The Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty, Chapter 47: The Idiot Eunuch and Kidnapped Girl

The Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty. 《成化十四年》Chengnian Shisi Nian
The Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty, Chapter 47: The Idiot Eunuch and Kidnapped Girl

Since it was new year Tang Fan followed Sui Zhou to the Sui Family to pay his respects to Sui Zhou's parents, and then to the Zhou Family next door to pay his respects to Old Mrs. Zhou.

Old Mrs. Zhou's son and his family had returned to Beijing, and the house was bustling with activity. People like Old Mrs. Zhou, who was like old people, liked to see their children and grandchildren in the house, he even praised Tang Fan, who he had already met, and I introduced him to Sui Zhou's uncle and his family.

When he came out from the Zhou Family, A-Dong who received several New Year's coins and asked Tang Fan, "Which house are we going to next?"

Tang Fan looked askance, "Where do you want to go to collect your money?"

A-Dong, not ashamed of being poked in the face, spat out her tongue and said, "Yeah, you'd better get it for me!"

Tang Fan hit her mercilessly: "Don't think about it, I only have one sister in Xianghe County, nowadays it's not good to bother people for New Year's, there are no other relatives in the capital, just go home and eat dumplings! Besides, I'll give away as much as you want, so it's no different!"

A-Dong laughed, "It's different, what Big Brother gifted out is Big Brother's, what I received is mine!"

Tang Fan laughed and scolded, "Well, you little heartless bastard, I love you so much in vain!"

He knew that A-Dong didn't think that way, he was just used to fighting with her for fun. Even though A-Dong was in charge, she had learned to write and keep accounts, but she had saved some of Tang Fan's miserable salary every month to prepare for her future marriage.

Of course, Tang Fan was also prepared to set aside some dowry for her, but in any case, we all had the same thoughts for each other, so there was no need to divide them so clearly, otherwise, we wouldn't be a family.

After that, he took A-Dong with him and went to Pan Bin's house to pay his respects to Pan Bin, but he was told that Pan Bin was also going to pay his respects to a government official, so Tang Fan saved himself the trouble and went back to his house.

These days, except for the important bosses who need to go to pay their respects, it's customary to send New Year's messages to old friends and colleagues.

It's just that there are too many people, sometimes they go to this house, but not that one, we'd have to be more generous to each other, if they all went to the same house, they wouldn't be able to pay their respects by the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, so they would send their servants directly to each house to write their names and one or two words of blessing on the post.

Of course, there are not many people who don't give anything away, like Tang Fan, who doesn't have a servant to go to the house himself, so he'd have to break his leg, so he just doesn't have to give anything away, and when the New Year's Eve is over, we can go to a restaurant sometime.

That's why a man like Tang Fan likes New Year's Day so much, he's still a low ranking official, he doesn't have to go through so much red tape, and he's not a fat official in an important government office, no one will come to give him gifts during the holidays, so it saves him a lot of trouble, he can sleep for four days from the second to the fifth day of the first year, and it's only after the first three days of the day that A-Dong stands by his bedside and holds his ear to get him up.

But it wasn't so good after the sixth day of the first month, and from the sixth to the tenth day of the first month, he had to face a lot of bureaucratic duties again.

It's a holiday that doesn't make sense... think about it they are meant to rest for eleven days but they start working on the fifth day of the first month... and then the eleventh day of the first lunar month they lose everything and go on another holiday... and before he's recovered from his New Year's rest... he's looking forward to the New Year's Eve holiday... and he's not really into working.

The Shuntian Prefecture was a place where there were no new events, and the dust accumulated in the past. Tang Fan, who was not in a hurry to get things done in a few days, was always organized, he let Du Jiang sort many things according to their priorities, what to do first, what to do later, he knows everything by heart.

And so it was... the Lantern Festival holiday again.

A-Dong was so happy because the most important festival of the year was the winter solstice, the most reunited festival was the New Year, but the most lively one was the Lantern Festival.

