Inner Thoughts Exposed: Reborn General's Farming Daughter Has a System

Chapter 173: Chapter 173: The Culprit

Xiao Qingya’s hope wasn’t high. Still, she stared at her grandfather and aunt, hoping that there was some sort of miracle.

Like the system’s malfunction or maybe it suddenly acquired some sort of timer for mission completion.

Zhou Wenzhi and Zhou Shuran were surprised to see Xiao Qingya awake, and the fact that Su Wan was applying medicine on her neck.

"Miss Su, sorry to have troubled you," Zhou Wenzhi said solemnly.

He had taken a glance at the medicine and knew it wasn’t cheap.

Su Wan shook her head. "Little Ya suddenly woke up and looked for Sister Anran."

Zhou Shuran immediately picked up Xiao Qingya, afraid that it would trouble Su Wan for taking care of such a small child.

"How’s the search?" Su Wan asked, her lips pursed tightly in worry.

She had sent a few guards who had come with her to help the Xiao family search for Xiao Yuyan. All of the Xiao siblings had gone to look for her, following the direction of the river’s currents.

Zhou Wenzhi shook his head, signalling they hadn’t yielded any significant result for now.

Then, he shifted his attention to Xiao Qingya. There were still some questions he wanted to ask her.

"Excuse us, Miss Su. We will bring Little Ya to wash up first," Zhou Shuran made up an excuse. Su Wan understood and nodded.

They brought Xiao Qingya to her room. Zhou Shuran cradled her to calm the restless baby down. Ever since they entered the house, her face resembled a heartbroken puppy.

Both of them assumed that Su Wan had told the news about her missing sister to Xiao Qingya.

"Little Ya, Aunt wants to ask you some questions. If you know about it, please help Aunt and Grandfather," Zhou Shuran muttered, careful not to touch her bruised neck. She let Xiao Qingya lean on her.

Xiao Jingran had checked her condition and applied medicine.

Upon hearing her aunt’s words, Xiao Qingya nodded listlessly.

Zhou Wenzhi opened his mouth first, glancing at his granddaughter’s bruised neck with some hesitation. "Little Ya, did you meet a bad person? Did you recognize them?"

No one had seen or guessed it was Chen Huayun who had tried to hurt Xiao Qingya again except for Xiao Yuyan. After all, they all subconsciously would assume she was still imprisoned.

Xiao Qingya wanted to nod, but her neck felt painful, so she used her voice. "Yes... it’s that bad old woman!"

Zhou Wenzhi and Zhou Shuran looked at each other, shock was mirrored in each other’s eyes. There was only one person Xiao Qingya would call as such.

"Is it your grandmother?" Zhou Shuran wanted to confirm further.

Xiao Qingya blinked and confirmed again. "Yes, bad old woman!"

It was partly also because of Chen Huayun that Xiao Yuyan got hurt! Xiao Qingya wouldn’t shirk from the responsibility that it was also because of her, but the main culprits were definitely Chen Huayun and this unknown malicious person.

"How did she..." Zhou Wenzhi found a chair and sat down, rubbing his aching chest. "How did she manage to get out of there?"

"How did she look like, Little Ya? Clean or... full of dust?" Zhou Wenzhi continued.

Xiao Qingya scrunched her little nose. "Full of dust."

She almost looked like a homeless person, maybe even worse than that.

Zhou Wenzhi frowned deeply. It meant that someone must have helped Chen Huayun to escape from the yamen. Possibly, they might help Zhou Shiming too.

Not long after, Zhou Anran also woke up. She seemed to be dazed and a little out of touch with reality. She resembled a zombie as she got out of the room.

"Sister Anran, where are you going?" Su Wan hurriedly stopped her. Her maidservants helped to grab Zhou Anran’s shoulders.

Zhou Anran sobered up a little, and stiffly turned to Su Wan and sniffled. "I am going to the riverside to look for Yan’er."

All of a sudden, the door opened. Zhou Wenzhi came out, followed by Zhou Shuran who was carrying Xiao Qingya in her arms.

Xiao Qingya stared at Zhou Anran quietly, feeling remorseful.

She had given the reward from mission completion to her mother. However, compared to the reward, her sister’s life was undeniably far more precious.

Upon hearing footsteps, Zhou Anran suddenly turned her head. She saw her youngest daughter nestled in Zhou Shuran’s arms.

Zhou Anran opened her mouth, but then thought about something and closed it again. She spoke to Zhou Shuran, "Shu’er, please take care of Little Ya for a while. I will look for Yan’er."

With that, she went out of the house. Knowing they couldn’t persuade her, Zhou Wenzhi followed after her.

Xiao Qingya followed her figure..

"Little Aunt, please let me down," she muttered softly.

Zhou Shuran shook her head. "Little Ya will stay with me and Aunt Su Wan, alright?"

At this moment, Su Wan was speaking with her hidden guard.

"How about it? Have you informed my brother that I am going to borrow his guards," Su Wan asked.

The hidden guard saluted her respectfully and informed, "Your Highness, this servant already told His Majesty about it."

"What’s his answer?" Su Wan asked in anticipation. "You already told him it’s related to Mrs. Zhou, right?"

The hidden guard nodded. "Mr. Han was present when I made the report, Your Highness. He will personally lead a team to help with the Xiao family’s matters."

They spoke in low voices so that Zhou Shuran and Xiao Qingya wouldn’t hear the way the hidden guard addressed her.

"I want to find Second Sister..." Xiao Qingya muttered in dejection.

Zhou Shuran consoled her and brought her back to sit on the chair in the living room.

Xiao Qingya pursed her lips and called the Ling siblings.

[Little Master...] They seemed to be guilty. [I am sorry, we can’t save your second sister. We already tried to pull her, but we didn’t succeed.]

They weren’t water ghosts after all.

Xiao Qingya sighed. [Let’s ask the water ghosts later. They might know something.]

Not long after the hidden guard made a report to Su Wan, they saw Han Tingxun heading to the Xiao family’s house.

What made her feel surprised the most was that...

Her older brother was also there.