The man from Southern Xinjiang answered very honestly: "As far as I know, there were only the two of us. We had been in the capital all along. Whenever there was new information, we would send a homing pigeon to deliver a letter back to Southern Xinjiang."
Hearing this, the several Mo brothers also came to understand one thing.
In the past whenever the Mo Family troops went on campaigns, by the time they reached the borders, the other side would already know very clearly which Mo Family general was leading the troops and the size of the forces.
Without a doubt, there were Southern Xinjiang spies in the capital.
The brothers had submitted petitions to Emperor Shunwu on multiple occasions, urging him to pay attention to this matter and send more people to uncover the Southern Xinjiang spies.
At that time, in order to get the Mo Family to protect his regime, Emperor Shunwu still took their words seriously to some extent.
But despite sending many people to investigate, nothing was ever found.
They didn't expect that these two spies from Southern Xinjiang would be caught by chance in the northwest.
Thinking of this, the Mo brothers hated the men before them even more.
However, the brothers all knew that before taking revenge, they still had to get to the bottom of what they wanted to know.
Mo Jiuye continued asking: "Yun Li has been dead for so long. Didn't you notice anything amiss with the homing pigeons?"
What he meant was, with Yun Li having died such a long time ago, it was impossible they hadn't sent any messages back and forth.
And from the looks of this man from Southern Xinjiang, he didn't seem to have noticed anything wrong with that.
"Our mistress often leaves the palace. She has trusted palace maids in the palace. We mostly send letters through them. If the mistress isn't there, the maids will bring the messages directly to the Emperor."
Now the issue made sense. Besides, for the Mo brothers, who was responsible for receiving messages on the Southern Xinjiang side was of no importance anyway.
Mo Jiuye kept pressing: "How does Mr. Si Meng give you orders to do things? Where do you hide out in the capital?"
"We live in Yong'an Alley in the capital. There's a big tree in front of our residence. We put a bird's nest in the tree where Master or Mr. Si Meng would leave us notes whenever they had tasks for us.
As long as we're in the capital, we check it every day to see if there are new assignments."
As native residents of the capital, the Mo brothers were extremely familiar with Yong'an Alley.
It was called Yong'an or "Perpetual Peace" Alley because it was built by Yong'an, the only non-royal Prince in Da Shun’s founding.
Prince Yong'an had no descendants. Before his death, he took all his wealth and transformed the area into countless housing units for homeless commoners to live in.
After hundreds of years of wind and frost, it had become the most chaotic part of the capital.
These two really knew how to hide. With the messiness of Yong'an Alley, no wonder Emperor Shunwu had sent so many people who failed to find them.
Of course, this also had to do with their disguises and intentional concealment.
Mo Jiuye felt he had seen enough to know that given Mr. Si Meng's prudence, even his disciple didn't know his whereabouts, let alone these two men who were temporarily utilized.
But he still had to ask everything clearly.
"Did Mr. Si Meng ever say how you should deliver the pet to him after finding it?"
The man from Southern Xinjiang shook his head. "He didn't say how to deliver it to him. If we find that pet, we must bring it back to the capital to raise temporarily while awaiting his next order."
"He ordered you to do things for him. It's impossible he didn't give you any benefits in return, right?" Mo Jiuye kept pressing.
Hearing his words, the Southern Xinjiang man's gaze inadvertently fell on the slightly bulging spot on Mo Jiuye's chest.
"It's the purse you took. Inside was the method he gave us for quickly raising Gu worms."
When Mo Jiuye had searched the two men earlier, there was indeed an inconspicuous little purse that he had casually squeezed, thinking it contained cash, so he didn't examine it closely.
Now that the man from Southern Xinjiang mentioned that purse, he took it back out from his bosom.
Indeed inside the purse was not money but a piece of paper covered in writing.
Seeing that it did record things related to Gu worms, it meant this man from Southern Xinjiang wasn't lying.
Mo Jiuye pondered briefly, feeling he couldn't think of any other questions.
So he nodded at the elder brothers who were raring for revenge.
The elder brothers immediately understood his meaning.
Although this man from Southern Xinjiang didn't personally persecute the Mo Family men, he did play an instigating role. Therefore, some torture was necessary.
At this point Mo Jiuye had already formed an idea in his mind and had no interest in following the elder brothers to torture this man from Southern Xinjiang.
After signaling to them, he walked out of the cave amidst the screams of the Southern Xinjiang man.
