Since it was a birthday gift, it should be something that the person liked.

Liang Hongjin didn’t like cosmetics, jewelry, fancy clothes, and silk skirts, which were the things that ordinary young ladies liked. Compared with these, this female general who liked to practice with others in the martial arts field liked all kinds of weapons the most.

As early as half a month ago, Wen Mingtang specifically asked Lin Fei to find the craftsman who made the waist sword to make a dagger.

After a few “swish, swish, swish” moves and some beautiful sword flowers, Liang Hongjin put away the dagger with great satisfaction. “I really like this gift from Xiao Mingtang!” She couldn’t help but look around while speaking.

On the surrounding walls, long swords, short swords, soft swords, hidden swords…all kinds of swords were lined up, and Liang Hongjin’s eyes lit up when seeing them.

“I’ve been in Chang’an for so long, but this is the first time I know there is such a place!” Liang Hongjin couldn’t bear to look away from the wall, and asked Wen Mingtang, “How did you know there was a sword shop hidden deep in this house?”

Wen Mingtang looked at Liang Hongjin and said, “I also heard about it from our Lin Shaoqing. This sword shop never does business with new customers, only with regular customers. It has been open for nearly a hundred years. Because it is hidden in a private residence, it is extremely difficult for outsiders to know about it.”

After hearing what Wen Mingtang said, Liang Hongjin couldn’t help but sigh: “It seems that what is said in the storybook is indeed true! Those hidden shops that never show their faces are most likely to produce good goods, but they are very hard to find!”

Liang Hongjin saw that the swords were as beautiful as beauties. It was a rare occasion to see so many beautiful swords, so she was reluctant to leave. Wen Mingtang simply sat down in the hall and accompanied Liang Hongjin to look at the swords.

Because the business of regular customers was all ordered in advance, sometimes there might not be a single customer in the shop in a day. The owner of the sword shop was not one to care about customers. He served tea to the two and then went to the back to watch the master making swords.

Wen Mingtang held the teacup and sipped it slowly. When the tea was finished, Liang Hongjin had seen enough. She reluctantly withdrew her gaze and said, “I have to save some money to buy a sword next time! Xiao Mingtang, let’s go…”

Before she could finish his words, someone walked in from outside!

They were two burly men, and both of them had full beards. At first glance, it was difficult to tell them apart as only their eyebrows and eyes were visible.

Wen Mingtang only glanced at the two burly men, then quickly lowered her head and turned to Liang Hongjin and said, “Let’s go!”

Liang Hongjin said “Hmm” and walked out with Wen Mingtang. Although she didn’t look at the two burly men for long, one of them looked at Wen Mingtang when she passed by with Liang Hongjin.

Wen Mingtang’s heart skipped a beat, but he didn’t dare to show any strange expression on her face. She just walked out of the door quickly with Liang Hongjin and then said to Liang Hongjin: “I will talk about my promise to accompany you to the Mule and Horse Market to see the Western Region horses another day. I have to go back to the Dali Temple first!”

Liang Hongjin looked at the anxious look on Wen Mingtang’s face and knew it was not the right time, so she did not dare to ask any more questions. She just said, “I will go back with you! There have been many young ladies who have gone missing recently. I am worried about you going back alone!”

Wen Mingtang did not refuse. She glanced at the sword shop not far behind her and said to Liang Hongjin in a low voice, “Hurry up!”

…

…

Just after lunchtime, the officers from the Dali Temple hurried out of the temple and headed straight for the sword shop.

Wen Mingtang, who had returned, told everyone in the hall about her encounter with the two men.

“We were about to leave after viewing the sword when the two men walked in. They both had beards on their faces. Of course, their eyebrows and eyes were different, but how their beards grew made them look like the same person.” Wen Mingtang said, “One of them had a beard and eyebrows that looked exactly like the person in the portrait. I was afraid of being discovered, so I immediately lowered my head and didn’t look at them…”

After hearing what Wen Mingtang said, Bai Zhu nodded and praised: “Master Wen did a good job! If he really is that villain, seeing the portrait posted in the city, he will definitely be wary of others looking at him. If you look at him a few more times, it is very likely to alert him!”

This certainly attracted the approval of everyone.

Seeing everyone’s affirmation, Wen Mingtang frowned and said, “Although I am sure that I didn’t look at him too much, I don’t know why, when Liang Hongjin and I passed by him, that person even looked at me on purpose!”

As soon as these words came out, the voices in the hall suddenly fell silent.

Did he look at Master Wen on purpose? Was she discovered? Someone thought about it and couldn’t help asking Wen Mingtang: “Master Wen, but you actually looked at him, but forgot?”

Wen Mingtang shook her head: “I’m sure I haven’t!”

How could that be…

“There is another possibility!” Lin Fei’s voice came from outside. He walked in and said, “He knows Master Wen!”

How many people in the Dali Temple’s public kitchen could you recognize besides the people in the Dali Temple?

“There are also guests like Yu Jijiu!” Someone said, but couldn’t help frowning, “But we only come into contact with them every day, so we are very familiar with them. They don’t match the portrait!”

Wen Mingtang also added, “I found those eyebrows and eyes unfamiliar; they didn’t seem like someone I know!”

“Either you recognized him, or he recognized you,” Lin Fei paused here, “Either he recognized you because you are Miss Wen, or he recognized you because you are from the Dali Temple!”

For the former, we would have to look into the past of the Wen family to find this bearded man. However, when Wen Mingtang entered the palace, she was still a child, and after leaving the palace, she came directly to the Dali Temple without lingering outside.

Growing from a half-grown child to her present age was a period of the greatest change in a person’s life. So the idea of him being someone from the Wen family’s past was actually not plausible.

In that case, there was only one possibility.

“Generally, those who do this kind of shady work will definitely pay attention to the people in the government office, from officials to runners, chefs in the public kitchen, handymen, etc.” Lin Fei said, “He has either been to the government office and seen you with his own eyes, or he has obtained our portraits.”

If he had come here in person… The people in the Dali Temple usually caught a lot of criminals. The criminals were cunning and used a lot of disguises. The people in the Dali Temple who were used to dealing with these criminals were much better at recognizing people than ordinary people.

But no one had much of an impression of this person. Compared to the possibility of that person visiting the yamen in person, it was more likely that they had obtained their portraits.

“Let’s wait and see what happens with the officers. It would be great if they can catch them!” Lin Fei said, “If they can’t, and the two realize something is wrong and run away, then we can start with the sword shop and ask the people there how those two customers found their way there.”

This was all they could do. Now they had to wait for news from the officers.

An officer thought for a moment and asked Wen Mingtang, “General Liang is very skilled, why didn’t Master Wen leave General Liang there to watch over?”

Wen Mingtang rubbed her nose and said, “I was just about to say this. I smelled blood on them. Although they bought sachets to cover it up, it was still there. I was afraid that they were desperate criminals who had just killed someone, so I didn’t dare to let Hongjin and the entire sword shop take risks!”

Although she didn’t know how good the two men were at martial arts, if Liang Hongjin was sure she could control them, she would not have sent her back at that time given her personality.

It was good to be a hero, but if you didn’t have enough strength and try to be a hero, you would only end up hurting innocent people. In that case, you were not saving people but harming them.

(End of this chapter)

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