304, [Hidden Things]

Huang Gonggong has provided a lot of noteworthy clues, but the case is still confusing.

After sending off Huang Gonggong, I saw Wang Dynasty and Mahan running over, and with them, there were black shadows and white shadows.

Wang Dynasty Mahan was sent by Lord Bao to Yaoxiang Pavilion to investigate the case before, after all, from the boss to the three female workers all died in the alley for no reason, and the death was too tragic, this case was linked to the case of the ghost-faced man because Si Tong shouted the name of "Qu Zhongyuan" when he was too frightened.

And the black shadow and the white shadow were sent by Zhao Pu to keep an eye on the suspicious squire of the criminal department, Si Tong, to see what he was doing behind his back.

The four of them hurried over, probably discovering something.

Everyone let the dynasty Mahan speak first.

After the incident, the two of them rushed to the Yaoxiang Pavilion with the officials as soon as possible, there was no one in the pavilion, the room was very messy, it seemed that someone had rummaged through, but the valuable gold, silver and jade were not taken away, it should not be for money.

"What are they looking for?" Zhan Zhao was curious.

"All the ledgers are gone. ”

"Ledger?" Everyone frowned slightly.

"Hmm." Wang Dynasty also nodded, "There are also a lot of medicinal herbs and raw materials for cooking, as well as recipes and the like." ”

"Even the recipes?" Gongsun was curious, and said that he was snatched away by his peers?

"It's weird!" Ma Han said, "Yaoxiangge is in the business of high-end ingredients, in fact, there is only one business like them, and there is at most one table a day, to be honest, they haven't robbed many customers, and there should be no peers who need to compete to the extent of killing." ”

"That method of killing is hateful." Bai Yutang said lightly, "There is no second reason for someone to kill like this except for revenge." ”

Zhan Zhao and Lin Yehuo both nodded, this is the method of the Jianghu people, a typical example of blood debt and blood repayment, or the perpetrator has a problem with his brain.

"The other party took all the paper." "But we suspect that they didn't really find what they were looking for, because we found a lot of oil in the corners of the walls and on the cloth in the room. ”

"Kerose?" Ouyang frowned, "Do you want to burn it down, and it's a hundred?" ”

"That's right." Ma Han nodded, "But maybe we arrived in time, and a large number of officials and officials were also moving, so the fire didn't have time to be lit." ”

"Oh?!" Zhanzhao's eyes lit up, and he touched his chin and began to think about it.

Zhao Pu looked at the black shadow and the white shadow again, "How are you two staring at Si Tong?" Is there a clue? ”

"Yes!" The black shadow took out a letter from his arms and said, "After Si Tong went back, it was like sitting on pins and needles, fidgeting and sighing, and it looked like a catastrophe was coming.

Later, we saw him writing a letter in his study, but after putting it in the envelope, he hesitated again, turned around from side to side, and stuffed the envelope under the bed.

We waited a long time, and when he got up at night, we stole the letter.

Zhao Pu took it and looked at the envelope, frowning slightly, "Written to Master Bao?" ”

Shadow Guard nodded.

Zhao Pu handed it to Zhanzhao.

Everyone glanced at each other, and they didn't have to wait for Master Bao to come over, just open it and take a look, what if there were any important clues delayed?

So, Zhan Zhao took out the letter and unfolded it, and after everyone looked at it, they frowned slightly - it turned out that this was a letter from Si Tong to surrender.

The contents of the letter are roughly as follows.

Si Tong said that his grades were not outstanding when he was studying, and his career was originally bleak, but thanks to the promotion of Lord Wang Feng of Bole, he can now achieve the three grades of Dayuan and the glorious lintel.

Si Tong of the department has always been very puzzled, why would Wang Feng recommend such a mediocre person as him as a waiter in the criminal department? It wasn't until later, when Wang Feng asked him to do things, that he understood that it was because of his mediocre intelligence that Wang Feng used him. Not long after Si Tong sat on the squire of the Criminal Department, Gonggong Ning, who was beside Wang Feng, came to him and asked him to do two things for the master of the horse.

