North and South groceries

Both King Gong and the emperor thought that Luo Yong could not easily find out about this matter, but he did. On this afternoon two days after the meeting between the emperor and King Gong, Luo Yong's disciples followed the vines and traced the matter all the way to Gong. palace.

Because this matter involves court disputes, even if some people know about it, they don't want to involve themselves in it. How can ordinary people get involved in those matters in the court.

Therefore, although Luo Yong ordered the distribution of the portraits of the two thieves in Chang'an City every day, and stated that he would give generous gifts to those who provided information, but after a long time, the north and south groceries have not been able to collect anything useful. news.

Although ordinary people don't know much about the court dispute, there are quite a lot of rumors about this incident in the market. It is said that someone bought the murder, and the background of the person behind it may not be simple.

At noon that day, a ten-year-old boy went to see his sister who was working in the shop at Nanbei Grocery Store, and ate with relish the half of a big meat pie that his sister had saved for him.

This kid is also a frequent customer of Nanbei groceries. He doesn't just come to buy things. He comes here every day for lunch, and grabs some food from his sister.

The boy's elder sister was one of those little ladies who fled and resisted marriage back then. Their family was poor. Ye Niang was willing to take her in when she saw this north-south groceries, and worked here every day to earn food and clothing. The wages go back, so there is no longer persecution.

Apart from Ye Niang, there are only two siblings in their family. The older sister loves her younger brother very much. Not only did all the money she earned in the past two years be handed over to the family, but she even saved a few mouthfuls of food on weekdays to feed her. younger brother.

Most of the stewards in Nanbei Grocery don't like this person who spends his time eating all the year round. After all, there are so many people working here, if everyone asks their family members to come over to eat, how will they manage it in the future.

Ordinary people would stop coming after seeing the stewards once or twice, but this young man was thick-skinned, and he was quite obedient. Seeing his sallow and emaciated face, it didn't bother him very much, and he just turned a blind eye and it passed.

Unexpectedly, on this day, after eating the cakes, the young man secretly told Lu Chu a news, probably because Lu Chu usually looked the most kind-hearted, so he told Lu Chu.

He said that two days before the incident at Luo's house, when he was running errands in Chang'anfang, he saw the two thieves and a middle-aged man walking together. Servant, he seemed to have traveled quite a long way and had just entered the city. At that time, it was almost dark. He came out from Chang'an Square, and those three people just entered from the outside...

Lu Chu quickly told Luo Yong about this matter, and Luo Yong knew that his every move was being watched by someone, so he didn't go personally, but asked someone to bring the news to Xing Er, and asked him to investigate the matter. thing.

In the past two years, Xing Er has been very low-key in abiding by the law, but he picked some children to go back, and built several rooms in his big yard, and taught them the work of grinding ink and printing. Tired, earning not too much, probably enough for food and clothing.

The older children were able to go out to work outside, some were sent to North and South groceries, some were sent to my sister's food shop, and some went to other places.Some older children will come back with money after going out to work, and some will not take it, and Xing Er will not force them if they don’t take it. For those who take money and things back, Xing Er often tells the children in the courtyard to tell them We must remember the kindness of these people, and one cannot be ungrateful.

Although Xing Er has settled down a lot in the past two years, he is of such a background after all. I heard that there are quite a few sects in Chang'an Square, and Chang'an Square is quite close to Guiyi Square, so Xing Er will investigate this matter. It won't look very eye-catching, and besides, letting Xing Er go to such a place will definitely get twice the result with half the effort.

After Xing Er went to Chang'anfang, he first chatted with the idlers in the streets and alleys, asking them if there were any unwanted children in the area.

Now there are also rumors in the market, saying that Xing Er specially brought some unwanted children back to run black workshops in his own yard to earn money.

Those street rogues who are either familiar with Xing Er, or want to get acquainted with him, and some sincerely admire his righteousness, most of them treat him warmly.

While talking, Xing Er inadvertently mentioned that it was the two thieves that the Luo family was looking for recently, and asked if they had met before.

