Chapter 2777: The Capital (Part 133)
"Sir, after leaving the Zhou residence, should I stop by Master Wang's residence to report this matter?" Wang Zhi hesitated before asking. "This is a significant family affair—we should inform them."
"What you say is correct, but you cannot go personally," Zhou Lezhi replied. "The Kun may have eyes watching this residence. Be careful when you return, and make certain you're not followed."
"This lowly one understands."
Zhou Lezhi thought for a moment, then added, "When you go, bring along several shop assistants and coolies from the porter guild. Have them carry random goods, and leave together as a group."
"Someone is watching Mr. Zhou's residence?" Xu Ke asked with great interest after receiving the report from Third Sister's messenger.
"Yes!" The messenger relayed the situation in detail. "Third Sister's intention is to intercept them at Tongzhou after they succeed. This way, we avoid alarming the Wang family while still saving the person."
Xu Ke smiled. "Third Sister is quite soft-hearted! Very well, I approve her plan. Go back and remind her that once this matter comes to light, the Wang family—and that Zhou Lezhi—will likely turn their attention to the residence at Wanggong Factory. There may be clues to uncover. Tell her to stay vigilant."
After the messenger departed, Xu Ke initially paid the news little mind. For his mission, this hardly counted as a significant matter. Besides, Wanggong Factory had never been their surveillance priority. No important figures resided there, and the surveillance records were dreadfully dull.
Yet as he considered this, something stirred in his memory. He returned to his room and retrieved the surveillance records for the Zhou residence at Wanggong Factory from the past few days, leafing through them page by page.
He had barely turned a few pages when he discovered that a teenager had been lingering near the Zhou residence over the past two days. According to the records, since surveillance of the residence began a month ago, this marked the third time this individual had been spotted.
The surveillance post had immediately dispatched a two-person team to track him, but the teenager's movements proved erratic. Eventually, at the temple fair of Yongguang Temple, amid the dense crowds and confusing terrain, they lost him.
Reviewing this record now, Xu Ke suddenly suspected that this teenager might be problematic.
Wanggong Factory was hardly a bustling area. Less than ten years ago, it had been blasted into a heap of ruins, and the debris still hadn't been fully cleared. Few residents remained, and commerce was virtually nonexistent. What purpose could a teenager have in wandering around here repeatedly?
Either he was a member of the abduction ring, or he belonged to Shi Weng—the Stone Old Man—tasked with monitoring activity outside the Zhou residence.
Xu Ke considered the latter possibility unlikely. If Shi Weng wished to keep watch over these women and children, he need only station people inside the residence. Why go to such trouble deploying watchers outside? According to the surveillance report, besides the four women and children, two other families served as guardians, with nearly ten male and female servants between them. That was more than sufficient for both service and protection.
With this reasoning, he decided not to dwell on the matter further and instead kept his investigative focus on Wang Yehao, Jin Wenchi, Liu Zhao, and the others.
In the course of monitoring Wang Yehao, Xu Ke discovered something fascinating: Wang Yehao was actively campaigning in private circles, seeking a transfer to the post of Governor of Shandong.
He had studied Wang Yehao's biographical summary carefully. According to the normal course of history, Vice Minister Wang would be dismissed from office by year's end and vanish from the political stage of the late Ming dynasty thereafter.
Now he was campaigning for a transfer with such urgency—could it be because he knew his "future"?
Ever since suspecting that "Mr. Zhou" was a transmigrator, Xu Ke had known that some form of "foreknowledge" must be at play. Wang Yehao's anxious maneuvering for a transfer was likely motivated by this "future." But then again, if Mr. Zhou "foreknew the future," he had probably also revealed that the Great Ming had less than a decade left. Why was Wang Yehao still scheming and plotting here? Even without the Kun, the roving bandits and the Manchus would spell the empire's doom.
Could it be that Wang Yehao harbored ambitions of emulating his ancestor? Come to think of it, that wasn't impossible. As for the specifics, those would probably only become clear when they could speak face to face.
"This Wang Yehao is quite an interesting character!"
Third Sister obtained Xu Ke's approval and immediately set to work. The bodyguard agency maintained extensive connections throughout the Jianghu, and they had deliberately cultivated relationships in recent years, keeping their intelligence networks well-informed. Soon they learned that the go-between for Pan Cheng'an was not a family member from the Zhou residence, but a locally renowned "Medicine Crone" from the Wanggong Factory area.
Medicine Crones belonged to the so-called "Three Aunts and Six Grannies." In truth, this was no formal profession. Its practitioners were mostly middle-aged and elderly housewives—typically silver-tongued women who knew a smattering of "pharmacology" and possessed a few unique secret recipes.
The boudoir women of great households spent their lives confined to inner chambers, rarely venturing outside. They lacked exercise and often suffered from melancholy, leaving them in generally poor health. Their unhealthy lifestyles and primitive sanitary conditions frequently resulted in various gynecological ailments, particularly after childbirth.
Though medical clinics and traveling doctors included physicians skilled in women's medicine, most wealthy households proved reluctant to invite doctors for consultations. Moreover, the prescribed remedies were typically meant for gradual conditioning—lengthy courses of treatment with mediocre efficacy.
