“Oh, Xiaomei and Wang Sheng, and Stonie too. Are you here to see your parents?”
“Yeah, Uncle Chun.”
A few moments after Tao Xiaomei and Wang Sheng entered, they caught sight of a group of old men sitting under a giant tree near the center of the village. Residents of Taowang Village saw this tree as some kind of totem. It boasted an enormous crown. Old villagers came here for its shade and chit-chat almost every day. However, these old people, who previously had always been in high spirits, were now all harassed-looking. When they saw Tao Xiaomei and the other two coming, they squinted at them for quite a while. It was not until they recognized the three of them that the vigilance in their eyes ebbed away.
Wang Sheng unnoticeably cast them a glance which took in all the reaction of theirs.
The horse-drawn carriage trundled towards the far end of the village.
“Father, Mother!” called Tao Xiaomei happily as she reached the doorway of her parents’ house.
Tao Xiaomei’s parents heard her and walked out. Seeing her and her family, they were delighted at first, but then something occurred to them and their brows furrowed, their faces etched with a hint of apprehension. They ushered the three of them into the house and shut the doors.
“Father, Mother, why are you…” Tao Xiaomei confusedly watched her parents cautiously closing the doors.
“Sh.” Mr. and Mrs. Tao hushed her in undertones, then looked at their grandson and with that Mrs. Tao said in a loud and cheerful voice, “Oh, my dearest grandson, you’re finally here to look up your grandma. Come here. Let me see if you’ve grown taller.”
“He surely has. It’s been such a long time since we last saw him. How could he not have grown taller? Come, Stonie. There’s snack inside. You should eat more so you can grow even taller and stronger,” Mr. Tao also said loudly.
Tao Xiaomei was still in perplexity. Wang Sheng gave her sleeve a pull and breathed to her, “Go inside with your parents first. I’ll get the baggage and settle the driver in.”
Wang Sheng walked out of the house and up to the horse-drawn carriage, from which he and the driver unloaded all the traveling bags together before carrying them towards the house.
On entering the house, he saw that Mrs. Tao was checking out her grandson in her arms, the expression on her face alternating between delight and concern. Seeing Wang Sheng and the carriage driver carrying so many bags inside, Mr. Tao, who was quietly sitting there, rose to his feet and walked to their help. “Your coming here to see us is enough to gladden our hearts. It’s totally unnecessary for you to bring so many things here.”
“We heard on the grapevine that your pottery is not selling. Xiaomei and I were worried about you, so we brought more things than usual,” explained Wang Sheng in a quiet voice.
Mr. Tao looked at him and let out a sigh, appearing both gratified and apprehensive. “Alas, actually you shouldn’t have come here in the first place.”
Wang Sheng told the driver to get the rest of the baggage in the carriage and then asked Mr. Tao, “Father-in-law, did something happen in this village? When we were entering, we saw Brother Adong and some others standing guard at the village entrance. Xiaomei and I were even challenged there. They looked as serious as the soldiers guarding the county gates. After we got through, I noticed that Uncle Chun and the others also had troubled faces.”
Looking at him, Mr. Tao for an instant was on the verge of saying something but eventually held back the words on the tip of his tongue. After a few moments, he sighed heavily, “It’s a very long story. Now that you’ve checked on us, you should go back straight away. It’s inadvisable for you to linger in this village.”
Wang Sheng knitted his brows. “Father-in-law, how could Xiaomei and I stand by and do nothing if there’s really something going on? Please tell me the truth. Maybe I can help. Besides, if we leave here so soon, it would definitely arouse people’s suspicions.”
Mr. and Mrs. Tao exchanged a glance, both appearing somewhat hesitant.
Tao Xiaomei, who could also tell that the situation was rather serious, asked, “Father, Mother, is there something you believe you have to keep secret from us?”
Mr. and Mrs. Tao still seemed in deep worry. It was obvious that they wanted to be honest with their daughter and son-in-law, but their misgivings were deterring them from doing that.
“Grandpa, Grandma, has someone been bullying you? Tell me who it is and I’ll go and beat them up,” offered the boy, throwing his chest out and smacking his palm on it, apprehension written all over his face.
Mrs. Tao looked at him and chuckled amusedly, “Good boy, you’re twice the man your uncle is.”
“Speaking of which, why haven’t we seen my big brother and sister-in-law after such a long time? And where is my nephew? All of them are not in?” asked Tao Xiaomei bewilderedly.
The smile on Mrs. Tao’s face vanished at these words and with that Mr. Tao snarled, “Don’t mention them.”
“Why? What happened? Father, Mother, you’ve got to be honest with me. Exactly what happened?!” Tao Xiaomei really got anxious.
Wang Sheng looked out the door. Seeing the driver was returning with the baggage, he said, “Calm down, Xiaomei. Give them some time. I’ll carry those things inside and put them in place.”
Tao Xiaomei also saw the driver coming, so she said no more.
Wang Sheng and the driver carried the baggage into a wing-room together. After entering, the former said to the driver, “There’s indeed something unusual going on in this village. Chances are that the one we’ve been looking for is hiding right here. I need you to go back first and report this to our boss.”
The driver silently inclined his head, pivoted around, walked out of the house, got onto his carriage, drove out of the front gates of the Tao family and to the entrance of the village, where villagers on guard duty examined his carriage once again. Everybody in this village who’d seen the driver before knew that the man was taciturn. Believing that he was no threat and had stayed in the village only for a short time, they let him go.