First, serious offenders in the penal department, especially those on death row, are transferred before execution.

As for how to transfer the contract, Wang Feng didn't need to worry at all, as long as he told the people sent by Gonggong Ning the exact time before the execution, but on the day of the execution, he surrounded the execution table with a white cloth, and after that, he could send someone to collect the body. As for whether the body belonged to the original condemned prisoner, no one knows at all. Anyway, they were all dressed in prison clothes and bloody, and the condemned prisoners were buried at that time and not handed over to their families.

Second, the Criminal Department often had felons assigned to the border gates, and Gong Ning asked Si Tong to tell him the number of people, time, and path to be distributed, and arranged for the official messenger he sent to escort him.

Si Tong was full of doubts, what does a character like Wang Feng want a death row prisoner for? At first, Si Tong thought that Wang Feng had a personal vendetta or personal relationship with those repeat offenders, but it was really suspicious that the other party often wanted such repeat offenders.

Whether people are smart or not, but they are all curious, Si Tong once sent his henchmen to follow the prisoners who were escorted, and found that they were not sent to the border gate, but when they walked to a half-empty place, they were knocked unconscious and put into a box, and then unknowingly, they were transported away and disappeared.

Si Tong wrote in the letter that he had gone to Yaoxiang Pavilion that day because of his father's 80th birthday, and wanted to pick a day to book a table for a banquet, but found that there was a mess in Yaoxiang Pavilion, the proprietress and the cooks were not there, only a few people in black were rummaging through boxes and cabinets to find things, and the back of one of them was ...... Although he only glanced at it from a distance, he recognized that it was Father-in-law Ning of Haotianlou.

Si Tong's brain was very messy at that time, he was timid and small, and he couldn't figure out if it was Yaoxiang Pavilion who was a thief, or if there was something else. He ran away quietly, and on the way back, he happened to see Liu Yaoxiang of Yaoxiang Pavilion with three cooks in a hurry, carrying a burden and running into an alley as if fleeing for his life.

Si Tong was also curious at the time, and he was about to pass through the alley when he went home, so he walked to the mouth of the alley and saw a cook's head rolling out, and the body was falling, covered with blood.

In that bloody alley, there was a man standing next to the corpse, and the back ...... Si Tong will never forget it for the rest of his life.

The man turned around, Si Tong saw a white ghost face with blood, he was frightened and fainted, and when he woke up again, he found that he was in the pile of corpses and was found by the people of Kaifeng Mansion.

Si Tong said that the back was Qu Zhongyuan's, Zhongyuan turned into a ghost and came back to take revenge, Qu Zhongyuan's affairs back then were only known by God and God. Si Tong didn't know the details very well, but he once overheard Gonggong Ning talking to Wang Feng about Qu Zhongyuan or something, and at the same time, there was another sentence that impressed him deeply-Twenty years, how many twenty years is a person's life? This is the most reluctant opportunity.

After the letter, Si Tong said that although he had not really participated in any bad things in his life, there were some things that he knew and did not report, which was equivalent to sitting in this official position with his eyes closed and his conscience, and he felt uneasy when he thought about it, but he was weak and had no intelligence, so he did not dare to report and investigate, and only asked Lord Bao to find out the truth, if he still had his life alive, he would resign and return to his hometown, accumulate virtue and do good, this time no matter whether the murderer was the ghost of Zhongyuan back then, he spared his life after all, which made him feel very guilty and uneasy.

After reading the letter, everyone was silent for a long time, what did Qu Zhongyuan disappear for back then, and now Shi Ye is also ...... What kind of people have a lifetime of how many twenty years? There is a difference of 20 years between Ji Changtian and Qu Zhongyuan, and a difference of 20 years between Qu Zhongyuan and Shi Ye, why does Wang Feng want so many death row prisoners? What do these people have to do with that so-called twenty years?

