After breakfast, they returned to the yamen. The portraits had basically been completed. It was unclear whether Lord Bao had drawn them himself or had found a skilled artist, but the likenesses, based on Zhao Pu and Bai Yutang’s descriptions, were quite decent.

“Hmm…” Zhao Pu looked at Su Tulu’s portrait and examined it. “It’s quite similar, but the eyes should be fiercer.”

Bai Yutang looked at Yang Caisheng’s portrait. “It’s alright, but the eyes don’t seem that fierce.”

Gongsun glanced at the two of them. “Actually, these are portraits of the same person in different hairstyles and outfits. But listening to you two, it sounds like one looks fierce, and the other looks gentle?”

“Hmm…” Bai Yutang and Zhao Pu studied the portraits together—after all, they were just speculations, and they weren’t sure if they were completely accurate.

Gongsun helped modify the portraits according to their suggestions. Once the adjustments were made and placed side by side…

Both Bai Yutang and Zhao Pu agreed that they closely resembled the person they had in mind. However, no matter how they looked at them, the two portraits didn’t seem to be of the same person.

Zhan Zhao, carrying Xiao Sizi, was watching the excitement from behind. Once the portraits were finished, Xiao Sizi took one of them, examined it carefully, and suddenly said, “I’ve seen this person before.”

Everyone was stunned and gathered around, realizing that Xiao Sizi was referring to Su Tulu’s portrait.

Because Xiao Sizi’s perspective was different from everyone else’s, it was possible that he had noticed someone others hadn’t. Since he usually walked among the adults, he tended to look at different angles—sometimes upwards when being carried, or in various directions. Given Su Tulu’s distinctive features, it wasn’t surprising that if Xiao Sizi had seen him, he would remember.

“Where did you see him?” Zhan Zhao quickly asked.

“Hmm…” Xiao Sizi tilted his head, thinking for a while. “It was at some… Flower House.”

“Flower House?” Everyone was puzzled.

Bao Zheng called over an experienced constable. Upon hearing this, the constable asked, “Flower House… Do you mean the ‘Wan Hua Lou’?”

Xiao Sizi scratched his head. “Was there a ‘Wan’ character in the name…?”

“Wan Hua Lou…” Everyone looked up in unison. The name was quite typical—just from hearing it, they could guess what kind of place it was.

“A brothel?” Zhao Pu asked curiously.

The old constable nodded. “The only one in Dao Fu Town.”

At this, everyone turned to look at Xiao Sizi, wondering how he had seen Su Tulu in a brothel. Could it be…?

Realizing this possibility, they all turned to look at Gongsun with complicated expressions.

Gongsun was startled. Seeing everyone staring at him in that way, he became flustered. “I’ve never been there!”

Zhao Pu raised an eyebrow. “It’s nothing to be ashamed of. You’re a man, after all… Ouch!”

Before he could finish speaking, Gongsun had stomped on his foot several times and then started chasing him to hit him.

Everyone exchanged glances—of all people, the only one who had managed to beat up Zhao Pu was Gongsun!

Zhao Pu didn’t fight back, or perhaps it never even crossed his mind to retaliate. Instead, he dodged while teasing Gongsun. “By the way, what does the mother of your child look like? Let’s see if you have good taste… Ow!”

Gongsun hit him so hard that his hands hurt, so he pulled out a needle and jabbed Zhao Pu.

“Whoa…” Zhao Pu rubbed his shoulder. “Are you crazy? Does that needle have poison in it?”

“Yes! Poison to kill you,” Gongsun said, raising his foot to kick him, but before he could, Xiao Sizi grabbed his collar. “Daddy, that’s not nice!”

Being pulled back by Xiao Sizi, Gongsun calmed down a bit. Only then did the others realize that he actually had quite a temper and could easily lose control. But every time, Xiao Sizi managed to stop him.

Zhao Pu grabbed Ouyang Shaozheng as a human shield, just in case Gongsun got mad again and started throwing needles.

“Xiao Sizi,” Zhan Zhao asked curiously, “where exactly did you see that person in Wan Hua Lou?”

