Chapter 17: Unraveling the Cocoon

  County Magistrate Zhao stood at the town entrance, gazing at Ding Hao's receding back, and sighed softly: "This man is meticulous in his thinking and observant of minute details. If he follows me to Linqing, I wouldn't mind giving him a task as an escort officer. With some polishing, it won't take long for him to become my trusted assistant."

  The county magistrate is not an official, but a clerk. The county governor and the county lieutenant can appoint him by themselves. Officials rarely have direct contact with the people, so this clerk is a key figure in connecting the upper and lower levels, turning over his hand to make clouds and covering his hand to make rain, and has great power locally. Song Jiang, also known as Song Gongming, in Water Margin, was just a county clerk, but he was still able to stir up trouble.

  Qing Shui Town's Zheng Jiming, who was standing aside, listened and immediately looked envious, saying: "County Master, since you appreciate him so much, why not keep him here?"

  County Magistrate Zhao smiled complacently and shook his head, saying: "Miss Ding sent the first message, but Mr. Ding arrived later, it's clear that he is the master of the Ding family. I've also heard of the Ding family in Ba Prefecture, how could the young master of the Ding family leave his hometown to become a minor official in my Linqing County? What a pity. By the way, do all you northerners have this bad habit?"

  County Magistrate Zhao asked abruptly, Lin Jiming was bewildered and couldn't help but smile awkwardly: "What did the County Magistrate say?"

  "Here, young masters from wealthy families who go out in public all like to dress up as if they're not worth much, even disguising themselves as commoners?"

  County Magistrate Zhao slightly furrowed his brow and asked, having just caught the real culprit. He immediately sent someone to release that young master Qin and apologized while inquiring about the true identity of that young Master Qin. Unexpectedly, that young Master Qin was furious and hastily mounted his horse to leave, making County Magistrate Zhao lose face. County Magistrate Zhao was also somewhat annoyed - with that getup, he claimed to be a young master of the Qin family, but there were no tokens on him; who could have recognized him? This young Master Ding's disguise was even more outrageous, and he simply disguised himself as a servant. It's really unclear how such strange customs still exist in the northwest region - is it because the area is not peaceful, and they're afraid of being kidnapped for ransom?

  Just as the county magistrate was thinking, a group of people rushed out from the town, with one at the front panting and shouting: "County Magistrate, sir! The thief has escaped!"

  County Magistrate Zhao was furious upon hearing this: "A group of useless people, can't even a large number of you keep an eye on him?"

  That man said with a bitter face: "Sir, I didn't expect that after searching everything on him and tying him up tightly, he could still escape from the rope. When he climbed over the wall to escape, I grabbed him, but unexpectedly pulled out a handful of his hair, it turned out that the thief was actually bald."

  County Magistrate Zhao snatched the hairpiece from his hand, threw it to the ground and scolded: "Fool! What's the use of holding a hairpiece? You little thief, dare to touch the head of Taizong, this official will not let you off lightly. Chase him down for me, and be sure to bring him back!"

  "Ah-Dai... Ah, no, Ding Hao, how did you see that the official seal of County Magistrate Zhao was in the hand of that wall sleeper?"

  As soon as the team left the town, Liu Shiyi, Li Shouyin, Sun Feng, Yang Ye and others gathered around him excitedly and asked. In their opinion, this Ah-Dai is now really amazing. Look, look back, County Magistrate Zhao is still standing at the entrance of the town, bidding farewell from afar. Just now he was called Ding Xian Di, the younger brother of County Magistrate, what a great face!

  Ding Hao smiled and said, "To say that there's nothing mysterious about it. From the moment I entered the shop last night, I found that this wall guest was the most suspicious in his words and deeds. Now that the county lieutenant has stolen the official seal, he is naturally the most likely suspect."

  "Hurry up and say it, what's suspicious about this person?" Li Shouyin and the others were anxious to the point of clutching their ears and scratching their cheeks.

  Ding Hao smiled and said, "Last night when I was having dinner at the restaurant with Feng Da Zhang and Zhu Er, Zhao County Magistrate, Qin Gongzi and Bi Zu were also dining there. Among the three of them, if we talk about their attire, Bi Zu's clothes were the most luxurious. However, I saw that he ordered dishes that are commonly found in rural areas. Perhaps at that time, there weren't many high-end dishes available in the restaurant, so this wasn't too surprising. But what was surprising was that he ate with great relish, which didn't quite match his identity as a wealthy young master from Bozhou."