"..." As soon as Xing Er said this, those present fell silent.

When Xing Er saw their reaction, he knew that they must have some rumors in private, but they refused to say it for a while, so he didn't ask any more questions, and randomly turned around a few places to find out if there were any. Homeless kids.

In the past two years, he has often wandered around in this way. If he encounters a child that no one wants, he will pick it up like a kitten or puppy.Those children falling into his hands, although they have to work to support themselves, are better than falling into the hands of those with bad intentions.

Some people are the best at coaxing children. They say nice things, but they are actually ruthless characters who cannibalize people without spit out their bones.Some children living on the street are too young to distinguish right from wrong. They believed the rumors deliberately released by those people, thinking that Xing Er was a black workshop, and they wanted to hide when they saw him. Xing Er was very happy about this. have no choice.

Xing Er took a walk to Chang'an Square this afternoon, and he already knew it in his mind. That night, all the children in the yard fell asleep, and he was not in a hurry to sleep, so he sat alone under the lamp and had a drink.

Around midnight, someone knocked lightly on the gate of his house. Xing Er opened the door and saw that there were quite a few people here, a total of six people.

After entering the room and taking their seats, these people said to Xing Er: "I have indeed heard about the incident that Erxiong Xing mentioned during the day, but I am afraid that there may be some important person involved behind this incident."

Xing Er glanced at them, and then took out a money bag from his arms: "This is Luo Sanlang sent someone to send it to me today, as long as the news you provide is good, you guys can share the silver."

These few people hurriedly opened the money bag and saw that under the dim light of the oil lamp, the bag of silver was shining moistly, so much white silver!

The pieces of silver seemed to be newly twisted, each piece was as big as a bull's eye, and it was quite heavy when held upside down in the hand. Counting the number of people, there were ten pieces in total, so they turned to Xing Xing one after another. two.

"I'll give you two more yuan, that's enough." Xing Er had no choice but to take out two more yuan from his pocket and throw them to them.

"Second Xing, you've deducted a lot!" One of the older half-truths joked.

"You are only allowed to collect money, and I am not allowed to earn some hard work?" Bai Bai took out another two pieces of silver, and Xing Er urged with an unhappy face:

"Tell me quickly, what is the background of those two people, why the Luo family has been searching for them these days, but they can't find them."

"Naturally, there is some background." These people started talking one after another.

"If we hadn't trusted Brother Xing's character, we wouldn't have dared to come tonight."

"Then Shannan's porter will help you find out?"

"Although he is a porter, he behaves quite badly."

"I heard that they not only work as porters, but also as thugs, as long as the other party can afford the money."

"Can you still buy murder?" Xing Er continued.

"I've never heard of that, but those two thieves did go in and out of the house of a certain family in our Chang'an Fang before, and that family was helped by porters." These people spoke convincingly.

"Which family?" Xing Er asked.

"!"

Early the next morning, Xing Er went to Chang'anfang again, still alone.This time he didn't stay on the street, but went straight to a certain family's house in the southwest corner of Chang'an Square.

Not long after Xing Er entered the courtyard, many people came from behind. Everyone had a tense face, and they were all young and strong with dark skin. No one spoke, but walked into the courtyard quietly. , and then closed the courtyard door again...

At noon, Xing Er came out of Chang'an Square, instead of going back to his home, he went directly to Luo Yong.

"Those two thieves are bandits from the southern side of the mountain. They used to be porters before they went up the mountain, and they had some friendship with the porter gang in Chang'anfang. This time they came to Beijing, they visited their old friends, so they leaked information."

In the afternoon of that day, Luo Yong's disciples found out that the person who joined the two thieves at the beginning was a member of Prince Gong's mansion.

At the same time, Li Shimin, who was in the Taiji Palace, also got the news that Luo Yong had found Prince Gong's mansion.

Early the next morning, someone from the palace came to the White Mansion, saying that the sage Xuan Luoyong had entered the palace to have an audience.