The head of the official smiled helplessly and said, "Even if some drink is good, you still have to pick and choose." ”

All the officials shook their heads, and walked in from the corner gate in twos and threes.

The shopkeeper stood at the mouth of the well and pointed his hand, and said with a smile: "This is the hundred-year-old well I just said." I'm going to help you get the water right now. So saying, he reached out and picked up a bucket beside him, and threw it through the well.

The rope tied behind the barrel is like a snake out of a hole, and it quickly drills into the well with the force of the barrel's fall, and according to common sense, there should be a whole "bang" sound of falling water when the barrel is dropped, but everyone did not hear this sound just now.

The shopkeeper looked down at the well, and vaguely smelled a peculiar smell. I secretly wondered in my heart: "How can there be such a strange smell, can it be said that it will become moldy and stinky after not using it for a long time?" Although there were some doubts in my heart, I still lowered my head and looked inward, the well was not too deep, and with the help of the sun overhead, I could still see that the bucket seemed to be stuck on something, and it did not fall into the water.

The shopkeeper said "Huh" and said to himself: "It's really a hell of a life." ”

After that, he straightened up and said to the official at the head: "There seems to be something wrong with this well, how many of you want to come and take a look?" ”

As soon as the chief official heard this, the anger that had been suppressed for a long time finally broke out, spat on it, and said disdainfully: "Nian shopkeeper, there are few things like you, the brothers have been busy since the morning, but the water and rice are not sticky to the teeth. Not to mention the food, with a cup of hot tea you will say that there is no fire in the stove. ”

Seeing the angry face of the servant, the shopkeeper hurriedly laughed and said: "This brother, I also know that you are happy, but you know better than anyone what the situation is here, it's not that I can't afford this meal in my old age, there is really no way." ”

Before he finished speaking, he saw that the officials were displeased one by one, so he changed his words and said, "Otherwise, you can ask my brothers to help me come over and see what is going on in this well, and you and I will go inside to see what food is going on to cool off." After saying that, he reached out and patted the officer's shoulder gently.

The official who was the leader was in a rage at this time, and naturally he didn't find that the shot of the shopkeeper had other meanings. He raised his hand and pushed the arm of the shopkeeper away, and said coldly: "Don't come to this set, wait for us to show you this well, what can we do with you when you come out empty-handed." ”

The shopkeeper's eyes narrowed slightly, and he looked at the servant and sneered in his heart: "What a great mallet, no wonder you can only be a small leader at such an age." ”

He sighed, then turned around and walked into the West Wing.

After about half a cup of tea, I saw the shopkeeper Nian walking out with a fruit bowl in his hand with some citrus and a few large pears on it.

In front of everyone who came with a smile, he put the fruit plate in his hand forward and said: "The brothers have been busy all morning, and the dry and scorching sun is on this day, so you can't be bitter brothers, come and come, come and eat as you like!" ”

If you use an idiom to describe the scene at this time, then the wolf has more meat and less meat.

The officials gathered around one after another, reaching out to take the fruit in the fruit bowl, just such a small fruit bowl, one per capita is enough to choke, and the shopkeeper actually said to eat it casually.

The little leader of the official standing near him reached out and took a big duck pear and took a big bite, although the juice was not much, and there was a little firewood, but it was much better than having nothing to eat.

Then he took a big bite, how do you feel that this pear has a smell of incense? Although he had doubts in his heart, his throat was too dry, so he took another bite.

After two bites, his throat was no longer so uncomfortable, so he asked, "Nian shopkeeper, is there a problem with my tongue or is there a problem with your pear?" ”

The shopkeeper was slightly stunned, and then said with a smile: "There should be no problem with the tongue!" ”

The official frowned, looked at the half pear in his hand, then took it to his nose and smelled it, and then said, "I always feel that this pear smells of incense." ”

The shopkeeper leaned in and sniffed it gently, "oh", and said with a smile: "What should I do, it turns out that I was worried about this." Then I can only say that brother, your nose is really smart, and it is normal to have this smell of incense. ”

The official at the head was stunned for a moment, and asked puzzledly: "It's normal to have this smell of incense, how can you say this?" ”

The shopkeeper said disapprerovingly: "Because it was originally an offering that I used to worship the ancestral tablet. ”

Although the voice of this was not loud, the reaction of the officials after hearing it was very great, and a few of them even threw away the citrus in their hands with a frightened face, and said with their hands folded: "All the mistakes are the fault of the shopkeeper of the year, and you must not come to me if you have a debtor." After that, they all bent down and bowed around.

