After slowing down for a long time, he moved his shoulder blades slightly, feeling that his back was no longer cold, and then he exhaled a deep breath of turbidity. Those people were really ruthless, and the bows and arrows they used to set traps in the mines were all coated with poison. is also a loss to himself because he is not a weak scholar who is helpless, otherwise I am afraid that it will really be difficult to escape.

As long as he remembered that if it wasn't for him at that time, the arrow with poison would have hurt Xu Chu's body, his eyes couldn't help but turn cold. Since they are enemies, let's see who lives and who dies.

"Let people continue to search for those involved in the copper mining case, but all those who buy private copper mines, or the pawn traders listed in the accounts of Jinyinfang, will be strictly investigated." Xiao Qinglang frowned and said in a sharp tone, "In the name of Huang Dashan, I sent an official document to the Criminal Department, asking all the state capitals and yamen to search and arrest together, and we must dig up all the people who can dig up this case." If there is an official who commits the crime, he will be severely punished, and if there is a person who cannot be decided by the Criminal Department, he will be temporarily detained in the prison of the Criminal Department and tried by the three legal divisions. ”

The reason why he wanted to use the name of Huang Dashan was naturally not to help him build his political achievements. It's that when they intervened in that case, they used a pseudonym to hide their true identity. For the people of the world, he was still recuperating in the palace at this time, and some difficult cases of the Three Law Divisions were also presented to him in the form of files and official documents.

Since he intends to investigate in secret, the best way is to cultivate the plank path clearly. On the surface, all the cases that were solved, whether it was the copper mine case or the Jinyinfang, were inadvertently solved by local officials, and then reported to him. After that, he ordered all localities to investigate.

One can confuse the person behind the scenes, so that the other party will not jump off the wall in a hurry. The second is to buy some time for them to investigate the case, otherwise once that person realizes that something is wrong and kills him, I am afraid that their road to investigating the case will be even more difficult.

Because of the New Year's Festival, in addition to the Zhuangzi family, most of the remaining helpers have already returned home, which makes Zhuangzi very quiet.

When Xu Chu and his party arrived, Liu Laohan, the head of the Liu family's Zhuangzi, was chatting with the family in the house with a brazier. Xu had not come for many days, so knowing that Xu Chu and a few people had entered the house, Liu Laohan's family hurriedly got up.

Liu Laohan saw a little lady coming with many officials, he was stunned for a moment, and then carefully concealed his surprise, and said respectfully: "What are you doing here?" ”

The official messenger has also been here before, mainly to ask about the whereabouts of his master. But after asking later, he never came again, he thought there was nothing wrong, but now it is difficult for the people to stir up the teacher and what happened?

Thinking so, he asked more and more cautiously. And the old wife and daughter behind him were even more nervous and nervous, and the eyes of the people who looked at him were all in awe and fear.

Xu Chu looked around and saw that the father and daughter of the Liu family had already piled up a lot of melon seed skins under their feet, and the plate of fried soybeans in the Liu family's mother-in-law was only left with a bottom. It seems that the three of them have been in the house for a long time. She glanced out the window, which was so well insulated that if she hadn't entered the door, the family wouldn't have heard the movement at all. Thinking of this, she glanced at the few people in front of her again, and then said politely: "The old man doesn't need to panic, we are just here for a routine check." Then there is to check the pond on the Zhuangzi and look for something. ”

Although she said this, the old man didn't dare to slack off, and replied softly: "Yes, then the old man will take you there?" ”

At this time, Liu Laohan's family of three came to Xu Chu, bowed and spoke. also asked Xu Chuneng to look at a few people closely, but when she saw her eyes sweeping over the hands of several people, she couldn't help frowning. Although these people had access to paper, pen and ink, their hands were clean, their clothes were neat, and there was no ink at all. In other words, there shouldn't be any chance they could have written that ransom note in a hurry.

On the way, Xu Chu inadvertently asked: "This Zhuangzi is not small, then I will go all the way, and see that the wheat seedlings in the nearby farmland have come out of the first layer, and I think it is usually very good." However, the old man guards it all day, which should be quite hard. ”

"Fortunately, I can't say it, usually I just help keep the accounts on the Zhuangzi and collect the rent. I don't have to do anything else, I have helpers. ”

"Hey, when there are no entries and exits like winter, I don't know how to keep the accounts?"

"We have to pay the account at the beginning of the lunar month every year, and we don't have to remember anything in the spring in the future. It's just to get paid with the old man every month, and see that there are no stealing chickens and dogs to harm the objects on the Zhuangzi. Speaking of things he was familiar with, Liu Laohan talked eloquently with a little less trepidation.

