Guilty and Afraid of Knocking

Su Family.

Mrs. Zhao wandered around the village and heard everyone talking about Su Lanxiang being abducted. Everyone who could move was out searching.

Mrs. Zhao hid behind a big tree and saw Yuan Jie riding a carriage with several servants heading to Qingmiao City. She heard they were going to look for her at the human trafficking market.

Mrs. Zhao immediately panicked and hurried back home.

At home, the three men who had just returned at dawn were sound asleep.

Mrs. Zhao dragged the soundly sleeping Su Daqi out from under the covers and said, "Bad news, don't sleep! Su Li sent someone to the human trafficking market to look for Su Lanxiang! What if they find out and expose our family?"

Su Daqi groggily waved his hand, "No, she wasn't sold to the human trafficking market."

Mrs. Zhao was stunned for a moment, "Then where was she sold?"

Su Daqi, annoyed, turned over, pulled the covers over his head, and said, "Ugh, are you annoying or what? Stop bothering me, I'm exhausted, get out!"

Seeing her husband ignore her, Mrs. Zhao went to find Su Shimao. He was also sleeping, so she was shut out and dared not ask her father-in-law, only nervously went to the kitchen to cook.

The day had fully dawned, and the village was filled with hurried people. When they met, the first question was always, "Have they found her?"

The other would reply, "Not yet, still searching!"

So the two would pass each other, hurried and confused, each going their own way to search.

Chen and Wang were also part of the search party. Bai Lu couldn't persuade Wang to wait at home for news, so she had to join the search as well.

The three passed by the Su family house and saw the gate tightly closed.

Wang hesitated, wondering if she should knock on the Su family door to ask for news.

She really didn’t want to deal with the Su family. Just seeing their house reminded her of the suffering and nightmare-like life she had endured.

Chen linked arms with Wang to encourage her, "Second sister-in-law, let’s ask the Su family if they’ve seen Lanxiang. After all, Lanxiang is a Su. If something happens to one of our own, they should care."

Wang nodded, "You’re right, let’s go ask."

Bai Lu stepped forward and knocked on the door. After a while, there was no sound from inside.

Wang and Chen were puzzled. Where could the Su family be in broad daylight? No one was home, surely not?

"Bai Lu, keep knocking," Chen said.

Bai Lu continued knocking on the door.

Mrs. Zhao hid in the kitchen, feeling increasingly guilty hearing the persistent knocking. She didn’t want to respond, but the knocking was relentless. Annoyed, she finally came out and opened the door, saying irritably, "What are you knocking for? Be gentle, don’t break the door."

"Sister-in-law, Lanxiang is missing, did you know?" Chen said.

Mrs. Zhao put on a surprised expression, "What? Lanxiang is missing? No way! When did this happen?"

Chen said, "She went missing last night. Everyone is searching everywhere. Some are looking in the village, others in Qingmiao City. Ali said it’s most likely the kidnappers."

Mrs. Zhao’s heart skipped a beat, but her face showed anger as she cursed, "Which damn bastard kidnapped our Lanxiang? May they rot in hell!"

Chen frowned and said, "Yes, it’s despicable. We’re all mothers; we can’t bear to hear about a missing child. Sister-in-law, did you see Lanxiang last night or hear anything?"

Mrs. Zhao hurriedly said, "No, no. Last night it snowed heavily, it was freezing outside. We didn’t have warm clothes, so we all stayed quietly at home..."

"I see..." Chen looked disappointed.

Mrs. Zhao’s eyes darted as she thought, what if Su Li went to Qingmiao City and found a clue? She came up with a clever idea and pretended to just remember something, saying, "Oh, now that you mention it, I think I heard a little girl’s voice last night when I went out to the latrine. It was very faint, hard to hear clearly. I thought I was mistaken. Now that I think about it... it sounded like Lanxiang’s voice, heading towards the back mountain! Maybe the kidnappers took Lanxiang to the mountain. You should hurry and search there!"