Shortly after the horse-drawn carriage left, someone ran up to the entrance and questioned Adong and the others about the reason why they’d allowed the carriage to leave.
“It was that driver who drove a couple of people here. We were keeping watch on him. After driving the passengers to the destination, he helped them unload their baggage and then directly left. He lives in the county seat and is a native. If anything goes wrong, we can easily find him, whereas if we’d detained him, those people in the county seat might notice and trace it back to this village. In that case we’d be in serious trouble,” explained Adong.
“Even so, you still shouldn’t have done that without our consent! This kind of thing must not be repeated! You hear me?!” huffed the man.
“Yes,” chorused Adong and the others, bowing their heads.
“Where are his passengers?”
“Still here. They’re Mr. Tao’s daughter and son-in-law. Given that they dismissed the driver, they’ll probably stay here for a couple of days.”
The man’s face softened slightly. “Keep close watch on them. If they want to leave, stop them!”
“We will.”
After the man walked off, Adong and his companions exchanged glances, all looking fairly frustrated.
Yao Yi and his men saw the whole thing.
“Captain, do you want that driver tailed?”
Yao Yi replied, “Send a man–”
“Captain!” Someone tore up to them from the distance. It was the man who’d previously been sent back to the county seat to report. “It was the Jiang family who arranged for that carriage to come here. The passengers are the daughter of a family in Taowang Village, her husband and her son. Her parents live in…”
The man gave them a detailed description of the location of the Tao family’s house, which was located in the depths of the village.
After hearing it, Yao Yi said with a bob of the head, “Very good. That driver must be one of them and will no doubt report it to their master after he gets back. We may just focus on the situation in this village. It’s almost certain that Shan Congyi is in there. You guys keep a close eye on residents of this village. I’ll go inside to check out the lay of the land after dark.”
“Yes, Childe Ling.”
“Captain, Childe Ling is probably going out of the county seat.”
“Will he be bringing his bodyguards with him?”
“Yes.”
“I see. You guys stay sharp. Childe Ling should arrive shortly before nightfall.”
“Yes, Childe Ling.”
…
Meanwhile, the driver quickly entered the county seat and reported to the storekeeper of that cloth store, from whom Jiang Yu soon received a message before he relayed it to Ling Zhang.
“Young Master, it seems that Shan Congyi is indeed in Taowang Village. Should we go there and catch him right away?”
Ling Zhang gave it some thought and then replied, “There’s no hurry. Now that we’ve ascertained Shan Congyi’s whereabouts, there’s no way he could escape. Right now what we should do is figure out a way to take advantage of this to capture Shan Congyi, get what he has in hand, and at the same time inflict some casualties on the Jiangzhou garrison, which would make Wang Xiangxin nervous. Only by forcing him into taking action will we be able to help our men in Jiangzhou locate and dispose of his killers sooner. Right now there are three urgent tasks facing us. The first one is to search Taowang Village and confirm that Shan Congyi is indeed in there. The second one is to verify whether or not it is indeed money that Shan Congyi has in hand. The third one is to ascertain if the final destination of the two caravans is Taowang Village. If it is, then there must be something else on their carts. We have to figure out all these things.”
“That’s true. My men have been keeping a close eye on the two caravans. Although they’ve split up, they’re indeed approaching Taowang Village constantly, judging from the direction they’ve been going,” said Jiang Yu.
Ling Zhang squinted his eyes. “We need to go to Taowang Village as soon as possible and check out the lay of the land first.”
“Yes, Young Master,” said Jiang Yu.
Ling Zhang instructed Wang Dashan and the others to get prepared to exit the county seat. The soldiers guarding the county gates had now been replaced by the General Zhongwu’s trusted men, so they should be able to get through the city gates without being challenged or suspected.
As for Taowang Village, it was the villagers there that Ling Zhang was rather concerned about. According to the detailed account of events given to him by that carriage driver, residents of Taowang Village had been intentionally helping Shan Congyi question and screen those wanting to go in or out of the village, which meant that those villagers probably had been bought by Shan Congyi and become his flunkeys already. If they’d indeed been bought, Shan Congyi must’ve offered them something. There was no telling how far those villagers would go to get what Shan Congyi had promised them, so this matter must not be taken lightly.
“Jiang Yu, have your man find us a local to fill us in on the situation of Taowang Village in detail before we set off.”
Jiang Yu instantly caught on to what Ling Zhang meant and immediately left to make arrangements.
Soon, the storekeeper of the cloth store found them a local carter who traveled to Taowang Village on a frequent basis. Previously this driver had mainly provided services for traders, helping them transport pottery from Taowang Village. Sometimes he would enter the village several times in a day, and sometimes he would stay in Taowang Village for a couple of days, so he couldn’t be more familiar with the situation there. He knew each and every one of the residents there and also had some acquaintance with them. He even had an intimate knowledge of the layout of paths and houses in Taowang Village.
The carter, after entering, was requested to relate everything he knew about Taowang Village down to the smallest detail, including information about the village head, the total number of villagers, family situation of every household, as well as how things were going in Mr. Tao’s family.
The carter talked for a solid hour, giving them an exhaustive account of all aspects of Taowang Village. Wang Dashan and some others, according to the carter’s description, drew a detailed map of the village with information about every household on it, highlighting the village head’s and Mr. Tao’s houses.
“Okay, let’s go.” After reading the map, Ling Zhang had a general idea of what to expect, so he gave the order to set off.