“He was at a second-floor window. Yesterday, when Daddy and I walked past, I happened to look up and saw him. He seemed to be looking at us too. But when he saw me, he turned away quickly. He looked a bit suspicious, so I took a closer look.” Xiao Sizi pinched his fingers together and tilted his head—was it really Wan Hua Lou? Was the character ‘Wan’ written like that? He knew the ‘Wan’ character, but it didn’t seem to match.

But at this moment, no one was paying attention to Xiao Sizi’s doubts. Instead, they huddled together, realizing that if Su Tulu was hiding in Wan Hua Lou, it was indeed a good choice. Now, who should go find him? They couldn’t just storm in with constables—that would alert him. They had to go undercover as customers…

The group exchanged glances before turning to look at Grand Preceptor Pang—after all, he was the most unreliable one among them.

Grand Preceptor Pang was so angry that his nose nearly twisted out of shape. He stomped his foot and yelled, “Are you crazy?! At my age? If people find out, they’ll laugh at me! Besides, my standards are very high!”

Bao Zheng twitched his lips. “I should frame that quote.”

Pang Ji glared at him.

Ouyang Shaozheng raised his hand. “I’ll go!”

Seeing how eager he was, Zhao Pu rubbed his forehead.

“Let’s add a few more people. One person visiting a brothel alone looks suspicious,” Ouyang Shaozheng suggested.

“I’ll go!” Ziying volunteered happily, but Zheying pulled his collar. “You’re too young! No way!”

Ziying was quite dissatisfied.

At this moment, Xiao Sizi also raised his hand. “I’ll go too…” Before he could finish, Gongsun started smacking his bottom.

Everyone exchanged glances before looking at Zhao Pu, Zhan Zhao, and Bai Yutang.

Zhao Pu crossed his arms. “I know Su Tulu, so I’ll go with them.”

Thus, Ouyang Shaozheng and Zhao Pu were confirmed. Bao Zheng then turned to Zhan Zhao.

Zhan Zhao raised his hand, but instead of saying “I’ll go,” he pointed at Bai Yutang. “He’ll go!”

Bai Yutang looked at Zhan Zhao. “Why me?”

Zhan Zhao blinked, his expression one of mischievous glee, and confidently said, “To attract attention!”

Bai Yutang didn’t understand. “What do you mean?”

Zhan Zhao smiled mysteriously. “You’ll see soon enough!”

With that, he clapped his hands. “That’s settled! You three will go!”

Bai Yutang squinted at him. “Why aren’t you going?”

Being questioned, Zhan Zhao looked a bit awkward. “Well… we have enough people!”

“Not enough,” Zhao Pu grinned. “Four people is just right. It’s decided!”

Everyone turned to Zhan Zhao again. His expression now looked like he had “shot himself in the foot.” He scratched his head and muttered to himself, “Miscalculated.”

“Miscalculated what?”

Zhan Zhao looked up to see Bai Yutang had suddenly moved closer.

“Nothing.” Zhan Zhao puffed out his chest and patted it—perhaps too hard, as he coughed a little before declaring, “I’m not afraid!” Then, he strode off.

“Where are you going?” Bai Yutang asked curiously.

“To the brothel!” Zhan Zhao squinted at him. “Afraid to go?”

Bai Yutang found this amusing and stared at him for a moment before replying, “Brothels don’t open during the day.”

…

Zhan Zhao looked awkward, rubbed his nose, and mumbled, “Then I’ll go help put up wanted posters.” With that, he jogged away.

Bao Zheng stroked his beard and chuckled, shaking his head. He turned to Bai Yutang and said, “Zhan Hu Wei is actually quite shy. I once sent him on patrol to a few entertainment districts in Kaifeng, and I heard it was quite embarrassing.”

Bai Yutang raised an eyebrow, intrigued. “How embarrassing?”

Bao Zheng gave him a mischievous grin, revealing his white teeth. “You’ll see soon enough. It’s quite amusing.” Then he walked away, smirking.