Chapter 318: Can't Find the Criminal

After earning a bit more, it was almost enough to match what his trade caravan made on a single round trip.

"Speculating on silver really does make money," Wang Cong said. "I heard that back when the founding Emperor first issued treasure notes, some people used the method of exchanging treasure notes for actual silver to make quite a fortune. Too bad treasure notes aren't worth anything now, or I could have a go at it too."

Pan Yun: "Play around and you'll end up inside."

"Back then, the value of treasure notes plummeted like a waterfall. One reason was that the imperial court just printed them willy-nilly like a halfwit; the other was that speculators used treasure notes to siphon off huge amounts of silver and copper coins from the common folk and the court alike."

Old Zhu had never liked merchants to begin with, and after that incident he liked them even less.

His dislike showed up in every aspect of policy. For merchants under heaven, it meant the early ones grabbed the bargains and the late ones paid the price.

The imperial court loathes this kind of silver speculation. Someone like Wang Cong, with no backing, if someone fixed their eyes on him, they could find an excuse in a heartbeat and have his property confiscated.

Wang Cong: "I was just muttering to myself. An opportunity like this only comes once in all these years. I bet it won't be long before the price of silver drops."

The rise in silver prices, for now, hasn't had much impact on the common folk. After all, not many people under heaven use silver, fewer still notice this change, and even fewer will actually put up money to speculate on silver.

So Wang Cong stood out quite a bit in Guangxin Prefecture. Not only did the owners of the money shops notice him, but the owners of the restaurants, taverns, teahouses, and silk shops where he'd traded in copper coins all started paying attention to him too.

Because the amount of copper coins he'd collected was truly enormous — just looking at it, he seemed very well-off.

Wang Cong said: "I've looked into it. Silver prices rose for two reasons. First, the southwest campaign suffered a setback — I heard a silver mine in the southwest was blown in and can't be mined for at least two years. Second, the silver mines reopened this year in Min and Zhe aren't producing well; the silver they turned over was less than a hundred taels."

Pan Yun choked on her own saliva, eyes wide. "How much did they turn over?"

Wang Cong lowered his voice: "I don't know the exact figure, but word from the money shop says it's less than a hundred taels. I hear the young Emperor in Jingcheng is furious — it's just that New Year is almost here so he hasn't blown up yet. Once the holiday's over, Zhe and Min are in for trouble. The young Emperor will definitely send an imperial inspector to investigate the silver mines."

It was none of her business, so Pan Yun happily munched on her melon, clicking her tongue. "They're really something, aren't they? Holding a silver mine and turning over less than a hundred taels — if I were the young Emperor, I'd go mad too."

Wang Cong: "I figure that, to smooth the young Emperor's fury, they'll try to bring silver prices back down soon. If the price of silver affects the price of goods, the Emperor will only get angrier."

Pan Yun shot Wang Cong a glance. "You don't know the officials, landlords, and merchants around Zhe and Min well enough. Who have they ever been afraid of? I bet you they won't control it — they'll even let silver prices keep climbing!"

Wang Cong: "But silver prices have already dropped these past two days."

Precisely because they had dropped, he had made his move.

Pan Yun said meaningfully: "Check again in a few days."

His little martial uncle looked plenty smart, so Wang Cong decided to convert the rest of his copper coins into silver. "In business you can seize the moment, but you can't stick your neck out — the arrow that pokes out is the one that gets shot. We'll stop this deal right here."

Pan Yun, who had been about to advise him to pull back, swallowed her counsel and praised him instead: "No wonder you've been in business all these years without striking it rich or taking a loss, and you've kept Mount Sanqing running so neatly."

Wang Cong smiled proudly, counted out five hundred taels in banknotes, and handed them to Pan Yun. "Little martial uncle, added to what we have, this should cover the temple fair expenses, right?"

In a gravely disrespectful move, he patted the hat on Pan Yun's head, rubbed the stubble just sprouting from her scalp, and laughed: "Little martial uncle needn't worry herself over money matters. From my years of experience, when it comes to money, there's nothing I can't handle."

Pan Yun and Seeing Miao Zhen gazed at him with starry eyes, feeling that at this moment their senior nephew was tall and mighty, so they didn't mind him messing up her "hairstyle."

Pan Yun set her hat back in place, tucked the stubble out of sight, stood up, and said: "Even though we have the money, since the notice has been posted, we still have to do it. I refuse to believe I can't catch this man."

Wang Cong said: "A person isn't an object — he won't just stay in one place waiting for you to grab him. He runs. Especially a criminal. You don't even know if he's still in Guangxin Prefecture right now. How are you going to catch him?"

Wang Cong advised: "Maybe just forget it. Once I've offloaded the rest of the copper coins tomorrow, let's head home."

"I won't," Pan Yun said. "I'm going to the government office again to see if I can find any more leads. I refuse to believe I can't catch him."

Pan Yun took Seeing Miao Zhen to the government office.

The government office's constables saw the two of them and got a headache.

A constable captain asked irritably, "What are you two back for now?"

If he could beat them, he really would have thrown these two kids out.

Pan Yun asked, "Captain Zhou, any news on the lecher Hua Buliu?"

Captain Zhou: "…Pan Yun, do you really think if our government office had news of him, we wouldn't have caught him?"

He said: "Just because I can't beat you doesn't mean I can't beat that lecher Hua Buliu. And besides me, the government office has plenty of capable people."

