"Something's wrong, there's an accident! That Tu Laosan, who sold meat, is dead! A man dressed as a shopkeeper ran into the store and shouted.

"Stone, what are you yelling about?" Fauber stopped his abacus: "Who died?" ”

"Tu Laosan!" The shopkeeper who was called the stone had a simple look, he wiped his sweat, and then said: "I went to buy meat at dawn and saw that he didn't come out of the stall, and I went around again just now, but before he came, I saw a person leading the official straight to his house, saying that he was dead." ”

"You mean Tu Laosan, who sells meat in the vegetable market?" I also stopped my chopsticks: "I asked him to buy meat yesterday, why did he die?" ”

"Who knows, I saw that the county lieutenant of Yaxiao came over with a team of people." Stone said.

"Hey, it seems that this person still can't do too much evil, otherwise God will clean it up sooner or later." Fauber sighed.

"Is this guy bad?" I was confused, I didn't have much friendship with him, but I would buy some meat in front of his stall every ten days. I only know that he is a butcher, and he speaks in a rough voice.

In fact, there are three or four meat stalls in that area, but every time we wait for our tofu to be sold out, only he has meat to sell on his stall, and he is afraid that he will be tired of selling, so he can pay back the price.

When he first met Tu Laosan, his father was still there, although he was also a butcher, he was much kinder than Tu Laosan. Wang Fatzi taught me to know the internal organs of the human body at that time, so he often took me to see Tu Laosan and his father killing pigs. Every time I saw Tu Laosan skillfully helping his father dig out the internal organs of the pig, I could see that my legs were weak.

"God knows best. Anyway, the few companies that sell meat are the ones with the most temper and the worst business, so I let the stone go to his stall a few more times every time, and I don't want to buy it, and when the meat on the other people's stalls is sold, I will go to him to grind the price, and he is in a hurry, but it can be a lot cheaper. Fauber said, with some contempt in his eyes: "But this person is really not a good stubble, once I watched him beat his wife in the street, and he punched and kicked him mercilessly." ”

"Huh? How so? I was taken aback: "A big man beats his daughter-in-law, is this still a man?" I really didn't expect him to be such a person. ”

"Heh, I'm not doing well, find a place to vent." Shi also frowned: "The key is that he is still a drunkard, and he is good at gambling, he has lived a good life to death, and when Uncle Tu was still there the year before last, he was able to suppress him, it was only less than two years, but I didn't expect him to go to his father." ”

"Hey, life is impermanent!" Ah Wu shook his head and sighed as well.

I drank the soup and reluctantly counted eighteen copper plates.

Fauber put the copper plate in the drawer: "Thank you." Hehe, do you want me to vacate it for you now? ”

"Oh, no, I'll come back in the evening."

I left the inn, took care of my old stalls, and wandered the streets. If you can find a job to do and earn dozens of copper plates, it would be good.

"Li Jianghu? Which is Li Jianghu? A man behind him shouted.

When I looked back, my legs trembled with fright, and I saw two officials questioning me next to each other.

"I don't know."

"I don't know."

Pedestrians replied.

"It's the one who has been selling tofu there, young people in their twenties." The official said again.

"That's right, think about it, I heard the person next to me say that he just left the stall and came this way." The other official said, tilting his head to meet my eyes.

I'm getting more nervous, I shouldn't be doing anything, right?

"Hey, you, do you know the Li Jianghu who sells tofu?"

I was about to turn around, but two servants caught up with me.

I swallowed: "I ...... I am. ”

"You are? Are you behind your ears? I shouted my name all the way over, and you don't know how to respond? ”

"I ...... I don't know if the two big brothers are looking for me...... What's the matter? I asked cautiously.

"It's the county order that wants to find you, come with us."

"Prefectural order? Xu County Order? "I feel a little excited, I've grown so big, and I've never dealt with an official. What's the matter with him looking for me? But before I could ask, the two officials hurriedly moved forward with a wave of their hands, and I had to follow quickly.

After a short time, they arrived at a mansion, the two women were paralyzed on the ground and sobbing in a low voice, and more than a dozen officials around them stood straight, without saying a word, only the county lieutenant Xiao paced back and forth.

"County lieutenant, Li Jianghu brought it." Two of the leading officials arched their hands at him and stepped aside.

"You are Li Jianghu?"

"Yes, meet the county lieutenant in Xia Li Jianghu." I hurriedly waved my hand, scanned my eyes left and right, and made sure I didn't see Xu Xianling's figure.

"Are you a puppet?" County Lieutenant Xiao looked to be about forty years old, and asked with a serious face, his two thick eyebrows were intimidating.

"I ...... My master is a stabbing officer, and I used to work with him. ”

"Alright, then you can go in and have a look. The prefectural order is coming soon. ”

"Yes." I stepped through the door cautiously, and I heard a few flies buzzing and chirping, and Tu Laosan was lying on the ground, disheveled, and the house was full of the smell of alcohol and the sour smell of vomit, and there were a few thatches scattered around.

One of them, who was covering his mouth and nose and turning over something on him with pliers, got up when he saw me enter the house, and asked with contempt in his eyes, "You also came for an autopsy?" ”

"Yes, in Xia Li Jianghu, I don't know who Your Excellency is?"

"Zhang Xiaoquan, the county government servant."

The county government is a servant? I was stunned, since the county government is here, why are you calling me here?

Zhang Xiaoquan had already pulled down the veil covering his mouth and nose, and took a few steps back, his face was full of pockmarks, like a pancake with sesame seeds.

