Arthur Evans's Schemes

Zhao Shi wanted to immediately take the child to find Su Li, but was stopped by Liu Ru.

Liu Ru's mind had cleared now, and she stopped Zhao Shi, scolding, "If you go now, our child will never be found! Don't you think about it? Right now, Su Li believes it's Zhang Mu's son who is lost, so she's putting in so much effort to find him. But if she knew it was our child who was lost, would she be so concerned?"

Zhao Shi also realized this and said, "Right, right, we can't go now. Let them think it's Zhang Mu's son who's missing. And that Young Master, once Su Li speaks up, he'll definitely help look. He's royal family, so he'll find the child faster than us. We can't let them know that the child is actually ours."

As Zhao Shi spoke, she hugged the child back, feeling like the baby was a hot potato in her arms.

"Then what do we do with this child?" Zhao Shi asked.

Liu Ru thought for a moment and said, "We'll keep this child for now and see how things go. If our child is safely found, great. We'll let our child grow up in the Zhang family as a wealthy young master, and raise this little one as our own. But if our child is killed by enemies... then we'll take this little one out and demand money from Zhang Mu! As long as this child is safe, they won't investigate our kidnapping. We'll ask them for money! Our child died in place of Zhang Mu's son, so they owe us compensation!"

"Right, right, that's what we'll do. It's the only way!" Zhao Shi was distraught and started crying again, "But if my dear grandson is gone, what use is the money? I want my grandson!"

Liu Ru scolded, "It's already like this, what's the use of crying now!"

Liu Ru then admonished the family, "Keep your mouths shut, don't let anything slip, or else they won't look for the child!"

The Old Su family valued that only heir very much, so they were even more afraid to speak carelessly, fearing that Zhang Mu and the others would stop looking for the child.

Thus, even more worried about the child than Zhang Mu's family were the Old Su family, who were trapped in panic and unease but afraid to show it, not even daring to leave the house.

At this moment, Zhao Shi remembered Su Shimao and cursed, "How heartless is Shimao? He hasn't even looked at his son since he was born, always away, and now that his son is missing, where the hell is that father of his?!"

Meanwhile, Su Shimao, who was being cursed by Zhao Shi, was in a mountain stronghold wearing a long robe, holding a feather fan, half of his hair covering the words on his face. In front of him were fine wine and good dishes as he drank with the mountain bandit king.

This mountain bandit king was named Jiang Shi, who started as a bandit and later gathered brothers to rule the mountain.

Jiang Shi raised his wine cup and smiled at Su Shimao, saying, "Master Su, you're damn clever. I've long been eyeing those two wealthy families in Qingmiao City! Such big fat meat, it wouldn't feel right if I didn't take a bite! But that Young Master gets in the way, really annoying! Luckily for your brilliant plan, we had our second brother kidnap that family's child, now they'll have to hand over piles of silver to me!"

Su Shimao was very pleased with himself, putting on a mysterious smile, and said, "Not at all, I just used a little cunning!"

Jiang Shi downed his wine in one gulp and laughed, "Damn, you scholars really have all the clever ideas. We rough guys only know how to rob on the road, and if we meet tough opponents, our brothers might get hurt! But this plan of Master Su's is great—no effort, just kidnap a child and exchange for a big pile of silver. Safe and sound, truly a business with no capital! Hahaha, with Master Su's help, I'll have silver pouring in from now on!"