Chapter 82 Chapter 82 Bonus. (First update)...
In a room at the back of the Dali Temple, Zhao Sizhi, the officer in charge of the Xie Manager murder case, rubbed his swollen temples and suddenly leaned back, "Ah..."
The desk in front of him was piled with messy files, which contained various confessions collected by yamen runners and clues submitted by the people.
But after several days of investigation, there was no progress at all.
Zhao Si stood up and paced a few steps, his boots rustling over the scattered papers. But he didn't even have the energy to bend down to pick them up; he just felt upset.
Zhao Sizhi is nearly fifty years old, but he is still an eighth-rank official, the same rank as a young man in his early twenties.
However, he was no longer the energetic young man, nor did he have the courage of a newborn calf that was not afraid of a tiger. He just wanted to get through this round of trials steadily, climb up a level steadily, or transfer to a county magistrate or something outside the capital.
It was at this time that he received this case. Zhao Sizhi turned and walked to the desk, looking at the contents on it with a worried look, and he felt that in just a few days, his temples had turned a little grayer.
"Mr. Zhao, Mr. Zhao." Along with the sound of the doorbell, the hurried voice of the officer suddenly came from outside the door.
"Why are you in such a hurry?" Zhao Sizhi frowned and tried hard to suppress his irritation.
"Sir Zhao, it's a low-ranking official under Tao Sizhi who wants to see you." The officer outside the door stopped hurriedly and answered respectfully through the door.
"I didn't—"
"They say there's a clue in the case of Shopkeeper Xie!"
Zhao Sizhi suddenly stopped dead in his tracks, his eyes gleaming. He quickly walked to the door and opened it with a composed air, his voice brimming with anxiety. "Where are they? Tell them to come see me quickly."
Soon, the officers brought the four people over. Zhao Sizhi, unlike his usual cold attitude, stepped forward enthusiastically and shook Chen Yan's hand tightly: "Mr. Shen! These three are—"
"They saw people carrying garbage cans walking down the alley on the winter solstice."
"Hiss—" Zhao Sizhi involuntarily gasped, his eyes sparkling as he looked at the three men. He hurriedly ordered tea and called a clerk to record the conversation, then inquired carefully, "Are you sure it was the winter solstice? What time was it discovered? What did the person who transported it look like?"
"It's the winter solstice." Linzhi confirmed.
"As for time, as for time, uh," Lin Sen sat on the chair and glanced stiffly at the officials with solemn expressions, especially the clerk who was eyeing them covetously.
Lin Sen tensed up at the thought of everything he said being recorded. He groaned inwardly, then looked at Lin Zhi and Song Jiaoniang, "Did we enter Juyoulou at noon?"
"It should have been earlier, you forgot." Song Jiaoniang was also a little nervous and took a deep breath. "When we got to the second floor, there were not many people there, so we were able to choose a seat by the window. I think we should have been able to arrive half an hour earlier."
Lin Zhi thought for a moment and said, "When we went in, the brothel across the street had just started performing the Huxuan dance. They should have a specific performance time."
"We met the person in the alley on the left side of Juyou Building."
"Why are you there?"
"We watched the elephant show on Imperial Street and bought some souvenirs," Linzhi explained. "We took a shortcut to get to Juyoulou earlier. There were few people on the road, and since we own a shop, we didn't notice the cart carrying the waste barrels until later."
"I see." Zhao Sizhi nodded. As soon as the painter responsible for drawing the portrait arrived, he asked the three people to provide clues about their appearance. Unexpectedly, the three of them looked embarrassed.
"That person had a green scarf wrapped around his head and a scarf covering his mouth and nose. I couldn't see his face clearly."
"A towel over your mouth and nose too?"
"Yes." Lin Zhi nodded. "The smell from the waste bin was very strong at the time, and there was also an indescribable strange smell, so I thought he was using it to cover up the smell."
"He was about the same size as my father, but a bit more muscular, and the clothes he wore were all blue." Lin Zhi reluctantly said what he remembered, and could not remember anything else.
