Chapter 42
The yamen runners' swords were not pinned on their bodies, but held loosely in their hands. The men walked slowly, and from time to time, their swords rubbed against the ground, making harsh sounds.
Lin Xing and Shen Ling, who were two steps behind him, looked at each other and asked, "Brother Yamen Runner, have there been people like us who have come to report to the authorities recently?"
"If it was a robbery, that would be a lot. But you're the first to encounter a black shop."
"Is that so? Brother, how many years have you been here?"
"Five years."
"Where are the county magistrate and the county magistrate?"
After hearing this, the yamen runner stopped, picked up his sword, turned around and stared at Lin Xing, "Why are you so talkative, little girl?"
Chen Ling quickly stood in front of Lin Xing and said, "I have been lively since I was young. I just arrived in Quyang and experienced this incident. I was shocked. I hope you can forgive me for disturbing you."
"Little sister, it's fine if you call me big brother. I'm about the same age as you, but you're calling me old."
Shen Ling stepped back and saluted, "My name is Shen Ling, may I know your name, sir?"
"Just call me Liu Qichang. You will probably be staying here for a few days. If you need anything, just let me know."
After Liu Qichang finished speaking, he ignored the two of them and continued walking forward. After this incident, Lin Xing no longer asked any questions.
"The county magistrate has been here for more than ten years. He has always worked diligently and has a very good reputation among the people."
"The county magistrate was assigned here three months ago. His surname is Wu and he is quite young. You know, he is new here. But I heard that he was appointed by the emperor himself, so he should be quite capable."
Since Liu Qichang was willing to tell Lin Xing about the county magistrate and the county magistrate, she also plucked up the courage to continue asking: "Has Brother Liu heard about Doctor Li?"
"Are you referring to Old Monster Li?"
"right."
This time Liu Qichang did not speak out immediately. He thought for a long time before speaking: "When I was a child, my family was poor and we had no money to see a doctor. This old man Li often helped poor people like us. But later he suddenly changed. He locked himself in the clinic all day and refused to treat patients."
"Why is that?"
Liu Qichang completely let go of his sword, and every step he took was accompanied by a voice, "Ten years ago, a body was found in the backyard of his clinic, and the family has not been found until now. Everyone thinks it was done by Old Monster Li, even though the county government did not convict him."
"Brother Liu, do you think this matter has anything to do with him?"
The person walking in front just lowered his head and said nothing. Maybe he didn't know either. Lin Xing changed the subject, "Brother Liu, do you know Li Dongyi, the wealthy businessman? My brother and I came here because we admired him, and we also want to achieve the same results."
Speaking of Li Dongyi, Liu Qichang's tone turned indignant. "What's there to say about that guy? He's just a profiteer. Unfortunately, he knows our laws very well and took advantage of loopholes to do many shameful things."
"Does he have any family?"
"He just married a concubine a few days ago. I think her surname is Zhao. He doesn't have a wife, but he has many concubines."
"What about his parents? Does he have any brothers or sisters?"
"Both her parents passed away a long time ago. She seemed to have a younger sister, but she died ten years ago at the age of thirteen." Liu Qichang looked up suddenly as if he had thought of something. "Her sister was the apprentice of that old monster Li."
After asking almost all the questions, the three of them just arrived in front of two empty rooms. Liu Qichang turned around and looked at Lin Xing and Shen Ling, "You can stay here for the time being. I believe the county magistrate will seek justice for you."
The two of them saluted at the same time. Seeing Liu Qichang's figure disappear, Shen Ling couldn't help but ask: "Why didn't you tell the county magistrate the truth and let him go to rescue Boss Li?"
Lin Xing didn't look at him and walked straight into the house. "Guess."
"Do you still suspect that Boss Li is in league with those people?"
Both of them had already walked into the house. Lin Xing closed the door and lowered her voice, "No, I just think the county magistrate doesn't look like a good person."
"Outside the county government office, he was so sincere and even provided us with a place to stay. He also said he would get it back for us..."
The voices became smaller and smaller, and Shen Ling suddenly realized that the county magistrate had not even asked the name of the post station where they were staying, so where could he go to seek justice?
Looking at Shen Ling's expression, Lin Xing understood that he had guessed the answer. "I guess he will come back to us tomorrow with some money and tell us that the thieves have escaped and the building is empty. But as the county magistrate, he should be responsible for this, so he will pay out of his own pocket to make up for our losses."
Shen Ling remained silent for a long time, lowered his eyes, and didn't know what he was thinking. Lin Xing just waited like that, equally quietly.
"So what should we do?"
"Find the county magistrate."
"If he is like this, what should we do then?"
"Then we'll talk about it then."
Lin Xing pushed open the door and carefully looked at the situation outside. Shen Ling immediately understood what she meant and waited for Lin Xing's next step.
"Brother Liu, why are you back again?"
The door suddenly opened, and the sunlight suddenly shone into the room. Shen Ling was caught off guard and squinted his eyes involuntarily.
"I'm here to bring you some daily necessities. These are all arranged by the county magistrate."
Shen Ling immediately took the item from his hand, and Lin Xing said cheerfully: "Thank you for troubling me, Brother Liu. I just told my brother that I want to go to Quyang. Do you want to come with me, Brother Liu?"
"I won't go. I have to patrol later."
After the conversation, the two packed up and went out. They seemed like a pair of siblings who had just arrived here. They wandered around various shops, causing the people who were following them to relax their vigilance.
It was midnight when the two returned to the county government office. They gained nothing except a tired body. After all, they played the role of penniless paupers.
