MTL - Perfect Encounter-Chapter 26
Xie Gang asked again: "But what is the use of Li Xiu'er?"
"Boss Jiang is good at craftsmanship, and the business of the clothing store has always been booming. Many officials' wives and women of wealthy families have gone there to make clothes. There is a private room in the shop to try on clothes, and there are refreshments to eat and drink. Sometimes people will gossip when they get together. Boss Jiang is stingy and doesn't want to hire too many men. Some of the clothes-making work is done by his wife. Li Xiuer helps take care of the business in the shop and receives the wives. It's not impossible to inquire about anything and make friends .”
Xie Gang smiled, and praised An Ruochen in his heart. "You singled out these people, but you think it is possible, so do you have a certain candidate?"
"Yes." An Ruochen took out a copy and pushed it in front of Xie Gang. "The proprietress of Zhaofu Restaurant, Zhao Jiahua."
Xie Gang looked down at the file, his eyes flickered, and he asked with a smile, "Why?"
"It's not a special inference. It's just that the general gave a hint before."
"General Long? Have you been reminded?" Xie Gang felt that it was necessary to have a chat with the General, and he asked him to teach and test An Ruochen, while secretly letting him give advice. This is not possible.
An Ruochen nodded: "After the swearing-in meeting, the prefect once summoned me to the yamen for questioning about Xie Jin's case. When I came out and passed Zhaofu Restaurant, General Long and General Zong were there. Yes, I was able to meet General Long. I just thought that General Long picked a place to meet at random, but after reading these files, I found out that the proprietress of this restaurant is also the relative that Xu Matchmaker told me. General Long said, If I leave Zhonglan City, he will arrange news for Xizuo, making Xizuo think that I was hidden somewhere outside the city by the general, so as to lure Xizuo into taking the bait. I guess, the general needs to pass on the news, and also make Xizuo feel terrible Believe me, it must have been concealed but accidentally leaked. Before I disappeared, I had secretly met General Long, if this is discovered by someone with a heart, the news will appear to be true."
"..." Xie Gang felt that he had nothing to say, and there was no need to chat with the general.
"Zhaofu Restaurant is not far from the county government office. It is elegantly furnished, the dishes are first-class, and there are many elegant rooms. It is a good place to talk about things. There must be many officials coming and going. The back street of Zhaofu Restaurant is Jubao Casino According to Xu Matchmaker's dossier, she is a frequent visitor to Jubao Casino. In this way, it is not difficult for her to sneak in and out of Zhaofu Restaurant to cover up people's eyes. In addition, the general specially met me in that restaurant, so I deduce that this Zhaofu restaurant is more suspicious than other places."
An Ruochen said and looked at Xie Gang: "I would like to ask my lord, just judging from the information and place of work, Zhao Jiahua is not much different from other girls, but how did the adults lock her in? The general chose Zhaofu Restaurant, Why?"
Xie Gang scratched his nose and cleared his throat. Because Zhao Jiahua's identity had been altered to cover up, Xu Matchmaker lied to Boss Liu of Zhaofu Restaurant when she was proposing her marriage, and made up a new identity for Zhao Jiahua.
Long Da asked him to pull out this document. So in An Ruochen's view, Zhao Jiahua was no different from other girls. But admitting this at this time is a bit embarrassing to be exposed.
Long Da had just returned from his inspection tour of the Four Xia River, when he heard what Xie Gang said, he just smiled and asked, "Is her injury better?"
"Doctor Wei said that he is recovering very well. He is very cooperative with taking medicine and changing medicines, and never complains of pain. She is a strong girl. It is estimated that she will recover after half a month of rest. It's just that the scars on her body are heavy, and I am afraid that she will not be able to completely eliminate them in the future. He said that Ms. An didn't seem to care about it, and he didn't ask him about it, so he didn't mention it in particular, for fear of making her sad."
Long Da asked again: "Apart from looking at files these days, what else does she do?"
