Zhang San, please behave yourself!
Chapter 52 - 52 52 Little Thing

52: Chapter 52: Little Thing 52: Chapter 52: Little Thing “Did you find anything?”

Pang Gezhuang walked into the courtyard furiously, and the disciples of the Dragon Serpent Gang who had come in to search were all shaking their heads.

Zhang San and his companions also entered and, seeing these disciples hanging their heads in dejection, looking like deflated eggplants, knew that the person had escaped and no valuable clues had been discovered.

Deputy Gang Master Lv Dagen, realizing that the place had long been deserted, thudded down on his knees in front of Gang Master Pang Gezhuang once more, weeping bitterly.

“Gang Master, I really didn’t expect her to be a female thief!

She was so fragile, so pitiful, so delicate…”

Slap—

Pang Gezhuang raised his hand and slapped Lv Dagen, knocking out one of his front teeth.

“With so many female disciples in the Dragon Serpent Gang, why would you seek outsiders?”

Zhang San had previously felt that something was amiss with these female disciples of the Dragon Serpent Gang.

He later discovered that, within the whole Dragon Serpent Gang, those patrolling and guarding, now following them on the chase, were all male disciples.

The ones dancing and serving drinks yesterday were all female disciples.

Clearly, the Dragon Serpent Gang was a sect where male disciples formed the combat core, with female disciples engaged in special types of combat.

While Zhang San felt disgusted, he noticed that Lv Dagen, who had been slapped down, struggled back to his feet, holding his face and continuing to sob.

“Gang Master, this time it was true love!

Really, for such a long time, I didn’t even dare to touch her hand for fear she would be unhappy.”

The surrounding crowd, who were originally enjoying the spectacle, were all stunned.

Even Pang Gezhuang was stunned too.

Over the years, how many female disciples Lv Dagen had toyed with, overtly and covertly, he might not even remember himself, but Gang Master Pang Gezhuang had records of it all behind the scenes.

“You…

you…

you’re actually such a lapdog?”

Wiping his tears, Lv Dagen said, “Gang Master, you don’t understand what it feels like to be struck in the heart.”

“She’s the love of my life!

I wasn’t with her expecting anything to happen, just to be able to see her every day, to be with her, even just watching her from afar, that alone fulfilled me.”

Zhang San inhaled sharply.

What kind of woman was this?

Had a Fox Demon transformed?

Zhang San sighed helplessly, turned around, and walked into the room to look for clues.

Others had only come in, seen no one, casually searched around, then left.

But Zhang San was different.

The Name Punishment Technique was not merely simple interrogation.

It also had some clever applications in criminal investigation.

Zhang San glanced at the somewhat disarrayed room, frowned slightly, and silently performed the technique.

Guan·Dongruo guan huo (Observation·As if seeing fire).

At that moment, Zhang San’s eyes revealed a thermal imaging view.

The technique allowed him to see all areas with heat.

Even some traces of Qi.

Martial Artists cultivate with their bodies filled with their own Qi.

Although everyone tries hard to absorb spiritual energy from heaven and earth into their body to become their own Qi, even if not used, Qi will maintain the vital signs of the body and will slowly be consumed.

This consumed Qi would leave behind a faint heat in the air.

Though this heat is faint, due to the special nature of Qi, it does not dissipate quickly.

Because it’s too weak, it is difficult for ordinary Martial Artists to notice.

But Zhang San could detect the heat of the Qi in the air and realized that this woman had mostly been lying on the bed, not staying much in other parts of the room.

It seemed that this place was really just a residence.

Suddenly, Zhang San noticed that over the teacup on the desk, the heat was abundant, making it stand out like a bright lamp amidst the grey in his vision.

Zhang San approached and touched it, finding the teacup still warm.

“The teacup is still warm, she couldn’t have gone far.”

Hearing Zhang San’s words, many people rushed in and also felt the teacup.

“It really is warm.”

“It might have been last night that she made her move, and after coming back today, she packed up and left!”

“Then let’s spread out the net to search.

We’re not worried about not finding her!”

“Are you stupid!?

A thief, how can she possibly run slower than us?

