The chatter came to an abrupt end as the red beans brought the hot meal.

What she wants to do is to investigate Xue Huai's death, and it has nothing to do with the book in the market.

After eating, Qiao Ran spread out the old East Gate Kanyu map that Zhen Shiyuan handed her back to see when she was on duty.

The place where Xue Huai had an accident was specially circled with cinnabar.

It is on the bridge near the river, and there are rows of shops around the bridge. Yes, although there are many people there, there is a dead end on the bridge deck, and when Xue Huai had an accident, no one saw it, and ...... No one heard about it.

Well, it's so noisy that there's a real chance that no one notices.

Qiao Ran frowned slightly, stretched out her thumb and index finger, and compared the distance on the map.

This location is a dead end, and if no one passes by at the time, you can't really see it, but you can't hear it...... She was a little skeptical.

Of course, there are many people, and some sounds are really not so easy to hear. According to their previous inference, before falling into the river, whether it was Xue Huai, the coachman or the little girl, they were all alive.

When a person falls into the river, doesn't he shout for help?

Could it be that the coachman and the servant are dumb? This is impossible, because it was Zhen Shiyuan who first arrived at the place of the accident, and with Zhen Shiyuan's sophistication, if these two people were dumb or couldn't make a sound, they would definitely make extra notes.

There is no special note, which means that these two people can speak out.

Can you speak up but don't call for help?

Xue Huai was hit in the head, and he knew how to water, so it was normal not to shout. But what about the coachman and the servant? Even if you don't know how to water, you can struggle and shout twice if you fall into the river, can't you just sink it?

If it sinks directly, it seems to confirm her previous guess even more.

Maybe the coachman and the little guy didn't shout, but they couldn't shout, and given that there were no other wounds on the two of them, Qiao Ran took a deep breath: perhaps, as she guessed, the death of the two of them was murder.

In other words, the murderer pressed the two people into the water with their heads until they drowned, but in this way, things seemed to be wrong again.

Who drowned Xue Huai and the coachman first?

If Xue Huai fell into the river first, why did the murderer drown the coachman and the little maid?

If the coachman and the servant drowned first, why did Xue Huai fall into the water later?

A seemingly simple matter, but because of the order of entering the water, two completely different speculations arise.

Thinking of the "copper plate" involved in it, Qiao Ran put down the pen in her hand and breathed a sigh of relief.

It's still not good to talk on paper, it seems that tomorrow I still have to walk through the old east gate.

Qiao Ran, who put down the pen, reached out and yawned.

"Meow-" sounded, and a white shadow gently and skillfully landed on the map of the old east gate.

"Xiaobai!" Pei Qingqing jumped in from the window, grabbed Xiaobai and hugged him into his arms, nodded at his forehead and reprimanded: "Don't run around, you influenced Miss Qiao to do the homework assigned by Master Zhen of Dali Temple." ”

Do your homework? Qiao Ran, who heard this, shook her head and smiled.

However, although this statement is new, it is actually ...... That's not wrong.

The tasks assigned by Shangfeng and the homework to be handed in by the children of the school are the same, and they need to be completed.

Of course, Xiaobai didn't understand their words, but just "meowed", continued to lick his paws, and then rubbed it into Qiao Ran's hand.

Pei Qingqing was envious of this move.

Although Xiaobai always follows her on weekdays, it is because she has the best skills, and she is the only one in the family who can outrun it, which is equivalent to "forced" it by herself. But Miss Qiao is different, it was Xiao Bai who took the initiative to rub against her, I really don't know why Xiao Bai likes Miss Qiao so much.

Is it possible to attract people who like people and attract cats? Thinking of this, Pei Qingqing suddenly felt a little more sad in her heart, took out the small bronze mirror she carried with her, and took a picture of it in the bronze mirror.

She's quite likable, right? Every time I go back to buy sugar cakes, lotus seed cakes, osmanthus sugar, and walnut cakes, those stores will always give her more, and always praise her for being cute and beautiful, is this all a lie to her?

Pei Qingqing was a little puzzled: Why didn't Xiaobai rub her?

Qiao Ran didn't pay attention to the little girl's sorrow, she just looked down at the picture on the table and squinted slightly.

There were two wet and muddy footprints on the map, and Xiao Bai ran to find her after playing in the quagmire somewhere.

The wet cat's paw prints were particularly conspicuous on the map.

Qiao Ran's gaze fell on the cat's paw print in the upper right corner.

Most of the maps on the old east gate are shops, and the one that was covered by Xiaobai is also a shop.

However, this shop is somewhat familiar to Qiao Ran, and this is the first time I have seen this name tonight.

