As soon as she arrived at the door, Liu Man'er met Ye Feng who came on horseback, the two met at the door, Ye Feng saw Liu Man'er, saw her eyes red and tightened, and panicked for no reason, and said, "Sister-in-law, what's wrong with you?" Could it be that outside the city gate, traces of chariots and horses were found? Could it be that Xiaohe and the others have been sent out of the city? ”

"Nope." Liu Man'er shook her head, turned over and dismounted, but couldn't help but look back, Ye Feng followed Liu Man'er's gaze, but saw nothing.

The servant guarding the door came over to take the reins, and the two walked into the door side by side, seeing the figures of the two of them disappearing, Ye Yuan poked his head out of the alley, and after taking a look, he leaned against the wall and took a long breath.

When Liu Man'er returned home, she saw the anxious Fang Clan, but she felt a little more guilty in her heart, and wanted to talk to the Fang Clan several times, but thinking of Ye Yuan's advice and touching the bulging letter in her arms, she still swallowed the words back.

"How's it going, Man'er?" Fang Shi anxiously grabbed Liu Man'er's hand and looked at her expectantly.

"There's no news, but they're not out of town yet." Liu Man'er said: "I reported to the official, the government has come to help guard the city gate, wait for me to let two servants who recognize Cao'er and Xiaohe go outside the city gate to recognize people, and then paint portraits and let people look for them." ”

"No news......" What Liu Man'er said later, Fang didn't hear it, this few words without news was enough to scare her into paralysis, Liu Man'er saw her self-blaming appearance, and her heart was not good, she only held her hand, and said: "Don't worry, I will definitely find the two of them, you are also tired all night, go and rest first, okay?" ”

"How can I sleep?" Fang's self-reproaching wept, and his tears were scattered again.

"Then you have to be strong, you know, Ye Feng, you persuade your mother, Aunt Han, you help my mother to rest." Liu Man'er didn't have too much heart to persuade Fang's family, her heart was also like being put in an ice cellar, shivering coldly.

Taking off the cloak covered with ice and snow, Liu Man'er sat down by the fire, only then did she feel a little warmer on her body, rubbed her hands, and roasted them on the fire, but for a while, there was still no way to recover her blood.

"Ye Feng, don't stand outside, bake the fire, and we'll have to paint a portrait of Xiaohe and Cao'er later." Liu Man'er reminded.

"I'll go now." Ye Feng said and went to the study, although the study had already lit a fire, but he also came back from the outside, and he even trembled a little when he held the pen.

Liu Man'er baked the fire, and asked people to prepare hot water for a bath, and after her whole body was back to blood, she walked to the study.

Sitting down at the table, the appearance of grass came to mind, she was wearing a pink dress that day, a water-red cape, and a white fur collar on the cloak, which she had sewn for her, and she said that the furry was very warm, and she liked it very much.

Before leaving, she wore a double bun, with crimson silk flowers on her head, a thin chin, a slightly baby fat face, a small nose, a small cherry mouth, always with a shy smile, big eyes, long eyelashes, and a shy and feminine appearance, which was five points similar to herself.

While thinking about it, her appearance appeared on the paper, the drawing was not very good, but it was barely recognizable, and after thinking about it, Liu Man'er wrote a line of words on the side: Twelve years old, named Cao'er.

Over there, Ye Feng had already drawn Ye He's appearance, Liu Man'er looked at it, the painting was not bad, the delicate and lovely girl could be recognized at a glance.

handed over this portrait to Han Shixin and asked him to help take it to the county guard's mansion, on the other hand, he called all the servants in the family who had seen Ye He and Cao'er over, and asked them to cooperate with the government and find people in the county town.

It's not so easy to say that it's not so easy to do, this county is so big, who can find it if you hide people in a corner.

The people of this government moved quickly, after getting this portrait, the first thing they searched was some brothels, kilns, and went to the places where some tooth women and other traffickers were, and they worked hard all day to almost all these places in the county town, but there was no trace of Ye He and Cao'er.

All day, Liu Man'er waited for the good news to come, but there was no news, and the two of them seemed to have evaporated from the sea, which made people afraid.

