Chapter 28
After leaving the flower boat and returning to the shore, Pang Yu ordered his men to light a few plowing fires before sitting down beside them.
"Lord Marquis, what is your intention in doing this? How would this help in finding Ouyang Xiu's husband? Zhan Zhao didn't know about this, so he asked Lord Marquis to tell him.”
Zhan Zhao's curiosity was piqued. From the beginning to the end, he still couldn't understand why Pang Yu did this.
"Haha, this is just to confirm if the Fragrant Fragrance Yard's people are the ones who kidnapped Old Man Ouyang. From the looks of it, there was an 80% chance that these people were the murderers.”
Pang Yu said indifferently as he held a piece of paper with Gao Baoshen's statistics on where the Fragrant Heart Courtyard's people were from.
"You can be sure just like that?"
Zhan Zhao still couldn't believe it.
"It's actually not that difficult. If they were to look for evidence alone, there would be no evidence at all. The murderer was meticulous and well-planned, leaving no clues behind. Since there were no clues left behind, he could only make a judgment.
Let me ask you, where is Old Ouyang from?”
"This... He seemed to be from Jiangnan's Luling County, right?”
Zhan Zhao said uncertainly.
"You're right. He's from Luling County and Jiangnan. Then let me ask you again, why didn't old man Ouyang go straight to the Imperial College by the Bian River, but instead disembarked and came to the shore? Would she follow a stranger to a quiet place?”
Pang Yu asked.
"This... I don't know."
Pang Yu smiled and kept the paper. He said indifferently,"It's right that you don't know. Because I am only guessing. I guess that the person who came to find Old Ouyang is definitely not an official, nor is he a noble. He must be an ordinary person. Perhaps he is a brothel woman or a guard.”
"Lord Marquis, just say it. This roundabout way of speaking makes me dizzy.”
Gao Baoshen said. He really didn't hear him.
"It's very simple. Neither the dignitaries nor the people in the officialdom are enough to make Old Ouyang disembark. He was the leader of the literary world. Although he did not hold a real position and was not an important official of the court, he had a high prestige. Don't you think it's too rude for the officials and scholars to ask him to get off the boat and chat?
In the eyes of these scholars, a senior was still a senior. Even if you were more talented than a senior, you still had to abide by the etiquette and law. The etiquette and law were greater than everything else. If there were rumors that scholars and officials did not respect the etiquette and law and acted arrogantly, they would be abandoned by the scholar-bureaucrats. No one wanted to ruin their life's career because of this.
If it wasn't these people, then who could it be? There were only ordinary people, servants, guards, and brothels.”
"Lord Marquis, I still don't understand. How could an ordinary person know Ouyang Xianggong? Perhaps the person who came to find him was a scholar, but Ouyang Xianggong wanted to get off the ship himself?”
Zhan Zhao frowned.
"Wrong. Maybe at other times, Old Ouyang would disembark, but not today. He had come to preside over the opening ceremony of the Courtesan Belle Competition in the middle of the day. After it ended, it would be about 15 minutes before the time of 15.
However, he still had to go to the Imperial College to teach in the afternoon. Under the pressure of time, how could he get off the ship? He was probably thinking of going straight up the Bian River to the Imperial College. But at this moment, a stranger spoke. This stranger made him willing to waste some time to talk to him.”
Pang Yu's eyes narrowed slightly as he spoke in a faint voice.
"A stranger?"
Zhan Zhao looked at Pang Yu.
"That's right. It was a stranger. This stranger spoke with the accent of Luling County, which was rare to Old Ouyang. He had been an official in the capital for more than ten years and had not returned to his hometown for more than ten years. Suddenly hearing the local accent, he must have felt a sense of familiarity in his heart. As he got older, he began to reminisce even more. When he heard the local accent, it felt different.
Thus, Ouyang Xiu paused his journey and started chatting with him. This stranger must have used some other excuse to lure Ouyang Xiu off the ship and come to a quiet place to make a move. I think this excuse might be because he was afraid of being reprimanded by his master, or because of the noise of people.
Old man Ouyang had a respected status and was a leader of the literary world. He wasn't afraid that someone would harm him, so he followed him down the boat and came to a quiet place. Who knew that this person had a different heart. When he came to a quiet place, a group of masked people suddenly appeared around him and wanted to capture him alive.
