Chapter 299: Nearly Botched the Mission [Many Thanks for Everyone's Support!]

Bianjing

Kaifeng Prefecture Yamen

Inside a spacious hall, it was dim and cold,

winter sunlight streaming in through a row of small windows on the wall,

by which light one could still see numerous corpses covered with cloth sheets arranged on tables and on the floor within the hall.

Some of the cloth sheets were lifted,

and a clerk inside Kaifeng Prefecture, holding a fine brush, was sketching their appearances.

After finishing the sketch, the clerk handed the paper to a colleague who had been transferred over,

while the corpse was lifted onto a table,

beside which a coroner from Kaifeng Prefecture, covering his mouth and nose with a piece of cloth, wearing a leather apron and sleeve guards on his arms,

examined it carefully before stating:

"Male, approximately thirty years of age, strong build, tall stature. Thick calluses on the palms."

Not far from this coroner, another colleague dressed similarly was speaking while performing the same operations:

"Throat pierced by an arrow..."

"Blunt force trauma..."

"Arrow wounds..."

"This person's shoe soles are heavily stained with horse manure; suspected to have visited the horse market."

"Scent of incense and candles on the body; suspected to have long resided in a temple or Daoist monastery."

The transferred Kaifeng Prefecture clerk, forcibly suppressing his discomfort and exhaling a cloud of white breath, quickly wrote on the paper bearing the portrait.

Inside the main hall of Kaifeng Prefecture,

Gu Lin sat behind a desk,

while below the hall, rows of capable constables and Yamen runners from Bianjing stood at attention,

and soon an official hurried in, handing a stack of papers to Gu Lin, the Prefect of Kaifeng.

Gu Lin glanced at the written descriptions, which had already been sorted by level of detail; nodding in approval, he began assigning tasks.

Very quickly,

Li Li Mubai, holding a portrait in his hand, exited the prefectural yamen,

and looking at the subordinates surrounding him, he said:

"Let's go; first we'll visit the painter and have him make several more copies before anything else."

There were very many constable captains and Yamen runners who had accepted such assignments.

As they spoke, the various constable captains and Yamen runners rapidly dispersed in all directions, some on horseback, others riding donkeys.

Stepping out of a familiar painting and calligraphy shop,

Li Li Mubai distributed the still-ink-scented portraits among his subordinates and said:

"You two, distribute these portraits to our contacts in the military patrol stations and among the well-informed idle helpers; have them assist in posting these and making inquiries!"

"Pay special attention to those who went out as early as the Yin hour this morning!"

"Once you are done or have any news, come find us at the temple near the Clear Breeze Tower."

"Lads, work hard; if you can uncover the identity of even one thief, there is a reward of one hundred strings of cash!"

Hearing this, everyone smiled, clasped their hands, and replied:

"Yes, Captain Li!"

That day at noon,

the common people of Bianjing felt that suddenly there were far more Yamen runners and soldiers on the streets,

who not only conducted detailed inspections of guest registers at various inns and lodging houses,

but also did not spare neighbors who had taken in relatives or tenants, questioning them meticulously about departure times.

Furthermore, many idle helpers were no longer lounging in warm wine towers but were instead carrying portraits everywhere, inquiring about information on certain individuals.

This scene aroused great curiosity among the citizens of Bianjing; although some managed to inquire a little, they only learned that Marquis Marquis Yongyi's Hou Fu on Quyuan Street had suffered a burglary.

Around the end of the Wei hour (3:00 PM),

imperial nobles and officials who had finished their duties within the government offices were already returning home,

and upon arriving home, they could not avoid being questioned thoroughly by their principal wives and concubines,

with some households even having stewards and elderly nannies sent by relatives waiting there to gather news.

However, the only people who truly knew the details inside Marquis Marquis Yongyi's Hou Fu were those from the Imperial City Bureau,

along with perhaps a very few high-ranking officials of Great Zhou responsible for negotiations with Bai Gao; the rest of the court officials had mostly only heard the Emperor of Great Zhou talking to himself.

At the beginning of the You hour (5:00 PM)

on Pan Lou Main Street,

inside the Qiyun Tower connected to the Pan Lou Flying Bridge,

several young scions, including Lü Zhang Sanlang of the Duke of Ling's family recuperating from injuries at home, Han Han Wulang Han Han Chengyun of the Duke of Han's family, Sha Bo, the heir of Marquis Zhongshan Marquis, and Wei Wei Faqi of Fu'an Marquis, held beauties in their arms and raised their wine cups,

listening to the words of the legitimate son of the Yu family, who was not yet old, sitting opposite them: "I heard it clearly from my father and mother; what Your Majesty said was indeed that the feudal kings have been treated far too generously!"

