"Lao Lu, don't open the pharmacy today, close first." After explaining, he was ready to go with the official

"Daddy, are you alright?" A woman's inquiry came from inside the courtyard.

"I'm fine, there's something wrong with the pharmacy, I'll go back when I go."

The shopkeeper replied with a reply, and then followed Liu Zhutou and the others to leave quickly.

The group hurriedly returned to the yamen, and listened to the official at the yamen say in a low voice: "Boss, the big thing is not good, there are already more than a dozen or nearly twenty people who came to report the case in the morning." ”

Twenty? Liu Zhutou felt unprecedented pressure, twenty murders, twenty families, if the case could not be solved, the yamen had to be blocked.

As soon as I entered the lobby, I saw that there were many people standing in the hall, men, women and children, either crying and crying, or wiping tears with their hands, and at a cursory glance, there were more than a dozen people.

I heard a woman crying: "My lord must be the master of the people's women, otherwise how will we orphans and widows live!" ”

"You can rest assured, this official will definitely bring the murderer to justice and give justice to the deceased." Lord Zhizhou's face was unusually ugly, gloomy as water.

"My lord, the shopkeeper of Renhe Pharmacy brought it." Seeing that no one in the hall spoke anymore, Liu Zhutou immediately took the time to report.

As soon as the people in the hall heard the shopkeeper of Renhe Pharmacy, they turned their heads one after another, and when they saw him, they suddenly rushed over viciously without saying a word, and stretched out their hands to grab the shopkeeper.

Liu Zhufa noticed something was wrong, and hurriedly dodged in front of the shopkeeper, wanting to stop the victim's family.

But where he alone was the opponent of more than ten people, he was immediately pushed away by everyone.

"Stop!"

Seeing the chaos in the hall, Lord Zhizhou immediately gave an order, and the officials in the hall quickly took action to separate the people from the shopkeeper, but the people rushed to the shopkeeper as if they were crazy.

"Bah" There was a shocking sound of the case, and the chaotic scene in the hall was stopped, and Lord Zhizhou said angrily: "This is the lobby of Zhizhou, what kind of system!" Whoever dares to do it again will be punished for contempt of the courts! ”

Although everyone no longer moved, they looked at the shopkeeper like a knife that could cut human flesh.

"Who's going to tell you what the hell is going on?" Lord Zhizhou saw that the atmosphere in the hall was weird, and the murder case seemed to have something else hidden, maybe this was the breakthrough in the case.

A woman cried with tears in her eyes: "My lord, yesterday my husband said that they met bandits on the way back to Jianpu from Jianning Mansion to escort medicinal herbs, if it wasn't for luck, he was almost killed by the bandits, who knows that he still did not escape the poisonous hands, it must be that he was targeted by the bandits when he returned to the city, and he only came to retaliate in the middle of the night last night." ”

Lord Zhizhou frowned and asked, "What does this have to do with the pharmacy shopkeeper?" ”

The woman glanced at the shopkeeper of the pharmacy angrily, and continued to cry: "Why does it have nothing to do with Shopkeeper Lin!" I didn't let my husband go to Jianning Mansion this time, thinking that there were bandits there and it was not safe, but my husband said that the shopkeeper Lin told him that if he didn't go this time, the pharmacy wouldn't want him. The whole family is that my husband can earn some money, he was forced by this, he had to go, only to be targeted by bandits, lost his life, don't blame the shopkeeper Lin for blaming anyone, if he hadn't been persecuted, my husband would not have died. Ask the adults to be the masters of the people's women! ”

"That's it, if it weren't for the fact that he was forced by the shopkeeper, my son wouldn't have gone out for this trip, and he would have died like this! Shopkeeper Lin, what kind of heart do you have? Thanks to my son, I worked hard for the pharmacy, but in the end I was forced to die by you! I beg the adults to seek justice for my son! An old man immediately followed.

"Shopkeeper Lin, you said, why did you force my son to go to Jianning! You killed my son!" You give me back my life! ”

"The surname is Lin, my brother has been in Renhe Pharmacy for many years, how can you bear to kill him? What about your conscience, eaten by dogs? Won't it hurt? ”

"You killed my husband, and you have to pay for your husband's life!"

...............

The families of the victims denounced Mr. Lin one after another, and the lobby was suddenly filled with hatred and violent voices.

"Bah", the startled wood fell again.

"Silence!"

The majesty of the astonishing wood was revealed, and the hall fell silent again.

"Shopkeeper Lin, the people who were killed last night were all people who worked in Renhe Pharmacy, what do you say?" Lord Zhizhou seems to have grasped one of the ropes in this series of murders.

Shopkeeper Lin said in horror: "My lord, the villain doesn't know anything about their death. As we all know, Renhe Pharmacy is doing medicinal materials business, in addition to selling to patients in the pharmacy, but also doing bulk trade, selling to some small pharmacy and medicinal herb merchants, the demand for medicinal materials has been very large, and the source of medicinal materials is to go to the surrounding states and counties to buy, Jianning Mansion has a lot of medicinal materials, is the place where Renhe Pharmacy often goes to buy, we go many times a year, and we have never encountered danger before, who knows that this time we will encounter bandits. Yesterday they came back and told the villain that they met bandits on the way back, although the people and goods were fine, but the villain immediately asked them to come to the yamen to report the crime. I really don't know why they were killed villains, please be enlightened! ”

"Then tell me, why did you force them to go to Jianning Mansion?" Affected by the emotions of the victims' families, Lord Zhizhou seems to believe that their deaths are related to the shopkeeper Lin.

