When Zhang Quan arrived, Jiang Miao and Pei Che were sitting together intimately, looking at a piece of paper on the table, and seemed to be discussing something.
"Greetings, sir!" Zhang Quan knocked on the door to remind them of his arrival. After they raised their heads, he bowed respectfully again.
Pei Che said: "No need to be polite, come in and sit down."
"Thank you, sir!" Zhang Quan bowed, walked in, and sat on a chair opposite them, with excitement in his eyes.
Pei Che said, "Take a look at this." As he spoke, he pushed the thing he and Jiang Miao had just looked at over to Zhang Quan for him to take a look.
Zhang Quan was a little curious. He didn't know what the two adults were looking at. He looked down and saw that on this large piece of brown paper, there were many thick and thin lines. These lines were undulating, some looked like mountains and some looked like small roads. Above these lines, there were many thick black dots, so dense that there seemed to be almost a hundred of them.
"Sir, what is this?" Zhang Quan looked at it for a long time before asking. Although he had a guess in his mind, he still didn't dare to conclude.
Jiang Miao said: "This is a topographic map. Cangzhou is surrounded by mountains, and the mountains are complex and steep. If there is no topographic map, it will be difficult to find the way, let alone find the missing people. These days, Lord Pei has been using the information reported by people who have entered the mountains to draw topographic maps, in order to solve those missing cases as soon as possible."
Jiang Miao said this to help Pei Che explain that he had not been idle during these days, nor had he forgotten about this matter. Pei Che understood what he meant and quietly took his hand from under the table and squeezed it.
Zhang Quan stood up suddenly, his face full of excitement, and he was a little incoherent: "Then...then these black spots are...the missing people? If you show them to me now, does that mean...that we can go find them now?"
Pei Che said: "Please be patient. I am still not sure where they are, but I have some clues. Look, these black spots appear in the location."
Zhang Quan tried to suppress his excitement and looked in the direction Pei Che pointed. He found something unusual. The distribution of these black spots seemed messy, but in fact they were not without pattern. There were more in the south and fewer in the north. Among those in the south, the most people were missing in several places.
"Sir, does this mean that the lair of that group of people is very likely nearby?" Zhang Quan said, pointing to one of the locations.
Jiang Miao shook his head: "Even rabbits don't eat grass near their burrows, so why would they catch people at their doorstep? Look—" He took out a piece of white paper, drew the places with the most missing people on it, connected them with lines, and then drew a circle where these lines met.
"This place is Pucheng County, which has more than a dozen villages and towns under its jurisdiction. Among them is a place called Yangshupo, where no villagers have ever gone missing."
“But, there are several villages near our village where no one has gone missing…” Zhang Quan felt that this should not be considered as evidence.
Pei Che added, "There are a total of twelve villages in Cangzhou with no missing persons." He quickly drew the locations of these villages on paper without any hesitation, and it was obvious that he was very familiar with these places.
"These four are to the north, far away from the location of the large number of missing persons. In terms of distance, they do not fit the crime pattern." Pei Che crossed them out.
"These villages are located in the outskirts, not close to the mountains. Most of the people there usually farm, so not many people go up the mountain. Especially after the rumors came out, there are even fewer people going up the mountain." Pei Che marked another five. These five included the ones next to their village that Zhang Quan had just mentioned.
"The remaining three villages are all close to the mountains. The villagers don't have much good land to cultivate. Most people have to go into the mountains to pick up some mountain products to sell for money to exchange for food. It is indeed strange that no one is missing. But after our investigation, we found that the villagers in this village like to raise dogs and always like to take them with them when they go up the mountain. These dogs are very vigilant and will bark non-stop once they smell the scent of strangers. From this point of view, this place should not be the thief's lair." Pei Che said. He was going to find some excellent dogs from this village to search for people.
Zhang Quan nodded, but he was still a little confused: "What about this village?" Why were they so sure that there was something strange in Yangshupo
Pei Che said: "I was just about to talk about this village. You should have heard of it before. Other villages are surrounded by mountains on three sides at most, but this one is surrounded by mountains on four sides."
"Ah! I remember now!" Zhang Quan shouted, "The people in this village live on the top of a mountain. It is very difficult to go up and down the mountain. Usually, if there are heavy objects, they are hoisted up with rattan baskets." According to an old man who has a relative who married there, that village is truly poor. Others can't afford to eat, and they have to save even water.
"In this case, Yangshupo is the only one left." Jiang Miao said, "The people in Yangshupo are the same as those in Tuyan Village. There are not too many people. They are all honest and decent people. They often go out alone in the mountains and forests, but they have never been killed. Considering their position, this is obviously unreasonable."
People frequently disappeared around them, but only the villagers of Yangshupo were spared? When Jiang Miao saw it before, he had imagined whether there were people from Yangshupo among the thieves. But later the government found out that the whereabouts of everyone in their village were very clear, so there should be no hiding to be human traffickers.
So what is so special about Yangshupo that makes thieves afraid to do it? Jiang Miao thought about it for a long time, and suddenly one night when he was eating rabbit meat, an idea flashed through his mind.
