Chapter 80 Chapter 80: The Death of Shopkeeper Xie. (First update)…
[Warning: This chapter contains some content that is not suitable for reading while eating! ]
These waiters didn't know each other, but the soup chef knew the three people sitting there.
After all, Chef Zhou and Chef Cui specifically requested to taste their dishes, and then the Xie Lamb Restaurant on the same street was beaten to a pulp, and even their own recipes were spread to the market. Now Chef Zhou even cooks for them himself, so how could Chef Tang not remember the faces of this family.
But he didn't expect that a family running a shoe store would be so difficult to deal with.
The more this happened, the more wary he became, fearing they might catch Cui's eye. The soup chef's face darkened for a moment, then recovered in an instant, so much so that the man who reported it thought he was dazzled.
Chef Tang pretended to think and reminisce, then smiled after a while. "I've met Chef Zhou's family before, but never these three. I guess it's just Chef Zhou's interest, so he cooks a few dishes occasionally."
Then, he graciously instructed his staff, "Don't slack off here any more. Go back and start preparing for work. A distinguished guest is coming soon."
After saying that, Chef Tang took a deep look at the Lin family, turned around and walked into the kitchen, thinking secretly in his heart: It's all because Xie Ping is too useless, forcing him to think of other ways.
Over there, the Linzhi family finished their meal and left Juyoulou contentedly. Carrying the small things they had purchased today, they went to the dental clinic to find their familiar dealer, Fan.
Despite the winter solstice holiday, the shop was bustling with activity. Mr. Fan, the peddler, smiled when he saw the family of three. After all, the reputation of Linzhiji Roast Goose had spread to him, and the family's earning power was obvious to all.
Upon hearing the purpose of the three people's visit, Fan Ya Ren became even more delighted, but unfortunately, Xie Da Lamb Restaurant was still under closure and had not been put back on the shelves. Fan Ya Ren helped them inquire in advance and estimated that the selling price of the shop was around 4,000 guan.
"Four thousand kan!?"
"Yes." Seeing the shock on the three of them, Mr. Fan smiled awkwardly. "We'll have to wait for the price to be determined. If you're short on cash, our agency can also provide loans..."
Before he could finish his words, Lin Zhi shook her head repeatedly and changed the subject, "This price is definitely not acceptable. Please ask Mr. Fan to help us look at the shop next door. It should be bigger than our current one, and it would be best if there were more rooms in the back..."
She described her request in detail, and it took a while before she left the clinic with her parents.
The three of them shook their heads as soon as they came out of the tooth shop. Song Jiaoniang complained directly: "They are taking advantage of us and want to kill us?"
Lin Sen sneered: "I'm afraid there are other purposes."
Lin Zhi nodded: "I'm afraid he wants our family's recipe."
There are more and more roast duck restaurants in the market, but many diners who have eaten Linzhiji Roast Duck before are still very picky about it. They complain from time to time, saying that Linzhiji Roast Duck tastes better.
Unfortunately, Linzhiji specializes in roast goose and roast chicken, but its roast duck is only heard of but not seen, which makes countless gourmets in Bianjing City beat their chests and stamp their feet in frustration.
Someone even came to Linzhi before and invited him to make the products for them, but the business in the shop was too busy, so Linzhi politely declined.
In her opinion, the pawnbroker was also aware of these things and wanted to use the loan to take advantage of them.
Lin Zhi shook her head and said, "Let's go to another mutton shop and ask. If we don't mention Xie Da Mutton Restaurant, we can look for another shop."
Lin Sen and Song Jiaoniang both agreed.
…
The next morning, Linzhi was awakened by a commotion on the street. She pulled the covers over her head, intending to ignore it and fall asleep, but the noise grew louder, even rustling next door.
Soon, the door next door opened, followed by the sound of shoes shuffling.
Linzhi listened to the noise and thought it must be her father going out to check. She closed her eyes, thinking that the sound would disappear soon, and sleepiness gradually came over her.
