Chapter 24 Part 1

 

At least half of the city’s inn and rental houses were concentrated in the East and West Markets.

Pei Xiaoyuan had spent a lot of time and manpower to check all the inn registers in this area, but to no avail. So he simply went through all the records of all the inn and rental houses in all the remaining places in Chang’an.

However, no one was found.

Half a month had passed since Qingtou told him that he suspected he had seen her. During these days, apart from the necessary official business in the office, all his remaining spare time and energy were devoted to this matter.

In fact, for him, checking the register records shouldn’t have been so time-consuming and laborious. With his authority, he wouldn’t even need a reason—just by issuing an order, all the registers from every inn in Chang’an could be gathered overnight, delivering the required results straight into his hands.

The reason why he did not use this method was because it would require mobilizing thousands of martial patrol post under the Left and Right Jinwu Guards.

He had just arrived, and because of the emperor’s decree, he became the focus of many people’s attention. His every move was probably watched by people behind his back. Finding people was entirely his private matter, especially when it came to Miss Ye. He didn’t want to mobilize so many people to bring her into the sight of others and cause unnecessary suspicion, which might be detrimental to her, so he had been using his own staff to conduct secret investigations.

Now that the investigation was finally completed, this was the result.

News about Gu Twelve had also come, and it was still not good news. According to a butcher in the West Market who was usually on good terms with Gu Twelve, he heard that the ban in the capital had been tightened recently, and the news that the son-in-law of Shenwu General, Chen Sida, being imprisoned had quickly spread across the city, creating quite a deterrent. Gu Twelve assumed that the newly established Luwu Division was out to make an example of him and cleanse the West Market. Being a man who knows when to back down, he decided to flee temporarily to avoid trouble. As for where he ran off to, no one knew. Although word had been put out that it was a misunderstanding, who knows when he would receive the message, dispel his fears, and return.

At this point, Pei Xiaoyuan’s mood on the road when he returned from West Mountain that night had completely vanished.

It would be a lie to say that he was not tired or disappointed.

Now there were only two possibilities left.

First, Qingtou had mistaken the person that day, and the “young man” the old man was talking about was not her, but just someone who looked similar to her.

The second possibility was that she was now living in an inn or rented house in a certain lane of Chang’an, but her name was not registered.

The imperial court had a household registration system, which stipulated that travelers without official permit could not pass through the checkpoints on the official road. If the guest was not recorded in the register, the inn was not allowed to let them stay. Especially in Chang’an, due to the frequent flow of people and the complicated sources, the management of outsiders was particularly strict. Not to mention the inns and rental houses, even the residents could not keep outsiders at home privately. If friends or relatives stayed for more than three days without reporting to the neighborhood official, it was considered a crime. The household registration office would inspect the inn and rental houses under its jurisdiction from time to time, and impose corresponding penalties if there were any problems. However, one of the inn taxes was collected based on the number of people in the inn register, so the inn would conceal the information from time to time, and then give some benefits to the neighborhood officials or other related people. Every time they were checked, they would tip off and turn a blind eye. If they were lucky, they could pay less money. If they were unlucky, they would be caught and fined, and the next time they would do the same thing. This was very common.

Was it possible that when she stayed at the inn, the inn did not register her according to the rules?

Pei Xiaoyuan cheered up, assigned tasks to his subordinates, and began to inspect martial patrol post again. Every time he arrived at one post, he summoned the team leader and asked about the inn in the area that had such activities. Then he went to the door to check the people who stayed there on the night she arrived, described her appearance, and checked whether she was there. Under the pressure of the Jinwu Guards, the inn thought they were catching an important criminal and did not dare to lie. He did find out that many guests had missed the registration, but he still did not find the person he was looking for.

In fact, there was almost no inn in Chang’an that did not deliberately under-register the number of people. The only difference was whether they concealed more or less. This round of execution was more troublesome than the previous one. With the newly established office and official duties to attend to, his daily schedule was predictably hectic. Yet, whenever he had a spare moment, he personally searched, going from one inn to another, and from one lane to the next. Even though the progress was slow, he never once entertained the thought of giving up.

Time passed day by day, and in the end, hard work paid off. On this evening, things finally took a turn for the better.

At that time, he was still in the Jinwu Guard office discussing matters with Han Kerang and others.

The Shenshu Palace was about to be completed, and the significance of this palace was goes without saying. More importantly, for the Jinwu Guard, this palace was the venue for the emperor’s longevity celebration next year. It was a matter of great importance and there must be no mistakes.

In a few days, on the fifth day of the next month, the crown prince would lead all officials to the new palace on behalf of the emperor to hold a ceremony to thank the earth and pay tribute to Heavens. Han Kerang ordered Pei Xiaoyuan to accompany him and familiarize himself with the venue as soon as possible in the following days.

