On An Ruochen's side, not long after Zong Zeqing left, she was punished by Mrs. Tan. Tan rushed into her room, pointed at her nose and scolded Hu Meizi for being shameless. She is ready to get married but she always wants to seduce other men. The last time it was General Long, this time General Zong will come back home to be a distinguished guest. Is she also posting shamelessly like this?

An Ruochen panicked and defended: "My aunt misunderstood, I never meant it."

But how could Mrs. Tan listen to her, she even scolded the girls and women in An Ruochen's yard together. An Ruochen bowed her head and listened to the training in silence with a cowardly and apprehensive face. In fact, she felt that changing "humeizi" to "a household of merchants" in Tan's words was very suitable for them to settle down.

An Ruochen was scolded like this, her old nanny was not convinced. The old nanny is actually the nanny of An Ruochen's mother, Fan's. She accompanied Fan through the house and took care of her all the way. She watched Fan's birth of a daughter and An Zhifu's ruthlessness and greed for profit. She knew everything about this family very well. She always said to An Ruochen: "When you get married and you are no longer in this family, I will go back to my hometown to take care of you." An Ruochen advised her to leave now, but she refused no matter what.

Now seeing Tan's bullying her girl like this, the old nanny said a few words. "Aunt Tan's hands are stretched out, and her control is so wide. My girl follows the rules and is well-educated. Aunt Tan can take care of her own affairs. If you are in a bad mood, don't vent your anger on my girl."

An Ruochen knew something bad was going to happen when she heard the old nanny say that. Sure enough, Tan jumped up as if being stabbed by a needle. "When is it the old slave's turn to speak in this family? Why do your girls and mine are daughters of the An family? What do you mean by saying that? I'm in a bad mood, and whoever is talking nonsense! "Matchmaker Xu's refusal made her feel deeply offended by the ridicule, and the old nanny's words made her feel the same.

Tan's mother was a concubine of a merchant family in Fu'an County, with a humble background. But Tan thought, so what, Fan's father is just a teacher, and Fan can only read a few poems and books, so he is much better than her. It was because she came early to become the main room. In the end, the master didn't like her and put her aside. She would only cry and be annoying all day long, and the daughter she gave birth could only write and draw. She was petty and couldn't get on the board. On the stage, Ruoxi is not as generous and likable as her.

So what if Ruoxi's marriage is not yet settled, with her making good arrangements, she will naturally be able to get a good job, no matter what, it is better than An Ruochen marrying an old man in his sixties.

Thinking of this, Tan calmed down a little. Yes, don't be in a hurry to **** off. Master Qian Pei has a great reputation. I heard that if things go wrong, he will beat and scold. There are quite a few of them beaten to death. He won't let go of pretty maids. Brothels and brothels are also regular customers, and An Ruochen will have good fruit to eat after marrying her. She is not in a hurry and cannot lose her manners. Tan took a deep breath, turned and left.

The old nanny breathed a sigh of relief, she turned around and hugged An Ruochen: "Nurse is old, so she won't be able to protect you for long. I only hope that Madam's spirit in heaven can protect Miss."

An Ruochen patted the old nanny on the back reassuringly, but she knew in her heart that Mrs. Tan would not let it go, and her father's punishment was coming soon.

When Tan left An Ruochen's yard, he really went to An Zhifu's. Tears flowed down before entering the door, and weeping softly while entering the door and calling for the master. In An Zhifu's room, Mrs. Xue, the third housekeeper, is sitting on An Zhifu's lap and feeding him fruits.

Seeing this, Mrs. Tan felt resentment in her heart, knowing that Mrs. Xue was trying to coax An Zhifu to say goodbye to her daughter An Ruolan if he could catch Zong Zeqing, a big fish. When Tan couldn't see it, she wept and greeted An Zhifu.

"What's the matter?" An Zhifu asked.

Mrs. Xue cleverly got off An Zhifu's lap, stepped forward to hold Mrs. Tan's hand, and said, "Sister, don't be sad, that matchmaker Xu is a ignorant person, I'll just find a capable matchmaker later."

Tan Shi was so angry that her teeth itched, she really wanted to lift whichever pot was left unopened, and this was intentionally angry with her. She ignored Mrs. Xue, and said to An Zhifu: "Master, where the eldest girl is, the master must discipline her well. Her mother left early, and our aunt's status is usually not good to say anything about her, but now she is going to pass the door. , but still always restless. The last time I left home privately to meet General Long, this time I was stuck in the backyard and hooked up with General Zong in front of the whole family. This is what we saw, and we don’t know who it is. If you go out, it's not a big deal for the eldest girl to lose face, and our An family's reputation will be dragged down, and what's more, if you annoy Master Qian and ruin the master's business, that's a big trouble."

