Chapter 498: Found
"Hui Niang, Hui Niang, my Hui girl, are you alright?" Ms. Chu cried as she rushed over and examined Luo Huiniang from head to toe before hugging her tightly and pounding on her back: "You silly girl, telling you to snare rabbits, you're so wild, you scared your mother to death."
Father Luo also ran over; the always rough man now had red eyes upon seeing his daughter unharmed. Seeing Luo Huiniang coughing from Ms. Chu's pats, he hurriedly said, "Your mother, stop hitting her, you're hurting Hui Niang."
Hearing this, Ms. Chu quickly stopped and hugged Luo Huiniang, crying.
Luo Huiniang hurriedly comforted Ms. Chu: "Mother, don't cry, I'm fine. Look, I didn't get hurt at all, it was Brother Qin Er who saved me."
Mrs. Chen had already pushed her way through the crowd, grabbing Luo Huiniang to ask: "Where's Sister Mei? Where's my Sister Mei? Is she down there too? Oh my, hurry up, all of you move back, you're taking up all the space, how's my Sister Mei going to climb up?"
A big group of people who had crowded around the pit hurriedly moved back, but Luo Huiniang didn't move, instead she grabbed Mrs. Chen to ask, "Aunt Da Gui, haven't you found Gu Yumei yet?"
A knot formed in Mrs. Chen's heart; still she forced a smile and said: "You child, what nonsense are you saying? Isn't Sister Mei down in the pit with you?"
Luo Huiniang shook her head, "No, no, it was me and Brother Qin Er who fell into the pit; Gu Yumei was kidnapped by several bad people."
With a slap, Mrs. Chen, in a fit of urgency, struck Luo Huiniang across the face: "Nonsense, Sister Mei was with you, if you're alright, how could she possibly be kidnapped by a few bad men?!"
After speaking, Mrs. Chen squatted down, covering her face and sobbing... Kidnapped for an entire night by several men; Sister Mei was done for.
Gu Dexing also didn't want to believe that their sister had been captured by a group of bad people, pressing Luo Huiniang for answers: "Sister Mei is down there, isn't she?"
Luo Huiniang, somewhat scared by Gu Dexing's stare, still shook her head: "…Only me and Brother Qin Er were down there. She, she was taken away."
Luo Huiniang, hurt from the slap and anxious about Gu Yumei's potential mishap, began to shed tears: "I, I thought about saving her, but I was no match for those people… They tied me up, and when Brother Qin Er came after them, they got scared and threw me towards him, and we both fell into the pit."
Luo Huiniang tried hard to explain, but Mrs. Chen had no patience to listen to her explanation, and Gu Dafu was even more anxiously peering into the pit, hoping that the next person to climb out would be Gu Yumei.
Afraid that he would fall in, Gu Dagui was holding tight onto his feet from behind.
Before long, someone else climbed up along the rope; it was Qin Er Lang.
Gu Dafu grabbed Qin Er Lang and demanded: "Er Lang, is my Sister Mei down there?"
Qin Er Lang, disgusted, shook off Gu Dafu's hand and said coldly, "No, she's been kidnapped by several villains, probably taken to the deep mountains."
Upon hearing this, Gu Dafu and the others cried aloud.
"Sister Mei, Sister Mei, where the heck did you go? Respond quickly, Dad can't find you!" Gu Dafu sat on the ground crying nonstop, looking at the completely fine Luo Huiniang and thinking about the trouble his own daughter might be facing; he was in despair, shouting at the surroundings: "You beasts, savages, if you're going to capture someone, take me, why take my girl?!"
Qin Er Lang couldn't care less about listening to their crying, walking away on his own. He had done his best; whether Gu Yumei was alive or dead had nothing to do with him.
Luo Wu, leading a team of Government Officials, was rushing into the mountains. After hearing Gu Dafu's crying, he followed the sound to find them. Seeing Luo Huiniang, he totally relaxed and called out in shock and joy: "Hui Niang!"
Last night, when he received the news from the village, he was desperately anxious and immediately ran to the Jiang Family to find County Captain Jiang.
County Captain Jiang was very helpful and immediately mobilized three horse carriages from his household to transport a group of government officials to Da Feng Village.
By the time they reached the village, dawn was breaking. He got off the carriage and went straight to Gu Dashan's family. Seeing that Gu Jinxiu was safe, he felt as if he had come back to life.
The villager who brought the news said that the daughters of the Gu Family and Luo Family had been kidnapped by villains into the mountains. Hearing this news, he was stunned, fearing that the kidnapped Gu's daughter was Gu Jinxiu.
After learning from Third Grandma that it was Gu Yumei who had been kidnapped, he led a group of government officials into the mountains to search for the captives.
"Big brother," Luo Huiniang said excitedly as she saw Luo Wu and hurried towards him, "I'm fine. It was Brother Qin Er who saved me."
Luo Wu, seeing Gu Dafu still in tears, pulled Luo Huiniang over and quietly asked her some questions, then questioned Qin Er Lang a few times, before approaching Gu Dafu with the government officials, saying, "Uncle Dafu, now is not the time to cry. We must hurry into the deeper mountains to search for people."
Two people had been kidnapped. Hui Niang was safe, but Gu Yumei had not been found, which must have been unbearable for Gu Dafu's family.
Gu Jinli had been staying by the pit. After Qin San Lang climbed up, she said, "Brother Wu is right, we must hurry into the deeper mountains to search for people."
"Yes, yes, yes, we can't delay any longer. Sister Mei is waiting for us to rescue her. Despite her tough exterior, she's actually the most timid. We must hurry into the deeper mountains to save her, or she'll be terrified to death," Mrs. Chen stopped crying and, wiping away her tears, stood up.
Luo Wu had been a government official for a few months and was very capable. Seeing the crowd, he divided the people into three groups, each including government officials and villagers, "There are many wild animals in the deep mountains, everyone be careful. If you encounter any danger, run immediately."
"Okay," everyone agreed. The villagers clenched the hoes in their hands, fearing an encounter with wild animals.
Elder Qin had a wealth of experience from traveling all over the place. He led one group of government officials and villagers himself, while Luo Wu and Qin Er Lang led another, and the remaining group was headed by Qin San Lang and Father Luo.
The three groups dispersed immediately and began searching for people in the mountains.
Gu Jinli and Qin San Lang were both skilled at surveying the terrain. Thanks to her keen sense of smell, after searching the mountains for more than three hours and following the scent of blood, they found a pile of torn corpses.
The group was scared out of their wits, and cries of alarm were continuous.
Qin San Lang personally inspected the bodies and after a short time reported, "It seems that those villains encountered a bear and three of them were bitten to death."
"Ah, there's a bear! We can't stay here any longer, we have to run," although Mrs. Chen was eager to find people, she was also afraid of dying and hurried back.
Gu Jinli was running while observing the terrain. Half an hour later, she suddenly stopped, pointing to the right in front of her, "There are footprints turning over there; let's go this way!"
Upon hearing this, Qin San Lang went over to check and confirmed that those footprints could belong to the villains. The group then continued searching in that direction, and after nearly four more hours and as evening approached, they finally found Gu Yumei.
But Gu Yumei was already dead, her clothes disheveled, lying next to the body of a man.
Seeing Gu Yumei, Mrs. Chen immediately rushed over: "Sister Mei, Sister Mei, you foolish girl, what were you doing here? Your family has been going insane searching for you!"