Chapter 111: Report to the Authorities
Shao Si looked at Gong Xu, then at Wen Mingqian, and pleaded, “I know I’ve done wrong. If I cooperate with your mansion honestly, can I redeem myself?”
“That’s wishful thinking!” Gong Xu’s anger intensified. “At this point, you still dare to bargain with us? You must be tired of living!”
Shao Si cowered at his words.
“Master, please calm your anger. Finding Chang An is the priority,” Wen Mingqian advised Gong Xu. “There’s no need to stoop to the level of these brutes.”
Gong Xu was currently focused on winning back Wen Mingqian. Seeing her gently persuade him, his anger indeed dissipated considerably, and his tone was no longer so harsh. “Madam is right. I’m just too worried about Chang An.”
Wen Mingqian then said to Shao Si, “If you can truly atone for your mistakes, we naturally won’t make things difficult for you. You should also consider your own situation, as you are the one who is truly desperate now.”
“I understand, I understand,” Shao Si said. “Ma Daguang is quite cunning. He sent his family away before he made his move, so it’ll be difficult to find him now. He repeatedly told me to hide, so wouldn’t he hide himself as well?
However, I know he has an outer residence where he keeps a beautiful young lady under twenty who came from Wuzhou to sing songs. She has already given him a son, who is less than a year old.
His legal wife only gave him three daughters, so he dotes on this son.
Because very few people know about his outer residence, and it’s difficult to find a suitable place to send them both away for the time being, these two are still in the Capital City.
If we can apprehend this mother and son, Ma Daguang will surely be wary.”
“So you know where Ma Daguang’s outer residence is?” Ma Ping’an asked. “Don’t try any tricks.”
“How would I dare?” Shao Si sighed. “I just hope this can be resolved with minimal trouble, and I’ll be grateful.”
At this point, he truly felt fear. Before, he hadn’t wanted to think too deeply and had held onto a sliver of hope.
After all, wealth moves the heart. For a gambler like him, who was short on money, the temptation of a thousand taels of silver was too great.
While his actions were indeed shameful, in the end, they could be considered human nature. Do any of those who commit crimes not know the severity of the law? Yet they still take risks. It’s simply out of the same mindset as his.
“Then tell us where they live?” Gong Xu asked.
“It’s in the East City, Shunyi Street, Gu Mei Alley, the ninth house from the west. The one with glazed flower bricks embedded on the lintel. They moved there after the child was born, and they don’t interact with their neighbors, so the locals don’t know their background.”
“In that case, we can’t delay any longer, lest complications arise,” Gong Xu said.
“But there’s another point,” Wen Mingqian said, not rushing to find Ma Daguang’s outer residence. “This is different from apprehending Shao Si. We are not officials. Going to someone’s residence in the dead of night would be considered trespassing. If it causes a scene, it will be difficult to resolve quickly and might cause delays.”
“Then Madam’s intention is…” Gong Xu also hesitated.
“Master, let’s report it to the authorities!” Wen Mingqian felt that reporting it now was reasonable and timely.
Before apprehending Shao Si, they didn’t report it for fear of alerting him. Now that Shao Si has been caught and has revealed the location of Ma Daguang’s outer residence, the authorities should handle it to avoid being caught with leverage.
After all, she wasn’t sure if the people behind Ma Daguang would try to trip up the Gong Family here.
Ma Daguang was certainly not the mastermind. Therefore, those who used him would not be ignorant of him.
Given this, caution was still necessary before Ma Daguang was apprehended.
“Alright, I’ll go to the Bodu Yamen myself,” Gong Xu said.
Shao Si’s face immediately fell. “Madam, if you report this, will I still live?”
“Shut up! Whether you live or not depends on your luck!” Ma Ping’an kicked him and then pulled him up. “It’s already benevolent of us not to kick you while you’re down. As for what punishment you deserve, the masters at the yamen will decide. Does it have anything to do with our Madam?!”
Shao Si’s face was mournful, and he said nothing more. He knew that once he was in the hands of the authorities, he would have to speak even if he didn’t want to. Otherwise, after a beating with a water-and-fire club that would make him soil himself, he still wouldn’t be able to hold out.
Besides, he had already confessed what he knew, so there was nothing more to interrogate.
Then a group of people bustled out, leaving only a few servants attending to Wen Mingqian.
“Why haven’t Zhang Ma and the others returned yet?” Sang Er asked worriedly. “I wonder if they’ve found any clues?”
“They should be back soon. Madam, have some tea,” Yun Ying said, bringing over a bowl of tea. “You didn’t eat dinner properly. Would you like something to tide you over?”
“No need. I ate at Old Madam’s place,” Wen Mingqian said. “To avoid Old Madam noticing, I deliberately acted as usual. You don’t need to worry about me being hungry.”
After Wen Mingqian finished her bowl of tea, the young maid Mei Er ran in. “Zhang Ma is back with the others.”
As she spoke, Zhang Ma strode in.
She had only been out for half a day, but she looked as if she had aged ten years.
Wen Mingqian stood up and took her hand, feeling how cold it was.
“Zhang Ma, you must be tired. Sit down first.”
“No,” Zhang Ma shook her head. “I’m fine. Miss, don’t worry.”
“Zhang Ma, have some tea.” Yun Ying had already poured a bowl of tea and handed it to Zhang Ma.
Zhang Ma took it and drank it down in one gulp, then raised her hand and wiped her mouth with her sleeve. “We followed the path from where that horse carriage met Second Miss Cui. We went about four or five li southwest, and the road split into three forks.
We searched each one, and each path had a suspicious destination.
One was Xuanmiao Temple, another was Jingxu Nunnery, and the third was a former estate of Prince Yong, which has long since been abandoned.
I estimated that only these three places could hide someone, so I first took people to the abandoned estate, as it was unguarded and easier to search.
After searching for several hours, we found no trace, so they weren’t there.
The other two places are crowded and have many eyes, so it would be difficult to search them rashly. Also, it was getting late and the city gates would be closed, so we returned first.”
“What about Second Miss Cui?” Wen Mingqian asked.
“Second Miss Cui really helped this time. She went to Jingxu Nunnery herself. She said there’s a nun there who often visits her family, so she pretended to seek lodging there. At night, she can sneak out of her room to listen for any information, and might have some success.
She only brought one maid, so I left some of our people with her, saying they were from her own mansion, to help out.” Zhang Ma said, drinking another bowl of tea.
Updates will resume today, but due to limited energy, I can only update one chapter per day for now. Thank you for your support, and I apologize. I hope I can work harder and release more chapters soon.
