At this time, there were only two people left in the courtyard, and Ruan Mianmian saw that the little boy was a little curious: "What's your name?" ”

The boy just stood, stared at Ruan Mianmian's hands for a while, didn't pay attention to her, and sat down on Mu Ruqing's stool.

Seeing that the little boy ignored him, Ruan Mianmian was not annoyed, and continued to drink the soup with his head down.

She grew up in an orphanage, and she has seen so many children, and she knows that the child's personality is the most unpredictable, some like to be lively, and some are withdrawn and lonely, she only thinks that this child is withdrawn.

About a quarter of an hour passed, Mu Ruqing and Jiang Xinyue went downstairs one after another, and Ruan Mianmian keenly noticed that the faces of the two were not very good-looking, so they consciously did not make a sound.

"Kid, what's your name and how old are you this year?" Mu Ruqing stood in front of the boy and lowered his head and asked.

The boy first looked up, then at Jiang Xinyue beside him, and then spoke: "My name is Xiaohu, and I am ten years old this year. With that, he lowered his head again.

"Then do you want to stay here, and we'll set up a room for you to live in." Mu Ruqing said again.

"I'm willing to stay in Yipinxiang, I can help you." This time, the boy did not hesitate.

Mu Ruqing and Jiang Xinyue glanced at each other, and didn't say anything more, Jiang Xinyue took Xiaohu to clean up the room, Jiang Xinyue let Xiaohu live in the room next to Fang Cannon, which was also what Mu Ruqing meant.

When Jiang Xinyue took Xiaohu into the house, Ruan Mianmian looked up and asked Mu Ruqing: "Brother Mu, who is he?" ”

Mu Ruqing sat down, picked up the bowl and took a sip, before looking at Ruan Mianmian: "Mianmian, did you say anything to him just now?" ”

"No, I asked him what his name was, and he ignored me, and then he didn't say anything." Ruan Mianmian shook his head, and Mu Ruqing's expression became more solemn. "Okay, so don't have too much contact with him, and don't stay alone with him, you know?" Mu Ruqing instructed.

"I see." Although Ruan Mianmian didn't understand why he was guarding against this little child, he still listened to Mu Ruqing's words without thinking about it, and became wary of this strange child.

The kid hasn't come out since he returned to the room, and even dinner was brought into the room by Jiang Xinyue for him. Everyone was busy, so naturally they didn't pay too much attention to him.

In the evening, the last guest also left, and a few people from Yipinxiang sat around the round table on the second floor for dinner. Today's dinner is a few side dishes made by Uncle Hua, accompanied by rice porridge, which is simple but delicious.

"I have something to tell you." Mu Ruqing stopped his chopsticks. "Everyone saw the little boy today, the son of the farmer who provided us with cabbage, today Xinyue went to that village and found that someone had slaughtered the entire village, and only this boy named Xiaohu escaped."

"What? That poisoned person dared to slaughter a village near the capital? The crowd was shocked.

"I guess it's not just that, the poisoner came for us, but it only affected the farmers in this village. If they didn't bring us down this time, they would definitely find a way elsewhere, and during this time, when you were working, you should say anything in time, and we can think of countermeasures. ”

"By the way, there is also this little tiger, let him live with us for the time being, but you don't have to get too close to him, and don't tell him about us." Mu Ruqing added.

At this point, everyone naturally knew in their hearts, and secretly decided that the work must be careful and thoughtful, and no more opportunities could be taken advantage of. This incident still made the people of Yipinxiang angry and helpless, even Ruan Mianmian, who was usually lively and clever, flattened his mouth at this time, and put down the dishes and chopsticks after drinking only a bowl of porridge, and the others didn't eat much.

Despite all the troubles, the business still has to go on. The next day, Yipinxiang opened normally, and it was still full of people, with almost no empty tables.

Ruan Mianmian still has her hands wrapped, and she can't do food broadcasts to attract customers for the time being, so she can only stay in the yard and go to the kitchen from time to time to chat with Uncle Hua.

"Uncle Hua, what do you say the palace looks like?" Ruan Mianmian fiddled with the bulging hand of the bag and asked curiously.

"O palace, the palace is magnificent, there are all kinds of good things, even the tiles on the walls are shining with golden light. The nobles in the palace are the most noble people in the world, they have what they want, and they never worry about their livelihood. Uncle Hua said, and the action of chopping vegetables in his hand did not stop.

"Then why would anyone want to harm us, I really can't figure it out." In Ruan Mianmian's heart, she never crossed paths with those powerful people, and when she was in the orphanage, there were occasional noble ladies and young ladies who came to do good deeds, all of them were smiling, noble and detached.

As he was talking, suddenly Fang Cannon ran into the inner courtyard from the front hall, and shouted to the two people in the kitchen: "Mian Mian, Uncle Hua, go to the front hall to take a look, there is a team of officers and soldiers in the yamen who are coming to us for a taste of incense!" ”

Ruan Mianmian hurriedly helped Uncle Hua to the front hall, and the team of officers and soldiers had already entered the door. Mu Ruqing and Jiang Xinyue were already in the hall.