In Han Kerang’s words, he had to be so familiar with it that he could remember exactly how many claws the ridge beastsbeast ornaments placed on the ridges of the roofs of ancient buildings squatting on the top of the Shenshu Palace have, and whether their faces were round or pointed.

Pei Xiaoyuan complied. It was already evening, and after the meeting, Han Kerang walked out of the Jinwu Guard office with him. Outside the door, he took the reins handed over by the attendant and was about to climb on his horse, but suddenly he seemed to remember something and stopped. He looked at Pei Xiaoyuan who was seeing him off, and said with a smile, “I heard that you recently robbed the Household Department’s job, and the owners of the inns and rental houses in Chang’an tremble when they see you?”

Pei Xiaoyuan knew that he and his subordinates were constantly going in and out of the various lanes to look for people. Even if others didn’t know, they would not be able to hide it from Han Kerang. So, he explained that he was looking for an old acquaintance. He mentioned that he had a friendship with someone and that he recently learned that the person’s descendants had also come to the capital, though he didn’t know where they were staying and wanted to find them.

“I didn’t want to disturb General. Apologies for the troubles.”

His explanation was the truth. Han Kerang didn’t ask any more questions after hearing it. He just nodded and said, “I have no other intention. You just came here not long ago. I saw you go out early and come back late. I was worried that you would be too tired. If you need it, don’t hesitate to mobilize all the martial patrol posts under the Left and Right Jinwu Guards. It will be much faster than if you do it yourself.”

“Looking for people is my personal matter. It’s enough to mobilize the staff in the office. I am grateful for General’s understanding. How dare I transfer more people from below? His Majesty’s longevity celebration is approaching, and everyone has important things to do.”

Han Kerang nodded: “Alright, it’s up to you.”

After Han Kerang left, Pei Xiaoyuan did not return to his residence, but continued yesterday’s investigation and rode his horse along the main street of Jinguang Gate directly to the West Market.

The evening drums were beating more urgently all over the city, and the wide streets were filled with people hurrying home. He rode against the crowds of people, and when he was about to reach the West Market, he ran into Liu Bo, who was looking for him. Seeing him from a distance, he rode over and reported something, saying that he had finally made a breakthrough in finding the person.

The first assignment that his superior gave him did not go smoothly and Liu Bo inevitably felt anxious inside. Now that he finally got the news, he reported it immediately.

Pei Xiaoyuan had thought he could find the person several times before, but ended up with nothing. He became much more cautious and dare not hold out hope immediately. He reined in his horse and asked questions.

Liu Bo said that a captain of a martial patrol team came to him just now. “This man is called Chen Shao. He has been on duty at Yanping Gate for many years. He said that he had met a traveller that day. The situation matched, so he wanted to report it to Chief for verification.”

Pei Xiaoyuan’s already weary heart skipped a beat at the sudden news.

“Where is he?” But he still didn’t dare to hope too much.

“I have brought him with me!”

Pei Xiaoyuan raised his eyes and saw a middle-aged martial patrol not far away who quickly dismounted from his horse. He got close to his horse and bowed, “This subordinate is Chen Shao, paying respect to Chief Pei!”

Pei Xiaoyuan immediately dismounted and approached, supporting the other person by the arms, intending to help him up and inquire about the details. However, Chen Shao, for some reason, kept his eyes fixed on Pei Xiaoyuan, his expression unusually intense. After a few attempts to help him up, Chen Shao finally rose to his feet. Taking a moment to collect himself, he recalled that on that night, after darkness had fallen, he was patrolling the streets with a group of guards as usual. When they passed by the northwest gate of Yongping Lane, they encountered a young man knocking on the gate, wanting to enter the lane.

Because that area was close to the deserted land in the south of the city, and there were not as many martial patrols as in the north of the city, it was inevitable that some criminals would sneak in to avoid disaster and hide in the dark. At that time, the evening drums had stopped and the gates of the lane had been closed. He knew that the gatekeeper often let people in privately for a small profit, so he went up to check.

“The young man had just arrived and said that he entered the city from the Kaiyuan Gate too late and couldn’t find a place to stay in that area, so he came there along the North-South Street and knocked on gates randomly.

“This must be false. He must have come there on purpose. But I know that it’s often difficult for outside travelers to find a place to stay before the evening drum falls when they first arrive, so I didn’t make it difficult for him. His appearance and the way he spoke also polite, and didn’t look like a criminal. After checking his pass, I found that it was not fake, so I let him in. I just learned from a brother that Deputy Commander Liu was looking for someone recently. I remembered the date, age and appearance were similar, so I reported it to Deputy Commander Liu.

