Chapter 164

Yao Wenhai was a little nervous. He tidied up his house. In fact, there is nothing to clean up. This hiding place seems to be an ordinary house, with simple sleeping utensils and two or three changes of clothes. Tomorrow night was still a full day away, but it seemed to him that parting was at hand.

He didn’t know if he would be safe after walking out of this alley, if he could see his mother smoothly, and he didn’t know what would happen after seeing his mother. Perhaps, it was really the last time we met with Jinger.

Yao Wenhai worriedly told An Ruofang this and that, telling her that if their family suffered a disaster and had to leave Zhonglan City, it would be his cousin’s family. If she is helpless, she will come to him. He told her the address of his cousin’s father’s house, and said where he would hide some money, so that An Ruofang would have trouble if she really needed to find him. After thinking about it, she said don’t come looking for him anymore, if she is a little girl, if she really has no one to rely on, it would be dangerous to go alone. Or he should come to her.

On second thought, he didn’t know where she was. He looked at An Ruofang. An Ruofang sat quietly and looked back at him, and didn’t intend to tell him where she lived. Yao Wenhai sighed, and said that when you write your mother’s name and put it in the place where the money is hidden, I know you need help. If I can come back, I will wait for you there at noon every day.

An Ruofang didn’t say yes or no, but at this moment the courtyard door was suddenly opened, and someone ran in. Yao Wenhai turned his head and saw that it was a night watchman. The man lowered his voice and said quickly: “There are officers and soldiers surrounding the street, I’m afraid they will search. Clean it up.” He looked at the two of them and was satisfied with the rough clothes, and said again: “The ointment I gave you last time, apply it and put it on. The face is smeared black. The aunt will come over in a while, remember those words.”

An Ruofang and Yao Wenhai nodded at the same time. Parents went to other counties to do business, and the two brothers and sisters lived in this small courtyard with their grandmother, and they lived by collecting some firewood and doing some needlework on weekdays. Last time, two yamen servants came to ask, and when the aunt answered, they hid in the room and lowered their heads, successfully concealing it.

Seeing that they understood, the man turned and left. An Ruofang rushed into the house and burned all the words that she had written, and Yao Wenhai also burned all the words that Yao Wenhai wrote when he had nothing to do. The two darkened their skin tones. An Ruofang helped Yao Wenhai thicken his eyebrows and stick a fake mole on them. My hands are shaking.

Yao Wenhai took a deep breath and said, “They must have come to arrest me.”

An Ruofang held back for a long time, and said, “I know where to find you. If you are really in trouble, I will try to save you.”

Yao Wenhai smiled when he heard it, thought about it, and couldn’t help but smile again: “If my father heard us talking, he would definitely reprimand me with childish words.” They are all half-grown children, they can’t protect themselves, and they talk nonsense You save me and I save you.

An Ruofang said with a stern face: “I will do what I say. Although I don’t have the strength to restrain a chicken, I have a great intention in my heart. If this is true one day, I will do my best.”

Yao Wenhai stopped smiling, and smiled again after a while: “Then I thank you in advance. I just hope that there will be no such day.”

An Ruofang nodded vigorously.

The two children looked at each other and were speechless, so they looked at the inside and outside of the house again. It was the same as the previous layout, and it was indeed like an ordinary people’s house that collected firewood for needlework to make a living, so they waited. But after waiting for a while, they couldn’t help becoming nervous when Aunt Qiao didn’t come over.

Just as Aunt Qiao was about to go out, she was blocked in Shui’an Hall. In fact, everyone in the shantang was besieged. The officers and soldiers moved too quickly and broke in quietly, and everyone was caught off guard.

All the handymen, adults and children, were called to the yard. Many of the workers in the shantang lived nearby. They had just finished their dinner chores, boiled water and lit the lamps, and taught the children their homework at night, so most of them were in the shantang. I couldn’t help being surprised to see the officers and soldiers rushing in suddenly. A woman was about to leave in a panic, but was stopped by officers and soldiers, who reprimanded her for being sneaky.

