My Pen Pal Zhu Yuanzhang

Chapter 148 Waiting for the rabbit
"The owner of this family is Zhang Wenzhong, the chief of the Shaoxing Prefecture contact point. According to Zheng Zefu, he died in the Japanese invasion. Logically, they shouldn't have held a funeral. Aren't the family members grief-stricken?"

Zhu Di was puzzled and asked, "Why is the gate closed at this time, and no relatives come to pay their respects?"

"There must be something wrong when things are out of the ordinary. Let's go in and take a look first."

Mao Xiang walked forward and knocked on the doorknocker. After a while, the door opened and a charming woman walked out.

The woman was wearing a light yellow dress and had a blank expression on her face. When she saw Mao Xiang, there was a hint of impatience in her eyes.

After Mao Xiang explained his purpose, the woman managed to squeeze out a few tears and started wailing.

"My man died tragically because of those damned Japanese pirates! My Lord, please help me!"

"Madam, please accept my condolences." Mao Xiang said, "But why don't you handle the funeral of Master Suozheng?"

The woman's eyes suddenly flashed with panic. She wiped away her tears and choked up, "Your Excellency, you don't know that my man was buried a few days ago."

When Zhu Di heard this, he immediately felt something was wrong. The body was buried before the seventh day had even passed?

However, seeing that Mao Xiang did not ask further questions, he did not want to speak any more, otherwise he might alert the enemy.

Mao Xiang said some more polite words and then gave the woman some silver. The woman took the silver, thanked him profusely, and then closed the door.

"Liu San, there is something wrong with this woman!" Zhu Di said in a low voice while looking at the gate of Suo Zheng's house.

"The woman was buried before the seventh day of mourning, and she didn't wear mourning clothes. There was no trace of sadness on her face. There is something wrong!"

"This lady is obviously lying!" Mao Xiang was very sure, "She refuses to say it, but the neighbors won't help her hide it. Let's go and ask them together."

After some inquiries, the neighbors gave the same answer: Suo Zheng was hastily buried on the second day after the Japanese invasion, and no funeral was held.

However, every household was in fear and sadness at the time, and no one felt anything was wrong. Looking back now, it is indeed very unreasonable.

"After Suo Zheng died, he was hastily buried the next day. This is totally against the burial rules! Don't these family members fear being criticized?"

Zhu Di thought that this matter was too unreasonable. He had some vague guesses in his mind, but he just couldn't grasp the key point.

“Generally speaking, after a loved one dies, you have to set up a mourning hall at home first, then inform relatives and friends of the death, wait for them to come and pay their respects, and invite Taoist priests to perform rituals or monks to chant sutras and pray for blessings.

Before the coffin is sealed, relatives and friends must be allowed to see the deceased for the last time. This is the rule in Yingtian Prefecture. Is it different in Shaoxing?"

"Yingtian Prefecture and Shaoxing are both in the south of the Yangtze River. The burial system is not much different, and the process is almost the same, unless..."

Mao Xiang's eyes flashed with a hint of sharpness, "Unless this family doesn't want others to see Suo Zheng's body!"

Zhu Di suddenly realized something, "Liu San, what you mean is..."

The two looked at each other and said in unison: "Suo Zheng is still alive!"

"But if Suo Zheng was still alive, why would he fake his death and stage a funeral scene? Did he want to die and get away with it?"

"Li Si, you are right. Either Suo Zheng has discovered who the traitor is and is in great danger, or Suo Zheng himself is the traitor. In either case, he must fake his death to escape!"

"That makes sense. As long as we find Suo Zheng Zhang Wenzhong, everything will be revealed! Liu San, you have your own tricks for finding people. How do we find Suo Zheng now?"

After finally finding a clue, Zhu Di began to feel hopeful. However, how to find the person who faked his death depended on the expert in finding people beside him.

Mao Xiang stroked his mustache with some pride, thought for a moment and said, "Speaking of finding someone, we Jinyiwei have many ways to do it. The most common ones are house-to-house searches, setting up checkpoints at the city gates, posting wanted notices, and we also have informants and spies from all walks of life to help find out.

But in the current situation, there are only you and me, we are alone and weak, and it is inconvenient to reveal our identities. We can't contact the local Jinyiwei either, so there is only one way, wait and see! " "Wait and see? How long do we have to wait?"

"Li Si, don't worry. Suo Zheng has used fake death to escape, so he will definitely not hide in the house again.

When I was talking to the woman of Suo Zheng's family just now, I noticed that the servants were cleaning the food boxes. "

"Could it be that the food box is used to deliver food to Suo Zheng?"

"Unless Mrs. Suo Zheng is having an affair, who else would she send food to?"

"So, as long as we keep an eye on that woman, we can find Zhang Wenzhong?" Zhu Di understood immediately.

"That's right. There happens to be a restaurant not far away. Li Si, how about we go and try the local specialties of Shaoxing first?"

"Let's go together!"

After walking around for a long time, Zhu Di felt hungry, and what Mao Xiang said was exactly what he wanted.

The two of them came to the restaurant and found a private room on the second floor facing the street, which just happened to have a view of Suo Zheng's house. They ordered some food and drinks and sat down to wait.

They waited until the evening, when curfew was about to begin. Suddenly, they saw that the door of Suo Zheng's house was opened.

The two men immediately perked up. They saw the woman from Suo Zheng's family sticking her head out from the crack in the door, looking around furtively, and seeing that there was no one, she quickly walked out with a food box, and then carefully closed the door.

It seems that what Mao Xiang said was right. Madam Suo Zheng really went to deliver the meal. Zhu Di felt that this trip was not in vain, and he learned a lot from Mao Xiang.

"At this time, the gates of Shaoxing Prefecture have been closed. It seems that Suo Zheng should still be hiding in the city. Let's go!"

Without Mao Xiang's words, Zhu Di had already stood up. The two of them quickly left the restaurant and walked in the direction the woman had left.

Under the cover of night, Mrs. Suo Zheng walked carefully on the road, looking around from time to time to see if anyone was following her.

However, Mao Xiang was an expert at tracking, and Mrs. Suo Zheng was not qualified enough to find him.

After passing through several alleys, the two followed Mrs. Suo Zheng to a long-abandoned courtyard. They saw her knock three times at the door, pause for a moment, and then knock three more times. After a while, the door opened.

Zhu Di and Mao Xiang were hiding not far away and saw that the person who opened the door was Zhang Wenzhong, the director of the Shaoxing Prefecture liaison point!

Opportunities are rare, Mao Xiang shouted in a low voice, "Do it!"

The two men suddenly jumped up like arrows and ran straight to the gate of the courtyard. Zhang Wenzhong was shocked when he saw the two men rushing towards him. He was about to close the door and run away, but it was too late!
The two men rushed to the gate of the courtyard, and Mao Xiang pushed Zhang Wenzhong down. Zhang Wenzhong's wife was so frightened that her legs became weak and she couldn't walk even if she wanted to.

After bringing the two men into the courtyard, Zhu Di looked around, and seeing that there was no one around, he closed the gate.

"What a comeback from the dead, Zhang Suozheng, but I've seen through your trick!"

Zhang Suozheng looked at the two men with horror, and his wife was even more horrified, "Who are you?"

Mao Xiang sneered, then shouted in a low voice: "Jinyi Guards!"

When he heard that it was the Jinyiwei, Zhang Wenzhong's legs suddenly went weak and he sat down on the ground.

It seems that the book friends are very dissatisfied with this plot. Don't worry, this plot will be over soon and will be back on track soon.

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(End of this chapter)