"Ah, I remember a little." Lin Sen raised his hand and said, "When I turned around to look, the man had already pushed the cart away. I noticed that the bottom of the cart's wheels were very clean, as if it had rarely been on the road."
After a pause, Lin Sen added, "At the time, I thought there were more tile shops in that area, so I was the porter responsible for that area."
Zhao Sizhi was overjoyed. After questioning the family of three over and over again and making sure that he could not get anything else out of them, he stopped with regret. He then sent someone to the tile shop with the information of shopkeeper Xie to find out something and at the same time determine the time of the Huxuan dance on the winter solstice.
As for the Linzhi family, Zhao Sizhi said that if the clues they provided were true, they would be given a large reward after the criminal was caught.
The three Linzhi people who had experience nodded calmly, and this reaction made Zhao Sizhi look at them with admiration.
The Linzhi family put the matter aside and returned to discussing the New Year's party. Lin Sen thought it was a brilliant idea, a way to make money, and that they should give it a try.
Linzhi believes that stabilizing the current business is the best strategy. Otherwise, the sudden influx of people will only make the family too busy and even reduce the quality of the dishes, which will eventually lead to a vicious cycle.
At first, Song Jiaoniang thought what Lin Sen said made sense, then she thought what Lin Zhi said made sense, and finally she thought both of them made sense, and she was hesitant in the middle.
In the end, Linzhi decided to open the letter first and take a closer look at the contents before making a decision.
When the letter was taken out, the family of three realized that they were so excited that they didn't notice that the appearance and texture of this letter were very different from ordinary letter.
Looking closer, you can see light golden lines on the corners of the letter, and you can feel the bumps and grooves on your fingertips. Only when you hold it close to the candlelight can you see the faint patterns hidden underneath.
The letter paper was made of brocade. Even someone like Lin Zhi, who had little knowledge of calligraphy, could praise the freehand and sharp brushstrokes. Lin Sen, who knew more, was even more complimentary, praising the calligraphy as "naturally beautiful and elegant, with a sense of charm, surely from the hand of a famous calligrapher." "So what's written on it?"
"Is it about the main competition of the Newcomers' New Year Party, and the warm-up activities? It looks very formal." Lin Zhi read the important content, paused at the end, and raised her voice slightly: "The top ten winners will all receive rewards...hmm, rewards?"
Lin Sen and Song Jiaoniang perked up instantly and came over to take a look. Their eyes quickly scanned the entire letter, quickly landing on the instructions at the bottom.
Rewards, rewards, rewards…
Lin Sen's eyes lit up and he pointed to one of the spots: "Found it!"
Lin Zhi and Song Jiaoniang looked at the letter at the same time. Lin Zhi's fingers tightened around the letter, while Song Jiaoniang covered her mouth and exclaimed, "The first place prize is one thousand strings of cash!?!"
Lin Sen took a deep breath and said, "One thousand strings of cash?"
Lin Zhi's attitude changed instantly, and he slammed the letter on the table: "Participate!"
One thousand strings of cash! If we had this thousand strings of cash, plus next month's revenue, the family could scrape together two thousand strings of cash, which would be just enough for a 50% down payment on Xie Da Lamb Restaurant!
Wouldn’t that solve your own problem?
It would be foolish not to participate in such a good thing!
Lin Zhi was dazzled by the money and made the decision without hesitation. However, Lin Sen, who had just been eager to participate, began to hesitate: "How can there be such a huge prize money?"
"That's not all." Song Jiaoniang pointed to the following content and smiled. "They say the government will provide a plaque, and you can also enter the catering industry to learn and participate in next year's vice-chief election... Wow! They also say that if you're lucky, you can even be summoned by the Saint Empress and selected to serve in the palace as a lady-in-waiting in the imperial kitchen."
"Is it true? Let me see!" Lin Sen couldn't help himself after hearing this. He stepped forward to take a closer look. The various preferential treatments inside were so dazzling that he was amazed.
The second, third, fifth and fifth places also receive preferential treatment and bonuses. Although not as exaggerated as the former, it is still enough to attract people's attention.
