Xiao Huang was young after all, and his constitution was strong. The high fever subsided the next day after taking the medicine, though he was still unwell and temporarily remained at the Kaifeng Prefecture to recover.
Once a street ruffian who couldn’t cut it in public, he had now become a hero. He couldn’t adapt to this sudden identity shift and wasn’t sure whether he was still feverish or just elated, feeling somewhat dizzy.
Xiao Huang felt quite embarrassed and impatient, struggling to get up and offer help.
Xie Yu personally came to visit him once, clearly stating that he had already rendered great assistance. Once he recovered, Xie Yu invited him to follow him.
Xiao Huang’s face turned red with excitement and he kowtowed to Xie Yu on the kang bed.
With these words, he had secured his future prospects, and his parents, siblings, and younger sister would now have support.
Ma Bing entered with medicine, exchanged a few words with Xie Yu, and the two quickly held hands briefly before Xie Yu left.
Xie Yu had recently become increasingly busy, rising early and sleeping late every day—busier than even the dogs kept at the entrance of the Kaifeng Prefecture.
Though he couldn’t continue interrogating members of the Prince Su lineage, he remained occupied, leaving the city to help General Sun and others investigate clues.
The missing girls were very likely once aboard that large ship. If they could be found, it would deliver a heavy blow to Prince Su.
Watching Xie Yu leave the herb garden, Ma Bing turned to Xiao Huang and said, “Come, drink your medicine.”
Xiao Huang hurriedly reached out to take it, saying, “How dare I trouble you?”
Seeing that he had been lost in thought just now, Ma Bing asked, “Homesick?”
Xiao Huang tossed his head back and drank all the medicine, scratching his head when he heard this, “A bit.”
After a pause, he added, “What do you think? Can they really find those girls?”
He had heard fragments of the case details. Thinking of his own younger sister who had just turned ten, he naturally empathized deeply.
His sister was also very pretty. If he hadn’t been so capable, and their parents were gone, would his sister end up the same way?
He dared not think about it.
Ma Bing nodded, “Yes.”
With so many government personnel mobilized, they certainly could find them.
But she didn’t tell Xiao Huang the whole truth:
They could definitely find them, but she couldn’t guarantee whether they’d be alive or dead.
If the situation weren’t urgent, the perpetrators wouldn’t have moved them in the middle of the night.
But moving live people wasn’t as convenient as moving corpses, right?
Desperate people do desperate things. At this point, those people committing any heinous acts wouldn’t be surprising.
Seeing Xiao Huang still looked worried, Ma Bing thought to herself that he truly was the worrying type and perhaps really suited for working at the yamen.
“Illness comes like a mountain collapsing, but leaves as slowly as pulling silk threads. Just endure it for now,” she said.
Xiao Huang’s face fell.
He was fine running errands or doing physical work, but there was one problem: he couldn’t stand being idle!
It made his whole body itch!
Trying to hide her smile, Ma Bing pulled out a copy of the “Three Character Classic,” saying, “I won’t let you be idle either. If you want to achieve great things, you must learn to read and write. Take advantage of this recovery period to memorize and master the ‘Three Hundred Classics’ thoroughly.”
Xiao Huang blushed.
If his family had had the means to send him to school when he was young, he wouldn’t have followed Gao Liurui so early.
Looking at the brand-new book cover, Xiao Huang hesitated, “I, can I really do this?”
In his view, studying was such a sacred and impressive thing. He was just a street ruffian by origin—could he really manage?
“There’s nothing in this world that can’t be done, only things people are unwilling to do,” Ma Bing said decisively, then goading him, “There’s even a girl younger than you who just started learning to read and write. She can already write her own name now.”
Teenagers are usually competitive. Sure enough, upon hearing this, Xiao Huang immediately agreed.
“I’ll study!”
Ma Bing started teaching him.
She would recite a sentence, and Xiao Huang would repeat it. At the end, they would go over it several times, then practice repeatedly using a talc pencil on a slate.
Not too much at once—just three characters a day to start. Once he had memorized them, he would learn three more the next day.
If he kept this up, he could learn over a thousand characters in a year, enough for basic reading and writing.
Xiao Huang understood how precious this opportunity was. And as Ma Bing had said, if he wanted to advance in the future and achieve great things, he couldn’t manage without literacy. Therefore, he studied diligently.
Watching Xiao Huang’s furrowed brow as he carefully wrote each stroke, Ma Bing felt very pleased.
People never know what they’re capable of unless they push themselves.
She had been rescued at age four by her adoptive parents and taken care of until she fully recovered at age six. During that time, she had lain in bed, memorizing prescriptions and identifying medicinal ingredients with her adoptive mother.
When she grew a little older, she followed her adoptive father into the mountains, learning martial arts, hunting…
Looking back, there hadn’t been a single day of rest.
It was exhausting and difficult—truly inhuman living conditions.
Especially after starting martial arts training, her hands and feet would blister every day, and skin would peel off in patches. Her adoptive parents were heartbroken, shedding tears while she cried from the pain, yet not one of them ever thought of stopping.