  Liu Shi said, "Isn't that right? When Zhao County Magistrate was checking the identities of the inn's residents this morning, he only mentioned that he was from a wealthy family in Bo Prefecture. How did you know yesterday that he was a young master from a wealthy and influential family?"

  Ding Hao said, "Yes, this matter is indeed what I saw yesterday, and it matches with his identity this morning, which makes me feel suspicious. Last night, there were three main points that made him seem strange. Firstly, when he was drinking alone, he liked to carefully examine every person who entered the store. When I, Feng Da, and Zhuozi'er entered the store, he looked at each of us one by one. We're not women, what's there to look at?"

  The crowd burst into laughter, and Ding Yu fell off his horse, deliberately keeping pace with Ding Hao's carriage, also pricking up his ears to listen to him speak. Seeing that he spoke as crudely as the commoners, he couldn't help but glare at him fiercely, unfortunately Ding Hao didn't notice

  Ding Hao said, "When he paid for the meal, he tossed a stack of copper coins onto the table with a familiar flourish, just like a habitual gambler playing with copper coins. When he got up to return to his room, he passed by a small threshold leading to the backyard and lifted his long shirt beforehand, indicating that this person was not someone who was used to wearing shirts."

  Now, take that Qin Yiyun, Young Master Qin, for example. His elegant demeanor is nothing to speak of, those things can be imitated and pretended, but some small habits are not easy to change. In our Great Song Dynasty, mutton is considered precious and pork is considered vulgar, many wealthy families eat mutton but not pork. That young master Qin wore rough clothes, yet when he entered the hotel, he asked for mutton right away, and upon hearing that only half a pig's trotter was left, his face showed displeasure, which suggests that he rarely eats pork in his daily life.

  Moreover, after he sat down, his two feet unconsciously lifted forward a little, but stepped on nothing, which shows that normally, whether he was riding in a carriage or sedan chair, or reading and having meals in the mansion, the vehicles or tables he used all had footrests underneath. Therefore, as soon as he sat down, he would subconsciously look for the footrest, this is a habit that only young masters from wealthy families can cultivate...

  Liu Shi, Li Shouyin and a few others were already stunned, they had never thought that such ordinary things would contain so much truth. Ding Yuluo was also listening intently, her beautiful eyes gazing at Ding Hao, shining with moving spirit, seemingly with some admiration.

  Ding Hao said, "There's another thing, last night... cough, last night Feng Da's loud snoring kept me awake, so I came out to find another place to rest. Just then, I saw this wall ghost sneaking past under the corridor. Of course, this can't be used as evidence of his theft, but my suspicions about him have grown even stronger. Especially when we met and I told him that I couldn't sleep because of someone's snoring, he didn't think twice before telling me to tear open the corner of the bed sheet and use a wad of cotton to block my ears... is this something that a young master from a wealthy family would think of?"

  It turns out that Ding Hao's actual age is a bit older than his current body, and he often deals with some family trifles in the grassroots level, which are indeed more meticulous. However, if he had lived in this era for a long time, he might not have noticed these small details. Nevertheless, he has just arrived in this world, and although he has memories of the original Ding Hao, he still feels a bit fresh about everything, so he is particularly sensitive to the small actions that others don't pay attention to. Usually, when sweeping and cleaning at the Ding residence, or driving a high horse carriage, he has a deeper understanding of these meticulous details, which allows him to discover unusual things in ordinary objects that others take for granted.

  The people around him didn't know the inside story, but listening to his detailed account, they already regarded him as a godlike figure. Yang Ye and Li Shouyin listened to this brilliant analysis, repeatedly praising him. Ding Yuluo glanced at him with a smile, saying: "From now on, when you rest, you don't have to share the same room with Feng Dapeng anymore."

  The crowd dispersed after hearing the loud noise. Ding Yuluo rode his horse forward, running out of a distance of one arrow, suddenly pulling the reins and turning back, galloping to the front of Ding Hao's horse, with his waist straight as a pen, shouting: "Ah...Ding Hao, from now on, you don't have to drive the carriage anymore."

  "What? Then... what should I do?"

  "You're meticulous and resourceful, just the right person for the job. How about becoming a leader of my grain transport team, responsible for scouting ahead, arranging accommodations along the way, what do you think?"

  Ding Hao inserted the big whip into the car axle and smiled, saying: "What qualifications do I have to say whether it's possible or not? If the young lady says it's possible, then it's possible."

  Ding Yuluo feigned anger and said: "I'm asking you, can it be done or not? If it can be done, then it's done. If it can't be done, then it can't be done. You're so glib, do you want to ask for a beating?"

  Ding Hao immediately shouted: "Yes!"