A husband found in the village? I bought a regent for a penny!

Gu Xixi and He Jinglan looked at each other and smiled. "I knew it. Sister Meng would have guessed that we needed something from her."

She poured a cup of tea, placed it in front of Madam Meng, and said...

"The original plan was to enter the city tomorrow morning, do some shopping first, and then visit the Treasure Pavilion."

"That's why there was a last-minute change, and I rushed over this afternoon."

Madam Meng readily agreed, "What is it? I'll do my best to help."

Gu Xixi recounted the recent stalking and spying by the old bachelor.

"The old bachelor said he had only met the person who hired him once before."

"The other party instructed him to monitor Jinglan and kidnap her within ten days."

"If the old bachelor can take Jinglan out of the village and deliver her to Zhenyufang without anyone noticing, he can get a reward of one hundred taels of silver."

“This is no small matter,” Madam Meng said with a serious expression.

She looked at He Jinglan, as if she had thought of something, and became even more worried.

"You want to ask me about the background of Zhenyufang?"

Gu Xixi nodded. "Yes, I heard that Zhenyufang deals in jade and jade ornaments. They are in the same industry as Sister Meng. Perhaps you know something about them."

He Jinglan also said, "At present, we are only certain that the other party knows my identity and background."

"But is it a simple kidnapping for money, or is there some other reason...?"

"I'd like to confirm this as well."

Madam Meng said, "I just bought a batch of scraps from his house last month for inlay work."

"The owner of Zhenyufang is surnamed Zhen, is over forty years old, and is not a local."

"The shop opened two years ago, but I have never heard any suspicious rumors about it."

"If this shop is colluding with kidnappers, then I really can't figure it out."

The old bachelor didn't see the other person's face clearly, only that he was a middle-aged man.

With insufficient clues, the matter reached a stalemate at Zhenyufang.

He Jinglan said, "Nothing ventured, nothing gained. I'll have the old bachelor take me to Zhenyufang. I'll pretend to be unconscious in a sack and grab a handful of the poison that Xixi prepared."

"As soon as someone opens the sack, I'll surprise them."

"No way!" Gu Xixi and Madam Meng said in unison.

Madam Meng said softly to He Jinglan, "We don't know anything about the other party, it's too dangerous to do this."

He Jinglan said, "It's alright. I still have my personal guards. I just need to summon them and have them, along with Xixi and An Qinghe, guard outside."

"We don't need to care who these people are. As long as we work together from the inside and outside, we can take them all down and interrogate them!"

Madam Meng still firmly disagreed, saying, "That's still not appropriate. If you're sent in alone, what if the other side is cunning and surprises us?"

"If we are unable to rescue you in time and you are put in danger, how can I explain this to Chengping?"

He Jinglan was stunned, somewhat dumbfounded, "Cheng...Chengping?"

Gu Xixi whispered a reminder, "It's the one you know."

She smiled awkwardly at Madam Meng, "In my haste I forgot to tell you that Madam Meng is Meng Chengping's elder sister."

He Jinglan: "..."

Seeing Madam Meng looking at her with a gentle smile, He Jinglan's cheeks immediately flushed red.

"You stinky Xixi, why didn't you tell me sooner?"

Knowing she was in the wrong, Gu Xixi said, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. General Meng talked to you about his sister. I thought you knew about it."

Knowing that the young lady was embarrassed, Madam Meng kindly said, "Today is a gathering of women, let's not talk about those stinky men."

She then changed the subject, "If the pick-up location is at Zhenyufang,"

"Based on my understanding, they are no ordinary bandits or tyrants."

Madam Meng looked up at Gu Xixi and He Jinglan and said, "The Zhen family is quite wealthy. You can estimate their wealth just by looking at the jade artifacts and materials in their shop."

"In addition, Zhenyufang's business has been doing well for the past two years."

“I haven’t heard any news about his family’s cash flow problems recently, so he shouldn’t be short of money.”

Gu Xixi frowned, "If you don't lack money, then that means..."

She and He Jinglan turned to look at each other almost simultaneously, both with a look of shock in their eyes.

If it's not for money, then it's for nefarious purposes.

Gu Xixi thought about why Master Liu had come to Huachidu Village.

The news that Mu Nanzhao was alive had not yet spread to the world, so those people did not target Gu Xixi for the time being, but instead set their sights on He Jinglan first!

After all, He Jinglan is the eldest daughter of the He family, and the new head of the He family, He Jinghui, will also be involved in this matter.

He Jinglan said with a grim expression, "The other day, a shadow guard delivered a letter to me from home, saying that my brother has been very active in the court recently, impeaching several important officials. An elder in the family wanted me to write a letter to persuade my brother to avoid offending people, but I ignored it."

Gu Xixi suddenly realized.

It seems that Ho King-fai has already begun to make his moves in the public eye.

They must have already discussed with Mu Nanzhao, Huo Jiang, and others how to cooperate.

Gu Xixi said in a low voice, "Some people must have found Jinglan's whereabouts and want to use her as a bargaining chip to make Lord He feel constrained."

At this moment, all three women realized that things were in serious trouble, far more serious than they had imagined.

After a moment, He Jinglan said, "This won't do. We've dealt with one old bachelor today, but they'll definitely have other tricks up their sleeves."

"I can defend against it once, but can I defend against it ten times?"

"If we push them to the brink, it will implicate others as well."

Gu Xixi nodded, "Indeed, it's not the thief you should be afraid of, but the one who has his eye on you."

Madam Meng pondered for a moment and said, "How can we solve this once and for all? Why don't we report it to the authorities?"

She quickly rejected the idea, saying, "No, without evidence, the government can't arrest people."

“Reporting it to the authorities would only alert them and wouldn’t stop their clandestine activities.”

He Jinglan said, "Let's use my method, let me go!"

Madam Meng was adamant, "No way!"

She added with a sigh, "But since the great battle, no messages have been able to get into the military camp. Otherwise, Chengping should have found a way to protect you."

While the two were talking, Gu Xixi kept frowning and thinking.

After a while, she calmly said, "We don't need to do anything, let's just wait and see."

Madam Meng and He Jinglan were astonished.

He Jinglan said, "Didn't you say that we would deliberately sit in a conspicuous place in the teahouse to lure the snake out of its hole?"

"Now that we've confirmed they're not ordinary kidnappers, we can't just sit idly by."

“That Zhenyufang is clearly someone’s mole planted in the Northwest. My personal life or death doesn’t matter, but we can’t send messages now. What if these bad guys…”

Because Madam Meng is present, the less she knows about the future chaos, the safer she will be.

He Jinglan paused, then said cryptically, "What if they stab the Northwest Army in the back?"

Despite the tense moment, Gu Xixi smiled easily.

“Jinglan, have you forgotten? This Northwest belongs to General Huo.”

"Even someone as narcissistic as him has to admit that the Northwest is completely under the control of General Huo."

"So, Zhenyufang...maybe someone allowed it to exist."