Chapter 57 Discovery
At the school, Xie Huan was teaching the children. Among them were several children from the charity home, including the little boy handed over to him by Kou Shijun, as well as a few children from common families.
Jiang Chenghan did not disturb them and intended to find Song Fan and the others to ask if there had been any unusual occurrences at the charity home recently. However, after walking around the courtyard, he did not see anyone.
Just as Jiang Chenghan decided to wait and ask Xie Huan about Song Fan's whereabouts after class, Song Fan happened to return.
"General, have you returned from Tianming Pass?" Seeing Jiang Chenghan, Song Fan was somewhat surprised.
A little over two years ago, when Jiang Chenghan and Yan Jingshu had just married, he was only a sixth-rank Zhaowu Commandant. Later, while stationed at Tianming Pass, he captured the fake Zhao Dali and, due to previously accumulated merits, was promoted to a fifth-rank Ningyuan General. From then on, he could be addressed as 'General'.
[Both Zhāowǔ (昭武, to display military prowess) and Níngyuǎn (宁远, peace from afar) were historically used in the naming systems for military ranks and titles in ancient China]
"I returned two days ago. I had some free time today, so I came to take a look. How is everything? Is the school and charity home operating as usual?" Jiang Chenghan asked.
Upon hearing this, Song Fan said, "General, let's go inside to talk."
Jiang Chenghan paused, sensing that Song Fan had something to tell him, so he said nothing more and followed Song Fan into the house where Song Fan lived.
After entering the house, before Jiang Chenghan could ask again, Song Fan said, "After you left, until a few days ago, there were no abnormalities at the charity home or the school. Everything was the same as usual. But a few days ago, a woman suddenly came to the charity home, saying she wanted to adopt a child, preferably a boy around five or six years old. There are three children of that age at the charity home, including the boy sent by the second young master himself. Upon hearing this, the woman did not ask to see the children first but instead inquired about when each of these three children had been taken in."
"Old Man Chen from the charity home, having received your instructions earlier, fobbed her off with an evasive answer and did not tell her the truth. After that, he came and told me. I felt there was something suspicious about the woman, so after she left, Heizi and I secretly followed her. We discovered that after leaving the charity home, the woman did not go home but entered a tea house by the road."
"Heizi and I followed her in. Just as the woman opened the door to enter one of the private rooms, we saw a man in his thirties sitting inside. The woman did not stay in the private room for long and soon came out. Heizi and I split up, he continued to follow the woman, while I kept an eye on the man in the private room."
"Not long after the woman left, the man also came out. But when he settled the bill with the shopkeeper, I heard that he did not have the local Ningcheng accent but spoke with a the capital-accented Mandarin. I continued to follow him out of the tea house and finally saw him turn into a remote alley. Since there were no hiding places in the alley and it was easy to be noticed, I did not continue following him."
"However, I inquired around the alley. The alley ends in a dead end, and there are only three or four households inside. I guarded the alley entrance all night, estimating that the man's likely residence was one of the houses in the alley, and only then did I leave."
"As for Heizi, he followed the woman to her home and inquired from her neighbors, only to learn that the woman already had three children—two boys and a girl—contrary to her claim of having no children after many years of marriage. After that, the woman never came to the charity home again and did not see any outsiders, staying at home the whole time."
"The woman had clearly fabricated lies to deceive the charity home staff in order to gather information about the charity home. However, from my inquiries with her neighbors, the woman is a native of Ningcheng and has lived here for many years, so it is likely she was instructed by the man in the tea house."
"But that man is somewhat elusive, with unpredictable movements and extremely high alertness. Heizi and I did not dare follow too closely for fear of beating the grass and startling the snake. Currently, aside from knowing he should be from the capital, we don't know much else about this person."
[打草惊蛇 (dǎ cǎo jīng shé): lit. beat the grass and startle the snake; fig. to act rashly and alert the enemy.]
The Heizi mentioned by Song Fan was one of the people given to Yan Jingshu by the Dowager Lady Yan. His real name was Zheng Hu, and Jiang Chenghan knew him. He was arranged to work at the school along with Song Fan.
After Song Fan finished speaking, Jiang Chenghan frowned slightly and remained silent for a moment before saying, "I understand all this. You and Zheng Hu have worked hard these past few days. However, I will still need to trouble you to continue monitoring that man. If you discover anything, come directly to my home and tell me or Jingshu."
"I understand," Song Fan nodded and noted it down.
Afterward, Jiang Chenghan said nothing more. He stood up, said goodbye, and left the school. After leaving the school, he did not go home directly but went to the Governor's residence instead.
Although Kou Shijun had handed the child over to him, he had not washed his hands of the matter entirely. Now that someone had come specifically for this child, he naturally needed to inform Kou Shijun.
Kou Shijun happened to be at the Governor's residence. Seeing Jiang Chenghan, he said with a laugh, "Didn't I tell you to spend time with your family? Why are you back after just a few days?"
There happened to be no one else in the room, so Jiang Chenghan went straight to the point: "There's a matter regarding the child you handed over to me. I thought it would be better to come and tell you about it."
Upon hearing this, Kou Shijun immediately straightened his expression and asked, "What is it?"
Jiang Chenghan then detailed how a woman had come to the charity home to gather information but was accidentally discovered by the people he had arranged to assist Xie Huan at the school. It turned out she was acting under instructions intentionally. He also told Kou Shijun about the mysterious man's suspected base of operations.
As Kou Shijun listened, his expression grew solemn, and he said, "They've finally come looking for the child…"
Kou Shijun fell silent for a moment. Jiang Chenghan waited patiently. After a long while, Kou Shijun said, "I understand this matter. I will send someone to handle it."
Jiang Chenghan nodded. He said nothing more. After all, Kou Shijun was in a better position to handle this matter more easily and conveniently. Moreover, he did not want to get too involved to avoid bringing disaster to his family.
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