Chapter 9 Chapter 9 "No need." ...
"Need not."
Because it was a small pharmacy, there weren't many medicines on the menu, so they finished picking them out in no time.
Hezhou pushed down the prescriptions he had picked up from the table. There were only about a dozen of them, and when they were stacked, they were not even as high as an abacus. He picked them up and handed them to Xie Xunzhi, "I found almost no high-dose prescriptions."
Xie Xunzhi frowned and shook his head, "I don't have that either."
"It seems I was wrong. I thought that committing a crime in the heat of the moment would... Xunzhi, I'll write this down. We'll split up later and spread out from this center. You take the map to the big pharmacy, and I'll take Erniu to the small pharmacy." Hezhou directly took the notebook where the doctor had just written, picked up the pen and started writing.
Xie Xunzhi snatched the pen from his hand and drew a thick line on the notebook with the black tip of the pen. "Let me write it. Thank you for your hard work, sir."
Hezhou looked at him doubtfully, a flash of confusion in his eyes, then he figured it out. The other party was still as submissive as ever. He leaned forward and smiled, "It's not hard, it's not hard, it's just a hard life."
"Bah!" Xie Xunzhi looked at him disapprovingly. "Don't say such things. Take Li Erniu with you first."
"Okay, I'll follow Xunzhi's orders. Let's go. Be careful." Hezhou stood by and muttered words of advice, watching Xie Xunzhi's slender fingers holding the brush.
He liked watching Xie Xunzhi write, as it could calm him down and was like a tranquilizer for him.
Xie Xunzhi finished writing the first person's name and looked at him with a twinkle in his eyes. "You too, be careful."
"It's packaged." Hezhou tilted his head and winked at him.
Xie Xunzhi chuckled. Hezhou was not suitable for such coquettish actions, but the other party seemed unaware of it, which always reminded him of a puppy raised by a wealthy family.
Li Erniu followed him in small steps. "Sir, there's a pharmacy two streets ahead. Would you like to go and have a look?"
"Let's go." Hezhou walked quickly to the main street they had just come from and looked around. There were few stalls at the end of the street. He looked back and asked, "Lead the way?"
"Hey." Li Erniu walked to the front. His dark black clothes were particularly eye-catching among the dilapidated buildings. The collar of his clothes was not fitting well and there was a gap.
Li Erniu turned back and looked at him with a smile as he walked away. "Sir, how did you and Lord Xie know each other?"
"Old friend." Hezhou looked at him with a faint amusement. "But your clothes... are well made!"
"Hey!" Li Erniu pulled the clothes over nervously, his voice rising. "I've saved all this money for this moment, right? Working in the government, shouldn't I be able to afford nicer clothes?"
Hezhou thought that the white clothes Xie Xunzhi was wearing were not resistant to getting dirty, and he had been going to the market and the dilapidated temple, and was even scared to the ground by him once during the trip.
"No need to be so particular."
Li Erniu smiled and nodded, pointing forward, "Sir, just turn around this alley and it's right here."
He frowned and looked back. The dilapidated temple had long been buried in the small streets and alleys, and the pharmacy was nowhere to be seen.
"Let's go." Hezhou saw the pharmacy as soon as he came out of the alley.
Strictly speaking, it couldn't be considered a pharmacy. There was a tent outside and a few passers-by were sitting around drinking tea. A woman in a blue headscarf was busying around adding more tea.
Hezhou found a seat near the inner room and sat down, reaching out to wipe the uneven wooden table. The table was exceptionally clean and fresh, emitting a faint mint scent.
The woman wiped her hands and ran over with a kettle in hand. "County Magistrate, what would you like to drink?"
He took out a copper coin and placed it on the table. "Would you like some cold tea?"
"Okay! I don't charge for the herbal tea." The woman agreed readily, and soon a bowl of herbal tea was placed in front of him.
Hezhou took a sip, turned around and saw the woman still standing beside him, smiling at him, "My lord, are you here for something?"
"How do you say that?"
