"According to the law, even if an assassination official is attempted, he will be assigned to the frontier for three years. ”

Lin Xi looked at the female beggar, whose face was completely white, and said calmly, "If you confess to the main messenger, I will be able to convict you of a crime and make meritorious contributions, and you will only need to be imprisoned for one year at most." ”

"No one instructed me. The female beggar knew that even if she had formed ironclad evidence, she lowered her head, but she did not change her words, and still said in a trembling voice: "I carry a dagger, just for self-protection." ”

Lin Xi shook his head, sighed lightly, and said, "I just want to talk to Fourth Master Zhu, why, admit your mistake and talk to him face to face, is it so difficult for him?"

The female beggar and several people in the crowd had some strange feelings in their hearts because of Lin Xi's words, "This is the new arrest of Liu Tong yesterday?" At this time, some people around also reacted.

"It is said that the new arrester is a young man, but I didn't expect to be so young!"

"Then Liu Tong even bullied the tofu selling grandmother, Zhu Siye really went too far, and he even dared to send someone to assassinate him. ”

"Fortunately, if he hadn't been stabbed, maybe this person would have run away in chaos. ”

"I saw with my own eyes just now, this woman secretly went up from behind, I thought she was going to steal, but I didn't expect it to be a stab!"

For a while, many people were talking, and compared with the last time, this voice was of course one-sided, and all of them fell to Lin Xi's side.

At this moment, the crowd was divided, and the fat boy in the fish market, the black-faced young man with a calm face, walked in again.

"In Xia Xu Sheng, he is the young owner of the thirteen dock shops here, and I have seen Lord Lin. The black-faced young man bowed to Lin Xi indirectly, and then looked at the female beggar and said coldly: "Hand over the dagger in your hand." ”

The beggar hesitated slightly, said no more, and stretched out her hand.

There was an uproar.

She did have an extremely sharp black dagger in her hand.

"We and you have always been well water and river water, but if something happens here, we will be dragged into the water, Zhu Siye has crossed the line this time, so we will not help you this time, you can only bear it yourself." While taking the black dagger from the female beggar and handing it to Lin Xi, Xu Sheng, the young owner of the thirteenth dock shop, squinted his eyes slightly, and whispered this in the female beggar's ear.

The female beggar knew that it was her own mistake that would cause her and Zhu Siye to fall into such a situation, and her face became whiter under the slight trembling of her figure for a while.

"It seems that the young proprietor will have to be asked to testify on this matter. Lin Xi took the dagger, smiled quietly at Xu Sheng, and said.

Xu Sheng quietly pondered for a while, took a thousand steps, and whispered in a voice that only the two of them could hear: "My lord, it must not be difficult for you to inquire, Zhu Siye usually has no bad deeds, if he really wants to assassinate you, the best place is in a no-man's land, not the next day after you have a conflict, in this kind of public view." Your Excellency, you definitely don't want this Donggang Town to become more chaotic, so I hope that your lordship will calm down some of the anger in your heart, give me a day to mediate, and let Fourth Master Zhu meet with you. ”

Lin Xi also quietly groaned, suddenly smiled, nodded at the pool below with two iron-headed pike, and asked, "Are those two iron-headed pike?"

Xu Sheng didn't understand his intentions, frowned quietly, and nodded: "Exactly." ”

Lin Xi looked at the young and old young owner, and asked seriously, "How many silver taels do these two fish usually sell?"

Xu Sheng's brows furrowed even more, and he said, "Three, two, one." ”

"Then I'll pay six taels of silver, can you sell me these two fish?" Lin Xi smiled quietly and asked.

Xu Sheng was stunned, looked at Lin Xi, quietly groaned, and said, "Naturally." ”

Lin Xi patted him on the shoulder and said, "I live in Uncle Mo's small building, and I have already paid the silver for the old Jiang Tuan here, so I will bother the young owner to help me send it there, and I will give the silver taels of these two fish to the young owner... If Fourth Master Zhu changes his mind and wants to find me, he can also go there to find me. ”

"Thank you, sir. Xu Sheng heard what Lin Xi meant, frowned, and bowed to Lin Xi seriously.

"Let's go. ”

Lin Xi didn't say anything more, nodded at the female beggar with a pale face, and walked towards the outside of the fish market.

The female beggar lowered her head and just followed, just took a few steps, and Liang Sansi, who got the news, had already run over quickly.

Just as Lin Xi walked out of the fish market.

The blue and white dead thing that the fisherman child who babbled about before had already floated and sunk in the harbor of Donggang Town with the white foam.

