Because of another human trafficking incident during the Lantern Festival, the yamen runners guarding the city's entrances and exits strictly inspected all passing vehicles.
To everyone's surprise, the trafficker carried the child on his back, deliberately choosing a time when there were many carriages entering and leaving the city. He also somehow managed to obtain a medical certificate from Ren'an Tang, claiming that the child on his back was sick and needed to go home urgently for medicine and rest.
The gatekeeper saw the medical report and noticed that the young woman behind him looked unwell, with her lips even turning slightly pale. Fearing that he might delay her taking her medicine, he quickly let her through.
Seeing this, Yun Ruochun was furious. However, they were looking for the human traffickers' hideout and couldn't afford to catch this cunning person, lest they alert the traffickers and cause chaos, making it even harder to catch them.
After leaving the city, the two continued to secretly follow. Not far from the city, in a sparsely populated area, they found three or five strong men and four horses, two of which were pulling a carriage behind them.
"Six today, quite a haul! We two brothers should find a good place to have some fun tonight."
"That's right. Where else can you find such a sure-fire way to make money? Back in the day, when you were a porter at the docks, you'd only earn a few dozen coins a day. Even if you died, you wouldn't earn that many copper coins."
"Hey, that's not how it works. Who said it's a sure thing? Isn't the price of these horses a loss?"
"It's all because of that meddlesome yamen runner. He's such a troublemaker, trying to find our hideout by horse. Luckily, the boss stabbed him a few times. I wonder if he's even on the list of King Yama now."
These words drew a burst of laughter. Yun Ling and Yun Ruochun frowned as they listened. These damned bastards should be in line with the King of Hell.
Although they hated it, they endured it in order to catch these people all at once, watching them dismantle the carriages and transfer them to two other horses.
"Fourth brother, these two horses are yours now."
"Don't worry, you can go ahead."
The two packed up and set off, while the remaining three led the two horses back to the city. Yunling looked at Yun Ruochun and asked in a low voice:
"Auntie, what should we do now?"
Without much thought, Yun Ruochun pointed to the way back.
"These three didn't leave with us, so it seems the trafficking of young women is still going on. If we follow them, we might find some clues."
"That makes sense, let's go."
Yunling and Yun Ruochun returned to the city, following the three men at a distance. They watched as the three men led their horses to the nearest stable, sold the two horses, and then wandered around, looking here and there.
As they approached the crowd, Yunling and Yunruochun followed, just as they heard someone say:
"Fourth Brother, the brothels in the city have been all the rage lately. Everyone who's been there lingers and can't get enough of them. Why don't we go to a brothel tonight and try it out for ourselves?"
The fourth brother weighed the copper coin in his hand, looking dissatisfied.
"Those stinking women in the brothel are all vampires. They'll be clinging to you, practically wanting to devour your flesh. Besides, even if you blow out that candle, the brothel is still the same as the Moon Wind Brothel. You can't really see clearly anymore. You might as well find a place in a small town where you're guaranteed to be treated like royalty."
"Speaking of which, Fourth Brother knows more. We two rely on Fourth Brother to take care of us so we can have a good meal."
"If you're so good with words, let's go to Ya Yuan. The madam there knows how to please people; she'll make sure we're completely satisfied. We'll wake up refreshed the next day and maybe even pick up a couple more men."
As soon as he said this, the three of them burst into another round of sly laughter, which gave Yun Ling and Yun Ruochun goosebumps.
Since the three of them were going to stay at Ya Garden, they would probably need to rest for the night. Ya Garden passed by the Fu family's trading company, so Yun Ling first told Yun Shenghua that she was not going home. To his great surprise, she ran out of the trading company and followed Yun Ruochun.
After the fourth brother and the others entered the Ya Garden, Yun Ling and Yun Ruochun kept watch nearby. Yun Ling was a little hungry and wanted to buy two steamed buns, but seeing Yun Ruochun's serious and earnest expression, she stopped herself from doing so.
As darkness fell and the crowds on the street thinned out, Yunling looked at the inn behind her and said to Yun Ruochun, "Aunt, should we stay in the inn and keep an eye on them from the room? It's still a bit chilly today, and I'm worried you'll catch a cold."
Yunling possessed special abilities, making it easy for her to pinpoint the location of these three individuals, so she didn't take it too seriously.
Ke Yunruochun didn't have any special abilities. She thought that if she was going to do something, she had to do it well and see it through to the end, so as not to betray the determination she had made.
"Why be so particular? Do you think those yamen runners who are supposed to keep watch on people will also stay in the inn to do so? Since we've taken on this job, we shouldn't be too pampered. Otherwise, if we're too comfortable in the inn, someone might slip away when we're not paying attention, and then where will we find them?"
Yunling quickly covered her mouth, trying to hide the corners of her mouth that couldn't be stopped from turning up. It seemed that her aunt had great potential to be a female constable, and she would definitely make a name for herself in Pingcheng in the future.
The two waited outside Ya Garden all night. Just as Yun Ling was about to take a nap, she was woken up by Yun Ruochun's elbow. She rubbed her sleepy eyes and looked at Ya Garden again. Lao Si and the others came out with their pants up and walked towards the right side of Ya Garden.
Yun Ruochun quickly followed with Yun Ling. The two walked through a group of stalls and vendors, smelling the aroma of freshly baked meat buns. Yun Ling could no longer resist and immediately bought four, handing two to Yun Ruochun.
"Auntie, eat something, otherwise you won't have the energy to chase people later."
Yun Ruochun was focused on finding clues and didn't feel hungry at all. But when Yun Ling took a bite of the meat bun and smelled its aroma, she couldn't resist anymore and ate the whole bun in less than two bites. Yun Ling couldn't help but admire her.
The fourth brother and his group eventually stopped next to a stable, which was different from the stable from yesterday. It seemed that these people often moved between stables to avoid being noticed for their strangeness if they stayed in one fixed place. They were really cunning.
Yunling took the last bite of the bun, and then Lao Si and the others led two horses out of the stable. Presumably, these two horses would be used to pull the carriage to the old nest.
In fact, Yun Ling could find out the location of the hideout simply by using her supernatural abilities to lock up the two horses. However, the one who should be a female constable isn't her, but Yun Ruochun. Besides, relying solely on supernatural abilities to solve cases is both impractical and uninteresting.
So she posed the question to Yun Ruochun, who was standing beside her.
"Auntie, should we follow them or go back to get reinforcements?"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
