Beautiful Peasant Girl: The Young Marquis's Beloved

When Mu Lingxuan and his men arrived outside Yuyang Town, it was already 5 p.m. It gets dark early in winter, and the city gates were already closed.

"Master, should we go directly to Liujia Village or go to the town to rest first?" Xuan Yi asked.

Mu Lingxuan pursed his lips and looked at the tired people, "Let's go to Zuiyunxuan first!"

Upon hearing this, Xuan Yi rode his horse to the city gate. Seeing that there were quite a few of them, the guards asked nervously, "Who are you?"

Xuan Yi stepped forward to negotiate, and soon the city gate was opened to let people in.

After they left, the guard threw a piece of silver in his hand to another person. The other person took it and asked with some concern: "Are you sure they are from Zuiyunxuan? These people are obviously not ordinary people. Don't let anything happen to them?"

The guard who opened the door paused and rolled his eyes at the other person, "You also know that he is not an ordinary person. If he really wants to do something, we can't do anything whether we open the door or not."

After he finished speaking, he saw that his companion was still a little worried, so he added: "Don't worry, I just checked, there are several carriages, and they are heading towards Zuiyunxuan."

Yuyang Town is not big, and Mu Lingxuan and his group of about twenty people quickly arrived at Zuiyunxuan.

When Manager Chang saw this, he quickly led the man to the backyard. He was one of the few people who knew Mu Lingxuan's identity, so he did not dare to neglect him.

"Greetings, young marquis!" Shopkeeper Chang bowed respectfully.

"Please stand up, Manager Chang. I'm sorry to bother you, Huai Jin. We brothers have been traveling all day. Please ask someone to prepare some simple food." Mu Lingxuan said politely.

"Don't disturb me, don't disturb me. It's an honor for Zuiyunxuan to have the young marquis here. I'll have someone arrange it right away." Shopkeeper Chang hurriedly ordered the waiter to go and make the arrangements.

"Young Marquis, would you like to stay here tonight?" asked the shopkeeper Chang.

"I wonder if the shopkeeper knows of an inn that can accommodate our group for a night. We will leave early tomorrow morning."

He was not very familiar with Yuyang Town. He had only been there with Chang Yifei last time, and they had stayed at the Chang family's house. This time, they had so many people, so it might not be very convenient.

"Yes, yes. I'll have someone go and arrange it in a moment." Shopkeeper Chang replied, then thought for a moment and asked:

"Young Marquis, are you here to get mushrooms this time?"

"Yes, we have made an agreement with the Liu family in the middle of the month." Mu Lingxuan nodded.

Shopkeeper Chang seemed to be hesitant to speak after hearing this. Seeing this, Mu Lingxuan was a little confused: "But what's the matter?"

Shopkeeper Chang gritted his teeth and said, "Young Marquis, Liujia Village may not be able to ship the goods tomorrow!"

Mu Lingxuan frowned when he heard this, "Why do you say that, Manager Chang? Is it because Liu Xu didn't prepare enough? If that's the case, it's not a big deal. This month is already quite urgent, so we'll take whatever we can."

"No, young marquis, it's... it's girl Xu who was kidnapped! Her family is so anxious now that I'm afraid they can't take care of this side right now." Shopkeeper Chang said while observing Mu Lingxuan's expression.

He said this on purpose. Some of the people who went with He Lei have come back to report. They did not expect that the people who abducted Liu Xu would be from Langya Village. Chang Yifei is now extremely anxious, so he hopes that Mu Lingxuan can help rescue girl Xu.

"Liu Xu was kidnapped? What happened?" Mu Lingxuan suddenly looked up at Shopkeeper Chang when he heard the news. The little girl with curved eyebrows and eyes who called him Brother Huaijin flashed through his mind.

You know, Liu Xu can be regarded as his father's savior and the benefactor of his Zhenguo Houfu. If he kidnapped her, wouldn't that be against their Houfu? Thinking of this, his eyes couldn't help but become a little sharp.

Shopkeeper Chang was a little frightened by his sharp eyes. He calmed himself down and told him the whole story in detail from beginning to end.

After listening to this, Mu Lingxuan frowned even more tightly, and then asked back: "Are you saying that Chang Yifei is also in Yuyang Town?" "Yes, young marquis, I informed you the first time I got the news." Shopkeeper Chang wiped the sweat from his forehead and replied.

"I'll go find Chang Yifei." Mu Lingxuan said, and then he added, "Please ask the shopkeeper to arrange for the people outside to repair themselves in the backyard for a while."

After hearing this, Shopkeeper Chang felt relieved. He then called his clerk to give him some instructions, and personally led Mu Lingxuan to the Chang family's house, with Xuan Yi following him.

At the Chang family residence, the old couple Liu Dashan were sent to a room after being brought there. The people who arrested them just told them to stay there quietly and then left.