The three scions from noble families exchanged glances, their eyes filled with thoughtful consideration.

"Only a few of the Wang Fu would have the audacity to cause trouble at Marquis Marquis Yongyi's Hou Fu at such a time."

Han Han Wulang, looking at Yu Yuan Erlang, whose face was flushing red as he was attended by female musicians, smiled and asked: "Yuan Erlang, do you know what kind of trouble was caused at the Xu family's residence?"

Yu Yuan Erlang shook his head, pushed away the wine cup offered to his lips by a female musician, and said: "Brother Han Wu, I do not know."

Han Han Chengyun smiled, exchanged a glance with the others, and said: "It is eighty percent likely they were after the Xu family's dragon steed; previously, the Wang Shizi of Yong Wang wanted to buy it with money."

The noble sons of other families nodded.

Yu Yuan Erlang hurriedly asked, "Is Xu Hou currently under attack? Before, Prince Yan met with trouble. How dare those few do such a thing?"

"Moreover, I heard that the Long Ju is a gift from the Emperor."

Han Han Wulang said:

"Those few are of the Huangshi Sect. Taking out their anger on a beast, at worst they will be reprimanded and forced to pay compensation; what else can be done?"

"You must know, the Wang Shizi of Yong Wang had an arm crippled, and the Wang Shizi of Jing Wang had an arm severed."

"Within Bianjing, one must always show one's claws and fangs, otherwise one will be seen as easy to bully."

Wei Wei Xiaoniang raised his cup and said, "Han Wulang speaks with great insight!"

Then Wei Wei Xiaoniang looked at Yu Yuan Erlang and said, "Yuan Erlang, when you were in Xiangzhou before, you did not see the Hou Fu of Duke Qi and the Hou Fu of Marquis Xiangyang display their strength; the relatives of Noble Consort Rong were nearly beheaded."

Yu Yuan Erlang opened his eyes wide,

and this look of having never seen the world made everyone present laugh.

"In the future, Yuan Erlang, gather with us a few more often; rest assured, all expenses will be covered by your older brothers."

Hearing Han Han Wulang's words, Yu Yuan Erlang hurriedly clasped his hands in gratitude.

At this moment, a young servant from the Yu family at the entrance walked in and whispered something to Yu Yuan Erlang.

Yu Yuan Erlang listened, glanced at the noble sons present with his eyes; after the servant finished speaking, he stood aside.

Yu Yuan Erlang clasped his hands and said, "Forgive us, older brothers; my grandfather knows I have come out, and has now sent someone to summon me."

"Yuan Erlang, go ahead!"

After Yu Yuan Erlang left his seat, the sons of several families exchanged glances,

"Go, call the musicians in; we shall not return until we are drunk!"

Later,

a piece of news quickly spread throughout Bianjing:

Several Wang Shizi from the Wang Fu were arrogant and overbearing, acting with reckless audacity; because they fought to take revenge on Xu family's Han Wulang, and were even jealous of his possession of several Long Ju, they sent people to cause trouble and stir up incidents,

but they alarmed the Xu family guards, who treated them as bandits and killed them.

Some wealthy households and Squire in Bianjing who heard this news scoffed and asked, "What are the Constables and Yamen Runners on the streets busy with now?"

The person spreading the news paused, then said, "Naturally, they must be busy, to give Hou Fu face!"

"This was heard from the mouths of several Yannei; how could it be wrong!"

Upon hearing this, those who were puzzled gave up.

On the second day,

this news spread even wider, and also reached the ears of storytellers and zaju performers in the Washe,

and somehow a script was fabricated titled 'Xu Hou beheaded an enemy general on the northern battlefield, and Bai Gao sent a thousand-li horse from the Dangxiang'.

While the discussion of this matter in Bianjing was at its most lively,

a zaju poster bearing this name was posted,

which attracted quite a few common people of Bianjing who wanted to go see it.

On the third day

Jiying Lane

the Sheng family

a Xu family carriage drove into the main gate,

but there was no host like Wang Wang Ruofu to welcome them,

after the carriage stopped, Seeing Seeing Qingcao alone walked down carrying a bamboo basket.

