Chapter 113

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Protagonist:

Song Miao

Zhang Zheng walked over, saw Qin Jie's confidant, and laughed heartily, saying: "Why is it you? Zheng Yan is still on leave; asking him to return to the office to work—such a difficult task, does Qin Pan really refuse to go himself?"

He spoke only a few words, lightly sowing discord, causing that confidant to silently curse his luck, only able to say: "Qin Pan originally intended to come himself, but several places in Yingzhou sent replies, tying up his hands, so I, the subordinate, came first to report."

Zhang Zheng added: "What matter could compare to Zheng Yan's here? Aren't I busy with my own affairs, yet I came personally?"

After speaking, he did not entangle with that confidant, but went around him and walked straight toward Han Li, smiling: "Zheng Yan, we haven't had much dealings; this time I've come to invite you for something."

He explained the matter of searching for the source of the meat jerky to be carried out in the city.

"During the previous Lantern Festival case and gambling house case, you contributed greatly during the city searches. This time the scope is very broad, and this office lacks manpower, so I specially invite you to assist with coordinating the arrests and personnel arrangements."

He explained the matter clearly in two sentences, then added: "Qin Pan has already nodded in agreement, and Prefect Zheng is informed; it only depends on whether you can free your hands here."

Seeing Zhang Zheng speak so eloquently and with such an attitude, Qin Jie's confidant standing by felt his toes practically curl up in agony, wanting to signal Han Li, but he was too short and his position was poor, sweating anxiously.

——The letter hadn't even been opened, yet this Inspector Zhang used honeyed words; if he managed to sway Zheng Yan, how would he explain himself to Qin Pan upon returning to the office?

But to his surprise, and equally to Zhang Zheng's surprise, Han Li flatly refused, saying: "Thank you, Inspector Zhang, for the invitation, but Han is untalented and already has arrangements for tomorrow."

Zhang Zheng was stunned, then urged him again, mentioning rewards, then subsidies.

Han Li simply declined.

Zhang Zheng had no choice but to ask what urgent matter it was, saying he could easily discuss it with Taixue, and added: "If you have no urgent matter, could you postpone it? I'll speak to the Right Courtyard to get you several more days of leave!"

After speaking, seeing Han Li's expression freeze, he knew there was an opening and immediately seized the opportunity, saying: "You originally had a few days of leave?"

Han Li had not yet spoken when that confidant beside him immediately interjected: "Official Qin arranged five days for him."

Selling out his master's field without a pang of heartache, Zhang Zheng blurted: "You help me out, and I'll speak to Prefect Zheng and Qin Pan to add five more days, making a full ten days of leave!"

Han Li had been waiting for exactly this sentence.

He acted with his sharpness fully exposed, but regarding regulations, he never wished to be that kind of maverick; getting leave wasn't hard, but getting a long leave in a proper and reasonable way without causing dissatisfaction above and below was.

Han Li hurried back to the Capital Prefecture Office; that small pot of Mountain Pit Snail Old Mother Chicken Soup ultimately went to Chen Fuzi and Cheng Zijian, with Xiao You also carrying a basket.

Late at night, rain poured unceasingly outside, while inside the room, fragrance wafted everywhere.

The three gathered around the table, each getting a bowl of fresh, sweet, rich soup, sharing the chicken meat, and finally sucking on the mountain pit snail meat, eating both comfortably and uncomfortably.

Chen Fuzi finished gnawing the chicken meat, drank the chicken soup down to the last drop, even sucked the juice from the last stone snail twice, and couldn't help cursing: "This Zheng Yan, in such a downpour, when did he go find that Song stall owner, not afraid of troubling others—how could he eat alone?!"

He added: "You only brought back this little bit, enough for who to eat?!"

Xiao You nodded his head countless times in his heart, but said aloud: "Late at night, Teacher cannot eat too much; a small bowl to moisten the intestines is enough..."

"My intestines are so long; this small bowl, where is it enough to moisten?!"

Cheng Zijian beside him plucked up courage and said softly: "Student Zijian, after moving into the dormitory, originally asked Song Xiaoniangzi to help arrange two days of banquets, one day for me to thank Brother Han alone, and another table to thank Teacher together with classmates; it was supposed to be these two days to send invitations, but now I'll say it verbally first—does Teacher have time to attend the feast?"

