Chapter 127: 127. Safe and Sound

chapter 127: 127. safe and sound at this time at xiapi, a lockdown was being put down at the city gates. all men under lie fan's command, whether it's city guards, lie clan's guards, oriole, or his army began to search the entire city. the people wanted to protest at first, but after hearing the reason for the lockdown they began to cooperate even helping. jia xu as the oriole's grandmaster told all orioles in the city to search every corner of xiapi, even the slums and noble's house to be searched. oriole's connections like beggars and street urchins are also being used, they will be paid for every information they have on wannian location. diao chan and ying yue arrived 20 minutes after lie fan, both heard the reason for how wannian could be kidnapped. lie fan's reasoning on how maybe the kidnapper's target is cai wenji and wannian's bait is also feasible. both accompany cai wenji who is traumatized and thinks that everything happens because of her, bing yue and diao chan know how much cai wenji loves wanniang thinking of wannian as her little sister. lie fan told his wives and cai wenji to stay indoors, and he left liu pi, bo cai, and guan hai to protect them. lie fan brings his other bodyguards back to the governor's castle. in the main hall, all of his advisors are waiting for him. lie fan entered the main hall and sat in his chair, he began to order everyone to think of ways to search for his sister faster. he also gives his suspicion that maybe the kidnapper's target is cai wennji and wannian is just a bait or bonus. lie fan thinks of this because he remembered that cai wenji would be kidnapped in the future when the xiongnu managed to enter han territory in 194 or 195 ad, lie fan is suspicious that maybe because of his butterfly effect the kidnapping could be done at this time. cai wenji is a beautiful and elegant lady, 17 years old this year she can be considered a ripe apple. even though she is cai yong's daughter, many people are not that afraid of cai yong even though he can be considered an important official while wannian is xu province's little princess which could not be offended. jia xu: "my lord don't worry, orioles have spread the nets through all of xiapi. gates, walls, and even an area 3 kilometers from xiapi have orioles members running around." lie fan: "i need results by the end of today! i don't care what kind of plans or ideas you will use, i allow them all if it means you can find my sister!" chen gui: "my lord don't worry, the kidnappers are surely still in xiapi. the gates were closed down minutes after the incident, and the kidnapper needed to change his clothes before he could go out of xiapi." chen deng: "don't worry my lord! i will personally lead the investigation to search for little madam. i do have some suspicion, what if this is tao qian's ploy like a smokescreen for something that he will do?" xun you: "what chen deng said could be true, but i think tao qian is not too stupid to do this so early after arriving at xiapi. the time also doesn't add up, i think that my lord's suspicion has a higher chance than this is tao qian's ploy." lie fan: "it's no matter if it's tao qian's ploy or a kidnapping gone wrong, i want my sister to be found today safe and sound! jia xu the orioles are also responsible for this accident happening, i want their training to be raised for a couple of months as punishment." lie fan told everyone to think of a plan when suddenly tao qian came into the main hall. everyone was immediately surprised when they saw him, lie fan was surprised by how brazen he was entering the main hall without even letting the guards outside announce to ask for permission. lie fan: "inspector tao qian, where's your decorum and manners? how could you just barge in without asking for permission?!" tao qian: "i'm sorry governor lie fan, i hurried here after i heard what happened to your sister. i was thinking that maybe you need some help in handling government affairs for today." jia xu: "no need inspector tao qian, governor lie fan has us to help him handle his affairs. inspector tao qian can just focus on your own affairs, i think inspector tao qian should familiarize yourself with your own position first and handle some of your own affairs." tao qian thought that maybe he could take advantage of the situation, knowing that lie fan's emotions could be disordered thinking of his sister. he doesn't know who made this incident, but he was thankful thinking that he can benefit from it. tao qian's action makes lie fan's anger reach a new height, he almost curses tao qian and tells his bodyguards to capture him but jia xu manages to pitch in first. jia xu knew lie fan couldn't control his emotions if it was his family which was his inverse scale. lie fan takes a deep breath while jia xu handles tao qian, he knows that if he imprisons tao qian this matter will reach the imperial court at lightning speed. his enemies will use this chance either to undermine his power and influence or even make a problem to demote him. especially zhang rang, the eunuchs specialize in causing high-ranking officials to be demoted, exiled, or even executed. fortunately, he has top-class advisors who can help him handle this situation. from this, he knows that tao qian is not the mastermind behind this incident. he only hopes that all of his men can find wannian trace, especially oriole who was trained to become an expert at this craft. tao qian on the other hand knowing that he couldn't take advantage of the situation, decided to stay and act helpful trying to see how the situation would unfold. time is