The cannon fodder original wife's bad story

Chapter 1404

Pei An, dressed in a round-necked robe and official boots but without an official hat, rushed inside with a riding whip in hand, frantically searching for someone. The women of the Duke's mansion were all hiding in the main hall. Pei Chen, Pei Hua, and Xiao Bei were standing in the courtyard when they saw that Pei An was not at the official residence at this hour. Instead, he rushed in with a solemn expression, leaving them dumbfounded.

"Shiro——"

Pei An stepped forward. "Where's Guan Zhou?"

Watching the boats?

Xu Lingqiao, disregarding everything, ran out. "Guanzhou was accompanied by Brother Linshan, who was lecturing to the same master. Later, a fire broke out, and he hasn't arrived yet."

Pei Chen nodded, "Don't worry, Fourth Brother, Aru has taken the servants to search."

Upon hearing this, Pei An felt as if his heart had been gripped by an evil hand, causing him so much pain that he could barely stand up straight. He remained silent, then, like a god of war, he picked up his riding whip and left the courtyard in front of the main hall.

Seeing this, Pei Chen knew something was wrong and immediately followed, "What's wrong? Why are you here?"

"Find Guanzhou first!"

Before Pei An could explain, he grabbed a flustered young monk and scolded, "Where is your abbot?"

Host!?

"Abbot, Abbot... They're putting out the fire! Master Hongzhao's study has burned down, and the fire is huge; two nearby monks' quarters have also been affected—"

The little monk, with a black nose and red eyes, was frightened by the murderous-looking jade-faced official in front of him and stammered.

Pei Chen yanked Pei An's hand away, sparing the little monk's life.

"I'll take some men right away and we'll split up to search. Don't worry, with Linshan nearby, nothing will happen!"

Pei An hated himself. He thought everything was under his control, but who would have thought that a cornered dog would resort to such desperate measures! When the spy in front of the princess's villa rode off to report, he was looking through the historical records of the previous ten years with Lin Moyun.

It took more than an hour to finally meet the shopkeeper.

He didn't say much upon meeting, only one sentence: "Sir, Yu Cheng, along with two unfamiliar men, disguised themselves and left through the side gate—"

Pei An was puzzled; wasn't this an ordinary thing?

"My eyesight is good; I saw a man below Yu Cheng with a short knife tucked into his waistband! His clothes were thin, and the shape of the knife was visible—"

In the blink of an eye, the middle-aged man understood what had happened.

Without delay, he went straight to find Pei An.

Upon hearing this, Pei An quickly asked his superior for leave, leaped onto his horse, and rode Fei Bai towards Longen Temple.

On the way, they encountered Qin Qingdong and Chun Ge browsing an antique shop. Hearing that people were rushing towards them in the heavy rain, they all thought it was crazy. Someone who looked closely clicked their tongue in amazement, "Isn't that Lord Pei from the Duke's Mansion?"

Lord Pei?

Qin Qingdong peeked out and saw that the person riding away in the rain was none other than Pei An.

He immediately called out to Chun Ge, "Let's go! Let's catch the carriage and catch up!"

When they were halfway up the mountain, the rain stopped. Seeing that he couldn't catch up, Qin Qingdong got off the carriage in a fit of anger, unharnessed it, and rode away on horseback, leaving Chun Ge and the carriage driver heartbroken.

"Second Young Master, what brings you here?"

From afar came Erlang's voice, "It's rare to see Pei Si in such a hurry, something must have happened!" Even on horseback, he couldn't catch up with Pei An.

When he entered Longen Temple, panting and covered in mud, he berated the head monk, "Couldn't Longen Temple have reduced the number of steps?"

The senior monk, who had just extinguished the fire, came over with an innocent look on his face. "Second Young Master, it's only level 50 or 60."

Qin Qingdong ran up, almost rolling his eyes back. "Did you see Pei Silang of the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion?" The big monk shook his head. "I didn't see him. There was a fire in the temple, and I just came back to put out the fire."

He was covered in soot and looked quite disheveled.

Qin Qingdong was taken aback. "The temple is on fire? Has anyone been injured?"

The senior monk shook his head. "As of now, no one has been injured. But there are many monks and guests, and we don't understand why."

"What about the women of the Duke's household?"

He remembered that on June 28th, the women of the Duke's family came to offer incense. It was probably because something had happened to Song Guanzhou. Besides Song Guanzhou, Qin Er couldn't think of anyone else who could have made Pei An lose his composure.

"In response to your question, Second Young Master, the women of the Duke's household are all taking shelter from the rain in the Great Buddha Hall."

The fire was extinguished before it started raining! How utterly upside down…

Qin Qingdong ran towards the place the monk pointed out, and when he arrived at the courtyard, he saw Xiao Bei looking anxious and about to go out. "Oh no! Fourth Sister, you're about to bump into me!"

"Qin Er, what brings you here? What happened to Si Lang?"

Xiao Bei disregarded his form of address and hurriedly asked, "Where is Ji Zhang? I saw him galloping wildly on the road and thought something serious had happened, so I followed him."

Looking under the eaves, the women, supported by their maids, stood up.

Xu Lingqiao, lifting her skirt, ran over and said, "Second Young Master, Guanzhou is missing."

Gone?

Qin Qingdong tensed up immediately, and Lin Xi, who was standing next to him, said, "Don't worry, Miss, Brother Linshan is with you."

"Did you go look for it?"

Xiao Bei nodded quickly, "Brother Hua and Second Brother Shizi have both gone. I'm staying here with the ladies, so I don't dare to leave."

Qin Qingdong's face was gloomy as he turned to leave.

"Second Young Master, I'll go with you to search."

Xiao Bei immediately stopped her, "Sister Xu, don't worry. Leave the search to Erlang and the others. You and your sisters-in-law should rest well."

In the end what happened?

Everyone looked bewildered. Xiao Yinxiu helped Mrs. Mei to her seat and couldn't help but mutter to herself, "Speaking of my fourth sister-in-law, she's extremely arrogant in front of Buddha. Is it because she doesn't respect the gods and Buddhas that she's having such a bad day?"

"Xiuer, don't be suspicious. It's likely that the little monk lost his candle while lighting the lamp, which started the fire. In the chaos, Guanzhou got lost—"

Xiao Yinxiu ignored her words and looked annoyed. "We have a whole house full of old, weak, sick and disabled people, and none of them have gone missing. But she refuses to kneel or bow, and even found a monk to preach. If she could understand, this whole thing wouldn't have happened."

The women nearby wanted to say a few words on behalf of Song Guanzhou, but were stopped by Mrs. Mei's gaze.

In the end, all this would only make Xiao Yinxiu complain. So, I'll just ignore it and let her grumble and scold me for a bit, and then it'll be over.

Xiao Yinxiu had Aunt Chu count the female relatives. Apart from Song Guanzhou and her three maids and servants, everyone else was behaving themselves and staying obediently.

"She's so unconventional, she's never respected me, her second sister-in-law, nor does she respect the rules of the Duke's mansion!"

Shuangyue carefully served the tea, and was about to speak when Pei Chen and Pei Hua walked in with grim faces. "The government will send people in a while. Second Aunt and sisters, don't panic. Bei Ge'er will stay here and guard the place. If anyone comes to ask questions, just let Bei Ge'er handle it."

Upon hearing this, Mrs. Mei quickly stood up and asked, "Chen'er, what happened? Have you found Guanzhou?"

Pei Chen swallowed hard and shook his head.

"Long'en Temple covers several acres, and we haven't found it yet, but two masked thieves have died in a remote, abandoned Buddhist hall."

"what?!"