Lin Zhi finally understood why the man in blue said no one had ever refused. Oh! He had just directly mentioned a bonus of 1,000 guan, and she was sure she wouldn't refuse it.
As the family of three were exclaiming in surprise at the letter, Chef Zhou in the Juyou Building folded his arms across his chest and looked at Chef Tang in confusion. "I heard from Madam Cui that you recommended Linzhiji for this year's New Year's party?"
The soup cook scooped up a spoonful of soup, blew on it to cool it down, tasted it to see if it was salty, and then turned his head to look at him: "What's wrong? Didn't Chef Cui agree?"
"Didn't you say before that you wanted to recommend Chef Wei from Haoweizhai? Why did you suddenly change your mind?" Chef Zhou was puzzled. Everyone knew that Chef Tang was trying to recommend his apprentice, but it was really strange that he suddenly changed his mind to recommend Linzhiji.
"Oh, that." Chef Tang looked calm and explained with a smile, "The last time Xiao Wei invited me for tea, he said he had received recommendations from several other vice-chiefs, so I didn't need to worry about it."
"On the way back, I heard that Linzhiji's roast goose had become famous after only two months of opening. I was very surprised, so I casually mentioned it to Chef Cui, and she actually agreed."
The soup chef laughed and then asked, "Why? You know this place too?"
Chef Zhou hesitated for a moment, nodded, then shook his head. "This chef has some talent. I originally wanted to take her under my wing, but then I found out her family already had a shop, so I didn't bring it up again."
Chef Zhou skipped over the fact that he had recommended Chef Cui to him. After all, everyone in the shop knew that if Chef Cui became unfit and resigned, the next head chef at Juyou Building would most likely be Chef Tang.
Chef Zhou's cooking skills are not as good as Chef Tang's, and he cannot compete with Chef Tang. However, he also cannot stand Chef Tang's repeated suppression of young chefs with good talents, and even forcing them to leave.
Letting such a person take charge of cooking, letting such a person become the head chef of Juyoulou...does Juyoulou still have a future?
Chef Zhou originally intended to recommend Lin Zhi to Chef Cui, hoping to see if she could compete with Chef Tang. However, Chef Cui was already old and had more concerns. She also felt that Lin Zhi was too young to start another dispute with Chef Tang. Even though she knew the tricks of the New Year's party, she let Chef Tang push her forward.
Chef Zhou felt depressed and a little guilty at the same time. He secretly lamented that he had acted too hastily and exposed the person to Chef Tang.
"I see." The soup chef was pleased to see that he wasn't willing to antagonize him. He turned his attention to the soup in front of him and said casually, "Brother Zhou, it's easy for you to accept a disciple. Just go up and give him some pointers during the competition. Wouldn't that foot shop cook be eager to become your disciple?"
Just as Chef Zhou was about to respond, he caught a glimpse of an unfamiliar servant out of the corner of his eye. The servant was looking at Chef Tang repeatedly, as if he was looking for him.
Chef Zhou remained calm and nodded in agreement, "You're right. Let her suffer a little setback on the field last time, so she can learn to be more calm in the future."
After saying that, Chef Zhou turned and left: "I have something to do up ahead, I'll go first."
As soon as Chef Zhou left, the servant hurried forward and said, "Chef Tang, Brother Lu asked me to come and tell you that he has something important to report."
The soup chef paused and asked, "What's wrong with him again?"
The soup chef said he was impatient, but in the end he gathered the food together, signaled the servant to come forward and look at the soup pot, and then he hurried away.
In the stair compartment, Chef Zhou looked at Chef Tang's back as he left, lost in thought. He recognized the Brother Lu the servant had mentioned. He was the head helper in the warehouse of Juyou Building and was close to Chef Tang.
But the soup chef always bossed Lu Ge around and treated him as a servant, so how could he leave the half-cooked soup and go to see him?
Could it be that... there is some kind of leverage on him?
Chef Zhou had an idea, but he didn't follow to check. Instead, he went back to work and planned to ask someone to check out the recent movements in the warehouse later.
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