Who knew that, not only was the sound quiet, she could also hear the voices of her neighbors, Aunt Xue and Madam Yu.
Lin Zhi was completely sleepless now. She yawned, drowsily sat up, and sat cross-legged on the kang for a while before slowly moving to her feet. She put on her coat and socks, then tiptoed to retrieve the cotton shoes she had left warm by the kang the previous day.
Linzhi dressed neatly and went out to wash up.
When she was ready, she found that the noise outside had become quieter, but it had not completely disappeared.
Linzhi was confused, so she simply walked through the kitchen to the main room and then pushed the door open to go out.
As soon as she walked out of the door, she noticed that although it was the Winter Solstice Festival, many officials with serious expressions gathered in front of Xie Da Mutton Restaurant, and Lu San was among them.
Seeing that Lu San was talking to his colleagues with a serious expression, Lin Zhi did not step forward to ask.
She looked around and saw Lin Sen, who was chatting with several neighbors.
"Dad, what happened?"
"Sister Zhi is up too?" Lin Sen paused, turned around and said, "I was just asking that too."
Aunt Xue, who was carrying a bamboo basket, didn't really know what was going on. She explained, "I was just about to go out to the market to buy some groceries when I saw a group of people surrounding the Xie Da Mutton Restaurant. They were coming in and out, looking very serious."
"Maybe someone is here to ask for money again?"
"I heard that the pawnshop is going to take back this shop and sell it again." Many neighbors came one after another to join in the fun, and they all spoke at once after hearing the news.
"Shopkeeper Xie, you are really greedy."
"Do you know where Shopkeeper Xie came from?" someone chimed in. "He used to brag so much I thought he was a wealthy family member, or maybe he was running a business for a wealthy family. Now that he's gotten into trouble, people are saying he was just a scoundrel who made a fortune somewhere and opened his shop."
"Oh! That's how it is!"
"Hey, hey, hey, don't change the subject." Aunt Xue saw that the topic was getting further and further away, and she raised her voice. However, she was afraid that the group of yamen runners would hear her, so she quickly lowered her voice and said, "I'm telling you, I don't think this is a lawsuit for money!"
"Oh, I thought you were going to say something..."
"Don't disbelieve me." Aunt Xue raised her hand and pointed at several yamen runners, saying, "When murders happened the last two times, look, look, look, those yamen runners were there! They weren't just ordinary runners; they were specifically responsible for investigating murders!"
As soon as these words were spoken, the place fell silent.
After a while, someone whispered, "Could something have happened to Shopkeeper Xie's wife and children? Many people went to their house to collect debts!"
"Don't say such unlucky words!"
"Shopkeeper Xie is a piece of shit, but his wife and children are nice people." Another person nodded and echoed, "Rather than them, it's better to say that it's Shopkeeper Xie...?"
The woman's voice gradually faded, and soon there were gasps all around. After a while, Lin Sen said tremblingly, "Is Shopkeeper Xie not just missing, but dead?"
Everyone looked at each other, feeling quite heavy-hearted.
Even the father and daughter who were inexplicably targeted by Shopkeeper Xie were in an indescribable situation.
Especially at noon, they also welcomed the officials and runners from the Dali Temple who came to visit and interrogate them. They learned from them that Manager Xie was confirmed dead and it was a homicide.
"Where did you go yesterday?"
"The three of us were all together. We first went to Imperial Street to see the elephants and bought a bunch of clay elephant dolls. Then we went to Juyoulou for dinner." Lin Sen didn't know why the officer was asking about yesterday's events, so he answered honestly, "Then we went to the pawnshop. Then we returned home and haven't left since."
"When was the last time you saw Manager Xie?" the officer asked in a deep voice.
"It was around seven or eight days after the beginning of winter?" Lin Sen thought for a moment. "That was the day someone came to collect a debt and Chef Cao ran away. Later we saw Shopkeeper Xie lock the door and leave."