Sande Bookstore.

This bookstore is also near the old East Gate! Qiao Ran stared at the Sande Bookstore for a while, then lifted the cinnabar pen in his hand and drew a circle on the Sande Bookstore.

Tomorrow I will go to the old east gate for a walk, and by the way, I will go to this Sande bookstore to have a look.

……

……

said that he would only be a temporary guard for one day, but when he went out the next day, Pei Qingqing still followed. The reason is: That Lord Zhen dialed the one called Pingzhuang to help you, I don't worry, but I want to watch for Zhang Xie that he won't come nonsense.

Qiao Ran was silent for a moment, paused at Pei Qingqing's nervous little face, and said, "Qingqing, you ...... Do you want to eat walnut crisp? ”

Yesterday, she bought five packs of walnut crisp from the couple in Nanji alone, which caused several officials to mutter, "Why is the walnut crisp gone early today?" "Yunyun's.

Looking at the snack bag she hid under the pillow, Qiao Ran looked at Xiao Bai who was jumping on the window and looking around, and suddenly felt that it was a right choice to bring Xiao Bai back.

A person like Pei Qingqing who hides snacks will provoke rats sooner or later, and Xiaobai should not dare to come again if there is a mouse.

Pei Qingqing snorted twice and said, "It's not!" ”

Qiao Ran shook her head with a smile, shook off the Kanyu map of the old east gate in her hand, pointed to a few dim sum shops on the Kanyu map, and asked her, "Is that for this?" ”

Pei Qingqing nodded.

Really honest good boy.

Qiao Ran couldn't cry or laugh, so she had no choice but to take Pei Qingqing away.

I heard that I could follow her to handle the case today, so Pingzhuang came early in the morning, and after she came to the yamen to report, he urged her to go out of the yamen.

"I heard Master Zhen say let's go to the old east gate?" Pingzhuang said excitedly, "Master Qiao, if you have something to do, just command!" ”

Qiao Ran looked at him casually and asked him, "Where is your horse?" ”

Pingzhuang's face changed suddenly, and he hurriedly said: "Rest at home!" ”

It's okay to hit his idea, but not the idea of beating Chongfeng! just knew that he was going to follow her today, in order to let Chongfeng forget her early without conscience, he deliberately didn't bring Chongfeng.

Pei Qingqing skillfully touched a piece of candied fruit and stuffed it into her mouth: Miss Qiao seems to be not only liked by people, but also by cats and horses.

Thinking of this, the little girl twisted her eyebrows, looked up at Qiao Ran, who was a head taller than her, and observed it carefully: her chin was slightly pointed, and her face seemed to be a little smaller.

Of course, Miss Qiao said that this is not thin, but when she grows to a certain age, the thing called "baby fat" on her face will gradually disappear, and she will not have it in the future.

Is that so? Pei Qingqing pinched her fleshy face, and suddenly had some doubts.

Is it because she has more meat on her face than Miss Qiao, so Xiaobai and Chongfeng don't like her?

Sure enough, cats and horses don't understand the beauty of people, so she sighed and continued to stuff a piece of candied fruit into her mouth.

……

There was no heavy wind, and none of the three of them mentioned the matter of "calling a carriage", and it was almost noon when they walked all the way to the old east gate.

Looking at the high sun, Qiao Ran glanced at Pei Qingqing, who was licking her lips on the side, and said, "Let's eat first, and then do things after eating." ”

The old east gate here are all small food shops, and she can still afford to eat for three people.

Pei Qingqing sniffed her nose when she heard this, and immediately pointed to a steaming shop not far ahead, and said, "Go there, it's so fragrant, I already smell it." ”

It is the taste of osmanthus syrup.

Her sense of smell in such a thing is unsurpassed.

The three of them walked into the shop, which was a small food shop with two shops, because it was not yet noon, there were only a few people scattered in the shop. Qiao Ran casually picked a place and sat down, ordered some food, and specially ordered two bowls of osmanthus syrup for Pei Qingqing, and the three of them ate leisurely.

Xu was not at his busiest, except for the two cooks in charge, a few guys and the shopkeeper of the snack shop sat on the table and stool near the door chatting.

The shop is so big, and the words of their small talk have not fallen into the ears of the diners who are eating in the shop.

"In the morning, the cloth seller next door scolded again!" A guy poured some melon seeds on the table, grabbed a handful and said, "Chasing those naughty boys are scolding, it's noisy!" ”

"What do they do to see like children?" The shopkeeper seemed to be very disdainful of this, "Wouldn't it be good to give a handful of candy if you are disobedient?" Carefully scolding the child attracted the adult to scold, do you want to do this business? ”

In the eyes of the shopkeeper of the snack shop, it is obviously a big world, not as big as the business, so he would rather give the sugar to the people than to pursue it with those naughty children.

