The person Li Ke wanted to find on this trip was the old man who sold Hu Cake that he met in the Dayuan Inn that day, and the information and appearance of this Keduo were all provided by him, but he did not find anything for many days, so it could be that the clues he provided were wrong. Shendu Luoyang and Chang'an, the implementation of the curfew system, every day after the unitary hour, that is, began to gradually close the door, clear the streets, all the people can only be in their own courtyard activities, this is like confined people to one small room after another, in recent days Chen Xuanli has sent people almost house by house to search, but never see its trace, even during the Yuan Dynasty, the curfew system has been relaxed, but in the entrance and exit of each square is also set up sentry posts, refusing horses to strictly investigate, unless Keduo has left the Shendu, Otherwise, there will definitely be some clues under such a search. But the slaughter of the Ziller family confirmed that Kedo did not leave, so there were only two possibilities. First, there was someone else who killed the Ziler family, but judging from the modus operandi, this possibility should not exist; Second, there is a problem with the source of this information, and the many things that have been checked in the past few days do not match the reality.

Li Ke woke up Chen Wuji, who had just been kicked unconscious by himself, he covered his chest and spit out a few mouthfuls of blood, Li Ke was already strong in martial arts, Chen Wuji's old injuries had not healed, and the place where he attacked just now happened to be near the old wounds, fortunately, Chen Wuji's body was stiff and he could still hold on, but he fainted, and he was afraid that ordinary people would be worried about their lives. Chen Wuji saw clearly that the person in front of him was Li Ke, so he struggled and said, "Captain Li, be careful, there seems to be someone in this room." Seeing Chen Wuji wake up, Li Ke recounted what had just happened to Chen Wuji unreservedly, and then asked, "Chen Sizhi, why are you here?" Shicaiwu almost killed you by mistake, Li apologizes. ”

Chen Wuji struggled to sit up against the wall with the support of Li Ke, and said: "Yesterday, I heard that Li Duwei wanted to check here again, so I came to help today, but when I arrived at this time, I saw a person sneaky and entered the Dayuan Inn, so he entered the house, and as soon as I entered, I heard that there seemed to be someone in the courtyard, and I thought it was an accomplice of the predecessors, so I took a stick and hid on the door, and the result... Li Duwei smiled. ”

Hearing that Chen Wuji came to assist in the investigation of the case, Li Ke felt a little comforted in his heart, it is rare that there are still such people in the court who have the courage to do errands regardless of their own lives, so he said: "Chen Sizhi works hard, but at this time you are injured, go back and rest first." ”

Chen Wuji hurriedly said: "It's okay! I can help Captain Lee. As he spoke, he climbed up the wall, as if to prove that he was indeed okay. Li Ke knew in his heart that Chen Wuji was also a persistent person, and it was not too possible to let him go back to rest at this moment, so he said: "Since Chen Sizhi is so insistent, then Li will no longer persuade him, if he is really unwell, I hope Chen Sizhi will go back to rest as soon as possible, otherwise Li will not bear it." ”

Struggling to get up just now, Chen Wuji had beads of sweat the size of beans oozing from his forehead, he endured the pain, nodded, and said, "That's natural, Xie Li Sicheng cares." Chen Wuji continued to ask: "Dare to ask Li Duwei, where do we start to investigate?" ”

Li Ke looked around, the corpses in the Dayuan Inn had already been cleaned up, although the traces of the scene were kept the same as before, but it was expected that there would be no more clues, and Xue Liang also said so, so it was estimated that there was little point in searching here, so he replied: "Find the old man who sells Hu cakes." ”

Chen Wuji didn't understand for a while, and muttered to himself: "The old man who sells Hu cakes? Li Ke reminded: "It is the old man who provided the portrait of Keduo in Long'an Division." Chen Wuji suddenly realized and replied: "Could it be that Li Duwei suspects that the clues he provided are wrong, so he has not been able to find Keduo?" ”

Li Ke replied affirmatively: "Exactly! Chen Wuji replied: "My subordinates understand, then the two of us are looking separately, and if there is news, they will converge at the right place." ”

Li Ke nodded in agreement, and the two left the Dayuan Inn.

Recently, there has been a lot of influx of traders from all over the world in this Ningren Fang, and there are naturally many people who sell Hu cakes, but there are not many fixed shops to operate Hu cakes, and there are only two or three near this Dayuan Inn. Li Ke was suspicious in his heart, could it be that there was something else going on in this matter? After searching along the street for a while, there was still no trace, Li Ke thought that this old man who was in the Hu cake business was not difficult to find, but now there was no news, it seemed that he still needed help from others, so he returned to Lizheng.

