It is natural to pay New Year's greetings after the New Year. Early in the morning on the first day of the new year, Tang Fan followed Suizhou to Suizhou's house to pay New Year's greetings to Suizhou's parents, and at the end, he went to Zhou's house next door to pay New Year's greetings to Mrs. Zhou.
Mrs. Zhou's son's family returned to Beijing, and the house was lively and lively. Elderly people like Mrs. Zhou liked to see the liveliness of their children and grandchildren the most, and praised Tang Fan, a younger generation who had already met. , and introduced him to Suizhou's uncle's family.
After coming out of Zhou's house, A-Dong received several New Year's money. With great interest, he asked Tang Fan eagerly, "Brother, which place are we going to visit next?"
Tang Fan squinted: "Which shop do you want to go to to collect money?"
A-Dong was pierced, and he was not ashamed. He stuck out his tongue and said, "Yes, it's better to be gentle with me!"
Tang Fan hit her mercilessly: "Don't think about it, I'm just a sister in Xianghe County, it's not easy to disturb others during the New Year, and there are no other relatives in the capital, so just go home and eat dumplings! Now, how much do you receive, and how much do you want to give away, isn't that different!"
A-Dong smiled and said, "It's different, what big brother gave out is what big brother gave, and what I received is mine!"
Tang Fan laughed and scolded: "Okay, you little conscience, it's in vain for me to love you so much!"
He knew that A-Dong didn't really think that way. He was just used to chatting with him and trying to make fun of him. Although A-Dong was in charge of the money on weekdays, since she learned to write and keep accounts, she was able to count it clearly. , As she said, since the housekeeper, she has been saving some money from Tang Fan's meager salary every month to prepare a wife for Tang Fan in the future.
Of course, Tang Fan is also going to reserve some dowry for her. In short, everyone's intentions for each other are the same. There is no need to divide it so clearly, otherwise it will not be considered a family.
Afterwards, he took A-Dong to the Pan Mansion again, originally to pay New Year's greetings to Pan Bin, but the servants in the other man's mansion told him that Pan Bin also went out to pay New Year's greetings to Shangguan, so Tang Fan also Save this procedure and go home directly.
In this year, except for the most important bosses who need to go to pay New Year's greetings in person, among colleagues who have passed away, everyone is fashionable to send New Year's greetings posts.
Just because there are too many people, sometimes I go to this house and not to that house, it is inevitable to favor one over the other. If every house goes to the last time, it is estimated that the New Year will not be completed by the fifteenth day of the first month, so I will send a servant directly. Go to each house to post, write your name and a word or two of blessings in it, and you should be doing your due diligence.
Of course, there are not a few people who don't give anything away. Just like Tang Fan, there are no servants at home. If he goes to run by himself, he will break his leg, so he simply doesn't need to give it away. After the Lantern Festival, everyone will make an appointment. Time, go to the restaurant to eat a meal, it will be fine.
Therefore, people like Tang Fan like the Chinese New Year the most. He is still a low official, and he doesn't have so many red tapes to usher in, and he is not a fat clerk in an important yamen, so no one will take advantage of the festival to give him gifts. This saves a lot of trouble. From the second day to the fifth day of middle school, you can sleep in for four days. Every day after the sun rises three poles, A-Dong stands by his bed and grabs his ears before letting him get up.
However, after the sixth day of the first lunar month, his life was not so good. From the sixth day of the first lunar month to the tenth day of the first lunar month, he had to face a bunch of tedious official duties in the yamen.
This holiday is not very reasonable. Just imagine, the holiday is put on the fifth day of the first month, and then the holiday starts on the eleventh day of the first lunar month. In the middle of the five days of work, everyone has not recovered from the comfort of the New Year, and they are looking forward to the arrival of the Lantern Festival. Naturally, most of them are unwilling to work.
There are usually no major new events these days. The Shuntian Mansion is also full of old and dusty things, which cannot be dealt with in a while, and there is no rush to deal with them within a few days. Tang Fan has always been orderly and orderly. He asked Du Jiang to categorize many things according to their priorities. What to do first and what to do later, he knew everything by heart.
In this way, the Lantern Festival will soon come again.
This little girl, A-Dong, was so happy, because at this time the most grand festival of the year was the Winter Solstice, the most reunion festival was the New Year, but the most lively was the Lantern Festival.
