Chapter 85: Chapter 85: Catching the Villain (Begging for Monthly Tickets)_l
Translator: 549690339
Yingbao felt numb.
She seemed to understand why the innkeeper’s wife was so attentive to her.
But outright refusal seemed too heartless, so she tactfully said, “Let’s discuss this after I’ve spoken with Uncle Wu.”
The innkeeper’s wife happily agreed. As she left with the basin, she said, “Madam, I’ll go buy a box of Rongfu Bean Paste Crisps for you to try, it’s the best in our Qinchuan County.”
Upon hearing this, Yingbao repeatedly shook her head: “No need, thank you
Auntie, eating sweets at night is bad for the teeth.”
No matter what, she couldn’t accept their money and gifts, otherwise, if her real identity was revealed, she’d get beaten up.
The next day, a servant came and told Yingbao that her husband had gone to the County Government Office for work and instructed her to stay at the inn. After he finished his work, he would send someone to the countryside to bring her parents to claim her.
The servant then went downstairs and entrusted the innkeeper’s wife to look after Yingbao and to keep strangers away from her.
The innkeeper’s wife immediately agreed. As soon as the servant left, she led in a pretty girl in her early twenties.
“Madam, this is my niece, she just turned twenty this year and is still unmarried.”
Yingbao gazed at the graceful girl in front of her, dumbstruck.
What did this mean? Were they planning to use her as a stepping stone?
However, since the girl was standing right in front of her, she had no choice but to let her stay for now. She decided to explain later that she was not Wu Daozi’s relative, so as not to hinder her.
“My name is Yanru.”
Yanru stepped forward lightly and made a slight bow to Yingbao.
Yingbao jumped up immediately to return the gesture. “Please, no need for formalities, Sister Yanru, I…
She suddenly stopped, realizing she shouldn’t reveal her real name to a stranger.
With a shift in conversation, Yingbao cheerfully said, “You can call me Baobao, Sister Yanru.”
“Baobao.” Yanru readily agreed, and opened the food box she brought, revealing the bean paste crisps labeled inside.
The crisps were the size of an egg, each with a red diamond-shaped slip of paper stuck to it, bearing the words “fortune”, “prosperity”, “longevity”, “joy”, “wealth”, and so on. Such fine packaging was obviously expensive.
“These are some snacks I got from Rongfu, they were just made and are still warm. Try some, Bao…Baobao.”
Yingbao didn’t dare to taste it, she gave an awkward smile and said, “I just had breakfast and I’m not hungry yet, Sister Yanru, you can put them away first.”
After pacing around the room, Yingbao cocked her head and examined Yanru.
Her figure was graceful and her looks were pretty and attractive, why was she still unmarried at the age of twenty?
And she was so blatantly eager to please the relative of a stranger, which was not something an unmarried girl would normally do.
This was not right, she didn’t want to cause trouble for Uncle Wu.
Since she had nothing to do, she might as well go to the Furuifeng Trading Company and find Steward Zhou Mao.
She had business dealings with Zhou Mao, and he depended on her goods to make money, he certainly wouldn’t ignore her.
Moreover, Uncle Wu seemed very busy and could not spare her time, and as he was new to the area, he was not familiar with the place.
Instead of waiting for Uncle Wu, she could just ask the innkeeper to take her to the Furuifeng Trading Company. At the very least, she could ask Steward Zhou to send a message to her home for her.
Of course, if he could take her home, that would be even better.
So, Yingbao asked Yanru, “Sister Yanru, do you know about the Furuifeng
Trading Company?”
Yanru nodded, “Yes, do you also know about our big trading company, Little Sister Baobao?”
Anyone in the county who wasn’t confined to their own homes would know about this big trading company. But how could this little girl, who just arrived here, know about Furuifeng?
“Yes, I want to go there to find someone, can you take me there? I have money to hire a carriage.” Yingbao said, taking a string of copper coins out from her pocket, “Is this enough?”
Yanru laughed and pushed back the coins, “Why should you spend your money?
Our inn has a donkey cart. I’ll have one of our men harness it.”
