Constable Hong followed Yang Chuxia’s pointing finger to see two maidens huddled in a corner, shivering with their clothes disheveled.
"Do you recognize them?"
"Yes." Yang Chuxia nodded firmly.
"Alright, you may take them back first."
Once Constable Hong consented, Yang Chuxia approached the women, "You may come with me first."
The woman naturally recognized Yang Chuxia and nodded sorrowfully.
"Uncle Hong, we’ll be leaving first then. Oh, there are still several people locked up in my house. Should I bring them to you or will you be sending someone to collect them?"
"You still have people in your house?" Constable Hong asked bewilderedly. The person who had come to find him only mentioned that his daughters had been kidnapped but had failed to mention anything else.
Yang Chuxia nodded, "This man sent people to my house. We captured them and they confessed that the perpetrator was here. Brother An and I hurried over, but we didn’t expect that there would be so many more people hidden here."
"I’ve already had people search this place before but didn’t expect that he would return. After hearing this, I will have these people taken away immediately and will send someone to your house later to retrieve the rest. We cannot let them get away with this." Constable Hong responded.
"Uncle Hong, Brother An and I will be going first. Also, later, please have someone investigate the secret tunnel below. It’s worth seeing where it leads to, maybe some clues could be found. Last night we were outnumbered and decided not to venture any further for safety reasons."
"Alright, I understand."
"Goodbye Uncle Hong." Ye Zi’an casually bid farewell and left with Yang Chuxia.
Uncle Niu and the woman followed closely behind them.
Upon reaching the Artistry Pavilion, Yang Chuxia instructed Uncle Niu to rest first.
She led the woman into an empty room and after glancing at her, she said, "Wait here for me. I’m going to fetch some water and clean clothes for you. After you’ve freshened up, we can go back to the village."
The woman turned out to be none other than Jinling, the eldest sister that Jinxiu once mentioned. Upon a closer look, she was indeed more beautiful than Jinxiu, a real beauty. However, it was unfortunate.
"You don’t need to thank me. I didn’t deliberately set out to rescue you, it was just a coincidence. However, we were one step too late." Yang Chuxia paused before continuing. "But don’t worry, we will keep this to ourselves. As long as you can move on from this incident, that’s all that matters."
Upon hearing her reassurance, Jinling, once again started sobbing. There was no way to comfort her apart from letting her come to terms with it herself.
Yang Chuxia left Jinling alone in the room and proceeded towards the front yard. She addressed a young lad working in the shop, "No matter what you see or hear today, keep it to yourself and don’t speak of it to anyone. Do you understand?"
"I won’t speak of it, I definitely won’t. You can trust me." The young lad nodded continuously under Yang Chuxia’s intense gaze, breaking out into a sweat.
"That’s good!" After Yang Chuxia finished speaking, she turned to Ye Zi’an, "Brother An, I am going to buy her some clothes. You should stay here and rest."
Ye Zi’an shook his head, "I will accompany you. I am not tired." He added another sentence as if he knew what she was thinking.
Noticing the tiredness of both individuals, the lad offered, "How about I go instead?"
Yang Chuxia looked at him, and finally nodded, "Fine, you go." Additionally, she also gave him some money from her purse.
Upon watching the lad depart, Yang Chuxia proceeded to the backyard to heat up some water and deliver it to Jinling.