Those in front of An Zhifu didn't take it seriously, but the last sentence hit his nails.

Seeing his expression, Mrs. Xue hurriedly said: "Second sister is right. The marriage between the eldest girl and Mr. Qian is the most important thing now. It is not a common bad face for a fiancée to disobey women's morals. If rumors spread to Mr. Qian In his ears, he blamed the master for not being good at discipline, making him look bad, and even asked to call off the marriage, that would be bad."

Mrs. Tan secretly rolled her eyes at Mrs. Xue, this damned scumbag, whichever pleases her, she just said something sarcastic to her, but now she chooses the same words as her, it seems that she is worrying about the hard work of this family like.

Mrs. Tan hurriedly stepped forward, and hurriedly said: "Master, I just went to the eldest girl's room and explained the truth to her. But you also know that I am not her mother, and she may not listen to what I say. So I'm here to ask the master to send a message, ordering the eldest girl not to see outsiders from now on, and to cultivate herself in the house until the day she gets married. In this way, the eldest girl will definitely understand the seriousness of the matter. If she doesn't understand, she won't be able to give birth What's the matter?"

"Okay, let's do it like this." The more An Zhifu thought about it, the more reasonable he felt. You can ignore the others, but the marriage with Qian Pei must be safe. The eldest daughter stays at home until she gets married, so don't cause any trouble.

Not long after, An Ruochen received An Zhifu's order. After he personally came over and reprimanded his daughter, he ordered the big house to be quiet and obedient from top to bottom, to look after the eldest lady, not to go out, and to ask for anything that is lacking, and the mansion will send someone to do it. . Even the concierge received an order from the master, starting from today, the eldest lady is not allowed to go out.

An Ruochen's heart sank to the bottom of the valley, she racked her brains to avoid this, but Tan Shi, who took his anger on her, made use of it and accidentally hit her back. An Ruochen gritted his teeth secretly, don't panic, there is still time and hope. I hope the general can catch the bandit. She has done a good job, so she has a bargaining chip.

Long Da's staff kept a close eye on Matchmaker Xu, but Matchmaker Xu didn't even come out of the door, didn't go through the second door, no guests came to the door, and she didn't go out to meet guests. Hiding at home to be honest, I don't know what her plan is.

"Don't be impatient, she is also cunning, she must be calculating the pros and cons, once she thinks it over, she will take action naturally." Long Da said to Xie Gang.

But An Ruochen who was trapped at home was very impatient. She had no idea whether General Long had received her letterhead, or whether he understood what her letter meant. After Zong Zeqing left that day, there was no news from General Long. Matchmaker Xu never came either. An Ruochen didn't dare to act rashly, the things outside might not be that bad, and she must not cause aunt and father to worry about her these days. She is also counting on her stay-at-home order to be lifted after a long time.

There is no news about Matchmaker Xu, but Aunt Lu has something to tell An Ruochen. It was the third day after Matchmaker Xu left. When Mrs. Lu came to deliver the food, she purposely went around quietly to An Ruochen's yard, and had a conversation with An Ruochen by giving the old nurse a shoe sole.

She said that last night, old man Chen, the owner who rented her a house in Ping Hudong Lane, was killed.

An Ruochen was startled: "What's going on?"

"I heard from the neighbor early this morning that there was a thief in the house and all the property in the house was swept away. Old man Chen lives alone, and when he was found by the neighbor in the morning, he had already passed away."

"A thief?"

"Yes. I just came to tell the girl that although there is no war now, the world is not as peaceful as it used to be. The city has actually entered the city with thieves. The old man Chen's family is actually not well-off, but it is unfortunate that he has encountered such difficulties. Really. It makes people sad. The thief who killed Qiandao must have seen old man Chen living alone with no one to take care of him, so he picked his house."

"Then..." An Ruochen panicked, filled with uneasy premonition: "Are you sure it's just a thief? Did you just rob the family's belongings?"