Shou'an Hall

the Old Lady sat cross-legged on the Luo Han bed,

the tortoise shell in her hand made a clattering sound as she shook it,

not far from the Old Lady, Cui Mama was preparing soup tea,

at this moment, Fang Mama, holding a handkerchief, walked in from outside with her head bowed; seeing the Old Lady's gaze turn toward her, Fang Mama smiled and said:

"It is Seeing Qingcao, the maid of Brother Jing, who has come; she says she wishes to ask Wei Wei Xiaoniang about embroidery techniques and has specially come to see me."

The Old Lady stopped shaking her hand and said, "Let this girl come in; this old woman has something to ask her."

Fang Mama was stunned, then hurriedly agreed.

Minglan, who was practicing calligraphy in the inner room, poked her head out from the doorway.

The Old Lady said, "Ming'er, continue practicing calligraphy; you are not allowed to come out!"

Minglan pouted slightly: "Oh!"

Although she rolled her eyes and asked:

"Grandmother, I have always had a question I wish to ask you."

"Speak!"

"Grandmother, are you practicing Guan Pu?"

Hearing Minglan's question, Cui Mama beside her let out a snort of laughter.

The Old Lady was stunned, looking at Xiao Xiao Xiaotao, who was looking at her with equal curiosity,

the Old Lady smiled and pointed at Minglan, saying, "This old woman is practicing Liu Yao divination; what is Guan Pu?"

Minglan and Xiao Xiao Xiaotao exchanged a glance and said, "I just knew it wasn't."

Xiao Xiao Xiaotao said nothing; after hesitating for a while, she nodded.

At this moment,

Seeing Qingcao also followed behind Mother Fang into the main hall.

The Old Lady waved her hand at Minglan and her servant, signaling them to come in.

Seeing Qingcao walked to the center of the hall, bowed, and said, "Greetings, Old Lady. May you be blessed with peace and longevity."

The Old Lady beckoned, "Come, come before this old woman."

Seeing Qingcao approached the Old Lady, who examined her closely a few times before slightly lifting her chin.

Mother Cui put down her work and went to stand outside the main hall.

Mother Fang brought an embroidered stool over for Seeing Qingcao.

"Girl Seeing Qingcao, what happened at Hou Fu the day before yesterday?"

"My son said Hou Fu was robbed by thieves?"

"Don't speak yet. Know that your Young Master never lies before this old woman!"

Seeing Qingcao lowered her head, looking at the patterns on the Old Lady's clothes, and pressed her lips together.

The Old Lady continued to sit cross-legged, tilting her head to the side, looking at Seeing Qingcao's downcast face:

"Hmm?"

The Old Lady straightened up and said:

"Ah, you and the other two young maids took turns accompanying Brother Jing to the racetrack this morning. Since you are able to come to my house today, could it be that you were by his side the day before yesterday?"

Seeing Qingcao looked up at the Old Lady in surprise, then slowly nodded.

"What exactly happened? Is it really as the outside world says, that Hou Fu was robbed by thieves?"

Seeing Qingcao pressed her lips together and nodded again.

The Old Lady bent forward, looking at the turtle shell on the table, and asked in confusion, "Where did these thieves come from, daring to cause trouble at Hou Fu!"

Seeing Qingcao spoke in a low voice, "Brother Li, who lives in the manor, said they came from the Bai Gao Kingdom."

The Old Lady froze, frowning and squinting as she looked at Seeing Qingcao, "Girl Seeing Qingcao, what did you say? The Bai Gao Kingdom?"

Seeing Qingcao: "Mm."

"Hiss!!! This..."

The Old Lady straightened up again, her expression serious, her eyes full of contemplation.

Then the Old Lady shook her head and said:

"It shouldn't be for my nephew commanding troops in the north, but for... the former member of the Bai Gao Sect's royal family living at Hou Fu?"

"How many thieves went?"

Seeing Qingcao shook her head and said:

"This servant didn't see, but the Young Master told me to hide inside the room. However, I heard the Young Master's bowstring snap more than ten times! And the sound of weapons clashing."

The Old Lady sighed:

"There must have been many! Very well, girl, tell me everything you know."

Seeing Qingcao still did not sit, speaking in a low voice beside the Old Lady:

"This morning, the Young Master and I arrived at the racetrack... after retrieving items from the warehouse, this servant did not return."

After hearing Seeing Qingcao finish, the Old Lady finally let out a long breath:

"It was truly too dangerous!"