“That’s right! That young man said he’s a painter. I checked his bag and saw some brushes and paints. I also remember the name on the pass. His surname is Ye and his given name is Xuyu. The pass was issued by the Luzhou government.”

Hearing this, Pei Xiaoyuan’s heart was already beating like a drum.

Just when he was gradually giving up hope, he unexpectedly got accurate news about her!

There was no more doubt.

The person Chen Shao met that night was Miss Ye, whom he had been looking for so long!

“Where does she stay?” His emotions were too volatile at this moment, and he didn’t want to show them in front of his subordinates, so he suppressed them and asked this question in an almost hoarse voice.

“This subordinate fear that it might be another false lead, so I went ahead and checked at the Yongping Lane. Someone saw the person entering and leaving an inn run by a widow named Gao every day. I had already checked that place last time, but his name wasn’t in the inn register, so it should be omitted!”

If it hadn’t been for that Aunt Gao’s trickery, they would have found this lead much earlier. The more Liu Bo thought about it, the angrier he became: “If that cunning old woman still isn’t honest this time, just see if I don’t bring my men to storm that shady inn!” He looked up and saw that his superior had already gone off on his horse, so he and Chen Shao hurriedly led their men to chase after him.

At this moment, there were fewer carriages and pedestrians on the street, so the road was wide and unhindered. Pei Xiaoyuan galloped towards the south of the city with almost no obstruction along the way. He arrived at Yongping Lane in one breath and went straight to Aunt Gao’s inn.

It was the busiest time of the day at the inn. Through the open door, he saw that the lights were dim inside. The innkeeper seemed reluctant to burn more fire sticks, and only used a few in the four corners of the lobby and around the counter to provide lighting, making the already shabby lobby look even more shabby. Yet, despite the gloom, the hall was packed with people eating and drinking. There were all sorts—talking, drunkenly cursing, and loudly ordering the servants, creating an incessant cacophony. In one corner, a group of people crowded around a birdcage, betting the few coins they’d earned that day on a fight between two quails inside. Both sides were shouting and gesturing, urging on their chosen quail. As one of the quails seemed about to lose, laughter and curses filled the air, and the uproar threatened to blow the roof off the place. Behind the counter stood a woman with thick makeup on. She lowered her head and quickly counted with abacus under light of a nearby candle. She was oblivious to everything that was happening and was busy calculating the bills.

“Silence!”

Liu Bo led his men in and shouted loudly.

The people around looked over, recognized the Jinwu Guards, and slowly stopped what they were doing. The group in the corner, who were busy with their quail fight, also realized what was happening. Someone suddenly shouted, and the crowd scrambled to snatch up their bets before scattering in all directions. There were only a few bone dice on the ground that no one picked up and a rolling bird cage that someone had kicked over in panic.

At first, some guests in the inn would set up gambling games for entertainment at night, which gradually attracted idle men from the neighborhood. After a long time, it almost turned into an open gambling gathering.

The imperial court had issued a clear ban on gambling, but from high-ranking officials to ordinary people, gambling was prevalent, with cockfighting, quail fighting, dice throwing and playing Chupusome kind of ancient gambling game, it was played by throwing five double-sided wooden pieces. Not to mention it was small-scale and usually no one cared. Aunt Gao also turned a blind eye to it for the sake of a commission, but after all, it was still within the ban.

The hall was completely quiet, with only two quails in the cage flapping their wings and pecking at each other fiercely. Their feathers were flying and they made sharp chirping sounds.

Aunt Gao looked up and recognized Chen Shao, who often walked around nearby. She signaled the waiter with her eyes to hide the gambling tools, put down the abacus and walked over from behind the counter. “Captain Chen, I just paid last month’s regular payment, and not a single cent was missing. What are you doing here?”

She looked at Liu Bo again and frowned, “Why are you here again? I remember you brought people to check the inn registry a few days ago. You scared away a lot of my customers. Why are you here again—”

Suddenly she stopped talking and her eyes fell on Pei Xiaoyuan who came in later. Her eyes lit up and she looked him up and down. A smile immediately appeared on her face. She turned around and was about to walk towards him, but just as she took a step, Liu Bo raised the hilt of his sword and pushed the person back.

“Back off! Be quiet!” he shouted.

This push was not light. Aunt Gao cried out in pain, covering her abdomen and complaining softly, but she also realized that this group of people did not come to arrest gamblers, so she felt a little relieved and stopped making jokes, asking what was going on.

Pei Xiaoyuan asked a nearby inn servant who was staring at him to take out the inn registry, flipped to the record at the end of Fourth Month, and said to Aunt Gao, “After closing that night, there were still people staying in your inn, but you did not register in the book.

“Which room does the person live in? Take me there!”

He said while looking into the woman’s eyes.

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