Volume 1: Spring in Wulong Town Chapter 185: Just a guess
Most of the children were returned to their parents overnight.
However, Tang Xiaotang and his friends brought back very bad news from the remaining children and villagers in nearby villages .
Villagers said that the disappearance of children in villages near Wulong Town was not a recent occurrence, but had been going on for half a month.
The children who stayed in Tangjiabao said that children were taken away from the dungeon every day and never came back. After listening to the children's descriptions, Tang Xiaotang and the others estimated that the children who were taken away every day were in great danger.
Almost everyone in Tangjiabao was confused.
"Who is buying these children? Who has the financial resources to buy so many children at once..."
"It's not like there were no human traffickers before, but usually those who were abducted were girls around 12 or 13 years old. But this time, it's clear that they don't care whether they are boys or girls , they just arrest any child..."
"They don't care about the appearance and health of the captured children. Do their buyers pay the same price regardless of their appearance?"
In a place like Wulong Town, there are people doing all kinds of things, and the children of Tangjiabao have heard a little about the ways of ordinary human traffickers.
But why was the situation they encountered this time completely different from what they knew?
…
It's summer noon and the sun is high in the sky.
The morning classes had stopped, and the children of Tangjiabao, who had been busy for half the night, had just gotten up.
"Uncle is back. Uncle is back." Tang Xuan's voice was heard from the gate of Tangjiabao.
"Dad is back?" Tang Xiaotang went out to greet him, "Hey, this is..."
Tang Boyuan, who had not returned to Tangjiabao for many days, finally came back. However, he did not come back alone, he brought back someone with him.
This was an ordinary person whose first life palace had not even been lit up, but it was him who shocked the entire Tang Family Castle, simply because he was a servant of the Yinlan Villa - and during the past month, the Yinlan Villa had been kept tightly locked up, and after the outer disciples of the Zhaixing Sect came to cause trouble, even the river bridge leading in and out of the villa was directly cut down. Not to mention people, Tang Family Castle didn't even catch a fly!
After lunch, Tang Zheng was invited to the hall.
The brothers Tang Boyuan and Tang Zhongxing were already waiting in the hall. The servant of Yinlan Villa was lying on the ground shivering.
Several managers of Tangjiabao also came. As for the younger generation, only Tang Zheng, Tang Xiaotang, Tang Zixie and Tang Xuan were called.
When everyone was present, Tang Boyuan waved his hand and a manager at the door closed the door.
The servant of Yinlan Villa shuddered again when he heard the door of the hall being closed: "Master... all the masters... I am just a small servant who washes chamber pots in Yinlan Villa. I finally escaped from Yinlan Villa. Please let me go... let me go..."
"No one wants to do anything to you." Tang Boyuan frowned. He knew that the man he caught was no different from a fly in Yinlan Villa. He could only say, "The gate of Yinlan Villa is closed. We don't know what's going on inside. Just tell us what you know and you can leave."
For someone of Tang Boyuan's status, there was no need to make things difficult for a servant who had escaped.
He threw the servant's bag to him and slapped two silver coins on the table.
The servant looked at his bag, then at the two silver coins: "I... have no other choice. If I tell... will Tangjiabao take me in? As long as there is work to do, no matter how dirty or tiring it is..."
"Okay." Tang Boyuan responded.
Anyway, there are not many servants in Tangjiabao, and they are not short of a pair of chopsticks. He will only be assigned to the outer courtyard anyway, so there is no need to worry that he is a spy.
After getting Tang Boyuan's nod, the servant kowtowed twice and said, "The whole villa is now locked, with only one door left, guarded by a few managers. As long as they don't nod, no one, whether they are from the Lan family or outsiders, can enter or leave!"
"Then how did you escape?" Tang Zheng asked.
"In the past, our ancestors asked us to catch cicadas because they were afraid of disturbing us during their afternoon naps. I knew there was a big tree next to a wall next to a side door, with branches extending to the rocks outside. I climbed up there when I was catching cicadas, so I knew this path... Fortunately, I climbed out. If I hadn't escaped, I would have died..."
"Why will you die if you don't escape?" Tang Xiaotang asked.
"Half a month ago, the food inside was running low. When the food was insufficient, the horses were killed. Two days ago, all the horses were killed, so people were killed..."
Upon hearing this, everyone, including Tang Zheng, widened their eyes and took a deep breath.
Although it is summer, there is a sudden coolness in the air.
Before this servant was caught, everyone in Tangjiabao only knew that Yinlan Villa seemed to have closed itself off.
But they never imagined how closed off Yinlan Villa was.
They were willing to kill horses and eat people to ensure the closure of the villa!
"What exactly happened at Yinlan Villa?" Tang Xiaotang stood up directly.
