The Concubine's Daughter Travels Through Time and Space and Takes the Road of Confrontation

Lu Ling turned his face away unnaturally, clenched his fist, pressed it to his mouth, and coughed a few times. "The most important thing right now is to find Wang Ge'er and send someone to find him." After saying this, he shouted coldly, "Yao, you heard everything! Why don't you apologize to your wife quickly?"

Aunt Yao finally became obedient and kowtowed three times to the lady, saying, "I know I was wrong."

Zhang glanced at her and said, "Get up." Aunt Yao stood aside, picking up the teapot and pouring tea. She poured it for the master first and then set it aside. When it was the mistress's turn, she carefully poured half a cup, then reached out to test the temperature of the teacup, and finally held it in Zhang's hands with both hands.

Lu Lingcong looked at his wife who was as steady as a rock, and then at his concubine who looked like a quail, and felt a little uncomfortable.

"Master, the people who went out to visit my brother will probably be back soon."

"Knock knock" someone knocked on the door, and Liu'er's voice rang out from outside the room, "Madam, the person sent to visit the young master is back."

The maid brought in a young man dressed as a servant. "My humble self, Wang He, greets the Master and Madam."

The second son Lu Hui, who was wearing a dark fur cloak and looked handsome, followed closely behind. He first paid his respects to his father and mother, and finally looked at his aunt standing beside his mother. After hesitating for a moment, he paid his respects as usual. After that, he stood quietly beside his father.

"I took my men with Young Master Wang's portrait and asked around East City. Some people said they saw a young man who looked very similar to Young Master Wang leaving the city gate, but their exact whereabouts were unknown. So we arranged shifts, leaving half the men to continue searching outside the city, while bringing the rest back to the mansion. Firstly, we'll inform the mistress and master of Young Master Wang's whereabouts, and secondly, we'll rest and rest before we rotate the search in the hope of welcoming Young Master Wang back home as soon as possible."

When Aunt Yao heard someone say they had seen their son, she was delighted at first, but then she heard that her son had left the city and was now missing, her eyes reddened again. "I have lived in the royal palace for a long time, and I have heard that a large number of refugees from Jizhou have gathered under the walls of the capital. It's freezing outside, and there are so many questionable people. My dear Wang Ge'er, wuwuwu——"

Zhang looked at her husband and asked, "What is the current situation outside?"

Lu Lingcong's expression was calm. "How could there be any chaos under the Imperial City? The city gates have always been heavily guarded. The Emperor mentioned this matter at the court meeting today, and he also meant to release grain."

The Qin Dynasty's granaries were now plentiful, thanks to Sister Yun'er's grain seeds and the subsequent potatoes and sweet potatoes. Like most ministers, Lu Lingcong wasn't worried about the refugees gathering outside the city.

Seeing this, Zhang said no more, allocated an extra sum of money as a reward for the person's hard work in finding him, and sent him away.

At night, she was half asleep and vaguely heard a few shouts coming from outside. She gradually regained consciousness and was awakened by a rapid knock on the door.

Zhang sat up and called her husband again, "Something might have happened outside!" Lu Ling woke up instantly and got up, put on his clothes.

The door opened, and Yin He walked in quickly with swollen eyes and a frightened face. "Madam, Madam, the people in front just gave us a message saying that the master's house was robbed."

Zhang was horrified. "Were we robbed? What happened? Tell me in detail."

Yin He was still in shock. "They said first, there was a fire in an empty house in the back, and then seven or eight masked bandits rushed in from nowhere, armed with weapons, and looted everything in the house. The eldest wife was even stabbed, but luckily only the arm was injured. Now the doors, windows, and furnishings over there are all smashed to pieces, and several rooms have been burned."

Lu Lingcong asked anxiously, "Master, is there anything wrong?"

Yin He shook her head. "Except for the first wife, everyone else is safe and sound."

Zhang clenched the handkerchief in her hand, and various thoughts flashed through her mind. "Master, this group of thieves is definitely well prepared. We have to be on guard just in case."

Lu Lingcong nodded, "But for the time being, we can't let Yao know about this."

The couple didn't sleep a wink in the second half of the night. They discussed for most of the day and finally decided to send more people to patrol day and night, and to gather the people who were scattered everywhere to live together.

The next morning, Zhang sat on the kang, looking tired. Her right eyelid twitched, and she felt anxious. She had already packed a batch of winter clothes, grain, rice, and flour and sent them to her uncle's house.

Yuan Caohua looked absentmindedly at his wife sitting by the window and said, "Last night—"

Zhang asked her to sit next to her and sighed tiredly, "Someone disguised as a bandit robbed the mansion over there. The capital is becoming increasingly chaotic."

Yuan Caohua frowned and thought for a moment, then suddenly stood up and said, "Madam, isn't it time to get ready at Xiefang Pavilion?"

Zhang was also surprised when Xie Fang Guan was mentioned. "With all the things going on, I actually forgot about Xie Fang Guan. Once those bandits have tasted the sweetness, they will definitely not give up. Tell them that Xie Fang Guan will close its doors to customers from now on and remove all the goods from the shop."

Yuan Caohua thought for a moment and said hesitantly, "Madam, although the business in the shop is not as good as before, we can still make a lot of money a day. Moreover, such a bad thing happened last night and the prefectural government will not sit idly by."

Zhang sighed, "The Tartars have broken through several cities in Jizhou and are about to reach Yanmen Pass. More and more refugees are gathering under the walls of Kyoto. If the situation in Jizhou deteriorates again, the capital will only become more chaotic. What use are the few people in the prefectural government office? There's no end to the money to be made. It's better to close it down early so that everyone can live in peace."

Sitting in the carriage, Yuan Caohua looked at Zhuque Street, which was even more deserted than the previous few days. As the carriage drove along the street, she could see that many shops had hung up signs saying "Closed", and the pedestrians on the road were all in a hurry.

Among all the depressed shops, the major grain shops stood out. There were long queues in front of the doors. In the biting cold wind, the people in the queue hunched their necks and moved forward slowly with their hands in their pockets.

Finally arrived at Xiefang Pavilion, the upstairs and downstairs were empty, not a single guest was there.

Under the horrified gazes of passersby, a gilded red-tassel wooden sign indicating closed was hung on the door of Xiefangguan, and then the door slowly closed from the inside.

No one noticed the few people squatting against the wall at the corner of the street. They looked at each other, slowly stood up, turned around and disappeared into the deep alley.

After counting the goods one by one, Yuan Caohua was busy from morning to evening, and she had to run seven or eight times but still hadn't finished moving all the goods.

Yuan Caohua took out the account book and checked it one by one. "Madam, the precious gold and silver and various jewelry inlaid with pearls and jade have all been moved out. Only a batch of gauze flowers from last year and a few boxes of ornaments are left in the shop. We only need to go back once to move them all back."

Zhang took the account book and looked through it carefully. She then glanced at the sky outside. Dusk was all around, with only a few streaks of orange clouds still lingering on the horizon. "No need for that. It's been a bit unsettling out there lately. These gauze flowers and these antique-like ornaments aren't worth much. We'll talk about everything tomorrow."

Guessing that the master should be back, Yuan Caohua stood up and said goodbye.

Lu Lingcong walked into the house with a chill all over his body, his face solemn. "Madam, a total of seven families were robbed last night. Without exception, they were all fallen nobles, including the Guan family, the Lu family... and my eldest brother's family."