He guessed that it was very likely Mr. Si Meng was hiding in the Da Shun capital, otherwise he wouldn't have thought to send two spies stationed in the capital to the northwest to look for the Golden-winged Sculpture.
If these spies did manage to find the Golden-winged Sculpture, they would certainly bring it back to the capital. Wouldn't it be very convenient then for Mr. Si Meng to retrieve his beloved pet?
The more he pondered, the more plausible it seemed. At the same time, the notion to hurry to the capital and investigate also arose in him.
But this was no trivial matter that required careful planning.
As the screams grew fainter, Mo Jiuye was lost in thought, pondering his plan. Unknowingly, he had arrived at the foot of the mountain.
He Zhiran was worried the two men from Southern Xinjiang were stubborn and the Mo brothers wouldn’t be able to get any useful information out of them. So she had slipped away without notice when her family wasn't paying attention and come here alone.
As a result, she happened to run into Mo Jiuye walking down the mountain, lost in thought.
"Ranran, what are you doing here?"
Seeing his wife, Mo Jiuye rushed over to her at first notice and carefully held onto her.
Seeing his nervous manner, He Zhiran felt a warmth in her heart.
Even in modern times, she really hadn’t seen any husband treat his pregnant wife so carefully and tenderly.
"I'm fine. Don't worry. Besides, you've seen those pregnant village women still working hard with the men!"
"I don't care what others do. When it comes to my wife, I worry for her myself."
Having been doted on like this from the time she became pregnant until now, He Zhiran was already used to it. Her previous words were pointless.
"Did you manage to ask anything useful?" She changed the topic.
Mo Jiuye supported her as they walked, recounting what they had asked.
He Zhiran’s first reaction was the same as Mo Jiuye’s - they both felt Mr. Si Meng was likely in the capital.
At the same time, He Zhiran also guessed Mo Jiuye’s thoughts.
"Are you thinking of going to the capital?"
Mo Jiuye heavily nodded. "I do have this plan."
He Zhiran knew her husband was not the rash type. Since he had made this decision, he must have considered it thoroughly.
Besides, Mr. Si Meng was currently the Mo Family’s biggest enemy. If they could find him earlier, Grandpa and Eldest and Second Brother could also reunite with their families sooner.
The man from Southern Xinjiang answered very honestly: "As far as I know, there were only the two of us. We had been in the capital all along. Whenever there was new information, we would send a homing pigeon to deliver a letter back to Southern Xinjiang."
Hearing this, the several Mo brothers also came to understand one thing.
In the past whenever the Mo Family troops went on campaigns, by the time they reached the borders, the other side would already know very clearly which Mo Family general was leading the troops and the size of the forces.
Without a doubt, there were Southern Xinjiang spies in the capital.
The brothers had submitted petitions to Emperor Shunwu on multiple occasions, urging him to pay attention to this matter and send more people to uncover the Southern Xinjiang spies.
At that time, in order to get the Mo Family to protect his regime, Emperor Shunwu still took their words seriously to some extent.
But despite sending many people to investigate, nothing was ever found.
They didn't expect that these two spies from Southern Xinjiang would be caught by chance in the northwest.
Thinking of this, the Mo brothers hated the men before them even more.
However, the brothers all knew that before taking revenge, they still had to get to the bottom of what they wanted to know.
Mo Jiuye continued asking: "Yun Li has been dead for so long. Didn't you notice anything amiss with the homing pigeons?"
What he meant was, with Yun Li having died such a long time ago, it was impossible they hadn't sent any messages back and forth.
And from the looks of this man from Southern Xinjiang, he didn't seem to have noticed anything wrong with that.
"Our mistress often leaves the palace. She has trusted palace maids in the palace. We mostly send letters through them. If the mistress isn't there, the maids will bring the messages directly to the Emperor."
Now the issue made sense. Besides, for the Mo brothers, who was responsible for receiving messages on the Southern Xinjiang side was of no importance anyway.
Mo Jiuye kept pressing: "How does Mr. Si Meng give you orders to do things? Where do you hide out in the capital?"
"We live in Yong'an Alley in the capital. There's a big tree in front of our residence. We put a bird's nest in the tree where Master or Mr. Si Meng would leave us notes whenever they had tasks for us.
As long as we're in the capital, we check it every day to see if there are new assignments."
As native residents of the capital, the Mo brothers were extremely familiar with Yong'an Alley.
