Red Chamber 9

Sitting in the carriage, Jia Hu asked the little girl for her name and the situation regarding her family.

The little girl answered timidly, "My name is Zhen Yinglian. I only remember that there is a temple near my home, which seems to be called Hulu Temple. I don't remember anything else."

Liu Zhong raised an eyebrow.

Doesn't the original text say that Xiangling completely forgot her original name and anything related to her family?

Yet this little girl remembers her name and the significant clue of Hulu Temple.

But after a moment of thought, Liu Zhong understood the reason behind it.

Human traffickers beat and scold children, forcing them to forget their pasts.

The Xiangling in the original text had already been broken by the beatings and scoldings of the traffickers, and perhaps combined with illness, that was why she forgot her past.

But the current Zhen Yinglian is not Xiangling; she has not yet been broken by the traffickers, which is evident from the fact that she managed to escape from them this time.

Naturally, the current Zhen Yinglian remembers her name and information about her home.

Perhaps, had Liu Zhong and Jia Hu not happened to encounter the scene of Zhen Yinglian being dragged back by the traffickers and intervened, things would be different.

Had she been dragged back this time, she would have suffered greatly, and it is very likely that she would have been beaten so severely by the traffickers that a high fever would have damaged her brain, causing her to forget her name.

This must be the effect of the butterfly wings Liu Zhong inadvertently flapped.

Returning to the Lin Mansion, the place had returned to calm, as if nothing had ever happened.

However, there were a few people missing from Jia Min's courtyard.

One of them was even a trusted personal maid who had accompanied Jia Min from her maiden home.

Jia Hu and Liu Zhong asked nothing, speaking only of the matter regarding Zhen Yinglian.

Lin Daiyu pulled Zhen Yinglian over to show her to Jia Min.

Jia Min must have inherited Lady Jia Shi's penchant for beauty; upon seeing the pretty and well-behaved little girl, her heart softened completely, and she immediately agreed to her daughter's request, keeping Zhen Yinglian in the Lin Mansion to accompany Lin Daiyu.

She then sent people to inquire about the location of Hulu Temple.

Although the yamen officials would help kidnapped children find their biological parents, the number of children was quite large, and they could not focus exclusively on investigating the origins of a single child.

After dinner, Liu Zhong and Jia Hu returned to the guest courtyard.

As Liu Zhong entered his room, he saw Jiqiu waiting for him with the fires of gossip burning brightly behind her eyes.

Liu Zhong couldn't help but smile slightly; this girl was truly suited to be an intelligence broker.

Should he establish an organization to sell information?

But immediately, he dismissed the thought.

Better not; it would only invite trouble.

Liu Zhong sat down in a chair, and Jiqiu immediately poured him a cup of tea and presented it to him.

Liu Zhong took a sip; the temperature was just right, not bad.

He spoke, "Sit down and tell me."

Jiqiu acknowledged the order, sat down across from Liu Zhong, and began to whisper about what she had found out.

The poison in Jia Min's system had been administered by the personal maid she had dealt with.

That woman was a servant born into the Rongguo Mansion, and she was quite pretty; she had been a candidate for concubine prepared by Lady Jia Shi for Jia Min.

Lady Jia Shi believed that since the woman's parents and relatives were all in the Rongguo Mansion, she would be easy for Jia Min to control, and that having her serve as Lin Ruhai's concubine would be better than having a maid from the Lin family serve in that role.

However, Jia Min did not make that woman Lin Ruhai's concubine, instead choosing a maid who was less attractive but more dull and honest to serve as his concubine.

Jia Min married that woman off to a steward in the Lin Mansion, thinking she was doing her a favor by giving her a good home.

Little did she know that once the woman saw the young and handsome Lin Ruhai, she became obsessed with becoming his woman.

Since Jia Min had cut off the possibility of her marrying Lin Ruhai, the woman naturally grew to hate Jia Min.

She was quite cunning and never revealed her hatred for Jia Min.

It wasn't until some time ago that she discovered a way to turn the fetal-protection medicine into a slow-acting poison by adding a specific herb.

The woman then proceeded to carry it out.

She was Jia Min's confidante and personal maid, having been by her side for over a decade.

Jia Min had never imagined that this person would betray her.

Even after Lin Ruhai uncovered the truth, Jia Min still could not believe it.

Jia Min was deeply saddened, but her methods were not soft in the slightest.

For someone who had betrayed her and harmed both her and her child, Jia Min showed no mercy.

Although she did not kill the woman outright, she had her fed a potion that destroyed her voice and sold her off to a black coal mine.

Jia Min went even further, dealing with everyone associated with the woman and selling them all off.

The Lin Mansion had lost one-fifth of its servants this time.

"Well done," Liu Zhong praised Jiqiu, then gave her a silver ingot as a tangible reward.

Jiqiu left Liu Zhong's room happily, clutching the silver.

Liu Zhong sat in his room for a while before hearing a knock at the door.

After receiving a response, Jia Hu walked in.

Liu Zhong couldn't help but laugh, "You're quite the gossip too, aren't you?"

Jia Hu kept a straight face and said, "I am merely concerned for my aunt and cousin."

Liu Zhong asked, "Are you so certain that Jiqiu can uncover the truth?"

Jia Hu replied, "She was meticulously trained by you; I have faith in her abilities."

Liu Zhong remarked, "Jiqiu would be very happy to hear you say that."

Jia Hu pressed, "What did Jiqiu find out? Who harmed my aunt and cousin?"

Liu Zhong relayed the information Jiqiu had gathered to Jia Hu.

Jia Hu gritted his teeth, "Once I return to the Rongguo Mansion, I will have her parents and their entire family driven out of the estate."

Having raised such a daughter, that family could certainly be no good.

Liu Zhong nodded in agreement.

That person came from the family of Shan Daliang, a steward of the Rongguo Mansion.

In the original story, this person was a loyal dog under Wang, and together with Lai Da and Wu Dengxin, they had pilfered quite a few treasures from the Rongguo Mansion, amassing a family fortune of at least one hundred thousand taels.

Many of the Jia family's collateral branches did not live as comfortably as these servants.

In this world, since Wang had not obtained the power to manage the household, it was unclear whether Shan Daliang had secretly swapped the genuine articles in the Rongguo Mansion's treasury with fakes.

Jia Hu and Liu Zhong stayed at Liu Zhong's place for ten days.

During this time, aside from visiting the scenic spots in Yangzhou, they followed the updates regarding the human traffickers.

The yamen acted quickly, as capturing human traffickers was a significant achievement.

After learning the location from where Zhen Yinglian had escaped, the yamen officials went to make the arrests.

The traffickers had been waiting for their accomplices to return, but realizing something had gone wrong, they were just about to move the kidnapped children when they were blocked at the door by the yamen runners.

Not a single trafficker escaped; they were all captured.

The children were brought back to the yamen.

Some of them remembered their family details and were quickly claimed by their relatives.

Although the remaining children were too young to remember their home situations, they had all been abducted from the vicinity of Yangzhou. Once the yamen posted a notice, the parents of the missing children came to the yamen and identified their own offspring.

The only trouble was Zhen Yinglian; she had been abducted for several years and was not from the area around Yangzhou, so the yamen could not find her relatives.

Fortunately, the Lin family took over the task of helping Zhen Yinglian find her family, so the yamen set her case aside.