During the Lantern Festival, the Beijing Lantern Market is famous. At that time, the whole street is hung with colorful lanterns, with different shapes, layer upon layer, fire trees, silver flowers, and iron locks on the star bridge. It is truly spectacular. Only on this day, no matter it is a girl who does not go out of the gate, or a woman who abides by the virtues of women, will go out to enjoy the lanterns and play, which is equivalent to the whole city being dispatched, and all the streets are empty. No wonder A-Dong was so excited.
On the 11th day of the first lunar month, when the officials went on holiday, it was the beginning of the light market. This light market was actually launched by the Beijing Chamber of Commerce, just to be able to do more business during the Lantern Festival while taking advantage of the crowd. It is inevitable that the law and order will be chaotic. At this time, the government has to be responsible for inspections.
But when it's a big holiday, who wants to do errands outside while others are playing? So when the light market was first in the Ming Dynasty, Shuntian Prefecture, Wucheng Military and Horse Division, and even Jinyiwei and other departments all blamed each other and were not willing to take on such errands. Later, there was a stampede death accident during a festival. , This was ordered by the cabinet. At this time of year, each yamen will send out some people to patrol, and the responsible department will rotate every year, forming a stipulation to continue.
This year, the five-city soldiers and horses are presiding over the inspection. Both Shuntianfu and Jinyiwei only need to send a little manpower to assist. For Jinyiwei, Suizhou is in charge of this matter.
Because he handled Huang Jinglong's case, he was promoted to one level not long ago. Now he is a deputy thousand households. With a bright future boss.
Although Suizhou doesn't like to talk, it doesn't mean that he doesn't understand the world, and he also invited Xue Bing and others to eat promotion wine before the festival.
But today, because he wanted to assist with the Lantern Festival inspections, he couldn't go out with Tang Fan and the others.
Tang Fan brought A-Dong out to look at the lights. The bustling crowd almost drove them away. A-Dong was young and had never seen anything in the world. He was very excited to see the excitement, but Tang Fan held her tightly. hands, for fear that the two would get separated.
From ancient times to the present, there have been a lot of human traffickers, and they especially like to target beautiful and cute women and children. No matter how prominent your family background is, if you fall into the hands of human traffickers, you can only resign yourself to fate. In the former Song Dynasty, there were Although there were no such tragic cases of royal family members being abducted in the Ming Dynasty, there were still many missing persons every year, some were sold into brothels, and some were sold as slaves.
A chubby little girl like A-Dong is also one of the key targets of human traffickers.
The two walked around the lantern market for a while, and then guessed the lantern riddles. Tang Fan even got the guess right, and the boss's face turned black when he won. Seeing that the situation was not good, he quickly left. The loot that came - a lantern in his hand, a bracelet on his hand, silk flowers on his head, and a small gadget in his arms, it's no wonder the boss looks ugly, let Tang Fan win, I guess he The family is going to win.
The two of them were tired from shopping, so they were going to find a place to sit and rest and have something to eat.
Coincidentally, the wonton stall that Tang Fan often goes to is still open today, and the owner and his wife seem to be very busy trying to make another profit during the Lantern Festival.
However, as an old customer, Tang Fan could still spare an extra table when he went there. The proprietress praised A-Dong and gave them two bowls of wontons and two oil pancakes.
"Brother, let's guess lantern riddles later!" A-Dong just watched others pondering, but Tang Fan guessed one after another, conscious and proud, with a proud look on his face.
Tang Fan smiled bitterly: "Going? You didn't see the boss's expression as if he was going to swallow me up and leave a way out for others!"
A-Dong said: "Then go to other stalls to guess. It's not just his family. I heard that there are also lantern viewing activities in Xianke Building!"
Tang Fan replied in a manic voice, "Really, I'll go take a look later..."
He had just lowered his head to take a sip of soup, then raised his head, and suddenly saw a person walking by not far in front of him. Half of the soup in his mouth almost spit out, but it poured into his nose and coughed to the point of tearing him apart. Split lung.
A-Dong hurriedly patted him on the back, and then said in an old-fashioned manner: "How old are you, you still choke when you eat something?"
Tang Fan didn't have time to laugh, his mind was still immersed in the shock just now.
God, did he just go to hell? !
With the accident just now, Tang Fan was also absent-minded when he ate a wonton.
Because A-Dong was by his side, he couldn't leave her behind and chase after him to see clearly, and with a quick glance, the other party would soon disappear into the crowd. If he hadn't been sure that he didn't have dazzling eyes, Tang Fan would have thought it was a hallucination.
