The next day, before dawn, Li Wei was crossing the river and came to Hanyang again. This time he did not go to Ye Mansion, but went directly to the Jiedian Shop in Yuanzhuang, located in the west of the city. Unlike the bureaucratic capital in the late Qing Dynasty, the pawnshop in the early Ming Dynasty were more low-key and the profit was thin. However, the essence of pawnshops was the same, buying low and selling high, earning the difference. The Jiedian Shop in Yuanzhuang was located on the street. It was an extremely ordinary three-bedroom bungalow with no windows. A small door that only allows one person to enter seemed low-key and mysterious. Li Wei was stepping into the threshold, and a moldy smell rushed towards him. The room was very dark. After a while, his eyes barely adapted. There was only a row of high counters in the room. At the end of the narrow passage was a small door. At this time, it was the peak period of business for each store, but the Jiedian Shop was deserted and there was no one to see.

"Is anyone?" Li Weizheng knocked on the counter with his fingers twice, and a man slowly stood up behind the counter, a middle-aged man. He looked at Li Weizheng and said coldly: "What's wrong with you?"

"Of course I came to do business for you. What do you think I am here to do?" Li Weizheng felt that his attitude was a bit weird. This is not what business did.

"What business is going on!" The man pointed to the sign at the door impatiently, "Didn't you see it? My store has been closed."

Only then did Li Weizheng notice a sign standing at the door with four big words written on it, 'This store is closed'. Li Weizheng suddenly realized, and he quickly bowed and smiled, "You are the owner! I'm not here to sell things, but to buy things, and see if you have good products in it."

He heard that he was here to buy things, and the middle-aged man's eyes immediately shone, and his cold face turned into a smile. He hurriedly ran to open the door, and said with a flattering smile: "Young Master, please come in and speak!"

His business could not continue, and the inventory in his hand was almost worried. He wanted to sell it cheaply and felt very frustrated. He finally came to a boss who was willing to buy things. How could he not be very excited? "Young master, please go here." The owner respectfully invited Li Weizheng into the inner room and sat down, poured him a cup of tea. Li Weizheng was not long-winded and said in a glance: "That's right, a pair of ancestral jade Pixiu in my family was stolen. Now one has been found, and I bought it from you. I want to come to you to search for another one."

"It turns out that the young master is not here to buy things." The boss's face immediately became cold.

"Why isn't it? If you have another one here, I'll buy it back."

The owner of the shop owner thought about it and said, "These things were originally handled by the shopkeeper, but he has left. I have to check his records. You can wait for a moment."

He flipped out a thick account book from a box, turned to a page of jade, looked at it one by one, and finally his hand stopped, "I did sell a jade Pixiu six days ago, but there was no pair, and there was only one in this store."

"Can you tell me who gave this jade Pixiu?" Li Weizheng asked again without saying a word. This is the key to the problem. In the early Ming Dynasty, the information of ordinary people was extremely strict. Generally, people who pawn items would have to give their names and address. Of course, considering the redemption, Jiedian Shop would also ask customers to leave a contact method, so Li Weizheng believed that more clues could be obtained from Jiedian Shop.

A strange smile appeared on the owner's face, and Li Weizheng also understood what he meant.

"Okay! I'll buy you two things afterwards."

The owner of the shop hurriedly found a pack of tickets from the box. After searching in it for a long time, he finally found a dirty ticket and handed it to Li Weizheng: "It's this ticket."

Li Wei was taking the ticket, and he glanced at the signature of the person who explained the following: "Miao Qi". It was February 20th, twenty days ago. There was a seller's penalties and handprints next to it. It was also Miao Qi, but it was March 4th, seven days ago. In other words, this person has been in Wuchang or Hanyang. The address he left was Wuchang Shahu Inn.

Li Weizheng was overjoyed. The real name of the stolen person was Yan Shi, but his uncle's surname was Miao. It seemed that he was him. He didn't buy any pawnshops. He threw away twenty cents of money and took the ticket. The injury on his leg could not stop Li Weizheng's enthusiasm. He crossed the river to Wuchang again, but the Shahu inn was really hard to find. It was almost evening when Li Weizheng finally found this small inn in a small alley.

