Chapter 550: Masochism, Canton Fair
When people are in an unfamiliar environment, they will inevitably miss the past.
For example, Sun Shaozong, even though he only had a general impression of Jia Baoyu before traveling through time, still felt a different sense of closeness to the protagonist of the book, Jia Baoyu, than anyone else.
Putting myself in other people's shoes, it is not surprising that if someone who has read Dream of the Red Chamber travels back to the world of the Red Chamber, he or she would choose to give a 'magic jade' to an illegitimate child.
Okay, after this forced explanation, let’s get back to the topic.
However, Sun Shaozong thought about it in the small shop and felt that it would be difficult to link Zhou Xi's case to Prince Yi Zhong, regardless of the premise of the time traveler.
On the other hand, the Northern Pacification Office has a ready-made excuse that they can use...
Thinking of this, Sun Shaozong paid the bill and left the shop, hurried to the dungeon of the Northern Pacification Division.
As expected, after Sun Shaozong left, two more White Lotus rebels in the dungeon "knelt down", but unfortunately what they confessed was still the same old thing, basically worthless.
In disappointment, Lu Hui simply handed over several thieves including Ge Zhan to Yang Licai, while he himself was determined to pry open Aunt Li's mouth so as to catch all the spies sent by the White Lotus Sect to the capital.
"Then Zang Liang..."
"ah!!!"
As he was speaking, he heard a shrill howl coming from the interrogation room next door. Sun Shaozong frowned, and Yang Licai hurried forward and used corks to plug the copper tubes used to conduct sound.
Although the screams were still drilling into his ears, the decibel level had at least dropped a lot. Sun Shaozong then continued what he had just said and asked, "Did Zang Liang remember anything else?"
Yang Licai shook his head and said, "After you went to the Crown Prince's Mansion, the governor handed Zang Liang over to Captain Zhao and Captain Song for interrogation. I don't know what he confessed."
Tsk~
Zhao Jiayi and Song Xiong were imprisoned in the water dungeon for more than a month due to Zang Liang's involvement, and they almost lost their lives and property.
At present, Lu Hui sent the two of them to interrogate Zang Liang. It is estimated that one is to appease them a little, and the other is to use the resentment in the two people's hearts to intimidate Zang Liang.
But it's better this way. When Zang Liang is in a dilemma, I will find a way to guide him. It should not be difficult to get him to put the blame of being the mastermind behind the incident on Prince Yi Zhong - after all, Prince Yi Zhong is the number one scapegoat in the Great Zhou Dynasty.
The court paid much more attention to the remnants of Prince Yi Zhong than to the White Lotus Sect. Regardless of whether Zang Liang could provide evidence or not, the Northern Pacification Office would never dare to be careless based on the four words "Prince Yi Zhong".
Anyway, what Sun Shaozong really cares about is not the origin of the magical jade, but whether there is a conspiracy behind it that can help Prince Yi Zhong turn the tables.
Therefore, it would be enough as long as we can force the imperial court to take precautions and not give the remnants of Prince Yizhong an opportunity to take advantage.
Um……
That should be enough, right?
Sun Shaozong was just thinking about it when he heard a flurry of footsteps outside the door. Soon, he heard the guard outside coming over to report that Lu Hui asked Sun Shaozong to go to the guard room to discuss matters.
Could it be that there has been some progress with Aunt Li?
Sun Shaozong did not dare to delay and hurriedly left Yang Licai and went to the guard room. However, as soon as he entered the room, he knew he was wrong - with Lu Hui's face as dark as the bottom of a pot, it would be strange if there was any progress.
But these secret agents in the capital are different from the White Lotus branch in the northwest, especially some of them have infiltrated the government. It may not be so easy to replace or transfer them, right?
"Pacify my lord."
Seeing that he was silent and had no intention of speaking first, Sun Shaozong could only cautiously test: "Aunt Li's place..."
"Don't mention that old... old..."
Lu Hui angrily interrupted Sun Shaozong's question, but couldn't think of how to describe Aunt Li. Finally, he kicked over the table in anger and cursed while panting: "Damn it, how could I run into such a thing again!"
Seeing Lu Hui's reaction, Sun Shaozong actually became interested, so he asked in a roundabout way the reason why Lu Hui was so angry.
However, Lu Hui hit a wall with Ge Zhan, and then concluded that there was basically no value to be exploited from this group of thieves from the northwest, so he decisively shifted his attention to Aunt Li.
At first, threats and inducements failed, so they took "measures", such as teppanyaki, meat sandwich, and three-fresh fried dumplings.
But Aunt Li was very tough. Not only did she not flinch at all, but she shouted and cursed provocatively.
However, Lu Hui has been a Dragon Guard for so many years and has seen many tough guys, but not many of them can stick to the end. He is not discouraged by this.
He only ordered his men to choose the ones that would be heart-wrenching and painful but not life-threatening, and to practice them on Aunt Li.
However, after going through seven or eight kinds of torture, Aunt Li's condition gradually became strange:
The initial yelling and cursing turned into a cat-like whimpering and panting; the eyes were half-opened, revealing confusion and frenzy; the two legs were tightly clamped together, twisting like a pretzel...
The most outrageous thing was that when the executioner was holding a red-hot iron and was about to threaten her, she took the initiative to thrust out her chest and rubbed it upwards in circles!
Lu Hui became suspicious at the time and had the woman stripped naked. It turned out that she had been high for several times...
"Damn it!"
At this point, Lu Hui couldn't help but curse again: "I've met such a crazy woman who doesn't know how to die in Jiangnan before. The more you torture her, the more comfortable she feels. It's more exciting than having sex with a man!"
No wonder I'm so depressed.
First he hit a snag with Ge Zhan, and now he met a masochist.
