Chapter 20: The Unenlightened People of Wenbo Village

  A charming and coquettish young woman, like a runaway daughter-in-law, insists on staying at your home and refuses to leave. Can you drive her out?

  Of course not!

  So you won't leave, I will!

  Yang Fan rushed onto the streets with determination and decisiveness.

  As she watched him walk out the door, Tian Ai Nu's eyes sparkled with a hint of tears.

  She refused to leave, mainly because the government's move was not very clever after all. The government didn't have enough power to thoroughly investigate the entire Luoyang City, so they used this "startling the snake by hitting the grass" tactic to try and get her to jump out herself. However, most people who are wanted would fall for this trick.

  "It's none of my business, and worrying about it will only lead to trouble!" Once someone is really discovered, they'll be in deep trouble, and people will instinctively want to distance themselves from danger. Who can remain so calm and bold in the face of an official investigation? But as a top-notch assassin sent to kill Wu Zetian, Tian Ai Nu's courage clearly doesn't belong to the majority of people.

  However, not escaping doesn't mean she has to stay at Yang Fan's house. Luoyang City is so big, especially with the many government offices and officials' residences, as well as various warehouses and storehouses, it's easy to hide someone. Tian Ai Nu isn't a woman who likes to repay kindness with ingratitude or rely on those who have saved her life.

  The question is, when Yang Fan returned home and told her that she had to leave immediately, she suddenly thought of a possibility: Was Yang Fan really a true Bao Ding? Or, was the former Bao Ding and thief Yang Fan's current identity still so simple?

  She fainted and didn't wake up until she was in Yang Fan's room, and she couldn't remember anything that happened in between. However, she did recall that the female palace guard had been chasing her very closely before that. If she saw the two thieves on the wall, then why hadn't the female palace guard seen them?

  Yang Fan's home was old and worn out, looking like it had been around for many years. The messy and dirty environment inside the house, including the decorations, were completely consistent with that of a bachelor. Not a single meal was cooked at home, and he even used a low-quality toothbrush to brush his teeth, without any flaws.

  Moreover, she had already seen the man on the wall that night, so his identity was beyond doubt. However, if the female imperial guard found her unconscious and saw the two thieves, would she set a trap for her?

  On that day, Wu Zetian, in a fit of rage, loudly ordered that she wanted them caught alive, and this was what she heard.

  The Empress insisted on capturing the assassin alive because she was concerned not with the assassin himself, but with the person who had ordered the assassination. Anyone capable of being entrusted with assassinating the Empress must be a highly reliable and deadly operative, and torture might not necessarily yield the desired information. Would the authorities then resort to a more cunning tactic, inducing her to lead them voluntarily to the mastermind behind the scenes?

  This idea, which had just flashed through her mind like lightning, was enough to put her on guard. She didn't dare take the risk and had to further verify Yang Fan's reliability, so she couldn't leave, at least not now!

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  "Cough! Today, I've gathered everyone here because the imperial court has lost an important fugitive. When the officials were chasing him, this fugitive vanished into thin air right within our own Wenxuan Alley, so our Wenxuan Alley is a key area for investigation."

  Su Fang stood on the steps of his own home, speaking seriously, but below was still noisy and chaotic. The villagers had no discipline to speak of, usually everyone was responsible for their own piece of land and didn't have much opportunity to gather together. Now it was like a friendly gathering, chatting and laughing with each other, talking about family matters, slapping and hitting each other, without any quietness.

  "Attention! Silence! In a moment, I will take you to Wu Hou Pu. The evil commander has dispatched an envoy, and the Wu Hou will bring it along. According to your usual areas of responsibility, go from house to house and conduct a thorough search. Remember, during the search, inform each household that if they harbor fugitives, they will be punished together with the fugitive once caught, while those who report them will be heavily rewarded."

  Everyone listened and understood, just as they were about to turn around and leave, Su Fang suddenly added another sentence: "Finally, I have a few more words of advice for everyone..."

  The crowd of Dings stopped, and Su Fangzheng again exhorted them: "Cha Gui Cha, you are not allowed to disturb the people. The homes of officials, scholars, and nobles, I suppose you wouldn't dare to touch. But ordinary households are also off-limits. Who knows if Zhang's daughter is a kitchen maid in the Shilang Mansion or Li's son is an administrator in the Shangshu Mansion? If something goes wrong, our Fangzheng won't be responsible!"

  The bailiffs didn't take the imperial court's errand seriously at all, and they continued to chat and laugh as usual. Su Fangzheng's "I'll say a few more words" was repeated several times until the bailiffs' voices completely drowned out his, and he had no choice but to give up lecturing them and led them straight to Wu Hou Pu.

  The Wuhoupu of Xiwenfang is in charge of two evil officers, with nearly fifty Wuhou. However, Luoyang City has 103 Fangs, with a permanent population of over one million, and an average of 10,000 people per Fang, which can be imagined to have such a large area.

  Of course, any city has a downtown area, residential areas, and sparsely populated areas. Luoyang is no exception. Some remote neighborhoods even have large tracts of farmland, while Xiwen Neighborhood is one of the most prosperous in the city center, with over 26,000 residents. With so many people living in different alleys and lanes, it's impossible to complete a search task on the scale of 50 households per Wu Hou Pu.

