Chapter 1395: Snow in June (Part 1) [Happy New Year]
【My lord, even the lives of cattle and horses matter.】
Shen Tang initially dispatched Wu You to the northeastern mainland to investigate the situation.
Wu was unwilling, and for the first few days, he complained incessantly, constantly protesting to the original body: "You can't just take advantage of me because I'm an incarnation and you're the original body, and exploit me to death... We're of the same origin, why are you so eager to harm me?"
Chen Ben Zun Tang is overwhelmed by countless tasks.
The more she listened, the angrier she got: [What are you complaining about? Why don't you come back here and we switch? You sit in the office all day, and I get to go out for some fresh air? I'm lucky if I can even get some fresh air, and you're still being unreasonable with me?]
Even though it was transformed into himself, Shen Tang still felt that Wu You was ungrateful—if it was a cow or a horse, what was he?
The most ox-and-horse among oxen and horses?
Stop complaining and get to work! Sitting in the office is so painful that arguing with yourself has become a daily way to relieve stress.
Chen Wuyou Tang: [...]
Just when we were almost at our destination, the person in question changed their mind again.
Tan Ting has disappeared and her whereabouts are unknown.
Despite exhausting all resources in the central region, they couldn't find Tan Ting's whereabouts. Yuan Liang's use of connections within the branch of the Gods Society also yielded no results, only a speculation that Tan Ting's prolonged absence might indicate betrayal. This Venerable One has only one demand—she must be found alive or dead!
Ugh, how do I find this?
What's the difference between finding someone and finding a needle in a haystack?
Despite her complaints about being a cheap beast of burden, Wu You never hesitated to act. Wu You and the original body were one; Wu You was just as worried about Tan Ting as the original body. She traveled day and night to the place where Tan Ting was last seen.
I just hope it's not too late.
Suppressing her anxiety, Shen Tang sat down at the teahouse where she had arranged to meet her contact. On the table were three copper coins of different sizes.
As she drank her third bowl of tea, a porter dressed in coarse linen clothes came over and shared a table with her. The porter was tall and had a dark, shiny complexion, clearly someone who worked outdoors for long periods under the scorching sun. He drank all three bowls in one go as soon as he sat down.
He wiped his mouth when his gaze fell on the three copper coins.
The porter didn't say anything, he just paid the bill and got up.
Shen Tang paid with three copper coins, picked up the bamboo hat from the table, put it on her head, the light veil covering most of her face, and slowly followed the porter into a winding, dark alley. The alley was poorly lit, the surrounding scenery became increasingly cramped and damp, and a foul stench permeated the air.
It's a dead end.
Why are you following me?
A hoarse male voice suddenly rang out in the dark alley, carrying an implicit threat.
It wasn't until Shen Tang calmly revealed the secret code that the meeting took place.
The sun and moon hang high, shining eternally.
As the words fell, a pool of viscous black liquid began to writhe in the shadows beneath his feet. The liquid multiplied, gradually solidifying into a human shape. The figure became clearer; it was none other than the porter from the teahouse. He clasped his hands in a respectful greeting and said, "The mountains and rivers remain unmoved, the four seasons are clear."
This informant was rescued by Qi Shan when he was in exile in another country in his early years.
With elderly and frail family members needing his care, he couldn't travel with Qi Shan and had to stay in his hometown to make a living, occasionally sending Qi Shan messages in the hopes of helping his benefactor. Qi Shan had killed seven leaders in just a few years, leaving him without a stable foothold and making communication between the two sides difficult. Later, as Shen Tang gradually gained a foothold, Qi Shan began to seize power in the branch, and only then did he reconnect with the porter.
Despite his disability and weak martial arts skills, the porter possessed a rare talent: the ability to briefly merge into the shadows. It was this ability that allowed him to survive on the battlefield, giving Qi Shan, who happened to be passing by, the chance to pull him out of the pile of corpses.
Before leaving, Qi Shan gave him several sets of coded messages.
If someone comes with a coded message, that person is trustworthy.
This wait lasted for more than a decade.
The porter asked with concern, "How is our benefactor doing these days?"
Shen Tang: [Wife and daughters are both alive and well, and my career is successful. Excellent.]
Su Shang was Qi Shan's properly betrothed "wife". After more than ten years of relationship, Qi Miao was his adopted daughter. He himself was successful in his career, holding the official position of Grand Secretary and being granted the title of Grand Tutor. How could he not be good?
The porter's eyes and brows visibly revealed a hint of joy.
That's good, that's good.
Shen Tang said, "I came to ask you about someone."
【The messenger may give his instructions.】
Given Tan Ting's unparalleled beauty, no one who had seen him could possibly be unrecognizable. To help the porters identify her, Shen Tang even meticulously copied her portrait: [It is this peerless beauty in the painting.]