The reconciliation shop closed down and closed down. Shahu Inn has a good business. Most of the people live in foreigners who work hard to make a living. The waiter is also very active. He works hard to earn all possible extra money in addition to his meager salary. Under the guidance of an enthusiastic tenant, Li Weizheng found a waiter who is said to be the first clever one in Shahu Inn.

Money can still make the little devil push the mill, let alone a waiter who has a special liking for money. Li Wei put down twenty coins in front of him, "Don't ask who I am? What do you want to do? Just tell me where is a guest named Miao Qi in your inn now? The money will belong to you."

The waiter stared at Qian Quan's cup of tea, and he jumped up and ran out the door as if he was stabbed by a needle, leaving a sentence, "Wait for me for a moment."

The man named Miao Qi remembered that a man in his thirties was thin and thin. He hid in the room all day and did not dare to go out. He even asked someone else to buy food. He had already left the inn ten days ago, but the person who lived in the same room with him seemed to know his whereabouts.

Perhaps hard work pays off, or perhaps money can make the devil push the mill. When the waiter happily bought the twenty coins of money, he told Li Weizheng an incredible news: 'That Miao Qi's man entered the Chu Palace and became a servant of the Chu Palace.'

Things seemed to be clear at this point. As long as you bribe the butler of the Chu Prince's Mansion, you can find the culprit that triggered the struggle between various forces in the Ming Dynasty. However, Li Weizheng soon discovered that things were not as simple as he thought.

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At night, a new moon hangs on the tender branches of the old locust tree. The moonlight in front of the window is particularly bright. The shadows of the tree in the courtyard are shot through the window and reflected in the room, and the ground is covered with mottled colors.

Li Wei was sitting on a chair, but his legs were on the table. He was carefully changing the medicine for the wound. The medicine given to him by Ye Zitong was indeed miraculous. In just two days, the wound had scabbed. Although it was still a little painful, as long as it was no longer hit by external forces, there would be nothing serious. He mixed the white gold-chuang medicine powder with water into a paste, applied a thick layer on a clean cotton cloth, and picked a ball of green plaster from another bottle to apply it directly on the wound. Then he quickly put the cotton cloth on the wound. A cool feeling immediately came from his legs. This was a feeling he liked very much. There was a faint fragrance of ice musk in the room.

He wrapped the wound around with a bandage, and the force was not light or heavy. Finally, he took a few steps and there was no problem. He packed up his belongings. At this time, Yang Ning's voice and messy footsteps came from outside the door.

"Brother Guo, this is my temporary residence. Manager Ma, please come here!"

Yang Ning brought two people, one of whom was a friend he had just met in the past two days, and was the leader of the Huangzhou Gang on the Yangtze River Wharf, named Guo Xin. Although Zhu Yuanzhang strictly prohibited gangs, sects and other non-governmental organizations in the early Ming Dynasty, various gangs still appeared in places with densely packed with boatmen, lead workers, salt people and other coolies, and it was difficult to ban them, especially the canals, tens of thousands of coolies along the Yangtze River wharf, and there were various interest groups. Wuchang Wharf also consisted of local people, including more than a dozen gangs of all sizes. The Huangzhou Gang is one of the four coolies on the Wuchang Wharf, representing the interests of Huangzhou coolies.

It was through Guo Xin's introduction that Yang Ning met the manager of the Chu King's private wharf again, which is also a person Li Weizheng needs to find now.

Guo Xinnian was about forty years old. It can be seen that he was a coolie with bronze skin, cheerful and contagious laughter, and strong muscles and arms. It makes people feel close to each other when they meet. However, the manager of the King of Chu’s private dock is just the opposite. He is dry and thin, with a few rat whiskers left, and a pair of triangular eyes are particularly flexible. He laughed dryly and walked into the house with Yang Ning.

"Brother Yang Xian, is this your fifth brother?" Guo Xin's voice was like a bell, trembling the room buzzing.

"That's right, this is my fifth brother." Yang Ning quickly introduced to Li Weizheng: "Fifth brother, this is Brother Guo who I have told you."

