bookcurios Chapter 225 Beating the drum
Chapter 225 Beating the drum
The monk in charge of reception said, “There are three of them, riding donkeys, and they have no weapons.
They rested in the guest room last night and exchanged some dry food and salt when they left, but I didn't pay attention to where they went.
"How many ways are there to go up the mountain?" Shen Lingzhu was not familiar with this place, but Shi Wulang1q was definitely not heading towards the county town.
"Xiao Zhuzi, you may report it to the authorities, but don't pursue them on your own." Although the great grandfather said that he stayed away from the world, his eldest grandson would tell him everything that happened in the Shen family when he visited him, even if he didn't respond.
Shen Lingzhu paused: "Yes, Grandpa, don't worry, I won't overestimate my abilities."
The great grandfather was obviously not very confident, and turned to look at Shen Miaozhu, who nodded and said: "He and the other three are young and strong, and only my uncle is strong among the three of us.
Grandfather, let's go back to the county seat and report to the authorities."
The three of them were still far away from the temple gate, but they could still see the old man watching on the steps.
Shen Lingzhu scratched his head embarrassedly: "Am I so untrustworthy?"
"The old man is just copying his heart. Even if the monk in charge of receiving guests has never seen them, he will give you instructions when he sends you a portrait you drew yourself." Huang Zongqi, as an elder, felt the same way.
Shen Lingzhu smiled and said, "Grandpa, you are still a mortal after all. Second sister, what do you think?"
But she didn't get an answer, and she found that her second sister was staring at the donkey and mule driven by her uncle, looking lost in thought.
She couldn't help but pat her uncle's shoulder and ask him to slow down a little.
Huang Zongqi also turned around to look at Shen Miaozhu, and saw her frowning, then drawing something on her legs, and then because the car shook, she started drawing again halfway.
So he simply stopped the car, steady the donkey and mule, and let his eldest niece finish painting.
After waiting for a while, Shen Miaozhu gathered her scattered thoughts and said, "Shi Wulang and the other two may have come to Shun County by water.
The donkeys they rode might have been stolen from somewhere."
Huang Zongqi slapped his thigh and said, "Well, I was walking around the shop and heard a customer say that a guest at an inn near the pier had lost his donkey.
They must have stolen the donkey and entered Luanshan. Even if the inn reported it to the authorities, it would be difficult to find them."
Shen Lingzhu's eyes lit up when she heard this, and she thanked her uncle for teaching them the local topographic map. "Second sister, can you deduce the direction they went?
Although there are many ways into the mountains, there are only three main directions to leave. One of them is the county town, and they will not go there again.
The other option is to go to Shenquanji, cross the boundary river into Tang County, go around Yi County and go to Beijing, but they have always taken the water route, which is closer than the current one."
Shen Miaozhu appreciated her inference and continued, "So, they planned to go through Luanshan to Shiyangshan, and then go to Beijing via Yixian or go through Datong.
Donkeys are more suitable for mountain roads than horses. Of course, it may also be because there is a problem with the water route, so we have to go by land."
"Should we report this to Magistrate Wang? If we hurry, maybe the officers can catch up with Shi Wu.
After all, they are not as familiar with the roads as the locals." Shen Lingzhu was happy just thinking about it.
But Shen Miaozhu shook her head cautiously, "It's best if we can chase him for a while and use the donkey dung and other things to determine whether Shi Wu actually took the same route as Shi Yang.
Uncle, why don't we split up into two groups?"
"It's too dangerous. No way. What if we run into them..." Huang Zongqi objected. He thought for a moment and said, "I don't believe they are unarmed, and I don't believe there are only three of them."
If only Ishigoro was on the run, he might have chased him, but in fact there were three.
"Uncle, if he didn't enter Shiyang Mountain, but went to Tang County through Shenquanji, our family might be in danger." Shen Miaozhu tried to persuade him.
Shen Lingzhu also wanted to chime in, but his uncle didn't give him a chance. Instead, he said, "Don't lie to me. He might not know Beigou Village. He didn't have time to kill anyone while escaping."
Shen Lingzhu continued, "But he will pass by Shenquan Market, and I heard that he likes donkey meat. What if he finds the meat stall guarded by grandma and finds out that grandma is grandma..."
Huang Zongqi's expression instantly turned even uglier, and he interrupted her, saying, "Wait, what do you mean by discovering that grandma is grandma?"
Shen Lingzhu smiled bitterly at her senior sister's glance, "Shi Wulang's guards once went to Dahuang Village to buy braised donkey meat from Grandpa.
I was there that day. If one of the two people who escaped with Shi Wuyi today had seen me that day,
I’m worried that he’ll run into grandma…”
"Let's go and chase them in the direction of Shenquanji." Huang Zongqi didn't let Shen Lingzhu continue speaking, and he didn't want anything to happen.
Shen Miaozhu advised: "Uncle, the example Xiao Zhuzi gave is inappropriate, please don't be offended.
How about I drive the car?" Although she was more inclined to walk towards Shi Yang, Shi Wu was still in the same direction.
Shen Lingzhu was also busy apologizing, blaming herself for not being able to speak.
Huang Zongqi patted her head and said, "You are right, it is better to be safe than sorry.
No one knows whether Shi Wu, who is escaping, will kill again because of his bad mood."
He also gave the driving position to Shen Miaozhu, and then looked through the basket on the cart: "Little Zhuzi, where is the crossbow you usually use?"
"Here." Shen Lingzhu quickly took out a crossbow from another basket.
Huang Zongqi took it, inspected it, put in the crossbow and tried to fire it in the air.
Seeing this, Shen Lingzhu was not idle either. He took out another crossbow and aimed at it, sighing in his heart that he had just used his grandmother as an example, which made his uncle uncomfortable.
Just as she was thinking of how to appease her uncle, she saw a man riding a donkey and running wildly on the side of the road, with a very fast runner chasing behind him.
"Guo family?" The moment Shen Miaozhu grabbed the rope to stop the car, a bamboo arrow flew out from above her head.
Then another arrow was shot, and I heard my junior sister shouting, "Uncle, Shi Wu's guard."
"It's Mr. Guo, Xiao Zhuzi, take action." My uncle also recognized the person who was running after the donkey.
Then, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, a few more arrows came from behind, fast and in large numbers, and there were always two or three of them hitting the madly running donkey... and the person on the donkey's back.
In the blink of an eye, the donkey was shot by an arrow and fell to the side. The rider of the donkey also fell to the ground because he was shot.
The man who caught up with him also rushed forward, swung his knife and hit the man who fell to the ground, right in the thigh.
"Young Master Guo, wait a minute!" Shen Lingzhu stopped him with a sharp voice. It is true that some people are bad guys, but we cannot sacrifice ourselves just to vent our anger.
"Who are you? The little girl from the Shen family? And Brother Huang." When the hero Guo asked the question, he did not rush to cut the rope on the donkey to tie up the people on the ground.
Shen Lingzhu jumped out of the car first, approaching with a crossbow in one hand and a machete in the other, "Why are you here, Young Master Guo?"
She used a machete to pick up the man with his hands tied. "Where is your Master Shi? Where is he?"
This person was the one who bought meat at my grandma's house that day.
What she didn't know was that this man was the one who hired people to harm her several times.
"Young Master Guo, are you chasing Shi Wu and his gang alone?" Uncle Huang Zongqi also jumped out of the car and ran over.
Young Master Guo nodded and then shook his head: "No, and my uncle chased Shi Wulang into the mountain path."