The plainclothesmen didn't dare to jump off the car and chase, but they were good at capturing the little servant. A group of people rushed up and pressed him to the ground, with four or five guns pointed at his head, shouting: "Tell us, where did you hide the meat tickets?"

  The little servant was so scared that he burst into loud sobs: "Spare my life, masters! I have nothing to do with this!"

  After interrogation, it turned out that when he stopped at Fengtai Station, a passenger gave him one dollar and asked him to deliver this note to Mr. Yao in the first-class car after driving away.

  "Where's he?" the plainclothesmen shouted.

  "Got off at Fengtai Station."

  "What does it look like?"

  I forgot.

  "How dare you forget! You're looking for a beating!" The plainclothes police vented their anger on the young servant.

  The ransom was handed over, but they didn't even get to see the thief's face. The top detectives of the Imperial City Police Department were played around by a group of rural bandits, and at this moment, everyone felt a strong sense of frustration.

  It's not that they can't be blamed, the thief's actions are so swift and their plans so meticulous, completely beyond the capabilities of the Metropolitan Police Department. Now the initiative is entirely in the hands of the other side, and with so many police, constables, and troops, they are unable to take action.

  When the train arrived at Langfang, Yao Cizhang and a group of plainclothesmen got off the train and called the Beijing Police Department. Wu Bingxiang solemnly guaranteed that they had already detected the exact location of the Three Gun Pao Gang, and were coordinating with the gendarmerie and military to jointly suppress them, and there was no way for them to escape.

  ……

  Chen Zikong, when he was a bandit in Guandong, learned many skills from his seniors. One of them was tracking and tracing. He followed the hoof prints left by the bandits and tracked them for about half an hour. Then, he saw a dilapidated restaurant on the side of the road with a water trough for horses at the entrance. There were many messy hoof prints and footprints on the ground. The bandits must have been there.

  The small restaurant was very simple, with a thatched roof and rough tables and chairs under the eaves. In front of the door hung a faded sign with one large character: "Wine".

  Chen Zikun walked into the restaurant, and the thin, sly-looking boss came over to chat: "Sir, what can I get for you?" His eyes scanned Chen Zikun's body, and when he saw the bloodstains under his armpits, they flickered for a moment.

  "Oh, I have a few friends who just came by, which direction did they go?" Chen Zikong asked casually, his eyes also scanning around sharply.

  Next to a table, seven or eight wine bowls were cluttered, and on the ground were thrown meat bones, oil paper, and dirty phlegm marks. It was clear that bandits had rested here not long ago, and if I wasn't mistaken, they should have been waiting for those two accomplices who had already been killed by me.

  "Just now there was a group of peddlers from Shandong who finished their meal and hurriedly drove their mules northward." The boss smiled.

  Could it be that he had guessed wrong, Chen Zikun was still in doubt, when suddenly a small object flashed in the sunlight from the gap of the table, and upon picking it up, it turned out to be a round pearl.

  Miss Yao wore a pearl necklace when she set out this morning!

  "You dare to deceive me!" Chen Zikun was furious, and suddenly a gust of wind sounded from behind his head. He quickly dodged to the side, and an axe deeply chopped into the table. The one wielding the axe was a robust woman, who appeared to be the boss's wife coming out to intervene.

  The fierce returned to the fierce, but the combat value was severely low. Chen Zikun kicked the boss's wife to the ground with one foot. The boss didn't know where he got a kitchen knife from and rushed over, shouting loudly. Chen Zikun easily dodged and punched him in the stomach, causing him to drop the knife and vomit uncontrollably.

  Chen Zikun drew out his dagger, swept all the wine bowls on the table to the ground, picked up the thin old boss, tore open his clothes, and pressed the knife tip against his chest. He turned his head to ask the old lady who was lying on the ground: "Tell me, where is San Pao? I have a bad temper, so I'll only ask once. If you don't say, your man will be disembowelled."

  The people on the road knew the depth, no need to scare them much. The boss's wife hesitated for a moment and told the truth: "Good Han, spare your life, San Pao and his men just left, they kidnapped a big girl and went west."

  "Where did you go?"

  "We didn't know."

  "It's not like I'm saying it is." Chen Zikun applied a bit of force, and the blade cut into the boss's soft belly. The boss's wife was so frightened that she hastily kowtowed and begged for mercy: "San Pao has a lover named Yizhi Mei in Zhangjiazhuang ten miles southeast of here, maybe he went there."

  "If you dare to deceive me, beware of your life." Chen Zikun put away his dagger, but had no intention of letting these two people off. He tied the two men to the door of the rice shop and drew a line on the ground with his dagger: "These two are bandits." Only then did he pat his hands and leave.

  The hoof prints indeed went in the direction of Zhangjiazhuang, but Chen Zikong encountered difficulties when he chased to the front fork in the road. The footprints showed that the bandits had split into two groups, one going to Zhangjiazhuang and the other heading southwest.

  Chen Zikun searched carefully on the dirt road and, as expected, found another pearl in the southeast direction. He couldn't help but secretly admire Miss Yao's calmness in the face of danger, her bravery and cleverness, truly a talented and elegant lady.

  Along the secret note left by Miss Yao, Chen Zikun moved forward and also left a clear mark for the reinforcements. He knew that if something happened to Miss Yao, the police department would definitely send a large number of people to investigate her whereabouts.

