Chapter 199 City Guardian Statue

While we were chatting, the sky outside was already turning light.

Ye Xingzhou stood up and stretched his muscles, "Junior brother, let's go."

The two went down from the second floor. The brazier in the hall on the first floor was burning brightly, and porridge was stewing on the stove, bubbling with steam.

There was a thick layer of snow outside the door, and the waiter was shoveling the snow with a shovel.

Seeing the two of them coming down so early, he was a little surprised, "It's freezing cold, why don't you two guests get some more sleep?"

Ye Xingzhou glanced at the porridge in the pot and suddenly changed his mind, "I'm hungry and can't sleep. Brother Er, give me two bowls of porridge."

"Okay, sir, please feel free to sit down. The porridge will be ready soon." The waiter wiped his hands and quickly served two bowls of clear porridge and brought a plate of pickled mustard greens.

The porridge is just out of the pot, steaming hot.

Meng Zhi looked at the bowl of porridge, speechless.

"Ye Xingzhou, is your stomach a bottomless pit?"

Ye Xingzhou scooped up a mouthful with a spoon, blew on it and put it into his mouth. "Drinking the porridge is secondary. Finding out the information is the main thing."

It's freezing cold, and it's not easy to find an intelligence officer blindly.

It’s much more convenient to drink some porridge to warm your stomach first, then spend some money to get some information and go directly to your destination.

Ye Xingzhou raised his hand and called the waiter over, "Brother Xiaoer, do you know where there are beggars' dens in West City?"

The waiter nodded. "They're easy to find. They gather at the dilapidated temple in the north of the city in winter, waiting every day for alms from the city lord's wife."

"Sir, please walk along this street and turn the third alley to get there."

The waiter didn't waste any time and pointed out the way directly. People like you who are looking for information should just stop talking nonsense. If you are lucky, you can even get some reward money.

"Thank you." Ye Xingzhou stood up and took out two pieces of silver and stuffed them into Xiao Er's hand. "You can keep the extra one for yourself, Xiao Er."

"Goodbye, my two guests!"

The waiter pocketed the change and smiled as he saw Ye Xingzhou and the other man out the door.

At this time, the surrounding shops were shoveling snow, so the snow on the road did not affect the progress of the journey, so it was quite convenient to walk.

Beggars are everywhere and wander around. They can do anything for a little money. They are really good at gathering information.

This is much more convenient than Ye Xingzhou and Meng Zhi asking each family one by one whether any babies have disappeared.

It was cold in winter, and the city lord's wife was giving alms, so almost all the beggars in the west city gathered in the dilapidated temple in the north of the city.

When Ye Xingzhou arrived at the dilapidated temple in the north of the city that the waiter had mentioned, he felt a little surprised.

The temple is magnificent, and apart from the dust, there is no sign of dilapidation. The area it covers is even larger than two mansions.

"How did this become a dilapidated temple?"

Ye Xingzhou looked up at the plaque, on which were engraved three flowing characters: "Plum Blossom Temple".

"Go in and take a look." Meng Zhi said.

"good."

The temple door was half open, just enough for one person to enter and exit. Ye Xingzhou squeezed in through the gap, and a smell of sweat mixed with foot odor hit him in the face.

If it were summer, I can’t imagine how strong the smell would be.

Ye Xingzhou held his breath, turned his head and said to Meng Zhi, "Junior brother, wait for me outside."

This smell is really pungent.

Meng Zhi had no objection at this moment.

People were lying in various sleeping positions on the grass pile on the ground, and their snoring was deafening.

Ye Xingzhou looked around and his eyes fell on the statue sitting on the lotus in the temple.

The statue has kind eyes and is compassionate, holding a plum blossom in his hand, as if he has sympathy for the world.

The body fell to the side, covered in dust. The outer layer of gold paint had been scraped off and a lot of dust had fallen off.

Two beggars were sleeping soundly on the empty lotus seat.

The incense burner on the altar was thrown into a corner, and the offerings were long gone.

No one worships, so it becomes a dilapidated temple?

The cold wind blew in, and the beggar who was sleeping close to the door shuddered. He got up cursing and went to close the door.

"Damn Li San, he went out to pee without closing the door, waking me up cold every day."

The beggar rubbed his eyes, which were covered with eye boogers, and then he noticed a person who looked out of place standing by the door.

"What are you doing?" The beggar asked impatiently, and a foul breath hit my face as he spoke.

After Ye Xingzhou took out a purse, his attitude suddenly changed, "Help me get some information."

Beggar: "Speak, sir, just speak freely. There is nothing I don't know in this beggar's den."

The beggar greedily stretched out his hand to take the money, but Ye Xingzhou dodged nimbly and took out a string of copper coins and gave it to him first.

"Leave this purse, I'll give it to you when I'm done."

Although it is a pity to be a beggar, it is better to have something than nothing.

Ye Xingzhou glanced behind him and asked, "How's your appeal?"

As soon as Ye Xingzhou finished asking, the beggar turned around and yelled at the person behind him, and the other people who were sleeping soundly got up grumblingly.

The beggar rubbed his hands, his eyes fixed on his money bag. "They are all my brothers, don't worry, sir. Just ask if you need any information."

Ye Xingzhou nodded and said, "Help me find out two things. First, find out how many families in West City have worshipped the statue of childbirth. Second, let's go and find out which families in West City who have worshipped the statue of childbirth have lost their children."

"Leave it to me. Sir, just come here and wait at 3:30 PM."

The beggar is sure to win.

He had taken on more difficult information than this, so checking the child was even easier.

Xicheng has few descendants, so every family that has a child makes a big fuss about it, so it is easy to find out more about them.

"Brothers, get to work."

The beggar waved his hand, and the people behind him picked up their broken bowls and went out one by one.

Ye Xingzhou couldn't help but admire him.

When they go out, they know to go out separately instead of crowding together. How many people must have come to these intelligence officers to do things for them to develop the orderly distribution today.

Ye Xingzhou walked out, and when he caught a glimpse of the collapsed statue out of the corner of his eye, he paused.

A drop of water slid down the statue's eyes and fell from the corner of its eye.

The body of the statue was battered and dilapidated, but its eyes were watching everything quietly.

"What's going on with that statue?" Ye Xingzhou asked.

The beggar said casually, "You're talking about this. It used to be the guardian statue of West City. The city lord offered sacrifices to it. But after his wife gave birth to a mentally retarded child, the city lord ordered all the guardian statues in West City to be demolished."

"It's been pushed for over twenty years," the beggar said, scraping off some more gold lacquer from the Buddha statue and wrapping it in cloth. "Gold lacquer is good stuff. I can even exchange it for a pot of wine later."

Ye Xingzhou got a message from the beggar's words.

The city-guarding statue was an abandoned one, and the one enshrined now is the fertility statue.

Ye Xingzhou turned around and took another look at the statue through the gap in the temple door.

Snow piled up on the roof.

Where did that drop of water come from?

"Junior brother, let's go to the riverbank."

Meng Zhi hummed, "What were you looking at just now?"

Ye Xingzhou scratched his head. "There are drops of water dripping from the eyes of the statue. I wonder where the water comes from."

"Saliva." Meng Zhi said with some disgust, "It's from a beggar sleeping on a lotus seat."

Although he didn't go in, he could clearly see the process of Lasi's saliva dripping from his outside.

Ye Xingzhou: “…” He thought it was the statue crying, but it turned out to be artificial saliva.

Ye Xingzhou covered his eyes.

This is not Chinese reading comprehension. When can I change this tendency to over-understand?

Meng Zhi was disgusted and used some hand gestures to clean up Ye Xingzhou.

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