A guy was a little worried about this: "Those little boys first came to make trouble once in ten days and half a month, and then the shopkeeper gave sugar poop once every four or five days, and recently it has become a day or two. ”

Sugar isn't worth much, but it's not a handful of sugar. Children may not understand those truths, many times they act according to instinct, and human greed is one of the most uncontrollable things in the world.

The shopkeeper of the snack shop laughed disapprovingly when he heard this, and then he said proudly: "Don't you think those children haven't come much in the past two days?" ”

As soon as these words came out, a few guys couldn't help but glance at each other, and then asked the shopkeeper why this was in confusion.

The shopkeeper of the snack shop smiled: "I have a toothache after eating too much sugar, so I don't come to ask for sugar." ”

The matter is settled, as for the toothache, it is not him who hurts, what does it have to do with him?

"That's why I said I shouldn't be like a child." A gleam flashed in the eyes of the shopkeeper with a naïve face.

It seems to be honest but shrewd.

Pei Qingqing, who was eating osmanthus syrup, was also holding the syrup bowl at this time, she tilted her head and pondered for a while, and after a while, she put down the syrup in her hand, took out the small bronze mirror in her arms and took a photo with her teeth, and then patted her chest with reassurance, and continued to pick up the sugar water and eat.

Pingzhuang, who was eating on the other side, saw the whole process of her looking in the mirror, was silent, and couldn't help but say: "The shopkeeper should be glad that there are no ...... among those children." She's like that. ”

This tooth mouth is too good.

If the shrewdness of the shopkeeper falls on this girl, she will have to lose her pants.

But obviously, Pei Qingqing's talent is just an accident.

The small talk continued.

"A few days ago, because the child lit the firecrackers that his family had saved for the New Year, he almost got into a fight with the adults of those children's families." One of the men said again, "But the cloth seller didn't catch the boy that day, and he was scolded by the adults." Today, I heard the words of the cloth seller mean that he caught a person with stolen goods, and the boy was caught when he was lighting firecrackers. ”

"I said that these adults are wrong, how can such a thing as firecrackers let children mess around, and carefully blow up their bodies." The shopkeeper shook his head, snorted twice, and said, "Didn't the owner of Sande Bookstore happen to be injured by firecrackers when he passed by that day?" It's weird and scary to look at. ”

"After all, the Sven man who runs the bookstore," one of the fellows continued, "I didn't even ask the adults for the money for the medicine, and the angry cloth seller scolded the bookstore owner for being a fool." ”

"Zhao Dong's family has always been good," the shopkeeper knocked a handful of melon seeds, grabbed a handful and held it in his hand, and said, "It's a pity that the past two days don't seem to be smooth, first I was injured by the firecrackers that the child lit indiscriminately, and then the bookstore invited outsiders to throw things, and it was also a loss that he didn't report to the government, so I went to the Chang'an Mansion to ask for the master!" ”

"Outsiders go to the bookstore to throw things away because a book of words is not written according to their wishes," the man shook his head and sighed, "I heard that book is quite popular in the community." However, I said that these people are also exact, and the problem of the book is to find the account of the person who wrote the book, and what to do in the bookstore? ”

"It's not because Zhao Dong's family is sincere, but they refuse to reveal which one wrote the book, and as a result, his own bookstore was tired." After talking about these things, the shopkeeper came to a conclusion with emotion, "It can be seen that this good person can't do anything wrong, otherwise it will ......."

"Shopkeeper!"

While they were talking, a woman's voice suddenly sounded at this time.

The shopkeeper and the happy man who was talking stopped the small talk and followed the prestige.

The woman in the official robe at the table in the northeast corner stood up.

They were very impressed by the people at this table, not only because the people at this table were extremely good-looking, both men and women, but also because the people at this table, two adults and one and a half old children, ordered five or six people's food, and when they persuaded them to think about something, those people said that they were fine.

At the moment, the table was indeed almost finished.

It seems that these three people have a really big appetite!

The shopkeeper, who had inexplicably thought of this conclusion, glanced at each other along with his fellow men, and then with a smile on his face, he got up and walked towards them, asking as he went, "What does this lord command?" ”

Guests with such a big appetite are best to come every day, and they are most welcome to do food business.

I don't know what this lady suddenly called him to do? Could it be that you want to add food?

Thinking of this possibility, the smile on the shopkeeper's face deepened a little.

But the result disappointed him.

The girl opened her mouth and asked him, "What day and time was the firecracker that you said was lit?" ”