"I'll tell you straight — the reason the government office put out a wanted notice on him is precisely because we can't find him. His disguise skills are terrifying; every time he shows up his face is different, so we can't track him down."

"Posting the notice means first finding the person, then bringing him in to face justice. Pan Yun, if you don't understand what posting a notice means, go back out to the bulletin board and read the instructions again."

Pan Yun: "In this vast sea of people, where am I supposed to find a criminal? Can you let me look at the case file? Let me learn more about this lecher Hua Buliu." Captain Zhou stared at her.

Pan Yun gazed at him with pleading eyes.

Captain Zhou drew a breath, then turned and led her to the records room, saying along the way: "You're not one of the bounty hunters we regularly work with. If your background weren't clean and your martial skills hadn't been certified by us, you wouldn't be allowed to see the case file."

Pan Yun nodded rapidly. "I know. Thank you, Captain Zhou. Once I catch him, I'll treat you to drinks."

Captain Zhou snorted, not taking it to heart.

Pan Yun's martial arts were strong — in fact, she and Seeing Miao Zhen could even cast divinations, skills other bounty hunters didn't have — but he didn't think the two of them could catch the criminal.

To catch a criminal, you first have to know how to investigate a case. These two were like kids playing house. If only they really couldn't beat them…

Thinking of how they'd "sparred" with them a couple days ago, Captain Zhou's shoulder still ached.

How had he never heard that the Sanqing Monastery was this formidable?

In the jianghu, the Sanqing Monastery had never been particularly prominent. Who would have thought disciples so young already had such skill?

What were the elders of the monastery thinking, letting children this young run loose outside? Did they have any idea they could hurt passersby?

Captain Zhou pulled down a Yijuanjuan Sect file and slapped it down in front of them with a snap. "Here — this is his file."

Pan Yun opened it. Five thin sheets of paper, barely any writing on them, not even enough to fill a single page, and at the bottom of each sheet was a small portrait — none of them looked alike.

!. Read

Captain Zhou said: "Right now five women have filed reports, but we suspect the victims number far more than five. These portraits were drawn from their descriptions — all blurry, yet all different."

Pan Yun studied the victim descriptions carefully and asked: "How do you know they're the same person?"

Captain Zhou pointed to the willow branch drawn in the lower-left corner. "This. Every victim's bedside had this left behind. And there are rumors in the jianghu about a man named Hua Buliu, who is ashamed of Liu Xiahui, considers him a hypocrite and heartless, a man who wasted women's affection — so he does the opposite of what Liu Xiahui did."

Pan Yun: "…So he goes around raping women? What kind of twisted logic is that?"

Captain Zhou said expressionlessly: "If I could understand it, little Daoist Pan, I'd either be on my way to catch him right now, or I'd already be in a cell."

Pan Yun committed the contents of all five sheets to memory, handed them casually to Seeing Miao Zhen, and asked: "Besides the drawing left at the bedside, did he leave anything else behind?"

Captain Zhou said expressionlessly: "The victims all said no."

Pan Yun said: "If he had left something behind, we might be able to divine his location from it…"

Constable Zhou: "Everything the government office currently has is all in the Juan Sect."

Pan Yun stared at him, thinking their government office was far too incompetent — such a big lecher, and yet this was all the information they had.

Just thinking that the five victims only had a thin five pages of records, Pan Yun felt hope was slim, so she asked: "Constable Zhou, does Guangxin Prefecture have any bounty for exterminating bandits? I feel like the mode of charging in, going on a rampage, then bringing back the head to collect the bounty suits me. This kind of meticulous investigation, tracking, and capture… doesn't really suit me."

Constable Zhou split his mouth open and grinned at her, and just as she raised a smile in return, he abruptly pulled it back, and said with a grave face: "No, our Guangxin Prefecture is prosperous and thriving, peaceful and friendly — how could there possibly be bandits?"

Pan Yun: …Fine, whatever you say it is, that's what it is.

There were bandits in Guangxin Prefecture, but the government office didn't post bounty notices, so even if she went and killed bandits, there'd be no reward money to collect.

Pan Yun turned her head and asked Seeing Miao Zhen, "Did you write it all down?"

Seeing Miao Zhen nodded. "Remembered it all."

"Then let's go." Pan Yun said to Constable Zhou: "Constable Zhou, we'll do our best to catch Hua Buliu. By the way, do you have any suggestions for us?"

"For example, when facing a criminal suspect like this, how do you usually catch the person?"

Constable Zhou stared at her for a long moment, then said: "Normally I wouldn't tell other people about this sort of thing, but you… ah, forget it. Considering you defeated me, I'll tell you — the method our government office most often uses to find a criminal like this is to lure the snake out of its hole."

After looking Seeing Miao Zhen and Pan Yun up and down, he shook his head. "Too bad, neither of you fits Hua Buliu's taste."

What Hua Buliu liked was young married women — especially newlywed young married women.

Pan Yun fell into thought.

Seeing Miao Zhen, seeing she wasn't moving, said: "The case file doesn't have any information on the victims."

Pan Yun: "I know, so I've decided to sneak back tonight, quietly find the victims' information, then quietly go take a look at her. Maybe I can find information about the other party from her."

Seeing Miao Zhen's eyes lit up, but her face remained perfectly solemn. "I'll keep watch for Little Xiao Shishu."

Although Pan Yun didn't need it, she still gave her an approving look.

See you tomorrow.

(End of chapter)