Although Zhou Man and the others brought a lot of luggage, Heavy Rain really didn't expect that there were fabrics and gold and silver jewelry inside. He just thought they were things they needed to live their lives. After all, they were so busy and loved to enjoy him for more than a month.
knew.
At this time, the people who were talked about by the heavy rain were stationed not far outside the town.
The night in the desert was a bit cold. Jin Kui'an took a sip of strong wine and stood on the sand pile looking at the lights in the distance.
Ergo added a piece of firewood to the fire, clapped his hands and walked to his side. He also stared at that place and asked, "Do you suspect they are there?"
Jin Kui'an took another sip of wine, trying to suppress the anger in his heart, but found that he seemed to be getting more and more angry.
He squeezed the wine bottle in his hand and said expressionlessly: "I was thinking about where I missed them along the way. When I returned to the Desert Inn, I remembered that we were in a hurry to go there.
When chasing them, we didn’t spend the night at the Desert Inn or enter this town when we took this road. Instead, we went directly around and chased after them.”
"The people at the Desert Inn said that they entered the desert and did not look back or go out. Then the route we followed is correct. There are no traces of them along the way. That only means that we are ahead of them."
Every time he thought about this, he felt as regretful as burning in his heart. At that time, he only had to enter the town, and he might find them if he went in.
Ergo also had this suspicion, but... "Are they still in the town now?"
Jin Kui'an said: "It doesn't matter whether we are here or not, as long as we can get their information."
He said: "I don't believe they can disappear out of thin air. As long as you know the time they left, you can roughly deduce where they are now, and you won't be afraid of not being able to find them."
He moved his fingers, looked at the scattered lights in the distance and said, "Actually, it would be best if they were not in the town. The people there are not easy to mess with."
"Brother, the cake is baked."
Jin Kui'an then turned back to have dinner, but after he turned around, a pile of sand in the distance moved quietly, and the two people slandered and quietly returned to the town to report.
"...It was far away and we couldn't see clearly, but we listened carefully and found that there were quite a few people there. There were probably dozens of horses and not a single cart. They didn't have much cargo on them. They looked like gangsters. Anyway, it looked like they were there.
not to be trifled."
The mayor drank a bowl of milk tea and frowned: "Why did the bandits come to our place? Why, they want to rob us?"
The investigator was not too sure, and said, "It's because life is difficult outside, so you took the risk?"
The mayor glanced at him and said: "Go and inform the brothers. We will meet at the entrance of the town tomorrow morning. We will pick two more teams to guard outside tonight. If they approach, we will immediately warn them."
"yes."
Jin Kui'an knew the origin of this town, and also knew that the current head of the town was his colleague, so he did not do anything that would cause misunderstanding. After dawn, he first asked someone to go to the town entrance to shout, indicating that they were just passing by and wanted to
Go into town and have breakfast before leaving.
The news reached the mayor one by one. The mayor curled his lips. Who believed that they were just here for breakfast?
However, the mayor still let people in, "Just invite three of them to order food, and we will prepare it and send it out to them."
Three people are enough to say anything.
Jin Kui, who originally wanted to find someone to inquire about the situation after entering the town, settled down for a while, but he couldn't afford to waste time, so he took out a silver coin and put it on the table, ordered a bunch of worthless breakfast and said: "Brother Wu, little brother
I want to ask you something."
The mayor glanced at the silver ingot that was pushed in front of him, smiled and said: "It's easy to talk, easy to talk. You are here as an honored guest. If you have anything to say, just ask, and I will answer it as best I can."
Jin Kui'an asked: "Did a convoy of more than a hundred people come to town some time ago? It was not a caravan, but officials from the imperial court."
He paused and then said: "But there was a small businessman among them."
The mayor was slightly surprised, but he tilted his head and looked at the housekeeper calmly, "Is there such a convoy? I haven't paid attention to the things in the town for a long time. I really don't know what I am doing.
Just let someone check it out, but why are you asking about this?"
He said: "This is someone from the Yamen. If something happens outside, if we are involved..."
"Brother Wu, don't worry, this matter won't affect you. This is a grudge between us and them."
The mayor smiled, turned the tea cup in his hand and asked, "Did they do something wrong on your hands?"
Jin Kui'an said with a gloomy face: "They snatched some things from my hands, I have to get them back."
The mayor twitched his lips and said, "What a liar. If other officers and soldiers could do that, how could Zhou Man's children, who love to enjoy themselves and escape, take the risk to steal something from a group of horse thieves?"
I'm afraid there's something in them that Jin Kui'an likes, so he went to such trouble to find someone.
The mayor pondered for a moment. According to the schedule, they have arrived in Shazhou early now. They should be halfway back due to the heavy rain, right?
The mayor took a sip of tea and understood.
So after the housekeeper came back from outside and whispered a lot of nonsense into his ear, he said to Jin Kui'an in a deep voice: "There really is such a group of people, but they have left long ago."
Jin Kui'an quickly asked, "How long have they been gone?"
The mayor said with a smile: "It's been a long time. They only stayed here for two days. I carefully calculated that they have been gone for about thirty days. I heard that they are going to the Western Regions. They should be here soon, right?"
Jin Kui'an was startled, "How is this possible? We chased them all the way, but we didn't see them..."
The mayor drank all the tea in the cup and said nonchalantly: "Doesn't that mean they have gone far away? I say brother, your time is too long. In thirty days, the wind and sand in the desert have already
Wipe all the traces clean. If it’s not something special, there’s really no need to look for it. Otherwise, are you still planning to chase it to the Western Region?”
Jin Kui'an's eyes were cold and he clenched his fists and said: "I am in the Western Region, so nothing is impossible."
The mayor's brows twitched slightly, and then he remembered to ask, "By the way, where is brother from?"
Jin Kui'an twitched his lips and said, "Brother Wu, don't worry, my people and territory are outside the customs, and I won't compete with you for territory."
Mayor: ...I’m even more worried, okay? Those people should have left seclusion by now, right?
It's really unfortunate, even though it has nothing to do with him.
The mayor thought about it for a while and felt that he might lose a long-term partner, especially Zhou Man and the others who had promised him that they would come back to the town to visit him when they returned from the Western Regions, and they might even be able to leave a few more prescriptions.
…
Thinking of this, the mayor was too lazy to deal with him anymore and waved his hand: "The person you are looking for has gone far away, so I won't keep you anymore. There are many young people in the town, all young and energetic young men. I am afraid that they will