It was getting late. Tonight's dinner was still noodles. Yang Fan slurped down a bowl of noodles and placed it on the windowsill. Opposite him, Tin Aino was still eating like a gentleman. The bowl of noodles was still full, as if she had not eaten a single noodle.
Yang Fan couldn't help but laugh. "She's a woman after all. Such fragrant noodles, yet she's eating so slowly."
Tin Aino looked at Yang Fan with pity. "Do you know what fragrant is?"
Yang Fan said, "Is it not fragrant? Sister Ning's noodles are publicly acknowledged to be delicious in Xiuwen Workshop."
Tin Aino shook her head and sighed. "A frog in a well cannot speak to the sea. A summer insect cannot speak to ice."
Yang Fan said, "Since you're bragging about how good your culinary skills are, why don't you show me your skills and let me see?"
The Tian Ai Nu rolled her eyes at him and said, "Even the cleverest housewife can't cook without rice. What do you want me to show off?"
Yang Fan laughed. "Fine. That's easy. I'll buy some ingredients tomorrow. Then I'll see what you, a clever housewife, can do."
They chatted for a while longer. The faint sound of clappers could be heard from the street. It seemed to be the second watch of the night. Tin Aino stood up. "I can't talk to you anymore. I'm going back to rest."
Yang Fan also stood up. "You sleep. I'm going out for a walk."
Tin Aino asked warily, "Where are you going?"
Yang Fan said, "I'm going to play the leaves card. Otherwise, how will I buy chicken, duck, fish, and meat tomorrow?"
"Your luck is very good?"
"Haha, if you want to change things tomorrow, you'd better pray that my luck is very good."
Yang Fan went out of the door of his small courtyard and stood at the door for a moment. He vigilantly looked around and walked along the long alley. After walking for a while, he suddenly faintly sensed some movement. Yang Fan secretly became vigilant. When he turned a corner of the alley, he quickly glanced back and saw a figure flashing out of the darkness. However, it was just a glimpse and Yang Fan saw a slender figure.
"Tin Aino?"
Yang Fan was slightly startled. His thoughts turned, but his feet did not stop. He continued walking forward.
The Tian Ai Nu quietly followed behind and saw Yang Fan sneakily looking around. Finally, he came to a long alley and looked left and right. He spat on his palm and took a few steps back. With a soft "Hey!", he borrowed the momentum and dashed towards a wall.
"Hua!"
A large piece of the rotten and cracked mud wall fell. Yang Fan fell to the ground in a very sorry state. He lay on the ground, not daring to move. After a while, seeing that no one was alarmed, he gently climbed up and spat out the mud in his mouth.
Tin Aino, who was hiding in the dark, hurriedly covered his mouth, afraid that he would laugh out loud.
Yang Fan craned his neck to look around, and then continued to climb the wall. This time he succeeded. After a great deal of effort, he finally reached the top of the high wall. Panting heavily for a while, he flipped over the top of the wall. Tin Aino gently shook his head. His slender figure flashed and swept back to their residence.
Yang Fan pretended to steal something. He wandered around the courtyard a few times and then flipped over the other side of the wall. He continued to shuttle through the alleys, pretending to be looking for his target. He did this for almost an hour. After making sure that Tin Aino had left, he quickened his pace and rushed to the place he really wanted to go.
Yang Fan passed through a few houses and came to a secluded place. This was the corner of a residential street. At the innermost end of the alley, there were two houses on the left and right, both facing the other side of the street. The alley in the middle was a dead end, leaving only the back door. Therefore, it was abnormally secluded.
At the end of the alley, there was a Dragon Claw Locust Tree. The tree was more than ten zhang tall, with luxuriant branches and leaves. Yang Fan looked around and saw that there was no one around. He suddenly jumped up like a spirit ape and flew up to the top of the tree. He hid in the crown of the tree, and no one could see him.
There was a place at the top of the tree that was propped up by a few branches. There was an oilcloth bag. Yang Fan opened the bag and put it on the tree. Soon, he changed into another appearance.
He wore a set of light green clothes and a green headgear. He had a short sword inserted into his leggings, and a short knife inserted into his belt where it was easiest to pull out. Taking a deep breath, Yang Fan looked around at the top of the tree and flew out of the canopy. He landed lightly on the roof of a house, passed through the house, and dashed away.
…
"Mother, I'm going out."
In Maqiao's house, Maqiao stood up, stretched, and said to his mother.
Maqiao's mother rebuked, "Go, go. You always go out at night. Be careful that Marquis Wu doesn't see you. He will blame you."
Ma Qiao replied: "Mother, don't worry, I am a shopkeeper, I am originally here to help the Marquis, everyone lowers their heads to see each other, even if they were to bump into me, they won't do anything to me. Your son is only going to meet up with Yang Er and a few good friends, play some cards, and will be back soon."
"Well, be careful. Playing cards is one thing, but don't gamble!"
The horse's mother warned her, and then used a needle to scratch her hair. She lowered her head again, and under the light of the lamp, she carefully put a strand of twisted bristle through the hole drilled in the cow's bone, and then reached out to take the hemp rope that had been prepared. She tied it up. Next to it, there was a set of drilling tools and a lot of cow bones that had been drilled. It was just made by Maqiao.
As long as Maqiao returned home, he would always accompany his mother to do housework. He had been like this since he was very young. At that time, the horse's mother often made insoles for people to earn some money to support the family. Every day, Maqiao would help his mother at home to cut small pieces of cloth and put them together into insoles. He would often be busy until the sun went down in the west before he could go out to play with his friends in the workshop.
