Chiba Sadayoshi directly found Masanobu Ando, ​​who was then a senior middle school student.

What is the official position of Lao Zhong?

Excluding the non-permanent position of "eldest boss", laozhong is the highest official position in the shogunate... The status is second only to the shogun, similar to the "prime minister" in China.

Chiba Nobuyoshi directly found the "Prime Minister" and asked the "Prime Minister" to help them administer justice...

What will happen next is not difficult to guess.

Senior Lieutenant Commander Masanobu Ando issued a direct order, and the Minami and Hokubu Stations in Edo immediately started to jump up and down.

In order to recover Sanako, the two divisions dispatched an extremely large search team - 3 Yuli and 6 Doshin, and at the same time mobilized all officials from their own divisions in Edo.

Qingdeng was also among this "search team".

In Edo, where the enforcement office has been short of manpower for a long time, there is no rule that "relatives and acquaintances related to the case cannot participate in the investigation."

Although the execution office has mobilized all the manpower they can in order to find the missing Sanako, the search progress is still very slow...

In a modern society where there is no surveillance network, no big data, and the only means of investigation are visits and investigations, finding a missing person in a big city with a population of one million... is difficult, just think about it.

Just thinking about it makes my scalp numb.

What's more, the southern and northern administrative offices of Edo do not yet have strong grassroots control.

The implementation of grassroots management relies heavily on the help of "township residents' self-governing organizations".

In a word - the management of Edo at the grassroots level by the government is almost in a mess. It is not even clear how many people and how many strong laborers there are in Edo.

Such low grassroots control capabilities... directly increase the difficulty of the already extremely difficult tracing task by several levels.

After learning that he had also been transferred to look for Sanako, Aomori immediately applied to investigate Natsume Sōhachiro, whom he found extremely suspicious.

Natsume Souhachiro's strange words and deeds, as well as his own intuition, are all telling Qingto crazily: There is definitely something wrong with Natsume Souhachiro, and he is very likely to be the key to finding Sanako.

The process of Aoto requesting permission from his superiors to investigate Natsume Sohachiro... was quite tortuous.

Because most of the superiors don't think Natsume Sohachiro is a target worthy of more attention.

They felt that instead of investigating Natsume Sohachiro, the right solution would be to concentrate their efforts on visiting and investigating every area that Sanako might have passed through on the day he disappeared.

It is not difficult to understand why superiors would have such thoughts.

Because for them, "making meritorious service" is secondary! "Don't make mistakes" is the most important!

No one knows whether "concentrating manpower to visit and investigate" will work. Qingdeng's superiors don't care whether it will work!

They only care about whether their own interests will be damaged.

Just pretend that we are investigating the case seriously. In this way, although there will be no great achievements, it will not be a big mistake. In short, it will be able to give an explanation to those higher up - this is Qingdeng

The common thoughts of those superiors.

The bureaucracy of this group of people... made Qingdeng so disgusted that he wanted to vomit.

His friend was kidnapped, but as a result, the officials in the government still only thought about "don't make big mistakes" and "just do the job if they can"... Qingdeng could not think of any words to describe his disgusting mood.

Relying on the prestige and achievements he had accumulated so far, Qingteng tried his best to successfully convince Bosui and other superiors.

"Since you want to investigate that Natsume Souhachiro so much, then go do it yourself." With that said, the superiors of Hakui sent Aoto to investigate Natsume Souhachiro. However, without any helpers, Aoto could only rely on

He led himself and his subordinate Saito to investigate Sohachiro Natsume.

Regarding such an arrangement by his superiors, Aomori sneered and thought to himself: This is fine! No one who is more senior than me or at the same level as me will participate in the investigation of Natsume Sohachiro, and I will be less restrained and shackles!

"Mr. Jutaro, don't worry. I will definitely use my all to find Miss Sanako." - Before the official investigation was launched, Aonto used a firm tone to comfort those who were worried about Sanako.

Chiba Jutaro seems to have lost weight.

Although the relationship between Aoto and Sanako is not very close, and they have not even spoken to her much, she is, after all, the sister of Chiba Jutaro and the cousin of Chiba Eijiro.

Chiba Jutaro is a very close friend of Aoto. Chiba Eijiro had selflessly given him some martial arts advice a while ago... This alone was enough for Aoto to use all his energy to find the missing person.

Sanako.

As for how to investigate Natsume Sohachiro, Aomori had a rough plan.

He is now highly suspicious: Natsume Yue and Chiba Sanako were kidnapped by someone for some reason.

The kidnappers demanded that Natsume Souhachiro must conceal the fact that Natsume Yue was kidnapped, otherwise they would break up the vote, so Natsume Souhachiro would talk nonsense about "Natsume Yue went back to Osaka to see her grandmother."

Aoto went to Natsume Souhachiro alone in private, and whispered to Natsume Souhachiro in a cryptic tone: If Miss Natsume Yue is also kidnapped, please be sure to reveal some information to me, and I will definitely send your daughter and Miss Sanako to the police.

They were all found.