Because the closure of Yinlan Villa started when they were "cut off from water, food, and incense", but she would never think that they were the reason why Yinlan Villa became like this.
Something must have happened! And it was something important!
"I don't know..." The servant shook his head with tears in his eyes. "Less than two months ago, news of the young master's death came, and then, Hidden Blue Villa ended like this..."
"If you can't go in and out, there must be someone who can go in and out, right?" Tang Zheng asked .
"Only a few stewards come in and out occasionally, and even they don't come in often..."
Tang Boyuan and the others all sighed.
After all, the servant he captured was of too low a status.
It seems that no useful information can be obtained from him. If we can find those managers who can enter and leave the villa, things will be much easier.
However, just as they were about to give up, Tang Zheng asked with certainty: "Generally speaking, in an extremely closed environment like this, there must be a lot of rumors circulating. What have you heard?"
Hearing the question asked by Tang Zheng, the servant raised his head immediately: "I... I also eavesdropped occasionally, that is... sometimes, when the elders and the stewards did not allow the young masters and young ladies to go out and have fun, they let out a sentence or two, saying that when the ancestor was in seclusion for the 'blood sacrifice', it was so important, why were they so ignorant? Also, they said that after the ancestor's 'blood sacrifice' was completed and he came out of seclusion, no one could go out and cause trouble..."
The servant said a lot about the rumors, but Tang Boyuan and the others all looked at Tang Zheng.
What Tang Zheng found out from the rumors is probably the key point!
"Blood sacrifice..." Tang Boyuan took a deep breath, "I know that Yinlan Villa has some secret methods, but I have never heard of what 'blood sacrifice' is."
They didn't continue to question the servant.
It was already a great achievement for the servant to overhear information like "retreat" and "blood sacrifice". It was impossible for him to know what the blood sacrifice of the ancestor of Yinlan Mountain Villa was all about.
"The position of this menial job is too low. I'll try again to see if I can find a manager." Tang Boyuan stood up.
"Uncle, don't worry." Tang Zheng lowered his hand again.
Tang Boyuan's eyes were slightly surprised: "Is there anything else you can ask from him?"
It's not that the servant doesn't want to tell some things. He escaped from Yinlan Villa and wanted to find a new place to stay in Tangjiabao. He was willing to tell everything.
But the problem is that he is at the very bottom of the Hidden Blue Villa and knows too little.
Tang Zheng shook his head, but did not ask the servant any more questions. Instead, he turned to Tang Xiaotang and the others and said, "I have a guess."
Tang Xiaotang and Tang Zixie had no idea why Tang Zheng was suddenly looking at them at this time.
Now when discussing the matter of Yinlan Villa, it is indeed not appropriate to say uncertain "guesses", but he is Tang Zheng after all, and he can say it directly no matter how absurd the "guess" is.
Tang Boyuan also didn't understand why Tang Zheng wanted to see Tang Xiaotang: "You tell me."
Tang Zheng nodded, but remained silent for a long time.
The elders and managers in the room were all waiting for him patiently without rushing him.
Tang Zheng thought it over carefully before he said very briefly, "Xiaotang, maybe... Zhang Dali and his friends' buyer is Yinlan Villa. And those missing children are the sacrifices for the blood sacrifice!"
Tang Boyuan and the others didn't know what had happened to Zhang Dali, nor did they know what happened to the missing child, so they were relatively calm.
But the few managers who were present last night, as well as Tang Xiaotang and the others, all couldn't help but scream out in silence!
Everyone's face turned pale quickly.
"What I said was just a guess." Tang Zheng also spent a little willpower to steady his breathing, "I hope this guess is wrong..."
"It's wrong, it must be wrong!" Tang Xiaotang clenched her fingers into fists. She had never thought before that one day she would hope so much that the idea of her beloved teacher was wrong.
But is it really wrong?
Why do Zhang Dali and others not care at all about the appearance and health of those children?
For a group of children who were about to die after being taken away, the buyers certainly would not make any requirements on the quality of the goods to Zhang Dali and his team.
Two different things, only one intersection!
Several people in charge briefly told Tang Boyuan and Tang Zhongxing about Zhang Dali and the missing child.
"Are Xiao Lingdang and the others all okay?" Tang Boyuan felt a chill down his spine after hearing this.
"Well, those bastards won't reach into Tangjiabao." A steward answered.
Tang Boyuan's eyes were completely on Tang Zheng : "Before it is confirmed, no one is willing to admit such speculation... Is there any way to verify it?"
Although theoretically, there is a 70% chance that the two things are related.
But emotionally, no one wants it to be true.
Tang Zheng closed his eyes slightly, nodded, and replied: "Yes!"
