After Li Zhiyun brought the portrait back to the inn of the King of Chu, he handed it over to his guards and asked them to go to various parts of the city and nearby towns to search for it. However, a few days passed, and the maid named Liu Gu seemed to have evaporated from the world, and she was never found.

On this day, Li Zhiyun came out of the county government with two subordinate officials and walked in the direction of the King of Chu Inn. The portrait had been posted for several days, and the guards and officials had searched all over the city and the nearby towns, but the whereabouts of the servant girl had still not been found, and Li Zhiyun couldn't help but feel anxious. The days passed, but there was no progress in the case, and he could not live in Pizhou indefinitely, what should he do next?

They walked for a while, and when Li Zhiyun looked up, he saw people and cars coming and going on the street in front of him, the sound was noisy, and it was like a pot of porridge. He pointed with his hand and said, "What is that place, why are there so many people?" Cai Hu stared at it for a while and said, "It seems to be a bazaar." Li Zhiyun was a little bored in his heart, so he said to the two subordinate officials: "It's okay to go back to the inn at this time, why don't we go to the market." ”

The three of them crossed the street and walked down the street to take a look, and there was indeed a market in front of them. The bazaar covers a large area, and the middle of the road is full of traffic, people come and go, and the merchants on both sides of the road carry burdens and baskets, and more are driving large herds of livestock, camels and horses to carry goods, and sheep to sell directly. There are countless stalls in the surrounding area, ranging from steaming hot food to groceries and daily necessities.

Looking at the lively and busy scene in front of him, Li Zhiyun sighed in his heart and said to Zhang Zheng: "Although this Pizhou is located in a remote area, it is densely populated, developed in commerce and trade, and the people live and work in peace and contentment. Zhang Zheng nodded and said: "It seems that the officials of this state are well governed and have made remarkable achievements. ”

The three of them walked and looked around, and the crowd around them was bustling and rubbing shoulders. Suddenly, Zhang Zheng lightly smashed Li Zhiyun with his elbow, he turned his head to look, Zhang Zheng snorted in front of him with his mouth, Li Zhiyun looked in the direction he pointed, and saw a stall in front of him, a woman in a flower coat was picking out goods, she was carrying a burden on her right elbow, and a man's hand next to her had reached into the baggage.

Li Zhiyun said in a low voice: "Catch this guy!" Hearing the order, Zhang Zheng pushed away the pedestrians blocking the road, rushed forward with an arrow step, and grabbed the man's wrist with a big hand like iron tongs. The man's hand had been pulled out of the baggage, and he still had a beaded hosta between his two fingers. As soon as Zhang Zheng exerted his strength, the hairpin fell to the ground. The man was in pain and cried out, "Ouch, what are you doing?" ”

The woman then remembered her burden, she turned her head, found the hairpin that fell in the place, quickly picked it up and looked at it, and shouted: "Wow, the hairpin that the old lady just bought, you dare to steal, the old lady will kill you!" With that, he raised his fist and smashed it at the man's headless head. The thieves were hated, and the onlookers applauded.

Li Zhiyun walked over and said to the woman: "Since you haven't lost anything, you can leave quickly, and leave this person to us to dispose of." He asked Zhang Zheng to take the thief to a place where no one was and looked him up and down. The man looked to be in his thirties, and he didn't look like a good guy at first glance. Although the thief was caught, he still put on a posture of righteousness, glaring and saying, "Who are you?" Why arrest me? Li Zhiyun ignored him and said to Cai Hu: "Search his body." Cai Hu stepped forward and touched the man's whole body, and finally, he took out a silver bracelet from his arms, turned around and handed it to Li Zhiyun.

Li Zhiyun took it and took a look, this silver bracelet looked very familiar, he looked at the inner wall of the bracelet, and there were two small characters engraved on it: Wei Ji. Li Zhiyun's eyes lit up, isn't this bracelet exactly the same as the one they found outside the building staff's house? He raised his head and said to Cai Hu, "You go back to the inn immediately and go to my room." The silver bracelet you found last time in the Yahuan room was placed on the bookcase, and when you took the bracelet, you immediately went to the county office to find us. Cai Hu clenched his fists and led away.

Li Zhiyun asked Zhang Zheng to escort the thief, and the three of them returned to the county office together. After entering the county office, he asked the official to find Wang County's order and told him the situation. As soon as Wang Xian heard the order, he was immediately promoted to the court to question the case, and Li Zhiyun sat aside for a jury.

The official escorted the man to the lobby and knelt down, and Wang Xianling was shocked and said, "Listen, who is kneeling, what is your surname, where does your family live, and what kind of livelihood do you do, quickly recruit from the truth." ”

"Back to the master, the villain's surname is Zheng, the name is Shan, his family lives in Darong Village outside the city, and he works as a farmer at home."

"If you are a farmer at home, why do you go into the city to steal?"

"Master Mingjian, the villain did not steal, the villain was wronged."

"Zheng Shan, you are stealing in the market, and you have obtained all the stolen goods, and you dare to quibble?"

"Master, the villain was really wronged."