"Haven't you seen it from behind?"
"No."
"Has he ever come to see you?"
"No."
"Did you leave Bianjing City since that day?"
"No, we all run shops, and it was almost the winter solstice, so business was very busy. We were busy from morning till night."
Lin Sen frowned at the question and asked, "Do the officers suspect we committed a crime?"
"Excuse me." Seeing this, the nearby officer hurriedly explained, "According to our investigations around the area, your family and Shopkeeper Xie's family have been having quite a conflict over the roast duck. And you even went to the pawnshop yesterday to inquire about his shop's expenses, right?"
Lin Sen was speechless. He had never thought that someone would target him even though he was investigating the shop. "My shop is really too small, and the neighbors said that Xie Da Mutton Restaurant would be sold soon, so we decided to find out."
"I never thought they'd ask for four thousand strings of cash..." Lin Sen thought it was ridiculous when he talked about it today. "We thought the price was too high, so we asked the broker to help us find another shop."
"You can go and ask around."
"I see." The officer wrote down everything and then asked about the family's whereabouts on the day they last saw Manager Xie.
"That day, my family invited some friends to our house to try some wontons." On any other day, Lin Sen would have had a hard time explaining it, but that day, he explained it simply: "Most of them were officials from the Dali Temple."
The officer was startled, but after hearing Lin Sen call out a series of names like the names of dishes, his eyes widened and his attitude became visibly gentler.
When the officer in charge of the visit returned and confirmed the whereabouts of the Linzhi family yesterday, his attitude became more friendly and he even revealed some details of the case.
"Are you saying that Shopkeeper Xie's body was found in a dump?" Lin Zhi was shocked. The dumps nowadays are equivalent to landfills in later generations.
The porters of the Street Department would collect the garbage cans, and then transport them out of the city using carts, baskets, etc., and dump them in pre-designated waste sites.
In the waste yard, there are also special people who do the sorting. For example, the bad oil used for frying food will be filtered out and sold to workshops at a low price to be used as materials for pancreas. For example, kitchen waste such as tea leaves and bones will be sold to farmers to feed livestock, or fermented to make fertilizer. For example, the wood from old furniture will be refurbished, or disassembled into firewood and sent to various places for sale.
The two brothers who discovered the body of Shopkeeper Xie said that because the price of rotten oil was high, it was not their turn on weekdays, so they took advantage of the winter solstice holiday to run to the scrapyard and try to make a small fortune.
Unexpectedly, when they were filtering the waste oil, they found something similar to cloth inside. When they pulled it out, they found it was a corpse!
The corpse had been soaked in oil for who knows how many days. Not only was it extremely swollen, but the flesh and bones were separated the moment it was fished out. The vendor was so scared that he screamed and crawled out to report the case.
"According to the vendor's description, the officials at the Dali Temple have drawn a portrait that bears a striking resemblance to the missing shopkeeper Xie."
"Just this morning, Mr. Xie's family confirmed that the clothing and accessories recovered were the ones he was wearing on the day he disappeared."
"According to the coroner, the body was likely discarded in a waste oil drum and then transported to a dump. It likely sank to the bottom and remained undiscovered until it began to decay and swell, gradually buoying the surface and revealing traces."
"Wait a minute." Song Jiaoniang covered her mouth, her face pale. "...Wait a minute? Soak for several days? Then, what about all that waste oil we fished out earlier? Will it all be used to make pancreas?"
Lin Sen and Lin Zhi's expressions suddenly changed, and they immediately remembered something. That's right! Doesn't that mean there is corpse oil in the waste oil used for cooking?
Thinking of this, the three of them turned pale, about to vomit. Even the officials and the guards changed their expressions and became quite restless. After a while, they laughed and said, "This is the inside story of the case. I hope you three won't tell anyone for the time being."
Lin Zhi: “…”
Lin Sen: “…”
Song Jiaoniang: “…”
The family of three thought together, later on, they will just use bath beans and not buy soap!!!
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