Chapter 466 : Children Charity Home (3)

Zijin came in from outside and reported to Yuxi, “Madam, twelve people came to adopt children from the charity home. Old Woman Yin confessed she only knew three of them, but not the others.”

Yuxi questioned, “If she didn’t know them, why did she give those children away?”

Zijin replied grimly, “Old Woman Yin received benefits from those people. She earned an extra one or two pieces of silver for each child she gave away.” When one thought about it, earning extra money from giving away those children was already wrong.

After a pause, Zijin continued, “By the way, Madam, the three people Old Woman Yin knew chose boys, and they each adopted one. The others only picked girls and adopted them all in twos and threes. Madam, I don’t think that’s quite right.” It was as if those nine people had taken away more than thirty girls at once.

Yuxi’s face turned cold when she heard this as she asked, “Are all the selected girls good-looking?” If they were, they would most likely be sent to dirty places.

Zijin was no fool either. She naturally understood Yuxi’s question and said, “Madam, I’ll ask again.” Then she hurriedly left.

Da Nainai1 Fu felt uneasy and asked, “Dimei2, what’s going on?”

Yuxi shook her head. “I’m not really sure what happened at the moment.” All she knew was they had to get those children back without delay. Otherwise, the unthinkable would happen when the news spread out.

Gancao trotted in and said, “Madam, the Eldest Young Miss is crying, and Mama Lan can’t calm her down. Madam, please take a look at her!” Zaozao was actually hungry, but it was not good to say so directly, so she politely conveyed the meaning this way.

Yuxi told Da Nainai1 Fu, “Saozi3, if there is nothing else, I will go out first.” Then she hurriedly left without waiting for Da Nainai1 Fu’s reply.

Seeing Xu Wu guarding the carriage, Yuxi told him, “During this period, a group of people had taken more than 30 girls from the charity home. I suspect that those people came from indecent places. Send someone to report this matter to the General, and have the people from the residence check it out.” If only one or two children were taken, it would be difficult to find them, but more than 30 children would be more noticeable and much easier to be found.

How could Xu Wu not understand when he heard Yuxi mentioning indecent places? “I’ll have someone send a letter to the General.” Since it was his duty to protect Yuxi and her child, he could not leave. He handed over the task of finding the children to Xu Daniu.

When Mama Lan saw that Yuxi’s whole body was dirty, she opened her mount to ask without waiting for Yuxi to change her clothes, “Has Madam washed Madam’s hands with soap?” This question was just an excuse to delay. How could Mama Lan dare let Yuxi feed the child when she was so dirty?

Yuxi responded sheepishly, “There is no soap here.”

Mama Lan said, “Madam, we better go back. Let’s wait until you have bathed before you breastfeed Young Miss.” Diseases came in through the mouth, and you could get sick if you were not careful.

Hearing this, Yuxi realised that she had been given the cold shoulder. “May as well.” It was right for her to go back and tell Yun Qing about the thirty or so children who had been taken away. The people behind the scene had a big appetite. They seemingly picked three or five children to go but surprisingly took away more than thirty.

By the time they returned to the residence, Zaozao was already so hungry that she couldn’t cry and could only grunt like a kitten. She had never been this hungry since she was born! By the time Yuxi had bathed and fed her, Zaozao was gorging herself, leaving Yuxi a little heartbroken.

Mama Lan said, “If we have someone on standby when Madam goes out for a little while, Madam won’t have to worry about Young Miss being hungry.” If she had known earlier, she would have persuaded Madam to let the nainiang4 stay.

Yuxi promised, “It won’t happen again.”

Zijin returned not long after Zaozao finished eating. Seeing Yuxi, Zijin reported, “Madam, Old Woman Yin said that the selected girls are indeed good-looking, and they are between five and ten years old.” It would be best to train them at this age.

Yuxi laughed in anger and remarked, “They sure have big guts. Go and see when the General will be back.” Those people must be caught and severely punished.

Yun Qing rushed back after half a shichen5. When he saw Yuxi, he quickly asked, “Do you think someone went to the charity home to take those good-looking children to a pr*stitution place?” The dirty place was also known as the prostitution place.

Yuxi nodded. “Based on the information I have found, that should be the case. He Rui, I have already drawn the appearance of the last person according to Old Woman Yin’s description.” She had already shown the painting to Old Woman Pozi, who said it was pretty similar to the actual person. As for how similar it was, they would only know when they finally caught this person.

Yun Qing was so angry that he couldn’t stop himself. The fathers of these children sacrificed their lives for the country, but their children had been taken to places of prostitution. How could he not be angry?

Yuxi nudged Yun Qing. “Now is not the time to be angry. You should hurry up and have someone make a few more copies of the picture I drew and catch that person.” If they followed the vine to get the melon6, the children would surely be found.

Yun Qing restrained his anger and said, “I’ll go right away.”

They hadn’t dared to make the matter public yet. When they released the portrait of the wanted person, they told the public that she was a northern barbarian spy. Some people might shelter her if they said she was an escaped criminal or a convict. If they said she was a spy, no one would dare to do so.

The identity of the wanted person was finally discovered by nightfall. She was actually a courtesan from the Wangchun House in Xinping City. She could be recognised this quickly thanks to her benefactor. Of course, Yuxi’s painting was also a great help. Usually, when arresting wanted criminals, their posters were printed from pre-made moulds, while Yuxi’s painting was 60% or 70% accurate to the actual person.