Because all the big ships with a deep draft have to load and unload their goods in this port, there are naturally more white foam produced by the agitation of the big ships in this port, and there are more dead branches and leaves discarded on the ship.

In addition, the most up and down goods are tung oil, so there are a lot of oil flowers on the water surface of this port.

An old man wearing a bamboo hat rocked a small wooden boat and slowly approached the blue and white dead thing.

The old man's surname was Zhong, because he was a lonely old man with no nephews, and the officials in charge of the freight at the wharf in Donggang Town saw that he was pitiful, so he asked him to be responsible for cleaning up the river in the port.

Because he was nearly seventy years old, the old man was already very slow to move, and his eyes were already very useless.

Slowly, he scooped up the mess in the white foam and piled it up in the cabin of the boat, and when he was only about a dozen paces away from the blue and white dead thing, the old man could see it.

His dim eyes lit up quietly, thinking that it was a good thing dropped on the ship, and a bamboo pole with a net pocket in his hand was put on it.

Flipping it slightly, he could see more clearly, and the cyan one seemed to be clothing.

But with one of his efforts, the mass of things turned over, but the old man let out a scream of horror, and fell to the boat, and the boat almost turned over indirectly.

A human face that was soaked white by the river water "looked" at him, and indirectly scared him so much that he almost lost his soul.

Where is this good thing, it is completely a floating corpse that has been soaked in the river water!

The flow of the Xijiang River is gentle, and there are many fishermen on the river, and the fishermen on the river do not have the saying that the drowning person is a ghost looking for a substitute, and he is generally the first to save when he sees someone falling into the water.

In the past few years, around Donggang Town, I have never heard of any floating corpses!

At this time, it was the time when the large ship in Donggang Town was unloaded.

The two boats parked in the port are Dafu ships carrying thousands of catties of goods, with big Heng Rongchang black lacquer characters on the hull, and groups of porters are carrying wooden barrels and ants on the gangplank to the dock warehouse.

The old man screamed in horror, drawing the attention of many people.

Among them, several businessmen on the bow of the big ship near the old man could see it clearly, and their faces turned pale when they boarded.

They were no match for the old man's eyes, and they saw that there were still a few thick hemp ropes tied to the body of the floating corpse.

Several boats immediately approached the floating corpse.

The official of the Department of Internal Affairs, who happened to be in the harbor this morning, covered his mouth and nose with an embroidered handkerchief, and forcibly checked the floating corpse with nausea.

His face immediately became extremely solemn.

The hemp rope was tightly tied, and the floating corpse had a distinctly flipped wound on its throat.

This is undoubtedly a homicide.

"There's a floating corpse in the harbor?"

In the capture room, Lin Xi frowned.

Originally, after he and Liang Sansi took the female beggar back to the arrest room, he was going to report to the higher-level yamen police station in the town governor's mansion, and go back to Lulin Town to meet his family and surprise them in two days.

He didn't even have the idea of interrogating this beggar for the time being, because he was the person concerned, and he was the one who decided the case, and as long as he didn't report the case, he couldn't make a decision. Next, he must see Zhu Siye's reaction, if Zhu Siye can't give himself a satisfactory attitude within the one-day deadline Xu Sheng said, then he doesn't need to be anxious at all for the time being, he can go home and save his relatives for a few days, and let him talk about it.

But what he didn't expect was that when he returned to this arrest room, his butt was not yet hot, and Du Weiqing, Xu Jianling and several other arresters had already rushed back and told him the news.

"Lady Lian!"

Lin Xi stood up, ready to go to the port to have a look first, but before he could take a few steps, a middle-aged man in an aqua blue official uniform walked in with his hands in his hands.

Lin Xi reacted immediately, this tall, hooked nose, and very old-fashioned and stern middle-aged official was his superior, the town police officer of the Donggang Town Police Station Lian Zhanshan, the official rank from the ninth grade, so he immediately bowed quietly, saluted, and said, "Lord Lian." ”

"Are you the new arrester of Lin Xi?" Lian Zhanshan looked at Lin Xi and quietly bowed his head, which was considered a return salute, but his face sank: "You already know that there is a floating corpse in the port?"

Lin Xi said: "I just knew." ”

"Just knew?" Lian Zhanshan snorted coldly, and a cold light seemed to shoot out of his eyes, "Where have you been this morning?"

Lin Xi's brows jumped quietly, this Lian Zhanshan seemed to be very unhappy with him, but his face was still calm, and he said, "I've gone to the fish market." ”

Lian Zhanshan looked at Lin Xi and sneered: "Since you have arrived in Donggang Town, you should know that the fish market is managed by Xu Fat and his son, and nothing will happen at all, you are in a hurry to go to the fish market, do you want to visit them in a hurry and get some benefits from them?"

