Chapter Nine: The Face of the Child

  Jiang sister quickly served a bowl of noodles to that Japanese man, and before adding any seasonings, a clear voice said: "Ning sister, first serve a bowl for little brother, add more chili oil, little brother's stomach is almost starving."

  Jiang's big girl knew who it was as soon as she heard the voice, and without lifting her head, she coquettishly scolded: "You little stinker, you won't starve to death if you eat a bit later, but you have to come when there are many people and cause trouble for your sister. How did a hungry ghost like you get reborn?"

  She still scooped an extra piece of noodles into the bowl, added some scallions and chives, drizzled a few drops of chili oil made from Sichuan peppercorns, took a quick glance at her mother who was busy tending to the fire, then swiftly pulled out a small gourd from under her blue apron, removed the stopper, and sprinkled some ground pepper into it.

  Pepper noodles are still a rare and expensive thing at this time, not everyone can enjoy them in the street food stalls, making the Japanese person next to me drool with envy.

  Mian Pian'er and Ma Qiao were the first two people Yang Fan got to know after arriving in Luoyang. He settled down in Luoyang, bought a house and land, and enlisted as a soldier, all thanks to the help of these two people, so Yang Fan had a very friendly relationship with them. Mian Pian'er treated him like her own younger brother, and Yang Fan seemed to see a bit of his late sister's spirit in her, and he also treated her like an older sister from the bottom of his heart.

  Mianpian quickly completed the process of secretly adding pepper, seeing Lao Niang busy adding firewood without noticing her own small movements, and playfully stuck out her tongue at Yang Fan, pushing the large bowl over. Yang Fan took the large bowl, thanked Jiang Niang, and heavily slapped three large coins onto the table, loudly saying: "Three copper coins!"

  Her face turned red with anger and she glared at him with a scowl.

  Yang Fan's income is limited, and as a single man, he has no one to take care of him. He spends money without a plan, making his life even more difficult. Therefore, Jiang Xuan Ning usually takes good care of him. Yang Fan can barely get by with three meals a day, often coming to her stall to eat noodles. Whenever Jiang Xuan Ning sees that the old lady is not paying attention, she doesn't charge him money.

  Yang Fan didn't treat Mian Pian'er as an outsider either, and he gladly accepted his sister's kind intentions. However, it wasn't until recently that he learned from Ma Qiao that Ning Jie was working so hard every day to make small eats in the early morning because she wanted to save up for her dowry.

  In the Tang Dynasty, it was customary for the bride to bring a substantial dowry when getting married. Poor families found it difficult to marry off their daughters, no matter how beautiful they were, unless they married a poor and rough countryman. Otherwise, if the dowry was too thin, they would inevitably be looked down upon by the husband's family and encounter many difficulties.

  Ning's sister has been living a difficult life with her mother since her father passed away, and their family situation is not good. At the end of this year, she will get married to the Liu family in Yongkangfang, although they have no official rank, it is still a scholarly family.

  The mother and daughter were afraid that the dowry would be too thin, so they would be looked down upon by the husband's family. Therefore, three years ago, they started doing small business to make money, all for her to have a decent dowry when she got married. The small business was not easy to operate, and Yang Fan couldn't take advantage of her again. He deliberately spoke loudly to attract Jiang Mu's attention, so that the sister who made the wontons wouldn't push them away.

  Yang Fan knew that his sister was kind, so he smiled apologetically at Jiang Xuan Ning and then picked up the bowl of steaming hot noodles and walked to a nearby tree, sitting on a rock to eat.

  Under the tree, there were many stones, and the snack stalls were not a place to eat. People who ate noodles all held bowls and ate casually here. The people who ate noodles were all neighbors, everyone eating while chatting about everything under the sun, Yang Fan rarely spoke but listened carefully, he was a good listener.

  At first, Zhang Bao, the grandson of Qiu Ruike, in a fit of rage, single-handedly stormed into the Governor's Mansion, beheaded Guangzhou Governor Lu Yuanrui, and then took his sword and left. He sailed out to sea, causing a sensation at the time, becoming one of the famous wandering heroes in the history of the Tang Dynasty. However, no one knew his name, and later historical records also referred to him as Kunlun'er without mentioning his name.

  Zhang Bao came and went without a trace, seemingly carefree, but was held back by a small beggar boy Yang Fan. Although Zhang Bao was hot-tempered and chivalrous, rough and generous, he had always attached great importance to his reputation. He did not want to harm the boy's life because of his own affairs, so he took him to Nanyang. Yang Fan stayed in Nanyang for many years, following his master to learn martial arts. When he had made some progress in his studies, he bid farewell to his master and returned to the Tang Dynasty.

  Yang Fan returned to the Tang Dynasty and first went to Guangzhou Prefecture, where he found several clerks who had worked in the Guangzhou Metropolitan Government. Unfortunately, that Mrs. Pei's identity was too mysterious, although some people still remembered this woman because of the day when Governor Lu sent her out of the government office, which was also the day when his head was taken away by Kunlun, but they were not clear about her identity.