Zhan Zhao handed the letter to Wang Dynasty Mahan and asked them to bring it to Master Bao, Zhao Pu asked the shadow guards to continue to stare at Si Tong, and at the same time, asked Zou Liang to secretly contact Si Tong. It is best to find out what Wang Feng wants those dying felons to do, and find an opportunity to follow them.

Everyone acted separately, but Zhanzhao poked Gongsun and pointed to the little fourth son who was about to wash and sleep, "Gongsun, little fourth son borrow it from me." ”

Gongsun was a little puzzled, but he still handed over the little fourth son to Zhanzhao.

Zhanzhao hugged the little fourth son and dragged Bai Yutang, "Let's go, let's go to Yaoxiang Pavilion." ”

Bai Yutang understood that Zhanzhao probably wanted to find something that those people didn't find, and wanted to set fire to it but didn't have time, and to find something that no one could find, the best way to find it was the shit luck of the little fourth son.

Gongsun and Zhao Pu were very curious, so they also followed, and as for Xiao Liangzi, naturally he went wherever Xiao Sizi went, anyway, he was a good kung fu person and clever, and he wouldn't be in the way with him.

There was nothing to say on the road, and everyone rushed to Yaoxiang Pavilion as quickly as possible, and found that there were many officials stationed there, and they were impermeable.

Zhan Zhao entered the Yaoxiang Pavilion with the little fourth son in his arms, and as soon as he entered the door, Gongsun rubbed his nose, "It's a big smell of medicinal herbs, did you knock over something?" ”

"There's some yellow powder on the ground." Bai Yutang pointed.

Gongsun frowned, leaned over and picked up a little to look at it, and put it down, "It's sulfur powder." ”

"Sulfur powder?" Zhao Pu frowned, "Can this thing be used to cook?" ”

Gongsun smiled dryly, saw some black powder again, looked for it, and found that there was a lot scattered next to a cabinet, so he leaned over to the cabinet and looked at it......

"There may have been a lot of bottles and jars here." Gongsun leaned on his nose to identify the taste, and frowned, "In addition to sulfur, there are saltpeter, cinnabar, realgar, yellow wood, alum, ......."

"Is there one thing here that you can't die if you eat it?" Zhao Pu couldn't help but speak, and Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang also walked over to take a look.

"It's not about making food." Gongsun stared at the cabinet for a moment, and said, "This is for alchemy." ”

"Alchemy?" Zhan Zhao was surprised, "Yaoxiang Pavilion is not only cooking but also alchemy?" ”

Gongsun took out a piece of yellow paper from his waist bag, wiped it on the wooden cabinet, and raised his hand to see a layer of green on the yellow paper.

The corners of everyone's mouths twitched - usually whether it is paper or needles given by Gongsun, as long as they touch it, it is basically not a good thing, green, purple, black, red, all poisonous.

Gongsun put away the paper and stood up, "These are not cooks, they are demon girls." ”

"Enchantress?!" The crowd was amazed.

"They're refining poison, or it's highly poisonous." Gongsun frowned, "While refining medicine, I also opened a restaurant, and my heart to eat here is really relaxed." ”

Everyone frowned, the legendary money to buy sin?

"I've never heard of anyone dying after eating in Yaoxiang Pavilion." Zhao Pu was curious.

Zhan Zhao also nodded.

Gongsun frowned and shook his head, "Poison is not necessarily the kind that poisons people, there are many that can produce hallucinations, some can be addicted, and some can control people, this is a very evil kind of alchemy, these women are definitely not ordinary cooks." ”

"It's a pity." Gongsun sighed, "The medicinal materials, prescriptions, and account books have all been taken away, otherwise, they will definitely be able to find out something, at least they know what medicine they are doing." ”

"Maybe there's hope." Zhan Zhao said, picked up the little fourth son, put it on an empty table, and said, "Little fourth son." ”

The little fourth son blinked and looked at Zhanzhao.

