Chapter 46: Lost

“I’ll go get them!” Wei Yunlan hurriedly took Suihe and Dong Da and rushed downstairs.

As they approached, she noticed that Granny Wang and the others all bore injuries.

Liu Quan’s left arm was hanging limply, a large stain of blood on his sleeve. Gui Xiang had a wound the size of a pigeon egg on her forehead, lying with her eyes closed on the cart, still unaware of her condition.

Among the three, Granny Wang appeared to be in slightly better shape, but even she had abrasions on her cheeks and the back of her hands, and her clothes were torn in several places, indicating that their experiences over the past few days had been quite distressing.

Liu Quan was the first to notice them approaching. He first saw Dong Da and Suihe, then his gaze shifted to the weak-looking young man between them, “Miss?”

With so many people around the city gate, Wei Yunlan lowered her voice, “Follow me.”

Dong Da stepped forward to take hold of the mule.

As the cart turned, Wei Yunlan noticed an inconspicuous man in black following behind. His attire was similar to that of Seventh Lady Yu and Pei Hu, but his clothing had an unsightly tear at the hem.

Seeing Wei Yunlan’s gaze, the man nodded slightly.

Wei Yunlan understood that this was someone Seventh Lady Yu had arranged to follow Mingxuan.

Could even the Tianshu Pavilion guards not keep an eye on Mingxuan? Wei Yunlan’s heart sank further.

Avoiding the mixed crowd at the city gate, they entered the inn. Granny Wang’s expression was still somewhat dazed, and Gui Xiang lay on Suihe’s back, only briefly opening her eyes when moved.

Liu Quan explained, “Gui Xiang was drugged a couple of days ago and then hit her head. She’s been sleeping more than being awake these past two days.”

His voice was noticeably weaker than usual. When Wei Yunlan glanced at him, she noticed that the blood on his sleeve had seeped out even more.

“Suihe, take Gui Xiang to the next room to lie down. Tingxue, go get a physician.”

The third floor’s east side had already been entirely reserved by Wei Yunlan, and the rest of the group entered the large room where the Wei family had been speaking earlier.

“Dong Da, help uncle Liu with some hemostatic medicine first.”

Looking at the familiar faces she hadn’t seen for just three or four days, Granny Wang finally showed a hint of clarity in her dazed expression.

Then, with a sudden “thud,” she knelt down before Wei Maolin and Madam Gao.

“Master, Madam, Miss…”

“I’m sorry, old servant!”

“Get up and speak.” Madam Gao tried to help Granny Wang up, but she stubbornly remained on the ground.

Wei Yunlan took a deep breath and finally asked the question that had been weighing on her throughout the journey, “Uncle Liu, Granny Wang, what happened on your way back?”

Granny Wang’s lips trembled, and her eyes turned red.

Manager Wang, watching from the side, felt anxious, “Old woman, the young miss is asking you a question! Speak quickly! Where are Young Master Mingxuan and our Gui’er?”

“Young Master Mingxuan got separated from us.” Granny Wang knelt on the ground, filled with guilt as she said, “If it weren’t for Young Master Mingxuan noticing that my legs weren’t working well and letting me ride in the mule cart, we wouldn’t have been separated by the crowd…”

It turned out that when they fled from the village that day, they discovered that Gui Xiang had been drugged by the villagers, presumably having the drug added to the tea served in the evening. Granny Wang had not drunk it to avoid trouble at night, but Gui Xiang had been watched by the little girl from that household and had consumed two cups.

So when Wang Gui and Wei Mingxuan rushed into the house, Granny Wang was able to wake up, but Gui Xiang remained disoriented, not opening her eyes until noon the next day.

They were unfortunate. Thinking they had escaped the village and being vigilant along the way to avoid danger, they unexpectedly encountered a group of refugees just as they were about to enter Suizhou.

These refugees appeared to be from the same village or clan, and they were very united. Seeing that there were only five of them, but they had a mule cart and supplies, they were filled with a desire to rob.

“Mingxuan and Wang Gui got separated from you in that group of refugees?”

“No!” Liu Quan, just being pressed by Dong Da to apply medicine, gritted his teeth and said, “Miss, with the three strong men you hired helping us, the refugees couldn’t rob us at all. It was just that during the struggle we got injured. The reason we got separated was later when the refugees, seeing they couldn’t seize anything, were about to give up when suddenly another group of people rushed out, indiscriminately starting to abduct people. Most of the able-bodied men among the refugees were taken.”

“When we saw things were going south, we quickly mingled with the refugees and ran away. I was holding onto the mule, while Granny Wang and Gui Xiang sat on the cart. Young Master Mingxuan and Wang Gui were following beside the cart. We were all together at first, but when I turned my head, I couldn’t see Young Master and Wang Gui anymore.”

“Later, we went back to look for them, but that group of abductors had already left on horseback, leaving behind only a bunch of elderly and children among the refugees. We searched for half the day but had no clues, so we thought we should hurry to Suijiang to report this to the master and madam. Two of the strong men you hired remained there to look for Young Master’s whereabouts.”

Liu Quan finished explaining the situation in one breath, regardless of his injuries, and knelt down beside Granny Wang, “It’s all our fault for not keeping a good watch over Young Master Mingxuan.”

“Get up. This is not your fault.” Wei Yunlan sighed. Just looking at Liu Quan’s injuries made it clear that he had certainly exerted himself to the utmost at that time.

But no one had expected that, apart from the refugees, there would also be a group of abductors.

What were they planning with the able-bodied men they captured among the refugees?

While Wei Yunlan maintained her calm exterior, her heart was in turmoil.

She had clearly changed the course of events from her previous life during the exile, so why had Mingxuan still gotten lost?

Why was it Mingxuan in particular?

Did her efforts to struggle against fate come to nothing?

As her fingertips dug into her palm, the slight pain brought a bit of clarity back to Wei Yunlan’s eyes.

She absolutely could not simply compromise with fate.

At the very least, in this life, they had gained much more initiative. Even though Mingxuan was lost, the whole family had now escaped from the exile group. With fewer constraints, they could certainly find a way to bring back the lost Mingxuan!

“Uncle Liu, can you describe in detail what those people looked like?”

“I’ll explain.” A guard who had silently stood by Seventh Lady Yu stepped forward.

“That group of people was obviously well-trained and skilled, but they didn’t have much of a bandit aura. They looked more like military officials or private soldiers raised by certain influential households.”

Wei Yunlan frowned. This description was too broad and offered no starting point for a search. “Were there any other distinguishing features? For instance, their clothing, horses, or weapons they carried?”

The guard furrowed his brow for a moment, “I remember that among the two leaders, one had auspicious clouds embroidered on his boots. Among the group of dozens, there were four or five others with the same pattern on their boots.” If he hadn’t come from the Tianshu Pavilion’s Yu division, he wouldn’t have noticed such details.

“Can you draw it?” Wei Yunlan asked Suihe to bring paper and ink.

The guard, not skilled in drawing, fumbled for a while before managing to recreate the pattern he had seen.

The more Wei Yunlan looked, the more familiar it seemed. Suddenly, she recalled something and made a few adjustments to the drawing, “Is it like this?”