Chapter 70: Ten-Mile Alley

"Hmm! How fresh?" Master Gu asked casually, pulling a snow-white silk handkerchief from his waist to carefully wipe his fingers.

"The absolute freshest kind, even their flower buds haven't fully grown yet!"

"Oh!"

Master Gu's interest was piqued, but he immediately shook his head again: "No can do. The wind is blowing too fiercely right now. That bunch at the North City Garrison are acting like they've been fed aphrodisiacs, raiding several theater troupes already. We won't be able to smuggle anyone out!"

Ever since the Qixi Festival, the four gates of the capital had been heavily guarded, with exceptionally strict inspections on incoming and outgoing theater troupes. No makeup was allowed, no theatrical costumes were permitted, and troupes with delicate-looking young actors were even subjected to gender checks. This had drawn widespread complaints and severely impacted their human-trafficking trade.

Seeing Master Gu shake his head, the burly man in black grew anxious. His luck had been poor lately, and he was counting on the silver to pay off his gambling debts!

He rolled his eyes, lowered his voice, and said, "Master Gu, those noble patrons love young girls the most. We can just send them directly to those places. That way, we don't have to leave the city, and no one else can take a cut..."

Master Gu glared at him: "The underworld has its rules. Take only what you're supposed to take, and be careful you don't get your hands chopped off if you take what isn't yours!"

Being in the illicit fresh-goods trade, they were not supposed to have direct contact with the clients.

The burly man's face instantly fell. He was deeply unwilling to watch the silver slip away right before his eyes.

Yet, he dared not say much in Master Gu's presence, so he lingered hesitantly, reluctant to leave.

Master Gu didn't chase him away either. He flicked his robe, sat down nearby, and twirled the thumb ring on his hand, saying, "Man Biao! You've been with me for three years. Today, I'm in a good mood, so let me give you a few words of advice.

"If you still want to make a living in this trade, you'd better behave yourself.

"The commander of the North City Garrison is a reckless upstart. He even had the audacity to charge into the Langya Terrace. If you fall into his hands, you probably won't live past six hours."

Man Biao narrowed his eyes into slits and said with displeasure, "Jin Buer has a humble background with no one in the imperial court speaking up for him. If we find a way to drag him down from his post, there will naturally be people to deal with him."

Skinny Three-Monkey had a quick wit. Seeing that Master Gu had rarely mentioned the Langya Terrace, he hurried over to pick up the teapot and pour tea.

Master Gu glanced at him and said coldly, "Get lost. There's nothing for you here."

Knowing that Master Gu and Man Biao had business to discuss, Skinny Three-Monkey could only leave crestfallen and wait obediently in the front courtyard.

This courtyard looked utterly ordinary, but it was a place where hidden dragons and crouching tigers resided.

Virtually all the undocumented drifters of the North City gathered in this area, known as Ten-Mile Lane. It wasn't an actual measurement; given the winding, twisting alleys of all sizes, no one truly knew how many there were.

The name simply spoke to the length of the alleys, crisscrossing in chaotic disarray.

The population residing within the alleys was immeasurable, estimated to be around ten thousand, a mingling pit of scoundrels and villains with countless gangs and factions.

Master Gu was one of the most powerful among them, rumored to be the illegitimate son of some prince.

He fancied himself a member of the imperial lineage. Even residing in a humble alley, he maintained an air of noble arrogance, and most of his associates were imperial relatives and high-ranking aristocrats.

Though he looked like a respectable gentleman on the surface, behind closed doors he engaged in the human-trafficking trade, and the brawling men drinking and gambling throughout the courtyard all answered to his command.

A small fry like Skinny Three-Monkey didn't even possess the qualifications to speak to Master Gu.

This wait lasted a full hour for Skinny Three-Monkey. By the time the wine and food in the courtyard were gone, the drunken men were sprawled out sleeping in every direction.

When Man Biao finally emerged, Skinny Three-Monkey was already straining his eyes in anticipation: "Brother Biao, what did Master Gu say? Are we doing this business or not? Give your brother a straight answer."

Man Biao narrowed his eyes: "Master Gu said we can't make a move for now. Who told those idiots to snatch a few official daughters last time, stirring up the Emperor and keeping things unsettled to this day."

During the last Qixi Festival, a few money-grubbing fools had lost their minds and actually waylaid people on the roadside.

As ill luck would have it, they ran into Grand Secretary Mei's granddaughter, who had sneaked out of her estate and felt utterly fearless, relying on her martial-arts-trained maidservant.

The two sides clashed, tempers flared, and a fierce abduction attempt ensued.

The maidservant was wounded and managed to escape, while Grand Secretary Mei's granddaughter was dragged off to a dark cell.

Although the victims were hurriedly released later after Jin Zhan caused a scene at the Langya Terrace, it had already blown into a major scandal.