The woman was immediately interrogated. She said she wanted to go home and be with her family because she saw the officers and soldiers were scared. The leading officers and soldiers immediately asked where the family was and who they were. The woman said that it was at the end of the street, her man and son. The leading officers and soldiers then asked what her man did and how old the child was. When the woman answered a question, the leading officers and soldiers asked a question, and the interrogation was very careful. After the questioning, he asked the Yamen to go to the woman’s house to check.

Seeing this, Mrs. Qiao glanced at Mr. Liu quietly. Mr. Liu shook his head slightly at her. Aunt Qiao lowered her head and stood calmly in the crowd. Not attracting attention, but it can help the two children delay for a while.

Mr. Liu asked the leading officers and soldiers what happened. The official said: “Someone reported to the yamen that they saw robbers in this street and robbed a ten-year-old boy. I am ordered by Master Lu Shenglu to search. You don’t need to panic. When we finish checking, we will leave.”

Everyone in the courtyard was shocked when they heard the word robber, just now the woman even shouted: “I have to go back and see my son.”

Many people also cried out, asking to go home to protect the safety of their families. The children also hugged each other, some young ones were so frightened that they cried, and several women comforted them.

The officers and soldiers yelled at each other before they stopped everyone. The leading general said: “We have blocked all the three streets inside and outside, and searched the house. We will definitely not let the bandits escape. Don’t make trouble, or let the robbers have a chance to escape. You and the bandits similar crime.”

Mr. Liu’s heart sank, and he blocked three streets, but he came straight to his philanthropic hall. It seems that the news of Yao Wenhai’s hiding leaked out, but the news was not accurate, and the officials didn’t know where Yao Wenhai was. where.

Mr. Liu hurriedly saluted, and said: “The officials have worked hard, and I ask the officials to catch those villains. I am full of helpless and homeless women, children and children here. If you are bullied by bandits , that would be bad.”

Everyone in the shantang agreed.

The leading officer then asked, “Have any suspicious figures come and gone in your place recently?”

Everyone in the Shantang looked at each other and shook their heads.

A man asked: “Officer, what do those gangsters look like? Let’s think about it carefully, have we seen it in this street before?”

Naturally, the officers and soldiers couldn’t answer, and the officer only said: “Let’s wait for us to search carefully.”

Before saying this, all the officers and soldiers had already broken into each room to search, and everyone in the shantang dared not speak out.

Mr. Liu watched the officers and soldiers search calmly, and then asked: “Master, who is the one who reported the case? We all know people in this street and outside the street. If we call that person, let’s ask carefully, where can we look?” What does it look like when you see bandits? For everyone’s safety, we ordinary people naturally have to help the officials catch the bandits.”

The leader didn’t answer, and said: “Don’t make noise, let us search carefully, and we will help each other.”

The man who spoke earlier said hurriedly: “It’s not just tonight. It’s fine if the officials catch them tonight. If we don’t catch them, we will be worried. It would be good if we can know something. Take down the reporter.”

Many people agree. The chief officer was silent. Just let them not talk and make noise, and wait for the officers and soldiers to finish searching.

Mr. Liu and the man exchanged glances, turned their heads to comfort everyone, and hugged the crying child to comfort them. Things are very bad, there is no way to report, no way to ask for help. I don’t know what happened to the back alley of Shantang.

The officials not only searched the shantang, they also searched the streets, checked and interrogated each house, and gradually searched into the back alleys. The courtyard door of the family at the entrance of the alley was open, and when officers and soldiers entered the alley, the large copper basin in their hands fell heavily on the ground with a bang, and the water in the basin spilled all over the floor, and the person carrying the basin was shocked. scream.

The cry disturbed the alley. Another family near the end of the alley slammed the door open and asked loudly, “What happened?”

The officials yelled: “What a surprise, what a surprise. Don’t make noise, and investigate the robbers.”

Yao Wenhai and An Ruofang gasped when they heard the screams. They looked at each other nervously. Aunt Qiao didn’t come back, so they had to deal with it by themselves.

Yao Wenhai touched the door and looked out quietly, and heard someone shouting in the alley: “Master, you all have knives, can we not be afraid? Are you looking for robbers, murderers?”

Several officials knocked on the door of another house at the entrance of the alley, and said, “Is there no one living in this house?”

