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

The sun was setting in the west, outside Fairy Fruit Village.

A pale golden Akhal-Teke horse galloped by, its coat gleaming with the sweat that soaked through its body.

Mu Nanzhao leaped down before the horse had even come to a steady stop.

His face was terribly gloomy, and a passing village woman was so frightened that she picked up her crying child and ran away.

He Jinghui had been waiting here for a while.

Mu Nanzhao strode forward, "Where is he?!"

He Jinghui's eyes darted away, unable to meet his gaze. "...It's gone."

Mu Nanzhao's gaze narrowed. "Where are her maids?"

He Jinghui: "Also... gone."

At this moment, Mu Nanzhao was like a dark cloud gathering thunder and storm, and every word he spoke was heavy with pressure.

"What about the He family's secret guards?"

"We should at least see how the person died and which direction they went!"

He Jinghui himself was filled with regret, saying, "When Boss Gu suddenly left, everyone assumed he was going to relieve himself. Since I and the bodyguards are all men, we couldn't follow him too closely."

"With the light pearl accompanying them, they... didn't see anything."

Mu Nanzhao didn't say anything, he just turned and left.

Having been brothers for many years, He Jinghui naturally understood that the more Mu Nanzhao behaved like this, the angrier he was, and that he was truly enraged.

"Qi Xiu! I'll go with you to find them!"

As he mounted his horse, He Jinghui secretly vowed that if anything happened to Boss Gu, he would atone with his life.

Gu Xixi didn't have to come today; it was he who personally led her to Xianguo Village.

Mu Nanzhao was also his close brother, whom he entrusted with the care of his beloved.

He lost the person right under his nose.

Not to mention he couldn't explain it to Mu Nanzhao, he couldn't even explain it to his own sister!

Today, Gu Xixi arrived at Xianguo Village with several officials from the Ministry of Revenue.

They guided the villagers in preparing and spraying medicine, and at noon they ate food delivered by the nearby county government.

Everything was going well.

Around 1 p.m., Gu Xixi, who was checking the insect eggs and wheat seedlings, suddenly stopped and said she had to leave for a while.

He Jinghui saw her hurriedly leading Guangzhu towards the grove and assumed she was just going to relieve herself.

But no matter how long they waited, the two never returned.

He then realized something was wrong.

They found a local woman to go into the woods to search for the person, but she found nothing.

He Jinghui was so frustrated he felt like his head was about to explode.

He dared not delay for even a moment, and immediately ordered someone to send a message to Mu Nanzhao by fast horse. At the same time, he led everyone to search the entire village of Xianguo and its surrounding area.

No one has even seen a trace of them.

Gu Xixi and Guangzhu seemed to have vanished into thin air...

Night falls.

Gu Xixi sat on the ground with her back against a tree trunk, opening her eyes a crack to look around.

A campfire was burning about ten steps ahead, and the smell of roasted meat could be smelled. Four men and one woman were sitting on the ground.

Looking to the left, there are two tents set up not far away.

It seems that after taking hostages, these kidnappers planned to use this small ravine as their hideout.

We just don't know their intentions in kidnapping us, or what they really want.

As soon as they smelled the incense in the woods, Gu Xixi quickly put the pills given to her and Guangzhu by the old doctor into their mouths, along with another unfortunate fellow nearby. A short while later, they both collapsed with a thud.

Gu Xixi looked at the unconscious Dou Rongshan, gave Guangzhu a wink, and the two of them also pretended to faint.

She couldn't imagine who she could have offended so soon after arriving in the capital.

Grand Secretary Fan?

Not too possible.

Given the old fox's cunning, he shouldn't have ignored Lü Jing and started causing trouble for Gu Xixi before any crisis had even occurred on Lü Jing's side.

Moreover, given the Fan family's network of informants, it would be easy for them to know that Gu Xixi is currently living in the He family mansion and has a close relationship with Miss He, as they are seen together frequently.

