The next day, early morning.
City Lord's Mansion, front hall.
"Do you know where the butler is?"
Tang Hong found that he had not seen the housekeeper early in the morning, so he asked the servants not far away.
"Back to the city lord, I haven't seen the housekeeper all morning."
A servant bent down and answered.
"Could it be that there was an emergency?"
Tang Hong guessed.
Although this kind of thing rarely happens, it is not unheard of.
Forget it, let’s put the housekeeper’s matters aside for now and get down to business by greeting Mr. Chu and Young Master Chu.
"Go and invite Master Chu and Young Master Chu over for breakfast."
Tang Hong ordered to his servants.
Although there is no butler, the servants have already prepared a sumptuous breakfast.
"yes."
The servant nodded in response, and just when he was about to cross the threshold, Chu Zhan and Chu Feng appeared in the front hall.
"City Lord Tang, don't bother them, we are here."
Chu Zhan smiled slightly.
"Good morning, Mr. Chu and Young Master Chu. Come and have breakfast quickly. These are the special cakes I ordered my subordinates to purchase from a neighboring city yesterday."
"And this rice porridge is also made from fresh rice, with sea cucumber, abalone, wolfberry..."
Tang Hong introduced the things on the table one by one.
"City Lord Tang is interested."
Chu Zhan smiled.
Chu Feng also nodded slightly.
"Master Chu, Mr. Chu, let me serve you a bowl of porridge."
Tang Hong enthusiastically served Chu Zhan a bowl of porridge first. In the porridge, the amount of sea cucumbers and abalone was average, but there were a lot of wolfberries.
The porridge that Tang Hong served to Chu Feng contained a lot of sea cucumbers and abalone, but very little wolfberry.
"By the way, City Lord Tang, where is Miss Bai Lian?"
"I believe that within an hour at most, the person who conducted the background investigation on Miss Bailian will return."
Chu Zhan took a bite of the tender and juicy abalone and asked.
It is overflowing with juice and has a salty taste. It is definitely the best abalone.
"Then I will immediately send someone to ask for Miss Bai Lian."
"Come, please invite Miss Bai Lian."
Tang Hong ordered his servants.
"yes."
The servants immediately rushed to Bai Lian's residence.
Half a quarter of an hour later, the servant came back panting, and then bowed and said: "Back to the Lord of the City, Miss Bai Lian is not in the small courtyard. I don't know where she went."
"He's missing?"
Tang Hong was stunned for a moment, then frowned without any trace, and muttered: "Why is this Bai Lian missing so early in the morning? Could it be that he went out for something?"
"City Lord Tang, since Bai Lian is not in the mansion, do you know how to contact her?"
Chu Zhan put down his bowls and chopsticks and asked.
"This subordinate doesn't know either."
Tang Hong showed embarrassment on his face.
These days, because Bai Lian lived in the City Lord's Mansion and didn't go out much, Tang Hong didn't ask for Bai Lian's contact information.
"Since this is the case, it seems that we can only wait for Miss Bailian to come back before informing her of the investigation results."
"If time is urgent, then City Lord Tang will convey the message on your behalf."
Chu Zhan thought for a while and said.
He is the imperial censor, and there are still a lot of things waiting for him to deal with in the royal city. He cannot spend all his time in the upper city.
"It's really an honor for me to serve as a low-ranking official."
Tang Hong nodded in response, then opened his mouth and hesitated for a moment, but finally did not speak.
And this scene naturally fell into Chu Zhan's eyes.
"City Lord Tang, Miss Bailian was the first to fight against the plague, and your management and dispatching are the second merit."
"When I return to the royal city, I will definitely explain all this to the king."
Chu Zhan patted Tang Hong on the shoulder and smiled.
Although Tang Hong just opened his mouth without speaking, Chu Zhan, who had keen intuition in the officialdom, immediately knew what Tang Hong wanted to ask.
"ah?"
"That's great!"
After hearing Chu Zhan's words, Tang Hong immediately showed a bright smile on his face.
In his life, he has only three major pursuits: promotion and wealth, and the death of his wife.
Making a fortune and killing his wife have been completed, and now only promotion is left. Chu Zhan's words just hit his heart, how can he not be excited.
"Master Chu, this is the official's wish."
Tang Hong took out the gift he had prepared from his arms and stuffed it into Chu Zhan's hands.
"City Lord Tang, you are too polite. This censor is going to the upper city for official business."
Chu Zhan waved his hands to refuse, but his eyes were fixed on the gift in Tang Hong's hand.
"Mr. Chu, you are very tired from traveling and traveling, and on the day of your arrival, my subordinate did not greet you because of something. It is really a sin."
"My lord, you must accept it, otherwise I will have a bad conscience."
Tang Hong said sincerely.
When Chu Zhan saw this, he deliberately showed a look of embarrassment on his face. Then he rolled his eyes and pointed his gaze at Chu Feng beside him.
"Feng'er, you said City Lord Tang has such kind intentions, what should I do?"
Chu Feng continued to taste the plump wolfberry, then rolled his eyes and said, "What can I do? Cold salad!"
There was no trace of good humor in his voice.
You obviously want to accept it, but you still have to ask me.