Medicine Crones, however, often possessed a handful of "ancestral secret recipes" in pill form, which frequently proved "instantly effective" for common gynecological complaints. They also trafficked in "secret medicines" for purposes like "seeking a son," "increasing affection," "contraception," and "abortion"—matters inconvenient to discuss with others.
Although the Three Aunts and Six Grannies were looked down upon in their time, with some families even denouncing them as "disasters at the door" and strictly forbidding their entry, their existence catered to the various needs of women sequestered in deep boudoirs. Even great households inevitably had to deal with them.
"This crone is surnamed Shi. She's quite famous around here," Zhao Liangjian explained. "Her specialty is treating women's menstrual pain. A single small pill, effective immediately after taking it. Though the price is outrageous—one hundred pills for a tael of silver."
"Ah, so that's her unique skill." Third Sister, being a woman herself, understood the Jianghu methods these women employed. "Three truths and seven fakes" was their standard approach. If everything were false, the business couldn't survive.
This Granny Shi was a frequent visitor to the Zhou residence, coming and going two or three times nearly every month. Having "conducted business" for so long and being skilled at flattery and sweet talk, she had cultivated excellent relationships with the household members. Her comings and goings proceeded without hindrance.
Abduction schemes involving seduced women and stolen valuables typically began with the Three Aunts and Six Grannies serving as illicit matchmakers. The situation at the Zhou residence came as no surprise to Third Sister.
"Let's set aside these sordid details," she instructed Zhao Liangjian. "But once this woman is taken out, you must keep close watch on her. The moment she crosses beyond the Capital's boundaries, intercept her. I don't care what method you use."
"How should we dispose of her after interception? Please advise, Third Sister."
"Find a place to hold her under guard for now." In truth, she herself didn't know what to do with the woman and would have to take things as they came.
Granny Shi felt quite pleased with herself today. Since accepting Pan Cheng'an's two taels of silver to serve as his messenger and secret matchmaker, more than three months had passed. Two months ago, she had actually brought the matter to fruition.
This Master Pan spent money freely. After the meeting at Ganlu Nunnery, he had given her another two taels of silver, asking her to continue facilitating communications. Granny Shi was overjoyed, recognizing this as a long-term business opportunity.
As for what Master Pan was truly up to, Granny Shi possessed enough Jianghu experience to guess. Though Pan Cheng'an claimed to be a "Jiangnan Scholar," his accent bore no trace of Jiangnan. Such a graceful young man with no local roots, yet possessing all five qualities of "Pan, Donkey, Deng, Small, Idle"—handsome, well-endowed, wealthy, attentive, and leisured, the attributes of a perfect lover—one could tell with eyes closed that he was in the business of "abducting women."
Seeing through it yet saying nothing, and certainly not spoiling another's scheme—such was the code of Jianghu folk. The Three Aunts and Six Grannies also followed Jianghu ways, so Granny Shi pretended ignorance. For one thing, Pan Cheng'an paid readily; for another, affairs like concubines running off were common in great households. The involved parties usually settled matters quietly and pretended nothing had happened, lest the family's reputation suffer.
Yet while she wouldn't ruin Pan You'an's business—thinking of him now as the legendary handsome lover—she had her own calculations. After all, You Rong was her long-term customer. If the woman were truly abducted, her business would naturally suffer. Perhaps she would even be barred from the residence thereafter—who could say? So this business couldn't proceed too easily for the one surnamed Pan. She needed to squeeze more profit from the arrangement.
Though Granny Shi came and went frequently at the Zhou residence, a person of her status didn't customarily use the front entrance. Instead, she entered and exited through the back door.
Arriving at the back door, she rapped the knocker lightly two or three times. The door opened to reveal Liu Qi'er—Seventh Liu's Wife—a middle-aged woman who served here alongside her husband. Granny Shi knew the couple was quite capable and had been entrusted with managing the residence by the master himself, so she deliberately cultivated their favor, occasionally winning them over with small gestures.
"Why so late today?" Liu Qi'er complained. "I came back here to check several times but never saw you arrive!"
"It's been cold these past few days, and my old bones ache all over. Couldn't venture outside. Today the sun warmed up a bit, so I had to wait until it was high in the sky before going out to conduct my business..." Granny Shi chattered away, gossiping about street trivia and household affairs as they walked. Such talk provided excellent diversion for women long confined within walls.
Hearing her speak of outside news, Liu Qi'er said with a smile, "You've come at just the right time! Miss You Rong has been asking about you these past few days, saying you never seem to visit." Then she lowered her voice. "That recipe for seeking a son I asked you about last time—have you found it?"
Liu Qi'er and her husband were approaching forty, yet their knees remained empty. For a servant family like theirs, proper medical treatment was beyond their means; they could only seek help from such "folk remedies."
Naturally, Granny Shi wouldn't say "no." Hearing this request, she boasted that she knew certain eunuchs and could copy the imperial recipe for seeking sons from within the Great Within—the Imperial Palace itself.
She did indeed know a few eunuchs, but this imperial recipe for seeking sons was pure fabrication—merely a method to inflate her own importance.
Still, she did possess a few genuine recipes for regulating menstruation and aiding conception, which had some effect.
Immediately she assumed an air of mystery. "This matter cost this old body considerable effort. It's just that the Eunuch himself doesn't know how to compound the recipe—it was always brought by Imperial Physicians after they'd mixed the medicines..."
(End of Chapter)