The heavy rain continued for an entire night. On the next day, the river and drains were full of water, and the forest was full of life. Even though it was already autumn, it gave off the feeling of fresh and joyful springtime.
The weather finally went back to normal, and everyone started going back to work. They headed into the mountains to care for their farms. While they still had time, they cleaned up the bamboo shoots that had dried up and died in preparations to plant new shoots next spring. Besides, they also cleaned up their vegetable patches and planted autumn vegetables so that they would have food in one or two months.
After about ten to twenty days, they also began reaping their farm crops.
Even though the crops managed to stay alive throughout the drought, the drastically lower yield was inevitable. After some calculation, they realized that they would have lesser rations. The food was barely enough for next year and it would be a problem if everyone wanted a filling meal every day.
The Lu family had a few hectares of paddy field, which the crop yield had gone down by half. For the next year, the family would have enough food but it would be impossible if they planned to sell the extra harvest. Because of that, Miao Cui Lan was very distressed as she said, “This year’s food will definitely increase in price. It could go up to twice or thrice the price! It’s a pity that we can’t earn much even though the chance is there…”
It was not that they could not earn much, they literally could not earn anything at all. It was obvious when the villagers came knocking on their door, asking very embarrassedly for food from the family. They explained that they did not have enough food, so they came to greet the Lu Family and asked if they could borrow some rations for the coming year. They promised that they would return the rations two-fold next year…
They dared to ask the Lu Family because the family was known to be kind and good-natured people. However, they too knew that asking to share rations right now would put others in a difficult position.
How could Miao Cui Lan and Lu Zhong have the heart to turn them away? They were all from the same village and the Lu Family had suffered before, so they knew how the others felt. Thus, Miao Cui Lan unwillingly agreed to their pleas, making the families who asked for help to be extremely happy and grateful.
Eventually, Miao Cui Lan could not bear to see many others suffer and she started making tofu in the mill behind her courtyard.
That day, Miao Cui Lan and Lu Zhong left for the market to do business. Tong Yu Er was at home doing some house chores when her mother’s old maid, Nanny Liu, arrived in a rush.
Of course, Tong Yu Er could not help being shocked as her face paled, “Nanny Liu, why are you here? Did something happen back at home?”
Tong Yu Er remembered the scene at the inn the other day, but she did not know what happened between her parents after they had gone home. If it was not something serious, Nanny Liu would not have come.
She thought that the Tong Family’s farmland was facing problems because of the drought, but never in her life would she expect Nanny Liu to tell her with red-rimmed eyes that her little brother had been kidnapped! Tong Yu Er’s heart dropped and her face turned white.
“How did this happen? Yi Er was kidnapped? Who did it? Who dares to kidnap my brother?” Tong Yu Er wobbled, almost falling.
“No one knows!” Nanny Liu could not help getting teary again. She wiped her tears and explained, “Recently, there have been a lot of foreign refugees that were roaming around Gu Xi Town. It must be them because nothing like this has ever happened in our town before! The master and mistress are very anxious and they are at a loss, and the mistress nearly fainted from crying. The entire household is in a complete mess, so the mistress tasked me to inform you about it…”
Tong Yu Er’s heart was beating frantically as she said in a daze, “I understand, I understand! You can return and comfort my mother. Let her know that I will go home once my husband returns from the Miao Family’s village.”
Nanny Liu nodded and sighed lightly, “In that case, I will return now. I’m worried about the mistress especially when she’s in such a state. In such an important turn of events, we can only trust family!”
Tong Yu Er said, “Yi Er is Tong Family’s only son. We will come up with something to get him back!”
After Nanny Liu left, how could Tong Yu Er sit down calmly? She rushed to change her clothes. Seeing that Miao Chu He had yet to return, she went to the vegetable garden to summon Nanny Xu back. She wanted Nanny Xu to hurry to the Miao Family’s village to summon her husband back for an emergency!
Nanny Xue had never seen Tong Yu Er in such a dishevelled state. She was shocked, but she did not dare to ask for details and she left as instructed.
Luckily, she ran into Miao Chu He on her way there, and she relayed what Tong Yu Er had told her. When Miao Chu He was told of the situation, he was very worried and he hurried home right away!
Just as Miao Chu He stepped into the yard, he saw Tong Yu Er runninging up to him. Before he could greet her, Tong Yu Er called out to him, “Chu He!” Following that, she broke down in tears.
Miao Chu He was in complete shock. He comforted her, “What’s going on? What happened?”
Tong Yu Er was already frightened and anxious. How could she hold it back when she saw him? She lifted her head to look at him with those teary eyes. She opened her mouth, but could not string up a sentence to tell him anything. A series of hiccups and weeping followed every time she tried to speak. It made Miao Chu He very worried.
Beside them, Nanny Xu was at a loss. She stared at them before leaving quietly.
He noticed that it was not anything that happened in the yard. So, he comforted her and brought her into the house before patiently asking her what happened.
After getting her tears out of her system, Tong Yu Er’s emotions finally calmed down. She wiped her tears with her handkerchief before repeating what happened while sobbing.
