Chapter 350: No trace

On the ninth day of the tenth month, the tribute scholars from all over the world participated in the palace examination in front of the Hall of Supreme Harmony; on the eleventh day, the sage of Kangxi returned to the palace from Changchun Garden; on the twelfth day, the tribute scholars from Kangxi were given the palace examination, and the tribute scholars Wang Jingming and other 143 Jinshi were given different origins.

On October 13th, the imperial edict was given to Zhang Tingshu, the Minister of Justice, as the chief examiner of the Wuhui Examination; Wang Yiqing, the youngest secretary of the Zhanshi Mansion, was the deputy examiner, and the martial arts examination began today.

Cao Yong received news in the yamen. After taking the job, he did not return home. He sent someone to pass the message and went to Yongqing's mansion by himself.

The exam period is approaching, but Yongqing looks good and confident. Even Cao Yong feels a little excited.

Although it was a enteacher in Kangxi's Jiazi Wanshou, the candidates for the exam were also martial arts scholars from various provinces, and the intensity of the competition was not much smaller than in previous years.

Yongqing is the eldest grandson of the Earl's Mansion and also entered the school when he was young. This test is fine. The remaining step shooting and riding shooting are no problem for him. As long as he performs normally, he will not be able to escape a fame.

Although Yongqing was very strong since childhood, he was spoiled by his grandfather. He really earned fame and fortune with his real skills. Now he is the first time he talked to Cao Yong, and was excited and expectant.

Cao Yong's hands were itchy, and he followed Yongqing to shoot a few arrows in the yard. He wanted to get the right head, but he could only get three points into the target. Yongqing had to laugh at him, but he just responded with a smile. If he really shot a living creature, it might not be possible with Cao Yong's stance.

When it was time for dinner, Cao Yong was not an outsider, so Yongqing kept him here for dinner. Qi Jia ordered the kitchen to pack a few delicious side dishes and place the two brothers to have a drink in the front yard.

Cao Yong and Yongqing had just eaten a few chopsticks, and saw Qijin trot over, saying that someone from Cao's mansion was looking for Cao Yong.

Cao Yong put down his chopsticks and frowned and said, "Who is here? Isn't it safe for a meal?"

But Wu Mao, the manager of the Cao Mansion, came in and reported: "Uncle, the manager of the Li family comes to the door and finds the uncle if you have something to do! Now, I'm waiting in the mansion."

Cao Yong thought about his days. Five days have passed since the 8th, and it seems that it is almost done.

Because he was about to go home, he had to get up and said with a little apology: "Brother Shanyu, if you have something to do at home, I can only say goodbye today!"

Yongqing smiled heartily, then stood up, and said, "Brothers, what are the rules? Since there is something wrong with the mansion, just go back quickly!"

Cao Yong did not delay, and left with Yongqing and took Chang back home with him.

Yongqing stood outside the gate, watching Cao Yong get farther away, thinking in his heart that the Li family should be Xiao Cao's uncle's family. Cao Yong is the eldest son of the Cao family, and there are a bunch of cousins ​​below that need to be taken care of, even the cousins ​​among relatives must accept it. It is really exhausting.

*

The one who came to Cao's house to ask for a meeting with Cao Yong was Qian Zhongqi, the butler of Li's house, who was accompanied by Cao Fang and was waiting in the side hall.

Seeing Cao Yong come back, Qian Zhongqi immediately got up from his seat, not caring about greeting Cao Yong, and said in a crying voice: "Young Master...Young Master... My second master is gone..."

Cao Yong was confused when he heard this, frowned and asked, "It's gone, what's gone?"

Qian Zhongqiu calmly and replied to Cao Yong: "On the eighth day of the lunar month, my second master was on duty in the afternoon. Before leaving the mansion, he did not say where to go. At night, he did not return to the mansion. The old slave thought that the second master had rested in the house beside Haizi, and did not take it in his heart. Before, the guard office sent someone to ask, saying that the second master had been away for three days, and the superiors said that he wanted to ask him for his crime! The old slave then saved the second master from not going to work as a servant. When he went to the house beside Haizi, he said that the second master had indeed gone to rest on the lunar month, but in the middle of the night he received a letter from the servant, saying that there was an urgent matter in the mansion, so he asked the second master to go back!... The old slave took the boys and searched for the city for two days, but still didn't look for it..."