Aunt Lu said: "The government went to investigate. Today, the streets and alleys outside are full of discussions about this matter. I didn't go to see it, but I just heard about it. The thief is very vicious. The murder weapon is old man Chen's hatchet, and he chopped it off. One of Old Man Chen's fingers." Aunt Lu shook her head and sighed repeatedly. "We can't compare to a big family with family guards, so we should be more careful from now on."

After Aunt Lu left, An Ruochen became more and more worried. She asked the servant girl to inquire about it. The servant girl came back soon and said that there was indeed such a thing. At this moment, the whole city panicked, and some hawkers stopped doing business, so they hurriedly repaired and locked the doors. I heard that the yamen also put up notices, saying that more people will be sent to patrol the streets, and every household should pay more attention, and if they see suspicious people, report them to the government immediately. The maid also said that the thief was very cruel, killing people was not counted, and even cut off his fingers.

An Ruochen was restless, always felt that this matter must have something to do with her, otherwise how could it be such a coincidence?

But Matchmaker Xu clearly knew that she was the one who eavesdropped, but now it was the owner of the house who had the accident, and no one came to her, which shows that Matchmaker Xu did not confess her. Moreover, someone had asked the owner who rented the house before, and the owner had already covered up the matter.

Could it be that it was really such a coincidence?

An Ruochen always felt that there was a key point in this matter, but she couldn't figure it out.

At night, An Ruochen tossed and turned, unable to sleep. She thought about it over and over again. Her earrings must have been found by Mr. Na Jie when he went and returned. Otherwise, when he finds out, he will definitely speak, she can hear it in the tank, and he can also confirm that someone is eavesdropping, and he will not leave so hastily.

He went back and forth, and back again... This shows that he was very suspicious, so he didn't believe what the owner said, so he decided to ask again? This time he used brutal methods and killed the owner of the house.

one finger...

An Ruochen was shocked and sat up.

The owner of the house has no property, so there is no need to point fingers and ask for the whereabouts of the property. What the thief wants to ask must be the renter. One finger, not two, three or more, which means that he has asked what he wants. Afterwards, they killed people to silence them, and robbed money to cover up.

But the owner of the house did not know who the owner of the earring was, nor did she know that she was the one who actually rented the house.

An Ruochen broke out in a cold sweat.

Aunt Lu.

An Ruochen jumped up, anxious, and she didn't feel cold when she stepped on the ground with her bare feet. She has to find General Long, and only General Long can save Aunt Lu. That Mr. Xie asked Aunt Lu last night, in order to avoid accidents, he will not delay for too long, and it is very likely that he will go to Aunt Lu's house tonight.

An Ruochen hurriedly put on his coat and shoes, thinking while dressing. She couldn't go out during the day, let alone at midnight. If you ask the maid for help, you will not be able to speak clearly for a while, and you may expose yourself. If there is a delay in the last time, Aunt Lu may be in trouble.

She can't climb the wall, even if she gets out, she probably won't be able to escape Ziyun Tower.

Time is running out and we need to be quick. It is best to be able to ride a horse.

But she can't ride a horse, and she can't steal the horses in the house.

An Ruochen took a few deep breaths, calm down, calm down.

The general sent someone to watch, are they still there in the middle of the night? Could it be that as long as they are found, they can quickly report to General Long? But where are they? He wouldn't be blatantly hanging around outside the mansion gate in the middle of the night. And she can't get out.

An Ruochen gritted her teeth, looked inside the room, and then began to take off her coat, shoes and socks, everything was as if she had gone to bed. She lay back on the bed, looked at it from the angle of the bed, then got up and opened the window. The candles in her room were not extinguished, and she wanted to read a book before going to bed, so she sent the maid away, saying that she would extinguish it herself. As a result, my mind was so disturbed that I forgot when I went to bed. But that's fine.

She went to the window and looked at the ground outside the window, put on her shoes, took the coat from the screen and wrapped them around the shoes a few times, then climbed out, stepped on the ground outside the window several times, leaving some friction marks. After that, she crawled back again, pushed the candle lamp to the side of the table, threw the clothes on the ground, and scattered a few more pieces of paper on which she was writing. Then he adjusted the position of the screen, took off his shoes and put them back beside the bed.

Everything is ready. An Ruochen lay down on the bed and looked again. Since she can't find General Long's people, let them come to her.

She gritted her teeth, raised the pillow and slammed it in the direction of the candle lamp, screaming loudly at the same time. Jumping up while screaming, pushed the screen.

The candle lamp was hit and fell to the ground, and the paper lampshade quickly ignited, burning the paper and also burning An Ruochen's clothes thrown on the ground.