Lin Xi's brows furrowed, he didn't reply for a while, and raised his head slightly to look at Lian Zhanshan.

Lian Zhanshan, who looked old-fashioned and stern, seemed to be more and more displeased, and said coldly: "Presumably you haven't checked that floating corpse at all, right?"

Lin Xiying said: "I haven't had time to see it yet." ”

Lian Zhanshan's eyes narrowed slightly, and he looked at Lin Xi and said, "I can tell you that the floating corpse is bound by ropes, and there is a fatal knife wound in the throat, this is a murder case!"

"Our Donggang Town has always been peaceful, and everyone has done their best, and there are very few bad cases, let alone such murders! In such broad daylight, it is also the time when the big commercial houses unload their goods, and the impact is extremely bad. Lian Zhanshan looked at Lin Xi after a slight pause, and said, "So I limit you to seven days, you must solve this case and arrest the murderer!"

"Seven days?!"

As soon as Lian Zhanshan's words came out, Liang Sansi and the others, whose faces had changed slightly, stiffened, but Xu Jianling, who was dissatisfied with Lin Xi in his heart, had a gloating smile on the corner of his mouth.

I don't know where this kind of floating corpse floated from in the river, and the place where the murder occurred was either on the river or on the bank of a river, which is the most difficult to find, unless you have the ability to go to the sky, it is impossible to reach for seven days.

"Because the port is important, it is the lifeline of our Donggang Town, and most of what we eat and drink, including the prosperity of this Donggang Town, comes from this port, so we must have someone to inspect the port on weekdays, but today there is such a major event, and the first person to come forward to inspect is the official of the Department of Internal Affairs, not the person from our Criminal Division. Seeing that Lin Xi hadn't made a statement for a while, Lian Zhanshan sneered again, and said a little gloomy: "Then let me ask Lord Lin, where was the catch of today's patrol port?"

Among the several fast catchers behind Lin Xi, the timid fast catcher named Qi Guangwu immediately shook quietly.

Today, he was originally in charge of the port inspection, but Heng Rongchang's ship number was well managed, and everyone also sold the noodles of the largest commercial house on the Xijiang River, so Heng Rongchang unloaded the goods, and the patrol was able to go to rest elsewhere, which was the practice of the arrest room, but no matter what the reason, now put it on the table, in the face of the high-level officials, it is unreasonable, and it is a dereliction of duty.

Lin Xi glanced at Lian Zhanshan, but said: "At that time, the patrol was fast, and I was transferred to escort the criminals. ”

Qi Guangwu couldn't help but raise his head, and couldn't help but glance at a few people around him, he didn't expect Lin Xi to help him take it indirectly.

"Good. Lian Zhanshan glanced at Lin Xi, and said with a smile instead of anger: "Then please Lord Lin hurry up, if the culprit is found within the seven-day time limit, then everything is naturally easy to say, and there will be a reward from above, if it can't be found out within the time limit, then don't blame me for being official." ”

"Naturally, there is no problem with doing business. Lin Xi looked at Lian Zhanshan, who turned around and wanted to leave, and said loudly: "It's just that I don't understand something, and I ask the adults to solve their doubts." ”

Lian Zhanshan Huo Ran turned around, looked at Lin Xi, and said coldly: "What's the matter?"

"I have already read some records of the arrest room yesterday....It is true that the homicide case is a big case everywhere, but there are no homicides around Donggang Town, if the record is good, there was a business dispute in Bench Lane three years ago, and the result was a big case that killed a family of three at home, and the impact of that case was far worse than this case, and the shock was quite large, but it was only within one month that the case must be solved. Lin Xi looked at Lian Zhanshan, with a serious attitude of asking for advice, and said slowly: "Earlier, the adults asked me if I could go to the fish market in a hurry to get some benefits from Xu Pang and them, but I wanted to ask Lord Lian, is this seven-day time limit considered to be deliberately difficult?"

"You can think that this is an investigation of young people like you, and you can think that it is giving you a chance, and if you can't do it, someone else can do it. ”

Lian Zhanshan sneered, said no more, and walked away.

When he walked out of this small courtyard of the arrest room, he thought disdainfully in his heart, who knows where you came from, you have offended so many people, so that even the criminal department and the official department in the province have released their words. There are mountains up there that want to press you, and you don't know what to do below... In Lian Zhanshan's opinion, even if Lin Xi can barely keep his official position, he will definitely not have a good time in this Donggang Town.