Left the City?
When the sun rose the next morning, Zheng Guo sent out his servants into the city. He informed them not to ask questions, but instead to go to all taverns and inns. He gave them a gold piece each to enjoy themselves. The only thing that he asked was for them to report to the estate guard any gossip they heard from the previous night. He was intentionally vague. If he were to tell them what to look out for, they would only bring him farfetched tales to his liking, instead of the full truth.
He waited until the sun set once more, when the servants came back from their small spending spree. An hour later, the captain of his guard came in with a storage ring and set it on the table with a bow. The city lord took the ring and nodded for the man to take his leave. When he was alone again, he emptied the contents of the ring onto the desk. Upon it sat twenty memory stones of low quality. In the city, one would only cost around five silver. He had ensured that the servants knew to buy one each before taking off into the city.
Selecting one at random, he put it to his forehead and inserted a wisp of qi into it. When he looked inside, he saw the memories of the servant. This one had opted to go out and get a few outfits. He had seen her around a few times, but in every event, she had always been wearing servant's dress. The quality of those garments were of average quality, not good enough to be comely, yet not bad enough to make them seem like rags. The dress shop she had gone to seemed to be brimming with customers. It was loud and hard to place any one voice. Everyone called for a helper, or was asking to pay so they could leave, but he zeroed in on a few customers in the back of the shop who were still browsing and decided to listen in.
"I can't believe he would just leave without even a word." One woman said in a hushed tone. "I thought he would take the city for sure, but not if he's going to be lazy about it."
"I hear he even took his son in the dead of night." Her friend said while feeling a satiny red dress. "Maybe the pressure finally got to him?"
"I guess that's what happens when one takes on Zheng Guo." The other one chuckled slightly. They both continued whispering until they noticed his servant coming towards the dress. When she approached, the other two left to check on different dresses.
Zheng Guo put the memory stone into his storage ring and picked up another. This one was of a man who usually helped prepare meals for his estate. With the smell of foul beer and body odor, it was clear that this man brought his gold to a tavern. To his luck, their seemed to be a pretty rowdy crowd.
"Did you hear that Wei Rong turned tails and ran with his son last night?" One burly man said and his laughter boomed through the tavern. "I guess even a man who stands in the heavens can fall if the right pressure is put on him!" He slammed his mug onto the counter, sending his frothy drink onto anyone unlucky enough to be near him, including the cook's assistant.
"Could I get just get one beer?" A man called out to the tavern owner. "I can pay you handsomely! I swear! I'm so near to a breakthrough on a new pill that will put all others to shame!"
The man within the memory grabbed the sleeve of the tavern owner and pleaded with him. Yet the other man just looked at him with disgust. "You are a disgrace, Yeng Feng. For what you did, even if you created a pill that would make me eternally youthful, you wouldn't earn even a sip of my beer!"
Zheng Guo rolled his eyes as he put the stone within his ring and went to the next. As he made his way through the stones, one thing was abundantly clear. No one knew how or why Wei Rong had disappeared with his son. At one moment they were there, and the next, they were gone. The man hadn't given even a slight indication of travel for the next few months. Even some of Wei Rong's servants were at the taverns and inns, enjoying their time off while the master was away, but none of them knew why.
Zheng Guo was taken aback by the whole situation. He couldn't believe that someone could be erased so cleanly in one night. Even if he were to send Ren Cai to run an errand like this, it would take her months of getting to know the layout of the building, building trust within the estate and getting close to the estate lord. Right now, it would be simple for her, being an eleven year old genius to be taken in by a prominent family, yet she would never yield such results within a mere night!
The city lord put the rest of the memory stones within his ring and got up from his desk. Though it pained him to admit it, if he didn't accept this snake of a boy's help, he would most likely end up in a ring himself. He was completely lost in his thoughts as he left his room. The guard at the door followed behind him as he made his way to the stairs leading to the dungeon.
His mind was in turmoil as he descended the stairway. When he had first seen the bodies, he had thought that the city would be in an uproar over an assassination. He thought there would be signs of struggle, or even some form of commotion over at the estate after the fact, but instead they believe he just left the city?
"I see that the city has taken to talking of your competition leaving town for a while?" A childish voice chuckled, startling the city lord. He hadn't even realized that he had already arrived at Hong Zhao's cell. "It was nice of him to depart without challenging you for the city lord position, don't you think?
Zheng Guo's eyes narrowed as raised them to meet the boy's within the cell. "Just what the hell do you want??