Xu Chu nodded when he heard this, and secretly had a plan in his heart. When she was about to walk to the pool, she looked at the fallen leaves all over the ground and sighed: "Just patrolling back and forth, I'm afraid it's enough for the old man to suffer." But if there is a helper, I don't dare to come and look for trouble. After a pause, she asked again, "I wonder if the helper on Zhuangzi will come back in the next year?" ”

"The wages given by the proprietor are sufficient, and if there is a full meal at noon, the general helpers will come again. However, there are exceptions, just the two helpers who were recruited some time ago, looking at the five big and three coarse ones also have a lot of strength, but they don't work much, so even if they come, we don't dare to use them anymore. Liu Laohan looked at Xu Chu and saw that she didn't have any expression, so he continued, "Speaking of which, those two people are really lucky, just because of the good water, they went to repair a pond for the old lady's house, and they got a lot of rewards." ”

"That's everyone's luck."

"But no, if it weren't for the fact that the old man was in a hurry to let people repair the pavilion on the Zhuangzi, the Zhuangzi would have lacked manpower. It just so happened that those two men came to find work again, and I didn't dare to use them lightly. As soon as these words were opened, Old Man Liu's words became more and more, and his attitude was no longer as cautious as before.

When I arrived at the edge of the pond, I saw a stream of living water, and there were traces of fish and shrimp shuttling under the weeds in it from time to time. On a cold day, it's rare to see a pool like this mixed with hot spring water that never freezes.

Xu Chu squinted and looked around, stopping and walking, walking down the pond until he reached the base of the wall, and then stopped.

She walked back and forth as if at random, until she came to a loose place. She raised her eyebrows slightly, and squatted down in the midst of everyone's confusion, only to see her white fingers carefully twisting on the mud-stained mud of the pool.

Although it was trampled on, it did not prevent it from being more conspicuous than the soil with a layer of ice and snow on the side.

She glanced around, and saw that the places where the mortals on the earth walked had been cleaned, at least leaving no useful footprints and traces. Judging by the signs that the dirt has been turned, the time could only be after this morning. After all, if it had been last night, even if the soft soil had frozen due to the pond water, it would have re-formed into hard lumps after the thin snowstorm.

But when he just entered Liu Laohan's house, looking at the expressions of several people and the debris on the ground, these people should not have gone out. And when Liu Laohan brought them here, he was neither weak nor panicked, which shows that he is not Liu Zhen's internal response.

Xu Chu lowered his eyes and looked at the excavated soil, and there was a faint smell of corruption in the smell of the earth, as if rotten flesh was hidden deep in it.

Sure enough, if it weren't for Zhu'er's death, I'm afraid she wouldn't be able to easily determine where she is. After all, there were no signs of drowning on the headless female corpse, and it had been too long to find useful clues from the body.

"I don't know if there are other people in Zhuangzi besides the old uncle's family?" Her words were so abrupt that they couldn't scratch their heads.

However, Liu Laohan's heart jumped, but he didn't dare to be stunned, and hurriedly said: "My son-in-law also lives in Zhuangzi, although he is a helper. However, because he is a son-in-law, he will stay in Zhuangzi and be prosperous with Lao'er's family during the Chinese New Year. ”

Xu Chu nodded, and then asked, "I don't know where he is now?" ”

"Probably in the kitchen, or on the Zhuangzi." Liu Laohan glanced at Xu Chu, and saw that her eyes were clear and there was no anger or disgust, so he hurriedly said, "I'm old, so I will leave many things in Zhuangzi to him to do......

Regarding his words, Xu Chu did not question or express his position. Most of the so-called door-to-door sons-in-law are poor in their families and have no way out. In today's era, most of the sons-in-law who become door-to-door sons-in-law have to suffer a lot of white eyes, and even if they become relatives, they can't leave anything good. If you run into a good family, you may still treat your uncle as a son, but if you meet someone who thinks they are high, you can imagine how sad the son-in-law's life is.

Although the common people rarely pay attention to the gentleman and stay away from the kitchen, many people also believe in the male protagonist and the female protagonist. If the son-in-law of Liu Laohan's family is really living a comfortable life, I am afraid that he will not be busy in the kitchen or outside at this time, but will follow his family to warm up in the house.

Of course, these things are not important to her, after all, everyone has their own way of living.

Xu Chu bowed, glanced at the official who followed and said, "It seems that we are going to the kitchen." ”

Regardless of whether Liu Wengui knew the truth at the time, or whether the case was just Liu Zhen's own doing, if they want to settle on Zhuangzi, they must need an insider to help them cover it up. She had guessed hundreds of times on the way here, and if it went well, it was estimated that this trip would not only uncover the mystery of the entire case, but also bring back the disappeared Liu Zhen.

This person, who has never been found with the hands of the Yamen, will definitely not be left behind. She has no maiden family or sisters, and she has been pampered by Liu Wengui for many years, if she rashly hides outside, I am afraid that she will not be able to bear the pain.

Therefore, it is reasonable that the best place for her to hide may only be under her own property. And when she visited Liu's house yesterday, the swimming fish in Liu's pond also confirmed her guess.