"Help! Come quickly!" Accompanied by the scream, there was a loud sound of the screen falling down, and the screen caught Weiman and knocked down the chair. Weman swept across the table, sweeping away the debris on the table.

"Help! There are thieves!" An Ruochen yelled as he slammed into the bed rail, and then threw himself on the table, knocking his forehead on the corner of the table. Regardless of the pain, she swung her chair and slammed it against the window. With a loud bang, she turned her head and ran towards the door.

Amidst her screams, the door was opened, and two maids rushed in in shock, "What's the matter? Miss, what's the matter?"

"There are thieves, call someone quickly, there are thieves." An Ruochen looked panic-stricken, disheveled, with loose hair, no shoes, and a wound on his forehead, which made the two maids scream.

Soon, the whole Anfu was quarreled. The guards of the whole government searched all the courtyards, and Anping sent people to report to the officials. People from all the courtyards were gathered in the courtyard, and the houses were searched from room to room to prevent the thieves from hiding.

An Ruochen's house was on fire, the fire was not big, only a few clothes and corner items were burned, and it was quickly extinguished. An Ruochen put on her clothes, shoes and socks, and sat in the yard with a pale face, and the old nanny helped her look at the wounds on her face.

An Zhifu came over angrily, and asked, "What's going on?"

An Ruochen was so frightened that his voice was still a little trembling: "I was reading late today and just fell asleep in a daze when I suddenly felt someone in the room. When I opened my eyes, I saw a man in black looking through my drawer. I was looking for property. I immediately thought of the thief who appeared in the city yesterday, so I yelled for help and hit him with a pillow. I wanted to run, but he pushed me, and I hit my head. I hit him with a chair, He grabbed the chair and smashed open the window, jumped out and ran." An Ruochen started to cry while talking. The old nanny was so distressed that she hugged her in her arms to comfort her.

The two maids were also very scared, saying that they were asleep, when they heard the sound of fighting in the room, the lady was calling for help, they rushed in with their clothes on, the thief had already escaped through the window, they hurriedly rescued the lady .

An Zhifu stomped his feet angrily, there were thieves in the house, those servants and guards were all idlers! "Search! Search hard for me! Don't let him go! The **** thing has actually been stolen into my house. I'm tired of life! Anping! The official messenger! Why hasn't it arrived yet?!"

An Ruochen buried her head in the old nanny's arms, looking as if she was still in shock. The officials will arrive, but she hopes that the general's people will also arrive. The people following her must have heard such a big commotion outside the mansion. If all goes well, she guesses that it will be Zong Zeqing. It would be more reasonable to have a private reason for the military to intervene in such a matter. General Zong could say that he happened to hear about this incident, and he was attacked by thieves just after eating in Anfu, so he came to have a look.

After waiting for a long time, An Ruochen's yard had been searched, and the maids arranged another room for An Ruochen to live in temporarily, but the official messenger hadn't arrived yet. An Ruochen was a little anxious, she sat in the room for a long time, the old nanny wanted to stay with her on the floor of the room, but she refused. An Ruochen took the nanny away after a good coaxing, she needed a quiet environment to think about it.

After a while, I heard the noise outside, and the officer arrived. An Ruochen leaned behind the door and listened, the officials were asking questions and inspecting her burned room. She heard an official yelling at the traces of someone rubbing under the window. The thief must have observed for a while before entering the house to make sure that the people in the house were asleep before he dared to do anything. At this time, An Ruochen heard a voice that lifted her spirits: "There is nothing unusual at the gatehouse. The thief must have climbed over the wall to get in. Let's see if there are any traces on the walls of the courtyards. Maybe he came in somewhere. Where did he get out? If not, he might still be hiding in the house. Don't worry, Mr. An. The adults attach great importance to this matter. They will surely catch the thief if they send so many people. Let me tell you, what happened? This happened not long after we left, hurry up and take a look, don't worry, Mr. An, I will keep an eye on this matter."

It was Zong Zeqing. He did come.

An Ruochen bit her lip, thinking that the next step would be for Zong Zeqing to say that she wanted to ask her a question and see her.

But Zong Zeqing didn't, and he got involved with something else. He sent the officials outside to check, and the maids and servants were also called in for questioning. An Ruochen frowned, and was thinking about going out by herself, when she heard someone knocking on the window frame a few times.

An Ruochen turned her head and was taken aback.

"General."