I saw Mu Ruqing greet him, and said without humility or arrogance: "Ladies and gentlemen, I am the boss of this incense, may I ask what you are doing." ”

The officer at the head looked fierce, and did not look at Mu Ruqing and them, but slapped the table: "Since you have important things to do, you just obediently obey the order." ”

When the guests saw that the people from the yamen had come to the door, they were still so aggressive that they did not dare to provoke the fire, so they bowed their heads and fled out of the door, and after a while, only the officers and soldiers and the people of Yipinxiang were left in the hall that was still lively and lively.

Seeing that everyone was gone, the officer spoke again: "Someone has accused your restaurant of slaughtering innocent people, looting and kidnapping young children, and I will come to investigate." Come on, search! ”

As soon as the officer spoke, the officers and soldiers behind him scattered, turning over the boxes and cabinets without saying anything. The leader went straight to the backyard with high spirits. The crowd of Yipinxiang had no choice but to follow him into the backyard.

When he arrived in the backyard, he saw that the little tiger had already opened the door and walked out, and when the officer and soldier saw this, he snorted coldly: "See no, abduct young children, this is evidence." ”

Xiaohu didn't seem to move, still bowing his head and saying nothing, making people unable to see his expression clearly.

"You! How can you say that! Obviously, we kindly took him in, how can it be abduction? Xiaohu, you speak! Ruan Mianmian was anxious, and her eyes widened.

Mu Ruqing took a step forward and stood in front of Ruan Mianmian: "We must also pay attention to evidence in handling the case, this child was rescued by us, and we gave him food, how did it become a kidnapping?" ”

The officer and soldier smiled contemptuously: "Heh, how can any prisoner say that he has broken the law?" Let's hear what this kid has to say. ”

Everyone's eyes were focused on Xiaohu, and Xiaohu, who didn't speak much at Yipinxiang, raised his head at this time and spoke without thinking: "I was abducted by them, and the people in the village were also killed by them." ”

Fang Dacang was angry, and wanted to rush up and reason with him: "We took you in, how did you become the person we killed?" Do you still have a conscience? ”

The little tiger reverted to his expressionless face and didn't look at them.

The officer and soldier spoke again: "What's the matter, there is evidence, why don't you go to the yamen with us to explain it clearly?" The bunch of people came forward and wanted to tie up a few people from Yipinxiang, Mu Ruqing and Uncle Fang Cannon Hua protected Jiang Xinyue and Ruan Mianmian in the middle: "We sit upright, we admit that we are not guilty, you don't have to be arrested, we just go with you, just to return our innocence in the court." ”

Yipinxiang and the people followed behind the officers and soldiers, and a team of officials behind them walked out of the gate of Yipinxiang.

There were already people on the street pointing fingers, speculating about what serious crime this restaurant had committed and was arrested. Seeing this situation, Ruan Mianmian was a little worried, she also knew that doing business depended on a good reputation, although she knew that Mu Ruqing would definitely let Yipinxiang's people be safe and sound, but this matter was still an obstacle to Yipinxiang's reputation, and it would definitely be more difficult to do business in the future.

When the leading officer and soldier left, he glanced at the second floor of the teahouse opposite Yipinxiang, arched his hand and saluted slightly, although the movement was not big, but it still made Mu Ruqing notice, he looked up quietly, but he couldn't see the figure behind the window.

"Master, according to your orders, the person with a pint of incense has been brought to the yamen, how do you think this case will be tried?" The servant replied respectfully in the man's ear.

"If you open a store, your reputation is naturally important, so let's open it, and the people can go to see it, and you don't have to stop it."

"Yes, the slave will inform Kyoto Prefecture Yin." The servant saluted and only stepped back.

Here, Mu Ruqing and his entourage came to the Kyoto Yamen, and saw that there was already a presiding official sitting in the hall. Mu Ruqing secretly said in his heart: Sure enough, they have already set the trap, just wait for us to come, they can act in this scene. But he still didn't show anything on his face, and he calmly went in with the people.

"Ahem, ahem!" The man sitting on the throne had a majestic face and a serious expression, cleared his throat and opened the court.

At this time, the boy named Xiaohu was already standing opposite Mu Ruqing, with a calm face and didn't know what he was thinking. There were also many more people watching the excitement outside the yamen.

After all, such an open trial must be a big case, and the one accused is actually the Yipinxiang Restaurant that has recently exploded in Beijing, and as soon as such news came out, it spread among the people.

"Someone accused Yipinxiang of slaughtering people and abducting young children, are you guilty?" The adult slapped the table, looking awe-inspiring.

"Why do we ordinary people kill people for no reason? Do adults have proof? Mu Ruqing asked.

"There are witnesses who saw this woman from your restaurant riding a horse to the village, but she took the boy away again half an hour, and after you left, all the men, women and children in the village were killed, and dare to say that it has nothing to do with you?" The official stroked his beard: "Bring witnesses up." ”

A servant answered, and in a short time brought with him a young man dressed in coarse cloth. The man first cowered and saluted to the adults on the seat, and knelt down before speaking: "My lord, the little one doesn't dare to lie, I am a farmer in Xishui Village on the outskirts of the city, and that day I went to the field to fertilize and saw a woman enter the Xiliu Village next door, and then brought a little boy out, and after they left, I went to Xiliu Village, and everyone in the village was killed." ”

The young man looked up at Jiang Xinyue, and then at Xiaohu: "That woman is the one in front of her, and this little boy is the one she took away at that time." ”