Chapter 109: Concubine
A thousand times of reasoning is not as good as one fact.
Jiang Shu turned around and told the guards to buy a cart of food and distribute it to the beggars in the five deserted houses.
One cart of food is enough for them to eat for one or two months. Now it is the rainy season, and they can't store more.
After temporarily solving the problem of the beggars' hunger, Jiang Shu turned to ask Yu Zheng: "What are you doing here, Prince?"
"Some official business." Yu Zheng glanced at the beggars in the yard and asked the little monkey: "Do you know that there is a woman named Li nearby?"
Zhuiyun only knew that the woman lived nearby, but he didn't know which family she lived in.
Yu Zheng thought that the little monkey and his friends lived here, so they might know each other.
"Auntie Li? What do you want to do with her?" The little monkey looked alert.
He really knew.
"We are here to help you. If you don't want to be hungry anymore, take us with you." Zhuiyun persuaded them kindly.
The little monkey hesitated for a moment, thinking that they not only didn't beat them, but also gave them money and bought food for them, so they should not be bad people.
"I will take you, but don't hurt Aunt Li, she is a good person." The little monkey walked out quickly.
Yu Zheng and others followed him, and turned to another alley after leaving Beggar Lane.
"Are you familiar with this Aunt Li?" Zhao Manying asked as she walked.
The little monkey said, "She often feeds us, even though her own family is having a hard time."
"She shares almost all the food that is sent every month with us."
Zhao Manying grasped the key point: "Does the prefect also send her food every month?"
The little monkey nodded: "The prefect said that Aunt Li is the widow of the head of the police in the yamen. The head of the police died in the line of duty, leaving Aunt Li an orphan and a widow. It is not easy. So they would send them a bag of food every month, but Aunt Li always shares it with us."
"In that case, Aunt Li is really a good person." Zhao Manying said meaningfully.
While talking, the little monkey walking in front stopped and pointed to the house in front of them and said, "This is Aunt Li's home."
"Thank you, you can go back." Zhuiyun took out a piece of silver from his waist and gave it to the little monkey as a thank you gift for showing the way.
After the little monkey walked away, Zhuiyun went forward and knocked on the door.
Seeing that they were so cautious, Jiang Shu asked nervously: "Should we avoid it?"
"No need." Yu Zheng stared at the door in front of him, and he could hear footsteps approaching.
"Who is it?" The voice of a young boy came into his ears.
Zhuiyun replied in a deep voice: "Lord Zhao sent us."
"Squeak--" The tightly closed door opened, and a boy about fourteen or fifteen years old stuck his head out and looked at them curiously.
"What are you doing here with so many people?" The boy was a little wary.
In the past, only one or two people came, why are there so many people today.
"Is your mother here? Lord Zhao has something to tell her." Zhuiyun asked instead of answering.
Hearing this foreign accent, the boy became suspicious: "Who are you? What do you want to do with my mother?"
He is not a three-year-old child, and he is not so easy to fool.
However, the person has been found and the door has been opened. It doesn't matter whether the boy is good at deceiving or not.
Zhufeng was too lazy to talk to him anymore and pushed the door open.
"What are you doing..." The boy wanted to yell, but Zhufeng covered his mouth and grabbed his hands.
The group quickly went into the house and bolted the door.
Entering the yard, Jiang Shu finally realized that Yu Zheng was doing something extremely important.
She was afraid that she and Tan Yu would ruin Yu Zheng's business, so she pulled Tan Yu to stand behind and whispered to Tan Yu not to talk or move around.
Tan Yu was also frightened by the scene and nodded obediently.
"Xuan'er, who's here..." The woman who was cooking in the kitchen heard the noise and came out with a spatula.
She was wearing a coarse cloth, a plain headscarf on her head, and an apron around her waist. Even so, it was hard to hide her beauty.
Seeing Zhufeng covering the boy's mouth, and then seeing Yu Zheng and his group, the woman was shocked.
