Chapter 10: Sweeping the Ashes (Part 1)
Qi Xuansu was also thinking, who would be interested in such a girl? In addition to the human traffickers, there is the legendary secret society of Ziguang Society, which is mainly composed of women. Qi Xuansu even has a hunch that the two cases may be merged into one case in the end.
As for Ziguang Society, although there is some unclear relationship with Zhengyi Dao, it does not mean that Ziguang Society is a good person. "Tianting" is also related to Taiping Dao. Whether it is wiping out the Yuan family or attacking Zhenwu Temple, there is no mercy.
However, whether it is the human traffickers or Ziguang Society, Meimei will not be in any danger in the short term.
There is no need to say more about Ziguang Society. They like to develop members, not to do blood sacrifice. As for human traffickers, they will not directly sell Meimei to brothels to receive customers.
Because Qi Xuansu saw the "portrait" that Ke Qingqing had created based on Zhou Qingshu's description, she was a beauty. At her age, it was not cost-effective to sell her directly to a brothel to receive customers. In the words of the brothel, it was to ruin a good seedling. Secondly, it was risky. The court had strict supervision over young prostitutes, and it was difficult to obtain a certificate. From the perspective of a human trafficker, it was better to avoid the limelight before making a move. Thirdly, not everyone could do this business. Before that, there was a training process, which also tempered the woman's temper, like training an eagle.
So it was more likely that she was hidden somewhere.
When Qi Xuansu was traveling around the world, he heard about this kind of business. After some old prostitutes became old and ugly, they changed their careers to train new people. The process was to find daughters from poor families, raise them as stepmothers, and cultivate their talents, etiquette, speech and behavior according to the standards of concubines of wealthy families. Those with good qualifications and appearance even lived the life of a rich lady on weekdays, with fine clothes and food, and maids serving them.
This is the so-called raising a skinny horse. In the future, she can be sold to a wealthy family as a concubine. Compared with many famous prostitutes, she is not inferior in talent and talent, but she has a "clean background", which conforms to the moral cleanliness of some poetic and ceremonial families. After all, only the Taoist sect does not allow concubines. Outside the Taoist sect, it is still a system of monogamy and multiple concubines.
In this regard, Li Qingnu is no different from many skinny horses, but Li Tianyue is more ambitious. She only has one emperor in her eyes and looks down on those so-called gentry and powerful families. Later, she found that this road was not feasible, and after years of getting along, she had some feelings, so Li Tianyue considered letting Li Qingnu join the Li family as an adopted daughter. Li Qingnu knew this very well, and there must be resentment, otherwise she would not choose to work for Qiniang. Although Qiniang is greedy for money, she has always been good to her family.
Or selling it to a brothel is also a similar process, which is no different from raising skinny horses. Of course, when tempering the temper, the woman will inevitably suffer a little. At the beginning, she will suffer physical pain, be treated very poorly, and be verbally humiliated, in order to destroy the woman's psychological defenses. Then she will be comforted with kind words and treated gently with generous treatment. This is a slap in the face and a sweet date. Finally, she will pretend to be doing good for you, "explain the feelings and reason", and explain the pros and cons. In fact, there is only one way. If you go against the brothel, you will only suffer. If you obey, the brothel will also treat you well, and you will eat and drink delicious food, wear silk and satin, and come into contact with rich people. Maybe you will have the opportunity to become a concubine of a rich man, which is far better than a poor wife. In the end, the woman will be humiliated and accept her fate.
In the process of the woman's attitude changing from hard to soft, the brothel will gradually arrange various "courses", such as learning piano and singing. If the woman does not learn, or does not learn well, there will naturally be another round until the woman completely obeys.
This process will not be short, so Qi Xuansu did not rush to find someone in the middle of the night, but made plans before taking action. Because Mei Mei lived in the North City, he checked the North City first.
What really troubled Qi Xuansu was that rabbits did not eat grass near their nests. If Mei Mei was sold to a first- or second-class brothel in the South City or the inner city, it would be difficult to find her. After all, Shi Bingyun also said that these brothels have big backers and big backgrounds. For example, the famous first-class brothel Wutongyuan, whose boss behind the scenes is Li Tianzhen's cousin Li Tianyue, may not come forward to embarrass Qi Xuansu because of this little thing, but it is a tricky thing after all.
At this time, Shi Bingyun came from the direction of the imperial city, with a smile on his face.
Qi Xuansu knew immediately that she was not in the Jade Emperor Palace last night. She also had a residence in the imperial city. After all, she was a Taoist immortal, and she had a lot of confidence. It was because of her existence that the "Old Qin" had not remarried yet. In fact, many times it was "Old Qin" who took the initiative to visit her instead of her going to "Old Qin's" palace. This was not a concubine, but a special case. The Taoist sect did not allow an immortal to become a princess, and the court did not approve of the royal family members marrying high-ranking Taoist priests, so the two of them just lived like this.
