Chapter 704: 704
As the two of them slowly walked toward the Main Hall, their voices grew distant:
"...Ah, just talking about lion’s head meatballs made me crave some. Later, I’ll have Xiao Qing make a big lion’s head meatball, what do you say, sir, doesn’t that sound good?"
"Good."
"Sir, look, we’ve arrived at the Main Hall. Wow, it really has been completely renovated. Before, the tiles were broken, the roof leaked, and the whole place was overgrown with grass that was difficult to burn and to cut..."
A brightly lit Main Hall stood solemnly before them, already transformed beyond recognition from its surroundings, now patiently waiting for a new master to inspect it.
Outside the palace.
Being repeatedly called a "brat," Hu Miaomiao had been sneezing incessantly these past few days.
He felt a sneeze coming on now but forcibly held it in—not that he didn’t want to sneeze, but because it was not yet the time for it.
Accompanied by a few Shadow Guards, he was hidden in the dark, surrounded by the commoner’s residences that were utterly ordinary.
Yet, it was precisely such a scene that made him intuitively certain that this was the place.
He had pried quite a few things out of the servant boy’s mouth, and most of the likely hiding places were the same as they had known, but it was the casual mention of this particular place that had aroused his suspicion.
The servant boy had said that he had ridden in a carriage with Guo Neng to a simple civilian residence in the Southern City and had stopped in front of a very shabby house.
However, Guo Neng only asked him to wait at the door, so he did not know what Guo Neng had done inside, but seeing Guo Neng’s grim expression, which suggested he was up to something nefarious, and knowing Guo Neng as he did, he was almost certain Guo Neng was there to deal with someone—perhaps to deal with the residents of the house, because by the time they left, he had smelled the scent of blood.
It was these few sentences that had led Hu Miaomiao to go to such lengths to check this place, and where they were now was the vicinity of the house described by the servant boy.
The target house Guo Neng had visited was small and dilapidated, not at all conspicuous and appeared just like any other civilian home, as if it hadn’t been inhabited for many years. Some dry weeds had grown in front of the door, and the surrounding walls were made of mud bricks, about the height of a person, preventing a view of the inside.
Night had fallen, and the smoke from cooking rose and dissipated, with families living near the run-down house having their dinner. Even from outside, one could hear the voices of people within.
Some folks hurried home, barely through the doorway before being dragged by their wives to come and eat;
Others had just finished visiting the neighbors and stood chatting at the door, one sending off, the other saying goodbye;
Some children from the local families, naughty and full of play, were only persuaded to return to their own homes to eat after several calls from their mothers.
This was a place full of the hustle and bustle of life, the first impression to Hu Miaomiao upon arriving.
"Elder Sister-in-law, remember what we agreed, yeah? Bright and early tomorrow morning, we’ll go get the Longevity Cakes."
A voice with a thick local accent reached Hu Miaomiao’s ears as he looked intently; near the targeted house, at the fence gate of the nearest civilian dwelling, two aunties were talking.
The one called Elder Sister-in-law replied with enthusiasm, "Ah, alright, there will be many people, better we go early."
The auntie in the front, with anticipation on her face, spoke eagerly, "This is my first time experiencing the Longevity Festival in the Capital City, and I have no clue what it’s like. If it weren’t for the fact that my nephew’s business has been booming these past few days and he’s running low on vinegar, prompting my old man to deliver some tomorrow, we could have had old Yellow pull us in his cart, saving us a long walk and allowing us to have a good stroll."
As soon as the elder sister-in-law heard this, she waved her hands repeatedly, "Oh no, that won’t do, that won’t do. By then it will be extremely crowded, and no vehicles will be allowed near the Imperial City. Otherwise, both people and carts will get stuck."
"Oh?" the auntie had just learned this news and hurriedly said, "I didn’t know they would stop carts. It’s lucky you told me. I have to let the old man know, so he doesn’t go sending vinegar to the master before the chickens even crow and gets held up. Elder sister-in-law, I’m heading back now, I’ll come and find you tomorrow."
"Right, you better hurry."
The auntie immediately rushed off, walking more than a hundred steps before entering another courtyard within the same alley.
Hu Miaomiao retracted her gaze, thinking to herself that what the two aunts said was true. Tomorrow would be the busiest day of the year in the Capital City, with folks’ various activities taking place everywhere, and the closer one got to the Imperial City, the more crowded it would become, as everyone clamored for the Longevity Cakes distributed by the government.
Each year, the crowds were so enormous that the government had to deploy soldiers to maintain order, to prevent trampling incidents, and to stop the petty thieves from taking advantage of the chaos to steal, rob, or kidnap children.
"Er Ya, you can’t sleep in tomorrow," her mother reminded her sternly, "if you miss the proper time, you’ll stay home to feed the pigs, and I’ll let your brother go instead."
"Mom, I know..." came Er Ya’s resigned reply, followed by the elder sister-in-law’s voice as she entered the house, prattling on and on, her voice occasionally carrying over.
Hu Miaomiao’s eyes fell on the courtyard of this family:
The family’s courtyard was a neat four-sided enclosure, surrounded by a hedge to form a front yard with the well and the drying area for goods located within it.
On each side there was a room, with the kitchen on the left, its chimney still emitting smoke, and a storeroom on the right. In the center were several bedrooms used by the homeowners, and in the back yard, there were some firewood stacks, with a few pigsties housing several big fat pigs tucked away in the far corner.
This was the dwelling closest to the target residence. Hu Miaomiao had already surveilled the surrounding area with his men, familiarizing himself with every detail.
And as for that target residence, he had dispatched the most skilled Shadow Guard to do a preliminary investigation. Although they found no hidden chambers or traces of anyone hiding inside the house, Hu Miaomiao had noticed signs of someone recently entering the property. So he called the Shadow Guard back, without conducting further investigation.
He could tell that whoever had entered the house was careful and meticulous, cleaning up after themselves well, but even the best clean-up had flaws – and he had spotted them.
This only strengthened the conviction in his mind that the residence was definitely connected to the trail of the two people he was tracking. While he couldn’t yet discern where the people were hidden, he knew that by keeping vigilant here, he was bound to make a discovery.
After meticulously observing the surroundings of the target residence once more, Hu Miaomiao squinted his eyes and left several Shadow Guards scattered in various corners to keep watch, while he went off to make other arrangements.
Waiting for the rabbit to hit upon the tree stump wasn’t enough; it was also essential to take the initiative and strike!
In another residence in the Southern City, members of the Lian Family were having their dinner.
The atmosphere at the table was a bit strange, with Lian Changhe and Lian Bingcheng avoiding each other’s gaze. As soon as their eyes met, they would immediately look away, one angry and the other feeling guilty and gloomy.
To be precise, Lian Changhe didn’t want to deal with Lian Bingcheng. He thought that despite Lian Bingcheng’s age, he was as unreliable as a hairless brat. It was a disappointment that after such firm assurance, they had failed to find the fat man for two consecutive days. Using a phrase he had recently picked up, he deemed this a ’hillbilly’s shot in the dark’.
Just the thought of this made Lian Changhe unable to stop himself from throwing a few barbed remarks.