Just in March, Chen Fuzi didn't know how many literary gatherings and banquets he had refused, but upon hearing the four words "Song Xiaoniangzi," his throat immediately itched.

Coughing twice, Chen Fuzi said: "A group of students doesn't have many subsidies; forget it, I'll treat this meal—students inviting their teacher to a feast, no one dares to come, fearing a bad reputation; but if I invite, surely they'll all come!"

Cheng Zijian hurriedly waved his hands and thought of many refusal tactics, but he was just a naive fool; how could he withstand Chen Fuzi, an old fox? First saying to invite him after becoming an official, then saying not to decline an elder's gift, but in just a few words he was sent away.

After settling this meal, Chen Fuzi did not stop, adding: "Why do you want to invite Zheng Yan alone?"

Cheng Zijian hurriedly explained how Han Li had previously guided his writing.

Chen Fuzi had actually heard about this long ago; asking now naturally had deeper meaning.

He asked: "Zheng Yan is currently seconded to the Capital Prefecture Office; does he still have time to guide you?"

Cheng Zijian only said that once he had accumulated enough writings, Han Li would return once and help review them once.

"Are they all reviewed?"

"Originally they were to be reviewed tonight... Student already has the writings on his person, but who knew Brother Han would encounter an urgent matter..."

Chen Fuzi stroked his beard and laughed heartily, saying: "Zheng Yan is very busy; most likely he has no such leisure—bring your writings, and I, the old man, will correct them!"

Cheng Zijian was both surprised and delighted, hurriedly stood up to thank him.

Chen Fuzi said: "Don't rush to thank me; you want to invite him alone, presumably young people have something to say, so I won't join the fun; but since I corrected your writings this time, it also shares his burden, so for that banquet the day after tomorrow, please save me a portion and bring some food back?"

Cheng Zijian was completely bewildered, but his movements were faster than his brain; subconsciously he had already taken out that stack of oil-paper-wrapped writings from his pocket.

Xiao You, who had just finished sucking the stone snail and was wiping his hands, saw this and hurriedly swallowed the snail meat and that mouthful of fresh soup in his mouth, coughed once, and said: "So many, Teacher, how can you finish them all? Let me help too—just leave me half a portion of the food then!"

Song Miao had no idea that the table of food she hadn't even cooked yet had already made Cheng Zijian's practice writings so sought-after.

Early the next morning, she and Cheng Erniang as usual went out in the rain to set up their stall and deliver meals.

The rain had stopped for half the night last night, but started again heavily early this morning.

Sanzao County Alley's terrain was slightly higher, and the water had receded considerably, but Taoyuan Street leading to Taixue Food Lane was already flooded.

Song Miao's cart was half submerged; fortunately she had prepared in advance, placing a high bamboo rack on the cart board, so the dirty water did not touch the food.

Even so, one stove was also submerged; after returning, it had to be thoroughly washed and dried before use again.

Song Ji's losses were not considered great; some stalls in Food Lane were simply empty, with no one coming. The neighbor selling Mutton Offal Soup had already arrived at his spot, set up his stall, and only then discovered the soup pot lid was askew at some point, and water had gotten in.

Another stall selling Steamed Buns, because the water was deep when they came and they couldn't see the road clearly, hit a pothole, the cart tipped over, and an entire Bamboo Steamer of Meat Buns was ruined by the water.

A group of people stood here cursing, and some came to ask Song Miao; Song Miao had no choice but to join in cursing the thieving heavens.

But those who insisted on coming had one good thing: with many monks and little porridge, almost every household had long lines; soon, all the food prepared by the stalls was sold clean.

Song Miao's stall always sold the fastest, and today was no exception.

The students in line bought food and still didn't forget to advise her.

"The street is flooded; I heard several streets below are submerged. If it keeps raining like this, Stall Owner Song should rest for these few days!"

"Exactly, we can barely endure a few days of Canteen food—Song Xiaoniangzi, your safety is more important!"

"We can just go buy it ourselves at the door—why put up with the canteen!"

"What door? You think those fresh vegetables and meat are grown and raised by the young lady herself? You still have to buy them at the fangzi! Is setting up a stall unsafe, but buying things is safe?"

Everyone was talking all at once.

"Once the water recedes, Stall Owner Song, please make plenty more and make up for all these missed meals—when are we going to have lunch!"