However, Sohachiro Natsume was still indifferent... He kept saying, "Natsume Yue is fine, she just went back to Osaka to see her grandmother."

Since Natsume Sōhachiro was unwilling to reveal any more useful information no matter what, Aoto could only conduct the investigation in another way.

Aoto found out three places where Natsume Souhachiro often went, including Natsume's house, and then planned to personally lead Saito and others to dress up, and then stay at these three places where Natsume Souhachiro often went to check out Natsume Souhachi.

Is there any suspicious person around Hachiro?

This is the last and most useful method Qingdeng can think of in this era when investigation methods are extremely limited; when clues are extremely scarce.

Naturally, Natsume Sōhachiro must be guarded around the clock.

However... this has raised a new serious problem: Qingdeng's manpower is insufficient.

Counting Aoto himself... Aoto, Saito, Nagakura, Harada, Toudo—Aoto's small team only has 5 people in total.

In order to avoid encountering emergencies such as "mentally exhausted" or "wanting to go to the toilet", at least two people are needed to guard someone or a certain place.

There are three places where Natsume Sōhachiro often hangs out. In other words, if the "Aoto Squad" with a total manpower of only five people wants to guard these three places, it still needs one person less...

Fortunately, Qingdeng quickly found someone willing to help.

And this person happens to be very good at reconnaissance and concealment...

…

…

"Is that Natsume's family..." Kinoshita Mai murmured as she looked at the luxurious mansion not far ahead.

"Yes." Qingden nodded gently to Mai Kinoshita, who was standing next to him, "I'm sorry, Miss Kinoshita, I have to bother you to help me investigate the case."

Aoto and Mai Kinoshita are currently lurking in a dark alley where they can see the entire front door of Natsume's house.

"Tachibana-kun, you don't have to be so polite to me." Kinoshita Mai smiled shyly, "I'm embarrassed by how you look like this."

The helper Qingto found who was willing to help was none other than Kinoshita Mai.

Who could be more qualified for the task of "surveillance" than the famous cat monk who is extremely good at sneaking, concealing and reconnaissance?

Mai Kinoshita is indeed a girl with a strong sense of justice who has been active under the hidden identity of "Kaitan Thief Neko Monk" until now with the goal of "helping the weak as much as possible".

After Qingto came to her and asked her to help find the missing Sanako, she responded loudly without thinking: "Please let me help!"

When agreeing to Aoto's request, Kinoshita Mai showed an expression of indignation... Aoto asked afterwards why she had such an expression, and Kinoshita Mai replied:

"What I hate the most are traffickers who kidnap people! Many families that were originally happy have been broken up because of these scum!"

Kinoshita Mai's disgust towards human traffickers... Qingto understands it very well - he himself also hates those traffickers who have caused the collapse of countless families.

Kinoshita Mai agreed to his request so readily, which was actually within Qingto's expectation.

Because he guessed that Mai Kinoshita, who had a strong sense of justice, would never turn a blind eye to "someone was kidnapped".

Since life is at stake, Kinoshita Mai no longer cares about Chishiya's work. In her eyes, retrieving the kidnapped missing persons is far more important than Chishiya's work.

Therefore, after complying with Qingnobo's request, she directly asked Boss Kiryu for a long leave of indefinite duration.

Kinoshita Mai was originally worried that Boss Kiryu would not allow leave...but she didn't expect that Boss Kiryu was so quick to approve the leave this time. He didn't even ask why Kinoshita Mai suddenly asked for a long leave, and just nodded and approved it.

With the help of Mai Kinoshita, Ayoto, who had more manpower under his command, immediately made the following arrangements:

He and Mai Kinoshita stayed at Natsume's house.

Saito and Nagakura, four of them, worked in pairs and were responsible for guarding the other two locations where Natsume Sōhachiro often haunted.

Kinoshita Mai and Saito are not very familiar with each other. If Kinoshita Mai and Saito are paired up...this girl's personality will only become outgoing and bold when she wears a hijab. She is always afraid of being unlucky.

, I’m afraid that I won’t even be able to communicate normally with Saito and the others.

Therefore, the only person who can partner with Kinoshita Mai is Aoto.

Ayoto and the others were monitoring Natsume Sōhachiro around the clock and almost continuously.

The sun in early summer rises in the east and sets in the west.

Silently overlooking Qingdeng and others who were busy monitoring.

Silently overlooking the busy people passing through the town.

Silently overlooking... the undercurrent of Edo that no one, including Ayonobu, is aware of yet.

…

…

The first year of Wanyan (1860), May 20——

Edo, a foreign settlement place——

"Miss Leroy, the hem of this skirt seems a little too long."

"Well...it does seem a little bit, so let's change it."

After saying that, Leroy turned back to the closet and took out a brand new and exquisite white tutu skirt from the closet.

Elodie, who put on this new tutu with Leroy's help, walked happily to a large full-length mirror, blinked her eyes, and looked at the beautifully tidied reflection in the mirror.

After squeezing herself, she laughed happily, then happily spun around in circles a few times, admiring the skirt that fluttered gently under her spin.
To be continued...