Prince and His Fool

Chapter 4: Detective Rong

Hepeng had dawned into a new era with young master Rong Zian ruling the streets of Hexie. He had quickly found out how spiteful madam Rong was when you asked to borrow money. She had frantically thrown anything she could get her hands on at a terrified Rong Zian. 'It's not like I asked her strip in public,' he thought to himself running out of the mansion. From then on, it was clear that the first son of the emperor's Royal Advisor Rong was on his own.

After months of freaking out trying to figure out what he could do to go back, he finally accepted his fate. Using common-sense he knew there was nothing waiting for him if he went back. The criminal record would close a lot of doors for him and maybe land him a factory job but that isn't something he wanted for his life.

Bored out of his mind he decided to find a means of fending off his boredom and make some money at the same time. He was tired of the vegetarian diet forced on him by madam Rong since he was the lesser member of the family and thus needed money to meet his needs.

He found himself dabbling into a multiple things though he really wanted to use his skills to produce female products and sell them to brothels, he just couldn't afford the raw materials. By sheer coincidence, he found a noble woman's lost pet once and somehow that sprouted into him solving petty thefts, catching cheating husbands or finding lost things. Who would have thought reading crime web stories would earn him a little money and bestow upon him the title, detective.

He gained popularity in just a fortnight, to anyone who wanted anything solved they would always say, "Ask young master Rong, he can solve anything." Over time, he saved up making a variety of fragrance soaps, face creams and even perfumes that he mostly sold to brothels. Though it wasn't much, Rong Zian was able to make his stay in this era more bearable.

Today he was yet again invited to come and solve the crime of the missing family jewels. The Fengfu mansion was a luxurious compound with shiny things in every corner of the house. The stern old lady sitting on the most prestigious seat in the room had made her money producing silk, just by estimation, her wealth would be worth five generations. She normally wouldn't mind if one ruby or two went missing but this was a family heirloom hence the summoning of detective Rong Zian.

Rong Zian listened attentively as the servants recollected the events that had transpired before the jewel went missing, he couldn't help but think back to some of his favourite series and it was always the butler who did it but in this case, there were just too many butlers. He followed up with some questions on security and who had access under what circumstances?

This was rather an easy case because Mrs Fengfu had placed the heirloom in a glass case so the culprit had to break it but the fool had obviously used his hand because there were bloodstains on the shards of glass lying on the floor. All he had to do was look for anyone who had a cut, so with Mrs Fengfu's help, he lined up everyone who lived or worked in that mansion.

Pretending to be his favourite character, Sherlock Holmes, he took out his fake wooden smoke pipe and began to pace down the line observing each person's behaviour while looking out for anyone with a cut. As if the pacing wasn't dramatic enough the smoke pipe got everyone curious except for one young man who seemed withdrawn. According to Rong Zian's logic, only the guilty would find his smoke pipe unamusing as they want to get this process over and done with as quickly as possible,

He stopped right in front of him and asked to inspect his hands. There were no cuts and the thief sighed in relief thinking he had gotten away with it but when Rong Zian gently patted his elbow, he whimpered in pain and that was the end of the case. Or so he thought, he had seriously underestimated this man's athletic skills. The man ran so fast it took Rong Zian summoning his cross country skills from his past life to go after him.

The servants were very helpful as they yelled behind him crying, "Catch that thief! Stop him!" running through the streets of Hexie. The ruckus caught the attention of this young master and his servant who were riding their steeds slowly through the busy streets. The young master would normally mind his own business and let them solve their petty problems but he was desperately trying to delay going home so he jumped at the opportunity to catch a thief. It would make an excellent excuse for being late.

Rong Zian was determined to catch that thief otherwise his money would be drastically reduced by half, so he left the crowd behind and chased the sly thief through the narrow paths. Since his eyes were only set on the thief, he wasn't aware that an enthusiastic young master had mistaken him for the thief and was chasing after him on his horse even through the narrow paths. He only realised he had a tail once he came out onto the open road and because it was crowded he had already lost the thief. He stopped so he could explain to the stern man with a handsome scary face, that he wasn't the thief but the man drew his sword and rode faster towards him.

Deciding he didn't want to die young, Rong Zian dived back into the narrow path, jumping over a cart full of radishes. He thanked his mother for giving him long legs otherwise he wouldn't have made it. He had hoped the cart would slow the horse down but boy was he wrong, the horse had been blessed with even longer limbs that it leapt into the air as though it was about to take off flying. When he briefly looked back he swore he saw a grin on the rider's face but this wasn't time to get angry over being mocked.

Rong Zian was street smart and he could fit through places one wouldn't normally fit but his pursuer was relentless. He hid a couple of times and came out thinking the man was gone but he would still find him searching. Now getting tired of this endless cat and mouse game, he found himself a good hiding spot, a bushy tree in a remote area. As minutes turned to into hours, Rong Zian was sure the man was gone and his growling tummy was emphasising that it was time to pay back for all that running.