Since he was a child, he had helped his mother do things. Now that he was a servant, he had a salary. Although the income of a servant was very low, according to him, there would always be unexpected wealth from time to time when he worked for Marquis Wu. So, his family was much better than before. However, the old woman could not be idle. Her son had grown up and it was time for him to get married. Naturally, she had to help him save money for his wife, so she still worked hard every day.
When the horse's mother heard that toothbrushes were now profitable and easy to sell on the market, she asked her son to spend some money to buy one. After thinking about it carefully for a while, she bought some raw materials and tried to make her own toothbrush.
The horse's mother knew that her son was filial and obedient, so she was not worried that he would do anything wrong. So, she just gave him a few words of advice and then worked at ease. She did not know that in her eyes, although her son was still a filial and obedient son, he had grown up and was no longer the innocent child from back then.
Everyone had their own little secrets. It was even more impossible for a grown up son to share all his secrets with his mother.
Maqiao walked out of the room and closed the door. He stood quietly in the courtyard for a moment, then fled into the night.
There was no moon tonight, and the stars were dim.
Maqiao sneaked through the alleys. Although there were Marquis Wu patrolling the streets at night, Marquis Wu generally only patrolled the streets and would not walk in the alleys, so he did not have to worry about being bumped into.
The alleys were dark, but he was familiar with the way. Maqiao did not see a faintly discernible figure in the night, leisurely skimming over the roofs. The figure skimming over the roofs was Yang Fan. Yang Fan did not notice Maqiao, who was carefully sneaking along the wall.
Maqiao quietly felt his way to a door. Looking back to see that there was no one in the alley, he stretched out his hand and pushed the courtyard door. The courtyard door was not bolted, and with a 'squeak', the door opened. Maqiao flashed in, gently closed the courtyard door, and tiptoed towards the main room. As he walked, he called out in a low voice, "Yin Yin, Yin Yin …"
The door opened, and a figure wrapped in a gust of fragrant wind suddenly jumped into his arms. Two hot and sensual lips immediately pressed against his mouth, kissing him fiercely. The woman's voice gasped, "You little sweetheart, you made me wait so anxiously, why did you come so late!"
The two of them hugged together, kissing as they hurriedly took off each other's clothes, and with a high degree of difficulty, they turned into the room. As the door closed, a piece of robe behind Maqiao's buttocks was caught in the gap of the door. Following a woman's delicate moan, that piece of robe disappeared with a 'swoosh'.
In a short while, the creaking of the bed, the crackling sound of bodies hitting each other, and intermittent, fragmented, and indecipherable moans came faintly from the room. The dry firewood was burning fiercely.
"Humph humph, humph humph …"
This was not the sound of a pig, but Maqiao's unique laughter that was different from ordinary people.
…
Yang Fan quietly appeared in the Xia Guan yamen. The Xia Guan yamen was also the Ministry of War of the Tang dynasty.
Yang Fan quietly waited in the shadow of the corner, waiting for the group of patrolling soldiers to pass by. Then he turned into a wisp of smoke and suddenly flashed into the shadow of the long corridor. His feet touched the ground slightly and he flew out like a bird, along the long corridor, his feet did not touch the dust, and disappeared at the end of the long corridor, like a ghost.
This was not the first time he came to the Ministry of War, and he was already very familiar with the terrain here. Yang Fan easily snuck into the back yamen, escaped into a relatively desolate courtyard, flipped over and swept into the courtyard, looked back, then got up, leapt to the railing on the second floor, stretched out his hand and nimbly flipped over.
The Imperial Court had limitless power, but if they wanted to do something, they would not be able to see through the nine earths, just like an assassin hiding in the vast sea of people, even if it was just Luo Yang, they would not have the ability to dig three feet into the ground to find the assassin, they would even need to use Wu Hou and the workshop workers, to be able to complete a search of the entire city.
Similarly, if an ant living under the Nine Earths wanted to peek at the news of the imperial court above the Nine Heavens, or even the news that was a top secret among the many officials in the imperial court, it was also an impossible task. Yang Fan only had one clue, and that was the ruthless official with concave eyes and a hawk nose.
This person wore a cyan official robe back then, and he was only an eighth or ninth-level official. It was impossible for Yang Fan to draw a picture and post it in the streets and alleys to search for him, and it was impossible for him to hold that person's portrait and ask people all over the street, and it was even more impossible for him to sneak into the mansions of the officials of the Tang dynasty one by one to spy on their appearance. With this clue, the hope was too slim.
Moreover, over the years, with the gradual centralization of power by Empress Wu, the officials in the imperial court rose and fell, and too many officials were demoted or even killed because of the failure in the power struggle. Who knew if the cyan-robed official was now rising, banished to the frontier, or beheaded?
Even though that minor official had already been sent to another place to become an official, he could no longer investigate him. Thus, even though Yang Fan's deepest impression was of that cruel official's appearance, he did not focus his investigation on finding that person. Instead, he began with that army.
To find an eighth or ninth-level official with deep lines was like looking for a needle in a haystack, but to find an imperial army that left the capital on official business was much easier. From the vast and numerous bundles of files and official letters, it was always possible to find some clues.
The place Yang Fan snuck into was the treasury of the Ministry of War, where official letters and documents were kept. More than three hundred imperial guards left the capital on official business. If the movement of so many people was under orders from the imperial court, the Ministry of War would certainly have a record. If the order to massacre the village did not come from the imperial court, then the movement of so many people out of the capital would have to find an excuse for official business, and it would also have to go through the Ministry of War. Otherwise, it would be seen as an accomplice in rebellion.
Therefore, Yang Fan believed that as long as the imperial army was not bandits in disguise, there would definitely be a record.
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