The Lantern Market in the capital is famous for its colorful lanterns that line the streets... the fire trees, the silver flowers, the star bridge, the iron locks... it's the only day of the year when the whole city goes out to enjoy the lanterns... whether it's a lady who doesn't leave the front door or a woman who is a virtuous woman they all go out to enjoy the lanterns, that's when the whole city goes out, all the streets are empty. That's why A-Dong was so excited.





On the eleventh day of the first lunar month, when the officials were on holiday, the Lantern Market was started by the Chamber of Commerce of the capital to do business during the Lantern Festival, but when there was a lot of people, there was inevitably chaos and the government had to be sent out to inspect the city.

But who would want to be out on business while people are having fun? The Shuntian Prefecture. The Five Cities Military Department Even the Jinyiwei and other departments were all blaming each other and were unwilling to take up such duties. Later, there was a trampling death during the festival, and the government ordered it. Every year at this time, each department was to send out a few patrolling men, and the department in charge rotated every year.

This year, the Five Cities Military Department is in charge and the Shuntian Prefecture and the Jinyiwei are to send helpers, the Shuntian Prefecture, and the Jinyiwei, and Sui Zhou is in charge of Jinyiwei's affairs.

He was promoted to the rank of Deputy Commander Qianhu for his work on the Huang Jinglong case where the man used the death sentence to cover up for his crimes, and now he's a man who has risen to the top, he didn't feel much of it himself, Xue Bing and the others at the bottom were very happy, they only felt that they were following a boss with a bright future.

Sui Zhou may not be a talker, but that doesn't mean he doesn't understand the world. Before the festival, he even invited Xue Bing and his men to a promotion dinner.

But he couldn't follow Tang Fan and his men out today because he had to assist in the security patrol for the Lantern Festival.

Tang Fan and A-Dong came out to see the lanterns and the crowd almost broke up the two of them. A-Dong was young and had never seen anything in the world before, but she was so excited to see the crowd.Tang Fan was holding her hand tightly, I was afraid they would get separated.

From ancient times to the present, human traffickers are not uncommon, and they like to prey on beautiful women and children, no matter how famous your family is, if you fall into the hands of a human trafficker, you'll have to do as you're told. There were cases of royalty being abducted in the former Song Dynasty, but in the Ming Dynasty, there were still a lot of missing people every year, some of them were sold into youth houses, some were sold as slaves, and their lives were ruined, and their fate was tragic.

Little chubby girls like A-Dong were one of the main targets of the traffickers.

They wandered around the market for a while and guessed the riddle again. Tang Fan won the riddle and the boss was so black that he left in a hurry. A-Dong was already covered with the spoils of his riddle - a lantern in her hand, a bracelet in her hand, silk flowers on her head, and trinkets in her arms.

The two of them were tired of shopping so they decided to sit down and rest and have something to eat.

Coincidentally, Tang Fan's usual wontons stand was still open today, and the owner and his wife seemed to be busy trying to make some more money during the Lantern Festival.

But as a regular customer, Tang Fan was able to get an extra table, and the owner complimented A-Dong and served them two bowls of wontons and two oil cakes.

"Brother, we'll do the riddle later!" A-Dong had just watched the other people there, but Tang Fan had guessed one after another, with a look of pride on his face.

Tang Fan laughed bitterly: "Still going? You didn't see the look on the boss's face as if he was going to swallow me up and leave the others to live!

A-Dong said, "Then go to another stall and guess, he's not the only one.

Tang Fan echoed, "Yeah? Then I'll go check it out later..."

He'd just taken a sip of soup and looked up when he saw a man walking by not far in front of him, half a sip of soup in his mouth barely spilling out, and then it came up his nose and was tearing his heart out.

A-Dong slapped him on the back, and said, "How old are you to be choking on something you're eating?"

Tang Fan couldn't wait to laugh, his mind still dwelling on the shock he'd just experienced.

Oh, my God, what the hell did he just do?

Tang Fan was distracted from eating a wonton because of what happened.

