A lazy bum transmigrates and marries a eunuch – it's awesome!

Chapter 158 Yan Fei of Ruyi Gate

When Chunxing and the guards returned, it was already late, and they waited for two hours but the maid still didn't come out of the mansion.

The little girl, unwilling to give up, bought two packets of pastries and a few handkerchiefs from the street and went around to the back gate. Under the pretext of delivering things to her mother, she struck up a conversation with the gatekeeper.

The old woman's eyes crinkled with laughter as she received a packet of pastries and two silver melon seeds. She kept praising Chunxing for being so lucky to marry the eldest daughter and enjoy a life of luxury at the governor's mansion.

He then couldn't help but complain about the Jiang family's difficult life, saying that they hadn't received any reward money for more than half a year.

Chunxing said a few words to the old woman, then suddenly changed the subject and mentioned the new maid that the lady had bought.

Although Chunxing didn't pay attention to whether the maid was round or flat at the time, it didn't stop her from making a few casual compliments.

As long as someone isn't missing a nose or eyes, praising their delicate and charming voice is always a safe bet.

The old woman was initially puzzled, but then she suddenly realized what was going on.

"You mean Xiao Yan? That girl doesn't seem to be from the manor."

The person who came to the manor with the second young lady yesterday has left today, not long after our eldest young lady left.

It must be a maid from the second young lady's friend's house, whom she borrowed to help out; she is quite pretty.

You wouldn't believe it, even the sewing room in our household has been closed down, and the maids in each room have to do a lot of the work themselves.

The young ladies around the second young lady used to be unable to hold a needle or thread, and they were often scolded for their poorly made things.

She appeared out of nowhere and then hurriedly left the mansion just as they were leaving. It seems that the young lady's guess was right; that girl really does have a problem.

Seeing that she couldn't get much information, Chunxing put down her things and returned to the governor's mansion. After listening to the story, Jiang Xinyu had someone call He Zhang and Ye Xiao over.

Even three cobblers with their mediocre skills can outwit Zhuge Liang!

Everyone has their own misconceptions. Her knowledge may not be superior to the professional common sense of a trained undercover agent. It wouldn't hurt to listen to the opinions of the locals.

The two little ones arrived quickly, and after listening to July recount the series of events and people that happened to Jiang Xinyu from the moment she left home until she returned, they were certain that there was something fishy going on.

Jiang Xinyu asked someone to bring her a piece of paper and started drawing a relationship diagram.

The maid Xiao Yan is connected to Jiang Wanqiu, Jiang Wanqiu is connected to Zhao Chengye, and after Zhao Chengye she writes about Zhang Zhongyi, and after Zhang Zhongyi is the Third Prince.

After finishing writing, Jiang Xinyu sighed, "Now there are two possibilities."

First, Jiang Wanqiu and Zhao Chengye want to take revenge on me while Xiao Yuan is away. If that's the case, it's at most a private matter within the household.

Another possibility is that the Third Prince or the Left Prime Minister wants to do something to Xiao Yuan through me, which would be a much bigger scheme.

But one thing is certain: the fact that they didn't make a move at the Jiang family's place today is because they were making preparations.

The maid's role was most likely to help her recognize the target, which was me.

Ye Xiao nodded. "I don't think it's very likely that it's targeting the adoptive mother."

Generally, scheming against women is related to reputation, and smart people will choose to do it at someone else's banquet or some other public occasion.

This way, one can easily clear their name while leaving the other party with no way to cover up their actions, thus ruining their reputation.

If that's the case, there's no need to identify people beforehand. Identifying people at the scene of the crime makes it easier to remember their clothes and jewelry to avoid making a mistake.

But if it wasn't specifically targeting his adoptive mother and having someone recognize her appearance, could it be that the Third Prince intended to find someone who resembled his adoptive mother to seduce his adoptive father?

Ye Xiao had worked in the Eastern Depot for several years after all. Although he was confused about family matters, his analysis was quite logical.

Jiang Xinyu gave a thumbs up approvingly, "The previous points are all correct, but I think the key point is that the maid recognized my appearance rather than my face."

The maidservants are the key point.

The Left Prime Minister has seen what I look like, and Zhao Chengye is even more familiar with me. If we really want to choose someone who looks like me, why not just let Zhao Chengye make the choice?

I guarantee it looks even better than the ones my own father picked.

