"Miss Third! Miss Third, where are you?" Mei Xiang took the cloak back, but she couldn't find Xiang Rong. She remembered that Xiang Rong was waiting by the bridge when she left, but why was she missing when she came back?
Mei Xiang stood on the small bridge and looked down. She scanned every place she could find, but still found nothing.
She thought that Xiang Rong might be too cold, so she couldn't wait to go back. The two of them took a different path and didn't meet each other, so they hurried back.
But when I returned to the room, I discovered that Xiangrong had not come back at all!
Mei Xiang was now anxious, but she didn't dare to say anything, so she could only go back and search again, but still found nothing.
The little girl was so tired that she was out of breath, but finally she still had some sense. After thinking for a while, she went to Tongshengxuan to look for her again. When she got to the little moon gate in Liuyuan, she saw the girl keeping watch, and she quickly asked:
"You can see that the third lady is coming this way?"
The girl obeyed the instructions and was quite polite to the people in An's courtyard. When she asked, she shook her head and replied: "No, no one has been here all night. What's wrong? Why did you arrive in the middle of the night?
Are you here to find the third lady?"
Mei Xiang stamped her feet anxiously, "No, I have to go back and tell Aunt An that the third lady is missing!" After saying that, she turned around and ran away.
An Shiben was still dreaming, and when she was woken up, she was still wondering if she was dreaming. She vaguely saw Mei Xiang crying, and couldn't help but ask: "You didn't stay by the third lady's side at night.
Why am I crying here?"
Mei Xiang cried too much and couldn't speak completely, so An's personal maid Ping'er could only tell her: "Mei Xiang just said that the third lady is missing."
"What?" Anshi was shocked and immediately got off the bed. While getting dressed, she asked Mei Xiang, "What's going on? Please tell me!"
Mei Xiang told the story again, carefully, and by the time she finished speaking, the three of them had already left the yard and headed towards the artificial lake.
"I didn't dare to shout too loudly for fear of being heard by others. Maybe I didn't look carefully enough. Aunt, please look for me again!"
Anshi was angry and anxious, and couldn't help but pinch Mei Xiang, and said angrily: "If you can't even stand the lady, why do you keep a girl like you?"
Mei Xiang knew that she was wrong, so she didn't dare to quibble. She just kept saying: "As long as the third lady is fine, Mei Xiang is at my aunt's disposal."
Ping'er then advised An: "Auntie, don't worry, finding the third lady is the most important thing right now, let's go faster!"
The three of them almost jogged to the bridge, but at night the artificial lake was quiet, and there was not even a single figure anywhere.
The more Anshi searched, the more desperate she became. In the end, she simply sat down by the lake and looked at the quiet water, feeling the urge to jump off. If Ping'er hadn't noticed something was wrong with her in time and caught her, she would have fallen.
In the water.
At this time, I heard Mei Xiang shouting not far away: "Come and see!"
Their nerves were shaken, and they quickly got up and ran there. When they arrived, they saw Mei Xiang pointing to a place by the lake, her face turned pale with fright, and she said tremblingly: "Look at this stone, is it covered by it?"
Was it trampled?"
When she said this, An and Ping'er also looked carefully. Sure enough, a half-sized stone had obviously been stepped on by someone, and the brand-new stone stubble was exposed, which was shocking to see.
"Ping'er." An suddenly calmed down. Although her body was still trembling a little, she was no longer as panicked as before, "Go and notify the old lady, just say... the third lady fell into the water, please help the old lady."
"Yes." Ping'er responded and strode towards Shuya Garden.
The news that the third lady fell into the water soon spread throughout the entire mansion. Apart from the housekeeper He Zhong and the servants of the mansion, the first one the masters rushed over was Chen Yu.
She rushed to the lake, glanced at Anshi, and then turned her gaze to the lake. She stared blankly for a while, and then asked Yilin beside her in a low voice: "How deep is this lake?"
Yilin replied: "My slave has heard from Butler He before that the largest man-made lake in the mansion has a water depth of nine feet."
"Nine feet." A smile appeared on Shen Yu's lips, "The water is nine feet deep. If the little man Xiang Rong falls in, he will definitely drown, right?"
Yilin was stunned. In his impression, the third lady was always a silent person. She seemed to have no direct conflict with the eldest lady. Why would the eldest lady say such a thing?
On the other side, He Zhong has sent his servants who are good at swimming to jump into the lake to find people.
There is a flow outlet at the bottom of the artificial lake in Feng Mansion. The water is alive and has not frozen even in the harsh winter. However, anyone who jumps into such cold water will shudder. No matter how good the water is, it cannot withstand the freezing.
The servants climbed up again not long after they jumped down, their lips purple from the cold and their limbs stiff.
Chen Yu took two steps forward, and his Bodhisattva face appeared again. He looked at the people entering the water and said, "It's too cold under the water. They are human beings too and will freeze to death."
The servants looked at Chen Yu gratefully, as if the eldest lady was the Guanyin who rescued people in distress. No one had ever cared about their life and death, only the eldest lady would. Although it was just a word, in the hearts of these servants, even if
Even on such a winter night, I feel warm.
However, this kind of gratitude had just begun, when Anshi said loudly: "Go get the soju! You, as long as you carefully search and rescue the third lady in the lake, I will reward you with fifty taels of silver each!"
There must be brave men under great rewards. With An's words, those few people who were originally moved by Chen Yu's words were immediately shocked. Without saying a word, they turned their heads and plunged into the water again.