Cao Yong patted his forehead and asked Qian Zhongqi, "Is this... Could it be that my uncle has come over with an urgent letter? The boy who followed him is gone?"

Qian Zhongqing nodded and said, "Reply to the young master, I asked Shen Liu in the house over there, and the second master took two boys out, and these two boys are not allowed to see each other now."

However, Cao Yong didn't know what to say. He listed several relatives in Beijing, but Qian Zhongqi had already run away.

How could this very living person be gone as well as the errands of the guard office?

When Cao Yong followed Qian Zhongqi to Li's house to find out the details, Fu Nai, Jiang Zhuo, and Sun Jue had already arrived.

Fu Nai's face looked a little ugly. The wedding date of Li Ding and Miss Fu Cha was scheduled to be October 28th. Now there are not a few days left, but such a change has occurred.

At the foot of the emperor, the most wise land, can a living person still go to heaven and earth? Is it better to think that the Li family has retired from the Dong E family, and Fu Nai is getting angry even more and more.

Although the matchmaker who came to propose marriage in this marriage was Cao Yin and his wife, it was actually his relationship with Fu Nai. Now that the wedding date is approaching, the groom is gone, how can he be a niece be called? Where can they put the face of their Fu Cha family?

Jiang Zhuo and Sun Jue are both literati, so what can they have? The two have similar ideas. They both wondered whether Li Ding had the news from the south and went back to Suzhou. I heard that Li Xu's wife, Li Ding's legitimate mother, has not been in good health in the past two years.

But according to the butler, he came out of Shichahai's house in the middle of the night, and the city gate was closed. Could it be that he was rushing to Xizhimen to leave Beijing at Weizheng (two o'clock in the morning)?

There was also a servant who was missing with Li Ding. The servant's father Guo Mao was the head of the mansion in charge. Although he was worried about his master, he was really concerned about his son and didn't care about anything or not, and said, "Dear Master, the little grandma living there is not a serious person. She couldn't just hook outsiders and plot against our second master, right?"

This was the first time everyone heard about this, and they all looked at Guo Mao curiously.

The butler Qian Zhongxie glared at Guo Mao and shouted, "What's Hu's Hu? Is there anyone who curses you like? Why don't you go down quickly!"

But Fu Nai stretched out his hand and said to Qian Zhongqi, "Don't stop him, let him finish speaking!" As he said that, he asked Guo Mao, "What little grandma you are talking about, but who lives in Shichahai?"

Guo Mao nodded and said, "Isn't it her? I heard from the son of the slave that this grandma is not a serious woman..." He hesitated for a moment and said, "That's right, I've accompanied a foreign guest a few days ago..."

This is an affair. Everyone looked at me and looked at you, but they had no idea for a moment.

These four people, Cao Yong is a cousin of the Li family, Jiang Zhuo is a blood relative, and Sun Jue and Fu Nai are in-laws. Now, we cannot let go, but if we continue to investigate, it involves Li's privacy.

Because Fu Nai was the longest among the crowd, everyone looked at him.

Fu Nai was thinking about his niece's marriage and wanted to find something that could be put down. Everyone rode their horses and headed to the outer house of Li's family in Shichahai.

After half an hour, everyone arrived at Shichahai. After hearing what Guo Mao said, Qian Zhongqi was a little suspicious about Yang and called someone to pass on the message to the inner house and asked Yang to come out.

Others have never been to the outside house here, but Cao Yong has been there. The place that is so elegant that Li Ding uses to communicate with the powerful, so it is not uncommon to raise two beauties.

After a while, Cao Yong was surprised when he saw a young woman walking towards him.

It wasn't Yang Ruixue, she smiled a little. She didn't believe the nonsense of "The Second Master is gone". She got up from her body in the middle of the night, because she was thinking about the newcomer on Li's house.

Over the past six months, Yang Ruixue has also inquired about the matter on Li’s house. He knew that his grandmother had not entered the door now, and a maid butler who was favored by Li Ding in the second door.

However, when she saw Cao Yong, Yang Ruixue's smile froze, she lowered her head and blessed everyone, and said softly: "I have seen you all!"