  After walking a few more miles, the scene in front of me suddenly opened up, and a large river stretched out before me. The hoof prints stopped here, leaving Chen Zikun at a loss as to where to search for Miss Yao's whereabouts.

  Damn it, can a living person be scared to death? Chen Zikun studied the hoof prints on the ground again. The Hebei bandits were not as good as those outside the pass, and they couldn't have one horse per person. There were about 15 bandits at the robbery scene, but the hoof prints showed only three horses, one of which had deeper hoof prints, suggesting it was carrying two people. Analyzing this way, the bandits probably wanted to distract attention, with one group going to Zhangjiazhuang to hide from the wind, and another group taking the ransom ticket onto a boat to hide, waiting for the ransom to arrive.

  Different regions, bandit styles are also vastly different. Bandits outside the pass are called horse thieves, each with a fine horse, coming and going like the wind. Old dens are usually set up in deep mountains and forests, and small groups of government soldiers dare not launch a siege. In Beijing, the population is dense, law enforcement is relatively strong, and there are no deep mountains to hide in. If you were a bandit, you would choose a place that people least expect to hide your loot.

  That's on the water.

  As it happened, a fisherman was passing by, and Chen Zikun hastily stopped him: "Brother, what place is this?"

  "This is Mentougou."

  "What river is this?"

  "This is the Yongding River."

  "Big brother, can I borrow your boat for a bit?" Chen Zikong took out two silver coins and lightly clinked them together, producing a crisp and pleasant sound.

  The fishing boat that was broken and worn out wasn't even worth two dollars, he hastily agreed: "Alright, use it as you please."

  ……

  Shi Zong Ma Street, Hou Zhai Hutong, Lin's Mansion. The courtyard was a mess, with large and small willow-patterned trunks, leather trunks, and packages piled up like a small mountain. When they arrived, there wasn't much luggage, but when they left, it was a huge pile, most of which were new clothes purchased by Mrs. Lin in Beijing.

  The house has been sold, it cost 500 yuan to buy it, but only 400 yuan was paid when selling it. Although Mrs. Lin is a shrewd Shanghainese, she can't wait to leave and doesn't care about the money anymore.

  Lin's mother was a servant brought by Mr. Lin from his hometown, and Aunt Mei didn't want to use her anymore. Zhang Bo was a local, so he couldn't be taken away either. Both servants were given 10 yuan in severance pay and stood in the courtyard sighing.

  The wife was still packing her jewelry box, Lin Wendlong crouched on the ground watching ants move house, Lin Wenjing pinched a train ticket standing alone beside the bicycle, her mind in disarray.

  "How come he hasn't arrived yet? Didn't he say he'd come to pick me up?"

  Suddenly the gate was knocked, Lin Wenjing's heart moved, and she quickly went to open the door. Unexpectedly, a stranger came in, entered the yard, found his wife, handed her a few banknotes, and then pushed that bicycle away.

  "This is my bicycle." Lin Wenjing said timidly.

  "Quiet, this can't be taken away, besides I've already sold it to Mr. Wang, we must keep our promises." The lady said while counting the banknotes.

  "But..." Lin Wenjing was powerless to stop him, and could only watch as the man pushed her beloved bicycle away.

  The wife didn't care about her, and continued to pack her things. Lin Wenjing couldn't sit still anymore, and secretly slipped out of the gate, rushing towards Toufa Hutong. She believed that Chen Zikun must have been delayed by something, if he didn't come, then she would go find him.

  As I arrived at Toufa Hutong, I saw from a distance that the entrance of Ziguang Factory was surrounded by a group of people with guns. There were police officers in black uniforms, soldiers in gray clothes, and constables wearing riding boots. The people inside the factory were being taken out one by one. Neighbors in the alley pointed and whispered to each other.

  Lin Wenjing was stunned, she had guessed something was wrong, but hadn't expected it to be so serious.

  She returned to the Lin's residence in a daze, only to find a car already parked at the entrance. As soon as she stepped inside, Mrs. Lin scolded her harshly, "You're so foolish and disobedient! We're about to leave and you still sneak out for no reason. Hurry up and help with the luggage!"

  Everyone helped move the luggage into the car, and Mrs. Lin got in with her two children, waving goodbye to Zhang Bolin's mother as they sped off towards the train station.

  ……

  The Yongding River and the Grand Canal are connected, and this section of water to the south of Mentougou is particularly open. The ships come and go, and it's very busy. A humble passenger ship quietly docks by the shore, who would have thought that the female mastermind behind the shocking kidnapping case in Beijing was being held captive here.

  Yao Yilei's hands were tied, a wad of hemp cloth stuffed into her mouth, and she lay helpless in the cabin, her face still burning with pain from San Pao's slap. She had been jostled along the way and didn't know where they had arrived, only that it was on a boat, filled everywhere with the smell of dead fish and rotten shrimp.

  "Holy Mother Mary, bless Chen Zikun to turn bad luck into good fortune, and help him find me. Amen." Miss Yao recited the words with conviction, at this moment she had pinned all her hopes on Chen Zikun, firmly believing that Julian's incarnation would definitely be able to find her.

  At this time, Chen Zikong was rowing a small boat on the Yongding River, anxiously looking around in all directions. All the ships passing by were cargo ships and passenger ships, and it was impossible to distinguish them. The skills he had learned from Lao Linzi in Guandong were also useless here. Just as he was hesitating, suddenly a familiar figure appeared on a moored passenger ship, wasn't that the dwarf under San Pao's command?