The Eldest Daughter Is Beautiful and Saucy
Chapter 479: Serious trouble
Chapter 479: Big Trouble
The content of Bai Jinxiu’s letter was that she had found out that the Liang Palace and the Wang family of Jiuqu Lane were getting together and it was actually the Liang Palace and the Wang family of Jiuqu Lane who were trading children. Bai Jinxiu had been sending people to keep an eye on the Wang family of Jiuqu Lane and the steward of the Liang Palace.
The secret guards sent by Bai Jinxiu saw the two parties coming together with their own eyes, and heard the steward of Prince Liang’s Mansion say that in the future they would need boys and girls under ten years old, and next time they would need ten boys and ten girls. Then they secretly brought the five boys and five girls brought by the Wang family into Prince Liang’s Mansion.
Bai Qingyan lit the letter paper and put it into the pen wash when it was almost burned.
What does Prince Liang’s Mansion want children for?
The emperor has already sent secret guards to protect Prince Liang’s mansion. The emperor must be aware that Prince Liang brought ten children into the mansion.
Could it be… related to alchemy?
Bai Qingyan’s palms clenched, and he sat in the chair for a long time, pursing his lips without saying a word.
After Ji Langhua made a fuss about the resurrection elixir in the capital city, the emperor seemed to have taken the matter to heart, and Prince Liang took advantage of this and tried to please the emperor with the elixir.
A surge of blood rushed to Bai Qingyan’s head, and she felt a buzzing in her head.
If it was really as she guessed, King Liang would really dare to do something worse than a beast, such as using a child to make elixirs to please the emperor…
If the emperor knew about it, he would dare to take it, or even order it from the emperor…
Then the fate of the Jin State Lin family’s imperial power is truly over.
“Is Uncle Liu at home?” Bai Qingyan turned and asked Nanny Tong.
“It should be there!” said Nanny Tong.
“Madam, ask someone to invite Uncle Liu and Butler Hao to wait for me in the front hall!” After Bai Qingyan finished speaking, he picked up the pen and wrote a reply to Bai Jinxiu.
Bai Qingyan asked Bai Jinxiu to send people to continue keeping an eye on the Wang family and not to alert the enemy. He also asked them to carefully send people to the Liang Wang Mansion to find out the situation and to protect the safety of the ten children to the best of their ability.
There are some things that are no longer suitable to be done by the pregnant Bai Jinxiu, but the prince is just the right person to do them.
After finishing the letter to Bai Jinxiu, she picked up her pen and wrote another letter to the prince.
Bai Qingyan told the Crown Prince that Prince Liang might be secretly refining elixirs without the Emperor’s knowledge, and was using children to make elixirs without regard for human lives. If the Crown Prince could find a way to expose Prince Liang, he would be able to eliminate this great threat to the Crown Prince.
Now Prince Liang is about to marry Liu Ruofu, who has the military power behind her. The prince is more anxious than anyone else.
If the Crown Prince knew that Prince Liang was secretly refining elixirs, he would definitely use it as a handle to deal with Prince Liang.
Even if the counselors behind the prince guessed that Prince Liang refined the elixir for the emperor, between preventing Prince Xian’s only daughter, Liu Ruofu, from marrying Prince Liang and offending the emperor, the prince would certainly choose to prevent Prince Xian’s only daughter, Liu Ruofu, from marrying Prince Liang.
Even though the prince was confident that he had taken the Bai family army into his possession, the Bai family army was far away in southern Xinjiang… the prince must be afraid.
Moreover, as long as Prince Liang’s path to the top was blocked, the emperor would only have his son, the crown prince, who could take on the important task, except for the young ones, and there would be no one who could compete with the crown prince.
When it comes to weighing the pros and cons, the old man Fang beside the prince… will never disappoint.
Bai Qingyan sealed the two letters and took them to the front hall.
Manager Liu and Housekeeper Hao had been waiting for Bai Qingyan for a long time. When they saw Bai Qingyan come in and send his attendants away, they realized the seriousness of the matter.
