words fell, I heard a heart-rending baby cry in the meditation room, and after a while, I heard someone inside annoyed: "Who is outside?" What do you do in this pure place at night? ”

This voice seems to be the little nun under Miaoyu's hand, and there is nothing strange about it, but Sun Shaozong did not relax his vigilance, but raised his voice: "This official is Sun Shaozong in the Shuntian Mansion, because there were thieves in this garden, I am entrusted to take you to the front yard to take refuge - please Miss Miaoyu come to meet in front of the door quickly." ”

Hearing that it was Sun Shaozong, the little nun glanced through the crack in the door, then hurriedly opened the door, and said, "I'm going to ask the nunnery master to come out!" ”

After a while, Miaoyu held a baby girl and led the two little nuns outside.

Sun Shaozong put down his heart at this time, and secretly wrote down the few family members who didn't know where to go, and greeted: "The official is still going to gather the other ladies in the garden, Miss Miaoyu is more familiar with this garden, I don't know which girl is the closest to this?" ”

Miaoyu frowned and said, "Is there really a thief in this garden?" ”

Without waiting for Sun Shaozong to answer, she said again: "I don't rely on the four sides here, but I am closer to the Yihong Courtyard of the Second Master of Bao - but the adults should have been to the Yihong Courtyard a long time ago." ”

"In addition, either turn back to Yihong Courtyard and go west, you can go to Miss Lin's Xiaoxiang Pavilion, or continue north, and then go west, you can go around to Miss Xue's Wuyuan ......"

Without waiting for her to finish, Sun Shaozong asked, "Is it closer to the Jinlou over there?" ”

Miaoyu was stunned for a moment, and then said: "It's closer to Wuyuan." ”

Sun Shaozong said categorically: "Then go to Wuyuan first!" ”

In this garden, he is most concerned about his sister-in-law Jia Yingchun, followed by Li Kun, and the Jinlou happens to be not far from Li Kun's Daoxiang Village - if it weren't for this, Li Kun would not have been so easy at the beginning, so he went into the building to have a private meeting with him.

So everyone went out from the path and hurried along the avenue to the Wuyuan.

I didn't go far when I saw a few people in front of me holding torches to meet them, and when I got closer, they were the same team of family members assigned to the temple.

Sun Shaozong stepped forward and asked coldly, only to realize that they had lost their path and had not been able to find the location of the Lucui Nunnery.

Sun Shaozong's heart moved slightly when he heard this, and he couldn't help but glance back at Miaoyu.