  Sudden events don't happen often, and the imperial court can't possibly maintain a large number of patrolling officers like it does with soldiers. Now that they need to search for suspects, relying on just these few people is not enough; the suspects don't even need to leave their neighborhood - all they have to do is play hide-and-seek with them in a few alleys and lanes, and that's already too much for them to handle. That's why they've also called up these neighborhood officers.

  Bad handsome Ming Lei gathered all the Wu Hou and Fang Ding, made a detailed dispatch to them, let the Wu Hou guard several major intersections of the streets and alleys, and then let the Fang Ding follow their usual division of labor, respectively, go door-to-door to check the population in their own areas.

  Ma Qiao and Yang Fan were a team, responsible for the security of the seventh and eighth alleys in Xiwenfang where they lived. The leader of their team, Wu Hou Feng Yuan, was also someone they knew very well. When the three of them arrived at the seventh alley, Feng Yuan stopped at the entrance of the alley and waved his hand to a Wu Hou who was standing opposite him from afar.

  Feng Yuan waved his hand at the people across from him, and said to Ma Qiao and Yang Fan: "Everyone in this neighborhood is a fellow countryman, but since we've been entrusted with this task, we have to investigate. You two are originally in charge of these two blocks, so you're familiar with the situation of each household - who has how many family members, what they look like, all that. I want you to go through each household and if there are any outsiders or guests, have them report to Wu Hou Pu for registration. Also, I've already instructed the local ruffians not to disturb the people, and if anyone causes trouble, I won't take responsibility."

  Ma Qiao lazily asked: "Feng Wuhou, do officials' families also need to be investigated?"

  Feng Yuan's face tightened as he said, "You two shouldn't be so carefree and treat this lightly. I don't know what crime this person has committed, but since even the officials from the Ministry of Justice are investigating, it must be a big case. Naturally, we'll have to investigate the officials' families too. You should be more careful, if you really get information about that scoundrel, both of us will be rewarded."

  "Feng Wu Hou, you and I are brothers, don't worry about it."

  Ma Qiao patted Feng Yuan's chest and guaranteed, just a few steps away, he whispered to Yang Fan: "Brother, don't be too serious, the official's family is too big, we'll just mention it to the person in charge inside, standing at the gate for a while will do. Don't take it seriously and really rush in, if they're not happy, even Feng Yuan won't be able to protect you."

  Yang Fan smiled and said: "I know!"

  Two men, each holding a baton, arrived at the first household's door. It was an ordinary family home, and Ma Qiang didn't grab the door handle, but instead knocked on the door with his baton "bang bang bang" and shouted loudly: "Feng Dalang, open the door!"

  After searching the Feng family, the second house was Yang Fan's residence. However, how could Ma Qiao possibly search his own home? The two of them arrived at his house and only stood in the courtyard for a moment before turning around and walking out. For other people's homes, ordinary people's homes were searched carefully, one by one, every possible hiding place inside and outside the house was glanced over, and the owner of the house was seriously instructed. Those who were familiar with him would chat with him as they entered, looked around, and then chatted with him as they sent him out.

  There are those with bad tempers who can't help but rely on their seniority to lecture a few words, and the two of them just listen without retorting. At the third house, the Yanluo Temple, this official is neither too big nor too small, so they also go in to take a look, but as soon as they enter, they don't see any good facial expressions.

  The housekeeper of the Yan family, who was reluctant to open the door after hearing the intention, did so with great unwillingness. Mrs. Yan came out upon hearing the news and stood on the steps, her face stern as she instructed the Korean maid: "Follow them closely and keep a sharp eye on them, don't let these two scoundrels make off with our family's belongings."

  Ma Qiao was furious after hearing this and whispered to Yang Fan: "This woman is detestable, so annoying. Next time we take action, it will be her family!"

  Yang Fan smiled and replied, "Good!"

  Two people did not find anything in Yan's house, and were driven out by the daughter of the Yan family with a scolding. They arrived at the fourth household with a gloomy face. This household had a large vermilion gate with copper rings, and although there was no platform in front of the door, two green willows stood there, looking clean. The white-washed wall and gray tiles looked quite spacious, although not comparable to Yan's house, it was still a relatively affluent household.

  Yang Fan had been to Xiwenfang for only half a year, although he had intentionally made friends and knew many families in the workshop, but this family was not familiar. He only remembered that the owner of this household was called Wu Guangde. Wu Guangde was a traveling merchant, a small family with a small door, specializing in doing business between Luoyang and Daliang. Although the two places were not far apart, transportation was inconvenient at that time, so it was not considered close. As a result, Wu Guangde spent half of his year working on the other side of Daliang.

  At this time, Wu Guangde was in Daliang, and only his wife was guarding the gate at home in Luoyang. Yang Fan looked through the household registration book and found that Wu's wife was surnamed Bao, with a milk name of Yin Yin. However, due to her husband's frequent absence from home, this Mrs. Bao rarely went out in the streets and just guarded the gate every day, so although she was a neighbor, Yang Fan had no impression of her at all.

  Ma Qiao arrived at the gate, adjusted his hat, grasped the door ring, and knocked three times. He shouted loudly: "Mrs. Bao, Mrs. Bao! The government is searching for escaped prisoners and has ordered a house-to-house search. Open the door and let me and Yang Er go in to take a look around inside and outside!"

  (Monday, seeking recommendation votes)