Qi Xuansu came forward and told her the situation. Shi Bingyun was also stunned. She did not expect that someone would dare to cheat in the name of the Wanxiang Taoist Palace in the imperial capital. However, this was not a place to talk, so she did not say much, but asked Qi Xuansu to investigate first and notify her when there was a clue. Then she entered the gate of the Jade Emperor Palace under the salute of the gatekeeper.
Qi Xuansu sighed. In the past, it was clear who was the enemy. But when he arrived in the capital, everything became blurry, as if he had all the strength but didn't know where to hit.
In the evening, Song San came to see Qi Xuansu again.
Because the Jade Palace is a huge Taoist palace that occupies an area, there are many people coming in and out on weekdays. Song San has a public status, and the Taoist sect has many contacts with the court, so it is not very conspicuous. After the report, Song San was quickly led to Qi Xuansu's custody room.
By this time, Song San no longer had any doubts about Qi Xuansu's identity.
Qi Xuansu asked directly: "Any clues?"
"Replying to Master, I don't know much about the thieves who defrauded people in the name of Wanxiang Dao Palace. However, I accidentally heard something about the brothel." Song San replied respectfully.
Qi Xuansu said calmly: "What is it specifically?"
Song San said: "The abduction and trafficking of girls is nothing more than a few sales channels. Brothels are the top priority, especially a few half-open businesses. I asked the brothers below to inquire about it, and I didn't expect to gain something. , there is a half-open business that received a group of young girls a few days ago.”
Qi Xuansu thought for a moment. He happened to be responsible for monitoring the moral atmosphere. Since he encountered it, there was no reason to ignore it, so he nodded: "The specific location."
Song San had already prepared and handed over a simple map. The specific location had been marked by him, and he said with a hint of confusion: "Master, this family dares to act so boldly because they have a strong background, but I am not good at it." Show up."
Qi Xuansu nodded: "I know. If you mark all the other half-open doors, I will search them all. In this way, they will not be able to guess that anyone has leaked the information."
Song San breathed a sigh of relief and quickly marked the other houses. In fact, the specific location of these "ajar doors" is not a secret. After all, if you want to open the door for business, no one knows how to do business? The key is that the old people in the Imperial Palace were almost wiped out, and the newcomers who were added later would inevitably have a black eye. It was precisely the cooperation of local snakes like Song San that was needed.
After Qi Xuansu looked at the map, he said: "Well done, keep asking. I have reported this case to the second deputy palace master. After the case is solved, I will ask the deputy palace master to give you two a Taoist priest with the same background."
The so-called "born from the same Taoist priest", the highest is the second-grade Taiyi Taoist priest, and the lowest is the ninth-grade Taoist priest. Each one enjoys the treatment of the Taoist priest of the corresponding grade, and because he is "born from the same Taoist priest", he does not have to obey the orders of the Taoist sect in name. Being under the control of a high-quality Taoist priest has only advantages and no disadvantages.
Of course Song San knew the meaning of this. He was no longer flattered, but he was so grateful to Qi Xuansu that he almost knelt down to kowtow to Qi Xuansu.
Qi Xuansu waved his hand to indicate that he did not need to be polite, and took out a secondary card under his token name: "You deserve this. You will leave from the southeast corner door later, where there are few people. You can take this waist badge." , you don’t need to inform me when you come to see me again in the future.”
As the actual leader, Qi Xuansu has great power, far better than the empty leader in the past.
Song San took the sign and left in a hurry.
Qi Xuansu opened the "sound transmission array" on the table again, and Wang Chongnian's voice came from inside: "Chief, please find me."
Qi Xuansu said: "Old Wang, please call the three spiritual officials to come to my place. I have something to arrange."
"Okay, sir." Wang Chongnian said.
Not long after, Wang Chongnian and three spiritual officials came to Qi Xuansu's signing room.
Qi Xuansu did not let the four people sit down, but also stood up and said straight to the point: "The task given to us by Deputy Palace Master Shi is to rectify the atmosphere of the imperial capital and focus on rectifying gray industries such as brothels. We must eat one bite at a time and do things step by step. I decided to start with Beicheng.”
Except for Qin Lingguan, who is a local, the other four people were transferred from outside and have nothing to do with the various monsters and ghosts in the Imperial Capital. However, Qin Lingguan has already led people to follow Ke Qingqing to investigate Mei Mei, so Don't worry about someone tipping you off in advance.
Qi Xuansu took out the simple map: "Specifically, there are four businesses commonly known as half-open doors. We are divided into four groups, Lao Wang all the way, Zeng Lingguan all the way, Gao Lingguan all the way, Zhou Lingguan and I all the way, at the same time, unified Operation, conduct raids on these four so-called half-closed businesses, identify the clients, give them reprimands and punishments, detain a group of people including ordinary maids, turtle slaves, and thugs, make sure to find account books and rosters, and conduct strict searches inside and outside the brothels. There are no dark rooms or dungeons. Check carefully to see if there are any other illegal affairs. Do you understand?"
"Understood." The four of them responded in unison.
Qi Xuansu waved his hand and said: "Act immediately."
About a stick of incense later, more than two hundred Ling officers and soldiers divided into four groups, left the Jade Palace and headed straight for the North City.