"Lunch is too late, dinner will do too!"

With so many mouths, they kept bringing up old matters again and again, chattering away, one person saying a sentence after another, and Song Miao couldn't even reply.

She had already discussed with Cheng Erniang last night that she wouldn't set up her stall tomorrow and wouldn't take breakfast delivery orders anymore; she had meant to tell the students, but they had already thought of it themselves, so she hurriedly thanked them again and again, responding without stopping.

Once the food was sold out and the other orders had been mostly picked up, Cheng Zijian then hurriedly came to take his own breakfast.

As soon as he arrived, he first hurried to apologize to Song Miao for being late, and also thanked her—first for the good soup last night, second for her cooking skills.

"How could my writing possibly enter Master Chen's discerning eyes? If it weren't for Stall Owner Song's soup being so good, and the food before being delicious, arousing Master Chen's gluttonous craving, there definitely wouldn't be such good fortune—last night Xue Zheng You guided me until the third watch!"

He also hurriedly explained to Song Miao that Han Li's table wanted to order two more portions for takeout, and another table had a few more people than originally expected.

"Master Chen said he would treat for the latter table, and said the dishes should be left to Stall Owner Song to decide, no need for too much, no need for trouble, home-style dishes are enough."

As he spoke, he untied the heavy three strings of cash wrapped around his waist and said: "Master Chen gave this, tell Stall Owner Song to keep an eye on it, don't end up losing money on the labor."

Though it was called one table, with the students it was actually two tables, but even so, home-style dishes, two tables for three full strings of cash, was still extremely generous.

Every extra coin meant one more coin repaid, Song Miao was very happy, took the money, and asked about the time.

The date wasn't set yet; they still had to ask the teachers of each zhai and those students, but Cheng Zijian said once confirmed, he would come immediately to inform Song Miao.

Once everything was properly explained, Cheng Zijian, carrying the food, hurriedly said before leaving: "Last night Brother Han was taken away by people from the government office, said he might not return today, asked me to tell Stall Owner Song a word, and said if there's news, he'll send someone to deliver a letter."

Song Miao was stunned for a moment, didn't ask further, and nodded in agreement.

When she returned to Sanzao County Alley, only Xiao Lian was watching the house, and for a long time Cheng Erniang didn't come back.

Seeing the heavy rain outside, Song Miao was very worried, took rain gear, and was about to go out to look for someone; just as she reached the alley entrance, she saw Cheng Erniang pushing a cart carefully walking over.

She breathed a sigh of relief and hurriedly went up to ask.

Cheng Erniang, seeing Song Miao come to meet her, said urgently: "Nothing happened, it's just that there's too much standing water on the street; along the way I saw many people trip and fall, some with heads broken and blood flowing, very frightening, so I took a detour, but ended up getting lost; fortunately I asked people along the way and found my way back—why would you, young lady, come to meet me? If I had known, I would have walked faster!"

She also said: "Who knew the flooding in the capital was worse than our Fuzhou countryside; this time I've broadened my horizons!"

Back home, the two first cleaned the kitchen utensils and cooking tools, then tidied up a bit.

Once everything was done, Song Miao freed her hands and counted the household grain stores once.

The Song family previously had not a penny of savings; everything she earned was urgently used to pay off debts.

Fortunately, by the third month, there were many more delivery orders, Zhu Shi brought another wave of customers, Master Chen's meal at Jinming Pool brought in outside money, and there was also the silver Qin Zong and Han Li left with her, so she managed to save some silver.

When it rained during the Qingming Festival Festival Festival, seeing the weather and stars were not favorable, she took advantage of the still-low grain prices to store some commonly used durable grains, flour, beans, and rice at home; if she set up her stall, it would last a good while; if she didn't, just the three of them at home eating, even if three or five more were added, there would still be leftovers until next year, and she wasn't worried.

It was just that she still needed to buy some meat and vegetables, to be prepared for any need.

Seeing the rain outside showed no sign of lessening and the clouds were thick, Song Miao no longer waited, greeted Cheng Erniang, shouldered her basket, and prepared to go out to buy vegetables.

Cheng Erniang, however, was not reassured about Song Miao going alone; she hurriedly took rain gear, gave instructions to her daughter, and insisted on going along.