Li Wei was smiling and bowing, "In Fengyang Li Wu, I have been entrusted with the Wuchang Coolie Gang for a long time. I will ask Brother Guo to take care of him in the future."

"Hey, everyone is making a living, so don't be so polite. Everyone will take care of each other in the future. The fifth master may still be our parents of food and clothing!"

Of course Li Weizheng would not say that he was here to find someone. His temporary identity was a Fengyang businessman. Although his Lu Yin was to buy rice seeds, Guo Xin didn't take it seriously. He knew that it was just an excuse.

After the greetings with Guo Xin, Li Weizheng's eyes fell on the manager again. This was the master he was looking for. He saluted him with a smile and said, "I heard from my brother that the manager's surname is Li, so we are our family."

"You are polite to Master Li Wu. I am just a servant who does a choreography and I dare not swear." Manager Li said it lightly. To be honest, he looked down on Li Weizheng at all, just a country bun, and wanted to be brothers with him. If it weren't for Boss Guo's face, he wouldn't have turned to this dilapidated house!

Li Weizheng didn't care either. He waved his hand and smiled, "Please sit down and talk!"

A table of wine and food was already packed on the small table next to him. The four of them sat down. Yang Ning poured a glass of wine for each of them. Li Wei was holding up the glass and laughing: "Wine is just your heart. Thank you for your willingness to visit the humble house. I will do it first."

Guo Xin laughed loudly, said he was polite, raised his glass and drank it, but Manager Li was gloomy and motionless. Just as Li Wei knew what the problem was, he gave Yang Ning a wink. Yang Ning understood and immediately smiled at Guo Xin: "Brother Guo, should you go outside together to make it convenient?"

Guo Xin was stunned. There was no way to go there just after drinking, but he was a smart person. He immediately understood and laughed dryly, "Yes, I'm in a hurry, go! Go outside."

When the two left, Li Weizheng took out an envelope and pushed it to Manager Li and said with a smile: "This is a little bit of intention. Please give me a face, so please accept it."

Manager Li glanced at the envelope and saw that the envelope was thick, at least one or two hundred coins. He immediately laughed, "Brother Li Wu is really, since he is my family, why are you still so polite? Alas, I'm so embarrassed."

He put away the envelope, then picked up the wine glass and smiled, "I was thinking about something just now, I was distracted, sorry! I'll give Brother Li a cup."

Li Wei was touching his glass of wine, drinking it, and then filling him with another glass of wine and laughing: "By the way, I have a small thing to ask the manager for help!"

"You said, as long as I can do it, I will definitely help." He left room for words. What does it mean to be able to do it? The key is to look at Li Weizheng's sincerity. If you want him to do something big, it won't work if you want him to do one or two hundred coins.

"Actually, it's a small matter, it has nothing to do with doing business." Li Wei was pondering for a moment and said, "That's right, I have a friend who is from Huangzhou who works in the Chu Prince's Mansion. When I passed by Huangzhou this time, his mother asked me to send a letter, but I kept calling him Erlang, but Daming was a little forgotten. I wonder if Manager Li can ask me about it."

Although the matter was a small task, Manager Li still looked embarrassed. He said, "It's not that I don't want to help. Brother Wu, you have to know that there are thousands of people in the King of Chu's mansion, on the dock, in the manor, and in the mansion. Most of the people's original hometowns are in Wuchang and Huangzhou. Brother Wu only knows that his name is Erlang. It's really difficult, unless you tell me the name of Daming."

Li Wei was pretending to think for a while, then suddenly slapped his legs and said, "By the way, I remembered it. I heard from another friend that he was recruited into the Chu Prince's Mansion ten days ago. He seemed to be surnamed Miao, so it's feasible!"

"Ten days ago?" Manager Li smiled bitterly and said, "Half a month ago, the expansion of the Chu Prince's Mansion was completed, and the emperor had to reward two new manors. Ten days ago, four or five hundred people were recruited at once, and even sixty people were added to our dock. But you know that his surname is Miao, maybe it's easier to check."

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Chapter completed!