As the old man Ouyang was already old, or rather, these people wanted to use him, they did not dare to knock him unconscious. They were afraid that something would happen, so they could only cover his mouth, tie him up, and carry him away. Old man Ouyang struggled all the way, and the purple goldfish pouch at his waist fell to the ground.
These people were afraid of being discovered, so they did not notice the purple goldfish bag that fell to the ground. This is my guess about the situation of Old Man Ouyang's disappearance.”
As Pang Yu spoke, he stirred the ploughing fire and continued,""Based on this conjecture, I began to wonder who did it. I was also present during the day. After thinking about it carefully, I thought of one thing. It was a brothel.
Since Old Man Ouyang could hear the local accent, he must be able to get close to Old Man Ouyang. At the very least, he could get close to the brothel. The other people by the river, including those scholars, were all poor scholars. It was impossible for them to get close to Ouyang Xiu.
As such, I asked Gao Baoshen later. Other than the four major brothels, the other brothels were all run by people around the capital. Although it was possible, the possibility was not high. Among the four brothels, the boss behind Xiangxi Source was from Jiangnan.
Fragrant Heart Yard would often bring a group of women from Jiangnan. If this was a planned kidnapping, they would definitely prepare people from Luling County. To them, this was not a difficult thing. Just now, I did notice some clues on the flower boat in Fragrant Fragrance Courtyard. I think you must have noticed it too, Zhan Zhao ~"
He looked at Zhan Zhao.
"Yes, I am. Just now, Hua Mengyun's hand had been grasped and clenched repeatedly. Her hand gave this lowly servant a feeling of strength. At that time, this humble servant had a bad feeling. Later, Lord Marquis had this humble servant look at the calluses on the hands of those people. This humble servant discovered that these calluses could only be obtained by people who had used knives for many years. Moreover, they were too thick. Without more than ten years, it was impossible to have such thick calluses.”
Zhan Zhao was a Jianghu person who used knives all year round, so he was very clear about these things.
Pang Yu nodded his head after hearing that." That's right. I deliberately pulled Hua Mengyun just now. I discovered that her arm is very strong. This isn't the strength that a slender and weak woman should have. The most important thing is the face."
Pang Yu's eyes narrowed as he recalled what he had discovered earlier. He was even more certain in his heart.
"Face? There was nothing wrong with Hua Mengyun being good-looking.”
Zhan Zhao said.
"No, it's the skin. If she was really a courtesan who spent most of her time in her room practicing the zither, chess, calligraphy, and painting, her pores would be very small, and her skin would be even smoother. However, have you noticed that although she is very beautiful, her skin pores are slightly thicker than other women. This is difficult to notice without careful observation.
Moreover, her skin was too healthy. How could a woman who spent most of her time in the boudoir have such healthy skin? It even had a hint of yellow, making it look even more beautiful. And she was a Jiangnan woman. Jiangnan women had always been known for their gentleness, so why was she like this?”
The pores on the skin, let alone the ancient times, even in the later generations, very few people would pay attention to these. But unfortunately, Pang Yu had thought of it and noticed it.
"There's only one possibility, and that's that she's always under the scorching sun. In addition, the strength of her arm was not something a weak woman could have. One possibility was obvious. Hua Mengyun knew martial arts and had been practicing martial arts for a long time. That was why she was like this.”
Pang Yu smiled and continued,""Since she knows martial arts, the guards of Fragrant Fragrance Yard are also unusual. In addition, did you notice that the brothel madame of Fragrant Fragrance Yard is unusually nervous about Hua Mengyun?
One had to understand that even if Hua Mengyun was the Courtesan Belle, she had sold her to Fragrant Fragrance Yard. The brothel madame was her superior and was above her. But look, wasn't the madam overly nervous just now? Thus, I have determined that there must be something fishy about Fragrance Yard. There is an 80% chance that they kidnapped Ouyang Xiu ~"
"Then what are you still talking about? Capture them and interrogate them one by one. I don't believe that they won't say anything.”
Gao Baoshen stood up and said.
"Don't worry, now isn't the time. We need to find where Old Man Ouyang is locked up, or he might be finished. Besides, what was the hurry? By now, my father has probably already ordered the Imperial City Bureau to seal the capital.
At this moment, only people can enter the capital, and Old Man Ouyang is still in the capital. We can slowly search for him. At most, we can dig three feet into the ground.”
Pang Yu said indifferently.
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