At this time, Cai Hu had already taken the silver bracelet. Li Zhiyun took it and compared it with the silver bracelet in his hand, and then handed it to Wang Xianling: "Look, the style and color of these two bracelets are exactly the same, they should be a pair." Wang Xian Ling took it and looked at it, nodded, and then raised the bracelet and said, "Zheng Shan, you recruited it from the truth, where did you steal this bracelet?" When Zheng Shan heard this, he flatly denied it: "Master Mingjian, this silver bracelet is the ancestral heirloom of the villain's family, and it has always been carried with him, and it was snatched from the villain." After that, he pointed to Li Zhiyun, who was sitting on the side.

"If it's an ancestral heirloom, why is there only one left?"

"The other villain was accidentally lost."

"Dare to be a gangster!" Wang Xianling was shocked, "It seems that if you are not tortured, you are unwilling to tell the truth, and someone will ...... come."

Li Zhiyun waved his hand, stopped Wang Xianling, and said to the man: "Zheng Shan, let me ask you, have you heard about the killing of the whole family outside the building staff?" ”

"Who hasn't heard of such a big thing?"

"That's good," Li Zhiyun said, "to tell you the truth, these two silver bracelets were originally a pair, except for the one found from you, and the other was found by us at the house outside the building staff." Tell me honestly, did you steal the bracelet from the building's house? ”

When Zheng Shan heard this, he was so surprised that his mouth opened and he didn't speak. Li Zhiyun sneered and said, "We have reason to suspect that you colluded with the bandits to sneak into the house of the building staff late at night, killed their family of nine, and robbed all the gold and silver treasures, right?" When Zheng Shan heard this, he was so frightened that he knelt on the ground with a "plop" and shouted: "Master Mingjian, the villain is just a petty thief, and he never has the courage to kill people!" Wronged, the villain never killed! ”

"Then you don't want to get it quickly."

"The villain moves, the villain moves," Zheng Shan got up from the ground, "Master, this silver bracelet was stolen by the villain from the nunnery on Cuiping Mountain outside the city." ”

"Is that true?"

"The villain will never dare to deceive."

Li Zhiyun and Wang Xianling listened and glanced at each other. Wang Xianling stood up and said loudly: "Someone! The master who was taking notes on the side stood up and arched his hand, "My lord, what do you command?" ”

"Immediately convene a group of officials and go to Cuiping Mountain with this official."

"Yes."

Li Zhiyun and Wang Xianling led a group of officials and escorted Zheng Shan out of the city and headed for Cuiping Mountain. Cuiping Mountain is about five miles away from Pizhou City, the mountains are mountainous, and the trees are forested. The forests that cover the mountains and ridges, the sea water is as blue, the jade is as green, it looks like a barrier from afar, so it is called Cuiping Mountain. There are two Zen monasteries on the mountain, one is a monk's temple and the other is a nunnery.

The group climbed halfway up the mountain along a stone path and turned into a fork in the road. After walking for a while, in the gap between the peaks and mountains in front of me, an ancient temple appeared hidden in the greenery. When he arrived at the temple, Li Zhiyun looked up and saw that the plaque read: Lotus Heart Temple.

Under the leadership of Zheng Shan, everyone walked through the wide Buddha hall and came to the backyard. There were several rows of bungalows in the backyard, and Zheng Shan pointed to a room and said, "The villain's bracelet was stolen from this room." ”

So many public servants came at once, which frightened the nuns in the nunnery, and someone brought the owner of the nunnery. The owner of the nunnery is a nun in his forties, and he looks very kind from his face. She folded her hands and said, "Amitabha, I don't know what official business you have sent to Han Temple?" Before Wang Xianling could answer, Li Zhiyun clasped his hands and said: "Shitai, I'm disturbed, dare to ask Shitai's number?" ”

"Poor Ni Intelligence."

Li Zhiyun nodded and said, "Intelligent mage, a few days ago, there was a bloody case in the house of the Loujiazhuang building, nine members of the Lou family were killed, we are looking for an important witness in this case, I don't know which mage lives in this squatter room?" He said, gesturing to the next room. The house where the Taoist priest lives is called a single room, and the house where the monk and nun live is called a squatter house.

"This is the ashram of wisdom."

"Where is Huijue?"

The head of the nunnery turned to a nun next to him and said, "Go and find Huijue." The nun agreed, turned and walked away. The effort is not big, she came back, followed by a nun, Li Zhiyun looked at it, and had to admire the painter's skills, this nun was eight or nine points similar to the portrait. No wonder they couldn't find Aunt Liu, it turned out that she had become a nun.

Of course, Wang County's order also recognized it, and as soon as the order was given, several officials immediately stepped forward to surround Liu Gu in the middle. At this time, Zhang Zheng walked over and whispered in Li Zhiyun's ear: "Lord Wang, come in and have a look." ”

Li Zhiyun followed Zhang Zheng into the squatter room, the room was not big, about seven or eight square meters, and the furnishings were very simple, only one bed, a few benches and two boxes. There was a small door on the north wall, and when you pushed the door in, it looked like a storeroom, only three or four square meters, and there was nothing but an altar. Incense sticks are lit on the altar and many tablets are enshrined. Li Zhiyun walked over and picked up a tablet, approached the candlelight to take a look, and saw that it was written: Master Lou's spiritual position. The other one reads: Little Cui Spirit Position, as well as "Pillar Spirit Position" and so on. He counted them, a total of nine tablets, obviously, it is the nine members of the Lou family who are enshrined here.