"Hmm." Zhan Zhao looked at him, "Is there anything else hidden in this house?" ”

The little fourth son tilted his head, "What are you hiding?" Private money? ”

Gongsun pinched his cheeks, do you still know about private money?

"Anything." Zhan Zhao said, "You take a closer look, where is suspicious." ”

"Well......" Xiao Sizi touched his chin, looked up with his face up, and after looking around, Xiao Sizi tilted his head and pointed to a window on the wall, "There." ”

Everyone also looked up at the window, and could not make out what was suspicious about it.

However, Bai Yutang still jumped up, looked at the window, smiled, and reached out to tug lightly...... Pulled the window down.

When they looked again, they saw that behind the window was a recessed wall, which did not lead outward.

"It turned out to be a fake window." Gongsun was also surprised, "It seems to be as if it is real."

Bai Yutang put the window on the table, looked at it, and found that it was a box, so he ...... Open it.

After the box was opened, I saw that in addition to a few large silver tickets worth thousands of taels, there was also a book.

When I took out the notebook and opened it, I saw that it was just an ordinary account book, which recorded in detail what year and month, which business was done, what dishes were prepared, how much it costed, and how much it earned.

However, there is an unusual place in this ordinary ledger, that is, next to certain transactions, some words are marked with a red cinnabar pen. For example, at the back of an ordinary osmanthus cake, mark it with a cinnabar pen, add spice one, or mark it next to the bird's nest soup, and add spice two.

There are about a dozen kinds of spices, and what spices are added to each dish are specially marked, and at the same time, there is also a sum of money added to the income after the most dish, and how much silver is charged. Everyone found that the prices of spices varied, but they were all ridiculously expensive! The minimum price starts at 100 taels.

"What spices are so expensive for hundreds or even thousands of taels?" Zhan Zhao was puzzled, "How much is this table of banquets." ”

Everyone then flipped down, and found that at the back of the ledger, there were several prescriptions, which were written respectively, spice 1 and spice 2......

Gongsun picked up the prescriptions and looked at them, and opened his mouth wide after the most reluctance, "It turns out that these spices are different grades of psychedelic drugs, with different effects, and the light weight can make people addicted and produce beautiful illusions." The amount gradually increases, and more and more intense hallucinations are produced, which can be terrifying, can also make people lose their memory, and the heaviest amount can turn people into crazy people. Although these medicinal materials can't make people die, they can make people go crazy and become wasted people. ”

"This is really a living witch." Zhanzhao suddenly felt that being a foodie was also very dangerous.

Gongsun collected the account books and account books, "I need to go back and sort it out." ”

Everyone was deciding to leave, but when Zhan Zhao was about to reach out and hug Xiao Sizi down, Xiao Sizi suddenly pointed to the wall not far away, "There." ”

Everyone was slightly stunned.

Bai Yutang looked at the flat white wall and looked at Xiao Sizi with some puzzlement, "What's there?" ”

Xiao Sizi touched his chin, "It seems that there is something too." ”

The crowd looked at each other.

Xiao Liangzi ran over and touched the wall, "It's flat." Then he knocked on it...... Xiao Liang's fingers knocked on the wall panels around him, and the sound was very solid, but when he knocked on the piece that Xiao Sizi was pointing to, the sound suddenly became empty.

Everyone frowned.

Bai Yutang went over, looked from the side, and found that there was a very, very subtle warp on the wall, like the wall skin was upturned, but ...... He reached out and gently tugged at it, and found that it was very smooth, and he basically couldn't pull it off.

Xiao Liang took out the small dagger he carried with him and gave it to him, Bai Yutang took it and pried it up, priing up a whole piece of wall skin, which turned out to be a piece of white paper glued on, and the paper was plastered with wall ash, so it was impossible to distinguish at all.

After tearing off the fake wall skin, he found that there was a hidden compartment underneath, and when he pushed open the door of the hidden compartment, there was a hole inside, and a box was hidden in the hole.

