Chapter 7: The Disappearing Drop of Water

In the grand mansion of the Tao family, Tao Sancun and Tao Shuner pushed open the two large iron gates and entered the tiny courtyard.

There was no sight of any maids or Rongniang. The courtyard was eerily quiet, as if nothing had ever happened.

It was too quiet, eerily quiet. It shouldn't be this quiet, right? Wasn't it said that when a little one was about to die, Rongniang should be crying and wailing, and the maids should be bustling around as if they had seen a savior?

But why couldn't they see anyone?

"Where is everyone? Where are they?" Tao Shuner called out a couple of times and then followed his father into the house.

This was originally a small courtyard for storing miscellaneous items, and there was only a small room in the courtyard. Upon pushing open the door, they saw a low-hanging curtain, and the figure on the bed looked like a person.

Tao Shuner was impatient by nature. He abruptly pulled open the curtain, and instantly, both father and son were stunned.

There was a person lying on the bed, but it wasn't the child; it was a woman, a woman with a well-proportioned and beautiful figure.

Normally, Tao Shuner would steal a few glances at such a woman and perhaps even swallow his saliva, but now, like his father Tao Sancun, he was dumbfounded.

The woman lying on the bed wouldn't stir any feelings in him, whether she was beautiful or not, because his gaze had been drawn to the ropes binding the woman's hands and feet.

After a moment of shock, Tao Sancun, who was well-traveled, quickly regained his composure, walked closer, and stood in front of the bed. Rongniang had something stuffed in her mouth, and her beautiful eyes were filled with tears.

With a stern expression, Tao Sancun removed the object from Rongniang's mouth and asked in a deep voice, "Where is the little one?"

He didn't ask who had tied up Rongniang; he only asked about Shentong. It didn't matter who had tied up Rongniang; what mattered was the child.

"Gone... gone..." Rongniang murmured, still unable to believe everything that had happened. The child, the child who had been unconscious due to a fever just yesterday, not only knocked her out but also tied her up.

Rongniang could never forget the look the child gave her before leaving. It wasn't fierce or cold, but it was indifferent, as if looking at a dead person.

A dead person? Was she going to die? No, she couldn't die. Her little brother hadn't come back yet; she couldn't die.

"Tao Steward, this isn't my fault, it's not my fault. The child ran away on her own. I didn't let her go. Where's my little brother? Please, please, talk to the master and let my little brother come back."

Rongniang's hands and feet were still bound, and she kept pleading.

But now, even Tao Shuner, who had always had some thoughts about her, was getting impatient, and Tao Sancun's gaze turned icy. What time was it? Still babbling on. If you weren't related to that mother and daughter, would the master have spared you?

He slapped Rongniang's face and said fiercely, "You fool, your useless little brother only lasted two days in the cellar before he died. If you want to see him, go down and see him. But you can't die now. If you die, who will take responsibility?"

Tao Sancun signaled to his son, and Tao Shuner stuffed the rag back into Rongniang's mouth and even groped her chest.

It was tender and fleshy, but it was about to turn into a pile of dead flesh.

The reason for stuffing her mouth again wasn't to prevent her from making noise but to prevent her from biting her tongue and committing suicide. Father was right; if she died, the master would blame it on them.

Father and son didn't linger in the house and returned to the courtyard. After calling out a couple of times, the two little maids came in with bewildered expressions. One was wearing a pink jacket and a green skirt, and the other's clothes were disheveled, with only an undergarment on.

Seeing them, Tao Sancun suddenly understood. He sternly asked one of them, "Where are your outer clothes?"

The little maid didn't know what had happened and timidly said, "We were playing hide and seek with Miss, and I was caught by Miss and was punished to take off my clothes..."

Before the little maid could finish, Tao Sancun shouted at Tao Shuner, "We've been fooled. Go after her, it's the little maid from earlier!"

But there was no sign of the little maid anywhere. The guards in the courtyard hadn't seen her, and the gatekeeper said he hadn't seen her either. The figure in the pink jacket and green skirt seemed to have never appeared.

If it weren't for both father and son encountering the little maid, Tao Sancun would have thought he had seen and heard wrong, that he hadn't encountered her at all.

But of course, he hadn't seen wrong. He had indeed encountered that girl.

But how could a seven or eight-year-old child hide anywhere?

Father and son, along with all the guards, searched inside and outside the mansion and even within a three-mile radius, but they didn't find a trace of the child.

The child had vanished into thin air, like a drop of water.

"Father, the child is only seven or eight years old and was raised by a woman. Where could she have gone? I guess she must still be in the mansion. Let's search again. Maybe there are still corners we haven't searched." Tao Shuner was so anxious that his face was covered in bumps.

Tao Sancun fell into silent contemplation. He paced back and forth, recalling the encounter with the child. But the more he thought about it, the more he felt that the child was no different from the other two little maids. Even if there were differences, he hadn't paid attention. At that time, when he heard that the child was in critical condition, he was already in a panic. How could he have carefully scrutinized a few-year-old little maid?

Oh, it was all his negligence. He, at his age, had actually been deceived by a little maid.

No, how could a child have such cunning? Even if she did, how could she disappear without a trace on her own?

Someone helped her!

Yes, someone is helping her!

Thinking that there was someone hiding in the dark to help this child, Tao Sancun felt that his guess was correct, it couldn't be wrong, absolutely not.

The child has been sick all along, and only woke up this morning. Even when going to the pharmacy to get medicine, it was Tao Shuner who went, and for safety's sake, they didn't even call for a doctor.

So, the person helping her is not from outside, but from within this household.

Of course, it wouldn't be those two ignorant little maids, nor the guards in the front yard. These days, those people haven't even entered the rear courtyard, so it couldn't be the father and son either. Then who could it be?

A name came to mind, and Tao's steward sneered. It turned out to be her, the thief crying "stop the thief," this trick is too clever.

It was already evening, and Rongniang in the small room looked despairingly at the roof. What the steward said coincided with the child's situation. Her brother had died, her brother had died long ago.

She had let down the mistress. Back then, she sold herself to bury her father with her young brother. She thought that what awaited her would be the Qinglou Chuguan, but Mr. Qian and the mistress who passed by saved her, gave her money to bury her father, and even let her become a respectable senior maid.

But she still deceived the young lady from the mistress.

What would happen next? Her brother had died, would the master also kill her?

Yes, that's what the child said.

Her brother had died, and she would die too.