Chapter 497 Secret Love 37
Shen Jingmo looked around and thought seriously, "He stole the banknote rubbings. He wouldn't hide them in the downtown area, as it would be easily discovered. I think the suspect might have hidden the rubbings on the outskirts."
Song Zhiyuan nodded and guided the two teenagers, "We toured the entire ancient city yesterday. Think about where in the outer areas the suspect would be more likely to place the rubbings.
Or, if you were the suspect, where would you place the rubbings?"
Not far ahead, there is a signpost map of the ancient city buildings.
The two young men walked to the road sign map and, at Song Zhiyuan's reminder, stared at it carefully and began to study it.
After a moment, Song Zhiyuan asked lazily, "How is it going? Do you have any clues?"
“Sister, I think it might be in an exhibition hall or an ancient museum.
Exhibition halls and museums are relatively quiet, and they only store ancient relics. If I were to mix in a silver note rubbing, I don't think anyone would pay much attention, making it more suitable for hiding."
Song Zhiyuan nodded in agreement, "That does make sense."
After hearing his sister's praise, Song Zhiwei raised his chin proudly.
"Jing Mo, what do you think?"
"Sister Song, my opinion is a little different from Song Zhiwei's." Shen Jingmo said, pointing to the temple halfway up the mountain. His eyes fell softly on the girl and he explained seriously, "I think he will go to this temple."
"The temple is quite far from where we are and is located halfway up the mountain, so many people simply ignore it."
"No one has visited the temple since yesterday."
We are still young and have no interest in temples, so naturally we will not go to such places to check them out.
The place that is ignored by everyone is also the safest place.
Song Zhiwei couldn't help but nodded, "I think what you said makes a lot of sense. I didn't think of this temple either."
"We still have time, let's go check it out. These three places are on the way." All their ideas now are just guesses. If they want to verify them, they must check them one by one.
The three of them followed the map and came to the exhibition hall.
The exhibition halls and museums in the ancient city are open to the public from Monday to Friday. Today happens to be Thursday, and when they came, the entire exhibition hall was full of tourists from other places.
Song Zhiyuan followed the tourists around and said, "My intuition tells me that the rubbings shouldn't be here."
There was no place to hide anything in this place. Every display cabinet was locked, and it was impossible for the props for their games to be placed in a locked cabinet.
This kind of place is too blatant and crowded.
To avoid any omissions, the three of them searched the exhibition hall inside and out, and only went to the museum after making sure there was nothing suspicious.
The museum has relatively fewer visitors and is more solemn. Most of the items stored there are ancient books, porcelain bottles, ancient paintings and other objects left over from ancient times.
Song Zhiyuan's main search target was outside the museum.
After searching for nearly an hour, there was no clue.
They could only go to the last place where the rubbings might be hidden, a temple halfway up the mountain.
The ancient city here has been developed, and the road up the mountain has been repaired. There are handles on both sides of the tall and upright steps.
The stones on the steps were rounded.
The three of them walked for nearly an hour before finally reaching halfway up the mountain.
Before entering the temple, the three of them sat on the steps, sweating and panting in the winter. Song Zhiwei lay on the steps, panting, and looked ahead. "This temple is very quiet. There are not even any tourists visiting. We must have found the wrong place."
"It shouldn't be. Now that we're here, let's go in and take a look."
After resting for a while, the three of them stood up again and moved towards the temple in front of them.
The temple in front is relatively small, with only three courtyards.
The deity enshrined in the main hall at the front was not the usual gods and Buddhas, but a scary clay sculpture. The clay sculpture was eight feet tall, had fangs, a pair of huge eyes, and a ferocious look. Song Zhiwei was so scared that he ran away at the sight of it.
"Sister, this place is quite scary. Let's leave quickly. I don't think the suspect would hide the rubbings in a place like this." Song Zhiwei's legs went weak and his fingers tightly grasped his sister's sleeves, trying to pull her out.
As the breeze blew, crisp sounds came from the ginkgo tree in the yard.
She turned her head and saw copper coins tied with red ropes hanging on the book, and then a man in Taoist robes came from the backyard.
The man was wearing a hat and holding Buddhist beads in his hand. When he saw the three of them, he made a Taoist gesture humbly. Song Zhiyuan humbly returned the greeting.
"Master Taoist, I see that this temple does not enshrine any gods or Buddhas, so what are people praying for here?" Song Zhiyuan's eyes swept over the Taoist priest.
"This place was not originally a temple dedicated to gods or Buddhas. As early as the reign of Emperor Zongxi, this temple has been dedicated to the guardian sheep god, who was able to protect the stability of the entire village. Later, during the Qing Dynasty, the temple was repaired and has been preserved until now.
However, as time went by, fewer and fewer people came to worship.
Only a few elderly people would come and ask the mountain ghost to spend money to keep their children safe.
"Three little donors, please don't bow. That mountain ghost is using money to ensure safety." The young Taoist priest advised the three.
Shen Jingmo looked at Song Zhiyuan and shook his head.
It's obvious that he is a liar.
Song Zhiyuan didn't say anything, but Song Zhiwei became interested. "Can this thing really keep you safe?"
The Taoist priest smiled and said, “Everything in the world exists if you believe in it, and it doesn’t exist if you don’t believe in it.
Don't worry, I'm not a liar. I don't charge for anything here. If you want to worship, you can kowtow sincerely, and I will help you consecrate the mountain ghost with money."
"Besides ensuring safety, can it ward off evil spirits?" Song Zhiwei asked.
"There is no evil in the world, but the human heart is prone to evil."
Song Zhiwei didn't quite understand such profound words. He pulled Song Zhiyuan's sleeve and whispered, "Sister, let's say goodbye."
Song Zhiyuan did not refute and followed Song Zhiwei to kneel on the mat in front of him.
Shen Jingmo didn't quite believe this. After seeing Sister Song kneeling down, he followed closely.
As soon as Song Zhiyuan's knees touched the cushion, he felt something hard underneath.
Even though she was wearing thick and warm clothes, her knees still hurt.
Song Zhiyuan stood up with a suspicious frown.
Her action immediately attracted the attention of the two teenagers next to her, "What's wrong, sister?"
She didn't say anything, but reached into the cushion and touched it a few times.
The two young men stared at her movements nervously.
After some searching, there was indeed something inside the futon.
Song Zhiyuan took advantage of the gap in the cushion of the futon and pulled out a rectangular rubbing from it. Apart from the black ink marks, the font on the rubbing could still be seen clearly. It was the rubbing of the silver note they were looking for.
Instead of finding the suspect provided by the government, they found the lost rubbings first.
The three of them locked their eyes on the Taoist priest in front of them at the same time.
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