No news is good news, Liu Man'er comforted herself, but this comfort was really not convincing, she was still worried, thinking about it, she drew two more portraits of the two with Ye Feng and pasted them at the city gate.

Above: Looking for people, those who have clues will be given ten taels of silver, and those who find people will be rewarded with two hundred taels of silver.

This was not enough, that night, Liu Man'er invited a dragon and lion dance team to attract the attention of the people, and let several teahouses open, and asked the storyteller to help spread the news.

If the traffickers captured Cao'er and Ye He, she hoped that they would be able to return them, after all, if they sold them, it would only be twenty taels of silver at most, and now she raised the bounty to two hundred taels, which was ten times the price.

Moreover, for fear that these gangsters would be annoyed and angry, she only said that the two girls, Ye He and Cao'er, were lost in this city, but did not dare to say that they were taken captive.

If they are lost, whoever finds them can come to receive the money, and they are not afraid of taking responsibility, for this, Liu Man'er can be regarded as well-intentioned.

When Liu Man'er and the others were anxious, at this moment, Ye He and Cao'er were tied with their hands tied and tied in a dark and damp firewood room, the cold wind squeezed in through the crack in the door, and the two of them shivered, cold, hungry and scared.

In addition to them, there were several children and girls in the firewood room, and they were helpless and frightened, and they were all crying quietly.

"Xiaohe, I'm so cold, I'm a little scared." The grass was close to Ye He, and when she spoke, even her teeth chattered.

"Don't be afraid, my sister-in-law will definitely come to us." Ye He whispered, leaning on the grass and getting closer, she was also afraid of death, the room was dark, the place where the body was tied, I just felt that it was almost stiff, my hands and feet were already numb, the two of them were close together, only to warm each other's bodies.

In the room not far from this firewood room, a fire is flourishing, and there are two people, a man and a woman, the woman's body is fat, five big and three thick, and the man's sharp and thin face looks quite honest.

"Master, have you heard?" The woman finished swallowing a handful of melon seeds in her hand, wiped her hands, and said, "I heard that the two girls we got last night can be worth two hundred taels." ”

"It's worth it, the question is, do you dare to get the money?" The man snorted coldly and said, "I'm afraid that we will be arrested by them before we get the money." ”

"But it's two hundred taels." The woman said: "If we sell them, it will be a dozen taels at most, and now that everyone knows their identities, maybe no one will dare to buy them at that time, and maybe they will have to drop the price." ”

"You wait and see." The man was careless, took a puff of dry smoke, and said, "When this gust of wind passes, it can still be sold for a good price, but it is just a portrait, who can recognize it?" When the time comes, we will say that it is our own daughters, and we will just change their names. ”

"But the owner, this is two hundred taels of silver? I can't bear to think about it. The woman's eyes lit up a little when she thought of the two hundred taels at her fingertips, "It's almost equivalent to us looking for thirty or forty people." ”

"In the woman's opinion, I'd rather shoot thirty or forty more people than this hot money, who knows if this is the government's fishing method, and when you and I go up, we will kill ourselves. Don't you know the methods of the government? Say one thing and do another, if it weren't for you and I being cautious, we would have survived to this day? ”

The man was quite cautious, and he looked quite familiar with the methods of the government.

"And we're going to keep them like that?" The woman was a little unwilling, "Isn't this a waste of food?" ”

"What's there to be reluctant about just some leftovers?" The man snorted and said, "Don't worry, these two little girls are good-looking, I will sell them for a good price, not to mention, it was an accident to catch them, who would have thought that I was going to have a good New Year, go to the street to have a good time, and I can photograph people?" In comparison, what is the cost of some food. ”

"That's just as well." When the woman heard the man's words, she couldn't help laughing when she thought of Ye He and Cao'er, who were so easy to fool.

Speaking of which, Ye He and Cao'er are not deeply involved in the world, and they are well protected by Liu Man'er on weekdays, and they have not seen many filthy things in this world.

Yesterday, Ye He and Cao'er were anxiously looking for Ye Tianchen, and this woman suddenly walked up to Ye He and Cao'er and asked, "Two little girls, are you looking for a child named Ye Tianchen?" ”

"Yes." The two glanced at the woman and nodded, this woman had a round face and smiled, like a bodhisattva, but it was also amiable, and people couldn't afford to be malicious.