"With such an incident occurring, someone must have been negligent!"

Seeing Qingcao nodded and said:

"Yes! I heard Brother Brother Qingyun, who is by the Young Master's side, say that a chief official from the Imperial City Bureau came personally."

The Old Lady nodded:

"Mm! Go, I will have someone take you to find Miss Wei Wei Xiaoniang!"

Seeing Seeing Qingcao's hesitant expression, the Old Lady said:

"What, do you have something to say?"

"This servant wishes to ask for Miss Xiao Xiao Xiaotao..."

The Old Lady lifted her chin toward the inner room, "Go call her."

"Yes, Old Lady."

Outside Shou'an Hall,

Seeing Qingcao, carrying a bamboo basket and with little Xiao Xiao Xiaotao following behind, walked behind Minglan toward Jin'an Zhai.

Quickly,

the three arrived at the courtyard,

Minglan bounced and shouted, "A-Wei Xiaoniang! Wei Xiaoniang! I'm back!"

The cotton curtain at the door was lifted,

Sister Sister Xiaodie smiled and held up a finger to her lips:

"Shh shh! Sixth Miss, Brother Zhen is sleeping!"

Minglan immediately covered her mouth and hurriedly nodded.

Sister Sister Xiaodie glanced around in surprise, "Seeing Qingcao? Why have you come?"

Seeing Qingcao behind her smiled and bowed, "Sister Sister Xiaodie!"

"Come in, quickly, come in all of you!"

Minglan took Xiao Xiao Xiaotao to the bedside behind the screen to look at her younger brother,

while Seeing Qingcao approached Wei Wei Shuyi, who was sitting before the embroidery frame, and bowed, "Greetings, Miss Wei Xiaoniang!"

"Miss Seeing Qingcao, sit!"

After Seeing Qingcao took her seat, she looked up at the smiling Wei Wei Shuyi and unconsciously began to smile herself.

"Looking at you, you've grown quite a bit taller than when you were in Yang Zhou!"

"Thank you, Wei Xiaoniang, for the compliment; after all, it has been nearly two years. This is something I embroidered in the estate; please, Wei Xiaoniang, offer your guidance."

Wei Wei Shuyi smiled as she accepted Seeing Qingcao's work and examined it closely.

Seeing Qingcao, meanwhile, smiled and glanced around Wei Wei Shuyi's room, then, looking at the plum blossoms by the window, said, "Wei Xiaoniang, these plum blossoms have grown much taller and sturdier."

Wei Wei Shuyi lifted her head and gave Seeing Qingcao a smiling glance.

Looking at the Buddhist, Confucian, and Taoist scrolls hanging in Wei Wei Shuyi's room, Seeing Qingcao pressed her lips together and raised an eyebrow.

Holding Seeing Qingcao's embroidery in her hands, Wei Wei Shuyi carefully discussed some techniques with her.

"Wei Xiaoniang, I wish to embroider a picture of the estate's fine horse for the Young Master; how do you think I should go about embroidering it?"

Hearing this, Wei Wei Shuyi's eyes lit up as she said, "Then do you have a portrait of that black colt?"

"Yes, yes! Miss Xu Anmei from our family painted this."

Speaking thus, Seeing Qingcao took a scroll painting from her bamboo basket, untied the string, and displayed the portrait of the black colt.

As a noble lady of the Hou Fu, although Xu Anmei's painting skills could not be called master-level, she had studied for many years, and even in elegant gatherings for exchanging fragrant robes and refining painting techniques, she had received guidance from renowned masters.

The black colt she had painted was quite excellent.

Looking at the painting with eyes full of approval, Wei Wei Shuyi then explained to Seeing Qingcao in detail how to embroider it:

"For the area between this horse's eyes, perhaps light-colored silk thread could be used."

"For the butterfly in this corner, red could be used..."

The Jin'an Studio where Wei Wei Shuyi currently resided was, in terms of general location, in the same place as Minglan's later Muchang Studio.

It was not far from Shou'an Hall and was also very close to one of the side gates of the Sheng family estate.

When it was quiet at night, if someone spoke loudly outside the gate, the sound could be heard throughout this courtyard.

Just then, a hawker's cry came from outside the courtyard: "Silk thread for sale~ Silk thread even better than the Li family's!"

Startled, Seeing Qingcao said, "Wei Xiaoniang, let me go see what silk threads they have."

