Chapter 438. Target Location Confird. Ready to Search
Translator: DragonRider
“Oh, Xiaoi and Wang Sheng, and Stonie too. Are you here to see your parents?”
“Yeah, Uncle Chun.”
A few monts after Tao Xiaoi and Wang Sheng entered, they caught sight of a group of old n sitting under a giant tree near the center of the village. Residents of Taowang Village saw this tree as so kind of totem. It boasted an enormous crown. Old villagers ca here for its shade and chit-chat almost every day. However, these old people, who previously had always been in high spirits, were now all harassed-looking. When they saw Tao Xiaoi and the other two coming, they squinted at them for quite a while. It was not until they recognized the three of them that the vigilance in their eyes ebbed away.
Wang Sheng unnoticeably cast them a glance which took in all the reaction of theirs.
The horse-drawn carriage trundled towards the far end of the village.
“Father, Mother!” called Tao Xiaoi happily as she reached the doorway of her parents’ house.
Tao Xiaoi’s parents heard her and walked out. Seeing her and her family, they were delighted at first, but then sothing occurred to them and their brows furrowed, their faces etched with a hint of apprehension. They ushered the three of them into the house and shut the doors.
“Father, Mother, why are you...” Tao Xiaoi confusedly watched her parents cautiously closing the doors.
“Sh.” Mr. and Mrs. Tao hushed her in undertones, then looked at their grandson and with that Mrs. Tao said in a loud and cheerful voice, “Oh, my dearest grandson, you’re finally here to look up your grandma. Co here. Let see if you’ve grown taller.”
“He surely has. It’s been such a long ti since we last saw him. How could he not have grown taller? Co, Stonie. There’s snack inside. You should eat more so you can grow even taller and stronger,” Mr. Tao also said loudly.
Tao Xiaoi was still in perplexity. Wang Sheng gave her sleeve a pull and breathed to her, “Go inside with your parents first. I’ll get the baggage and settle the driver in.”
Wang Sheng walked out of the house and up to the horse-drawn carriage, from which he and the driver unloaded all the traveling bags together before carrying them towards the house.
On entering the house, he saw that Mrs. Tao was checking out her grandson in her arms, the expression on her face alternating between delight and concern. Seeing Wang Sheng and the carriage driver carrying so many bags inside, Mr. Tao, who was quietly sitting there, rose to his feet and walked to their help. “Your coming here to see us is enough to gladden our hearts. It’s totally unnecessary for you to bring so many things here.”
“We heard on the grapevine that your pottery is not selling. Xiaoi and I were worried about you, so we brought more things than usual,” explained Wang Sheng in a quiet voice.
Mr. Tao looked at him and let out a sigh, appearing both gratified and apprehensive. “Alas, actually you shouldn’t have co here in the first place.”
Wang Sheng told the driver to get the rest of the baggage in the carriage and then asked Mr. Tao, “Father-in-law, did sothing happen in this village? When we were entering, we saw Brother Adong and so others standing guard at the village entrance. Xiaoi and I were even challenged there. They looked as serious as the soldiers guarding the county gates. After we got through, I noticed that Uncle Chun and the others also had troubled faces.”
Looking at him, Mr. Tao for an instant was on the verge of saying sothing but eventually held back the words on the tip of his tongue. After a few monts, he sighed heavily, “It’s a very long story. Now that you’ve checked on us, you should go back straight away. It’s inadvisable for you to linger in this village.”
Wang Sheng knitted his brows. “Father-in-law, how could Xiaoi and I stand by and do nothing if there’s really sothing going on? Please tell the truth. Maybe I can help. Besides, if we leave here so soon, it would definitely arouse people’s suspicions.”
Mr. and Mrs. Tao exchanged a glance, both appearing sowhat hesitant.
Tao Xiaoi, who could also tell that the situation was rather serious, asked, “Father, Mother, is there sothing you believe you have to keep secret from us?”
Mr. and Mrs. Tao still seed in deep worry. It was obvious that they wanted to be honest with their daughter and son-in-law, but their misgivings were deterring them from doing that.
“Grandpa, Grandma, has soone been bullying you? Tell who it is and I’ll go and beat them up,” offered the boy, throwing his chest out and smacking his palm on it, apprehension written all over his face.
Mrs. Tao looked at him and chuckled amusedly, “Good boy, you’re twice the man your uncle is.”
“Speaking of which, why haven’t we seen my big brother and sister-in-law after such a long ti? And where is my nephew? All of them are not in?” asked Tao Xiaoi bewilderedly.
The smile on Mrs. Tao’s face vanished at these words and with that Mr. Tao snarled, “Don’t ntion them.”
“Why? What happened? Father, Mother, you’ve got to be honest with . Exactly what happened?!” Tao Xiaoi really got anxious.
Wang Sheng looked out the door. Seeing the driver was returning with the baggage, he said, “Calm down, Xiaoi. Give them so ti. I’ll carry those things inside and put them in place.”
Tao Xiaoi also saw the driver coming, so she said no more.
Wang Sheng and the driver carried the baggage into a wing-room together. After entering, the forr said to the driver, “There’s indeed sothing unusual going on in this village. Chances are that the one we’ve been looking for is hiding right here. I need you to go back first and report this to our boss.”
The driver silently inclined his head, pivoted around, walked out of the house, got onto his carriage, drove out of the front gates of the Tao family and to the entrance of the village, where villagers on guard duty examined his carriage once again. Everybody in this village who’d seen the driver before knew that the man was taciturn. Believing that he was no threat and had stayed in the village only for a short ti, they let him go.