"Miss An is concerned about her fourth sister. She said that her fourth sister is clever. Although she has experienced few things, she has an idea. If there is any accident on the way to the south gate, she should leave some clues. But An's house Be it the yamen or the yamen, together with our military investigation, we failed to find any clues. No one saw the robbery along the way that day, and no single girl struggled and shouted. Seven days have passed, and no one has found the body Report to the official. Ms. An suspects that her fourth sister was indeed robbed by a secret agent. After all, Mr. Xie did intend to attack her after the death of Matchmaker Xu. Maybe the other party has been watching and monitoring An's house, and when she saw her fourth sister running away from home, he arrested her Take it away, tie it as a hostage and save it later."
Long Da shook his head: "This is not like Mr. Xie's way of acting. He has to be kept alive, and the variables are huge. He will not take such a risk. The important thing is that when An Ruofang ran away from home, Their sisters are about to marry into Qian's Mansion, Mr. Xie will not predict that the prophet An Ruochen will come to Ziyun Tower, unless..." He paused here.
"Unless they really want An Ruochen to spy on Fu'an County for them?"
"Unless they tie up An Ruofang and use their tricks to threaten An Ruochen with An Ruofang and help her escape from home, let her go to the Yamen to beat drums to report to the officials in the middle of the night, sneak into the county mansion or Ziyun Tower, and spy on Bifu More valuable news from An County."
"..." Xie Gang was taken aback for a moment, a little surprised, "Don't tell me the general doesn't trust Miss An?"
"How credible do you think she is?" Long Da asked back.
Xie Gang choked. An Ruochen's eyes were clear, her attitude was sincere, neither humble nor overbearing, she was well-founded, and she had a deep affection for her sister. But when asked by Long Da, he hesitated again.
An Ruochen acted too smart, the prefect was bluffed by his words when he was in the yamen. And with her injury like that, the chance of successfully escaping alone is really slim, but she did it.
Xie Gang frowned. If An Ruofang had already been kidnapped, and An Ruochen had been carefully controlled, then she would have been helped and guided by her every step of the way. She acted well in front of the prefect, so naturally she can also act well in front of them.
In any case, she has successfully entered the Ziyun Building very naturally, and entered the core team of them hunting down the spy. She even singled out all the suspicious people, and specifically mentioned Zhao Jiahua, who they had planned to deal with, if they told her the details of the plan...
Long Da looked at Xie Gang's expression, and said, "So have you taught her not to be too flamboyant, and to hide her intelligence when she should hide it. Otherwise, it's easy to backfire and arouse suspicion."
Only now did Xie Gang understand that the general had come up with a divorce just now, and he almost fell for it. Xie Gang reflected on himself, and said: "I never taught her this. Miss An was raised in a deep boudoir before, so there are too many things she doesn't understand. Today I only talk about the usual methods of fine work and the joint routines of going up and down the line."
Long Da nodded: "Well, I'll go and teach her a thing or two. I can't teach you to be tired."
Xie Gang worked very hard to restrain the expression on his face, why does this sound like an excuse to meet a girl. General, you are the biggest here, you can see whoever you want, what excuses are you looking for? !
Xie Gang cleared his throat, and said solemnly: "General, why not go tomorrow. Miss An is very busy today."
Long Da was taken aback for a moment, then narrowed his eyes to look at him. He still has to line up to see An Ruochen, right? Is that what you mean?
Xie Gang said happily: "General Zong visits Miss An every day, and she should be here at this moment."
Long Da raised his eyebrows.
Ah Choo! Zong Zeqing sneezed loudly. The weather was not bad that day, and he never felt cold, so he sneezed hard. He rubbed his nose, and led An Ruochen to the small reception hall in the front yard.
These few days An Zhifu was absent, he couldn't find a reason to visit An's mansion, and the gate of An's mansion was closed tightly, no servants were allowed to go out. Talked a little softly.
Zong Zeqing came back and told An Ruochen, An Ruochen thought about it, and begged Zong Zeqing to invite Aunt Lu for her. Aunt Lu delivered groceries every day, so she had the opportunity to enter De'an Mansion and have a few words with the old nanny.
This matter is easy for Zong Zeqing.
Now Aunt Lu is waiting in the small hall.