Knowing the direction is one thing.

But how can we find her if we don’t even know where she went?”

At that moment, Zhang San noticed a piece of paper pressed under the coaster beneath the teacup.

Worried the note might be problematic, he cautioned, “There’s also a note left here.”

Kong Wenzai immediately snatched it up.

“I can read.

I’ll look at it.”

“Deputy Gang Master Lv, thank you for your care during this time.

Sorry I peeked at your ‘little thing’ that night.

Hehe.”

Initially, upon hearing that there was a note left, Lv Dagen frantically tried to rush in to see what his beloved woman had left for him.

However, after hearing the words Kong Wenzai read out, Lv Dagen collapsed to the floor, completely despondent.

Seeing that the note didn’t contain any valuable intelligence, Kong Wenzai casually tossed it onto the floor.

Although his pride was seriously trampled, Lv Dagen still picked up the note, holding it in his palm as if it were a treasure.

This was a note specifically written for me.

The leaders of various forces looked at each other.

“Could it be the people from Martial Marquis Manor, so she’s escaping westward now?”

“What if it’s Thousand Mechanisms Pavilion?

They are so wealthy, it might be someone they hired, so she should be in the south.”

“Town Martial Office might not be out of the question, so I think she might be in the north, since the closest Town Martial Office station on Chuan-Yu Road is to the north of here.”

At this moment, Zhang San followed the faint thermal traces around the teacup and stepped out of the room, going out into the courtyard.

He glanced in the direction of the fading heat and asked, “Which direction is that?”

“East.

What about it?” Pang Gezhuang asked curiously.

And in the next moment, everyone realized that it might be in the east.

Zhang San walked up to Lv Dagen and extended his hand.

“Deputy Gang Master Lv, may I borrow the note?”

Lv Dagen timidly looked at Zhang San, “Return it to me afterward.”

“Sure.”

Although bootlickers meet bad ends, seeing how Lv Dagen was almost delirious, Zhang San couldn’t bear to twist the knife further.

In contrast, Kong Wenzai let out a cold laugh, striking deep as he said, “That female thief is just using you, and you’re still holding onto that note, unbelievable!”

“What do you know?

She called me ‘little thing’!

‘Little thing’ is a term of endearment!

Do you understand what love is?”

Zhang San smiled bitterly as he took the note, really not wanting to tell Lv Dagen what ‘little thing’ actually referred to.

Zhang San handed the note to Pang Gezhuang.

“Gang Master, does the Dragon Serpent Gang have any hounds, or other means that can track by scent?”

“Yes!

Some of our Spirit Snakes can track by smell.”

Everyone immediately swung into action, quickly pursuing towards the east.

Zhang San didn’t hurry to leave, instead he picked up the teacup, pouring out the tea inside.

The tea not only contained tea leaves but also milk, and even hints of Sichuan pepper and salt.

It was outrageous.[Note 20]

After pouring it out, Zhang San noticed a faintly shimmering small formation under the teacup, and he turned to ask Senior Xu beside him, “Senior Xu, do you recognize this?”

“A heating talisman, a very simple talisman technique.

A bit of Qi can activate it, and when the Qi inside is exhausted, it will stop heating.

What about it?”

Zhang San smiled, looking at the teacup in his hand, curiously saying, “I don’t understand.

A female thief planning to escape, why would she heat her own teacup, making us think we could catch up to her quickly?

What, exactly, is she thinking?”

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[Note 20]Setting Explanation

Since the worldview of this book draws references from the Sui and Tang dynasties, the setting concerning tea also refers to that period.

Back then, tea wasn’t made by the modern method of steeping roasted tea leaves in water following various intricate processes and then serving it in a cup.

In that era, tea was cooked with ingredients like scallions, ginger, Sichuan pepper, jujube, cinnamon, and other things, along with water.

There was also a method of making tea by boiling it with milk.

One of my girlfriends, who is from the northwest, once made such milk tea in her dorm and brought it to me.

Thinking of how multi-talented and capable she was to make her own milk tea, I eagerly took a sip when thirsty, only to find it incredibly salty.

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