Bai Yutang took out the box and put it on the table.

When they opened the box, they saw a roll of sheepskin in it.

Open the sheepskin, find that it is quite large, there is a detailed drawing on it, the picture is very terrifying, in the middle of a Dan furnace, a few people lined up, holding a plate of things to pour into the Dan furnace, the things in the plate look carefully, it turned out to be a human organ, not far away there are many people are taking out the internal organs from the body of a few people who are tied up......

Zhan Zhao subconsciously covered the eyes of the little fourth son.

After Gongsun looked at this picture in detail, he frowned, "Could this be the alchemy map left by Liu An, the king of Huainan back then?" Probably copied! ”

"Alchemy diagram?" Bai Yutang was puzzled, "What kind of elixir do you need to use a living person to refine it?" ”

"Legend has it that King Huainan was keen on the art of alchemy, and in order to maintain his youth and prolong his life, he recruited alchemist to refine the elixir. There are a few of them that are more extreme, using people to alchemize...... What are these women studying? ”

After listening to Gongsun's words, everyone glanced at each other, and inexplicably thought of the death row prisoners that Wang Feng got through Si Tong.

"Could it be that those death row prisoners are used as raw materials for alchemy?" Zhan Zhao asked.

Bai Yutang felt that he didn't have to eat again these days.

Zhao Pu also frowned, "Who wants alchemy?" Wang? He wants to live forever? ”

"I don't know." Gongsun shook his head, carefully studied the picture, and found that there were many details that needed to be pondered.

Everyone put away their things and looked at the little fourth son again, what does that mean-is there anything else?

The little fourth son said no, so he stomped his feet and prepared to leave, as soon as his lambskin boots stomped on the table, everyone heard a "snap", and then looked...... Something fell from under the table.

Xiao Liang stretched out his hand and picked it up and showed it to everyone.

Zhan Zhao took it, and it was a roll wrapped in oiled paper.

When I opened the paper packet, I saw some licorice in it.

Gongsun looked at it and said, "This is a very rare herb, after grinding into powder, no matter what poison is put in the ingredients, as long as it is paired with this powder, the silver needle will not be able to try." ”

Everyone was horrified - how dangerous this world is!

The little fourth son stretched out his hand to Zhanzhao to hug him, and that meant - this time it was completely gone.

Zhanzhao picked it up like a baby, this baby is really-more valuable than gold!

Bai Yutang was flipping through the account books, and he seemed to be more concerned about one thing...... When he turned to the last page, he frowned slightly and beckoned to everyone, "Look here." ”

Everyone leaned over to see, and saw that the last time was exactly tomorrow, the location was Haotianlou, the dish was sauced hoof, and the pickling time needed was two days. And then it became famous, with the addition of spice six and golden licorice.

Gongsun shook the handful of licorice in his hand, "This is commonly known as golden licorice, because it is more expensive than gold." ”

"Sauce Hoof ......" The corner of Zhanzhao's mouth twitched, "Will Haotianlou greet others besides us tomorrow?" ”

Everyone frowned silently - could it be that Wang Feng wanted to invite them to eat Spice Six?

Zhao Pu was a little curious, and asked Gongsun, who was looking at the prescription, "What is the medicinal effect of Spice Six?" ”

Gongsun glanced at the prescription and said, "It should be memory loss, and if you eat too much, you will even have memory confusion." ”

Everyone was silent, and Bai Yutang suddenly asked, "Who likes to eat sauce hooves?" ”

After being silent for a while, Zhan Zhao silently raised his hand, Xiao Sizi and Xiao Liang also raised their hands, Zhao Pu pouted, "Lao Tzu also loves to eat." ”

Gongsun sank his face, "That thing belongs to the main dish, and the sauce hooves of Yaoxiang Pavilion seem to be particularly famous, everyone except the monk will go to eat it, right?!" ”

So, everyone looked at each other - tomorrow's certainty is not the Hongmen Banquet? Did you go and sit and eat nothing?