There is a god in the sky

Chapter 305 Tracking

Shen Lan walked down the street, feeling dejected.

A little boy wearing a hat ran past her and grabbed her suitcase, but Shen Lan pinned his arm down.

"Ouch! It hurts! Let go!"

The voice sounded familiar. The person turned around, and Shen Lan raised an eyebrow. "Little Tiger?"

Upon seeing her, Little Tiger immediately put on a fawning smile. "Oh, it's you, sister! What a coincidence! Sister, let me go, it hurts so much!"

Shen Lan didn't let go, but asked in a deep voice, "What are you doing here?"

"Well... hehe... I just thought your suitcase was really nice, so..."

"So you want to steal something?" Shen Lan's box is useless to others, but the contents are indeed quite valuable.

"Come with me." She led Xiaohuzi to a roadside stall and ordered wontons and a few skewers of grilled meat for the two of them.

Little Tiger smiled and thanked him, not at all reserved.

Shen Lan reached out her hand to him, "What about the reply you promised last time?"

Although she had visited Li Ye at the Crown Prince's residence, she had also sent a letter through Xiao Huzi, so Li Ye should have replied to her by now.

Little Tiger actually pulled a letter out of his chest and said in a low voice, "Sister, I came here today specifically to get this letter for you."

Where do I pick it up?

"It's a secret," Little Tiger refused to tell her.

The food was served, and Little Tiger didn't have time to talk; he started eating heartily.

Shen Lan opened the letter and only when she saw the contents did she realize that she couldn't read Li Ye's handwriting, and didn't even know if he could write.

The letter said he was fine and safe.

If he were still in the Crown Prince's residence, he would certainly not be safe.

Clearly, he wasn't planning to tell himself the truth.

Little Tiger finished eating quickly, pulled out his chair and tried to run away, but Shen Lan stopped him with her foot.

"Is there anything else, sister? I've given you the letter, and you've finished eating."

"Deliver another letter to him for me."

"Well... he said not to contact him recently, he's very busy."

“He wouldn’t say something like that.” Shen Lan knew Li Ye quite well.

Little Tiger remained unfazed when his lie was exposed, and said with a grin, "He really is busy, and I can't keep bothering him."

"This is the last time," Shen Lan said resolutely.

She opened her toolbox, took out paper and pen, wrote a note, and handed it to Xiaohuzi.

Little Tiger can't read, so he can't understand what he sees.

"I have to make a special trip just for these few words? That's such a hassle!"

A piece of silver was handed to him, and he immediately stopped complaining, staring at the money with shining eyes.

"Take it, consider it a delivery fee."

Shen Lan also noticed that Xiao Huzi was quite poor, otherwise he wouldn't be robbing people on the street.

Little Tiger quickly snatched the silver, took a bite, and said with a grin, "Don't worry, sister, I'm pretty free anyway, so I'll run the errand for you again."

Seeing his actions, Shen Lan suddenly remembered the missing corpse and the silver coin found in the stomach.

She asked Xiaohuzi, "Do you live with many people? How do you all make a living?"

"There are quite a few, but we're not always together; we do all sorts of things."

Shen Lan assumed it was a shared apartment and didn't ask any further questions.

She picked up the suitcase and said to Xiaohuzi, "Don't steal other people's things anymore. With your arms and legs, you'll get a beating if you get caught."

Just as Xiaohuzi was about to retort, he heard the other person say, "You can run errands for me from now on, and I'll pay you for it. At least you can eat your fill."

Little Tiger was very tempted.

But he dared not agree; he had other matters to attend to and needed to be at the beck and call of his superiors at any time.

A new leader has joined the gang and is recruiting people everywhere. If he doesn't work harder, he'll be overtaken by the newcomer.

"Thank you, sister, but I'm very busy and probably won't have time to run errands for you. However, if you need my help, just send someone to call me, and I'll definitely come to help you when I have time!"

Little Tiger patted his chest and said righteously.

Shen Lan didn't press him, and told him, "Come find me at Jifeng Study when you get a reply."

"okay."

After the two parted, Shen Lan secretly followed him for a while and saw him either wandering around the streets or doing petty theft.

However, he failed nine times out of ten, which shows that he is not good at this.

He was clearly short of money, but he refused to accept my kindness, either because it wasn't allowed or because he didn't want to have much contact with me.

It seems he is not an idle person.

Seeing that they were almost at the City God Temple, Shen Lan turned and left.

She put her toolbox in the courtyard behind the bookstore, then changed into men's clothing and went out.

Some places can yield more information, but they are not suitable for women.

For example, the theater she was about to enter at that moment.

This is the largest theater in Bianjing (Kaifeng), with three stages that host performances all day long, attracting a constant stream of guests.

Shen Lan spent five taels of silver sitting from morning till evening, sharing tables with others, treating people to tea, and even acting as a peacemaker. She also overheard quite a few rumors.

However, most of them are just gossip.

For example, who slept with Master Wang's tenth concubine, whose son and whose daughter got together, and how many puppies were born to Prime Minister Wang's dog.

and so on...

Some useful information was also available. For example, the three officials who were recently beheaded by the emperor in the main hall were not innocent. Their crimes were even more numerous than those uncovered by the Imperial City Guard.

In addition, one of the Crown Prince's concubines mysteriously drowned in the lake.

Some say that the Crown Prince's residence is filled with yin energy, and that a pregnant concubine had just died, followed by the death of a secondary concubine not long after, which must be due to bad feng shui.

Combined with the previous incident where the crown prince was unable to offer incense at the City God Temple, there are many different opinions.

After making a few inquiries, Shen Lan learned that the deceased concubine was Zhao Xuan's cousin.

Her death was clearly not a coincidence.

The crown prince told the woman's family that it was an accidental fall, and even though the woman's family knew there was something fishy going on, they didn't dare to pursue the crown prince for an explanation.

Shen Lan felt that this way of dying was not like the Crown Prince's doing. He could have given him poisoned wine, a white silk noose, or let him die suddenly from illness. Any of these would be more respectable than drowning.

Perhaps someone in the Crown Prince's residence took the opportunity to kill her, and the Crown Prince, upon learning that she had killed his unborn child, tacitly approved of this act.

In this era, a married woman's life and death are entirely in the hands of her husband's family.

"I heard that there is a high monk living in the Crown Prince's residence who performs exorcisms for the Crown Prince every day. If he performs these rituals for 49 days, the evil spirits on the Crown Prince will be removed."

"What high monk? I remember him as a young monk who was injured while saving the prince."

"No, no, I heard that he is a reincarnation of a Buddhist disciple from the southern holy land, who came specifically to save all sentient beings."

Shen Lan initially thought that the rumors were getting more and more outrageous as people spread them, but later she discovered that someone was deliberately spreading rumors in such a place.

They seem to have deliberately exaggerated Li Ye's identity, portraying a young monk as a reincarnation of Buddha.

Even more unexpectedly, she saw Little Tiger.

He was dressed as a waiter, carrying tea as he moved through the crowd, smiling just like any other waiter.

Upon closer inspection, it's not hard to see that there are at least seven or eight people in his group, with different roles, and it's also their people who spread the information.

No wonder he said he was busy; he really is.