Midnight Child Kidnapping

After finishing her instructions about her natal family, Mrs. Sun turned around and headed to Su Li's house. Zhang followed her to the door, then locked the courtyard gate as Mrs. Sun had instructed.

Not long after Mrs. Sun left, Old Man Su sneaked over. The two just missed each other, one leaving as the other arrived, so neither saw the other.

Old Man Su pressed his eye to the door crack and saw a firelight inside. Looking towards Su Lanxiang's room, he saw the lamp there was blown out, then the lamps in the main house and Su Shirong's room went out one after another.

Old Man Su chuckled, "Su Lanxiang is back!"

Old Man Su hurried home and excitedly called over Su Daqi and Su Shimao, "Su Lanxiang, that tramp, is back!"

"Great! I was worried that tramp was hiding out at Su Li's place all this time!" Su Shimao, thinking about the silver he’d get from selling Su Lanxiang and how it might convince Su Sanyun to come back and support them, got excited and urged, "Dad, while she's weak from illness, why don’t we snatch her away tonight?"

Old Man Su was equally impatient: "There’s no time like the present. Let’s do it tonight!"

But who would go?

The three of them gathered to discuss. Su Sanyun's door was locked, so they’d have to climb over the wall to get in. Old Man Su was too old and stiff to climb the wall, so he couldn’t be the one.

Su Shimao, though young, was a scholar and too delicate for such rough work, so he was out of the question too.

That left only Su Daqi, a strong man used to farm work and with enough strength to be the best candidate to snatch Su Lanxiang out.

So the three made a plan: at midnight, they would sneak into Su Sanyun's house to kidnap her!

Su Daqi would get her out of the house, while Su Shimao and Old Man Su waited by the wall to assist. Once they had Su Lanxiang, they'd rush to Qingmiao City to sell her to a human trafficker, and have it all done by noon the next day!

They prepared large hemp sacks for carrying a person, ropes, cloths to gag mouths, and under the cover of a dark, windy, snowy night, they slipped out the door.

At this moment, Haizi Village was pitch black, with every household deep in sleep. The three Su family men quietly reached the wall outside Su Sanyun's courtyard.

Su Daqi tied the hemp sack and ropes around his waist and deliberately covered his face with a black cloth.

"Shimao, crouch down and be a step for your father," Su Daqi instructed.

Su Shimao was reluctant to be stepped on by this rough farmer, but thinking about the good life they'd have after kidnapping Su Lanxiang, he reluctantly bent down by the wall.

Su Daqi grunted as he stepped on Su Shimao, with Old Man Su supporting him from the side. He struggled to climb over the wall and slid down the woodpile at the base.

Su Sanyun's courtyard was also pitch black. Luckily, there was no dog guarding the gate. The people inside were asleep, unaware that a thief had entered the yard.

Su Daqi, familiar with the layout, quietly made his way to Su Lanxiang's room.

The courtyard gate was locked, but the room door was unlocked.

Su Daqi quietly opened the door and slipped inside. He saw a basin of burnt-out charcoal by the bed and cursed inwardly: "That tramp Su Lanxiang actually used a charcoal basin to keep warm? We don’t even have such good charcoal basins at home!"

Thinking even more bitterly of Su Lanxiang, Su Daqi took out the cloth to gag her mouth, quietly approached the bedside, and reached out to feel around on the bed. Then he touched a person.

Su Daqi was delighted, thinking, "Got you, little tramp!" He raised the cloth to cover "Su Lanxiang's" face, intending to gag her. But when his hand covered the mouth, he felt a rough patch of stubble!

Stubble? Wait, that’s not right. Su Lanxiang is a young girl—how come there’s a full beard on the face?