He Zhang, who had been deep in thought with his head down, suddenly asked,

"What did Madam say that maid's name was?"

Jiang Xinyu was taken aback. "Chunxing said her name seems to be Xiaoyan."

Whether it was the "Yan" of swallows or the "Yan" of beautiful women, the gatekeeper didn't know; she just heard someone call out that.

It seems to be just a pseudonym and doesn't really mean anything.

He Zhang laughed, "I guess that's what they were thinking too. They just picked a name that sounded good and didn't pay any attention to it."

Furthermore, the lady said that the key point was that the maid was judged by her appearance, not by others. This reminded me of a person recorded in the Book of Strange Tales of the Martial World.

The Thousand-Faced Gentleman Yan Fei.

Jiang Xinyu immediately became interested upon hearing about martial arts figures.

Does his nickname "Thousand-Faced Prince" refer to his ability to change his appearance?

A human skin mask or a disguise technique?

He Zhang really didn't know this; he only knew that Yan Fei was a remnant of the Ruyi Sect.

The so-called Ruyi Gate is a notorious organization of womanizers; those people not only steal women but also traffic in people.

Ordinary disciples would use drugs or force to kidnap young girls or even children, abuse them at will, and then sell them to brothels for money.

In this era, a woman's chastity was of paramount importance, and many families who lost their daughters didn't even bother to look for them, simply claiming they had died of illness.

As the saying goes, "If the people don't report it, the officials won't investigate." Fewer than fifty girls are reported being abducted by flower thieves each year, but in reality, there are already hundreds of victims.

A few months ago, Chief Supervisor Xiao ordered a crackdown on the Ruyi Sect, and He Zhang's team also participated. What impressed him most was not the girls' miserable situation, but rather a few oddballs.

Those women included daughters of officials and young ladies from modest families; their only commonality was that they cried and begged to leave, wanting to find their beloved Yan Lang.

At this point, He Zhang frowned deeply.

"The Yan Lang they were referring to is Yan Fei, the third leader of the Ruyi Sect."

He is a skilled womanizer who excels at disguise and light-footed martial arts and enjoys performing fancy tricks.

Unlike his lower-ranking disciples who used drugs and force, Yan Fei preferred to enjoy the pleasure of luring his prey step by step.

Legend has it that Yan Fei was skilled in disguise, bone shrinking, and voice changing, and could disguise himself as a charming young girl, a mature woman, or even a close friend of a victim.

If he sets his sights on a target, he will first approach her as a woman, until she is so aroused that she thinks he has a penchant for mirror polishing, before revealing his male identity.

He then used sweet words to coax those girls into abandoning their families and eloping with him.

Unfortunately, his interest only went this far. After the girls followed him back to Ruyi Gate, he discarded them like worn-out shoes and went out to hunt for more women.

But those women seemed to be under his spell; even knowing they were being deceived, they were deeply in love, crying and begging to find him.

When Ye Xiao destroyed Ruyi Gate, he was still with Xu Qinglan at Nanshan Temple protecting the Empress Dowager and was unaware of this past event.

Now that he heard that his godfather had a grudge against the Ruyi Sect, he quickly pressed He Zhang to tell him what exactly happened.

He Zhang shook his head. "Logically speaking, catching the flower thief has little to do with our Eastern Depot, but since the Chief Supervisor ordered us to take it down, we naturally obeyed."

I heard that they are involved in several cases of humiliation of officials' wives, but to be honest, even I can tell that it's a far-fetched story.

It is highly likely that our supervisor is using Ruyi Gate as a scapegoat.

Now that Yan Fei is on the run and has a grudge against the Eunuch, there is a high possibility that he will seek cooperation with Zuo Xiang, who is at odds with the Eunuch.

If that maid in the Jiang family is really Yan Fei, then he probably intends to imitate the Madam to get close to the Chief Eunuch and assassinate him.

Jiang Xinyu chuckled upon hearing this.

"Don't worry, as long as Xiao Yuan isn't completely out of his mind, he won't mistake Yan Fei for me."

He's not the only one with a thousand faces; I can also put on a respectable act in public.

Can you believe that some people even call me the "Walking Female Ring"?

Ye Xiao subconsciously pursed his lips.

His so-called adoptive mother is the complete opposite of the female precepts; if a woman is timid, she could scare the female precepts away.