When Li Ke arrived, Chen Wuji had already arrived in advance, and he didn't know that he didn't have anything to gain. But Li Zheng has already prepared all the files about Yuanliang and Dayuan Inn, Li Ke checked them one by one, it is indeed difficult to find any clues from the files alone, and the recorded things are no different from what Zhang Jiuling reported in Long'an Division that day, and after checking them all, Li Ke couldn't help but be a little disappointed. So he turned his head to the inside and asked, "Do you know this old man who sells Hu cakes in Ningrenfang?" Li Zheng frowned when he heard this, thinking hard, and after a long time, he pointed at Chen Wuji and replied: "Just now, this official also asked the villain, and the villain has also lived in this Ningrenfang for decades, but he really never remembered that there was an old man who sold Hu cakes. ”

Hearing what Li Zheng said, coupled with the results of his own search just now, this matter seems to be really strange, Li Ke fell into contemplation again, what went wrong? At this moment, a servant slowly ran in and said with a nervous expression, "No... Oh no, in... Lord Lizheng, someone fell into a well and drowned. ”

When Li Zheng heard this, his heart tightened, he had only been in office for a few days, how could such a thing happen, this Shangyuan Festival only came in three days, it was really unlucky! So he said with a displeased face, "Where? Who? ”

The visitor gasped and replied, "In a well not far from the Dayuan Inn, someone went to fetch water just now, and what he found was an old man. ”

Old man! Li Ke was shocked, could it be the old man who sold Hu cakes? Before Li Zheng could speak, Li Ke hurriedly said, "Quickly take us to check." The man arched his hands and replied, "Oh! ”

On the way to the scene of the crime, Li Ke was shocked and confused, if it was really the old man who sold Hu Cakes, then this matter would be strange, today he just wanted to find this person, why did this person have an accident? Why is the opponent always one step ahead of him, is it difficult ... Xue Liang? So what is his purpose in doing this? Could it be that King Liang has some kind of collusion with Keduo? A series of questions crossed his mind, and at the moment, he had no answers. Perhaps, it was just a false alarm, maybe it was not the old man who sold Hu Biscuits who died.

It didn't take long for Li Ke to finally arrive at the scene of the incident. Li Ke looked up and looked around at the terrain, this place was not far from the back door of the Dayuan Inn, at this time, the three floors and the outer three floors were already full of people, Li Ke hurriedly squeezed through the crowd and went inside to check.

This is an ordinary old well for taking water, and there is nothing special about it from other wells, but at this time there is a corpse lying flat next to the well, with a blue face, the corpse is slightly swollen, and a messy white hair.

Seeing this, Li Ke was suddenly disappointed in his heart, all kinds of luck on the road just now, but at this moment, he couldn't help but feel a little blank, it was not that he was dead, but the old man who sold Hu Cake shocked him, because he had a premonition in his heart, what really disturbed him was why everything Keduo could be one step ahead of him, why in the end?

Just as Li Ke was thinking, Li Zheng also squeezed in, saw the corpse on the ground, and couldn't help but say to himself: "How could it be him?" ”

This sentence woke up Li Ke in contemplation, and Li Ke hurriedly asked Li Zheng: "Who is this person?" ”

Li Zheng sighed and said, "Could it be that this is the old man you are looking for?" Li Ke nodded and asked again, "Isn't it?" ”

Li Zheng shook his head, sighed lightly and said, "This person doesn't sell Hu cakes. This person's name is Wang San, he has lived here for many years, he is old, he has no children and no daughters, at first the neighbors saw him pitiful, and gave him alms, barely living; But this person forgets his righteousness, never knows how to repay him, and the neighbors don't care about him, he can only be idle, thieves and thieves for a living, and today he died unexpectedly here, which can be regarded as retribution. ”

Li Ke was surprised when he heard this, but he couldn't help muttering: "Who said that he died in an accident?" With that, he crouched down and began to examine the body. There are obvious strangulation marks on the neck of the corpse, there are no traces of a fight, and there are no other wounds, it seems that suffocation in the neck should be the fatal cause, the corpse is blue and slightly swollen, and the time of death is not too long, it should be yesterday night. Li Ke got up and asked the man who first found the body: "How often do you usually take water from this well?" ”

The man found the body early in the morning, and he was terrified in his heart, Li Ke asked him, and he said in a trembling voice: "This well is our daily water well, usually before curfew to get water, and the next morning again. ”

Li Ke asked: "So, no corpses were found before the curfew last night?" The man thought for a moment and said, "No... Didn't find it. My lord, there are dead people in this well, how can we use this water in the future? ”

The man's complaint Li Ke didn't care, he just determined the time of the deceased's death, and he leaned over to open the deceased's mouth to check, there was no foreign body, and there was no obvious blackening in the cavity, and it didn't seem to be caused by poisoning.

Li Ke got up again and said to Li Zheng: "I have preliminarily examined the corpse, it should be killed by him, and the corpse Ru arranged for someone to send it to Long'an Division quickly, and then take me to check his residence." ”

Li Zheng did not dare to slack off, Lian Man arranged for people to act according to Li Ke's instructions, and loudly told the onlookers to disperse, and after the personnel dispersed, he personally took Li Ke to the old man's residence; The old man's residence was very far from the well, and when he turned a corner, there was a thatched hut with no courtyard and the door was not locked.