Zong Zeqing accompanied An Ruochen to the past, seeing An Ruochen walking more steadily on crutches, and looking better. He couldn't help asking a few more questions about her injury, and while he was talking, he heard someone coughing lightly. Zong Zeqing saw that it was Xie Gang and Long Da.
"The general is back?" Zong Zeqing greeted hurriedly.
An Ruochen bent down and saluted: "I have seen the general."
Long Da raised his eyebrows: "Miss An is quite busy."
"It's okay, I'm taking Miss An to see Aunt Lu." Zong Zeqing enthusiastically answered An Ruochen's words, and also explained the reason why Aunt Lu was invited, and then asked: "Is there anything you can tell the general? "
"Nothing." Long Da replied.
"Then let's go." Zong Zeqing said and looked at Xie Gang: "Brother, what happened to your eyes?"
"Nothing." Xie Gang smiled at him.
Well, it's fine. Zong Zeqing led An Ruochen away.
Long Da went to the front yard as if nothing had happened, and he could discuss with Xie Gang the situation, intentions and detailed strategies of deploying troops in the Southern Qin Dynasty.
In the small reception hall in the front yard, An Ruochen and Aunt Lu were talking alone, Zong Zeqing was embarrassed to eavesdrop, so he went for a walk outside the house. This walk was a little dazed, why the general and Xie Gang were also walking.
Zong Zeqing walked past. "General."
"Um."
"Are you idle?" Zong Zeqing smiled with sunshine on his face.
Xie Gang coughed violently.
In the room, An Ruochen and Aunt Lu greeted each other for a few words, and then said that he had to stay in Ziyun Tower for a while, and his engagement with Qian's mansion had been cancelled. She is doing well now, and she has nothing else to worry about in Yu'an Mansion, only the old nanny makes her feel at ease.
She wanted to ask Aunt Lu to help her quietly send a message to the old nanny. Said she was fine, and asked the nanny not to worry about her anymore, and went back to her hometown with the pension money her mother gave her as planned.
After An Ruochen finished speaking with Aunt Lu, she took out a small piece of silver from her sleeve, put it on the table and pushed it towards Aunt Lu. "Now Daddy hates me, I can't go back and talk to the old lady personally, or I will cause trouble for her. I really have no one to entrust this matter to, only my aunt."
Aunt Lu didn't take the money, but looked out of the window, turned her head back and asked softly, "Besides this matter, is there anything else you need my help with?"
An Ruochen hurriedly said: "Don't worry, ma'am, that's all. You just need to tell the old nurse that you have seen me with your own eyes, and I am fine. Let her feel at ease, and advise her to find a chance to leave Anfu."
Aunt Lu nodded, but she still didn't take the money. She said: "I heard about the girl dragging her body all over her body in the middle of the night to report to the officials in the yamen by beating drums. Everyone in the Anfu kept a secret, but there were always some people who couldn't control their mouths. There were also some news from the yamen. kind of gossip..."
An Ruochen hurriedly said: "Ma'am, I won't drag you down and cause trouble for me, I just beg you to pass a message to my nanny so that she won't worry about me."
Aunt Lu ignored An Ruochen's words, and went on to say: "I heard that the girl was in a panic when she escaped. She was locked in the room before she escaped. Because of the disappearance of the fourth girl, the girl's house was thoroughly searched. Everything like that was taken away, not to mention any belongings left behind. Now hearing what the girl said, even the old woman who is closest to the girl doesn't know the girl's escape plan, the girl's money..."
"It's the wages I paid in advance." An Ruochen observed Aunt Lu's expression, she didn't seem to be malicious, but An Ruochen felt a little uneasy.
She trusts Aunt Lu, and when she was selected to help her rent a house, it was only after observing for a long time that she decided to take the risk. Afterwards, Mrs. Lu acted properly, she was very strict, she never talked too much, and she would take the initiative to report any situation, so that she felt that she had chosen the wrong person. The last time she begged Aunt Lu to do something more troublesome, she was willing to do it after handing over the money. Now this is just a small matter of spreading a word, but Mrs. Lu seems to have concerns.