Sister Sister Xiaodie, standing nearby, pressed her back onto the stool and laughed:

"Seeing Qingcao, what color silk thread do you need? Wei Xiaoniang has every color here, and they were all bought from the Li family's needlework shop!"

A flash of anxiety passed through Seeing Qingcao's eyes.

Wei Wei Shuyi looked at Seeing Qingcao, and as thoughts raced through her mind, she said, "Sister Xiaodie, did you check clearly? Let me see; I recall we are missing one color."

Sister Sister Xiaodie was also startled: "Wei Xiaoniang, shall we not take a look for you?"

Wei Wei Shuyi went to the drawer and rummaged through the silk threads inside, saying:

"Miss Seeing Qingcao, I am also missing one color of pink silk thread; why don't you and Sister Xiaodie go out and take a look, and if you find some, buy it for me."

Seeing Qingcao immediately nodded with a smile and said, "Xiao Xiaotao, let's go, let's go take a look!"

"Sister Seeing Qingcao, you are going to look at silk threads? I want to go too!"

Hearing Minglan's words, Seeing Qingcao looked toward Wei Wei Shuyi.

Wei Wei Shuyi nodded: "Put on your clothes properly!"

Minglan held Sister Sister Xiaodie's hand and walked in front.

Seeing Qingcao held Xiao Xiao Xiaotao's hand and walked behind.

The group of four soon arrived at the Sheng family's side gate; listening to the hawker's cries from outside,

the four young ladies smiled slightly.

The young servant guarding the side gate saw the four of them, and especially upon seeing Minglan and Seeing Qingcao, hurriedly bowed:

"Greetings, Sixth Young Lady."

"Greetings, Miss Seeing Qingcao."

"Troubling you; please buy yourself some hot soup to eat."

Speaking thus, Seeing Qingcao took out a string of ten copper coins threaded on a red cord and placed them into the young servant's hand.

"Thank you, Miss Seeing Qingcao, for your consideration."

As he spoke, the young servant opened the side gate and stepped outside.

Sister Sister Xiaodie and Minglan walked out first.

Outside the gate,

Watching Zhao Taifeng, dressed as a Bianjing peddler, saw the Sheng family's side gate open and strove to keep himself calm as he looked over.

In his hand, he tightly gripped a black hat.

However, after looking at the beautiful Sister Sister Xiaodie and the fair, plump Minglan,

he sighed softly in his heart: It is not them!

As a top-tier spy, his memory was still quite good!

He remembered the appearances of his daughter and son-in-law very clearly; these two young ladies bore no resemblance to them whatsoever.

However, having seen countless people, he could tell that although this little girl was currently fair and plump, she would most likely become an outstanding beauty once she slimmed down in the future!

Thinking these thoughts, Watching Zhao Taifeng called out, "Two young ladies, come take a look."

Before his voice had even faded, Seeing Qingcao, holding little Xiao Xiaotao's hand from behind, stepped over the threshold and walked outward.

Watching Zhao Taifeng's gaze freeze upon seeing Xiao Xiaotao, he reacted with lightning speed, flicking the hat toward Seeing Qingcao and Xiao Xiaotao.

Seeing the hat coming toward her and bouncing once on the ground, Seeing Qingcao was about to crouch down to help pick it up,

but the little Xiao Xiaotao beside her shivered suddenly for no apparent reason.

Seeing Qingcao hurriedly looked at little Xiao Xiaotao: "Xiao Xiaotao, what's wrong? Are you cold?"

Little Xiao Xiaotao shook her head in confusion and said, "I don't know why, but I just feel a bit afraid."

Watching Zhao Taifeng look at Xiao Xiao Xiaotao, feeling the intimacy born of blood ties, and then seeing the slightly protruding front teeth revealed when Xiao Xiao Xiaotao smiled at Seeing Seeing Qingcao to signal that all was well,

he licked his own.

Recalling what his junior brother had told him about the deeds once committed by the bandits who ambushed his son-in-law, he already knew the answer in his heart.

Xiao Xiao Xiaotao walked closer,

and looking at the peddler's appearance, she blinked and looked again and again.

Watching Zhao Taifeng observe Xiao Xiao Xiaotao's chubby figure, noting that her eyes showed no shrinkage or fear, and then seeing Minglan place a flower hair ornament upon Xiao Xiao Xiaotao's head,

hearing Xiao Xiao Xiaotao discuss what to buy for Wei Wei Xiaoniang,

he smiled faintly.

(End of Chapter)