Xiao Feng stood at the gate of the Ministry of Industry, and the gatekeeper immediately ran in to report.
Zhao Wenhua jumped up: "What? What? He called me by name and said he wanted to find me? Tell him I'm not here!"
The gatekeeper said with a grimace: "I came here to take a look, sir. You might not be here. Mr. Xiao said that he is an imperial envoy with orders to investigate the case. If he walks in and finds you lying, he will tell you that you resisted the order."
Zhao Wenhua was shocked. Such big dunks have always been his specialty. He didn't expect that Xiao Feng's dunks were no worse than his own!
After a while, Zhao Wenhua came out with a smile on his face, and he and Xiao Feng bowed to each other. They were so intimate that they almost hugged each other and kissed each other.
"How come Mr. Xiao has time to visit the Ministry of Works? I've been very busy these past two days. I sent a special person to the construction site to keep an eye on your view of the world!"
"Thank you for your hard work, Mr. Zhao. I have wanted to come and see you for a long time, but I have never been able to get around to it. This is not why I came to see Mr. Zhao because Wanzai asked me to take over the case of the female body in the dry well in Shuntian Mansion."
Zhao Wenhua blinked his eyes and felt that Yan Shifan was really powerful, and Xiao Feng was really powerful, both of them could think of this step.
"The Gujing female corpse case? I have heard of it, but it has nothing to do with the Ministry of Industry, right? Is there anything you can do to help Mr. Xiao?"
Xiao Feng patted Zhao Wenhua's shoulder affectionately and deliberately lowered his voice to speak.
"Master Zhao, please take me to the Craftsman Hall. I want to find someone to talk to."
The Ming Dynasty did not have a special manufacturing office for manufacturing items for the royal family. This was only set up later in the Qing Dynasty.
Skilled craftsmen in the Ming Dynasty were basically under the Ministry of Works. There were internal classifications, but there was no clear official establishment.
Qiaojiangtang is an internal term. In addition to being responsible for large-scale projects, the Ministry of Engineering also conducts research on some exquisite objects, so there are many skilled craftsmen.
In addition to making some exquisite gadgets for the palace, the Craftsman Hall is also mainly responsible for providing talent reserves for the Shenji Battalion under the Ministry of War.
Firearms and warships require many fine parts, so the people in the Craftsman Hall can play a big role.
Xiao Feng knew that if he wanted to realize many ideas, he would definitely use Qiaojiangtang. However, Zhao Wenhua has always controlled the Ministry of Works, and Yan Shifan will take over to control the Ministry of Works later. This is indeed a problem for him.
Zhao Wenhua blinked, thinking about Yan Shifan's instructions to him in his mind, and continued to smile on the surface.
"That's no problem, I'll take you there. I wonder who Master Xiao wants to talk to?"
Zhao Wenhua's voice deliberately became higher, but Xiao Feng kept his voice very low.
"Look for Zeng Zaofan, the man who polished the three jade pendants."
The tone of their conversation made it seem that Xiao Feng was telling Zhao Wenhua some secret, while Zhao Wenhua was desperately trying to show others that there was no secret between us.
Zhao Wenhua didn't know why Xiao Feng did this, but he had his own intuition and experience: This person is extremely ruthless and can dig holes at any time, so he cannot be fooled.
So there is nothing wrong in doing the opposite! So his voice became louder.
"Oh, let's ask Zeng Zaofan. He is old and his hands are unsteady. He has been guiding his apprentices for the past two years and no longer does it himself."
This is also the fine tradition of the Skilled Craftsman Hall. Skilled craftsmen rely on their hands. As people get older, their hands become unstable and they cannot make exquisite objects with their own hands.
But the experience is still there. If you stay in the Craftsman Hall and become a master, you can not only train new people, but also continue to make money to support your life.
Zhao Wenhua thought that his answer was flawless, and his voice was extremely high-pitched, and almost everyone could hear it. Unexpectedly, Xiao Feng suddenly became louder too.
"Oh, it turns out that Zeng Zaoban has an apprentice, I understand, I understand!"
Zhao Wenhua was confused: What did you understand? What did you understand?
He originally wanted to ask, but Xiao Feng stopped talking nonsense with him and urged him to lead him to Zeng Zaoban.
Zhao Wenhua brought Xiao Feng to Qiaojiang Hall full of suspicion and found Zeng Zaoban. Zhao Wenhua had completed the task, but he refused to leave.
Xiao Feng didn't care, because he knew that every punctuation mark in his conversation with Zeng Zaoban here could not be kept secret.
Even if he drives Zhao Wenhua away, as long as Zeng Zaofan is still in the Ministry of Works, he will not be able to refuse Zhao Wenhua's order.
"Zeng Zaobao, was this jade pendant made by you?"