As expected, his face changed upon hearing the news. He furrowed his brows and sighed, “How could this have happened? Your parents must be broken-hearted! There have been quite a number of outsiders recently and it really is a mess, but I can’t believe that—”
“I only have one brother! And my parents have only him to carry on the family name. Besides, he’s so young and little. How could he possibly survive this?” Tong Yu Er wept.
“There, there.” Miao Chu He comforted her and pondered, “I’ll accompany you back home and we’ll see how things are going there. Let’s hear what your parents plan to do first.”
Tong Yu Er raised her head with gratitude and shame, “You’ll do that for me?”
Her husband is her pillar, but actually, she had wanted to ask her husband to accompany her home in the beginning. However, worry and hesitation stopped her from asking. After all, her father never approved of her husband. He literally hated her husband! She could not ask him for the favor without thinking of how he would feel.
“Of course,” Miao Chu He knew what she was worried about. At that moment, he felt bad for her, but he chuckled and said gently, “We’re husband and wife. Whatever goes on at your place is my business too. How could I watch as you suffer? Your parents don’t even have anyone that they could discuss this with. How would they know what to do when they’re worried sick? This cannot be delayed. Let’s leave now!”
“You’re right! Chu He, thank you!” Tong Yu Er’s heart felt warm and fuzzy as she tearfully nodded.
“Don’t be ridiculous! You don’t have to thank me!” Miao Chu He smiled gently. He wrote a letter to his sister and brother-in-law before telling Tong Yu Er, “We can leave Jin Er at home. He’ll only cause trouble if we bring him.”
Jin Er was out playing with Xiao Xue and Xiao Shu. After giving it a thought, Tong Yu Er agreed to it and nodded, “That works too! Let’s leave now!”
Both of them hurried to pack their things. Sliding the letter under Miao Cui Lan and Lu Zhong’s bedroom door, they headed to the Tong Family’s place in a rush.
The Tong Family was in chaos. Master Tong’s expression was gloomy as his wrinkly face was stricken with sorrow and anxiety. His grey hair looked even paler as if he had aged a few years in a short while.
Mistress Tong’s handkerchief never left her hands. She would wipe her tears every now and then as she wept softly. Her eyes looked as if it was permanently teary.
“Don’t you cry. My son is born lucky so nothing bad will happen to him. I swear, he’ll be fine! They wanted money, right? We’ll give them whatever they want! I’ve decided that tomorrow, we’ll go into the mountains and get our son back using money!” Master Tong sighed.
As soon as Tong Yi disappeared, a letter of blackmail arrived for Master Tong. In the letter, they wanted him to personally prepare thirty thousand silver in notes and send them to an area about twenty miles west. Naturally, there were also quite a lot of threats and warnings in the letter as well.
“Master!” Mistress Tong cried, “How could you? We don’t even know who they are! You’re not young anymore, what if they— but what could I do as a housewife?”
Seeing his wife so miserable made Master Tong feel emotional. He sighed involuntarily, “Then, what else can we do? We only have one son, and we don’t have anyone that we can rely on. Gosh! The Tong Family has only one child. Even if we know that the kidnapper is a cold-blooded murderer, I still have to go! Even if I must sacrifice my life for my son, I am willing to do that!”
“Master!” Mistress Tong’s tears fell and she sobbed, “What if they are lying? If they took the money but refuse to let him go, do you think you can negotiate your way out of it?” She started blaming herself, “It’s all my fault! I should have given birth to a son earlier, so that we won’t have a problem like this now. Because of that, we don’t even have anyone to discuss or rely on!”
Mistress Tong felt even more upset as she thought about it. She could not help breaking down in tears again.
Master Tong sighed, “Mistress, please do not blame yourself. What’s the use of saying all this now? I’ve never put the blame on you before. It’s just how our fate turned out to be! Alright, it can only be settled this way. You don’t have to overthink anymore!”
“Can’t we let someone else go?”
“They wanted someone from the Tong Family. Who else is there other than me?”
Mistress Tong watched him speechlessly as her tears fell again.
The old couple was sighing at each other when their butler rushed in. It gave Master Tong a fright. Staring at him, he asked, “What is it?”
“Master! Mistress!” The butler’s voice secretly held some delight as he announced, “The Miss and your son-in-law has arrived!”
“Miss and son-in-law?” Master Tong was confused, then he remembered his disowned daughter and the son-in-law that he never approved of. His terrible mood doubled up as raged filled his heart. He huffed, rolling his sleeves up with an unfriendly face, “What are they doing here? Chase them out! Also, we only have one young master at home. When did we ever have a miss and son-in-law? I’ll slap that mouth of yours!”
The butler gazed at Mistress Tong awkwardly. At that moment, they finally had someone who could discuss this with, but why must the Master be like that?
Sure enough, Mistress Tong said unhappily, “Why are you still hung up over that? This is our daughter and son-in-law’s kindness. How could you be so heartless? Isn’t it good to discuss this with someone else?”
“How did they find out?” It could not be such a coincidence for his daughter and son-in-law to arrive at this time. Master Tong was not a fool, he knew for a fact that it must have something to do with his son’s disappearance. He glared at his wife in suspicion, “Did you send someone to tell them about it?”