Upon hearing this, Chu Zhan's face trembled, then he shook his head and "reluctantly" accepted Tang Hong's gift.
When Tang Hong on the other side saw this, he immediately turned over his hand and took out a gift from his arms again.
"Mr. Chu, you have worked hard along the way. This is a gift specially prepared by Xia Guan for you."
"Then thank you City Lord Tang."
Chu Feng didn't talk as much as Chu Zhan and accepted Tang Hong's gift directly.
Anyway, the principle that Chu Feng adheres to is not to give it up for free, but to still want it after you have it.
"Master Chu, don't you know that Young Master Chu is married? If not, I know a lot of ladies from the public and I can introduce them to Young Master Chu."
Tang Hong said enthusiastically.
Obviously, he didn't know much about this Chu Feng.
If Tang Hong knew that Chu Feng was an honorary elder of Shushan Sword Sect, he might not dare to talk to Chu Feng in such an elder-like manner.
"To be honest with City Lord Tang, the women chasing Chu Feng can be queued from the Yushi Mansion to the palace, but Chu Feng doesn't catch his eye. It's really sad."
Chu Zhan sighed.
Chu Feng:? ? ?
This bad old man will say anything just to save face.
If I were looking for a woman, I would have to line up from the gate of the Yushi Mansion to the border of the Tang Dynasty!
"That's not because Mr. Chu is outstanding."
Tang Hongke doesn't care whether what Chu Zhan said is true or not, just go with it.
"Sir, the investigation on Bai Lian's background has concluded."
At this moment, officials investigating Bai Lian's background came in from outside.
"What were the results of the investigation?"
Chu Zhan put down the porridge bowl, stood up and asked.
"Sir, according to our investigation, we found that there is a problem with Bai Lian's background, and her identity information is forged."
"What?"
"Her identity was forged?"
Chu Zhan frowned.
"how so?"
"Before, Bai Lian swore to me that she had a clean background."
Tang Hong couldn't believe it.
"Sir, we found that there were traces of modification in the official residence's records of Bai Lian. Although it was very subtle, we still discovered it."
The investigating officer handed the information obtained from the official residence to Chu Zhan.
Tang Hong, who was on the side, also came close to Chu Zhan and checked together.
This inspection indeed revealed a problem. The ink marks on it were wrong. It was not the ink used by the imperial court to record people's information.
"Sir, while we were investigating, we also found that there were problems with the information of the housekeeper of the City Lord's Mansion."
"His information is also forged."
The investigating officer took out the information of the housekeeper of the City Lord's Mansion.
"What?"
"Is there also a problem with my butler's information?"
Tang Hong was stunned, and quickly took the information from the investigating officer's hand. When he opened it, he found that there was something wrong with the ink on it.
"City Lord Tang, I wonder where the butler of your mansion is?" Chu Zhan asked.
"To be honest with Mr. Chu, I haven't seen the butler since early in the morning."
Tang Hong replied.
"Bai Lian is missing? The housekeeper of your City Lord's Mansion is also missing?"
"It seems they knew something was going to happen today, so they ran away early."
Chu Zhan analyzed.
"Master Chu, what should we do now?"
Tang Hong was a little confused.
"City Lord Tang, you order the whole city to search for these two people. If they are found, they must be tortured."
"If we can't find them, we can only drop the matter temporarily. However, if these two people dare to appear in the upper city in the future, City Lord Tang will not be lenient."
Chu Zhan said after pondering for a moment.
"Okay, I'll do it immediately."
Tang Hong conveyed the latest orders to the officials below.
As for Chu Zhan, he sat quietly and waited for the result.
Chu Feng drank Longjing tea leisurely.
In fact, whether it was the housekeeper's or Bai Lian's information, there was nothing wrong with the forgery at the time. The reason why the investigating officer found out that there was something wrong was because Chu Feng sneaked into the mansion quietly last night and described it with different pen and ink, so that the investigating officer could Problem found.
As for why he didn't say it directly, it was entirely because Chu Feng didn't want to make things too troublesome.
…
Time passed slowly, and it was already noon before I knew it.
"Master Chu, I sent people to search the entire upper city, but no sign of the housekeeper or Bai Lian was found."
Tang Hong said to Chu Zhan.
"I think those two people have already escaped from the upper city."
"Now that they have run away and my investigation of your officials in the city has almost come to fruition, it's time for me to return to the royal city."
Chu Zhan said.
"Master Chu, what about Bai Lian and the housekeeper?"
"It's not City Lord Tang's fault. After returning to the royal city, I will not tell the king about your housekeeper's problems. As for Bai Lian, I will just say that he suddenly disappeared."
"I will also report to the king your achievements in fighting the plague as officials in the city."
It is said that eating people is soft-spoken and short-handed. Since Chu Zhan took Tang Hong's things, he naturally wanted to help Tang Hong.
"Then thank you so much, Mr. Chu. If you need me in the future, just give me your orders."
Tang Hong said happily.
"Well, then we have to go, Feng'er, and return to the royal city."
"good."
Soon, Chu Zhan, Chu Feng and the others were on the road.
And not long after they left, a strange figure landed in the backyard of the City Lord's Mansion. It was none other than Qian Jiao...
