Enter the Room

Hongjia'ao is a small village sandwiched between two mountains. It covers a large area. A fast river flows through the mountain col. Seven or eight families live close to the mountains and rivers.

Because Song Jiyun offered a large reward, most of the people from Hongjia'ao followed them into the mountains, leaving only two teenage girls and a dozen little carrot heads that were no taller than the table playing in the grain field.

Seeing Song Jiuyun and Zheng Quan, the two little girls timidly protected the little carrots around them, but a little boy with a tough head and a tough head ran over, blinked his big black eyes with his fingers in his mouth, and asked Song Jiyun eloquently: "Are you also here to find someone in our col?"

Song Jiyun liked the child very much when he saw how smart he looked. He wanted to give him a candy, but he didn't have any with him, so he asked Zheng Quan to give him two copper coins and said with a smile, "Take it to buy some candy."

The little boy took the money and ran to one of the teenage girls, calling "Sister" and gave the money to her: "Buy me candy."

The little girl bit her lip and looked at Song Jiyun with a confused face.

Song Jiyun nodded kindly towards her.

Three men came over and saluted Song Jiyun and Zheng Quan.

Zheng Quandao: "It's the road sign that the three of them found."

The elder of the three raised his hand, saluted Song Jiyun again, and addressed him as "Boss Song", and then told how he found the road sign: "...I couldn't see the road clearly at night and fell into a ravine. When I went to pick people up, I discovered that several trees were tied with silk strips... When I was young, I liked to listen to people's stories in teahouses. I felt that these were like marks left behind... so I called Manager Zheng to come and have a look. Manager Zheng They said it was a road sign... and one of them rewarded us with ten taels of silver."

Song Jiyun nodded and said, "Have you found anything else?"

The three people shook their heads, and the elder said: "We searched all the way. All the road signs are in the dense forest to the east of Hongshan Col."

Zheng Quan cooperated and showed her the surrounding terrain.

"Everyone is circling around this area." He said, "I divided my manpower into ten groups and concentrated them here to find people. There were also some people who were very familiar with the local mountains and forests, so I sent them to search nearby caves. At the latest, half of them In just an hour, we can cover the whole territory."

It's impossible to find anyone.

But Song Jiyun still wanted to see the scene.

"You lead the way." She said to the three men, "Let's go to the place where the sign was first found."

The three people responded with a respectful "yes".

Zheng Quan knew that she would not stop until she achieved her goal, so he did not persuade her and accompanied her to the place where she first found the road sign.

It was an inconspicuous forest. In the morning light, there was not even a path, and there were no footprints on the ground.

How did Yuan Yunzhong come here?

Song Jiuyun stood there, looking at the rays of light slowly dyeing the clouds red on the horizon, and asked Zheng Quan: "How long until half an hour?"

Just as Zheng Quan was about to answer, a faint cheer came from the woods.

Song Jiyun's heart skipped a beat and he hurriedly said to Zheng Quan, "Let's go take a look."

Zheng Quan also looked excited and helped Song Jiyun toward the cheers.

From time to time, we would encounter several difficult hillsides or dense forests on the road. Zheng Quan relied on his good skills to either pull her up the slope or help her cut down the branches and leaves in front of her.

A burst of cheers came again.

Even a calm and self-possessed person like Song Jiyun was full of hope to find Yuan Yunzhong after hearing this.

The two quickened their pace and soon found the place where the cheers were discovered.

A dozen young men stood around the entrance of a cave, talking loudly and happily: "Now we will each get ten taels of silver, right?"

Song Jiyun's heart was pounding wildly as he trotted over.

The group of people turned around when they heard the noise.

Although they did not know Song Jiyun, they knew Zheng Quan.

"Manager Zheng, we have made a new discovery." Everyone saluted Zheng Quan and said happily, "We also found a road sign near here."

Shouldn't we find people?

Song Jiuyun was greatly disappointed.

But after she asked Zheng Quan to check that the road signs were not forged, she still gave everyone ten taels of silver as promised, and personally walked around the place where she found the road signs.

She was even more disappointed.

The cave is covered with moss, and there are no traces of anyone staying here.

This place is very close to the place where the road sign was first found. It cannot be ruled out that Yuan Yunzhong just passed by here.

She stood on the big bluestone in front of the cave and looked at the mountains and forests, feeling worried.

Even for a moment, the thought came to his mind that "it would be better to fall into the hands of Prince Ning than to be so uncertain about life and death."

Someone called "Miss Song".

Song Jiyun looked back.

I don't know when, County Magistrate Jiang and Shao Qing appeared in front of the cave.

"I heard that Yunzhong's whereabouts were discovered here?" Magistrate Jiang couldn't hide his anxiety.

Obviously going to see Prince Ning did not achieve the goal, and the situation might be even worse.

Song Jiyun's heart sank, and Zheng Quan supported him off the big bluestone, saying, "I found some road signs. But I haven't found Mr. Yuan yet."

Upon hearing this, Shao Qing angrily stepped on the big bluestone next to him, causing the big bluestone to crack in the middle.

He said sternly: "If the young master has a good and bad person, he can't even think about getting rid of it!"

Everyone present knew who he was.

Magistrate Jiang even coughed twice as a warning, went into the cave to have a look, and asked about the road signs.

Zheng Quan answered one by one.

His expression became even more tired. As he and Song Jiyun returned to Hongshan Col, he told her about going to see Prince Ning: "We only met Prince Ning after we got Mr. Jinghu's name card. It turns out that he has been staying here all the time. On the boat at Nanmendu. He naturally denied everything about Yunzhong."

At this point, he snorted coldly: "But he is not so easy to evade the involvement when we investigate him. But if we push him too hard and he jumps over the wall in a hurry, there will be no benefit in finding Yunzhong. I simply stood up and left, secretly arranging for someone to keep an eye on him - he knew what we had found, and he couldn't remain indifferent."

Song Jiyun nodded and spoke to County Magistrate Jiang under the big cypress tree at the entrance of Hongshan'ao Village: "Can you bribe that Min Fu?"

Magistrate Jiang was stunned.

Song Jiyun said: "Everything has a price. If you can't buy it, there must be something wrong with the way we bid or the price we give."

Her face was as jade-like and her expression was cold, as cold as an ice sculpture in the morning light, sparkling, but also making people feel chilled.

Magistrate Jiang's mind flashed back to Song Jiyun's smiling, bright and generous appearance when he saw him for the first time.

Very different from this time.

Is this her true face?

No wonder even people like Yuan Yunzhong can give up at the drop of a hat.

He felt the same kind of aura from her - he had known what he wanted since he was a child, and had given up a lot in order to achieve his goal.

Maybe only a proud man like Yuan Yunzhong can truly put feelings first!

After feeling secretly in his heart, he couldn't help but applaud Song Jiuyun's idea and said, "What Miss Song said makes sense. I will send someone to check Min Fu right now."

Song Jiyun didn't think Min Fu could open his mouth quickly.

What they lack now is time.

As soon as she thought of this, she began to feel uncontrollably irritable.

She looked up at the mountains in the distance again, and out of the corner of her eye, she saw the little girl in Hongshan'ao who was stuffed with coins by her brother, holding her brother's hand and peering at her.

She was not in the mood to interact with these children and told Zheng Quan: "Go and get some sweets and snacks to kill these children."

Lest their parents go into the mountains looking for someone because of her and the children run around and get into trouble.

Zheng Quan responded and left.

But the little girl walked up to Song Jiyun with her brother as if she had the courage to do so, and said anxiously: "Song, Boss Song, are you, are you looking for someone?"