When A-Dong finished finishing the wontons, the two walked towards the Xianke Building.
There were many people on the road, so Tang Fan simply walked a small alley in order to avoid crowding. Although the distance was farther, it was smoother and faster.
Maybe all the people in the alley went out to see the lights, and no one likes to take long walks like Tang Fan. When the two of them turned into the alley, it was very quiet here, just like the lively outside. two worlds.
A-Dong was usually heartless, but now she felt a little dizzy. Without waiting for Tang Fan's instructions, she took the initiative to hold Tang Fan's hand tightly.
"Big brother..."
"What's wrong?"
The little girl hesitated: "You said it's so dark here, will there be ghosts?"
Tang Fan laughed: "How come it's dark, the end of the alley is the main road, and it's not lit up ahead..."
Before the word "de" was finished, someone suddenly tapped him on the shoulder from behind!
Rao was that Tang Fan had no ghosts in his heart, so he couldn't help but startle the boss.
It seemed that he felt his body shake, and the little girl looked back subconsciously.
"Mom, there's a ghost!" A-Dong screamed in fright.
Tang Fan also turned his head sharply.
I saw a person standing behind him, a short distance away, with a pair of eyes staring at the two of them faintly.
At first glance, it really makes people's hair stand up.
It's just that Master Tang is a disciple of Confucianism, and believes in silent, strange, and chaotic. Just now, he was frightened for a moment simply because of a sudden change. He quickly recovered, and took A-Dong's hand and quickly took two steps back, staring at the other party. The meaning of taking another step forward to attack, Tang Fan fixed his eyes and slowly put his heart back to its original position.
"I said, Mr. Wang, which song are you singing? Even if you don't like me, you don't need to go out in person!" He said angrily.
Anyone who gets patted on the shoulder in a small alley at night will probably not feel good.
"Come with me." Wang Zhi's voice was muffled and a little low, not the same as usual, as if he had deliberately lowered his voice to conceal his identity.
After saying this, he turned around and walked forward.
Tang Fan didn't have time to think about it, so he hurriedly followed with A-Dong.
As the head of the criminal investigation and spy department, Wang Zhi has long been familiar with the large and small roads inside and outside the capital, and is more familiar than Tang Fan. At this moment, he takes them around, from the small road to the big road, and the big road turns into a small road, and deliberately Picking the farthest way, Tang Fan almost fainted, and finally reached his destination.
It was just behind the Fairy House where Tang Fan said he would bring A-Dong over.
However, what Wang Zhi entered was not the Xianke Building, but the Xianyun Pavilion behind it. A single private room, familiar with the door and the road, did not even need someone to lead the way. Tang Fan estimated that the single room should have been covered by Wang Zhi all the year round. It's just as convenient to do some private things that no one knows about now.
Of course, Tang Fan didn't know what Wang Zhi wanted to do.
After entering the private room, Eunuch Wang pulled the hood and cloak, loosened the tie around his neck, and threw it to the side, showing a relieved expression.
He let out a long sigh: "It's so fucking suffocating!"
Tang Fan looked at him silently.
Wang Zhiqi said: "Look at what I am doing!"
Tang Fan said, "If I remember correctly, Duke Wang should be in Datong at this time?"
Wang Zhi said: "Yes, but I'm back again, under His Majesty's secret order, but this matter is in addition to my confidants, and now there are two more of you. If my whereabouts are leaked, it must have something to do with you."
Tang Fan rolled his eyes: "I'm more wronged than Dou E. You're dangling on the street by yourself, and it's not surprising that you're recognized in public!"
Wang Zhi snorted: "You think it's me, I'm for..."
Tang Fan hurriedly stopped him: "Since you came back under a secret order, I won't listen. The more secrets you know, the faster you will die!"
Wang Zhi ignored it: "It's too late, if you don't listen, you have to listen. Recently, there was a report that a suspicious figure seemed to be found on the Wansui Mountain. After a long time of investigation, nothing was found, and His Majesty called me back. I hurried. I came back in a hurry, just in order to arrange the manpower to carry out the investigation in the past few days, but I didn't expect to encounter another major event, it's really a house leak and it rains overnight, bad luck!"
He waited for a long time, but without seeing Tang Fan's response, he said, "Why didn't you ask me what happened?"
