Chapter 11: Antique Shops (11)

It is almost noon, the sun is shining high, and the sunlight on the top of the fast hanging penetrates the turquoise early spring, turning the moist water vapor floating in the air, shining directly on the top of the head, and the cheeks of the bright moon are ruddy, like pomegranate wine red.

She covered her hot face and said, "We have all traveled to the inns and restaurants near Baibaozhen, and even the teahouses and restaurants, why are they all closed when they are not enough." Could it be that the murderer came from a little further away? ”

Bai Shui took the water bladder from her waist to moisten her throat, raised her hand to wipe the sweat on her forehead, and said, "At that time, I was a treasure treasure who arrived at the end of the morning, and although there was water on the ground, there was not much. If the murderer had come from afar, he would have been soaking wet, and there would never have been just a little water in the shop. And he had wine on him, and if he was drenched, the wine would not leave such a strong smell. Therefore, Su Gongzi analyzed various reasons and said that the person would never come from a tavern a mile away. ”

"But I can't find it anywhere here." Mingyue asked, "Could it be someone who drinks wine and eats meat at home?" ”

"If that's the case, it's hard."

"Go the way the husband sees."

The road that the husband saw was called Liuzhang Street because it was six zhang wide. Just in the daytime, people came and went on the street, and the bright moon walked against the wall. Liuzhang Street winds in a winding way, and there are many alleys leading to various homes and connecting other places, and the terrain is relatively complex, so there is nothing to gain by walking along this road.

But Mingyue only remembered it as she walked, turned around and said to Bai Shui, "If you are drinking at your own house, this road is also going back to the murderer's home, so why did the murderer go to Baibaozhen in the opposite direction?" Even if you are passing by, there must be a reason, it is raining in the middle of the night, why do you want to go out? ”

"Drunkard?"

"Didn't Su Gongzi say that the amount of alcohol that person must be very good, otherwise he wouldn't be able to distinguish which are good and which are defective in the antique shop when he leaves." After Mingyue finished speaking, she was even more puzzled, "Drinking wine and eating meat in the middle of the night, and knowing how good things are, and daring to kill people......"

There seem to be a lot of clues, but they are really messy, and Mingyue can't string them together into a line for a while. She turned back to the original way, if the murderer came from the direction of Bai Bao Zhen, it would inevitably come from the street, the street where Bai Bao Zhen was located had few forks in the road, and the reverse retrograde, maybe there could be other clues.

Noon is about to pass, Mingyue's face is more reddened, the spring day is not dazzling, but after walking under the sun for a long time, I feel that there is going to be white smoke above my head. Bai Shui often rode out on horseback as a fast catcher, and it was nothing to go around handling cases and arresting thieves. But the pretty girl in front of her kept walking, looking left and right, like catching her head and investigating a case.

He took the water bladder and was about to hand it to her, but he saw her stop abruptly and almost knocked her away. He subconsciously grabbed her hand to support her, "Don't let you go and rest in a hurry, this will not cause heat stroke." ”

Mingyue looked at the other side in a daze, and raised her chin, "No...... Look at that. ”

Bai Shui looked at it, and the gate on the opposite side was closed, which was very eye-catching on the street where the shop was fully open, and a flag was floating in front of the door, and the word "gambling" was printed impressively. It was the most famous gambling house in Nanle County, he said, "It's just a gambling house, why do you be so surprised, isn't it closed during the day and open at night on weekdays?" ”

Mingyue swallowed, "I'm here to let you see it in front of the door." ”

Bai Shui cast his gaze on it again, this time he knew why Mingyue had lost her soul. In front of the gambling house, there is a large area of yellow mud, and it seems that a passer-by accidentally walked through it and stained the soles of his shoes, and a little farther away from the gambling house, you can still see the footprints of yellow mud.

Yellow Clay Footprints...... The footprints left in the Baibaozhen shop are stained with yellow mud.

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In the middle of the night, the shops on the street closed one after another, and only the gambling house Qinglou, whose doors were closed during the day, opened its doors after sunset and began to welcome visitors from all over the world.

Nanle Gambling House is the largest gambling house in the county, with dice, pai gow, Yiqi, Liubo, and Simen Fangbao all kinds of things, and there are more than 100 people who enter and exit here every day. If there is no farm work to do on a rainy day, there is no stall to set up, and the shop business is deserted, more people come here to pass the time.

Most of the people here are middle-aged people, and there are also young ones, but the description is not good, and the guide Su Yunkai and his party entered the gambling house, which is quite attention-grabbing. Especially Qin Fang's fox fur, his furry collar completely covered his neck, and his face was also covered like melon seeds.

Mingyue is petite, although she changes into a man's outfit, and has a woman's green sideburns and red face, if she didn't think that there would be no girls in this kind of place, she would have been recognized a long time ago.

Therefore, among the three, Su Yunkai is the most normal and the least noticeable. When he saw Qin Fang looking around, he was quite eye-catching, and whispered, "Don't look around." ”

Qin Fang said, "It's the first time I've come to the gambling house, and I'm curious. ”

"I knew I should let Bai Zhutou come, but you are more eye-catching than him."

"Whoever made him not understand wine is still a head catcher, he scared people away early when he came." Qin let go and itched, anyway, he said that he would go his own way when he came in, so he just found a place to gamble and play.

Mingyue continued to follow Su Yunkai inside, not looking at the gamblers who were clustered together, but at the entire gambling house.