Their health was poor, and they were already old—they knew they wouldn’t live to see her grow up. Therefore, they had to teach her as many skills as possible in the shortest time possible.
Even if they died someday, even if she couldn’t avenge them, she could still survive well on her own.
Now, she indeed was living well.
Meanwhile, Xie Yu left the city to meet with General Sun and others.
There was no need to ask—the moment he saw General Sun’s long horse-like face filled with bitterness and resentment, he knew they hadn’t found anything.
The local people in this area were accustomed to trading, having seen many travelers from all over. They were very skilled at seeking profit and avoiding harm. Whether they had seen anything or not, they wouldn’t speak unless it directly concerned them.
General Sun was especially angry, thinking these stubborn civilians were truly despicable.
“They’re as slippery as eels, showing absolutely no respect for the authorities!”
Xie Yu looked around. Many citizens who were secretly watching quickly averted their eyes upon meeting his gaze, afraid to make eye contact.
Despite this, countless eyes still watched silently from hidden places.
Around the waterways and checkpoints lived many such lower-class people surviving in the cracks. They only wanted to make a living. For money, they would do anything—not limited to selling fake goods, running black-market inns, helping people sneak through checkpoints, hiding cargo, tax evasion…
During years of famine, men would even personally solicit customers for their wives, standing guard outside while business was conducted.
So-called laws, so-called dignity of the imperial court, were less persuasive than a bag of flour or a silver ingot.
These people were like shadows under sunlight—until the sun fell from the sky, the shadows would never disappear.
They were also like wild grass in wastelands. Even if one batch was cleared, as long as spring winds blew, another batch would sprout from somewhere unknown.
Many officials regarded them as garbage and filth generated within prosperous cities, avoiding them at all costs, not even giving them a second glance, let alone speaking politely when questioning them.
Xie Yu had never deliberately looked down on or excluded them before, but he hadn’t paid special attention either.
However, since his direct confrontation with Gao Laoliu, his thinking and approach to handling matters had gradually changed.
Cats have their paths, mice have theirs. Similarly, dealing with different people required corresponding methods.
One couldn’t burn a qin and boil a crane in front of refined guests, just as one couldn’t lecture local bullies about imperial laws and authority.
No one would buy it.
“Post notices and beat the gongs,” Xie Yu said calmly, “Ten taels of silver for effective clues; twenty taels for helping catch criminals…”
For these people, mere coercion was useless. The harder you pressed, the more they resisted.
Only temptation would work.
After hearing this, General Sun and others remained silent for a while.
After a long pause, he finally said dryly, “Young Marquis, you can’t make promises lightly! Which office will pay for this?”
It was almost the end of the year, time for accounting. All kinds of expenses were being tightened, and higher-ups might not approve.
Ten or twenty taels at once—did their monthly salaries even reach that?
Hearing this made him want to come forward and offer clues himself to get rich.
“I’ll pay,” Xie Yu said simply.
Reporting, getting approval, and disbursing funds—especially for uncertain amounts—would take at least half a month through official channels.
He couldn’t wait that long.
Those girls who might have been transferred probably couldn’t wait that long either.
Hearing this, General Sun immediately relaxed and became energetic, “Got it!”
He waved to his subordinates, “Hear that? Go get the gongs and start shouting!”
Xie Yu sent Huo Ping to fetch ready cash.
Compared to flimsy banknotes, shiny silver ingots were naturally more attractive.
Their dazzling gleam almost blinded people.
This time, without General Sun specially leading people to question, as soon as the small mountain of silver was placed outside, many citizens became restless, their eyes glued to it.
“Is this silver really for rewards?”
A middle-aged man whose age was hard to guess swallowed hard, asking with a trembling voice.
With this silver, he could pay off debts, buy dozens of acres of farmland, marry a big-hipped wife, and go home to have ten or eight healthy children…
Huo Ping tapped the silver ingot with his knife tip, producing a crisp sound, “Of course, if the clue proves useful.”
The man was so entranced by the clinking sound that he immediately gritted his teeth, turned around, and hurried away, “Alright, I’ll go look right now!”
The surrounding people whispered among themselves upon hearing this, and some, like that man, quickly ran off to find clues.
General Sun and others watched from behind, astonished.
Truly, money makes the ghost push the millstone. It turned out silver was so effective.
Look, those without clues now knew how to actively help find them.
“If we had known this earlier, we should have displayed mountains of gold and silver right from the beginning. Why go through all this trouble!”
His deputy muttered.
General Sun crossed his arms and looked at him, “Do you have silver?”
Deputy: “…”
No.
After a brief silence, someone dryly asked:
“Chief, if we find clues, do we get silver too?”
General Sun: “…”
Hmm, this point really deserved asking!
The power of silver was terrifying. Suddenly, many people came forward to offer clues, including quite a few trying to take advantage.
But Xie Yu and General Sun weren’t pushovers. By asking just a few follow-up questions about details, over ninety percent of the fraudsters revealed their lies, showing glaring inconsistencies.
General Sun flew into a rage, “What a despicable wretch, daring to mock your master. Come, seize them and give twenty strokes with the cane!”
