flstandardbreds Chapter 160 It's a dog hole!
Chapter 160 It's a dog hole!
"Jiaojiao!"
Lu Yangyang shouted out subconsciously.
Hearing the noise, Princess Liduan, who was standing in front of her, hurriedly turned around and ran over, "What's wrong? Where's Sheng Xiaosi?"
"She was just here a moment ago, but she disappeared as soon as I turned my head." Lu Yangyang looked around anxiously, but there was no sign of Sheng Yunjiao.
She forced herself to calm down: "She was still at the last stall. It was a juggling show. Yes, I didn't hear her voice when I was watching the juggling. It hasn't been half an hour. She can't have gone far. You take Lin Feng and we'll split up to look for her. We'll meet at the entrance of the Great Buddha Temple in half an hour."
"Alright, but can you manage on your own? Lin Feng brought guards with him. Otherwise, let's go find someone first, and then have them help us search." Princess Liduan was a little flustered and worried about leaving Lu Yangyang alone.
“I’m fine. Here, you take Lin Feng and go get help. I’ll go find someone first. There are a lot of people here, so even if she’s taken away, she won’t go far. If she’s separated from us in the crowd, she won’t see us and will stay where she is and wait.” Lu Yangyang was certain that, given Sheng Yunjiao’s personality, she would never wander off. Either she had been taken away, or she had just been separated from us in the crowd.
"I understand. Be careful." Princess Liduan didn't waste any more words and hurriedly told Lin Feng to go find someone to help.
Lu Yangyang also hurriedly turned around to look for someone.
After walking a few steps, she suddenly stopped, turned around and walked back to the juggling stall she had just visited. She had seen juggling performances at temple fairs before, but they were far inferior to those in the capital. That was why she had been so captivated just now that she had become somewhat distracted.
It must have been around that time that Sheng Yunjiao disappeared.
The juggling stall was still going on, but the performers had changed. She remembered that there were two people performing it just now, but now it was one person performing the fire-breathing acrobatics.
The other two people were carrying a plate and collecting tips.
A piece of cloth was hanging not far behind them, and a woman from the circus troupe went to the back to change her clothes.
Lu Yangyang noticed that when the woman lifted the curtain, there were several wooden boxes piled up behind it, which were probably used to store props.
She glanced at them casually and saw about three or four large wooden crates. There were only three of them, two men and one woman. Did they really need so many crates to carry their things for a juggling act?
Or were there other people with them? And who were those people?
From the time they arrived at the vaudeville stall until now, about fifteen minutes have passed. During this time, the woman only went to the back once, supposedly to change clothes, which was just changing her outer garment. The time was very short, and the curtain was never lifted again after that.
Lu Yangyang looked around at the terrain. The vaudeville stall was next to a narrow alley, and behind the cloth was a big tree. It wasn't impossible for someone to hide there.
As Lu Yangyang was thinking, someone suddenly patted her on the shoulder.
"Who?"
Lu Yangyang turned her head sharply and reached out to grab the person, but the other person quickly took two steps back and shouted, "Yangyang, it's me!"
"Yan Yue? What are you doing here?" Lu Yangyang quickly withdrew her hand when she saw who it was.
Yan Yue breathed a sigh of relief: "It really is you. I came with my cousin. We have some business to attend to at Dafosi Temple. I was helping with patrols outside when I saw Li Duan. She said Sheng Si was missing, so I rushed over to find you."
Yan Yue sized up Lu Yangyang: "She said you were wearing a tiger mask, which made you easy to recognize. I thought you were mistaken for someone else when I saw your back. What's going on with Sheng Si?"
“So that’s how it is,” Lu Yangyang muttered, then hurriedly said, “We were just watching the acrobatics here, and in just a short while, she disappeared. The county magistrate and I agreed to split up and look for her, but something just doesn’t seem right.”
Lu Yangyang was worried about having no one to help her, but Yan Yue's presence made things much better.
She quickly pulled Yan Yue aside and lowered her voice, "I feel like something's off about this juggling stall. You'll have to cooperate with me later, and we'll figure out a way to find out more about them."
Yan Yue's eyes widened, he glanced at them, then quickly turned back: "Otherwise, I'll call someone over and arrest them!"
"It's too late. You stay here and hold them off for me. I'll go around to the back and check their boxes to see if there's anything wrong." Lu Yangyang looked around. There were a lot of people now, and more and more of them. If there really was something wrong with this juggling stall, by the time Yan Yue called for help, everyone would probably have already been moved.
Yan Yue still trusted Lu Yangyang, so he quickly nodded and said, "Just call out if you have any problems, and I'll come help!"
Lu Yangyang nodded, then turned and disappeared into the crowd. She quickly bypassed the stalls and went around to the back of another stall, looking towards the juggling stall. This was the outer wall of the Great Buddha Temple, and there was a narrow alley behind that tree, which was blocked by the juggling stall.
She would have to climb the wall to get into the alley.
Lu Yangyang scouted the spot, found a quiet corner where no one was paying attention, quickly climbed the wall, and slipped inside.
As soon as they landed, they heard patrol voices coming from afar, "Who's there?"
Lu Yangyang cursed herself for being careless. How could she forget that on such an important day, there would definitely be patrols everywhere in the temple!
Seeing the patrolmen running towards her in the distance, she quickly pulled off the tiger mask from her face and threw it forcefully in one of the directions.
Hearing the commotion, the others hurriedly chased after them. Lu Yangyang, meanwhile, crouched down and quickly found the wall in the narrow alley along the base of the wall. Just as she was about to climb over, she kicked at empty air.
She quickly bent down, parted the grass that was covering it, and found it was a dog hole!
No wonder she was able to hide it so secretly! If she wasn't mistaken, there must be another dog hole nearby.
But there was no time to think about that now. Lu Yangyang crawled straight through the dog hole into the narrow alley behind the big tree. It was called a narrow alley, but it was actually just a gap of less than two zhang (about 6.6 meters). There were some branches and rotten leaves piled up in the corner, and the big tree was on the other side.
As soon as Lu Yangyang entered the alley, she heard Yan Yue's loud cheers coming from outside.
"Good! A reward! One more! I'll give you ten taels!"
Wow, so it turns out they just throw money at it!
Lu Yangyang's lips twitched slightly. Without thinking too much, she hurriedly crouched down and went around to the back of the tree. She moved lightly, and when she got closer, she found that there was another person guarding the boxes behind the tree.
However, at this moment, they were probably attracted by Yan Yue's boldness and did not notice that there was someone behind them.
Lu Yangyang crept up and jumped up decisively, delivering a swift chop to the back of the man's neck, causing him to collapse instantly.
Lu Yangyang caught his falling body with quick reflexes and gently placed him aside.
He strode over to the locked box and yanked the lock off.
Just as she was about to lift the curtain, a pair of feet suddenly appeared from behind the curtain.