Does the gentleman have any thoughts on Chapter 13?
In the end, the shopkeeper refused to sell the tools that Jin Shu had already selected, insisting that the county government act as guarantor.
They had no choice but to neatly stack them aside.
Faced with the overly cautious shopkeeper, Li Jin was both amused and exasperated, but had no better solution. He could only send Zhou Zheng back to the Linyang County government office to bring Yang An to settle the bill. He and Jin Shu waited for him to return in the teahouse next door.
The small teahouse on the street corner is open-air, with a canopy and three old wooden tables and chairs.
On one side, you can see the entrance to the knife shop, and on the other side, you can also take in the gradually bustling evening market in Linyang.
Jin Shu was sitting facing the evening market, resting her chin on her hand.
Seeing her deep in thought, Li Jin raised an eyebrow and asked, "Does the gentleman have any thoughts?"
view?
In the same courtyard lived a strong, blind man who could climb trees to chop firewood, a lame man with leg injuries who had difficulty moving, and a dead, mentally unstable lame man.
“There are too many possibilities.” She sighed, sat up straight, and reached out to pick up two teacups from the center of the table, placing them together.
“Both of them had difficulty moving around, but the deceased also had difficulty moving around, so it was a gang crime…” She paused, separated her teacups by three inches, and added, “Or it could have been a solo act.”
Before him, Li Jin smiled faintly, picked up a cigarette from his sleeve, and poured a cup of tea: "When you were examining the body, sir, I went to the jail. The blind man said that the lame man hired someone to kill the person, while the lame man said that the blind man accidentally killed the person."
He looked up, his gaze falling on Jin Shu's face. He picked up the last teacup in front of her, poured her another cup, and handed it to her: "You already know the rest."
Gazing at the warm tea in front of her, Jin Shu's fingertips caressed the rim of the cup, the reflection in the water rippling gently.
After a moment, she frowned and said, "I need to see these two suspects. Only by seeing them can I know just how inconvenient this mobility issue really is."
But Li Jin, standing before him, shook his head: "Whether I see him or not, it's all the same."
He picked up his teacup and blew away the foam: "Yang An used severe torture; both of them are unrecognizable."
When he said "completely unrecognizable," his tone was extremely cold, suppressing a fire, yet his face still wore a cold smile.
"What? How can this be? Is Lord Yang planning to extract a confession through torture?"
After he finished speaking, Jin Shu watched him calmly drink his tea without saying anything, but felt a chill run down her spine and gasped.
It seems she was right; Magistrate Lin Yang really intends to do just that.
"How can you treat human life so carelessly!" She crossed her arms, lowered her head, and spat out two words viciously, "Incompetent official!"
This look made her resemble a wronged young wife, which made Li Jin chuckle.
Seeing that he could still laugh, Jin Shu became even more dissatisfied, her brows furrowed and her gaze fixed on his face: "Even in this state, how can the sect leader still laugh?"
Li Jin raised an eyebrow, giving Mr. Jin a newfound respect.
“Sir, you are truly extraordinary.” He smiled and said, “Nowadays, there are still a few talented and ambitious people like you who embrace the idea of equality for all beings, regardless of social status.”
Jin Shu was taken aback. Looking at his smiling face, she recalled the previous case of a prostitute being murdered and realized that she was being used as a target of his teasing. She smirked and said, "Likewise."
At this point, she hesitated for a moment, observing Li Jin for a breath.
He calmly poured tea, gazing at the street scene beside him, a faint smile on his face. He didn't seem to be carrying any mystery in his mind at all.
"Sect Leader, do you... already know who the murderer is?"
Li Jin's teacup hovered in mid-air. He looked up, met Jin Shu's probing gaze, and nodded: "I just don't know the motive."
As we talked, it grew late. The clear blue night sky was filled with stars. The teahouse lit its lamps, which hung on the pillars beside the awning, swaying gently in the early spring night breeze, casting indistinct shadows.
Li Jin didn't say anything more. Seeing that there were more and more pedestrians in the market, he picked up the fan on the table, stood up and called to her: "Let's go find the motive."
Based on what the knife shop owner had just said, combined with the known clues, Li Jin had already pieced together about 80% of the case's outline.
However, this is far from enough to restore the original appearance of the entire case.
Looking at the dazzling array of goods at the evening market, Li Jin walked around and looked at them. Before long, he spotted a vendor making lanterns.
He put away his fan, picked up a tiger lantern that the vendor had just finished making, and examined it carefully from all angles.
"Sir, would you like a lamp?" The young vendor grinned, revealing two canine teeth, and raised his hand to make a "two" shape: "My specialty, only three coins, a great deal."
Li Jin hesitated for a moment, then nodded and handed the tiger lantern to Jin Shu.
He raised his hand and just pulled out three coins from his sleeve pocket when he saw two children running out of the alley next to him, bowing and kneeling before him.
"Young master! Please have mercy!"
"Young master! Please give me a meal!"
The lantern vendor rushed forward, grabbing the two boys by the arms, one in each hand. "Here we go again! These beggars!" he said, smiling obsequiously at Li Jin and bending over to pull the two children aside.
The procession was quite large, attracting the attention of passersby.
Li Jin remained expressionless, took out a few more copper coins from his sleeve, and called out, "Let them come over."
Upon hearing this, the two children looked as if they had seen a ray of light, their eyes filled with excitement. They shook their shoulders forcefully, breaking free from the vendor's grasp, and ran towards Li Jin, not forgetting to turn back and make a face at the vendor as they did so.
Five coins per person.
The child thanked them repeatedly, grabbed the money, and ran off happily.
Watching their retreating figures, Li Jin turned to the vendor and casually remarked, "Are all the beggars on this street these teenagers?"
"Where!" The vendor sniffed his palms with disgust, then took out a rag and wiped his hands back and forth. "There used to be three beggars on this street who formed a beggar gang. These little brats can't even come to this street to beg for money. This is their territory."
"Where are the three beggars?" Li Jin laid out the coins one by one on the table in front of the vendor, one, two, three, four, five, a total of five coins.
The vendor was stunned for a moment, then his face lit up with a smile in the blink of an eye, and he hurriedly put everything away: "Oh dear, sir, you must be from out of town. You don't know that Lin Yang is in such a terrible situation?"
He spoke mysteriously, lowering his voice, "Those three beggars must be fighting amongst themselves."
"Oh?" Li Jin didn't stop, and actually put five more coins on the table. "Consider this a tip for listening to the story."
Seeing the generous boss, the vendor smiled even more broadly and immediately brought Li Jin a small stool from under his stall.
"Then this story is really interesting, full of love, hate and revenge! Let me tell you! The leader of the Beggars' Clan is a cripple who hangs out on the other side of the street. But the second brother is blind, so he can only be led around by the third brother."
At this point, he chuckled and said, "Since he's blind and can't see, the third brother got the idea to steal money from his bowl every now and then!"
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