“Uncle Liu, send two reliable men to deliver these two letters to Dadu day and night. This one is for Jinxiu!” Bai Qingyan handed over another letter addressed to the prince himself, “Send this one to the prince’s mansion!”
“Yes!” Manager Liu responded and went out.
“Butler Hao, please go to the prefect’s mansion in person later and tell Shen Yancong… I’m going to inspect the martial arts field early tomorrow morning! By the way, find out about this area where bandits are plaguing… How many families have reported missing children!” Bai Qingyan said.
Although Butler Hao didn’t know what Bai Qingyan meant by this, he knew that the eldest lady had her own reasons for doing things, so he nodded and said, “Don’t worry, eldest lady.”
On the way back, Bai Qingyan heard a lot of stories about lost children. It just so happened that… the Prince Liang’s Mansion took ten children back from the Prince’s Mansion in Jiuqu Lane. It was hard for Bai Qingyan not to connect the two things together.
It was common knowledge in Shuoyang that Butler Hao represented the Bai family. If Butler Hao went to the prefect’s residence and the prefect wanted to show goodwill to Bai Qingyan, he would naturally tell Butler Hao everything he knew.
Seeing Manager Liu and Housekeeper Hao come out one after another, Chuntao stepped into the main hall.
The curtains and tulle hanging on both sides of the carved and gilded ebony pillars were gathered by silver hooks. The flames of the sixteen copper lamps swayed up and down, and the bright yellow light illuminated Bai Qingyan, who was sitting beside her and seemed lost in thought, like a painting of a beauty.
Chun Tao felt sorry for Bai Qingyan who hadn’t rested since she came back, so she stepped forward and asked in a low voice, “Miss, go back and rest as soon as you are done with your work! I just heard that… the fourth young lady took a nap as soon as she came back. When the crowd dispersed in Shaohua Hall just now, the fourth young lady was so sleepy that she couldn’t even open her eyes, and she was carried back by the nanny who served the third lady.”
Only the eldest daughter in their family has been bathing since she came home, closing her eyes to take a break and has not stopped since then.
Upon hearing the voice, Bai Qingyan nodded to Chuntao, stood up and followed Chuntao along the corridor to Boyun Courtyard, his mind still on the matter of the bandits kidnapping the child.
Although Lupin had not returned from Ji Tingyu yet, Bai Qingyan had a feeling that the bandit who robbed the child might have chosen a place near Shuoyang because of the rampant banditry around Shuoyang and even the things of the Crown Prince and the Princess Zhenguo.
Regardless of whether the “bandits” who robbed the child are from the Wang family or King Liang’s men, since they are here… don’t even think about leaving safely.
After all, Bai Qingyan’s training of soldiers to suppress bandits was known to everyone, from the emperor to the common people. It was just the right time to take action against these so-called bandits, which could be considered as an explanation to the emperor.
Bai Qingyan will go to the training ground tomorrow to take a look. If they have practiced well enough, he can take them out for a try. This will also let those who want to get free food and money know that these food and money are not given for free. If anyone wants to join the camp in the future, they have to think carefully.
Bai Qingyan did not rest after returning to Boyun Courtyard, and asked Chuntao to tie a weighted iron sandbag to her to practice with the silver spear. Chuntao and Nanny Tong felt very distressed, but their girl always kept her word, and no one could persuade her otherwise. They could only stay with her even if she didn’t want to sleep.
It was not until Butler Hao returned from the prefect’s mansion that Bai Qingyan put the silver spear back on the rack, wiped the sweat off his face with a handkerchief, and asked Nanny Tong to invite Butler Hao to talk in the courtyard.
“The prefect said that within the area under his jurisdiction… including the seven reported today, a total of twenty-one children are missing. Among these twenty-one children, sixteen were kidnapped by bandits.” Butler Hao stood beside Bai Qingyan, lowered his eyes and bent over to say.
Bai Qingyan nodded: “I understand, thank you for your hard work, Butler Hao, you can go and have a rest!”
First update! Keep going back and forth to ask for monthly votes! It will be the third one soon! I will soon be able to update my little ancestors for the Spring Festival!