Shortly after the horse-drawn carriage left, soone ran up to the entrance and questioned Adong and the others about the reason why they’d allowed the carriage to leave.
“It was that driver who drove a couple of people here. We were keeping watch on him. After driving the passengers to the destination, he helped them unload their baggage and then directly left. He lives in the county seat and is a native. If anything goes wrong, we can easily find him, whereas if we’d detained him, those people in the county seat might notice and trace it back to this village. In that case we’d be in serious trouble,” explained Adong.
“Even so, you still shouldn’t have done that without our consent! This kind of thing must not be repeated! You hear ?!” huffed the man.
“Yes,” chorused Adong and the others, bowing their heads.
“Where are his passengers?”
“Still here. They’re Mr. Tao’s daughter and son-in-law. Given that they dismissed the driver, they’ll probably stay here for a couple of days.”
The man’s face softened slightly. “Keep close watch on them. If they want to leave, stop them!”
“We will.”
After the man walked off, Adong and his companions exchanged glances, all looking fairly frustrated.
Yao Yi and his n saw the whole thing.
“Captain, do you want that driver tailed?”
Yao Yi replied, “Send a man–”
“Captain!” Soone tore up to them from the distance. It was the man who’d previously been sent back to the county seat to report. “It was the Jiang family who arranged for that carriage to co here. The passengers are the daughter of a family in Taowang Village, her husband and her son. Her parents live in...”
The man gave them a detailed description of the location of the Tao family’s house, which was located in the depths of the village.
After hearing it, Yao Yi said with a bob of the head, “Very good. That driver must be one of them and will no doubt report it to their master after he gets back. We may just focus on the situation in this village. It’s almost certain that Shan Congyi is in there. You guys keep a close eye on residents of this village. I’ll go inside to check out the lay of the land after dark.”
“Yes, Childe Ling.”
“Captain, Childe Ling is probably going out of the county seat.”
“Will he be bringing his bodyguards with him?”
“Yes.”
“I see. You guys stay sharp. Childe Ling should arrive shortly before nightfall.”
“Yes, Childe Ling.”
...
anwhile, the driver quickly entered the county seat and reported to the storekeeper of that cloth store, from whom Jiang Yu soon received a ssage before he relayed it to Ling Zhang.
“Young Master, it seems that Shan Congyi is indeed in Taowang Village. Should we go there and catch him right away?”
Ling Zhang gave it so thought and then replied, “There’s no hurry. Now that we’ve ascertained Shan Congyi’s whereabouts, there’s no way he could escape. Right now what we should do is figure out a way to take advantage of this to capture Shan Congyi, get what he has in hand, and at the sa ti inflict so casualties on the Jiangzhou garrison, which would make Wang Xiangxin nervous. Only by forcing him into taking action will we be able to help our n in Jiangzhou locate and dispose of his killers sooner. Right now there are three urgent tasks facing us. The first one is to search Taowang Village and confirm that Shan Congyi is indeed in there. The second one is to verify whether or not it is indeed money that Shan Congyi has in hand. The third one is to ascertain if the final destination of the two caravans is Taowang Village. If it is, then there must be sothing else on their carts. We have to figure out all these things.”
“That’s true. My n have been keeping a close eye on the two caravans. Although they’ve split up, they’re indeed approaching Taowang Village constantly, judging from the direction they’ve been going,” said Jiang Yu.
Ling Zhang squinted his eyes. “We need to go to Taowang Village as soon as possible and check out the lay of the land first.”
“Yes, Young Master,” said Jiang Yu.
Ling Zhang instructed Wang Dashan and the others to get prepared to exit the county seat. The soldiers guarding the county gates had now been replaced by the General Zhongwu’s trusted n, so they should be able to get through the city gates without being challenged or suspected.
As for Taowang Village, it was the villagers there that Ling Zhang was rather concerned about. According to the detailed account of events given to him by that carriage driver, residents of Taowang Village had been intentionally helping Shan Congyi question and screen those wanting to go in or out of the village, which ant that those villagers probably had been bought by Shan Congyi and beco his flunkeys already. If they’d indeed been bought, Shan Congyi must’ve offered them sothing. There was no telling how far those villagers would go to get what Shan Congyi had promised them, so this matter must not be taken lightly.
“Jiang Yu, have your man find us a local to fill us in on the situation of Taowang Village in detail before we set off.”
Jiang Yu instantly caught on to what Ling Zhang ant and imdiately left to make arrangents.
Soon, the storekeeper of the cloth store found them a local carter who traveled to Taowang Village on a frequent basis. Previously this driver had mainly provided services for traders, helping them transport pottery from Taowang Village. Sotis he would enter the village several tis in a day, and sotis he would stay in Taowang Village for a couple of days, so he couldn’t be more familiar with the situation there. He knew each and every one of the residents there and also had so acquaintance with them. He even had an intimate knowledge of the layout of paths and houses in Taowang Village.
The carter, after entering, was requested to relate everything he knew about Taowang Village down to the smallest detail, including information about the village head, the total number of villagers, family situation of every household, as well as how things were going in Mr. Tao’s family.
The carter talked for a solid hour, giving them an exhaustive account of all aspects of Taowang Village. Wang Dashan and so others, according to the carter’s description, drew a detailed map of the village with information about every household on it, highlighting the village head’s and Mr. Tao’s houses.
“Okay, let’s go.” After reading the map, Ling Zhang had a general idea of what to expect, so he gave the order to set off.
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