The woman lowered her head and fiddled with the towel. "You and the other adult have been sticking together. If you're separating now, it's not because of something, but what is it?"
Hezhou looked at him and chuckled softly, "You're smart, so I'll be frank. I want to see the drug purchase records for the past year at the pharmacy. Is that okay?"
"Is there an official sign?"
He still took out his badge and just shook it. The other party smiled and agreed and went to get the prescription for him.
Li Erniu's face was filled with smiles and his tone was full of praise, "Sir, not bad, isn't it? Miss Huang is well-known for her virtue."
Hezhou took a sip of the herbal tea, and the dryness in his mouth disappeared instantly, and he felt much better. He looked up at the smirking Li Erniu and gave him a sincere suggestion, "Don't bring trouble to others."
"No...no...no, don't I have something serious to do right now?" Li Erniu turned his face away embarrassedly, with the smile on his lips never leaving.
The prescription was delivered to him soon, and Miss Huang also thoughtfully prepared a pen and paper for him.
"Can you write?"
Li Erniu uttered an "ah" and shook his head, "No."
"Go ask Miss Huang if there were any suspicious people around on the day of the accident?" Hezhou lowered his head and began to adjust the prescription, holding a pen with one hand, imitating Xie Xunzhi's way.
He turned around and saw that Li Erniu had completely started chatting with someone before he began to record. There was still no problem with the prescription, but something went wrong halfway through. There were two names on the list that had appeared there before.
If the murderer did not buy a large amount at one time in a short period of time, but went to several stores in a short period of time to buy a little from each store and piled them together, this would make sense.
He ticked the names of several familiar people, blew gently on them after writing, and then folded them up.
Hezhou finished the last bit of herbal tea and put the copper plate on the table. Li Erniu leaned against the support pole with a shy look. Miss Huang stood in front of the big pot, boiling herbal tea, and didn't even look at him.
Hezhou took the prescription and tapped Li Erniu on the back of the head. "Send it back to him."
"Oh." Li Erniu covered his head and turned back to take the prescription.
He looked at the stove. Miss Huang had a round oval face with her hair all covered behind her. She supported her waist and turned the iron spoon.
"Did you hear any noise on the day of the accident?"
Miss Huang stopped what she was doing and said, "I think there was a little bit, but I can't remember exactly. When I woke up this morning, I seemed to hear a man and a woman arguing. But there's a small forest behind me, so it's not surprising to hear some noise."
"Are you sure? Did you hear any sound of carriages?"
"Yes, maybe not, I can't say for sure." Miss Huang shook her head with a bitter face, then looked at him straight, "Your illness needs treatment."
Hezhou's fingers trembled slightly, his face still expressionless. "What do you mean?"
"You have a mental illness, and if you continue like this for a long time, you'll have problems."
Hezhou looked at her with his eyes gradually moving upwards, and Li Erniu ran out after giving the prescription.
"My lord, it's done."
"Well, let's go." Hezhou nodded lightly, turned his head away from Miss Huang, and took back what he wanted to say, then walked away with his head down.
Li Erniu was still leading the way, and during the conversation he asked him indirectly about his impression of Miss Huang.
Things went much faster afterwards. Every time Hezhou wrote something, he would send Li Erniu away.
Things were just as he thought. The remaining two companies did not have any eye-catching records of purchasing drugs, but there was one person who was highly repetitive.
"Do you know Zhang Wen and Wang Shuo?" Hezhou folded the copied paper and looked at Li Erniu.
Li Erniu patted the melon seed shells on his hands and said, "Oh! It seems to have had some influence. These two people seem to be the coachmen of the Chen Mansion."
"Coachman?" Hezhou knocked on the table and looked at the marks of the carriage wheels and the sleeping pills.
"Let's go back to the government office."
Before leaving, Li Erniu did not forget to greet people with a smile.
He tried hard to keep up with Hezhou's pace. "Sir, I find that you...you are so different from when you are with Master Xie!"
"What do you mean?" Hezhou raised the corner of his mouth and strode forward.
Li Erniu stretched out his hand and gestured, "For example, you are like a sharp sword when you are alone, but when you are with Master Xie, you behave like a child..."
