flstandardbreds Chapter 164 is aimed at you.
Chapter 164 is aimed at you.
After releasing the sky lanterns, it was already quite late.
The area outside the Great Buddha Temple gradually returned to tranquility after the initial hustle and bustle.
Lu Yangyang and the others had been making a ruckus all night and were exhausted. Fortunately, the Crown Prince had already arranged rooms for them to rest in the temple, so they stayed there.
Early the next morning, Princess Liduan took Lu Yangyang and Sheng Yunjiao to the temple's dining hall for a vegetarian meal. As they passed the back of the front hall, they suddenly heard a commotion.
Princess Li Duan and Sheng Yunjiao, both fond of joining in the fun, immediately changed direction and pulled Lu Yangyang to the front yard.
The guards were seen holding back several village women who were throwing a tantrum and crying, looking quite troubled. The monks in charge of the temple were also trying to persuade them, but to no avail. The village women continued to cry and make a scene, and there were even villagers at the entrance of the temple wielding axes, sticks, and other weapons, shouting and yelling.
Princess Liduan quickly grabbed a young monk who was too afraid to step forward and asked, "Hey, little monk, what's going on so early in the morning?"
"Please forgive me, sir, this, this..." The young monk said nervously and awkwardly, "These are villagers from nearby. They often come to the temple to burn incense. But something happened last night. Several families have lost children and they demand an explanation from us. But, but we really don't know what happened..."
The young monk looked distressed and helpless, repeatedly bowing and apologizing to Princess Liduan and the others, "Please forgive me, please forgive me..."
"Alright, alright," Princess Liduan waved her hand, "Have you reported it to the authorities?"
"I reported it to the authorities early this morning, but they haven't arrived yet. Thanks to the help of these guards," the little monk replied sincerely.
Lu Yangyang glanced at the guards; these must be the people the Crown Prince brought.
The child who went missing last night? Could it be the same group that almost abducted Sheng Yunjiao?
Just as Lu Yangyang was thinking this, she heard Sheng Yunjiao say angrily from the side: "These damned human traffickers are utterly depraved! There must have been more than just that group of traffickers last night!"
Lu Yangyang thought so too, wondering how the interrogation of those human traffickers went last night.
"Girl! Girl! Girl, do you remember me? You came to our house that day and even treated our Third Aunt's illness. It was our Gou Dan who led you the way. Our Gou Dan has disappeared! Girl, please, please help us, girl—" Suddenly, a gray-haired village woman ran towards them, shouting as she ran, but she was stopped by the guards after only a few steps.
Lu Yangyang looked at the village woman and recognized her at a glance. It was the same family she had met a few days ago when she passed through the village on her way to find Princess Liduan. It was thanks to this old woman that she realized something was wrong with the landlord's family and was able to rescue Princess Liduan in time. If it had been any later, who knows what might have happened.
However, the old woman looked disheveled at this moment. Her gray hair was messy, her face was covered with tear stains and dirt, and her eyes were cloudy and red, clearly indicating that she had not slept all night.
Lu Yangyang hurried over. Seeing her approach, the old woman, ignoring the guards' attempts to stop her, quickly knelt down, clasped her hands together, and repeatedly kowtowed to Lu Yangyang: "Young lady, young lady, I beg you, please help us! Our third mistress is injured, and Gou Dan is our only grandson. I beg you, I beg you..."
Lu Yangyang quickly reached out and pulled her up: "Auntie, don't cry. Tell me, what happened? When and where did Gou Dan get lost?"
The old woman's tears welled up instantly: "Yesterday, there was a lantern festival at Dafosi Temple, and people from all around came to join in the fun. Gou Dan wanted to come too, but I thought it wasn't safe and wouldn't let him. In the end, a few older young men in the village said they would definitely bring them all back safely, so I agreed. But I waited at home until midnight before the two families' children came back and said that Gou Dan, Da Mao, and Er Mao were missing. They searched all night but couldn't find them. They thought they had come back first, but they clearly hadn't. So we rushed out to look for them, searched all night, but we couldn't find them anywhere. Then we heard that last night, some important people came to Dafosi Temple, hoping they could help us. If anything happens to Gou Dan, I can't live like this..."
"It was lost last night? Has anyone reported it to the authorities?" Lu Yangyang asked quickly.
The old woman nodded hurriedly: "Someone went this morning, but it wasn't open at the government office yet, young lady, we really have no other choice—"
Seeing this, the other women quickly kowtowed to Lu Yangyang, saying, "My lord, my lord, you are so kind and virtuous, please help us!"
"Yangyang, do you think the people who abducted these children were the same ones from last night?" Princess Liduan asked in a low voice.
Lu Yangyang shook her head: "It's hard to say. I'll go ask His Highness. He should have already received the news."
After Lu Yangyang finished speaking, she was about to say a few words to comfort the old woman when she suddenly remembered something: "Auntie, I remember when I went to the village, Gou Dan told me that children often go missing in the nearby villages. Is that true?"
“Yes, in the last few years, I don’t know what’s going on, children have been going missing from time to time. From newborns to teenagers, they’ve been going missing one after another. You can’t keep an eye on children in the countryside; they can disappear in the blink of an eye. Even if you report it to the authorities, they can’t be found. So we pay special attention to people from other places, especially unfamiliar faces. We’ve also told our children that even if they go out to play, they have to play together and not go out alone. This, this is something I never expected…” The old woman started crying again as she spoke.
“Auntie, please wait here for the officials to arrive. Tell them what happened. We caught a few human traffickers yesterday, and I’ll go ask them if they’re in cahoots. Maybe we can still find the child. Please tell the villagers not to cause any trouble. We will do our best to help you find your child,” Lu Yangyang said to the old woman.
The old woman was already completely lost, but hearing Lu Yangyang's words finally rekindled a glimmer of hope. She nodded hurriedly, "Okay, okay, girl, I believe you. You're a good person. Please, please!"
Lu Yangyang reassured the good people, then turned to Princess Liduan and Sheng Yunjiao and said, "You two shouldn't run around either. Stay in the temple. I'll go ask His Highness first."
The two quickly nodded: "Go ahead!"
Lu Yangyang hurriedly ran to find the Crown Prince. When she arrived at the Crown Prince's room, the guards were reporting to him what had happened outside.
"Your Highness?" Lu Yangyang called out.
"Come in."
Lu Yangyang hurried inside and asked, "Your Highness, could you please ask if any of the human traffickers we caught last night had accomplices?"
The Crown Prince waved his hand to dismiss the guards. “Yangyang, those people last night weren’t after the child abduction, they were after you. They kidnapped Sheng Yunjiao to lure you into a trap, but they didn’t expect you to react so quickly. Before they could even throw out Sheng Yunjiao as bait, you found her. The other children were just a cover.”