Tang Fan was helpless: "I don't even want to know, you still want to say it. Anyway, even if I don't ask, you will say it."
Wang Zhi said slowly: "Zhu Yong's youngest daughter and Geng Shilang's grandson disappeared together."
Tang Fan snorted: "When did it happen?"
Wang Zhidao: "Just tonight, I just learned about it, and I haven't had time to report it to His Majesty, but even if His Majesty knows, it is estimated that we will quickly find it. Now Zhu Yong is the deputy commander of Beizheng and is on the front line. In war, he has a middle-aged daughter and loves jewels, if he knows that, he will not want to fight, so he has to get back quickly."
Tang Fan nodded, indicating that he was clear.
Every holiday, when every family in the capital comes out of the city, it is often also a time when the number of missing persons increases sharply.
Traffickers tend to seize the opportunity to attack. Once there are too many people, it will be much more difficult to retrieve them. Since the curfew is just lifted these few days, once the traffickers leave the city, it will be like looking for a needle in a haystack. But having said that, even if they didn't go out of the city, with such a large area of Beijing, even if all the Jinyiwei factories were dispatched, it would be difficult to guarantee that they would be found in every corner. This is how many children said goodbye to their relatives forever.
But now, the hand of the traffickers has actually reached the family members of the officials of the imperial court. It is unbearable. It is better to go home for milk after taking care of those stipends every year because of the decoration of flower racks.
Of course, the emperor will also have doubts because of this: if you can't even find someone back, what bigger things do you need to help me with
Therefore, whether it is public or private, Wang Zhi must pay attention to it.
He was wandering on the street just now, in order to come out in person to find the traces of the thieves, and those in the West Factory have been arranged by him without a trace, mixed in the crowd, pretending to be ordinary people, just waiting to find the children The signs of being kidnapped and abducted immediately followed up, followed the clues and caught them all.
The idea is very good, but unfortunately Wang Changgong and his subordinates have been wandering on the street for half an hour, and they haven't noticed any movement yet.
It can be seen that these thieves are also very vigilant, and they are not guaranteed to succeed. They will not try it easily.
Tang Fan then asked, "If you need help from Shuntian Mansion, please ask Duke Wang to give you an order."
Wang Zhi pouted: "No need, Jinyiwei and Dongchang have also been dispatched. Can you Shuntianfu take a ball?"
Tang Fan asked intentionally, since he didn't need it, he didn't make fun of himself. Instead, he asked what he was more concerned about: "I wonder how the frontline battle is going?"
Wang Zhi showed his face a little: "Wang Yue and Zhu Yong are both military officials. If they are there, you don't have to worry too much. After waiting for half a month, there will be good news."
Tang Fan also felt relieved: "That's good, with this good news, in the short term, the Tartars won't dare to violate the border again, and the border will finally be quiet for a while."
Wang Zhi sneered: "It's really worthless. If the mountain doesn't come, it's me, so I can't go to the mountain? The opportunity is rare, you should take advantage of the victory to pursue and fight, and then fight another big victory!"
Tang Fan reminded him: "The Tartars are good at guerrillas, and the cavalry is fierce, please Wang Gong be careful, and, in this way, there may be objections in the DPRK."
Wang Zhi said, "I have my own measure."
Tang Fan stopped talking and stopped talking. Wang Zhila rang the bell, and the dishes came one after another.
The guys at Xianyun Pavilion have seen many scenes that cannot be declared. Now they see Wang Zhi, who should have appeared on the front line, sitting here. Yes, he left as soon as the food was served, he never stayed for a while, and even turned a blind eye to Tang Fan and A-Dong.
Tang Fan couldn't help but said, "Mr. Wang should be more careful. Since you don't want to reveal your whereabouts, you'd better go back earlier. The guys at Xianyun Pavilion are outsiders after all."
Wang Zhi smiled strangely at him, and suddenly asked a strange question: "You went to the Xianke Building in front of you to eat on the sixth day of last month, right?"
Tang Fan was stunned for a moment, then felt the chills all over his body stand up.
He wanted to ask Wang Zhi if he had sent someone here to monitor him, but after thinking a little deeper, he came up with another sentence: "You opened the Xianke Building?"
Sure enough, Wang Zhi smiled slowly: "Tang Runqing is worthy of being Tang Runqing, yes, Xichang is also one of the owners of this restaurant."
Tang Fan raised his eyebrows: "One?"
