The next day, Zhuo Li asked for a meeting early in the morning. He had actually found out a few pieces of information the night before, however, everyone had fallen asleep by then. Thus, he could only wait until morning to file a report.
He told Xiu to let him know once the masters had woken up, before resting.
When Zhuo Li came, Yao Ying told Xiu to call the others over before they listened to the reports together. It didn't need to take long for the others to come because they knew the importance of the situation.
Rong Qiu quickly asked, "What did you find out? Do you know the man's identity?" He anxiously wanted to know the truth because they only had one to two days left to finish their mission.
Zhuo Li explained that he made friends with several servants there and he was able to find out which maidservants served the esteemed guest's courtyard --- no matter what, he was a guest and he couldn't possibly bring his own maidservants as well. One or two maidservants were possible, but they still needed maidservants and servants to take care of the whole courtyard.
No matter what, they must have seen a few hints here and there regardless of how secretive the esteemed guest was. True enough, he was able to find a few things out.
Zhuo Li approached the maidservants one by one, what kind of methods that he used, no one bothered to ask. As long as they got a good result, they didn't care about the process. From each of their mouths, Zhuo Li got different hints. If he only asked one of them, he would get nothing. However, if their statements were combined, he got a few conclusions.
"What kind of conclusions that you got?" Yao Ying asked seriously.
Zhuo Li said, "First of all, this man wasn't a Shu or Han Kingdom's people. A few of the maidservants sometimes saw people with weird clothing came to find the esteemed guest. The maidservants merely thought that it was another tribe's clothing, so they didn't put too many thoughts on it."
Even though the Han Kingdom wasn't as big as the other two kingdoms, the population was made of several hundred tribes and their articles of clothing were different --- each tribe had its own distinct characteristics. There were too many tribes to remember clearly, this was also the reason why the esteemed guest didn't really cover up the clothing of their women.
For the Shu people, it didn't need to be mentioned because their articles of clothing were basically the same all over the kingdom. They always cared about modesty, thus, this possibility could be ruled out.
"Then, how do you know it wasn't from the Han Kingdom?" Xiao Fang asked curiously.
"Their clothing is a mixture of modesty and freedom --- thus, can be said as the characteristics of the Qin Kingdom," Zhuo Li explained and the others murmured their agreement. Zhuo Li asked in details about their clothes, thus, he was able to make an accurate judgment.
The Shu women usually wore loose clothes with long large sleeves. Qin women's clothes had the trend to be more open. Small-sleeves coats usually made of yarn, long skirts, wide and long scarves were what they often wore. They could bare the part of the body above their chests. This sort of cloth could show the beauty of women better.
"And then?" Lin Jian asked.
"Secondly, in the Qin Kingdom, this man had high standing. However, I can't find out his exact identity." Zhuo Li shook his head in defeat while frowning. It was usually very easy for him to find information, but this time... it was really hard to fathom.
Yao Ying nodded his head in acknowledgment. "If you could find out his identity easily, it would be weird. I'm afraid it would be a trap. If you didn't know, it means that you didn't alert him when you were asking around last night."
This result was better because they didn't need to know specifically the man's position --- whether he a prince, high-rank official, and so on... it didn't matter. As long as he wasn't a Han person, nothing else mattered.
Rong Qiu murmured his agreement. "It seems like this man is dangerous. However, he's from another kingdom, so knowing this is already enough. It means the relationship between him and the Han Emperor is for mutual benefits --- not deep enough. It's certainly not based on trust either. This way it will be easier to brew some troubles between them."
Yao Ling nodded. "That's true..." She turned to Zhuo Li and asked, "Anything else to report?"
"The man was angry at the night when the forbidden place was burning, but no maidservant or servant knew why," Zhuo Li explained. "He also killed his subordinate that day, hence the maidservants and servants are scared of him now."
This confirmed their previous suspicion --- the man wanted Aunt Yue for himself too. It was either for personal gain or for the Qin Kingdom. They didn't tell Zhuo Li about Aunt Yue or Yao Ling's matter because they hadn't trusted him enough, thus, it was reasonable for Zhuo Li to not understand why the man was angry.
"Just that?" Rong Qiu asked.
Zhuo Li nodded his head. "Yes, these are the only things that I can find out."
Yao Ying nodded back. "You are doing a good job. Finding these three points are already the best outcomes." Yao Ying quite admired his skills, it really wasn't easy to find so many information in such a short time.
"Thank you, young master." Zhuo Li was happy to be able to prove himself. He understood that they were still wary of him, but it was understandable. He could only prove his worth over time, after all, he tried to kill them at first.
Yao Ling asked Rong Qiu, "Father, can you tell us your plan now?"
"Although Aunt Yue's house had been burned down to the ground, we can still find a few leftovers. We can use this to put the blame on the esteemed guest," Rong Qiu told them his plan briefly. "After that, we should let people gossiping about these findings, so the one who will catch him is Hong Wen."
Hong Wen was from a different fraction, but the man was quite righteous. He wouldn't feel afraid to offend the esteemed guest.
"We should use an important thing that grandmother cherished and it's should be connected to her power too!" Yao Ling pointed out. If it was only a remnant of clothes or something like that, it wouldn't work. The esteemed guest could easily find a reason to dodge the accusing for that.
However, there would be no way Yao Ling would give them the scrolls. It was very important and she didn't want it to fall on the wrong hands. She also got a headache because it was the only thing that her grandmother had given her.
Yao Ying asked, "Father-in-law, is there something important in that leftover?"
Rong Qiu shook his head. "Nothing important..." He realized what Yao Ling said was true and compared to the thing that Yao Ling described, what he had found were only junks.
Everyone said nothing, thinking about what thing could be used to frame the esteemed guest. However, their knowledge of Aunt Yue was pretty limited and they weren't able to help.
Rong Qiu sighed sadly. He had a thing that his mother had given him when he was Uncle Qiu, but he was reluctant to part with it. If he gave them this thing, he would have no remembrance of his mother left... Thus, he felt conflicted.