As he spoke, he quickened his pace. A shadow appeared under Hezhou's eyes. The corners of his mouth rose, but the aura around him was still low, like a wild beast that had just come out of the forest, which was really creepy.
The sound gradually faded away, and Hezhou finally responded, "Nothing, we're just good friends."
"Yes, yes, yes! We are good friends. What time should I come this afternoon, sir?"
"Just like the Argentine Primera División."
Lotus and Spring Roll were still cleaning the yamen. They walked from the back room to the front. Spring Roll bowed to him and said, "Sir, I'll go to Chen's Restaurant to order some food and have them deliver it to your door later."
Hezhou took out the map Xie Xunzhi had given him. There weren't many clinics on it. "Well, remember to eat light."
"good."
"Lotus? Has anyone come forward with any clues while we were gone?"
Lotus carefully poured him some tea and said, "No, sir."
Hezhou had just finished drinking the herbal tea and was not thirsty to begin with. Now all he could think about was why Xie Xunzhi hadn't come back yet, and the uneasiness in his heart grew little by little.
He hadn't been separated from Xie Xunzhi for so long in these days, and the feeling of irritability lingered in his heart. He simply walked to the door and waited for someone.
There were a few people passing by the door. The weather was clear but the sun was glaring. The temperature had been dropping recently, so it was a nice and refreshing time.
The plaque of the yamen was polished to a shine, and the copper-colored iron characters reflected a face covered with dark clouds, with thick eyebrows and long eyes tightly furrowed together, and the corners of the mouth were always tense. No one would doubt that he was going to take out a knife and chop someone in the next second.
Hezhou indeed thought so. Wu Hao was a lesson learned before. Why did he let Xie Xunzhi copy the list alone this morning?
I'm afraid he was kicked in the head, he had already thought about it. Before coming here, he also bought a long sword with a white scabbard. If he heard any bad news, he would pick up the sword and take off Master Chen's head.
It's a good thing.
Time was getting longer and longer, and Chunjuan had already returned with two lunch boxes. He asked, "Have you seen Xie Xunzhi?"
When he saw Chunjuan shaking her head, he waved his hand and asked her to go in and eat first, while he continued to stand in front of the door.
Just when Hezhou wanted to call the two people inside to come out and look for someone together, he heard the voice of Xie Xunzhi coming from behind him.
"Brother He?"
Xie Xunzhi was holding a stack of manuscripts in his hand. His white clothes looked gray after a while, and there was half a dog's paw print under his waist.
"Xunzhi? Why did you take so long?" Hezhou's eyes lit up and the corners of his mouth curled up unconsciously. He exuded a sweet joy that made people want to get closer.
"You won't be waiting for me here, will you?" Xie Xunzhi smiled with his eyes curved.
"I just got here too and happened to run into you." Hezhou helped brush off the dust behind him and wiped the dust off his cheeks. "Where did you get this?"
"I saw the clinic records and found that Wang Shuo and Zhang Wen had come to buy drugs from the clinic every three days. After asking around, I found out that they were both rickshaw drivers. So I went to check it out myself."
Hezhou "?"
"Alone? It's too dangerous!"
Xie Xunzhi patted his arm and gave him a reassuring look. "I was just outside to see if they were home."
"That won't do!" He Zhou frowned and said firmly. He looked at Xie Xunzhi and his voice gradually softened. "You haven't recovered yet. You're always alone. I always feel..."
"It's okay, don't worry. I'm a man after all. Besides, I'm just going to take a look. I won't alert the enemy. Otherwise, we won't be able to control the prisoner even with the two of us."
Hezhou sighed, still worried about Xie Xunzhi's late return. As long as he thought about the possibility that he might be in danger...
"So...what did you gain by going there?"
Xie Xunzhi shook his head. "Go in and talk? I walked around the outer circle and only saw two people drinking at Zhang Wen's house. They were very drunk. We'll wait for Ading to come with his men in the afternoon and then arrest them."
"Okay, I'll listen to you."
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