allonlinenovel Chapter 217 Blockade of the Ferry Crossing
Chapter 217 Blockade of the Ferry Crossing
Despite the pain from rubbing her arm against the wall, Wang Jiaojiao burst into tears of emotion.
They succeeded; they successfully fooled the bad guys who came to capture them.
Because she was afraid of being recognized, she had just bitten the cloth again before the people arrived, so they were temporarily unable to communicate.
Only Lin Xiaotang didn't put the cloth back in her mouth; she was young and most likely to fool the bad guys.
So, when she said those words with such "innocence," the mouse was so frightened that it scrambled away.
The mouse ran to Fifth Master in a panic, its legs as stiff as noodles, and collapsed to the ground.
Fifth Master frowned and said with disdain, "Look at you, all flustered like this, are you seeing a ghost?"
He had barely finished speaking when he jumped to his feet and demanded sharply, "What happened? Did someone escape, or is someone dead?"
It's even scarier than someone dying!
Rat's finger trembled as he pointed to the room where the women were being held, his lips shaking as he said, "Fifth...Fifth Master, they didn't escape, they're not dead, yes, yes..."
Fifth Master retorted angrily, "The person isn't dead or running away, so what's the panic?"
"It's a plague, Fifth Master. Those young ladies have contracted a deadly plague. It's contagious."
"what?"
Fifth Master's pupils shrank suddenly, startling him so much that he staggered back, too shocked to speak.
When he came to his senses, he suddenly remembered that Haozi had just been to Miss Guan's room. Could this guy have already caught it?
He stretched out his foot to kick the mouse away, but stopped just before kicking it, in case he touched the mouse and got infected.
So he strode out, and when the mouse saw that Fifth Master was leaving, it jumped up and tried to follow.
Fifth Master's eyes were fierce, as if he wanted to kill someone. He shouted, "Get out of my way! If you infect me, I will make sure you die a horrible death!"
Rat shrank back in fright and said in a tearful voice, "Fifth Master, I didn't touch those ladies just now, so I definitely won't get infected. I've followed you for so many years, please don't abandon me."
He realized that Fifth Master wanted to abandon him, and he dared not tell Fifth Master what Lin Xiaotang had just told him. He suddenly said excitedly, "Maybe they don't have the plague at all, but just allergies. Why don't we get them a doctor to take a look?"
Fifth Master was so angry at the rat that it seemed to be sticking to him like a leech, almost grinding its teeth to powder.
"You're asking for it! Don't you know what kind of business we're in? You actually want to find a doctor to treat them? If the authorities find out, we'll both be dead without a burial place!"
The mouse, completely bewildered, asked, "Then...then what should we do next?"
Fifth Master's eyes flickered as he said, "We went through all the trouble of kidnapping them, and we could have made a fortune, but the heavens have not been on our side, and they have contracted the plague. So we'll have to make less money. Once Tiger drives the soldiers away, we'll make our move at night and have Tiger put the people on the boat."
Fifth Master's intention in having the tiger send the people onto the ship was to prevent the tiger from knowing that the women had contracted the plague.
He immediately beamed and said, "Fifth Master is truly brilliant. Tiger is unaware of this matter and will surely do his best to accomplish it. Then we'll say that these women are sick because they only drank water and didn't eat."
Fifth Master nodded without hesitation!
But he still kept his distance from the rats, far away from them, for fear that the rats might have already contracted the plague and then pass it on to him.
ferry.
Xiao Jiu and Shen Qianchuan followed the clerk and the soldiers to the ferry. The soldiers intercepted the boats that were about to depart and inspected them one by one.
The workers who were carrying the goods put down their loads. Some merchants looked anxious. They were about to set off, but were suddenly stopped by the soldiers for inspection, which delayed their journey. Some of them began to complain.
The tiger mingled into the crowd and incited them.
"Sir, we are all doing legitimate business. You come here to inspect us without any explanation. What exactly happened? You've delayed our journey and the delivery deadline. We've lost money, and who can we complain to?"
Upon hearing this, the other merchants all agreed.
"Yes, if we don't set off soon, we'll miss the delivery deadline."
"The government has been ordered to seal off the ferry crossing. Do you have any official documents?"
"Let us see the letter written by the magistrate himself. If he doesn't have it, we won't accept it. We must show it to convince everyone."
The advisor was inwardly panicking, but he forced himself to remain calm and composed.
“Since yesterday evening, several young women have gone missing. As of now, we know of more than ten. People suspect that someone is abducting women and taking them by boat to other places to be sold into prostitution. As the local official, the magistrate cannot tolerate such a thing happening, so he sent us to the ferry to investigate. To prevent those young women from being secretly transported away, we have closed the ferry. If this delays your journey, please bear with us and cooperate so that we can finish the inspection quickly and release them to save time and reduce losses.”
Upon hearing that many young women had gone missing, the merchants thought to themselves that this was a serious matter. They were furious if some wicked villain had kidnapped women and taken them out by boat for trade.
Gradually, everyone quieted down and stopped objecting.
Seeing that everyone had quieted down, Tiger was still unwilling to give up. He continued to incite, "The advisor's matter is a matter of life and death, but our matter is also extremely urgent. My entire fortune is tied up on this ship. If the goods cannot be delivered on time, I will be ruined and my wife and children will be torn apart. Please, advisor, produce a letter written by the magistrate himself. Otherwise, we will not be convinced!"
Upon hearing this, everyone felt that something was amiss. For such a major case, the county magistrate did not come in person, but instead ordered a lowly clerk to lead soldiers to block the ferry. The key issue was that the clerk could not produce a letter written by the county magistrate himself.
There's definitely something wrong with this!
Then everyone started jeering again, "That's right, the clerk has been talking for so long, why doesn't he produce a letter personally written and stamped by the magistrate? If he does produce it, it will prove that the magistrate ordered the closure of the ferry crossing. Even if we're in a hurry, we'll have to accept it. If he can't produce it, how can anyone believe us?"
The magistrate wasn't in the county, which was why he couldn't produce it. The clerk was anxious and didn't know how to respond.
If he were to produce the county magistrate's seal, people would not believe him and would instead accuse him of falsely conveying orders. How would he refute this?
These businessmen are all incredibly eloquent!
Wang, the wealthy merchant, was anxious to find his beloved daughter. When he saw the merchants obstructing him, he immediately said angrily, "Don't think that you are the only ones doing business. We are all businessmen. Everyone knows that shipping and transporting goods takes time. A small inspection will not take more than a few hours and will not delay your delivery time at all."
If you continue to deliberately obstruct, then you have something to hide. Let everyone see whose cargo is the most urgent; that ship will be inspected first. If no problems are found, it will be released. If problems are found, and people are discovered on your ships, then those people will be thrown into jail and sentenced to death for human trafficking. Does anyone have any objections?