They each returned to their own rooms. Lin Xing lay down on the bed without turning on the light and fell into a deep sleep. At the same time, someone's door was knocked on the other side.
"County Magistrate Wu, I am Yu Hang."
The door suddenly opened, revealing a pale face. It must be that he had not had a good rest for several days. The man stared at Yu Hang's face and recognized him in the moonlight for a long time before letting him into the house.
"Inspector Yu came here suddenly. Is it because of something important? But why didn't I receive any notification from the emperor?"
"It's not the emperor's arrangement. Do you know Hongciyi?"
Magistrate Wu pondered for a long time, as if searching for records in his mind. "I have seen this name in a document. Hongci Posthouse was an official posthouse, but it was abandoned ten years ago. The new official posthouse is called Huaci Posthouse."
“Why abandoned?”
"The document didn't go into detail. It just said that a wealthy family stayed at the post station, and they all disappeared mysteriously overnight."
"So are there still people living in Hongciyi now?"
"We stopped staying here a long time ago. When people heard about this, they would rather travel all night than stay. We had no choice but to build the Huaci Posthouse."
Yu Hang was about to leave, but Magistrate Wu stopped him and said, "I don't know why Supervisor Yu suddenly inquired about this matter."
The light in the room was not bright, so Yu Hang could not see Magistrate Wu's expression clearly, but he could see the piled up documents and the wet brushes on the desk clearly.
"To be honest, Deputy Supervisor Shen and I were ordered by the Emperor to escort something from Nanru to the capital. We rested at Hongci Posthouse last night."
"It's been abandoned and must be in a very dilapidated state. How can we stay there?"
"On the contrary, there are a lot of people at Hongciyi."
"How could such an abnormal thing happen?"
Yu Hang had been secretly observing Magistrate Wu. Seeing that the doubt on his face did not seem fake, he decided to continue, "It had become a black shop. The deputy inspector and I discovered it in time and were able to escape. However, the things that the emperor asked us to escort ended up at Hongci Post."
"How can that be possible? I will take people to Hongciyi to look for you tomorrow morning. No, I will go now."
Magistrate Wu was already dressed neatly, and was about to go to the door, but Yu Hang blocked his way, "Deputy Supervisor Shen has gone to report to the authorities, and the county magistrate is already handling the matter."
Magistrate Wu, who had no choice but to stop, was puzzled. Hearing this, he was even more puzzled. "Since we have already reported it to the authorities, why did Supervisor Yu come to visit us in the middle of the night?"
Yu Hang said nothing and just looked at Magistrate Wu quietly. Magistrate Wu seemed to understand something and said in an uncertain tone, "Could it be that Supervisor Yu suspected that the county magistrate was in cahoots with the people at the post station?"
"I didn't say that."
"What, what should I do?" County Magistrate Wu was as anxious as an ant on a hot pan, pacing back and forth constantly.
"Don't worry, Magistrate Wu. We will know tomorrow what the county magistrate is like. I will come to see you then."
Yu Hang quietly went out and immediately hid in the night. A quarter of an hour later, the dim light in the house was blown out, but the door was opened.
Lin Xing woke up early the next morning. I thought I would sleep until noon, but when I looked at the sun outside the window, I realized it was only the morning hour. She tossed and turned, unable to sleep, so she sat up from the bed, and finally walked out the door and went to the next room.
"Wake up, Shen Ling, get up, Shen Ling."
Lin Xing knocked on the door but missed. The face of the person in the room appeared with narrowed eyes, "Why are you up so early? What happened again?"
"No, I just want to take you to eat the special food of Quyang."
"Wait a moment."
Seeing the door closed again, Lin Xing turned around and went back to wash up. The two of them had a tacit understanding and appeared outside the door at the same time.
"Quyang sesame cakes, freshly-made Quyang sesame cakes, come and buy them!"
"Boss, four please."
"Okay, girl, here you go."
Lin Xing was drooling as she looked at the steaming sesame seed-filled pancakes, but Shen Ling behind her was not so excited.
The two of them each took a sesame cake and nibbled on it. They had to say it was really delicious, crispy and crunchy. It was so delicious that they forgot to look at the road and accidentally walked to the end of East Street and saw Li's mansion.
"Make way, make way."
The two men were carrying something unknown and walked straight through Lin Xing and Shen Ling, knocking the pancake in Lin Xing's hand to the ground and stepping on it.
Looking at the dead sesame cake, Lin Xing stood in front of them, put her hands on her hips and shouted: "You have to compensate for my sesame cake!!!"
The two men seemed to have just noticed it and said apologetically, "Miss, I'm so sorry. We are in a hurry to deliver something to Li's house. How about we compensate you after we get out?"
"All right."
Lin Xing turned aside to let them leave, and she squatted down to look at the body of Shaobing on the ground. Shen Ling couldn't bear to watch such a pitiful look, "Aren't there two more? Eat them first, and we'll go buy more later."
"No, do you really think I want to eat sesame cakes?" Lin Xing looked up at Chen Ling, "Those two people are in a hurry to deliver things to Li's house, aren't you curious?"
"You're quite nosy."
Lin Xing stood up and pointed at herself, "I'm gossiping? I'm thinking about our big thing. I don't know the details of this rich businessman Li, so this is an opportunity.
After waiting for a while, the two men came out of Li's house empty-handed. Seeing Lin Xing still waiting there, they hurried to her side and said, "I'm so sorry, young lady. I'll go buy you some sesame cakes now."
Lin Xing nodded, and the four of them walked towards the center of the market together. "Two brothers, what did you send to the Li Mansion just now? It looks very valuable."
"Black Girl Dumplings, Master Li eats them every morning."
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