Ao Shiyan took his sister, who had become Ao Shituo, out and began to inquire about the Rong'an Hou Mansion.
They are completely unfamiliar with the capital. If they want to get information, they can only try their luck at teahouses and taverns to listen to customers, or find people to ask for information. However, these two methods are not good, because the former is time-consuming and laborious, and the latter can easily arouse others' vigilance. .
"Brother, if we are wandering around like headless flies like this, we can't find out what's going on in the Rong'an Hou Mansion, right?" Ao Shichu said to Ao Shiyan.
Ao Shichu nodded: "We have just arrived in the capital. We are unfamiliar with the place and have no connections, so we can only try our luck."
"Why don't we go find some older beggars and ask them? Give them some food, and they should be willing to talk to us?" Ao Shichu suggested, remembering the town where she settled after encountering a robber. , through the beggars’ chat, they guessed that the robbers were colluding with the magistrates and bandits.
"Okay, this is a good idea." Ao Shiyan thought about it carefully and realized how wonderful his sister's proposal was. Beggars had to walk all over the capital to beg for food. It was easy for them to know what was going on in the streets and alleys of the capital. One day, the emperor From which concubine you favored, to a certain butcher who was caught out of a brothel by his wife... there is nothing they don't know, and asking them for information will get twice the result with half the effort.
So the brother and sister bought a lot of steamed buns and buns, and found a place where beggars were most concentrated, commonly known as a beggar's den.
It is daytime now, and many beggars have gone everywhere to beg for food. Only the old, weak, sick and disabled beggars who are temporarily unable to get up and move are left here.
Ao Shiyan paid close attention and saw a young beggar about seven or eight years old whimpering sitting next to an old beggar lying on the ground, so he pulled Ao Shichu over.
"You kid, stop crying like a little girl! Your uncle won't be dead for a while, so don't mourn for me!" Although the old beggar was lying down, his breath was weak when he cursed, but he still didn't let anyone down. .
"Old man, did you hurt your leg?" Ao Shichu squatted down and asked when he saw the old beggar's twisted left leg with brown blood stains.
The old beggar immediately stared at her warily: "Who are you? What do you want to do? Don't think about doing bad things. As long as I shout, someone else will come running over immediately!"
"Old man, don't be nervous. We just want to get some information and we won't do anything bad." Ao Shiyan said, opening the oil paper bag, the smell of meat buns came out, and the old beggar immediately stared at the buns in his hand. , swallowed.
The little beggar, who was seven or eight years old, had green eyes and wanted to stick his eyes on the meat buns. He even made a growling sound in his stomach.
"The Sword Comes"
But even though he was very greedy, he didn't rush to grab the buns. He just covered his belly with his hands and stared longingly at Ao Shiyan's meat buns.
Ao Shiyan handed a meat bun to the little beggar. Just as the little beggar was about to reach out and take it, he suddenly remembered something and looked at the old beggar eagerly.
The old beggar nodded, and he couldn't wait to take the bun. Then he quickly stuffed it into his mouth, regardless of whether it was still hot, and choked on the food until he rolled his eyes.
Ao Shiyan handed another bun to the old beggar. The old beggar snorted and took it, muttering: "The old man is going to die anyway. It's useless what you want to do to me. I can just eat before I die." If you are full, the old man will die with peace of mind..."
Ao Shichu and Ao Shiyan did not start asking them immediately, but waited patiently for them to finish eating their buns. Ao Shiyan left two more meat buns for each of them, and then took the remaining buns. The steamed buns were distributed to the older, weaker, sick and disabled beggars around.
The old beggar finally finished eating three meat buns, and his stomach was full. He was in a much better mood, and he was no longer so wary of the Ao Shichu brother and sister: "Tell me, what do you want to ask the old man?"
"Old man, do you know the Marquis Rong'an Mansion?" Ao Shiyan asked straight to the point.
"Rong'anhou's Mansion? Humph!" As soon as the old beggar heard about Ron'anhou's Mansion, a look of contempt appeared on his face, and then he looked Ao Shichu up and down and asked, "Who are you from Ron'anhou's Mansion?" ?”
Just when Ao Shiyan was about to answer, his sleeve was suddenly pulled by his sister, and then Ao Shichu said to the old beggar: "Enemy."
The old beggar sneered and said, "No wonder you came to the beggar's den to find the old man to inquire about the Rong'an Hou Mansion! The Rong'an Hou Mansion has many enemies. What grudges do you have against their family?"
"The fields at home were occupied by people from their government. My parents went to ask for an explanation but were unable to do so. Instead, they sent their subordinates to beat them to death!" When Ao Shichu said this, he did not forget to show a look of hatred and his eyes were red. .
Ao Shiyan was so surprised when he saw his sister's ability to tell lies. If he hadn't known the truth of the matter and looked at his sister's current expression, he would have really thought that his home had really been robbed by the Rong'an Marquis Mansion. He took over the fields and killed his parents.
The old beggar immediately believed it and said, "I'm not surprised at all that people in their house would do such a thing. In fact, you are probably not the only family whose fields have been robbed by them."
"How many other people's fields have they occupied? How many families have been ruined? Isn't it possible that no one can control them? Can the high officials and emperors in the capital do nothing about their houses?" Ao Shichu cursed resentfully. .
The old beggar sneered and said: "Young man, haven't you heard that officials protect each other? Officials are all in the same group, and the emperor is also in the same group..."
Ao Shiyan was so frightened that he hurriedly hissed to the old beggar and said, "Old man, you can't say this casually!" Then he looked around cautiously, fearing that if someone heard the old beggar's words, the brother and sister would be in danger.
"Don't worry, no one will come here except beggars." The old beggar said, then paused, "Except for you."
"Old man, isn't there a good person in the House of Marquis Rongan? Even if there is a good person, he can't allow his family to do evil, right?" Ao Shichu continued to ask.
"Hmph, a nest of snakes and rats! A good person in the House of Rongan Hou cannot survive. The first eldest daughter-in-law of Rongan Hou was a good person. Unfortunately, she did not live long. She only gave birth to a son, and the son died when he was only one year old. It's gone, and now I don't know what happened to her son. No news has ever come out, so he is probably gone long ago..." the old beggar said.
Ao Shichu didn't expect to hear about the secret of Ronganhou's mansion. She thought about it carefully. After the original owner and his brother defected to Ronganhou's mansion, they seemed to have never heard that Ronganhou's current eldest daughter-in-law was actually his stepwife, and the original wife I have never heard of that son. Could it be that he really died a long time ago?
"Rong Anhou himself is not a good person. The old man is still raising a wife despite his age. It is really disrespectful for him!" The old beggar shouted angrily again.