Under her deliberate performance, she was even more kind, she said: "I just saw a lost little boy, five or six years old, he said that his name is Ye Tianchen, he is white and chubby, wearing a blue jacket. ”

"That's my nephew!" Hearing this woman say this, Ye He almost jumped up with joy, isn't this woman talking about Ye Tianchen, at this moment, she has no more defense in her heart, and said, "Where is he?" ”

"He's crying in the alley over there, saying that he's lost and can't find a home, so I'll take you there." As she spoke, the woman led Ye He and the two of them to that side.

Cao'er was a little worried, she pulled Yehe's arm and said, "Xiaohe, it's not appropriate for us to go over like this, what if she is a bad person?" ”

"How is that possible?" Ye He pursed his lips and said: "This aunt looks like the whole aunt of our family, she is kind and kind, she is not a bad person at first glance, and besides, she has told all the characteristics of Tianchen, if she hasn't seen it, how can she say it so clearly?" ”

The anxious Ye He forgot a little, just now they were looking for someone to ask Ye Tianchen, and they said like this: "Hello, have you seen a five or six-year-old boy?" He was white and chubby, and wore a basket-colored jacket. ”

said unintentionally, the listener was intentional, the woman remembered what Ye He said, and just heard Ye He call Ye Tianchen's name again, she almost repeated the message, but unfortunately the simple Ye He really believed it.

"What's the name of the two girls?" As the woman walked, she asked Ye He and the others.

"My name is Ye He, and her name is Cao'er." Being able to find Ye Tianchen, Ye He was happy in her heart, at this moment she had already regarded this woman as a good person, and even told her name.

"Ah, the little boy also said just now that he has two aunts named Ye He and Cao'er." The woman said as she approached Ye He and the others.

"I'm not her aunt." Cao'er heard the flaw in the woman's words, and had some doubts in her heart.

"No, oh, that's probably what I heard wrong." The woman snorted.

The three of them came all the way to the entrance of the alley, Cao'er stood outside, feeling that the mouth of the alley was like a monster's mouth, about to devour people, she didn't dare to go inside, so she shouted at the mouth of the alley: "Tianchen!" ”

No one answered, Cao'er was even more suspicious, she pulled Yehe's sleeve and said, "Xiaohe, I'm a little afraid of the dark, let's go back, wait and ask my mother to come over with them." ”

"It's here, the child is inside, maybe you didn't hear it." The woman said.

"Yes, don't be afraid of the grass, I'm here." Ye He behaved like a heroine, she tightened Cao'er's hand, unwilling to show cowardice with Cao'er, she has always been bold, and decided that this woman was a good person.

"I'm scared, I don't want to go in." Cao'er was also stubborn, she said, "Otherwise, I'll wait for you here." ”

What she thought was that if something went wrong with Ye He going in, someone would be able to report the news.

"Well, then I won't go in." Ye He didn't know Cao'er's thoughts, she was actually afraid, the two of them could still be brave, thinking that Cao'er didn't enter this dark alley, her courage was to lose most of it.

"Not going in? Then it's up to you. At this time, the woman suddenly showed a fierce face, she covered Ye He's mouth tightly with a handkerchief, and someone behind her hit the back of Cao'er's head with a stick.

Seeing the grass fall softly, Ye He's eyes widened and she wanted to scream, but in an instant, she was also hit hard and fell to the ground unconscious.

When the two of them woke up, they were already in this dilapidated firewood room.

"Cao'er, it's all my fault, self-righteousness, and I have affected you." In the dark firewood room, Ye He whispered.

"It's fine." Cao'er shook her head and said, "We're not wrong, it's the fault of this flower." ”

"And where are they going to get us?" Ye He whispered.

"I don't know." Cao'er shook her head slightly again, and said, "Whatever, my sister will come to us anyway, I'm so sleepy now, I want to sleep." ”

"How do you sleep?" Ye He saw Cao'er's appearance, and her words became more and more anxious, but Cao'er really fell asleep beside her, and she had no choice but to lie down against Cao'er, she was also very sleepy, maybe because of her companions by her side, and after a while, she also fell asleep.