"Are you Aunt Li?" Zhuiyun asked.
With her son in someone else's hands, the woman didn't dare to lie, and nodded in fear.
"Can you let my son go? Come to me if you have any problems." Aunt Li begged in a trembling voice.
Zhufeng looked at the boy and warned, "I'll let you go, don't yell."
The boy nodded, and Zhufeng let go of his hand.
"Help..."
The boy went back on his word and yelled as soon as he got free.
Zhufeng's eyes turned cold, and he chopped the boy's neck with a knife. The boy's eyes rolled back and he fell to the ground.
"Xuan'er..." Aunt Li threw away the spatula in a rage, and ran over in two or three steps to hug the boy.
"Don't worry, he's fine. But if you don't talk nicely like him, I can't guarantee it." Zhu Feng pulled out the tiger-head hook and held it in his hand to threaten.
Aunt Li was trembling with fear: "Who are you? What do you want to do?"
"Don't be nervous, my master just wants to ask you a few questions." Zhui Yun comforted.
Aunt Li looked angry and frightened, and asked vigilantly: "What do you want to ask?"
"Are you Zhao Renxian's mistress?" Yu Zheng asked.
Aunt Li rolled her eyes, thinking about how to answer.
Zhufeng played with the tiger-head hook and reminded her: "Think it over before you speak. You only have one chance."
Aunt Li was so shocked that she broke out in a cold sweat and admitted through gritted teeth: "Yes, I am Zhao Renxian's mistress."
After getting the answer she wanted, Yu Zheng asked again: "Are all the secret letters he exchanged with others kept with you?"
After hearing this, Aunt Li finally understood what Yu Zheng and the others were doing.
They were here to harm Zhao Renxian!
"I don't understand what you are talking about." Aunt Li subconsciously argued.
"The answer is wrong." Zhufeng held the tiger-head hook tightly, pointed the hook tip at the fainted boy, and made a gesture to stab it.
Aunt Li's eyes were bloodshot and she said in a hurry: "I said, I said, it's here."
The tiger-head hook stopped just inches away from the boy's chest. Zhu Feng retracted his hand and said, "If it happens again, I will stab you directly."
Aunt Li was shocked and terrified. She swallowed hard and wished she could faint.
But she didn't dare to faint, for she was afraid that this group of people would really kill her son.
"Where did Zhao Renxian hide all the money he had embezzled and accepted bribes over the years?" Yu Zheng asked the last question.
From the first day he arrived in Lin'an Prefecture, he sent people to secretly search the prefectural government's mansion, but found no evidence or stolen goods.
At that time, Yu Zheng knew that Zhao Renxian must have hidden all these things somewhere else.
But Lin'an Prefecture is so big, where can he find them?
When he was at a loss, Zhao Manying came to him and said she wanted to make a deal with him.
He agreed to Zhao Manying's conditions. Zhao Manying told him that Zhao Renxian had a mistress and kept the evidence and stolen goods there.
As long as Zhao Renxian's mistress was found, evidence of Zhao Renxian's corruption and bribery and his stolen goods could be found, and he could be arrested in one fell swoop.
However, Zhao Manying knew very limited information. She only overheard a few words of conversation when Zhao Renxian was drinking with Jiangnan Xunfu.
"You have to hide those things well. If someone finds them, you and I will lose our heads." Jiangnan Xunfu reminded Zhao Renxian.
Zhao Renxian replied complacently under the influence of alcohol: "Don't worry, sir, I will put them in the concubine's room, and no one will know."
"Concubine? The widow surnamed Li back then?" Jiangnan Xun teased.
Zhao Renxian sighed: "She has been with me all these years and gave birth to a son for me. Now he is more than ten years old..."
Hidden in the concubine's room, a widow surnamed Li, with a teenage son.
This is the information Zhao Manying provided to Yu Zheng.
Yu Zheng and Zhao Manying traveled all over Lin'an Prefecture these days, just looking for it in secret.
Finally, they found it.