With A-Dong by his side, he couldn't leave her behind to catch up, and with a quick glance, he was quickly lost in the crowd. Tang Fan would have thought it was a hallucination if he wasn't sure he wasn't seeing things.

Once A-Dong had finished with the wontons, the two men headed in the direction of the inn.

There were a lot of people on the road, so Tang Fan took an alleyway to avoid the crowd, which was farther, but a little faster if it was unobstructed.

Maybe all the people in the alley were out to see the lights, but no one liked to take a long way as much as Tang Fan did. When they turned into the alley, it was so quiet that it was like two worlds away.

A-Dong, who usually had no heart or lungs, was getting frightened and took Tang Fan's hand before she could say anything.

"Brother..."

"What's wrong?"

The little girl wanted to say something again: "You say it's so dark here, will there be ghosts?"

Tang Fan laughed: "How can it be dark? The end of the alley is the main road..."

Before the word "yes" could be heard, he was suddenly tapped on the shoulder from behind!

Even if Tang Fan didn't have a ghost in his heart, it scared the boss.

He seemed to feel his body shake, and the little girl consciously looked back.




"Oh, my God, there's a ghost!" A-Dong screamed in terror.

Tang Fan also turned his head violently.

Behind him, just a stone's throw away stood a man with eyes that stared at them both.

At first glance, it made one's hair stand on end.

But Tang Da-ren was a Confucian student who believed in silence and was just a little shocked by the sudden change of events, and quickly took A-Dong's hand and took two quick steps back, looking at him without any intention of attacking him, Tang Fan looked at A-Dong for a few moments, only then did his heart slowly return to its original position.

"Eunuch Wang, what are you singing about? Even if you don't like me, you don't have to do it yourself and skare me!" He's not very nice.

Anyone who gets tapped on the shoulder in an alleyway at night is not going to sound good.

"Come with me." Wang Zhi's voice was muffled and a little low, not unlike usual, as if he had deliberately kept his voice low to hide his identity.

After saying this, he turned around and walked towards the front.

Tang Fan was too late to think about it, so he hastily followed with A-Dong.

As the head of the Criminal Investigation Department, Wang Zhi knew all the roads in and out of the capital like the back of his hand, even better than Tang Fan. He led them around the streets, from the small roads to the big roads, the big roads to the small roads, and deliberately picked the farthest roads, so he almost knocked Tang Fan out before he finally reached his destination.

Just now, Tang Fan said that he would bring A-Dong to the back of the building.

But Wang Zhi didn't enter the building, but the Xianyun Pavilion behind it, which is a private room with a familiar path and no need for anyone to guide him. Tang Fan guessed that Wang Zhi had booked that room all the time so that he could do something private and convenient like this.

Of course, Tang Fan didn't know what Wang Zhi was up to.

When he entered the private room, Eunuch Wang untied his hood and cloak and tossed it to the side, revealing a look of relief.




He let out a long breath, "It's f.ucking boring!"

Tang Fan looked at him silently.

Wang Zhi said, "What are you looking at me for!"

Tang Fan said, "If I'm not mistaken, Eunuch Wang should be at Datong at this time?"

Wang Zhi said, "Not bad, but I'm back again by His Majesty's secret order, but now there are two more of you besides my inner circle who knows of me coming back, if my whereabouts are leaked, then it will definitely be related to you."

Tang Fan rolled his eyes: "I'm so wrong, you're just hanging out in the street, and it's not weird to be recognized in public!"

Wang Zhi let out a cry: "You think I'm thinking, I'm doing it for..."

Tang Fan stopped him: "Since you came back on a secret order, I won't listen to it. The more you know the secret, the sooner you die!”

Wang Zhi, regardless of this, "It's late, you have to listen to it. Recently there was another report that there was a suspicious figure on the hill, and after a long search, His Majesty called me back, and in my haste to get my men back to investigate in a few days' time, I came across another incident, it's just that it's raining all night long, bad luck!"