It's all bullshit when it comes to fifty taels of silver. They do menial work for the Feng Mansion, and their wages for a month are only two taels. Fifty taels is two years' wages, so what do they care about?
Thus, the search and rescue work for Xiang Rong really began.
When the old lady came, what she saw was a group of servants who knew how to swim swimming around in the lake, and there were some who were better at water and just dived to look for them.
The old lady nodded, "The Feng family needs slaves like this."
He Zhong wiped his sweat with a guilty conscience and thought to himself, if Aunt An hadn't promised the money, who would be able to find it like this?
Unfortunately, search and rescue work at night in ancient times was too difficult. Without lights, what could be seen clearly with only the moonlight? A group of people searched in the water for a long time, but found nothing.
Some people couldn't stand the cold and climbed ashore to drink a sip of wine. After a while, they immediately dived into the water again. After all this effort, the old lady became anxious.
"An, come here." The old lady was sitting on a soft chair and had difficulty moving, so she could only call An to her side, "Let me ask you, why do you want Rong to run out in the middle of the night? Why don't you watch?
"
An was almost going crazy with anxiety. She didn't even bother to tell the old lady this. She didn't have a good temper at the moment, so she just replied casually: "She can't sleep. She wants to see the second lady." After that, she left again.
Return to the lake.
The old lady was so angry that she yelled: "Stop!"
Anshi was startled and stood there.
"How courageous are you all? How dare you show your face to me? An, are you crazy?"
Anshi turned around suddenly and glared at the old lady with an unprecedented anger, which made the old lady tremble in fear - "What are you doing?"
"Old lady." Anshi opened her mouth and asked her very puzzledly: "Your granddaughter fell into the water, and you don't care whether she lives or dies. Why do you want to investigate my right and wrong at this time?
Even though the third young lady is a concubine, she is also your granddaughter, don’t you feel sorry for her?"
"Why don't I feel bad?" The old lady trembled with anger: "Aren't we all looking for you? No matter how anxious I am, I can still jump down and look for you together. You guys stayed up in the middle of the night and ran out. If something happened, everyone would be in trouble.
The whole government is unsettled, but now you come to question me?"
"I didn't question the old lady, I just felt sorry for the third lady." It's really heartbreaking to be born in such a family.
"Auntie, you're here!" Before the old lady could speak again, Mei Xiang suddenly shouted loudly, "Auntie, look, these are the third lady's shoes!"
Anshi hurried over and saw that Mei Xiang was holding a dripping shoe in her hand. The pink brocade shoe was made by herself for Xiangrong when winter just started this year.
Originally, she was holding on to a glimmer of hope, thinking that Xiang Rong might not have fallen into the water, but when she saw the shoes, An's last hope was shattered.
The tense nerves collapsed in an instant, his legs went weak, and he sat down on the ground with a plop.
Ping'er was so frightened that he rushed to pounce, but at this moment, another servant emerged from the water and shouted loudly: "Look, does this veil belong to the third lady?"
Everyone turned to look again. Mei Xiang was most familiar with Xiangrong's things and recognized the veil at a glance. It was exactly the one Xiangrong was holding in his hand when he came out tonight.
"My daughter——" An collapsed and cried loudly.
People in the water gradually came ashore. Even if there was a huge reward, their physical strength was reaching its limit.
Chen Yu quickly ordered: "Hurry and get the blanket." This earned everyone's gratitude.
There was a servant who was relatively strong and could barely stand up to reply to his masters. He said to the old lady: "I'm afraid it's too deep. The lake is too big and it's dark at night. It's really hard to find it."
The old lady nodded, "It is indeed difficult." Looking at Anshi who collapsed and cried, she remembered what she said that Xiangrong was also her granddaughter, and she couldn't help but sigh in her heart, "You guys, please slow down and go down later.
Search it again."
The old lady had finished speaking. What could the servants say? They could only nod and helplessly get warm.
At this time, in Han's yard, Fendai was standing in front of Han's bed, shaking her vigorously: "Get up quickly! Something happened to Xiang Rong, everyone went over to see it, how could you still sleep?
"
Aju cautiously said to Fendai: "Auntie has been sleeping very deeply in the past few days, and she is a little lazier than usual."
Fendai didn't understand what this meant and didn't think much about it. She still shook Han's body and her voice became louder: "Get up! Get up quickly -"
The last sound rang directly into Han's ears. The person who was "sleeping" on the couch could no longer pretend and woke up in a daze. "Fourth Miss? Why are you here?" she asked as she walked out.
Look, "Is it dawn yet?"
"Why are you so bright!" Fendai rolled her eyes in anger, "I've been calling you for a long time, why don't you wake up?"
Han stretched his waist and said helplessly: "Don't you always say that I am pregnant? Pregnant people are sleepy. This is normal for me."
"Really?" Fendai didn't understand.
Han nodded, "It was the same when I was pregnant with you."
Fendai's eyes lit up, "So, is it true?"
"I'm not a doctor." Mrs. Han thought for a while and then said: "Let's wait a few days and wait until the pulse is stable before inviting the doctor to come and have a look. The days are still short now, so don't be inaccurate again."
"That's right, that's right." Fendai nodded repeatedly, "Don't be afraid of being late, it's more accurate to be accurate. Okay, you just lie down, I'll go by myself."
"Well, then be careful. The lake is dangerous. Don't get too close."
"Huh?" It was fine even if Mrs. Han didn't ask her, but this instruction made Fendai sense that something was wrong, "By the lake? How did you know that I was going to the lake?" [End of this chapter]