The officials who knocked on the door looked at each other, empty house? That’s even more suspicious. He kicked the door open and broke in.

Yao Wenhai turned his head to look at An Ruofang, and said in a low voice: “If you find this place, you can’t answer the door. You hide in the house and don’t come out. I will answer. The little soldiers in the yamen are gone. , Now many officers and soldiers have come to the city, but none of them have seen me, so it should be all right.”

An Ruofang pursed her lips nervously, wanting to say that even though Yao Wenhai was wearing coarse clothes, he still looked like a dignitary, which was really too suspicious. When he opened his mouth to speak, his bookish demeanor was even more obvious, he simply admitted that I was lying, that I was not a child of an ordinary family. If there is no one to cover him, let him stand in the dark and get away, how can he pass the level. But now there is no other way, An Ruofang can only nod her head.

Yao Wenhai took a deep breath, nodded to An Ruofang, and waved her to quickly enter the room. He watched from behind the gate, his heart beating so fast that it almost jumped out of his chest.

Listening to the movement, the officials seem to have checked the few households outside and are walking in. The house next door seemed to be deserted as well, and the door was kicked by the officials. It seemed that we were about to find out here soon, Yao Wenhai pursed the corners of his mouth to encourage himself, and turned his head to see if An Ruofang went back to the house to hide, but he almost cried out in fright.

The girl actually stepped on the firewood next to the courtyard wall and climbed to the top of the wall to probe the next door.

Yao Wenhai was anxious, what should he do if this is discovered? He was about to rush over and pull her down. An Ruofang came down by herself. She ran into the house, but before Yao Wenhai could heave a sigh of relief, An Ruofang blew out the lights in the house, and then ran into Yao Wenhai’s house and blew out the lights in his room too.

Yao Wenhai froze for a moment, was he planning to pretend that no one was there or that he had fallen asleep?

An Ruofang ran behind the door, dragged Yao Wenhai to the pile of firewood, and said quickly, “You can’t fool them. Let’s climb the wall and go to the next door. They have checked the next door, so they probably won’t do it again.”

Yeah? Yao Wenhai didn’t have time to think about it. Let it be. Anyway, if they check again, they will be unlucky. Yao Wenhai stepped on the wall with two big strides and looked at the next door. He should not die if he jumped off.

At this time, the movement of officers and soldiers outside the door could already be heard. Yao Wenhai made a decisive decision, pulled An Ruofang, and helped her to the wall: “You go first.”

An Ruofang didn’t refuse to delay with him at this time, she gritted her teeth and climbed over the wall. Yao Wenhai took her hand, hung her arm and put her under the wall over there.

An Ruofang quietly landed in the courtyard, but there was already a knock on the door on this side, and the voices of officers and soldiers shouted: “Open the door.”

Yao Wenhai smiled wryly at An Ruofang: “It’s too late.”

He propped himself up, sat on the top of the wall, and climbed to the other side of the wall. It was not something that could be done in an instant, but it only took an instant for the officers and soldiers to kick the door open.

And as soon as the door opened, he could see his movements at a glance.

At this moment, Yao Wenhai chose to jump off the woodpile and returned to his yard.

At least, Jing’er is safe.

“No.” An Ruofang looked up, watching Yao Wenhai disappear on the wall. Almost burst into tears.

At this moment, the officers and soldiers outside the door raised their feet, intending to kick the door. At this moment, there was a sound of horseshoes on the street, and someone yelled: “I am under the command of General Long Teng, who is under the command of General Jiang, to inspect the city. Who is disturbing the people here?!”

The sound was like a bell, resounding through the streets, and everyone was taken aback.

The foot of the official outside the door was put down. Yao Wenhai stood in the courtyard, his heart beating like a drum. An Ruofang leaned against the wall, hid in the shadow, and stared in the direction of the door.

“I am under the command of General Longteng Protecting the Nation, and we are patrolling the city under the order of General Jiang. Who is disturbing the people here?!” The loud voice sounded again, followed by the sound of gongs.

If the city is in danger, gongs will sound to warn.

The people in these few streets will be disturbed.