“Thank you very much, Sister Yanru.” Yingbao smiled at her with squinted eyes.
Shortly thereafter, Yanru led Yingbao onto a donkey cart, heading toward the Furuifeng Trading Company.
The inn they were staying at was only three or four miles away from the company, so they arrived quickly.
Yingbao was the first to jump off the donkey cart, dashing into the trading company.
“Excuse me, is Steward Zhou Mao here?” She craned her neck to ask one of the clerks behind the counter.
The clerk had been looking around for a while without seeing who was speaking. When he looked downwards, he saw a little girl who was only as high as his knee, looking up at him.
“What business do you have with Steward Zhou?” the young clerk asked patiently.
Yingbao: “It’s important. I must speak with him in person.”
“Steward Zhou has gone to the Prefecture City. He will not be back for a few days.” The clerk informed her.
“He went to the Prefecture City?” Yingbao was disappointed.
Clerk: “Yes, you’d better come back in a few days.”
Leaving the Furuifeng Trading Company, Yingbao slouched dejectedly in the donkey cart.
Yanru also followed her into the cart, instructed the coachman to head back, and asked in a low voice, “Little Baobao, feel free to confide in me if something’s bothering you.”
Yingbao shook her head and wrapped her head in a small blanket, not wanting to interact with anyone.
As the donkey cart passed a street, they suddenly heard a commotion up ahead.
Several villagers were in a conflict with a man.
Recognizing those villagers, Yingbao’s eyes lit up. She urgently called out, “Stop the cart! Stop! I want to get off!”
Seeing this, Yanru quickly instructed the coachman to stop.
Ignoring Yanru’s attempts to stop her, Yingbao jumped off the cart and ran towards the crowd, shouting as she ran, “Uncle Jianger! Uncle Jianger!”
Among the people up ahead, one of them was indeed her uncle, Jiang Erlang.
They were busy beating Zhang Mazhi, Chen Ergou’s son-in-law, while berating him, “You dog! You’ve come to the county town, haven’t you! We’ve caught you now. Tell us, where is Chen Ergou?”
All of a sudden, a little girl came running toward them. Jiang Erlang, with his keen eyes, recognized his niece and quickly let go of Zhang Mazhi to greet her.
“Baobao!” He picked up his niece in surprise and delight, “You really are in the county town!”
Yingbao hugged her uncle tightly, her mouth spread wide in a grin, as if she wanted to cry and laugh at the same time.
She was too excited, so much so that she didn’t know how to express her current feelings.
“Goodness, we finally found Yingbao,” one of the villagers laughed.
He then kicked Zhang Mazhi again and spat out, “Now tell us where your father-in-law is hiding! Otherwise, when we take you to the government office, you won’t like the outcome!”
Zhang Mazhi was surprised to see the little girl had returned by herself. Knowing it was meaningless to hide any longer, he covered his head and cried out, “I’ll tell you everything! Don’t turn me into the authorities, I’ll confess…!”
It turned out that one day, Chen Ergou suddenly approached Zhang Mazhi with a lucrative business proposition and asked him to cooperate. Afterwards, he would give him a taels of silver as a reward.
Zhang Mazhi, who was worried about how to make ends meet after paying his taxes, agreed without hesitation.
After successfully kidnapping the child together, Chen Ergou asked him to go home while he delivered the child to the customer, promising to share a tael of silver when he got the money.
However, when his father-in-law returned, he only gave him a hundred coins, saying that the customer didn’t bring enough money and asked them to wait a few days.
Chen Ergou grumbled and cursed all night. Early the next morning, he heard that Sun Licheng was leading people to arrest them.
So, the two of them had to hide in the wilderness for two days, only daring to return home to grab a bite to eat in the middle of the night.
Seeing that the customer hadn’t sent the money yet, Chen Ergou had no choice but to secretly visit and request it. In the end, however, he was told that the customer had gone to the county town and he had to get the money there.
With no other option, they had to go to the county town. Chen Ergou swore that if the woman tried to deceive him again, he would risk jail to expose her..