Wang Zhi nodded: "Xianke Building was originally a business under the Zhejiang Chamber of Commerce. Later, the West Factory also invested money. There are many customers here. It is most convenient to inquire about any news."
Tang Fan didn't know why he told himself about this, but after hearing it, he just wanted to smile bitterly: "I think I won't dare to come over for dinner next time, otherwise you will know that I even go to the toilet here a few times. Be clear."
Eunuch Wang said leisurely: "I have never done anything wrong in my life, and I am not afraid of ghosts knocking on the door in the middle of the night."
Tang Fan said: "Then don't, if I molest a singer here, and the other party is a spy from your West Factory, I won't finish eating and leave!"
Wang Zhi laughed: "You think about these worthless people all day long, no wonder the official position has not been promoted until now!"
Tang Fan said helplessly, "It's pretty good at my age to be able to reach the sixth rank. Who can be like you and take charge of the West Factory if it's not as weak as a weak crown, and now there's more military power, such as Wang Gong, who is in power in this world. Not many!"
Wang Zhi was a person who liked to listen to others touting him, but after listening to Tang Fan's good words, instead of showing a complacent look, he sighed.
Tang Fan was a little strange, but Wang Zhi didn't say anything, and he didn't ask any more questions.
When he returned from the banquet, he found that in the private room, A-Dong, who was sitting there and eating vegetables honestly, was gone!
Wang Zhi was still sitting there, eating wine and vegetables at his leisure.
"Where's A-Dong?" Tang Fan asked hurriedly.
"I'm going to ask her to do something." Wang Zhi put the dish into his mouth, put down his chopsticks, and wiped his mouth with the warm handkerchief that was just delivered.
Tang Fan frowned: "A-Dong is just a little girl. What can he do for Eunuch Wang? Don't joke about Eunuch Wang, please tell her where she went, and I'll find her right away."
Wang Zhidao: "Why am I joking with you? Those traffickers are secretive, they are among the crowd, and it is difficult to distinguish them. The best way is to go deep into the tiger's den. A-Dong is a clever and obedient girl. When I say let her be the bait, She agreed. If this case can be solved, I will definitely give you a great credit."
Tang Fan was furious when he heard the words, but reluctantly suppressed it, and said word by word, "A-Dong is my sister, not someone's bait!"
The old god Wang Zhi is here: "You don't have to worry, I let her walk around in the crowd, pretending to be a lost child of the elders in the family, if there is no accident, those traffickers will definitely attack her, Xichang has eyes and ears everywhere, I She has already been followed, and once the other party has any changes, we can grasp it at any time, and then we will be able to dig out their nest."
He looked at Tang Fan's appearance of holding back his anger, and laughed loudly: "Your sister is much more sensible than you, I told her that if this is done, you can be promoted, and she immediately agreed. , she is very kind to you, I heard that you are not siblings?"
Tang Fan was both distressed and angry when he heard it, and he didn't bother to talk to him for half a sentence, so he left "I'm going to find her" and got up and walked out.
"Stop!" Wang Zhi shouted, "She won't be in any danger, don't startle the snake!"
Tang Fan said coldly: "Although A-Dong isn't my own sister, I treat her as my own sister. Wang Gong, just imagine, if your sister is used as bait and taken by traffickers, I will I told you not to worry, will you still be at peace?"
Wang Zhi raised his eyebrows: "I don't have a sister, so I can't answer your question, but I have already said that she will be fine with people from the West Factory."
Tang Fan asked back: "How can there be no law? Not dying, and not lacking arms or legs, the difference is also very big."
Wang Zhi didn't speak, of course he couldn't make such a guarantee.
As an official of Shuntian Prefecture, Tang Fan has also seen many cases of women and children being abducted and sold. Those who were lucky enough to be found were either lost their innocence, or were sold as slaves and into brothels, but there was no shortage of meals. Violent beatings, in short, for those who have just fallen into the devil's lair, they must be trained first until the other party is obedient and does not dare to resist. During this period, there are various unknown torture methods.
Besides, A-Dong is so small, the camouflage ability is not expected to be strong, and the probability of being discovered will be very high, and those traffickers, including desperadoes, if such people are until A-Dong is the inner responder, then A-Dong There may be life-threatening danger. At that time, if a knife is stabbed in it, it will be of no use even if the officials arrive.
At this time, a man from the West Factory came in from outside the private room, and said to Wang Zhi with an ugly face: "Master Factory, I'm lost."