Two guards were left at the door. No matter how much the two of them made a fuss, no one paid any attention to them, and it was impossible for them to leave. The two were very frightened, especially Zhang. She was a country woman, and had never seen such a scene before. She was so scared that she cried and scolded Chen Shuman, complaining that she shouldn't have gone to Chen's house. Liu Dashan was fine. He found that except for not being able to go out, there were snacks and tea in the room, and the other party didn't seem to want to embarrass them. He comforted his old wife, saying that instead of making a fuss, it would be better to eat and drink well, and wait for people to come and ask what was going on.

However, the Chen and Liu families did not receive such treatment and were taken directly to the woodshed.

Chang Yifei did not show up at first, but just sent someone to interrogate him.

At first, these people insisted that they knew nothing and said that they only asked Liu Dashan and his wife to apologize for what happened before. Liu Chengming also threatened to go to the government office to sue him for arbitrarily detaining civilians and abusing lynching.

Chang Yifei naturally didn't believe it, so he ordered people to be separated one by one and tortured individually.

Soon, they found a breakthrough from Liu Juan. After all, she was just a country girl, originally she was with her parents and brothers, and it was not her turn to say anything. Now that they were separated, she only had a little shock and blurted out everything that Liu Chengming said to Liu Dongcheng and his wife that night.

Not long after, Chen Shuman, who had been tortured, confessed, and what he said was almost the same as what Liu Juan said.

After hearing the report from his subordinates, Chang Yifei immediately had Liu Chengming brought out and planned to interrogate him personally.

Just at this moment, the servant reported that Manager Chang had brought Mu Lingxuan here. Chang Yifei had no choice but to order the men to keep a close eye on the man and not to kill him, and then he went to the front yard.

Several people met in the living room in the front yard. After greeting each other, Mu Lingxuan asked directly, "Brother Chang, how is it?"

"I interrogated the Chen family and Liu Dongcheng's family. According to her aunt and cousin, it was Liu Chengming who came up with the idea of ​​Liu Dashan and his wife going to the Chen family. He originally wanted to hold the old couple hostage and ask Liu Xu to exchange them for the mushroom cultivation recipe. But because Liu Dongcheng opposed it, the old couple became guests at the Chen family and someone took the letter to deceive Liu Xu. As long as Liu Xu handed over the recipe, they would send the two elders back. By then, with the recipe in hand, Liu Xu and his family would not be able to make trouble even if they wanted to."

Chang Yifei finished speaking, took a sip of tea, and then continued:

"But I am definitely wrong. If they wanted to trick Liu Xu into handing over the prescription, why did they ask her to deliver it in person? It's obvious that this matter was aimed at Liu Xu from the beginning. I suspect Liu Chengming is interfering."

Mu Lingxuan nodded when he heard this, "What did Liu Chengming say?"

"Hey, I was just about to ask, isn't it you, the young marquis, who is here?"

"Xuan Yi, go! Make sure he tells you the truth, but don't kill him."

Xuan Yi retreated after hearing this.

"I heard from Manager Chang that the little girl is in Langya Village now? I'm not familiar with this place, so can you tell me what the situation is in Langya Village?" Mu Lingxuan asked after taking a sip of tea.

"Langya Village is the largest bandit village in Qinghe County. It is said that the leader, Yuan Kai, seems to have been born in the army. For some reason, he became a bandit and occupied Langya Mountain with his men ten years ago. Yuan Kai has some skills and has managed Langya Village very well. There are many bandits in the village and they are well-trained. The government has sent people to encircle and suppress them several times, but they all returned without success." Chang Yifei paused and added:

"But they rarely harass the common people on weekdays. They basically rob the wealthy merchants passing by, especially... those wealthy merchants who are rich but unkind. Occasionally, they will rob the rich to help the poor. So the people have a good reputation for them."

Mu Lingxuan frowned: "According to what you said, how could they kidnap the little girl? Isn't this inconsistent with their behavior?"

Chang Yifei: "This is also what makes me weird!"

"It seems that we have to pry open Liu Chengming's mouth." Mu Lingxuan said, tapping the table with his fingers.

Chang Yifei nodded.

Mu Lingxuan: "Did the people who went with you bring back any news?"

"That girl was quite alert. She secretly brought two guards with her when she went. When she was abducted, one came back to report the incident, and the other followed. The one who reported that he followed her went up the mountain, but there was nothing unusual on the mountain. He must be waiting for an opportunity. As for the others, because it was dark and there were many guard posts on the mountain, they temporarily found a place to hide at the foot of the mountain."

At this moment, Xuan Yi hurried back. "Master, Liu Chengming confessed."

Mu Lingxuan and Chang Yifei perked up and asked in unison: "Hurry up and tell me!"