The tip of the nose is slightly fragrant with marinated flavor, and it is full of rich wine flavor. Su Yunkai also noticed it, turned his head to look at her, and saw that she was still following, so he followed the smell and walked forward.

The aroma of wine and coriander comes from the end of the gambling house, and when you pass through the gambler, you will see that the shelves on the wall are full of wine, and there are large pieces of sauce pig's trotters and duck necks on the counter, as well as all kinds of braised meat, and even a few vegetarian dishes are also drizzled with soy sauce and garlic, all of which are dishes that can still leave a fragrance in the stomach.

The gambling house is open at dusk, and the dawn is dispersed, and other shops are not open in the middle of the night, so the gambling house hires a cook to cook for the convenience of gamblers to eat and drink, and also earn money for wine and food.

"Kouzi wine." Su Yunkai didn't know wine, but he recognized the words on the wine jar. The wine on the shelves is all liqueur.

Mingyue also glanced at it and whispered, "Before, you doubted that it would be a prostitute who went to the Qinglou, but now it seems impossible." ”

If it is a green house, there will never be only one kind of wine. And in addition to the smell of alcohol, the clothes will inevitably be stained with the smell of rouge and gouache. Liu Peizhen's corpse did have the scent of rouge, but it was the same as the smell of the incense powder found in her room, and there was no other adulterated fragrance. Therefore, compared with the Qinglou, the gambling house is more likely to become the place where the murderer left that night.

What's more, the closest green building to Baibaozhen is also three streets away, but the gambling house is only half a quarter away.

It is not easy to find the murderer in this place where hundreds of people come in and out every day, but it is easy to startle the snake when it comes to inquiry. The two stayed in the gambling house for a while, and randomly found a few gambling booths to place bets. Unexpectedly, the two of them had good luck and won a lot of money. Estimating that winning again would really attract people's attention, he retreated and found Qin Fang to leave.

Qin Fang lost a lot of money, but he had always spent a lot of money and didn't care at all, but because he felt strange when he entered the gambling house for the first time in his life, he was very excited when he left the gambling house.

In front of the gambling house and on the left and right, there is yellow mud. It didn't rain for a few days, and the mud was dry. Su Yunkai took off the water bladder he had brought a long time ago, poured it on the muddy ground, and when the paste was rotten, he even stepped on a few steps, only to feel that the soles of his feet were a little heavier. He looked up and said, "I'll run under the eaves as much as I can, and we'll see you in front of Baibaozhen later." ”

In this case, Qin Fang was a monk halfway, and he didn't care about the case, so he didn't know what he was doing at all. But he was used to walking behind Su Yunkai when he was young, and when he saw him running, he also pulled his legs and followed, and in a blink of an eye, he left Mingyue, who had "short legs".

Now it's night, there is no one on the street, even the stalls selling supper have been collected, it is deserted, and it is this kind of case that is being investigated, Mingyue can't help but tremble, feeling terrible.

Su Yunkai ran very fast, and when he arrived at Baibaozhen, he looked at the soles of his feet, and the yellow mud was not clean. It rained heavily that day, the ground was wet, and I don't know how much it would be stained, but there were many eaves along the way, and there were not many places to see water.

After a while, Qin Fang ran out of breath, and he ran miserably when he went out with a sedan chair and carriage, "Sister, brother-in-law, you can't run slowly, running like this in the middle of the night is exhausting." ”

"Let you walk around more on weekdays, don't always sit in a sedan chair, you don't ......" He paused, seeing that there was no one next to him, he frowned, "What about Miss Mingyue?" ”

Qin Fang then remembered, and looked back, where was there anyone. When he turned around, he saw that Su Yunkai's face was very ugly, as if he wanted to scold him, but he was in a hurry to find someone, so he ran along the same road without saying a word. He secretly complained in his heart, this brother-in-law is good at everything, but he is too serious, a big living person will come over later, and he will not lose it.

The streets are silent, and the sound of footsteps on the bluestone road is especially clear in the empty night. Su Yunkai ran back and forth, and fine sweat oozed from his forehead in the slightly cool spring night. If Mingyue really had an accident, then the first person to blame would be herself, not Qin Fang.

He knew Qin Fang's temperament, and he didn't tell him to take care of her and left.

It wasn't far from the way back, and he saw her almost halfway through. Like a rabbit running and stopping, sometimes looking left and right, full of vigilance.

Su Yunkai slowed down, his heart was calm, and then he walked slowly towards her.

Mingyue, who heard the footsteps, was nervous for a moment, looked up, and immediately showed a smile when she saw someone coming, waving to him happily like a reunion after a long absence. Seeing this appearance, Su Yunkai felt that the two were friends who had been separated for three years and five years, which was really amazing.

"Why are you back again, your brother-in-law?"

Su Yunkai replied, "He has already arrived at Baibaozhen. I...... I'll turn back and see if there's a shortcut. ”

Mingyue nodded, and squatted down to look at his shoes, the upper was black, and the edge of the sole was circled with a layer of white, perhaps it was stepped on too deeply, so there was still yellow mud on it, "It seems that it was stained a lot, it was raining at that time, and the rain washed away from above, but I am afraid that it will be wetter." ”

Su Yunkai saw that she was about to reach out and touch it, so he hurriedly leaned over and grabbed her hand and said, "Dirty." ”

Mingyue replied easily, "Corpses are often touched, and this dirtiness is nothing." ”

That's a good saying, but this analogy ...... Why did he feel that something was wrong?