It took another full hour for everyone to finally reach the foot of the mountain.
As Qin Gang had said, the official road was just ahead after descending the mountain.
When they emerged from the woods and stepped onto the official road, they discovered that the surroundings were all wilderness and farmland, and it was still nearly twenty miles to Hetou Village.
Walking on the official road, Liu Rumei pulled Chen Xiaobei and whispered, "In a few days, I want to bring some supplies for Grandpa Qin and the others."
Xiaobei thought for a moment and nodded, "This cannot be publicized. You should bring people up quietly then."
Liu Rumei nodded and then quietly pointed behind them, "Grandpa Qin just warned us not to tell outsiders about the secret passage down the mountain."
Chen Xiaobei naturally understood Liu Rumei's meaning. He deliberately slowed down and walked over to Chen Daqiang and Chen Sanliang. "Listen up, the two of you. No one is allowed to talk about this, not even your wives."
"If this matter is leaked, you two will no longer be village guards."
Both men nodded repeatedly, "Understood, understood."
They both understood the gravity of the situation. If they were not allowed to be village guards, it would mean being kicked out by Chen Xiaobei, which would be a significant loss. For them, this entire experience was no more than having a few bowls of chicken.
By the time they arrived at Hetou Village, it was already dark. Chen Xiaobei led them on a long detour, carefully crossing the river by stepping on the ice from the opposite bank, all the way to the foot of Qingniu Mountain. They then circled around the foot of the mountain and emerged from its base again.
This was to make it look like they had come down from the mountain, and it fit perfectly with the timing. Chen Xiaobei and the others had said they would return before dark.
As the group returned, the entire Hetou Village buzzed with excitement.
Cui Hongyu quickly called for people to prepare food and drinks to welcome them.
...
Meanwhile, at the Sihai Restaurant in Xiaojia Town.
That night, another table of guests arrived. They were all unfamiliar faces and immediately asked for a large private room on the second floor.
As a business open to all, Feng Xiaoyue quickly ushered them into the private room and instructed the waiters to serve tea.
The middle-aged man at the head of the group waved at Feng Xiaoyue, "Shopkeeper, bring us your best food and wine."
As he spoke, he took a silver ingot from his sleeve and placed it on the table.
Feng Xiaoyue walked over with a smile, poured the man a cup of tea, and said, "Sir, please wait a moment, the food and wine will be served shortly."
With that, she put down the teapot, took the silver ingot, bowed slightly, and turned to leave.
However, the middle-aged man grabbed her hand. "Hey, shopkeeper, why are you in such a hurry? Would you honor me by sitting down for a drink?"
Feng Xiaoyue had been working at the Sihai Restaurant for a long time and had seen many such customers. She knew that this kind of person might be someone she couldn't afford to offend, and the best course of action was to placate them.
With that thought, Feng Xiaoyue bowed slightly and took a step back, using the opportunity to break free from the man's grasp.
"Sir. Please wait a moment, I will get some wine and join you for a drink."
With that, Feng Xiaoyue turned and left to fetch a pot. She returned to the private room, poured a cup of wine for the middle-aged man, and another for herself.
Then she raised her cup and said, "Sir, please."
The middle-aged man raised his cup and drank it all in one go. Feng Xiaoyue, apparently careless and unprepared, gulped down her own cup.
But as soon as the wine went down, Feng Xiaoyue felt dizzy and her vision went black, and she fainted.
A cold sneer flashed across the middle-aged man's lips. "A real novice, so easily drugged."
He then gestured to a young man beside him, who immediately stepped forward.
The young man unbuttoned his robe, revealing a tightly wound rope around his waist. He untied the rope and bound Feng Xiaoyue to himself.
At this moment, someone had already opened the window of the private room.
Outside the window was a wall. It was the back of the Sihai Restaurant, facing away from the bustling streets of Xiaojia Town. Beyond the wall were fields.
The young man leaped out of the window and quickly disappeared.
The middle-aged man waved his hand, and the others returned to their seats.
Soon, a waiter brought up the food and wine. The middle-aged man, pretending nothing was wrong, urged everyone to eat and drink.
They devoured the food and drink in no time, then went downstairs, paid their bill, and left noisily.
As the Sihai Restaurant was about to close, Xiao Mu, who had been busy all along, finally came to his senses. He suddenly asked a few waiters, "Hey, where did my sister Xiaoyue go? I haven't seen her all evening!"
Hearing Xiao Mu's question, everyone looked at each other and started to recall, "That's right, that's right, we haven't seen shopkeeper Xiaoyue for a long time."
Xiao Mu became flustered. He searched the entire restaurant, from the front to the back, from the first floor to the second, but found nothing.
Everyone gathered together again and recounted the last time they saw Feng Xiaoyue. Finally, a young waiter said, "I remember shopkeeper Xiaoyue going to attend to the guests in the private room on the second floor. She even asked me for a pot of wine, saying she wanted to have a drink with the guests."
"Yes, yes, but when I went to serve dishes later, I didn't see her."
Xiao Mu shook his head, "That's not right. My sister wasn't in there when those people left!"
The waiter became a little anxious, "Really, really!"
Xiao Mu stomped his foot and led the way to the second floor. He entered the private room. The place was a mess of dishes and bowls, but there was no sign of Feng Xiaoyue.
"That's strange, where could she have gone?" The few of them looked at each other and slumped down helplessly.
Just then, they heard someone calling out from the first-floor hall, "Sister, sister, it's time for you to close."
Hearing this voice, Xiao Mu's eyes lit up. This was Xiao Yatou's voice. He rushed down from the second floor in three steps. "Sister Xiao Yatou, it's bad, my sister Xiaoyue is missing."
Xiao Yatou's eyes widened. "How can a living person go missing?"
"Really, really! They said a table of guests asked my sister Xiaoyue to accompany them for drinks, but I haven't seen her since."
Xiao Yatou also became anxious upon hearing this and rushed to the second-floor private room with Xiao Mu.
"It was in this room, and no one has seen her since. But it was clearly the same people who left." Xiao Mu was a little incoherent.
Xiao Yatou's eyes widened as she looked around the room. Finally, her gaze fell on the window. She walked over and pushed the window open with one hand.
After looking around the window for a while, everyone discovered something. From a specific angle, there was a faint footprint on the windowsill.
Xiao Yatou took a oil lamp, and with a leap, landed outside the wall.
She lit the oil lamp, squatted down, and examined it closely. There were two deep footprints, clearly showing they had been made recently.
Seeing this, Xiao Yatou exclaimed, "Oh no, sister Xiaoyue was likely kidnapped through the window!"