Lin Cuiying thought for a moment and then asked, "You mean you know that Anhetang bought He Shou Wu, and that only you know about it, and that the young lady who sells He Shou Wu also knows about it?"
The old doctor nodded.
"Do you know that young lady who sells he shou wu?" Lin Cuiying then asked.
"I don't recognize her; I've never seen her before." The old doctor shook his head again. "However, she came over again yesterday."
"What did she come over for yesterday?" Lin Cuiying continued to press.
"She came here to get medicine. She said her house burned down the night before last, and the medicine she got was burned, so she came to our Anhetang to get medicine again." The old doctor recalled carefully.
While Lin Cuiying was thinking, the old doctor said again, "Officer, do you suspect that the young lady selling He Shou Wu is a thief?"
Upon hearing this, Lin Cuiying thought to herself: Why would I doubt myself for no reason?
As a qualified constable, Lin Cuiying would certainly want to understand the ins and outs of the matter. So she asked the old doctor, "What time did you close your shop on the day the He Shou Wu was stolen? Did you notice anything unusual before or after you closed the shop?"
The old doctor thought back carefully, "That day was the same as usual, we closed the door after dark, and I didn't notice anything unusual before or after closing!"
"Think about it again carefully," Lin Cuiying said to the old doctor.
Suddenly, his eyes lit up. "That's right, when I closed the door to go home, I saw the shop assistant from Huichuntang."
"A shop assistant from Huichuntang?" Lin Cuiying frowned. "What was he doing when you saw him?"
"He...he was acting suspiciously, and he ran away after he saw me." After saying that, the old doctor added, "I didn't think much of it at the time. After all, neither of our clinics was doing well and we were competitors. It's normal for him to avoid me after he saw me."
According to the clues from the silly system, the theft is related to Huichuntang, and coincidentally, the old doctor saw a Huichuntang employee when he returned home.
In this light, Huichuntang is even more suspicious.
Lin Cuiying then asked the old doctor, "Do you know that fellow?"
The old doctor nodded, "I know him, but I don't know his name. I only know that he works as a gofer at Huichuntang."
"Could you describe what that guy looks like to me?"
The old doctor thought carefully and described the appearance of the Huichuntang shop assistant.
After listening to the old doctor's description, a figure immediately came to mind for Lin Cuiying.
That day, she brought her family to town for medical treatment. The first place they went was Huichuntang. The description given by the clerk who came out was similar to that of the old doctor.
Lin Cuiying remembers vividly how the waiter looked down on her family because of their poor clothing.
Thinking of that shop assistant, Lin Cuiying became even more certain that there was something wrong with Huichuntang.
Lin Cuiying then asked the old doctor, "Do you only work at your clinic by yourself? Don't you have any apprentices or pharmacy boys?"
The old doctor sighed, "There used to be two, but the clinic wasn't doing well, so the owner transferred them to other clinics."
Thinking of something, Lin Cuiying asked again, "Where was the he shou wu stolen? Can you take me there to see it?"
The old doctor stood up and gestured to Lin Cuiying, "Officer, please come with me."
Lin Cuiying stood up and followed the old doctor inside.
As the old doctor walked, he explained to Lin Cuiying, "Our clinic is small and we don't have many medicinal herbs, so the place where the He Shou Wu was stolen is both where we store the herbs and where we dispense the medicine."
Lin Cuiying nodded and followed the old doctor inside, where she saw several rows of medicine cabinets, with many medicinal herbs on top.
The old doctor pointed to one of the medicine cabinets and said, "The Polygonum multiflorum was stolen from here."
Lin Cuiying stepped forward and carefully examined the medicine cabinet. The cabinet was not locked, and the door was closed.
She looked into the medicine cabinet again; it was empty, with nothing inside.
Lin Cuiying frowned. "Doesn't your clinic have a lock? How can you leave such expensive medicinal herbs like this?"
The old doctor blushed. "I'm the only one in the clinic, so for convenience, I don't lock the medicine cabinet when I close at night."
Lin Cuiying didn't say anything more. She continued to examine the medicine cabinet and knocked on it. The cabinet was made of solid wood and was very sturdy, so there was no possibility that it could be damaged.
"After discovering that the Polygonum multiflorum was stolen, what happened to the other medicinal herbs?"
"Only the Polygonum multiflorum was stolen."
"Are there any signs that these medicine cabinets have been disturbed?"
The old doctor shook his head. "No, if it weren't for my daily habit of checking the medicinal herbs, I wouldn't have known that the Polygonum multiflorum had been stolen."
Judging from his appearance, this person knows very well where Anhetang's medicinal herbs are stored.
This is a bit strange, as the thief seemed quite familiar with Anhetang.
Lin Cuiying then asked, "Are there any signs of forced entry on the locks of your clinic's doors?"
The old doctor shook his head again, "The door lock is fine, there are no signs of forced entry."
Lin Cuiying frowned again. The door lock hadn't been pried open, and there were no signs of the medicine cabinet being disturbed, so there were only two possibilities.
First, the thief had a key to An Wo Tong.
Second, the thief entered from another location.
Thinking of the first possibility, Lin Cuiying asked the old doctor again, "Who has the key to the clinic?"
The old doctor reached for the key at his waist and said, "I'm the only one working at the clinic, so only I have the key, but the owner has one too."
He is responsible for the theft of the Polygonum multiflorum. If the Polygonum multiflorum is found, he will not be fired.
Lin Cuiying pointed to the back of the clinic and asked, "What's that place behind there?"
"There is a courtyard behind, with several side rooms in the courtyard. The owner sometimes stays there when he comes to town."
Lin Cuiying walked towards the back, and the old doctor quickly followed.
The two arrived in the courtyard. Lin Cuiying looked around. The courtyard was about ten feet high, and it wouldn't be easy for an ordinary person to climb over it.
However, with the help of other tools, it's not impossible to climb in from the outside.
Thinking of this possibility, Lin Cuiying started circling around the wall.
As she turned to a corner, Lin Cuiying's eyes lit up. She saw a patch of weeds at the bottom of the wall, which had been trampled down.
Lin Cuiying stepped forward and took a closer look, and found two shallow footprints on the weeds.
Because it was in a corner with a bunch of weeds, most people wouldn't notice it. Plus, it had rained a few days ago, so the soil was a bit soft, which is why there were two footprints.
Looking at the footprints, Lin Cuiying asked the old doctor behind her, "Are these your footprints?"
The old doctor hurriedly shook his head, "No, I leave here every day after closing time and never stay overnight at the clinic. I don't usually come to the backyard, and I've never been to this place before."
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