He waited for half a while, but Tang Fan didn't respond and said, "Why don't you ask me what happened?"

Tang Fan was helpless: "I don't even want to know, but you still have to say it, even if I don't ask, you will say it."

Wang Zhi said slowly, "Zhu Yong's youngest daughter has disappeared along with Squire Geng's grandson."

Tang Fan sighed and said, "When was that?"

Wang Zhi said, Wang Zhi said, "Tonight, I just found out about it and I haven't had time to report it to His Majesty yet, but even if His Majesty knew about it, he would probably let us find it quickly. Now Zhu Yong is the deputy commander of the Northern Expedition and is fighting on the front line, and his middle-aged daughter, who he treats like a jewel, and he would not want to fight if he knew about it, but we must find her as soon as possible.".

Tang Fan nodded his head to make it clear.

During festivals, when the capital is full of families, the number of missing people increases dramatically.

The human traffickers often take advantage of this time and once there are more people, it's much harder to find them, because these days are the days when the curfew is lifted and once the human traffickers leave the city, it's like finding a needle in a haystack. But then again, even if the traffickers don't leave the city, with the whole of Beijing, even the Jinyiwei, the Western and Eastern Depots, it's hard to make sure that every corner is searched for, and many children are left with their families forever.

But now that the hands of human traffickers have reached out to the families of imperial officials, it's unbearable that if they can't be found, and if word spreads that the Western and Eastern Depots and the Jinyiwei are still in the business and things like these are happening, they'll become a mere showcase for their annual salaries, rather than going home to their families.

Of course, the emperor is also suspicious of this: you can't even find someone to help me with something bigger?

That's why Wang Zhi must be taken seriously, both in public and private.

He's been wandering the streets to look for the thieves himself, and the Western Depot's sons have been laid out without a trace, mingled with the crowds, pretending to be ordinary people, and when he sees any sign of children being taken, he'll track them down, and he'll hunt them all down.

It's a good idea, but Lord Wang and his men have been wandering the streets for half an hour and haven't noticed anything yet.




This shows that these thieves are very vigilant and not sure if they'll get away with it or not.

Tang Fan asked, "If you need the Shuntian Prefecture's help, please let Eunuch Wang know."

Wang Zhi skimmed his lips: "No need, the Jinyiwei, and the Eastern Depot are already out, can you, the Shuntian Prefecture, cover the other parts?"

Tang Fan was supposed to ask, "I wonder how the war is going on at the front?"

Wang Zhi showed his face a little bit: " Wang Yue and Zhu Yong are both military experts, with them, you don't need to worry too much, after half a month, you'll get a good report."

Tang Fan also let go of his worried heart: "That's good. With this report, the Tartars won't be able to get away with it for a while."

Wang Zhi scoffed, "It's no good, I can't go to the mountain if the mountain doesn't come to me. We'll have a chance, so we'll take advantage of the victory and fight one more big battle!"

Tang Fan reminded him: "The Tartars are good at guerrilla wars, the cavalry is tough, so please be careful, Eunuch Wang, and if you do, I'm afraid the Chinese side will have a problem."

Wang Zhi said, "I have my own rules."

Tang Fan, stop talking, Wang Zhi, ring the bell and the dishes will come up one after another.

The staff of Xianyun has seen many scenes that can't be told and now they see Wang Zhi, who should have been on the front line, sitting here, as if he is dumb and looks at the nose and the heart. He only thinks that Eunuch Wang is transparent, he serves the food and leaves without stopping for a moment.

Tang Fan couldn't help but say, " Eunuch Wang, be careful since you don't want to reveal your whereabouts, it's better to go back early."

Wang Zhi smiled at him and suddenly asked him a strange question: "You had dinner at the front of the Xianwei restaurant on the 6th of last month, right?"

Tang Fan froze for a moment and then felt a chill rise upon his body.

He wanted to ask Wang Zhi if he had sent someone here to spy on him, but when he thought a little deeper, he burst out another sentence: "Do you run the inn?"