With a loud clatter of the cane, a row of ruffians were beaten into howling in pain and unable to move beside the silver pile, instantly terrifying the remaining ten percent into kneeling in submission.
By evening, a woman in her thirties came running over.
Her face was dark red, her hands and feet rough and large. She tightly gripped her headscarf with calloused hands—clearly someone who had worked by the water for years.
“I, I have a clue!” She stared straight at the silver ingots and shouted.
Faced with repeated questioning from General Sun and others, she remained calm, but kept asking insistently—would they really give the silver?
Seeing this, everyone couldn’t help but feel some hope.
According to the woman, she made her living doing laundry and mending clothes.
“Women aren’t allowed on those big ships, and men don’t do this kind of work. When they come here, they have no choice but to hand everything over to us…” She recalled carefully, “These past few days have been especially busy. I couldn’t finish during the day, so I washed clothes by the river at night…”
That was three nights ago.
It was pitch dark, the moonlight hidden behind clouds.
The night was quiet, only the distant torches on Kaifeng’s city walls still burning, casting long reflections in the flowing river, forming an upside-down city within.
People on shore had already rested, and most boats on the river had extinguished their lights, only a few lantern strings hanging at the bow and stern softly glowing, casting hazy reflections in the water.
It was very cold. Alone by the river, the woman was washing clothes, occasionally raising her hands to warm them, quickly calculating how much money she could earn:
Two cash for washing one piece of clothing, twelve pieces in this basin meant twenty-four cash—enough for a catty of meat and more than a catty of flour…
She was deep in calculations when suddenly she heard faint splashing sounds from the river.
The moonlight wasn’t bright, and the river surface was dark. Looking out, she could hardly see anything.
She was very brave, thinking maybe a big fish had surfaced for air. If she could catch one, it would be extra income.
Who would have guessed that after a few breaths, her eyes gradually adjusting to the darkness, she slowly saw three small boats approaching.
They had no lights, ghost-like. The woman immediately became alert, instinctively hiding herself and her wooden basin deeper into the shadows.
Who would work during the day? Doing things secretly at night must be something unspeakable. If discovered, wouldn’t they kill her to silence her?
Soon, the small boats drew closer. The woman noticed they were riding low in the water, clearly carrying heavy loads.
After a while, two horse-drawn carriages arrived from the northeast. Several people disembarked from each, silently and quickly unloading and transferring unknown cargo from the small boats to the carriages.
“Did you see clearly what it was?” Xie Yu asked.
The woman shook her head, “Too dark. I dared not approach to look closely.”
“Could it possibly have been people?”
The woman hesitated, her eyes widening as she came to understand.
What, what did that mean?
Murder and robbery?
“No, no way?” Her voice involuntarily trembled, “They looked like small items. Wait, no, there were also several large trunks…”
The more she spoke, the less certain she became.
But if they really wanted to kill someone, wouldn’t throwing them into the river with stones tied to them be much cleaner? Why go through the trouble of transferring them ashore?
Xie Yu nodded, signaling her to continue.
The woman thought for a moment, “That’s all I saw. I was afraid of getting involved in something serious, so after the carriages and boats left, I quickly gathered my clothes and went home.”
“Did those two small boats come from that three-decked pleasure boat that was detained the day before? Had that boat gone anywhere or met with other vessels?” Xie Yu thought for a moment and asked several more detailed questions.
There was no way only Yu Yin and her servant were aboard that boat. If what was transferred from the small boats wasn’t people, then where were the people?
The woman said uncertainly, “Judging by the direction, it seemed like they might have come from that boat, but I didn’t see it with my own eyes… Actually, that boat has been around here for at least two or three years, sometimes present, sometimes absent. Locals are used to it.”
Two or three years…
“When it wasn’t here, did you know where it went?”
The woman frowned looking at him, “Well, that’s just one river. If it didn’t go into the city, then it must have headed south.”
Xie Yu: “…”
Indeed.
He had been too tired lately. Even simple questions seemed difficult to process.
He paid the silver to the woman publicly, then pinched his brow, closing his eyes in thought.
Horse-drawn carriages from the northeast…
Kaifeng had already been under lockdown at that time. If they really wanted to move the cargo, they probably wouldn’t risk entering the city. Therefore, these two carriages likely remained outside the city all along.
In other words, the transferred items were still outside the city!
Would they take them far away?
Unlikely.
Because according to what the woman just said, the boat had carried many items. Two carriages couldn’t even finish loading two small boats. Transferring them elsewhere would be highly conspicuous.
Hide them locally!
Realizing this, Xie Yu opened his eyes, “General Sun, please lead people to search the northeast area, especially rarely visited manors, and any houses in villages or towns that are rented or have long had no family members living there normally!”
When hiding things, either fewer people around was better, or more people—hiding in a bustling place might actually make detection less likely.
But there were still flaws:
Hiding items naturally required someone to guard them. Those people wouldn’t leave easily, so there wouldn’t be a family living normally.
Over time, neighbors would grow suspicious and ask questions.
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