The sun and moon are both wrong; who made him seek the Dharma

"Why are you all investigating this lately?"

Xia Chuan frowned sharply: "What do you mean by 'all'? What happened here?"

Father Xu sighed: "To be honest, recently there have been frequent cases of missing infants in the city's orphanages."

Xia Chuan and Gao Haoguang exchanged a glance.

In today's turbulent world, with rampant theft, abandoned infants are frequently seen even in the provincial capital.

Poor families who couldn't afford to raise their children would send them to orphanages.

But in some dark corners, young children are a valuable "resource".

Those who are not good-looking are beaten, have their arms and legs broken, and are thrown into the streets to beg.

Those who were beautiful were sold to high-ranking officials and nobles to be their playthings.

But the words "orphanage" made Xia Chuan think of something even worse.

"What exactly happened?"

Seeing that Xia Chuan had become interested, Father Xu lowered his voice:

There is a "Saint Infant Nursery" in the east of the city.

Recently, a group of Han-looking guys have arrived over there, and they're always going in and out of there.

"Han Chinese appearance?"

Gao Haoguang was taken aback.

"Yes. I found it suspicious, so I asked someone I knew about it."

Father Xu's face was grave.

"It turned out that the children in that orphanage were disappearing without a trace."

Conservative estimates suggest the number of missing persons has exceeded one hundred.

Xia Chuan's brows furrowed more and more:

"What did the government say?"

"Your family has lost so much face, aren't you going to report it to the authorities?"

In this Qing Dynasty, the government treats foreigners better than their own fathers.

The church has lost face, and the government will certainly not sit idly by.

"That's the strangest part."

Father Xu leaned closer. "That orphanage... never reported it to the authorities."

Gao Haoguang looked on in astonishment: "Hundreds of children have gone missing, and you haven't reported it to the authorities?"

The two brothers exchanged a glance.

Something's not right, there's definitely something wrong here.

"I understand, we'll investigate."

Xia Chuan nodded, then pointed to the children in the yard.

"But I'm leaving these children in your care."

"What kind of talk is that?"

Father Xu waved his hand, "Even if we don't mention our friendship, would I have the heart to abandon an orphan?"

Don't worry, I'll cut off their queues, teach them to read, and when they're a little older, I'll teach them Western knowledge. I'll take care of everything perfectly for you."

Xia Chuan and Gao Haoguang left most of their money behind, bowed to Father Xu, and turned to leave.

As Gao Haoguang walked out of the church, he couldn't help but ask:

"Senior brother, do you think the disappearances might have been caused by Nie Shi?"

Xia Chuan stroked his chin:

"Not really."

"The Nirvana wants to eat people; you can catch them anywhere on the street. Why bother sneaking into a church to steal babies?"

“And the biggest question is,” Xia Chuan’s gaze turned cold, “why did the orphanage cover it up and not report it to the police?”

Gao Haoguang was taken aback and fell into deep thought.

Xia Chuan didn't continue, but he actually had a more chilling guess in his mind.

He suspected that the orphanage, which operated under a Western guise, was using infants for shady dealings.

For example, infanticide drugs.

For example, the so-called "Holy Communion".

"Anyway, let's go and meet up with Bai Xiaoxiao first."

Xia Chuan snapped out of his thoughts and strode forward.

(The priest is based on Mr. Xu Chuncao, who was a believer in his early years, later converted to the church, and eventually became a revolutionary. However, this book cannot say too much about him; he is just a fictional character.)

(Regarding what the church did back then, you can search for the Guangzhou Holy Infant Orphanage. They only accepted female infants, and the survival rate was only 6%.)

Chapter 18 It Will Definitely Happen Tonight

The sun was slightly tilted.

Xia Chuan ordered the food downstairs and instructed the innkeeper to bring it directly to the room. Then, he and Gao Haoguang pushed open the door to the room on the second floor of the inn.

"My benefactors, you've returned?"

Bai Xiaoxiao was sitting on the edge of the bed, swinging her legs, and curiously looking at the passersby on the street through the window.

Upon seeing the two enter, he quickly got up to greet them.

"Ah."

Xia Chuan nodded and handed over the cloth bag in his hand.

"clothing.

Go to a Western-owned tailor shop and buy a size that fits everyone. Go and change into it.

Your clothes were covered in blood and mud; it won't wash out anytime soon.

Bai Xiaoxiao took the cloth bag, but held it tightly in her hand, afraid to open it.

Xia Chuan glanced at her and saw through the girl's desire not to receive favors for nothing and her fear of causing trouble.

He sighed and advised:

"Take this. Consider it an advance payment for your help in the next few days."

"Make a move?" Bai Xiaoxiao was taken aback.

Xia Chuan then briefly recounted his conversation with Father Xu at the church to her.

Bai Xiaoxiao was dumbfounded: "Cannibalism actually happen in the city?"

She had assumed that the outside world, with its laws, government, and countless novelties, would be much cleaner than Black Mountain Village.

"In this world, all sewers stink the same way."

Xia Chuan shook his head. "Moreover, this incident happened on the territory of a foreign church."

Haoguang and I scouted the location; infiltrating without alerting the enemy is virtually impossible.

He pointed to the cloth bag:

"Therefore, we need your participation in this operation."

Consider this bag of clothes a bribe from me.

Bai Xiaoxiao couldn't help but chuckle, but her tone remained firm:

"My benefactor is too kind."

Even without these clothes, I would still do my part to save lives.

"That won't do. One thing at a time."

Xia Chuan shook his head seriously.

“You don’t owe us anything. When we ask you to do something, we should use the word ‘please’ out of courtesy and reason.”

Bai Xiaoxiao's mouth was slightly open, feeling that her benefactor's words sounded too formal and polite.

Xia Chuan then changed the subject:

"So, once this is over and you have money, you'll have to buy me a new outfit to reciprocate."

Bai Xiaoxiao was taken aback for a moment, then laughed even more happily, her initial restraint instantly disappearing.

Gao Haoguang, who was standing to the side, perked up his ears.

"Haoguang Daily News" needs an update.

He silently made a mental note of it:

Senior brother, you are twenty years old and like to dress as a woman. If you ever need his help in the future, you should bribe him with beautiful clothes.

Joking aside, Xia Chuan glanced at the setting sun outside the window, his expression turning serious:

"Alright, let's get down to business."

Every extra night that is delayed could mean the death of another innocent baby in the orphanage.

It was impossible to expect the Qing government to investigate foreigners; if they did not take action, who knows how many more people would die or be injured.

Gao Haoguang leaned closer: "Senior brother, have you thought of a plan? How are we going to infiltrate tonight?"

"Who said we were going to infiltrate?"

Xia Chuan gave him a strange look.

Gao Haoguang was completely stunned: "If we don't infiltrate, how can we get in?"