"Adult, how can the villain force them, every time they go to other places to buy or transport medicinal materials, they are voluntarily registered, after all, the distance is far away, sometimes half a month, sometimes it takes a month or two, or even three or four months, the farther away they go, the more money they make, this time to Jianning Mansion is also voluntary, at the beginning there are really few people who are willing, the villain said a few cruel words, but the money can be given is much higher than before, and in the end they are all willing to go. Renhe Pharmacy is so big, there are so many medicinal materials needed, and there are many medicinal materials in Jianning Mansion, it is impossible for us not to buy them, but who knew that we would be so unlucky and encounter bandits. Shopkeeper Lin hurriedly replied.

"Shopkeeper Lin means that these murders are all committed by bandits?" Lord Zhizhou's pupils shrank, and he stared at the shopkeeper Lin.

The villain thought that the bandits must have robbed the caravan halfway through, and fearing that their whereabouts would be exposed, so they sneaked into the city to kill people and kill all the people who had seen them in the caravan, so that they could continue to do evil and get away with it. Other than that, the villains can't think of anyone who will kill them. Shopkeeper Lin stabilized his mind and quickly replied.

Lord Zhizhou nodded secretly, more than 20 murders, only outlaws bandits did it, others have no grievances with the victims, even if there is a grudge, it is impossible to have a grudge against all the dead, it must be that the bandits are afraid of exposing their whereabouts and being known and mastered by the government, so they sneaked into the city, suddenly killed the killers, and wiped out all the people who saw their faces, so in the end, this is still a continuation of a bandit robbery.

"Liu Zhutou, where is the portrait of the bandit left by the informant yesterday? Can you find a clue? "Lord Zhizhou figured out all the mysteries of the murder case under the prompting of the shopkeeper Lin, and he couldn't wait to inquire about the progress of the investigation.

Liu Zhutou replied: "I checked in the city yesterday, and no one has seen the person on the painting. ”

"Yesterday, the official sent to inspect the bandits in the city, and they dared to kill people in the middle of the night, such bold and crazy people, they didn't dig three feet into the ground to find out when they would wait! Liu Zhutou, this official ordered you to widely distribute the portraits of bandits, and those who can provide clues to bandits will be rewarded with 100 taels of silver, and those who can capture bandits will be rewarded with 1,000 taels of silver! Lord Zhizhou turned his heart and threw out a heavy reward.

If this gang of bandits can't be caught, his career will be gone, if he can catch them and close the case in time, maybe he will be able to turn disaster into blessing and take a step higher.

"Yes!" Liu Zhutou said yes and left the lobby immediately.

He still needs to investigate the murder scene, and he can't delay for a moment.

The meaning of Lord Zhizhou is very clear, he has judged that the more than 20 murders are the gang of bandits that the victim met three days ago, it is said that since the murderer has been determined, it does not matter whether the murder scene should be investigated or not, but his intuition tells him that this case may not be simple, and maybe there will be unexpected clues at the scene.

Liu Zhutou no longer paid attention to what they said in the court, no matter how many murders there were, he couldn't panic, there were only two things he had to do now, investigate the scene and Guangfa bandit portraits.

The portraits of the bandits were kept in the yamen, and as soon as he left the hall, he immediately ordered the officials to fetch them.

But a moment later, the servant came back and told him that the portraits were missing, and that none of them could be found.

Hearing the news, a chill suddenly surged into my heart, instantly driving away the heat on my body before the summer day came out.

Liu Zhutou was unwilling, he went to find it in person, rummaged through the boxes and cabinets, not to mention the portraits of the bandits, even several sketches of the trial paintings were missing, crumpled into a ball and thrown in the corner, and none of the abandoned paintings were gone, and all the portraits of the bandits disappeared.

"What about Lao Chen? Go find Lao Chen! "There is a strong sense of foreboding, enveloping the whole body, and the old Chen who painted may no longer be there.

Not long after, the official came to report: "Chief, Lao Chen is dead, he was strangled to death in the house, and it is estimated that he has been dead for three or four hours." ”

"Go, you guys go and keep an eye on the four gates in person, and you are not allowed to enter or leave anything!" Liu Zhutou's eyes were about to burst into flames, and the bandits were too arrogant, they dared to sneak into the yamen of the state capital to steal paintings and kill people, and if they were not caught, he would not want to mix in Nanjian Prefecture in the future.

The four of them looked solemn, they also realized the seriousness of the matter, the bandits actually dared to openly challenge the yamen, this is their territory, it is where they settle down, how can they allow others to be presumptuous.

"Yes!" The four of them should be in unison, go away like the wind, each guard one door, and see who dares to let people out of the city without permission!

Liu Zhutou did not immediately go to investigate the scene of the murder, he felt the need to tell Lord Zhizhou everything that happened in the yamen, so he walked into the lobby again.

"Liu Zhutou, didn't you want to hunt down the bandits?" Lord Zhizhou was discussing with Shopkeeper Lin and the victim's family about comforting and compensating, and when he saw Liu Zhutou coming back, he was immediately a little unhappy, when was this time, and he didn't go to do anything important.

"My lord, my subordinates have something to report." Liu Zhutou replied.

"Say." The adults of Zhizhou were dissatisfied and didn't want to say a word.

Liu Zhutou seemed to be unconscious, and immediately replied: "All the portraits of the bandits have been lost, and Lao Chen, who painted the bandits, was also strangled to death in the house last night. ”

"What? How so! Lord Zhizhou was startled and sat up from his chair.