The guard stared at the pattern on the paper with wide eyes and nodded vigorously.
Gao came over and glanced down.
There are actually only a few patterns commonly used by the powerful and wealthy class. The one drawn in this picture is the auspicious cloud pattern, but it has two more upward arcs than the most common auspicious cloud pattern. The embroidery workshop must have made such a deliberate change in order to distinguish itself from others.
"Lan'er, where did you see this pattern?" The same pattern at least means that the clothes or boots they are wearing may come from the same place. Following this clue, maybe we can find Mingxuan's whereabouts!
Wei Yunlan obviously also realized this.
The scene from yesterday at Fengji Porcelain Shop emerged in front of her eyes. If she remembered correctly, the manager who was bent over and sent out by the head manager of Fengji Porcelain Shop had the same auspicious cloud pattern embroidered on his boots.
"On the boots of a steward." Wei Yunlan recalled the waiter of Fengji Porcelain Shop yesterday and proudly introduced the steward's words, "A steward named Liu, from the house of the brother-in-law of Mr. Hong, the commander of Suizhou..."
"Hong Minrong?" Wei Maolin vaguely remembered that a colleague from the Inspectorate had reported this Lord Hong just in the first half of the year.
It seems that Shen favored his concubine and neglected his wife, forcing his wife to leave the house and live in a nunnery.
However, the matter was eventually dropped and Hong Minrong was not punished.
The wife of the principal wife is so aggrieved, can the brother-in-law still rely on his brother-in-law?
Wei Maolin asked suspiciously, "Could there be something else going on?"
"Let's check it first. It's a clue after all." Wei Yunlan glanced at the people in the room and told Dong Da, Ningshuang, Suihe and Manager Wang to go out.
They split into two groups and, under the pretext of shopping, first inquired about the ways of Lord Hong's brother-in-law from the merchants in Suijiang.
Ning Shuang was very careful and attentive. Manager Wang had been working in the outer courtyard of the Wei Mansion in the past and was quite good at doing things. Wei Yunlan had just sent away the doctor who came to treat Guixiang when he saw two people coming back.
"Did you find out?"
"Miss, the brother-in-law of Lord Hong you mentioned is surnamed Liu, but he is not a real brother-in-law at all!" Ningshuang didn't have to spend any effort to hear the rumors about this "brother-in-law" from the proprietress of a street bun seller.
"Everyone in Suijiang calls that man Young Master Liu. His sister is the concubine in Lord Hong's mansion who was favored by his concubine but killed his wife." Ningshuang was quite indignant when she said this.
Obviously, he was thinking of what happened to his young lady in the past. The son of the Marquis of Jinyang treated his wife as nothing and stayed with his concubine all day. Wasn't that also favoring his concubine over his wife? No, it was even worse than favoring his concubine over his wife!
"Miss, that Young Master Liu is not from Suijiang." Steward Wang also reported the news he had just heard to Wei Yunlan: "The Liu family is a merchant family. They moved to Suizhou a few years ago. Their business is very big in Suizhou, Lianzhou and Chongzhou. That Young Master Liu not only has one sister who married the commander of Suizhou, but also has several sisters in the family, all of whom married into the mansions of the powerful in these three states."
When saying these words, Wei Yunlan did not ask Ningshuang and Manager Wang to avoid the people from Tianshu Pavilion.
Hearing this, Yu Qi couldn't help but show a hint of surprise in his eyes.
If the Liu family was just after power and wealth, it would be fine, but if they had deeper plans...
"Miss Wei, I want to report this matter to the Pavilion Master." Yu Qi looked serious.
Wei Yunlan was a little surprised that she would ask for her opinion first.
Since Ningshuang and Manager Wang had spoken in front of Yu Qi, they had no intention of hiding these from Tianshu Pavilion. Moreover, based on the capabilities of Tianshu Pavilion, they would only be able to find out more than they did.
"Captain Yu, please feel free to speak." Wei Yunlan said calmly, "Your Pavilion Master is broad-minded and cares about the people. If there is really a problem with the Liu Mansion, letting your Pavilion Master know as soon as possible may help Dayong avoid a disaster."
Yu Qi's eyes were filled with even more surprise this time.
What shocked them was not the matter of the Liu Mansion, but... Miss Wei actually had such a high opinion of their master!
Most of what the master has done for Dayong over the years was done in secret, and few people remember the master's contributions. This is the first time someone has praised him so bluntly.
The master is going through a difficult time now.
She must relay these words in the secret letter later so that her master will be happy when she reads it!
"Manager Wang, please go to the city and find out what the Liu family's main businesses are."
Ordinary business does not require kidnapping. Wei Yunlan suspected that the Liu family might be involved in human trafficking.
But even if you buy people from human traffickers, an ordinary young and middle-aged man is only worth three to five taels of silver. Even if it is more expensive, it will not exceed ten taels at most.
Not to mention that disasters are happening all over the country right now, and many disaster victims are selling themselves into slavery in order to survive, so the prices will only be lower than usual.
If you kidnap refugees and sell them at this time, even if you can kidnap hundreds of people at a time, taking into account the twists and turns and losses along the way, you can earn less than one thousand taels of silver at most in one trip.
According to the information I heard, the Liu family has the support of so many powerful families. Would they really take such a big risk for a mere 1,200 taels of silver?
I'm afraid not.
So why did they kidnap people privately?
"Captain Yu, I'll go out for a walk too, please go ahead." Wei Yunlan planned to use his identity as a merchant who purchased silk and porcelain in the past two days to investigate further along the line of Manager Liu.
"Miss Wei." Yu Qi looked at Wei Yunlan and said, "Actually, you can wait for news from Tianshu Pavilion. Since they know that something is fishy going on in Liu's mansion, the Pavilion Master will definitely send someone to investigate. At most, they will find some results in three to five days."
"I understand." Wei Yunlan certainly knew that the power of Tianshu Pavilion was much stronger than hers, but she couldn't entrust the safety of herself and her family to others.
She couldn't just sit there and wait for the results from Tianshu Pavilion in three to five days.
"As long as I'm not sure about Mingxuan's safety, I won't be able to rest easy. Even if it can only give me a glimmer of hope, I want to try my best."
Yu Qi was stunned when he heard this and didn't say any more words of comfort.
Wei Yunlan led Suihe into the alley where Yuantao Ju was located. Manager Feng had just gone out to do some business and would take another half an hour to return to the store.
After asking the waiter to leave a message for Manager Feng, Wei Yunlan went to the teahouse next door and asked for a private room.
I poured myself a cup of tea and just as I raised it to my lips, I heard the storyteller slamming his board heavily on the table below.
"This time, I'm talking about recent events in the capital."
"Back then, the queen practiced witchcraft, which was not tolerated by heaven, so she was punished by heaven. In recent years, disasters have frequently hit Dayong."
"The Crown Prince feels guilty towards the people. To protect the people, I request to be deposed from the Crown Prince position!"
Wei Yunlan's hand holding the cup trembled slightly, and the tea splashed out of the cup.
This thing never happened in my previous life!
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