approaching night time and there's still no news, lie fan's patience is nearing its limit, and when everyone thinks that they need to wait until tomorrow suddenly a guard comes in. guard: "my lord, we have found traces of a child that match little madam's description. it was said that people saw her at the biggest brothel in the entertainment district!" lie fan: "what?! so why don't all of you go and investigate it if it's true?!" guard: "it was also that one of the biggest merchants in xiapi controlled this brother so we don't dare to act recklessly." mi zhu: "if it's like that then it was the brothel under fang clan. i will negotiate with the fang clan my lord, for the safety of little madalm is number one and i think it's better if my lord leads the investigation." lie fan: "okay mi zhu you do that if the fang clan dares to give trouble. uproot them and share the wealth between the other merchant clans, including yours." everyone was surprised by what lie fan said, it looked like they had to raise the importance of lie fan's family to the highest level. what lie fan said can be seen as a provocation to the entire merchant circle of xiapi, but with lie fan's sharing the benefits everyone will keep silent. lie fan followed by his bodyguards, jia xu, and tao qian who wanted to join in the fun led the citu guards towards the brothel. lie fan also has signaled to jia xu, to send the oriole inside to ensure wannian safety. when they arrived at the brothel, lie clan's guard was waiting outside attracting the attention of all people who passed by or customers who entered the brothel. the captain can be seen arguing with what looks like the madam of the brothel. lie fan's arrival interrupts this exchange, the madam knowing that lie fan himself arrived at the scene begins to panic. lie fan doesn't do much talking, he only says that they will go to an official investigation as there are clues that his sister was inside. the madam wanted to protest, saying that it would disturb her customers. lie fan only said that if she didn't want her establishment to be closed then she better cooperate. lie fan then sent all the city guards and lie clan guards on the scene to enter the brothel, because the time was already evening and the sky had turned darker no one noticed oriole entering through the roof. lie fan himself entered the lobby which also acted like a restaurant, people were panicking at the scene, and most of the customers wanted to leave. but when they suddenly saw lie fan, all of them just sat down nicely afraid of attracting the tiger's hunger. all of the customers are either nobles, scholars, merchants, or the younger generation of those groups. all of them at least know what lie fan looks like, knowing what has transpired to lie fan's sister in the afternoon all of them don't dare to cause trouble. while lie fan and his retinue including tao qian are waiting, suddenly on the 3rd floor there is a commotion. all of the city guards and lie clan guards on the 3rd floor go toward the room where the commotion happened. lie fan also brings his retinue with tao qian following behind towards the room on the 3rd floor when he is near the room he hears the sounds of his guards capturing someone, and the crying sound of a girl can be heard lie fan immediately entered the room, he saw wannian being tied and was taken out by one of the clan's guards from a cabinet. on the other side of the room, a young man aged maybe in his mid-twenties was being held by his guards. lie fan immediately rushed to wannian, and using his trend he managed to free up wannian. wannian saw her brother cry even louder, lie fan hugged her harder and patted her on the back saying it's okay now brother is here. lie fan: "who is he?! is he the culprit who kidnapped my sister?!" guard: "we don't know yet my lord, but his reaction when we try to open the cabinet was very suspicious. he tried to stop us and even threatened to report us, saying that he was the heir of the fang clan and that his father was close with you my lord." lie fan: "fang clan heir? so what?? interrogate him right away right here, i want to know who paid him or what his intention was in kidnapping my sister!" jia xu: "my lord let me handle this, with some of my subordinates i'm sure that we can make him talk faster." lie fan nods his head, allowing jia xu to do so as the poisonous strategist's name is not a joke. maybe in the game, novel, and historical documents in the future, he was described like that because of his cunningness but lie fan truly sees how poisonous jia xu truly is. he knows poison, and torture methods, and will do anything to achieve his goal, this kind of man is willing to do anything without caring for morals which would be good if he was on your side. after waiting for 20 minutes, jia xu came out form the room. wannian was asleep in lie fan's hand, seeing this lie fan was distraught as wannian could be mentally scarred because of this experience. crying and aboard of what would happen takes a large amount of energy, especially for children. jia xu: "i have found out the reason my lord, the fang clan heir has fancied lady cai wenji. he has confessed his love to her but is rejected, he feels humiliated and decides to hurt lady cai wenji by kidnapping little madam whom he knew that lady cai wenji thought as her sister." _________________________________ name: lie fan title: yellow heaven subjugator age: 20 years old (187 ad) level: 14 next level: 412.000 renown: 215 cultivation: yin yang separation (level 4) sp: 706.700 attribute points str: 753 vit: 331 agi: 328 int: 349 chr: 93 wis: 289 will: 207 atr points: 0