Ordinary families viewed such matters with dread, terrified of a public uproar, and would go to great lengths to conceal the news.

Even if an incident occurred, they would invent an excuse for their daughter—attributing her disappearance to illness or taking vows at a temple—simply swallowing their misfortune and never speaking of it again.

How could Grand Secretary Mei's granddaughter endure such humiliation? Under the strict surveillance of the Mei household, she swallowed gold and ended her own life, wailing in agony for three days before she died.

Heartbroken and shattered, Grand Secretary Mei cast aside all regard for his prestige. Bare-chested, he marched into the Golden Luan Hall and, right before Emperor Rong's eyes, threatened to dash his brains out against the dragon pillar.

Thanks to the prompt intervention of the imperial guards, he was saved, though his forehead was split wide open with blood gushing across the floor.

Unable to die, Grand Secretary Mei pointed angrily at several marquises and earls in the hall: "You merely spawned good daughters, married them into the imperial family, and thus indulged your families in unbridled lawlessness!

"Who in the entire capital doesn't know that your children and grandchildren operate theaters and taverns, indulging in prostitution and debauchery for amusement? Those theater troupes are dens of iniquity and nests of thieves—and you are their accomplices!"

While in office, he had never paid much attention to theaters; after his retirement, he ignored worldly affairs entirely. But when disaster struck his granddaughter, his frantic search led him to countless clues pointing directly to high-ranking aristocrats, making him suddenly realize that the capital had long since become a cesspool of filth.

Berated so fiercely, those marquises and earls flushed crimson with shame. Being imperial relatives, they had never suffered such public humiliation in their lives.

Yet, Grand Secretary Mei acted like a raving madman, creating a massive uproar in the imperial court that even the palace guards could not restrain. Had they opened their mouths to refute him, they would have essentially confessed to their crimes, leaving them with no choice but to swallow their pride and feign deafness and dumbness.

With his face stained with blood, Grand Secretary Mei swept his finger toward the other officials in the hall: "And you, and you... Each of you puts on airs of literary integrity, yet you are all wolves in sheep's clothing!

"In the past, you frequented the official pleasure quarters; now you scurry off to theater houses. Each and every one of you is addicted to female beauty, playing nothing more than deceitful games of deception!"

Words alone were not proof, especially under the watchful eyes of the multitude and right before the Emperor's very eyes; such accusations were something they would deny to the death.

Though the officials he pointed at turned red with fury, they burned with suppressed rage, hastily declaring that they merely enjoyed listening to a few tunes and drinking meager cups of wine, bearing no relation to an addiction to female beauty.

Emperor Rong, seated upon the dragon throne, also turned a dark, purplish red, for he was once again preparing to select maidens to fill his inner palace.

Although he was not singled out by the blood-soaked Grand Secretary Mei, he felt just as uneasy as needles were pricking his seat.

Truth be told, when it came to a fondness for female beauty, the lower ranks merely followed the upper echelons—he was the ultimate culprit.

With the unyielding and fearless Grand Secretary Mei making such a scene, Emperor Rong was forced to shelve his plans for selecting imperial concubines.

The joint defense patrols across the capital's four quarters initiated comprehensive law enforcement. Those who were usually arrogant kept a low profile, and even the stray dogs in the streets tucked their tails between their legs.

For a time, public security in the capital reached unprecedented heights of excellence!

There are no impenetrable secrets in the imperial court, and the reasons behind the strict crackdown soon became common knowledge.

Under this immense pressure, entertainment quarters and theater houses walked on eggshells every day, and the dark cells dared not operate. Naturally, underworld figures like Master Gu, who specialized in hunting down beauties, had to suspend their business.

Master Gu's desire to lay low and avoid the storm didn't mean others shared his sentiment; they were still waiting for silver to spend.

For Skinny Three-Monkey and Man Biao to attempt a move at this juncture was undoubtedly pulling chestnuts from the fire.

A fierce glint erupted within Man Biao's narrow eyes.

Fortune favors the bold; cowardice starves. If official daughters were off-limits, what was stopping them from preying on the daughters of undocumented drifters and commoners?

They had always operated this way in the past. When commoners reported missing persons to the magistrate, it was merely logged as a missing persons case.

The best outcome was establishing connections within the underworld and offering silver to ransom the person back.

The worst outcome, naturally, was finding an intact corpse in the mass graves a few months later.

As for undocumented women, they didn't even count as missing persons; their existence was frequently untraceable.

As long as they were cautious and delivered the captives directly to the clients' hands, no one would ever find out.

Seeing Man Biao agree to make a move, Skinny Three-Monkey was overjoyed. He immediately proposed enlisting a few more accomplices, promising to split the spoils evenly among them all.