Chapter 665: Unexpected Gains (Part 2)

Zhang Yun finally raised her head: “Auntie, I won’t go home! Even if I go back, I won’t be able to sleep. It’s better to stay here and look for YingEr. Auntie, you go ahead, I will look around some more.” As she spoke, Zhang Yun turned and wanted to leave.

“Wait a minute, you child!”

Liu Sisi finally understood what Zhang Peng meant by ‘troubling you’.

“Everyone is really hungry and thirsty, and they’re so tired they can’t even straighten their waists. How can they accompany you to continue the frantic search? How about this! You first lead everyone outside the cave to eat, and then continue searching after they’re full. As the saying goes, ‘Sharpening the blade won’t delay the work of chopping wood’! What do you think?”

Zhang Yun looked back at the crowd and reluctantly agreed.

Watching Zhang Yun finally leave, Liu Sisi found a place to sit down and quietly waited for news from below.

Soon, someone brought food. Even if she couldn’t eat, Liu Sisi forced herself to take a few bites.

It was unclear whether it was due to a mistake during delivery or something else, but after eating several mouthfuls, there were grains of sand in the cooked dishes. She quickly called for a torch to illuminate them. Sure enough, there was a thick layer of sand and mud on the surface of the food, probably from accidentally falling into the bowl during the delivery.

Now in this critical time, she couldn’t afford to be willful.

She picked up her chopsticks and squatted in the corner, intending to scrape off the muddy food from the surface. As she looked up, she was attracted by something that sparkled slightly in the corner.

The lighting here was very dim. If she hadn’t eaten the sandy food and called for a torch, she wouldn’t have discovered this sparkling item.

“Quick! Hand me the torch.”

She couldn’t care about eating anymore, waved for the torch, and carefully illuminated the object. She indeed saw it clearly.

Her hands were trembling, almost unable to believe her eyes! She carefully picked up the small silk flower from the ground. In the center of the flower was a tiny pearl, embellished on the edge with silk by Liu Sisi, made especially for YingEr, unique and exclusive!

“It’s the silk flower from YingEr’s head! It’s the silk flower from YingEr’s head! YingEr has been here before, it’s YingEr!”

She couldn’t hold back her ecstasy and shouted out, immediately attracting a crowd. Everyone hurriedly searched around carefully.

Liu Sisi also squatted on the ground and searched carefully. Under the torchlight, the surface of the ground kept flashing with faint light. Liu Sisi stared for a while, reached out and groped on the ground, then couldn’t help but take out her handkerchief and wrap the dirt from the ground into it.

“Madam, there are traces here!”

Soon, Xiaoliang, her adept subordinate at finding clues, discovered another clue nearby, instantly delighting Liu Sisi!

“Madam, look, there are shallow footprints here. They should have been left by the young miss. It seems that she walked in this direction. Let’s continue to follow the trail.”

This was the second time they had found clues about YingEr. At the moment, everyone had already eaten and rested, and with the new clue, they felt a surge of strength, and hurriedly followed the trail to search.

However, the clue eventually ended at the edge of the waterhole.

Everyone stood by the waterhole and looked at Liu Sisi all at once.

Liu Sisi also looked at Xiaoliang: “Xiaoliang, you have always been following Constable Zuo, so according to your many years of experience in investigating cases, what are the chances that YingEr fell down the waterhole?”

Xiaoliang hesitated, then sighed: “Madam, based on my experience, the young miss… has probably a 70-80% chance.”

He didn’t dare to say it was a 100% certainty for fear that Liu Sisi couldn’t handle such a blow.

Liu Sisi clenched her lips tightly, not saying a word, just standing woodenly by the waterhole for a long time without moving.

“Madam Di, why are you all gathered here?”

Just when Liu Sisi was at a loss, a familiar voice suddenly came from behind her, getting closer and closer.

Liu Sisi turned around and saw Zuo Xingyu sprinting towards her. His face, that never seemed to change and showed no expression, was so familiar. Her nose suddenly felt sour, and tears slid down her cheeks as if seeing a family member.

“Constable Zuo…”

In the waterhole.

Di Yelei and Zhang Peng chased down the trail into the second layer of the karst cave in the waterhole and finally found everyone. At the same time, they also learned why so many people had entered but no one had returned to report.

Di Ying was being held hostage by the eldest of the Jiang family with a dagger, facing off against several soldiers.

As soon as Di Yelei and Zhang Peng appeared, Jiang Dacai noticed them as well.

“Back off! Step back; if you dare to step forward, believe it or not, I’ll slit her throat with this dagger!”

While holding YingEr hostage, Jiang Dacai roared furiously and occasionally gestured with the dagger against YingEr’s slender neck.

Clearly, the sudden appearance of Di Yelei and Zhang Peng had driven him into a corner.

“What’s going on? Wasn’t it said…”n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Seeing YingEr, Di Yelei and Zhang Peng were naturally happy.

But it was strange. Wasn’t it said that Jiang Dacai had fallen into the waterhole with Ah-Huang biting him? How did he appear here, and how did YingEr end up here?

One of the nearby soldiers spoke up, “When we came down earlier, we saw him climbing up the waterhole, so we chased after him. We pursued him as he fled until we came upon a small stone platform and saw Miss lying down, unconscious. We were a step too late; he took her hostage and confronted us, holding her against us until now.”

So that’s what happened!

But how did YingEr end up in the waterhole? They would have to wait until they finally rescued her to find out the reason.

“Stop! Jiang, don’t be stubborn!”

The few soldiers encircling him didn’t relax a bit due to the arrival of Di Yelei and Zhang Peng; instead, they closed in on Jiang Dacai.

Di Yelei and Zhang Peng exchanged glances and began to approach slowly, as if their opponent was a prey locked in their sights, ready to strike the killing blow at any moment.

“Don’t come any closer! Step back! All of you, step back! Don’t you hear? Or do you want to see me carve a few cuts on her face?”

Jiang Dacai’s expression became even more mad and desperate, dragging YingEr and constantly changing positions, trying to escape from the siege.

Di Yelei’s eyes fell on Di Ying, who had her eyes closed tightly, her face almost unrecognizable, her whole body slumped over Jiang Dacai’s arm, being dragged around like a dead dog.

“Jiang, how about we make a deal?”

Di Yelei suddenly stepped forward, stood behind the crowd, and shouted at Jiang Dacai in the middle of the crowd, “As long as you let go of YingEr, I will let bygones be bygones for your sins, and allow you to leave safely. I will also give you enough silver to live off for the rest of your life. What do you think?”