Just as expected, Wang Zhi laughed: " Tang Runqing is not bad, the Western Depot is also one of the owners of this restaurant."

Tang Fan raised an eyebrow: "One of?"

Wang Zhi nodded: "The Xianwei Restaurant was originally a business of the Zhejiang Chamber of Commerce, and then the Western Depot also invested in it.

Tang Fan didn't know why he had to tell himself about it, but he only smiled bitterly when he heard it: "I think I won't dare to come over for dinner next time, or you'll know it clearly even after a few trips to the toilet here."

Eunuch Wang said, "I don't do bad things in life. I'm not afraid of ghosts knocking at my door at night."

Tang Fan said, "Well, don't, if I molest a songstress here and she's a spy for the Western Depot, I'll be in for the long haul!"

Wang Zhi (made a kindly laugh): "You just think about these worthless people all day long, no wonder you can't even get promoted to an official position now!”

Tang Fan couldn't help but say, "At my age, I'm already very good at the Lower Sixth Rank. Who can hold the Western Depot like you, without the weak crown?

Wang Zhi is a man who likes to be praised by others, but when he heard Tang Fan's kind words, he didn't look smug, but sighed.

Tang Fan was a bit strange, but Wang Zhi didn't say anything and he didn't ask too much, so he apologized and left the table.

When he came back, he found that A-Dong, who was sitting there eating food, had disappeared!

But Wang Zhi was still sitting there, eating wine and food in his spare time.

" Where's A-Dong?" Tang Fan asked busily.

"I had to let her run some errands." Wang Zhi brought the food into her mouth, put down her chopsticks, took the warm paw that was just brought up and wiped her mouth.

Tang Fan frowned: " A-Dong is just a little girl, what can she do for Eunuch Wang? Eunuch Wang, don't joke, please tell her where she went, I'll go find her."

Wang Zhi said, "What am I joking with you? The best way is to go deeper into the tiger's lair, A-Dong, she's a smart girl, I said she'd be the bait, and she agreed. If this case is solved, I'll be sure to give you a big credit."

Tang Fan was furious and forced to hold back his words, saying, "A-Dong is my sister, not bait for anyone!"

Wang Zhi said nonchalantly, "You don't have to worry, I let her wander around in the crowd, pretending to be the lost child of the elders if there is no accident, the traffickers will definitely get at her, the Western Depot has eyes and ears everywhere, I've also got people following her, if there is any movement, we can keep track of it at any time, then we will be able to dig out their lair."

He looked at Tang Fan and forced himself to hold back his anger and laughed: "Your sister knows more about things than you do. I told her that if this is done, you can get a promotion, and she immediately agreed to do it.”

Tang Fan was so distraught and angry that he didn't even bother to say a word to him, he just dropped the words "I'll go find her" and got up and left.

"Stop!" Wang Zhi gulped, "She's not in any danger, don't you spook my catch!"

Tang Fan said coldly, "A-Dong may not be my own sister, but I love her as my own sister, Eunuch Wang. Just imagine, if your sister was trafficked as bait, would you still be calm if I told you not to worry?"

Wang Zhi raised an eyebrow: "This Lord doesn't have a sister and can't answer your question, but I've already said that she'll be fine with the Western Depot's people following her."

Tang Fan asked, "How can you do anything right? There's a big difference between not dying and not losing your arms and legs."

Wang Zhi didn't say anything. Of course, he couldn't make that promise.

Tang Fan, as the Shuntian Prefecture's chief officer, had seen many cases of women and children being abducted and trafficked, and those who were lucky enough to be recovered either lost their innocence or were sold as slaves to the brothels, but in any case, they were beaten severely.

Besides, A-Dong's disguise is not strong enough to be found, and the traffickers are always on the run. If A-Dong is on the inside, A-Dong's life will be in danger.






At this time, one of the Western Depot's men came in from outside the private room and said to Wang Zhi, "Depot commander... We've lost her."


- The Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty -



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