As the saying goes, a cunning rabbit has three burrows. When a rabbit digs a hole, it will deliberately leave a handful of grass beside the hole to make the hole more concealed. Could it be that the Yangshupo was deliberately left by those people to cover it? If they did not touch the people of Yangshupo, no government officials would come to investigate, and naturally they would not find their traces.
Jiang Miao told Pei Che this conjecture, and Pei Che thought it was very reliable. But the problem now is that if Yangshupo is really the entrance to their cave, then they will definitely keep an eye on it and closely observe any movement there. If the government sends people there, it will alert the snakes. Even if they are disguised hunters, those people will definitely investigate. Pei Che wants to catch all these people in one fell swoop, so he naturally needs to have a foolproof plan before he is willing to take action.
After understanding their concerns, Zhang Quan was stunned for a while, and suddenly said: "Sir, I have a distant cousin who married in Yangshupo. If I go to visit her, it will definitely not arouse their suspicion."
Zhang Quan nodded firmly: "I want to go. I am just an ordinary citizen. They should not be able to find anything. I will act carefully and investigate secretly. I will never ruin the adults' plan!" "It's just a guess now. It's not known whether it's true or not. But, if Yangshupo was really left there by them to cover up their tracks, you may be in danger once your actions are discovered. Aren't you afraid?"
Zhang Quan nodded: "I am afraid, but I am more afraid that I can't save my father. As long as I find clues one day earlier, my father can come back one day earlier. My lord, please let me go. If it were someone else, first of all, their identity would be easily exposed, and others might not be as dedicated as I am."
Pei Che and Jiang Miao looked at each other, still a little worried. Jiang Miao advised: "You are only fifteen years old, still young, such a dangerous thing should not be entrusted to you."
Zhang Quan smiled, with a childish look on his face. He said, "Sir, it is easier to investigate because you are young. Would you be on guard against an adult or a young boy?"
"If we don't let you go, will you go secretly?" Pei Che saw him like this and knew that he had made up his mind.
"Yes, I will go." Zhang Quan said, "I dared to go up the mountain alone to look for clues when I was eleven or twelve years old. It doesn't make sense that I wouldn't dare to do that now that I'm older."
"Okay, you can go if you want. But there is one thing you must remember. When encountering something, never act rashly!" Pei Che said.
"Don't worry, sir, I won't ruin your plans!" Zhang Quan seemed extremely happy.
Jiang Miao explained helplessly: "He meant that you should not act impulsively, and should always protect yourself first and not put yourself in danger easily."
Zhang Quan scratched his head, feeling a little embarrassed and a little touched.
"I will send someone to meet you secretly, and then you can discuss how to deliver the secret letter." Pei Che said. He actually thought about letting the secret guards investigate secretly, but in a safe and unfamiliar place, any slight abnormality would be quickly noticed by those who are interested. It would be best to have someone in the open to attract attention, so that no one would notice what was done in secret.
"Remember, don't act rashly! If you don't want your mother to know." Jiang Miao left a threat.
"Yeah!" Zhang Quan nodded heavily, with a threatened expression on his face.
"Mom, do you still remember Aunt Xiaoyun?" Zhang Quan suddenly asked after dinner.
Mother Zhang was a little confused when she heard the name: "Aunt Xiaoyun?"
"It's Aunt Xiaoyun from my third cousin's family, the one who often played with me when I was a child."
"You're talking about her!" Zhang's mother laughed. "Isn't it true? When you were three or four years old, you loved running after her. Since she got married, you haven't seen her for two or three years."
"Yes! Mom, I heard that Aunt Xiaoyun gave birth to a baby a few days ago. Can I go see her?"
Zhang's mother was a little surprised, but after a while she became happy: "Finally she's given birth. This way, her in-laws won't make things difficult for her. It's good to go and take a look, but it's not easy for a kid like you to get close, so let's go. Bring an old hen and pick some eggs to send over." This year they made a lot of money by picking tea, and her son just brought back more than two taels. Naturally, Zhang's mother wouldn't be as stingy as before.
"No!" Zhang Quan objected, "Mom, you... your legs are not good, it will be difficult to walk such a long distance, I'd better go!"
Zhang's mother rolled her eyes at him and said unhappily, "I am not old, I have been to places far away, what does this mean?"
"Mom, there are still tea leaves to pick on this mountain. Your trip back and forth will take at least several days, and by then you won't earn as much as Aunt Zhou and Aunt Lin."
Zhang's mother fell into deep thought. After thinking about it carefully, it seemed that it was not very cost-effective. She gave away a lot of things here, and lost a lot of profit on the other side.
"Mom, please rest assured and let me go. I'll pass on my message. I'm old enough now, and sooner or later I'll have to visit relatives on my own." Zhang Quan pestered, hoping his mother would change her mind.
"Okay, go if you want to. If you mess up, don't come back!" Zhang's mother was so annoyed by him that she could only agree unhappily.
(End of this chapter)