The orange lanterns were hanging in the distance. After finding a small roadside restaurant to eat a late lunch, Xun Zhou sent Wen Mingtang back to the Dali Temple and said apologetically, “Sister Mingtang, I’ll come to the Lantern Festival to find you later!”

On their way back just now, they met a disciple of Yu Jijiu who came looking for them. Wang He, who was visiting a friend outside, was brought back by Yu Jijiu and his men. It was heard that he was in Xianyang reciting poems and drinking with his friends, and he drank too much and passed out. Naturally, Xun Zhou had to rush to take care of his drunk teacher.

Wen Mingtang said “Hmm”, looked at the anxious Xun Zhou in front of him, and said: “It doesn’t matter if you don’t come! I have an appointment with Ah Bing, Tangyuan, and others to watch the lantern festival together, so we won’t be short of people to accompany us!”

Xun Zhou: “…” This was really the first time he had met such a straightforward young lady. Her personality was really like his mentor!

With a sigh, Xun Zhou bowed to her and turned away.

After returning to the house, she took out a mooncake to eat and looked up at the round moon that looked like a silver plate. After enjoying the moon, Wen Mingtang lowered her head and opened the newly bought storybook.

As everyone knows, the most annoying thing was to read a story halfway through and then stop reading!

When you turn the pages of a storybook, time always passes very quickly! Wen Mingtang felt as if she had only turned a few pages when she heard Tangyuan’s voice coming from outside the yard.

“Master Wen, we are here to look for you!”

Putting down the notebook, Wen Mingtang walked out.

Outside were Ah Bing and Tangyuan, who had changed into new clothes. Before Wen Mingtang could speak, Ah Bing and Tangyuan pointed at Wen Mingtang’s clothes and said, “Master Wen, you look really smart in these new clothes!”

A few guards who stayed at the Dali Temple on night duty happened to pass by at this time. When they heard the two children praising their “spirit”, they couldn’t help but hold their foreheads: Praising people and praising their spirits, it was really…

Forget it! This was the Dali Temple, not the Imperial College next door, so let’s just go with the flow when it came to studying!

Over there, Wen Mingtang, who was praised as ‘spirited,’ reciprocated the favor and likewise praised the two of them as ‘spirited.’ The three of them, dressed in their new clothes and carrying the snacks Wen Mingtang had prepared, such as sugar-roasted chestnuts and mung bean cakes, then headed out the door.

If you get hungry while shopping, you could always “replenish” it, but don’t treat yourself badly!

When the three of them walked out of the Dali Temple, the lights were already on. The three of them walked and talked, and when they reached Zhengyang Street where the Lantern Festival was held, there were already quite a few people on the street.

Since they arrived relatively early, the three of them were able to stroll along the way.

The streets were much more lively than usual: some performers could “breathe fire,” “jump through rings of fire,” and “break stones on their chests.” There were also many vendors, some selling snacks, others selling trinkets like Luban locks and intricate clasps, but most were selling all kinds of lanterns and masks.

Since Liu Yuan, Bai Zhu, and others had been making lanterns for some time, Wen Mingtang and others didn’t find it so new anymore.

Instead, the various masks aroused people’s interest, especially those lifelike rabbit masks, cat masks, and fox masks, which looked so cute at first glance!

Seeing A Bing and Tangyuan choosing masks with great interest, Wen Mingtang also became interested. Seeing that one of them picked a rabbit and the other picked a cat, to make sure they didn’t have the same mask, Wen Mingtang picked a fox mask. Then the three of them happily put on their masks and prepared to go to the lantern festival.

But this joy quickly disappeared before he took two steps.

Looking at the pedestrians on the streets wearing all kinds of masks, at a glance, you can catch a handful of them, whether they are rabbits, cats, foxes, Chang’e, Tianpeng, Wu Gang, etc.

The three of them looked at each other and took off their masks at the same time.

After tying the mask back to his waist, Tangyuan said angrily, “If I get lost while wearing this mask, I’m afraid you won’t be able to find me!”

Tangyuan was not the only one who felt this way!

Looking at the pedestrians wearing masks all over the streets and the fireworks rising in the streets and alleys, the festive atmosphere of the Mid-Autumn Festival becomes more and more intense. Standing on the high platform, you could hear the laughter coming from the streets below.

The common people who came out to stroll and have fun were very happy, but the officials of Jingzhao Prefecture on the stage, who were wearing official robes, not only did not smile at all but looked even more worried.

At this moment, several officers pushed through the crowd and ran up to the stage, saying anxiously, “Three more were lost in just a short while!”

As he spoke, he threw the Chang’e, rabbit and cat masks in his hands into the pile of scattered masks nearby.

The officer said with a grim expression: “I asked relatives and friends, and the answers were similar! This mask is so cute, the ladies like it, so they bought it and put it on, but then there were too many people, so they immediately dispersed. When they turned around to look for the person, they pulled off the identical masks around them, but they found that none of them were… ahem…”

Because he spoke so quickly, the officer choked and started coughing.

Another officer quickly replied, “After searching for half a day and failing to find them, these relatives and friends became anxious and came to find us to report to the authorities!”

The officer whose coughing had eased a little said, “We have been searching for half a day and only found these masks scattered on the street. But the streets are full of masks like this, and we don’t know if they are theirs!”

The more the messenger spoke, the uglier the faces of the officials of Jingzhao Prefecture became. When the messenger finished speaking, the prefect of Jingzhao Prefecture was so anxious that he could not help but jump up and down: “It’s just the beginning, the Lantern Festival hasn’t even started yet, and more than a dozen young ladies in their prime have gone missing. How can we tolerate this?”

There were always lost girls during festivals! Some of them just got separated from their families and returned after a while. Even if some were unfortunate enough to be kidnapped, how could there be a dozen missing girls like today when the night just started?

If it was just bad luck, it would be fine if this Mid-Autumn Festival conflicted with shame! But unfortunately… when they thought of the young ladies who went missing a few days ago: they were all young ladies of average age, with pretty or even beautiful looks.

So many young ladies were lost in just a few days. It would be strange if Chang’an City was “unlucky” this year!

“I don’t know who did this, it’s so hateful!” Jingzhao prefect cursed and turned to ask the officer beside him, “Have you checked the brothels? See if any brothels have suddenly taken in a lot of young ladies whose origins are unknown?”

The officer said, “We have interrogated them and found that there are not many young ladies coming out of any brothel! Even if there are one or two, they are unlucky enough to have a vicious elder or a gambler father or brother. We have searched the house inside and out and have not seen any of these young ladies!”

“Where are the human traffickers?” Jingzhao Prefecture Governor said, “Especially those doing business with foreigners!”

The officer shook his head and said, “No. Because it’s the Mid-Autumn Festival, many people even went home early to celebrate the festival. Even those who stayed in Chang’an said that such things have not happened more frequently than usual in recent days. Every little girl under their command can tell the way out, and no one in the circle has heard that any old enemy suddenly has more people!”

“What about the post station?” Jingzhao Prefecture Yin asked again, “If they had to pass through the post station to kidnap the person, were there any suspicious ‘carriages carrying goods’ passing by?”

The officer shook his head: “No! Whenever a festival is approaching, both the post station and the city gate guards are very vigilant. They had never heard of such things!”

“Then where did these missing girls go?” The Jingzhao prefect pointed at the crowds surging on the street and asked angrily, “Could it be that they all got lost on their own?”

(End of this chapter)

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