Man Tang Huacai

Chapter 233 The Secret House

A lantern swayed, and through the dark and long alley, the front suddenly became clear.

Xue Bai originally thought this place would be a dilapidated place, but it was not. Instead, there was a neat house in front of him, with light inside.

"Come on, let's go to the side door."

Ren Mulan blew out the candles and beckoned Xue Bai to follow her along the wall. When she reached a small door, she tapped the ring with her fingers and put it in her mouth and whistled.

After a while, a kid in green clothes and a green hat opened the door.

"Is Sister Apo here?"

"She can't come over now, you can come back later."

The child said and immediately closed the door.

Ren Mulan sat down on the ground and said, "Just wait."

Xue Bai said: "Can I enter through the gate?"

Ren Mulan was stunned for a moment, scratched her head and said, "I have never entered through the gate."

……

The door knocker knocked three times, and another boy in green clothes behind the door opened the door. Without asking any questions, he led Xue Bai to the veranda. Soon a middle-aged man came over and asked with a smile: "Mr. Lang wants to buy someone. Or staying overnight?"

"All of them."

"This way please."

This place is not luxurious, and it is far inferior to the style of Chang'an Nanqu. It has a philistine atmosphere.

The middle-aged man who led the way saw that Xue Bai had extraordinary vision and said with a smile: "Master, don't underestimate us. Some of the famous prostitutes from Chang'an, Luoyang and Yangzhou also come from us."

"Oh?"

"We have courtesans who cost thousands of gold for a drinking tour; we also have courtesans who can spend the night for twenty gold. It all depends on how much money the husband brings."

"How is that different from Nu Ya Xing in Nan City?"

"Slave Yaxing, as the name suggests, is a place of low status for slaves. It's different here. What matters is the word 'good and clean'."

While talking, Xue Bai was led into a pavilion and sat down. There was a bead curtain hanging in front of the pavilion. Through the bead curtain, he could see women lined up on the stage in front of him.

"Master, please."

"There's no show? No more drinks?"

"I saw that my husband is from Jingzhao, and I must be tired of watching the performance. Here, officials and businessmen traveling from north to south, if they want to take a few attendants with them on the road, they just buy..."

At this point, a fat figure walked past the corridor and said calmly: "I want those thirty, and they will be sent to my boat tomorrow morning."

Xue Bai then realized that this was actually where the Nuya Langs purchased goods.

However, Tang law did not prohibit the slave trade, so there was no need to be so secretive.

He thought for a while and suddenly understood how Xue Ling and Liu Xiangjun's sixth son was lost, so he asked in a low voice: "Are there any daughters of officials who were robbed and sold?"

The other party hesitated for a moment, looked at Xue Bai, and began to pay attention to his identity.

Xue Bai looked at him calmly and asked, "No? What's the accommodation like?"

"The accommodation is not here, sir, come with me."

The middle-aged man originally looked at Xue Bai's demeanor and thought he would be a noble family member who could buy dozens of slaves in one go. He was a little disappointed when he heard this and took Xue Bai to the backyard.

If we just talk about prostitution, the business here is not booming. It is not as cheap as the flesh and blood business on the dock, and it is not as elegant as the singing and dancing in the pavilion.

Xue Bai was walking on the path, turned around and saw a large group of girls of different ages being herded together, but he couldn't understand the language they spoke. He then stopped and walked a few steps over there. He saw them wearing braids and jewelry made of bones, and some of them were wearing boots.

It can be seen from their boots that they are not the aliens from the south, nor are they like the orchids from the Western Regions with their high eyebrows and deep eyes.

"Khitan, Xiren?"

"Want to try something new, sir? According to the rules here, the unbudded ones are only sold, not prostituted."

"That's it, let's go."

Xue Bai was taken to a wing, and the other party brought twenty girls at a time for him to choose from. When it came to the third batch, Ren Mulan secretly reminded Xue Bai, and he kept Sister Abo for a while.

Jiang Hai withdrew and guarded outside.

"Sister Apo, don't be afraid." Ren Mulan said, "This is the new county captain. He is as good a person as Wang County Lieutenant. He may be able to save you."

Xue Bai had already asked Ren Mulan on the way. Sister Apo's name was Yibo. She was also an orphan who drifted down the waves of Yishui. Therefore, she took Yishui as her surname and was sold here in the nursing home.

Yibo looks young, not very handsome, and does not have any amorous looks.

She hasn't been trained well yet. She doesn't make money like a prostitute, and she doesn't have to show off her smiles to customers. She only has vigilance in her eyes.

"I heard that Wang Yi escaped from Ji?"

"No."

Yibo shook his head and indicated with his eyes that Ren Mulan could not trust anyone easily.

Xue Bai said: "I am here to investigate the murder case of Wang Yanxiang according to the emperor's order. If you know anything, you can tell me."

"I do not know anything."

Seeing her like this, Xue Bai stopped asking any more questions, pushed the door open and went out, asking someone to call the steward here, intending to buy Yibo out.

But she refused to leave, shook her head and said, "If I want to leave, I will only go with Di'er and the others."