Seeing that Cao Yong's face was wrong, Sun Jue asked, "Fruo, do you know her?"

One sentence made everyone look at Cao Yong.

Cao Yong nodded and said to Yang Ruixue: "Madam Bai, why are you here? Could it be... The lady said that her cousin in Beijing refers to her cousin?"

Although Wei Hei had investigated before, he knew that Li Ding raised a woman in the house here, Cao Yong did not expect that this was an old friend.

Yang Ruixue's face was flushed red, unable to tell whether she was shy or annoyed, so she nodded after a while.

His niece has not passed the door yet, and Li Ding has already raised an outdoor room. When they have no men in the Fucha family? Fu Nai's face was so dark that he was afraid of others, he asked Cao Yong in a deep voice: "Furuo, who is this woman? How do you know him?"

Cao Yong didn't know how to answer, thinking that he was his sister's friend in the past, but seeing Yang Ruixue's actions at this time would only damage their reputation. After thinking for a while, he replied: "She is from Jiangning. Her nephew has seen her before she came to Beijing to work!"

Although Cao Yong picked out his sisters, he was annoyed by Yang Ruixue.

She raised her head, looked at Cao Yong, and said with a little anger: "Mr. Cao is so affectionate, he is so careless! Why don't you mention my poor sister? My brothers and sisters have worked for your Cao family for many years, and the ancestral pearl raising recipe was sold by Master Cao for money. Can't you even mention it?"

When Cao Yong heard her tangled, he felt really frustrated and frowned, "Madam Bai, please be careful! Your father did not recognize any children before his death, but he didn't know where the titles of brother and sister came from? Although your mother's family left a poor family, it was not rare for everyone. You should know whether Zheng Hu was your father's first wife and son. Miss Zheng has now been engaged, and you said so so hard that it really hindered her innocence."

After saying something, Yang Ruixue blushed. After her father died, her husband Bai Rui was afraid that Zheng Hu would come to seize the property by relying on the Cao family's power, so he found an opportunity to take the initiative to date Li Ding.

Unexpectedly, it took only one year for couples to die, and they were not as good as individuals.

Is this the "self-inflicted evil, and you can't live"? The father saved up some of the family business with his efforts. In order to monopolize the family business, his husband turned against him with his father-in-law and uncle, but now he has made Li Ding cheaper.

So what if there is money? Without power, how can you defend it?

There were many allusions between the two of them, and everyone was surprised after hearing this.

When Yang Ruixue remembered the old things, she was a little discouraged and impatient to socialize with everyone. She bent down and then retreated.

Everyone looked at Cao Yong, who smiled bitterly and said a few words about the Zheng brothers and sisters. The abandonment of their wife and children was really a matter of time. Jiang Zhuo and Sun Jue, two self-proclaimed moral gentlemen, could not help but sigh again, "The hearts of people are not old."

Although I saw Yang Ruixue, I found Li Ding but there was no progress.

I have searched all the places where Li Ding could go in the capital. Everyone also asked the doorman in the house here. Although they had stayed with foreign guests in the inner courtyard, they were brought back by Li Ding. Although they had been here a few times, Li Ding always sent someone to send a letter.

Although Yang has been out of the family, there are always women and maids who follow him, and there is nothing unusual about it.

After a while, everyone still felt that Li Ding was more likely to leave the capital. After all, Li’s house in the capital was full of servants and no other masters. If Li Ding was really anxious to go south, there would be some people going out of the city directly.

Now, all people can do is to plead for leave from the guard office, and to send letters to the south to verify the news.

Others have been busy for half a day, but they don’t think anything is wrong. Only Fu Nai feels a little unlucky. The marriage period of the two families is set urgently, because they are afraid of catching up with the national funeral of the old concubine in the palace. Now, the national funeral has not been waiting, but are you going to catch up with the filial piety of the Li family?

The country's mourning is fine, at most it will last forty-nine days. If Li Ding's legitimate mother dies, Li Ding will have to be mourned for three years. What should he do if he gets married at the end of the month?

Everyone left the yard and dispersed. Cao Yong rode on his horse and took his entourage back to Cao's mansion.
Chapter completed!