Zeng Zaoban was in his sixties, but his eyes were still clear and sharp. He looked at the Jingwang jade pendant that had split into two pieces, and he stumbled over and over with regret.
"That's right, this was made by a villain. How could it be so bad?"
Xiao Feng took out another complete but slightly thin jade pendant.
"What about this piece?"
Zeng Zaoban was shocked. He reached out to take the jade pendant and looked at it over and over.
"This piece is not made by a villain. It's just that this jade material is so rare that it cannot be another piece of jade. It must be one of the three jade pendants. The words must have been rubbed out and re-engraved, right?"
Xiao Feng was noncommittal: "If this is indeed what you do, can you do it?"
Zeng Zaoban nodded, then shook his head.
"This job would have been easy for a villain two years ago, but now my hands are shaking. I have to grind them like this and carve them like this. I can't say it's impossible, but it's very difficult."
Xiao Feng pointed to several young people who were carving carefully in the Craftsman Hall.
"Where is your apprentice? Does he have this skill? Mr. Zhao reminded me that you have an apprentice."
Huh? Zhao Wenhua was stunned. Did I remind you of this?
Zeng Zaoban shook his head: "Jade is hard, and it is difficult to grind it. What's more, it has to be polished just right to remove the characters, but it cannot be ground too thin, and the corners have to be polished and rounded again.
This requires not only skill, but also talent. Although there are some good ones among them, they certainly can't do this."
"Besides the people here, do you have other apprentices? You won't really wait until you can't do anything anymore before you start recruiting apprentices, right?"
Xiao Feng looked at Zeng Zaoban with a smile. Zeng Zaoban hesitated for a moment and was about to speak when Zhao Wenhua suddenly coughed.
Zeng Zaoban hesitated and hesitated.
"I am now an imperial envoy who has been ordered to handle the case. What I ask you now are the same questions that Long Live wants to ask you. Are you trying to deceive the emperor?
Do you know that because of this case, the official of Shuntian Prefecture has asked me to be arrested and sent to prison, do you want to go in and keep him company?"
Xiao Feng's tone was calm and he was smiling, but a huge sense of oppression instantly made Zeng Zaoban's breathing quicken.
"No, no, no, I don't dare. I did have an apprentice before entering the Ministry of Industry.
It's just that the apprentice had evil intentions. When he followed the villain to carve for a wealthy family, he intended to seduce his concubine.
Later, the villain expelled him from the master's school, so he is no longer considered the villain's apprentice. The villain was hesitating about this just now, and did not dare to deceive the master."
Xiao Feng nodded to express his understanding.
"Then did you meet again later?"
"Later, the villain entered the Ministry of Industry and was considered a member of the imperial court. The scoundrel also came to see me and wanted me to introduce him to the Craftsman Hall. I knew that he had bad conduct, so I ignored him."
"How's his craft?"
Zeng Zaoban looked at Zhao Wenhua and then at Xiao Feng's smiling face. He always felt that Xiao Feng was more terrifying.
Zhao Wenhua wanted to refute that it was not the case that Wang Tuiguan was caught and imprisoned, but he had no choice but to let Zeng Zaoban think about it.
"The villain dare not lie. Although that scoundrel is of poor character, he is quite talented and has obtained my true inheritance. If it were him, he should be able to polish this jade pendant."
"Then do you have any clues about this person? Do you know where he lives and what he does for a living?"
"The villain doesn't dare to talk nonsense. After he was rejected by me, we stopped contacting him.
I heard before that he once made things for rich families in Beijing, but there was no news about him afterwards. I really don’t know his current situation."
Xiao Feng sighed melancholy. The clues were gone. Although he suspected this apprentice, where could he find him in such a huge crowd?
Seeing that there was nothing more to ask, Xiao Feng took his leave and left gloomily.
Zhao Wenhua stared at Xiao Feng's back disappearing into the distance, then turned back to look at Zeng Zaoban.
Zeng Zaoban was still nervous, his legs were shaking and his voice was trembling.
"Sir, I didn't say anything wrong. This is the crime of deceiving the emperor. I really don't dare to lie!"
Zhao Wenhua laughed unexpectedly and patted Zeng Zaoban's shoulder carelessly.
"Don't worry, even if the things you mentioned are concealed, he can find out through other channels.
Your apprentice had fought against you in the capital before, and many people knew about it. If you kept it from him, he would have caught you.
It would be better if you didn't say anything, but what you told is the truth, but the clue is broken and he can't do anything."
Seeing that Zeng Zaoban was still uneasy and hesitated to speak, Zhao Wenhua made a serious face.
"This matter has nothing to do with you anymore, and you don't need to know the inside story. The less you know, the better for you."
Zeng Zaoban knew the last sentence was true. He nodded repeatedly, wishing he could forget about it right away.