"Who is that?"

Ren Mulan said: "They were sold from the nursing home together with Sister Apo. There must be six or seven of them. If Sister Apo leaves, we will choose one of them to sleep with the man."

Xue Bai said: "Let her go with me first, and I will arrange for someone to check this place."

"No." Yibo said firmly, "I can only go with them."

In fact, Xue Bairuo must redeem her. No matter how determined she is, it will be useless. However, he recruited Jiang Hai and inquired about the price. Yibo was cheap, only 10,000 yuan, and the other six people, ranging from 30,000 to 50,000 yuan. , a total of two hundred and sixty guan, and his monthly salary now is less than ten guan.

"You go back and ask Madam Liu for the money."

Jiang Hai shook his head and said, "Alang, why don't you come back tomorrow? It's too dangerous for you to stay here."

"It doesn't matter, you go ahead."

"I can't leave Alang here alone."

"As long as I'm here, go quickly." Ren Mulan said, "I will protect the county captain."

"I'm afraid the county captain will still protect you."

"Ha, I am Qu Shuai after all."

In fact, Jiang Hai left in a hurry and came back less than an hour later, and Xue Bai was safe and sound during the process.

Those people in Yanshi County are very smart, and they are obviously not in a hurry to get rid of Xue Bai. Even with Wang Yanxiang, they gave him three years of patience. If there had not been the assassination case in Lishan, they might have been able to let him die slowly and decently.

They are all decent people, and as long as there is still room, it won't be too ugly.

Even Xue Bai didn't always keep 260,000 coins at home. Jiang Hai also brought a lot of gold and silverware, silk, and pepper to buy slaves, and reluctantly handed over the money to replace Xue Bai. A pledge was drawn on the deed.

"Xu Shande, is this your name?"

After taking the deed, Jiang Hai rolled his eyes and looked at the middle-aged man in front of him, and asked.

"The name is not worth mentioning, it's just me."

"I got it."

Jiang Hai grinned and took the deed into his arms.

In less than an hour, these people made two hundred and sixty dollars through no-cost trading, and he felt heartbroken. It should be noted that back then, he sold his body, which was more than six feet tall, to the corpse-strewn battlefield in Longyou with only a small amount of money.

"Eating dog intestines, what's the difference between eating dog intestines and robbing the county captain's money openly?"

~~

Because Xue Bai now lives in a private house to the east of the county office, Guo Huan specially named this area "Kuxingfang" to honor the name of the number one scholar.

Thinking about it, if Xue Bai didn't find trouble with them, he would be able to live a very comfortable life as Yan Shiwei.

That night, he took several young girls back to the house in Kuixingfang, and soon alerted the servants and maids that Lu Linghao had arranged to take care of him.

"County Lieutenant, did this slave do something wrong? Did the County Lieutenant buy the slave girl overnight to replace us?"

"Is that okay? Then you can go back."

This sentence frightened these Lu family servants and changed their expressions in horror. They knelt down and begged for mercy. If they went back like this, they would definitely be severely punished.

Not wanting to leave, but insisting on talking to Xue Bai, he let them kneel and let Liu Xiangjun watch, while he took Yibo to the backyard for questioning.

"I thank the county lieutenant for saving my life. I will work like a cow or a horse..."

"There is no need to say these words. Get up and let me ask you, are there any children of officials who were robbed and sold in that house?"

"It's rare, but it should be there."

"How do you know?"

Yibo responded: "I heard the people in the kitchen boast that they have cooked even the dishes for women with five surnames. It seems that thieves occasionally rob the country, and they can sell these daughters of nobles for sky-high prices."

"It's true that he is the number one scholar in his field."

Xue Bai sneered, his eyes showing consideration.

After a while, he started to ask about Wang Yi.

"I can only say this if the county captain swears to God that he will never harm Brother Ayi."

"Ok."

Compared to Yibo, Ren Mulan seemed to trust Xue Bai a little too easily.

Seeing Xue Bai swearing to heaven, Yibo started to speak.

"After Wang County Lieutenant took office, he would sometimes bring Brother Ayi to the nursing home. He said that the government had given us at least ten hectares of farmland for the rehabilitation. He wanted us to eat well and learn a craft to make a living. Brother Ayi often came here. He taught us how to read and told us that I was talented in calligraphy and could work as a copyist in front of Xingfu Temple in the future. Pen'er was the most flexible and could walk hundreds of feet to perform. In the Tang Dynasty, there was a way out if you had skills..."

"Later one time, Wang County Lieutenant asked me where Sister Qin'er and the others had gone. I said that they fell in love with Liangjiazi and married outside. He said that was not true, and asked me what the house behind Xingfu Temple was like. Yes, I said I didn’t know. Not long after, Captain Wang fell ill. A few months later, I was sold there. We call it the secret house..."

"It wasn't until July 15th, the night of the Ghost Festival, that I saw Lieutenant Wang Xian in the dark house. He dressed up as a merchant and went to the dark house. He told Manager Xu that he wanted to buy a Khitan maid, but he didn't look at it. To me, that was the last time I saw him..."

