Chapter 6: Stop Chattering
The young man said "eh" softly.
"Changji, come and take a look. Does the little girl in this painting look familiar to you?"
Changji, a close follower, went to see what was said, but shook his head: "I have no impression of it."
I couldn't help but ask: "...Which girl has Madam found for you?"
The husband is the only son in the family. He is over twenty years old but has yet to discuss marriage. His wife is very worried about this. Whenever she hears that a family has married a new bride, she will be restless at best and unable to sit or walk, or even get so angry that she falls ill for three days.
"It may not be my mother." The young man opened another letter, his eyebrows slightly moved: "Yu Zeng——"
Changji was extremely surprised: "Why would this person send a message to you, my lord?"
Yu Zeng was the chief eunuch in the court and was in charge of the Sigongtai. He was highly trusted by the emperor and ordinary officials had to call him "Mr. Yu" when they met him.
But he was arrogant and self-reliant, and was known to be a solitary person. He never treated people well, as if everyone had dug up his ancestors' graves and owed him 1.8 million taels of silver.
"Mr. Yu actually asked me to find someone one day." The young man's eyes returned to the portrait, and he said thoughtfully: "It turns out that the girl from General Chang's mansion is missing..."
"General Chang?" Changji was confused. "The girl from General Chang's house is missing, why is Yu Changshi so anxious? And she has many informants and eyes, and she has no shortage of ways to find someone, so why would she put the trust on you, my dear?"
"Because there are many eyes and ears." The young man looked at what was written on the letter and said, "Yu Zeng knows that I came to Hezhou on the secret order of the Saint, and he has found out that the girl from the Chang family is most likely in the Hezhou area... Now that I am on duty here, if he makes too much of a move to find someone, it may be suspected of interfering with the Saint's will."
As for why the girl from General Chang's mansion was missing, Yu Changshi, who always kept to herself, was secretly worried - perhaps it was related to an old story.
A long time ago, General Chang and Minister Yu were both loyal to the same person.
Thinking of this, there was a brief trance in the young man's eyes.
"Would you like to help me with this?"
"Why not help?" The young man came back to his senses and sighed, "This opportunity to make Mr. Yu owe me a favor is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."
"But my dear, there is nothing you can ask him for help—"
"That's totally wrong." The young man sat back in his chair. "Whether you need to pick up something for free on the street is another matter, but you have to pick it up first. If you don't pick it up, someone else will. I can't stand seeing others taking advantage of others. If I see others taking advantage of others for free, I can't sleep well."
Changji: “…”
The man's half-true, half-false and sick remarks always come out one after another.
"Since the Chang family girl is missing in Hezhou, it may be related to the matter we are investigating now." The young man pushed the portrait on the desk with two fingers and said, "Since the matter in Zhoujia Village has been verified, we can investigate it immediately. You go there in person and use this portrait to check if there is anyone with the same age and appearance."
"yes."
Changji agreed, put away the portrait and was about to leave when he heard the person behind the desk call him back: "Wait a minute."
"What else do you want to tell me, sir?"
"It's not appropriate to spread the news that a girl is missing. If you want to find her, just look for her and don't gossip about it."
Changji's cheeks trembled.
Changji is the top guard selected from among hundreds of people in the Duke of Zheng's mansion. He has strong professional qualities, a cold face and a cold heart, and the knife in his hand is even colder. How could he be a gossiper? Langjun's words are not very hurtful, but very insulting! The follower left with a sense of grievance. As the door of the study was closed, the young man's eyes fell on the rough papers with blood seals drawn on them that were pressed by the paperweight.
Then, he thought of something and raised his eyebrows slightly, as if thinking about something.
…
Zhoujia Village was not peaceful at the moment.
The head of the village had just returned home cursing, with half of his face still red and swollen.
Today he brought silver into the city to meet the steward of the noble mansion. Just after he said a few words, a fat and big-eared man in brocade clothes walked in. The steward said that he was the young master of the mansion. When he was about to salute, the young master kicked him in the heart, slapped him in the face, and started cursing at him.
He didn't understand why but kept apologizing, not knowing when he had offended this young man.
He was beaten for no reason and couldn't help but feel suspicious. On the way back, he carefully recalled the words that the man had scolded him, and he couldn't help but come up with a guess in his mind.
The "Mr." in Liu Ke Lane has never revealed his true appearance. Could it be...
And the "good stuff" that Lao Shuan lost was said to have been sent to Liu Ke Lane...
Now, Lao Shuan and his wife are gone, and the "goods" have also escaped.
He went to the noble man's house to explain the matter, but before he could finish his words, he was beaten and scolded by the young man in the noble man's house.
Thinking about this, the village chief sat on the stool and had a guess in his mind.
At this time, the lame woman came in with a basin of water, held it in front of him, and whispered, "Wash your hands, the food is ready."
"Get lost! Why are you getting in the way at this time?"
The man, who was feeling very upset, raised his hand and overturned the basin, spilling all the hot water on the woman.
The woman squatted down with a numb face and wiped the water on the ground with a rag.
"I told you to get out, didn't you hear me?" The man kicked her, as if he wanted to vent all the treatment he had suffered in the city today on the skinny woman in front of him.
The woman gritted her teeth and endured his beatings and kicks.
"Don't hit my mother, don't hit my mother!"
A little girl of about six or seven years old rushed over and hugged the woman, crying.
"You're trying to make me unhappy too, aren't you?" The man became even angrier, and he grabbed the little girl and walked out of the hall. "It seems that I didn't learn my lesson from last time! I'm going to beat you to death today, you loser!"
The little girl cried and struggled.
Seeing that her pleading was hopeless, the woman was filled with fear. She grabbed a wooden stool at hand, climbed up, chased after the man and threw it at him.
The man's face suddenly became extremely gloomy. He threw the little girl aside and grabbed the shovel by the door.
The woman with water dripping from her body came to her senses, took a few steps back with a pale face. It was an early spring night and it was so cold that people were shivering.
"Dad, something happened!"
A boy of about thirteen or fourteen ran back from outside. He didn't even look at the woman and the girl, and said breathlessly, "There are a lot of people dressed like police officers outside!"
"Officials?" The man holding the shovel frowned, but he was not panicked: "I'll go and take a look!"
"Mom, why did you make Dad angry again!" The young man complained to the woman and ran out.
The trembling woman went forward and hugged her daughter, whispering to comfort her: "Niuniu, don't be afraid..."
But the tears couldn't stop falling.
After so many years, she no longer cared, but her daughter...not to mention whether she can grow up safely, even after she grows up, what will be waiting for Niu Niu?
It was not unprecedented that one's own daughter could be exchanged for silver in this devilish village.
The noises outside became chaotic and noisy, and the fire lit up the night.
The woman hugged her daughter tightly and subconsciously looked outside the yard. The firelight was reflected in her dry eyes.
Female lead: It’s already the sixth chapter and I still don’t have a name, how shameful (╯‵□′)╯︵┻━┻
Author: I will definitely write the next chapter... o(╥﹏╥)o (I just realized that the only person who has a name in the story so far is Chōkichi, which is a bit absurd... But having said that, you guys don’t think there’s anything wrong with it, right?
(End of this chapter)
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