  Yang Fan had no choice but to give up searching for Niu Niu and went to Shaoyang Prefecture instead.

  Sister Ah is in a wealthy household, with no worries about food and clothing. Although she is a slave or servant, looking at Madam Pei and her son, they don't seem like cruel masters who mistreat their subordinates. It's likely that for the time being, there won't be any harm to her, and it's just as well that he can't find her temporarily without any entanglements, because he still has another matter to attend to - the blood debt from the massacre in Yongchun in the second year!

  The only clue he had from that year was the tall, gaunt man with deep-set eyes and a hawk nose who served as the cold-blooded executioner under Village Head Butou.

  In Shaoyang, he still had no harvest. In the imperial court in recent years, various forces have been vying for power, sometimes losing and sometimes gaining power. Many officials lost their jobs or even lost their lives. The Shaoyang governor who issued a proclamation announcing the outbreak of plague in Huanshan Village was beheaded due to his involvement in Xu Jingye's rebellion case.

  The then Shaoyang prefecture's Tongpan industry was implicated, and he retired to his hometown. Yang Fan chased after that Tongpan to his hometown, but that Tongpan knew nothing about the inside story of this matter. The only news he knew was: those people came from Luoyang, with a big background, so much so that even the Cishi gentleman at that time had to flatter them, knowing that the victims of the Huan Shan village blood case were all slaughtered, but could only use the outbreak of the plague to cover it up, and did not dare to report the truth to the imperial court.

  As for the origin of the eleven surnames of the villagers in Huanshan Village, Yang Fan's family had never mentioned it to him when he was a child, and he didn't suspect anything. He had never left his own village, so he didn't think that his village was any different from other mountain villages. He always thought he was just an ordinary mountain villager.

  But as he grew older and experienced more, Yang Fan gradually realized that his hometown had many unusual doubts, not just because of the sudden massacre, but also because the villagers in his village were different from those in ordinary villages.

  That nameless valley seems to have buried too many secrets, his parents, his neighbors, the origin of every person is mysterious and heavy. Unfortunately, it seems that every elder's household registration in the village has been altered, Yang Fan can't find their earlier origins based on those household registration materials, their identities, origins including names are all fake.

  Their reception was all handled by the governor himself that year, and even the judge found by Yang Fan didn't know the details. The resettlement of more than a dozen villagers actually required a governor to personally take charge, and he didn't dare entrust it to others. This matter itself had too many suspicious aspects.

  Alas, people in the officialdom, with the idea of having one less thing to do, no one took the initiative to ask about these things. What Yang Fan learned from that governor's mouth was almost nothing. The only useful information was that he had heard from the governor's mouth about the origin of that army, which was the Longwu Army, the only fully cavalry-built military in the Great Tang Imperial Guard.

  Then he came. He spent money to buy a household registration, moved into Xiwenfang where many court officials lived, and became a Fangding here. In more than half a year, he adapted to his identity, familiarized himself with the environment of Luoyang, but the news he wanted to investigate still had no results.

  What left the deepest impression on him was that green-robed official, but he could only come into contact with a limited number of people, and those people's status were not high either. He couldn't possibly rely on his memory to draw out the appearance of that unforgettable official, and go around asking everyone in the streets. A more reliable lead for investigation turned out to be that army he knew nothing about at the time, the Dragon Martial Army.

  A troop dispatched from Dongdu Luoyang traveled thousands of miles to Shaoyang to massacre a village, there must be a major reason and an unmentionable purpose, and behind it must be a mastermind in a high position. However, strangely enough, after more than half a year of investigation, he still hasn't found any clues, as if this group of people had never existed, nor had they committed such an inhumane act.

  He had suspected that the blood case was done by the imperial court, but as he investigated step by step, this suspicion gradually disappeared. All traces were gone, and any possible clues were erased. With the power of the current Empress Dowager, there were so many princes in the Li Tang royal family, she said kill and they would be killed, with no hesitation or pretence. Why was it necessary to cover up like this?

  These days, he has been investigating from both official and folk perspectives. Many things that officials do cannot be found out through official channels, but are well-known among the common people. Although these ordinary people have low social status, some of them work as servants in wealthy families, some take care of officials' homes, some have family members working as accountants for officials or wealthy families, and some have wives who work as cooks or midwives for these families. As a result, many things that are not worth mentioning to outsiders can be heard from their mouths, even if they cannot be heard from other sources.

  Xu Xiaojie, who was in a hurry, "dang"ed his rice bowl twice and started pulling the noodles.

  Xu Xiaojie was a "jockey", his family raised a donkey. Every day, he took the donkey to busy and prosperous places or waited at the city gate. If someone hired his donkey, the hirer would ride on it, or use it to transport goods and luggage, while Xu followed behind on foot, hence the name "jockey".

  Because of his daily contact with all sorts of customers, Xu Xiaojie has a wide range of knowledge and experiences. As a result, he always has some new stories to share with everyone every day. Every day, he is the first one to tell stories about what he heard the previous day: "Ah! Yesterday, when I was driving, I heard an interesting thing..."

  New book, sincerely seeking recommendation votes!