"There's a tool here, let's examine how he died?" County Lieutenant Xiao also followed, but only walked to the door, pressed the back of his hand on his mouth and nose and said.

"Yes."

When I was suddenly called, I didn't even have a handkerchief on me, and I didn't know the people around me, and I couldn't borrow it, so I had to hold my breath and look over the deceased.

After a while, I finally got up and bowed my hand to the county lieutenant Xiao and said: "Back to the county lieutenant, the deceased was a male, about 30 years old, the time of death was about the end of last night, the deceased's chest clothes, mouth and airways had a large amount of vomit, mixed with the obvious smell of alcohol, and there were no other fatal injuries, it can be preliminarily concluded that the cause of death was inhale of vomit into the airway after drunkenness, and he died of suffocation." ”

County Lieutenant Xiao glanced at the deceased again and nodded slightly.

"Uh...... Can you help with a handle and turn the body over? I asked cautiously again.

"The prefectural order has arrived." A government official reports.

County Lieutenant Xiao hurriedly came out of the house to greet him and called, "Ming Mansion." ”

"Meet the Ming Mansion." I hastened to bow with the crowd.

"What's going on?" Xu Xian Ling asked, glanced at the room where the two officials were standing, and did not mean to go in to find out. Oh, all officials are the same, and of course we untouchables have to do the dirty work.

Xiao County Lieutenant said: "Back to Ming Mansion, it's not a homicide, the deceased choked on vomit into the airway after drinking a lot last night, and died of inhalation." ”

"Is Zhang Xiaoquan sure?"

"In order to be foolproof, Xiao also sent someone to the Assassin's Mansion and wanted to invite Wang Fatzi to come over and have a look, but he recommended this person to come over to help." County Lieutenant Xiao said, pointing at me.

"In Xia Li Jianghu, meet the Ming Mansion." I waved my hands again.

"He is Wang Fatzi's apprentice. The post-mortem results were the same for both men. ”

"Hmm." Xu Xian Ling glanced at me, snorted lightly, and turned to look at the woman on the ground: "Who are you deceased?" ”

"I'm ......," the old woman wiped away her tears, choking up and saying no more.

"Oh, they are the mother and son of the deceased. Xiao has already asked just now, the deceased went out to Wanhualou to eat at the beginning of the time, and when he came back, the whole person was so drunk that he couldn't walk steadily, his mother went to help, he kicked him, and wanted to beat again, his mother was distressed, so she took her daughter-in-law back to her room and went to sleep.

This morning, his wife made breakfast and went to call him, but no one answered when she knocked on the door, for fear that he would not sleep well and be beaten again if he woke up.

Then his mother got up, thinking that the hour was not too early, and urged him to kill the pig, but there was still no response, and then he realized that something was wrong.

They called their neighbors to knock the door open together, only to find that Tu Laosan had fallen to the ground, and everyone was cold, so someone came to report to the official. ”

Xu Xian Ling helped the old woman on the ground up: "Old man, after our judgment, your son died of drunkenness, please mourn and prepare for the future." ”

"Thank you Mingfu." The old woman softened her mood and shouted at the room, "I know...... Sooner or later, this unfilial son will die on wine...... Eat and drink every day...... Visit the Flower Building...... It's good now, we don't have to be angry anymore......"

"Mother, mother, are you okay......" The young woman patted her on the back and sobbed.

"Come, you take this little money, prepare a coffin, and put him in the ground as soon as possible, it's hot, and you can't keep it at home." Xu Xianling said, looked at the dilapidated rooms sympathetically, stuffed a money bag into the old woman's hand, and then waved his hand to everyone: "Go!" ”

"This ......" the old woman was stunned, and before she could thank her, everyone had already left the courtyard.

"What a good officer!" One of the remaining men said.

"Don't cry, look at the way he beat you before, this is his retribution." The woman in yellow beside the man came over and took Tu Laosan's hand and comforted her.

I also glanced at it by the way, and sure enough, I saw that the third lady Tu's face was still a little red and swollen, and even her wrists were bruised. It seems that he must have suffered a lot of sins in his daily life.

Everyone else is gone, and the people who seem to be husband and wife who stay behind should be their neighbors. I'm an outsider, and of course it's inconvenient to stay longer.

"Hey, little brother, can you help with a hand?"

I was about to leave when I was stopped by the man.

"Me?" I pointed to my nose: "Help what?" ”

"I don't think you shy away from the dead, why don't you help the eldest lady do good deeds and bury Tu Laosan with me, right?"

"That's right, my man can't do it alone, and I'm afraid I won't be able to find anyone to help at this time." The woman in yellow also said.

"Oh, it's hard work, it's ...... This money is for you......" said the old woman, as she shoved the money bag into the man, and her eyes were full of pleading.

"Ouch, auntie, how can I ask for your money, when Uncle Tu was here before, we didn't eat less free oil and water. Hey, if it weren't for the third child's lack of courage, your family wouldn't be like this......" The man sighed, took out a handful of copper plates from his money bag and stuffed them into me: "Come, little brother, you take these, don't be too little, see if you can leave the rest to the eldest lady?" ”

"Oh, no, no, anyway, I don't have anything to do today, just take it as a help, I used to go to the slaughterhouse with my master to watch Uncle Tu kill pigs, Uncle Tu also gave my master a pair of pig intestines to drink, and I also ate it." Of course, I don't want to ask for money, so I quickly excuse myself.

"Then it's troublesome." Tu Lao Sanniang knelt down towards us, and was pulled by the woman in yellow, and the three women sighed together.