The official at the head looked at the people, "cut" with disdain, still picked up the Yali pear in his hand and ate it in a big gulp, and said while eating: "The living are not afraid, they are afraid of a dead person"

The shopkeeper smiled and said proudly: "It has been placed next to the incense burner, so it smells of incense a little." ”

The official at the head glanced at the shopkeeper, and then said to the other officials: "If you don't do something after eating the offerings of other people's ancestors, if it is spread out, it will not be a shame to be thrown home." ”

The officials looked at each other, and one of the officials who looked slightly younger walked to the well. He reached out and took the rope on the ground, and pulled the bow up from side to side, and in a few moments he pulled the barrel up from the well. ”

Just as he was about to bend down and reach out to untie the rope tied to the barrel, he heard the crowd shouting, "Wait"

The young servant raised his head and looked at everyone blankly and asked, "What's wrong?" ”

Everyone pointed at the barrel god and said, "Blood! The same blood on the bucket! ”

The young servant looked down, and sure enough, at the bottom of the barrel he saw a liquid as black as ink, which was exactly the same as the one that flowed from the stump!

The chief officer apparently also noticed the bloodstain, and walked to the well and looked inside.

A fishy smell came to his nose, and the official hurriedly covered his mouth and nose with his hands and stepped back. After settling down, he turned his head to look at the shopkeeper and said, "Shopkeeper Nian, it seems that you may not want to open this store in a short time." ”

Apparently, the official had guessed from the strange blood stains at the bottom of the barrel and the smell of the fish that there must be the same stumps and severed arms at the bottom of the well.

When everyone yelled "wait", the shopkeeper had actually noticed the abnormality on the bucket, but he was so frightened that all the three souls and seven spirits ran away.

At this time, when he heard the official shouting, he came back to his senses and hurriedly shouted: "My mother, this shouldn't be that thing again!" As he spoke, he ran to the well.

But before he could reach the well, he was stopped by an arm. When the shopkeeper raised his eyes, it turned out to be a young servant who spontaneously came out to carry a bucket.

The shopkeeper looked at the servant suspiciously, and asked, "What does this mean?" ”

"It's not interesting, don't think about it, since we have found suspicious bloodstains, as officials, we should cordon off the scene in time, so as not to let people come to crack the crime scene." The young officer replied coldly.

"Xiao Tao, what are you doing here, the shopkeeper wants to see the scene of the murder, what do you stop him from." The chief official said with a frown while fanning his nose with his hand.

Xiao Tao looked at the shopkeeper and said coldly: "Team leader Zou, I think this shopkeeper is very suspicious. ”

Team Leader Zou let out an "oh" and said with a smile: "Even Xiao Tao will solve the case?" Then how suspicious do you say. ”

Xiao Tao kept his hand at the wellhead and said: "Leader Zou just now, as soon as you get close to the wellhead, you smell it, right?" ”

Team Leader Zou replied without thinking about it: "Yes, I haven't reached the wellhead yet, so I can smell it." ”

Xiao Tao looked at the shopkeeper who was stunned and said, "Then Team Leader Zou still remembers what the shopkeeper did just now?" ”

Team Leader Zou thought for a while and said, "He took out his ancestors' offerings and gave us a tooth sacrifice!" ”

Xiao Tao said helplessly: "I'm not talking about this, I'm asking what he did at the wellhead, do you remember Team Leader Zou." ”

Team Leader Zou thought about it for a while and suddenly said, "He stuck his head into the wellhead to see what was going on with the barrel." ”

Xiao Tao nodded and said: "Exactly, Team Leader Zou can be smoked by this fishy smell when he stands at the mouth of the well, how can he not smell it when he drills the well?" ”

Team Leader Zou nodded and said, "It's indeed a little suspicious, but if he has a nose, it's not suspicious." ”

Xiao Tao smiled and said: "The nose of the shopkeeper should be fine, when Team Leader Zou said that the fruit smelled of incense, the shopkeeper leaned over and smelled it." If there is a problem with his nose, then how can he smell incense? ”

"So what?" Team Leader Zou said with a blank face.

Xiao Tao thought for a while, and said with a blue face: "So the shopkeeper should know what is in this well, and he just wants to borrow our hands to excavate it!" After that, he looked at the shopkeeper with a smug face.

When the shopkeeper heard this person say this, he said aggrievedly: "Brother Xiao Tao, you can't talk nonsense, this person's life is a big thing, you can't just deduct it from others!" ”

Team Leader Zou stretched out his hand to stop the shopkeeper Nian who was about to defend himself, and said coldly: "Shopkeeper Nian, according to Xiao Tao's analysis just now, you are indeed suspicious, so until the truth is clarified, you had better not come near here." So as not to cause any unnecessary misunderstandings. ”

After that, he pointed to the other officials standing in the courtyard and said, "You two should go back to the yamen now, tell Huang Zhutou Yuelai that there is another shocking discovery, and ask him to hurry over." ”

The two officials who had just been pointed at with their hands simply responded and walked out of the crowd.

One of them asked, "Team Leader Zou, is Huang Zhutou in the government now?" ”

Team Leader Zou shook his head and said: "It's not clear, if you don't see someone in the mansion, you can go to the Yanyun World where you often go to catch heads, maybe people will be there." ”

The two nodded, and then turned and walked towards the corner gate.