Shen Tang carefully unrolled the scroll.
She watched the porter's reaction with some anticipation.
Have you ever seen or heard of this person?
Porter: [...]
He had been full of confidence, but the moment he saw the portrait, he asked Shen Tang again: "[The dawn is breaking, the moon is setting?]"
Shen Tang: [The sun and moon shine together...illuminating the universe?]
Do we need to use the same password again to view a painting?
After exchanging the secret code, the porter looked at the portrait with a complicated expression, his brows furrowed so deeply he looked like he wanted to smother a whole family of flies. He examined it carefully several times, seemingly encountering a problem from the last century. He was indeed in a dilemma; firstly, he had never seen such a hastily drawn wooden figure, and secondly, he couldn't bring himself to equate it with the words "peerless beauty," even doubting for a moment whether Shen Tang was a fake.
However, both sets of codes matched.
This can't possibly be fake, right?
Such a person is truly beyond my comprehension.
Even a normal person wouldn't grow up to look this disheveled...
Shen Tang: [Then could you please help me inquire around the area? According to previous intelligence, he had been spotted in the vicinity.]
As they were talking, Shen Tang remembered another characteristic.
Tan Ting's literary monogram.
Individual aesthetics differ, leading to different descriptions of the same appearance, but the characteristics of the Wenxin monogram should not vary significantly.
Porter: [...]
I'm not sure, let him think about it some more.
The porter, a man of the streets, interacted with all sorts of people and had a wide network of connections. He quickly located the young man who resembled the one who had worn the Wenxin monogram. The witness, a beggar living in a dilapidated temple outside the city, exclaimed: "She's a fairy descended to earth!"
Yes, Mengyuan is indeed as beautiful as a fairy.
The appearance matches.
Porter: [...]
He had spoken with the beggar, and the person the beggar described looked nothing like the portrait. If he really looked like the portrait, going out in broad daylight would be considered ghostly. He didn't interrupt Shen Tang's conversation.
When you saw him, was he alone or with others?
The beggar said, "There was one then, and later there were two."
That day, it rained heavily, and the beggar boy was unable to go out to beg for a living. He could only huddle in the dilapidated temple, and as he was dozing off, a fairy with an ethereal air emerged from the rain. The fairy had also come in to take shelter from the rain, and seemed to have something on her mind.
The beggar only dared to peek.
[The fairy is kind; she didn't hit me.] In the past, if I glanced at any important person too long, their lackeys would kick me twice; even a beggar like me was terrified of being beaten. It was rare to encounter such a generous "fairy," so I mustered up my courage and glanced at her several more times.
The rain outside had lessened a bit, and then another person arrived.
The person was also a woman, wearing a straw raincoat and a bamboo hat.
The "fairy" hesitated for a moment, then followed the other person. The two talked for a long time under the eaves of the dilapidated temple, but strangely, the beggar could see their mouths moving, but could not hear a sound.
Oh no, did I stumble upon something evil?
The beggar was so frightened that he dared not look at it again.
After an unknown amount of time, both of them disappeared without a trace.
Shen Tang was disappointed: [Didn't you see which way they went?]
They must have entered the city.
Shen Tang asked curiously, "Are you so sure?"
[A member of the gang in the city saw her. He said he saw a person floating in the rain that day, and the rain seemed to have come to mind and would actively avoid people. He was afraid he had encountered a ghost.] The beggar asked about it and found that it was the same person as the "fairy" he had met in the dilapidated temple.
There are no further clues at the moment, so we can only follow the trail.
With the help of the "Beggars' Sect," she actually made some progress.
However, the person with the eyebrows was not Tan Ting, but the man in the straw raincoat and bamboo hat who had met and chatted with Tan Ting that day. It is said that this person lived in the next county and ran a teahouse. He was also one of the few people who were willing to hire members of the "Beggar Clan" to run errands for a fee. He was a very good person.
Shen Tang asked where the teahouse was and set off to find it.
The rainy season has begun, with several days of continuous drizzle followed by two days of heavy downpour. The humid air is so damp it can make you feel limp. The soil underfoot is filthy, but in the distance, patches of green stretch out, perfectly illustrating the saying "the grass looks green from afar, but is barely visible up close."
Shen Tang walked through the mud in his wooden clogs.
They asked around as they walked.
We're closed for the day. Please come back tomorrow.
A languid female voice came from the corner.
Shen Tang looked over, a hint of surprise appearing in her eyes.
_(:3」∠)_
On the first day of February, I'll take a break from updating.
Think about how to get back to the story with Madam Shen.
P.S.: If this were a game world, I feel like Madam Shen would be an NPC who runs teahouses everywhere...
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