It was called Yong'an or "Perpetual Peace" Alley because it was built by Yong'an, the only non-royal Prince in Da Shun’s founding.
Prince Yong'an had no descendants. Before his death, he took all his wealth and transformed the area into countless housing units for homeless commoners to live in.
After hundreds of years of wind and frost, it had become the most chaotic part of the capital.
These two really knew how to hide. With the messiness of Yong'an Alley, no wonder Emperor Shunwu had sent so many people who failed to find them.
Of course, this also had to do with their disguises and intentional concealment.
Mo Jiuye felt he had seen enough to know that given Mr. Si Meng's prudence, even his disciple didn't know his whereabouts, let alone these two men who were temporarily utilized.
But he still had to ask everything clearly.
"Did Mr. Si Meng ever say how you should deliver the pet to him after finding it?"
The man from Southern Xinjiang shook his head. "He didn't say how to deliver it to him. If we find that pet, we must bring it back to the capital to raise temporarily while awaiting his next order."
"He ordered you to do things for him. It's impossible he didn't give you any benefits in return, right?" Mo Jiuye kept pressing.
Hearing his words, the Southern Xinjiang man's gaze inadvertently fell on the slightly bulging spot on Mo Jiuye's chest.
"It's the purse you took. Inside was the method he gave us for quickly raising Gu worms."
When Mo Jiuye had searched the two men earlier, there was indeed an inconspicuous little purse that he had casually squeezed, thinking it contained cash, so he didn't examine it closely.
Now that the man from Southern Xinjiang mentioned that purse, he took it back out from his bosom.
Indeed inside the purse was not money but a piece of paper covered in writing.
Seeing that it did record things related to Gu worms, it meant this man from Southern Xinjiang wasn't lying.
Mo Jiuye pondered briefly, feeling he couldn't think of any other questions.
So he nodded at the elder brothers who were raring for revenge.
The elder brothers immediately understood his meaning.
Although this man from Southern Xinjiang didn't personally persecute the Mo Family men, he did play an instigating role. Therefore, some torture was necessary.
At this point Mo Jiuye had already formed an idea in his mind and had no interest in following the elder brothers to torture this man from Southern Xinjiang.
After signaling to them, he walked out of the cave amidst the screams of the Southern Xinjiang man.
He guessed that it was very likely Mr. Si Meng was hiding in the Da Shun capital, otherwise he wouldn't have thought to send two spies stationed in the capital to the northwest to look for the Golden-winged Sculpture.
If these spies did manage to find the Golden-winged Sculpture, they would certainly bring it back to the capital. Wouldn't it be very convenient then for Mr. Si Meng to retrieve his beloved pet?
The more he pondered, the more plausible it seemed. At the same time, the notion to hurry to the capital and investigate also arose in him.
But this was no trivial matter that required careful planning.
As the screams grew fainter, Mo Jiuye was lost in thought, pondering his plan. Unknowingly, he had arrived at the foot of the mountain.
He Zhiran was worried the two men from Southern Xinjiang were stubborn and the Mo brothers wouldn’t be able to get any useful information out of them. So she had slipped away without notice when her family wasn't paying attention and come here alone.
As a result, she happened to run into Mo Jiuye walking down the mountain, lost in thought.
"Ranran, what are you doing here?"
Seeing his wife, Mo Jiuye rushed over to her at first notice and carefully held onto her.
Seeing his nervous manner, He Zhiran felt a warmth in her heart.
Even in modern times, she really hadn’t seen any husband treat his pregnant wife so carefully and tenderly.
"I'm fine. Don't worry. Besides, you've seen those pregnant village women still working hard with the men!"
"I don't care what others do. When it comes to my wife, I worry for her myself."
Having been doted on like this from the time she became pregnant until now, He Zhiran was already used to it. Her previous words were pointless.
"Did you manage to ask anything useful?" She changed the topic.
Mo Jiuye supported her as they walked, recounting what they had asked.
He Zhiran’s first reaction was the same as Mo Jiuye’s - they both felt Mr. Si Meng was likely in the capital.
At the same time, He Zhiran also guessed Mo Jiuye’s thoughts.
"Are you thinking of going to the capital?"
Mo Jiuye heavily nodded. "I do have this plan."
He Zhiran knew her husband was not the rash type. Since he had made this decision, he must have considered it thoroughly.
Besides, Mr. Si Meng was currently the Mo Family’s biggest enemy. If they could find him earlier, Grandpa and Eldest and Second Brother could also reunite with their families sooner.
