CH 107

Tan Lingyin called Tang Tang’s name several times, but got no response. She stomped her feet pretending to be angry. With her eyes red, she said, "What should I do? Tang Tang is gone!"

"It’s okay, don’t be anxious," Duan Feng’s heart pained for her as he consoled, "Maybe it saw something interesting, followed it, and forgot."

"It's all your fault! What are you doing? Give back my cub!" Tan Lingyin said, even giving Duan Feng a punch.

She wasn't very strong, so Tan Lingyin’s punch was like a tickle. After getting hit by her light fist, not only did Duan Feng feel a pain in his heart, he also felt a bit stuffy. He hurriedly coaxed her softly, "Okay, it's all my fault, let's go back first and leave others here to find it, okay?"

He somehow coaxed Tan Lingyin back. On their way back, Tan Lingyin kept complaining, but Duan Feng endured it without saying a word. Others couldn't help sighing when they saw it: this new Madam... was a little pretentious.

But pretentiousness was the prerogative of beautiful women. As long as their face was good enough, even if she were to send others to death, someone will love it.

Tan Lingyin tried to convince Duan Feng to find Tang Tang back before they got married.

Duan Feng almost agreed. But he quickly reconsidered: What if that little b*stard ran back home? Although Phoenix Mountain was not too close to Tongling County and the dog was also brought into their camp after it lost consciousness, it was a spiritual dog. So it may have really ran back.

So Duan Fengxin vowed, "I promise you, after we get married, I will definitely find it. Even if I have to grab it back with force."

Afraid of revealing any clues, Tan Lingyin didn't dare to be too persistent, so she had to settle.

Tang Tianyuan searched for most of the night, but found no clues. He didn't want to go back, so he simply rested for four hours in a nearby village. The winter was long, and he slept unsteadily. Before dawn, he had already woken up.

He sat up, thinking in the dark.

There were various indications that Tan Lingyin may have been kidnapped by human traffickers. This was the worst possibility. He didn't know where the traffickers came from and where they were taking her. Finding her now was like finding a needle in a haystack.

If he had to, then he could only reveal his identity as an imperial envoy. This way, he could mobilize the entire Southern Zhili Province to look for her. Traffickers wouldn’t travel to other provinces to sell individuals.

Otherwise, they had another possible lead: Tang Tang.

Tang Tang was a weird looking ‘dog’. If it was also taken away by human traffickers, it would definitely attract more attention.

If traffickers were also aware of this, then Tang Tang may have been...

Tang Tianyuan shook his head. Let's find Tang Tang first, whether alive or dead.

When it was dawn, Tang Tianyuan asked some people to draw Tang Tang and Tan Lingyin's portraits. He then instructed his men to take the portraits and ask around. As Tang Tianyuan had predicted, someone had really seen Tang Tang.

A few people who passed by the eastern suburbs yesterday said they had seen three or five men carrying a big black sack and a dog. Because the dog was quite fat and strange-looking, they took a few more glances.

Based on the clues provided by these people, Tang Tianyuan traced a few points on the map. He traced the map from Tongling County to the east, and finally stopped at a fork.

Continuing to the east was Nanling County, to the south was Qingyang County, and to the southeast was the road to Phoenix Mountain.

No one saw which way they went.

Tang Tianyuan stood at the fork in the road. He looked towards the deserted fields and mountains, at wits' end.

Should he just take out the imperial envoy seal and order for the deployment of soldiers? Tang Tianyuan wondered what the emperor would do if he found out that he exposed his identity for a girl after laying low for so long… Would the emperor behead him?

No matter, Tan Lingyin was Tan Lingyin, no amount of gold could be exchanged for her.

Tang Tianyuan was about to tell Huanggua to prepare for a fast horse, when he suddenly found a group of rabbits jumping out of the greenery, running past him. Those rabbits ran desperately, as if they encountered something extremely terrifying; they didn't even flinch at the sight of humans. One of the rabbits directly hit Tang Tianyuan's calf and fell to the ground.

……What was going on?

Tang Tianyuan looked suspiciously in the direction the rabbit was running from.

He saw a young fat lion, with a sack draped over its body, standing on a high ground and roaring up to the sky. "Awooh—"

Tang Tianyuan almost thought he was hallucinating. He blinked and shouted to the fat lion, "Tang Tang!"

Seeing Tang Tianyuan, Tang Tang rushed over happily. It was so excited that when he was about to get close, Tang Tang tripped on its hind legs. Tang Tang bounced into the air and landed directly into Tang Tianyuan's arms.

Tang Tianyuan reached out and caught it. He supported Tang Tang’s body with one hand and scratched its neck gently with the other. "Okay, it's alright."

Tang Tang rubbed Tang Tianyuan with his head.

"Tang... Where's your mother?" Tang Tianyuan asked. He put Tang Tang down and saw what was attached to it. It turned out to be not a sack, just coarsely made cloth. Because it looked very inconsistent, Tang Tianyuan untied it.

Sure enough, there were words on it.

After Tang Tianyuan finished reading it, he put away the rough cloth and said to Huanggua, "Get my fast horse ready. Mm, I have to go back to the county  government office first."

To suppress bandits, one must first deploy troops. Instead of going to Chizhou Prefecture Mansion to argue, it was better to go directly to Anqing. Although the distance was a little far, Anqing had Zheng Shaofeng, who was ten thousand times more reliable than that old fellow Zong Yinglin.

When Tang Tianyuan arrived at the barracks in Anqing, Zheng Shaofeng had just had dinner and was picking at his teeth. He had offended his immediate boss again today. That old man was not a bad person, but he was just naggy. A naggy military general was simpily torture.

Tang Tianyuan didn't have time to be polite with Zheng Shaofeng. He briefly introduced the situation, and then stated his purpose, "I need to borrow five hundred elite soldiers, can you personally lead them yourself?" Zheng Shaofeng had rich experience in leading troops, especially in leading them to fight bandits. .

"What?! My sis-in-law was kidnapped?!" Zheng Shaofeng was furious as he slapped the table and stood up.

Tang Tianyuan: "..." How do you know that she will be your sister-in-law…Was I that obvious?