Even if they were certain that Gu Xixi was the one who helped Lü Jing go to the capital to file a complaint, they wouldn't risk offending the He family in broad daylight; their arrogance was somewhat foolish.

Since she had come out today to make thorough preparations, Gu Xixi decided to turn the tables on them.

While our enemy was in the shadows, we were in the open, living in constant fear.

Instead of wasting time, we should take this opportunity to investigate what's going on and, incidentally, rid the people of this scourge.

After calculating the time it took to get here, Gu Xixi concluded that this place should not be far from Xianguo Village.

It was dark, and I wasn't familiar with the road conditions.

Guangzhu ran out to seek help, and it's unknown when she will return.

The kidnapper by the campfire cursed, "Damn it, I told you to buy sleeping incense, did you just buy inferior goods because you were greedy?"

"The young woman had just been carried over and hadn't even been tied up when she broke free and ran away."

"That little brat's got some nerve! That elbow of hers almost knocked my jaw off, and it still hurts!"

The man next to him offered a few hesitant explanations, and it seemed that the one who was swearing was the boss.

The only female kidnapper smiled and tried to calm the leader down, saying, "She's so strong, and dressed so plainly. She's obviously a rough girl. Let her go. Anyway, that's not what we want."

The kidnapper leader was in a better mood. "Anyway, we'll just wait a little longer, hand the person over to the employer, and then we can get the money and leave."

Employer? Gu Xixi wondered to herself.

What kind of employer is coming here in the middle of the night, in such a hurry?

After eliminating a limited number of candidates on the way here, she vaguely thought of someone at this moment.

There might be unexpected gains...

While using her brain, Gu Xixi was also busy.

The blade hidden in his hand had already cut open the knot on her back, leaving only a bit of skin connecting them, which could be torn off with a little force.

At this moment, Dou Rongshan, who was tied to the same tree trunk as Gu Xixi, woke up.

Completely unaware of the situation, she exclaimed in shock, "Where is this?!"

"Who! Who's playing this kind of joke with their life on their hands, tying up your grandma! Untie me right now!"

Gu Xixi closed her eyes, suffocating.

What a silly little fat sheep!

Although Dou Rongshan was the daughter of a military general and preferred to dress as a man, she was spoiled from a young age and had no martial arts skills at all.

As a result, she was slightly plump, with a face like a silver plate, almond-shaped eyes, delicate eyebrows, and full cherry lips.

Compared to the currently popular "skinny" look, it's a completely different kind of attractiveness.

Putting aside her prejudices, Gu Xixi actually quite liked this chubby little beauty.

After all, she's fragrant and soft, and it's quite comfortable to lean against her.

Hearing Dou Rongshan's shouts, the female kidnapper walked over first and yelled, "Shut up! Who has time to joke with you!"

"Say that again and I'll cut off your nose!"

Just as Gu Xixi had predicted, Dou Rongshan was all bark and no bite. Intimidated by the female kidnapper, she shrank back, her eyes red and looking aggrieved, and dared not shout.

"I...Is I really being kidnapped?"

Gu Xixi looked even more flustered than Dou Rongshan, and said weakly with her brows furrowed, "It seems like this isn't a joke."

The female kidnapper sized up the two men. "Which of you came from the Northwest last month? Is your surname Gu?"

Dou Rongshan was terrified and desperately pointed at Gu Xixi with her chin.

"It's her! Her name is Gu Xixi! She's from the Northwest!"

Gu Xixi glanced at Dou Rongshan with a hint of sadness, her eyes welling up with tears. "If my sister says it's me, then it must be me."

"Anyway, my sister has come all this way as a guest. When something like this happens, we should try to leave as many people as possible."

"What did you call me?" Dou Rongshan looked at her with an expression that seemed to say, "What's wrong with you all of a sudden?"

The female kidnapper suddenly pointed at Dou Rongshan, "You're Gu Xixi? You actually tried to play me for a fool!"