After a night of rigorous investigation, it was discovered that this person was not in Yu City. Yun Qing sent Yu Cong to Xinping City the following morning to solve this matter.

When Yuxi found out, she wrote a letter and handed it to Yu Cong, saying, “When you arrive in Xinping City, give this letter to Prefect Tan. After that, you will obey whatever Prefect Tan decides to do.” Since the military and government administration were separate, Yun Qing had no right to interfere in local affairs. It would be more appropriate to leave the arresting work to Prefect Tan.

Yu Cong looked at Yuxi and asked, “What if Prefect Tan doesn’t want to arrest this person?” Why did he feel that Madam seemed to know the Prefect of Xinping City?

Yuxi smiled a little as she explained, “Prefect Tan is a disciple of the Duke of the State Residence.”

Yu Cong was delighted once he heard this. Since this Prefect Tan was a disciple of the Duke of the State Residence, he was one of them. Yu Cong was well aware of how good it was to have things taken care of by one’s own people, so he immediately accepted the letter and said, “Okay.” It would become much easier to have their own people handle this matter.

Something this big could be hidden from the lower-level subordinates but not from the top-level officers. Besides, Yun Qing did not want to conceal it from Fu Tianlei. Even though Chen Shi had not intended for this problem to develop, her non-interference and indifference caused it to happen.

When Fu Tianlei heard that someone had left with more than thirty children from the charity home, he was shocked and angry. He asked, “Yun Qing, who would be this bold?” He couldn’t believe that no one was behind this.

Yun Qing shook his head. “It’s unclear for now, but the good thing is that there are already clues, and we should be able to get those children back.” Had he known that something like this would happen, he would have left this matter to Yuxi to deal with after she completed her confinement.

Fu Tianlei asked, “What if the children can’t be found?”

Yun Qing replied, “We will definitely get them back. By the way, don’t tell the public about this matter. I’m afraid of scaring the snake7.” In fact, they had somewhat done it with such a grand gesture on their part.

Fu Tianlei didn’t feel like working anymore, so he requested a leave from Yun Qing and returned home. When he reached the backyard and saw Chen Shi napping on the couch, he angrily questioned, “How can you still be sleeping? Don’t you know something serious happened at the charity home?”

Chen Shi opened her eyes and saw her husband’s livid face. She was so frightened that she asked, “What’s wrong?”

Fu Tianlei was truly furious and no longer cared to spare his wife’s feelings at that moment. “Do you know that someone from a brothel had taken more than thirty little girls from the charity home? If these children are not recovered, they will have to stay in the land of prostitution in the future, and our Fu family will become sinners.” The fathers of these children had all died on the battlefield. But he and his wife had allowed their blood and bones8 to fall into the land of prostitution, a sin that could never be atoned for in their lifetime.

Although Chen Shi was not open-minded, she was not an evil person. Hearing these words, she quickly grabbed Fu Tianlei’s arm and asked, “How could this be? It can’t be. Eldest Master, there must be a mistake somewhere.”

Fu Tianlei replied in exasperation, “I also hope that this was a mistake. But our side has found clues on this matter. The person who took the children is someone from Wangchun House in Xinping City.” When he gave Chen Shi this job, he instructed her to take good care of the children. She had made good promises to him, but this was what happened in the end.

Chen Shi’s whole body went limp.

No matter how angry Fu Tianlei was, he couldn’t just watch Chen Shi faint, and he shouted, “Get the physician quickly! Hurry!”

The physician soon arrived, and after taking Da Nainai1 Fu’s pulse, he congratulated Fu Tianlei, “Congratulations General Fu, Da Nainai1 is expecting.”

Fu Tianlei was stunned. “She’s expecting?”

The physician nodded. “It’s been a month, but Da Nainai1 has been overthinking and needs to relax her mind. Otherwise, it will not be good for the foetus.”

His wife’s pregnancy should have been a great joy, but Fu Tianlei couldn’t be happy after what had happened.

The physician was not without eyes. Seeing this situation, he said, “I’ll write a prescription. Please tell Madam to take three doses of the medicine first. After three days, I’ll come back to check on her.”

Chen Shi soon woke up and looked at Fu Tian Lei, who had a complicated look on his face. “Eldest Master, what happened to me just now?” After thinking back, her face turned pale.

Fu Tianlei could not say anything bad to Chen Shi at this time. Even if it was not for her sake, it was for the child in her womb. “Don’t think too much. Yun Qing has guaranteed that he can get those children back. The most important thing for you now is to take care of our baby and not let anything happen to it.”

Chen Shi was already the mother of two children, so how could she still be unclear about her own body? When she heard this, she covered her stomach with her hands. “I’ve been feeling sleepy lately, and it turns out that I’m actually pregnant.” Her second daughter’s nominal age9 was already three years old, so Chen Shi was also a bit anxious.

Fu Tianlei asserted with some guilt, “If I had known this, I wouldn’t have let you take care of the charity home that day.” Seeing Chen Shi’s expression turn bad again, he eagerly reassured her: “Don’t overthink. I will get those children back. You should have a good time raising your foetus.” His wife must have neglected the matter of the charity home because of her pregnancy and poor mentality. To say the least, it was all his fault.

Chen Shi expressed her appreciation and said, “Master, you must get those children back.” If those children weren’t brought back, she wouldn’t have peace of mind for the rest of her life.

Fu Tianlei held Chen Shi’s hand and promised, “Don’t worry, I will.”