It seems that it is impossible to pry open Aunt Li's mouth in a short time.
But isn't there another list?
As long as we can dig out that Bingsan, it will be considered a great achievement.
"That's right."
Speaking of the ' pregnant wives list', Lu Hui immediately suppressed his resentment and said seriously: "The people below were too confused to put Commander Sun on the list. I just crossed out your brother's name and severely scolded those bastards."
The people below are also following orders, so what is there to be confused about?
Although Lu Hui had crossed out the name of his cheap brother, he would never relax his surveillance and investigation of him in secret.
After all, Sun Shaozu was a mid- to high-level general with military power. If he really was a spy of the White Lotus Sect, the nature of his crime would probably be much more serious than that of the other forty or so people combined.
But since he was pretending to be nice, how could Sun Shaozong expose him in person?
I could only cooperate and speak in an official tone: "Your Excellency, there is no need to be shy about anything. Just treat everyone equally. My Sun family has three generations of loyal and heroic ancestors. I believe that my brother will never bring disgrace to the family."
"That's natural, that's natural."
Lu Hui nodded repeatedly, then changed the subject and said, "Actually, what I am most worried about right now is that there is an oversight in the list - if Bing San's wife was found to be pregnant only after Ge Zhan and others came to Beijing, he would most likely choose to conceal it."
"If we randomly interrogate the officials on the list, wouldn't there be a risk of alerting the enemy?"
In the 24th year of Jianping, the court, at the suggestion of Prince Yizhong, tried out a maternity leave system, allowing court officials to take a half-month paid leave before and after their wives gave birth - of course, this benefit was only limited to the main wife of the family, and concubines were not included.
In order to avoid haste and affect the normal operation of the government, the court also stipulated that an application must be submitted to the relevant department one hundred days before delivery. Those who fail to do so will be deemed to have automatically waived their maternity leave.
The estimated due date is not accurate these days, and with the existence of premature babies, who would dare to wait until '100 days before delivery' to report it?
Therefore, as soon as they found out their wife was pregnant, they would report it to their superiors immediately to avoid missing out on this good opportunity.
This is also the reason why the Northern Pacification Office took only half a day to compile the list.
But it has been almost a month since Ge Zhan led his men to Beijing to look for the saint. If Bing San discovered that his wife was pregnant during this period and then planned to send her back to her hometown in the countryside for refuge after the fetus was stable, it is possible that he concealed the matter.
Therefore, Lu Hui’s worries are not groundless.
"Then according to your Excellency's wishes..."
"Don't touch the people on the list for now . At the same time, send people to investigate the city to see if there is anyone deliberately concealing the truth."
This sounds easy, but there are thousands of officials in the capital. Those petty officials are just that, but those with high ranks and real power all live in large mansions.
It is not easy to investigate whether these wives of officials who never leave the house are pregnant.
However, Sun Shaozong didn't need to preside over this matter, so he naturally didn't bother to say anything more. He chatted with Lu Hui about the case for a while, and suddenly changed the subject and said worriedly: "In fact, I'm not worried about the spies of the White Lotus Sect now. Instead, I'm a little uneasy about the power hidden behind Zang Liang."
Lu Hui nodded solemnly, and then comforted Sun Shaozong: "I have ordered Zhao Jiayi and Song Xiong to investigate this matter thoroughly, and they will not miss any clues."
Thorough investigation?
But I don’t know whether Lord He’s daughter-in-law is included in this thorough investigation.
However, judging from Lu Hui's attitude, he did not seem to want him to intervene, and Sun Shaozong was afraid that being too active would arouse unnecessary suspicion.
Therefore, they stopped arguing for the time being and did not continue to argue.
In this way, Sun Shaozong accompanied Lu Hui in the water dungeon and experienced a damp and stuffy afternoon. When it was finally time to end his shift, he hurriedly got up and said goodbye.
I am preparing to go home to find my eldest brother who is on leave, to discuss the matter of suppressing the rebellion in Huguang - it would be best if the issue of weapons and armor can be resolved at the same time.
Unexpectedly, when he arrived home smoothly, there was no sign of Sun Shaozu. Instead, Youshi came to the house under the pretext of visiting her stepmother.
After hearing the news, Sun Shaozong suddenly remembered that he was so busy enjoying the pleasure of having two children yesterday that he forgot to ask You Erjie why she was taking so much trouble to pimp him.
Secretly reminding himself not to forget to ask the truth today, Sun Shaozong casually asked Zhao Zhongji: "Isn't it your turn to rest today? Why haven't you come back yet?"
"Reply to Second Master's question."
Zhao Zhongji said hurriedly: "The master came back at noon, but Commander Liu of the Patrol Battalion sent someone to invite him back, so he took a few concubines out again."
Did you go out with a few concubines?
Needless to say, he must be going to attend the 'Canton Fair' again.
There are many people in the capital who treat their concubines like cattle and horses. They have even formed a unique circle. Recently, they have even started the Canton Fair, where everyone brings their dissatisfied concubines to engage in extensive exchanges with others for mutual benefit.
The parties involved in the "communication" were satisfied with each other, and many of them exchanged bonds on the spot.
Therefore, in the past two months, the concubines in my cheap eldest brother's room have been replaced several times like a revolving lantern - the "concubine" here refers to the status. Generally, those who are bought, raised by maids, or born in brothels are all considered concubines.
[By the way, Xiangling was originally a lowly concubine, but later she recognized her father, who was once an official, and was promoted to a good concubine. ]
Although Sun Shaozong couldn't stand such humiliation, the sale of concubines was legal and reasonable - besides, exchanging them to other families was much better than selling them directly to brothels.
So after trying to persuade him several times without any effect, I just let it go.