"A few days later, Mulan came to me with brother Ayi and said that Wang County Lieutenant had been killed and brother Ayi was seriously injured. Li Saner sent people all over the city to look for brother Ayi and asked me if I could I couldn't think of a way to hide him, so I hid him in the firewood shed of the secret house and raised him like this for a while. Brother Ayi said that he could rescue me, but he needed to hand the evidence to Fu Yin, and he had to go Luoyang..."

"At that time, several people from Luoyang bought a group of slaves, and Lu Huan was among them. She had also been favored by Wang County Lieutenant in the past, so I asked her to find a way to rescue Brother Ayi to Luoyang. We hid him in the pretend Under the bed of the carriage with the goods, he followed Green Ring to Luoyang the next day, and I never saw him again after that..."

After hearing this, Xue Bai asked: "Did he say anything? What is the evidence?"

"It seems that there are two copies, one is for the county to occupy people's fields and oppress the people, and the other is the account book for smuggling by the county magistrate Gao Chong."

"Gao Chong? Where has he been all this time?"

"I don't know. Brother Ayi didn't understand the smuggling account book either. It was all code words. But Wang County Lieutenant looked at the numbers and said that was the only serious crime that the court would not tolerate. Maybe it was the theft of the Taifu treasure."

Xue Bai thought about it and suddenly thought of a past incident that Wu Huaishi once said.

These officials from Henan Prefecture all had contact with one person.

"Where's the evidence?"

Yibo shook his head and said: "I haven't seen him either. It's not on Brother Ayi. He should be hiding in a secret place."

Xue Bai asked: "Who was the green ring sold to?"

"I only know that they are from a wealthy family in Luoyang. The other party didn't even send a manager. Guo Erlang came to select them personally. He selected thirty people, all of whom had to be the most docile and beautiful. They said they were sent to a New villa."

"New villa? Do you know which building it is?"

"I don't know."

"Are there any records in the secret house?"

"It must have been in the warehouse, or the truck drivers who sent it there knew about it."

~~

After asking Yibo, Xue Bai gradually sorted out his clues.

Corruption in Henan Prefecture and Yanshi County is certain, but there are probably some advance preparations for rebellion by Fan Yang, such as selling prisoners of war, trophies, smuggling... Some officials were involved in this process, and some were not.

The county magistrate Gao Chong must be a key figure. His adopted brother Gao Shang is now the Secretary of Pinglu and is An Lushan's confidant.

But these speculations are useless. Zhang Jiuling and Wang Zhongsi have long said that An Lushan has a counter-phase. Xue Bai needs to see the account book in Wang Yi's hand to know exactly what those people did and how many officials were involved. in.

But where is Wang Yi hiding?

~~

The next day, night, Luoyang City.

Du Jin wrote a reply to Xue Bai with a pen under candlelight.

During this trip to Luoyang, she transferred a lot of workers from Chang'an. However, in recent days, she has felt that things are much more troublesome than expected, and the manpower has begun to be stretched.

The door was pushed open, and cold wind blew in.

Du Wei quickly closed the door and said, "Master asked me again. If I don't tell you where Wulang went, I'm afraid I won't be able to hide it."

"What's the use of telling grandpa? He will only be anxious."

"I can't hide it anymore. With Wu Lang's temperament, how could he leave Yun Niang behind and go out for many days without saying a word?"

"Says he's working for A Bai."

"Then we should take Yun Niang to Yanshi."

"Keep it a secret." Du Jin took Du Mei's hand, patted it gently, and said, "Sister, don't worry, I'm sure Wu Lang was taken away by Wang Yi, and Wang Yi will not harm him."

Du Wei asked: "Tell me the truth, Wang Yi will not harm him, what about Zhou Mian?"

"Mian Zhou did send a lot of people to search." Du Jin said, "But I promise, he won't find them earlier than me."

"What did Xue Lang say? Did he receive a letter today? I haven't seen Quanfu come back."

"Quanfu is injured."

"Then Xue..."

"It's okay. Ah Bai didn't hurt even a single hair on his head, don't worry. However, this shows that those people want to kill Wang Yi, so Wang Yi refuses to show up easily." Du Jin said in a deep voice: "What Ah Bai means is , we have to do something to gain Wang Yi’s trust.”

"Do something?"

"Sister, let's take a look."

Du Jin handed over Xue Bai's letter and asked Du Jin to look at it and murmured to herself: "We want to set up another bureau, but we don't have a suitable name yet."

"Green ring?"

Du Wei murmured: "Is Lu Huan the maid who saved Wang Yi?"

"what happened?"

"I seem to have heard of this name."

"Because this is the most common name for a maid."

Du Wei shook her head, finally remembered, and said, "I heard from my uncle that Gongsun asked Luoyang Ling for a maidservant at the banquet, which is Luhuan."

"Aunt Gongsun? Why does she want to ask for the maid's green ring?"

The two sisters looked at each other, and Du Jin stood up immediately and said, "I have to go see Aunt Gongsun..."

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(End of this chapter)