Indeed, there was standing water in many places on the road; the two took a detour, and when they reached the nearest vegetable stall, they learned it was already flooded and closed for the day, so they had to inquire again and head to the larger meat and vegetable stall further east.

Here Song Miao and Cheng Erniang searched around for open stalls; on the other side, in the Capital Prefecture Office, Han Li received a capital city map with various stall locations circled.

Zhang Zheng invited him to assist in coordinating matters; the focus was naturally not on the two words "coordinate," but on "assist."

Qin Jie could let him preside only because he was short of people, and having seen Han Li work, being bossed around by him, though there were occasional complaints and questions, in the end they basically did it without discount.

Zhang Zheng was different.

He himself had judges under him, and enough manpower; his subordinates were used to him, and seeing the two major cases in the Right Courtyard recently, they were all eager to make achievements.

Bringing Han Li in was first because they valued his ability to arrange the centralized integration and coordination of over a thousand people at once, and second to stimulate his subordinates, tighten their reins, so they wouldn't slack off.

After bringing the person back, Zhang Zheng convened his subordinates for a meeting, introduced Han Li, explained the task, then handed the person over to the Left Courtyard judge, telling him to make any requests directly to that judge.

Since Han Li had come, he couldn't be bothered with all that.

Because time was tight and there was no roster, he bluntly requested the source of the borrowed manpower, the mobilization time, the assembly method, etc., and also asked for the map of the locations that needed to be searched as a priority.

That judge naturally had no time to deal with such trivial matters and called a patrol inspector over to handle it.

The patrol inspector came once, arranged two minor clerks to fetch the required items, told the two to be at his disposal at any time, and left himself.

After finishing his research, Han Li asked how the few key areas to be searched were delineated, why all other stalls needed careful searching, but the southeast and northeast areas didn't.

The two minor clerks couldn't answer, so they had to go find the patrol inspector above them.

In the middle of the night, everyone in the Left Courtyard was busy, no one could sleep; the patrol inspector who was found had already been searching outside for two days, his sleep was fitful, and he was already full of anger; facing this borrowed outside aid Han Li, though he had heard of him early on and knew not to neglect him, he was still somewhat impatient.

Just a Taixue student, rumored to be incredibly skilled, but wasn't he just two eyes, one nose, one mouth—what's so great about him!

He said: "You just do your work; we arranged it this way for a reason; one or two sentences can't explain it clearly."

"What if we miss something crucial because of this?"

Hearing Han Li's question, he became even more irritable and said: "I already told you to just do your work; those places have already been cleared of suspicion; searching there would be a waste!"

Han Li didn't argue with him; two hours earlier than the time the judge had set, he had already arranged the manpower; indeed, based on manpower positions and situations in various places, he clearly arranged and explained who was responsible for delivering messages to which area, who was responsible for integrating information, who was responsible for which team, which team was responsible for which street, which areas, how long for a reply, how long to finish the search, how to make up for unfinished searches, why to do it this way, how this arrangement could save manpower and time, etc., all explained clearly.

He even explained what to do if useful clues were found, how to feedback, and how to re-examine.

The patrol inspector's attitude improved greatly all at once.

Han Li then circled several locations with a charcoal pencil and asked: "If I want to add these few places, and ask the patrol soldiers to search them carefully, can I or not?"

The patrol inspector leaned over to look, frowned, and said: "These few places have already been searched many times."

He also said: "You see that these places have returned clues from below, and think there's something missed to pick up, right?"

He smiled and said: "Is solving a case that simple? Places with clues, we would have searched first thing; short of digging three feet into the ground, we searched several more times later, and there was no problem; does it mean others search and can't find anything, but you come and find problems?"

Han Li asked: "Short of digging three feet into the ground means not digging three feet into the ground, isn't that right?"

He also said: "Since that's the case, later at noon when the shift changes, I will personally lead a team, taking advantage of the mealtime, to search those few places again—Patrol Inspector, any objections?"

The patrol inspector frowned and said: "You not eating and going to search is no problem, but surely others don't eat either?"

So when noon came, Han Li brought several Patrol Officers familiar from the Zhuque Gate Patrol Station, along with seven or eight Patrol Soldiers who had previously been borrowed to conduct searches and were already acquainted by sight; each would rather skip a meal than fail to follow him, and together they went up Ma Xing Street.

They first went to the slaughterhouse where Cheng Erniang had stayed.