In any era, whenever there is a homicide, as a magistrate, he will be under pressure. If this gang of thieves is not eliminated for a day, the people of the entire Ruyin County will be in a huge hidden danger all the time, and the officials of all sizes will not be at ease for a day.

But as a subordinate, no matter what happens in office, you must report to your superiors in a timely manner, so that you can minimize your own responsibilities. The case is serious, and bandits are rampant. All the counties that have been victimized have reported to Yuzhou.

Of course, Shu Yan couldn't make the mistake of hiding and not reporting like Wu Qian, and he also made a written report to Yuzhou Assassin Shi in the name of Biyu as soon as possible. After receiving the case from all over the country, the assassin Shi of Yuzhou attached great importance to it, ordered all localities to take strict precautions, and must arrest the thieves as soon as possible, and made a promise that no matter which county captures the thieves, he will give 100,000 yuan to reward the meritorious personnel.

Although Shu Yan showed confidence in front of others, he was actually not very sure. In the past two days, he has been asking about the situation of the thief Cao's visit. Wu Qian sent people to the market every day to secretly investigate, but there was no news.

Before dinner that day, Wu Qian came back from outside. Shu Yan hurriedly asked, "Is there any news?" ”

Wu Qian shook his head in frustration.

"Didn't a suspicious person find it either?" Shu Yan asked unwillingly.

"After walking around the market for a long time, I did meet a person who sold jewelry. It's a pity, but it's a local. ”

"What's the situation with that man?"

"He said that it was a jade ruyi and a bead left by his ancestors, and he wanted to change these things because he was in urgent need of money recently."

"Where is that man now?"

"He's not from the city, and he went out of the city after the thing was sold."

"Do you know who he is?"

"I didn't know this person, but I knew it was a local when I heard his accent, so I didn't pay attention."

"I'll go back to the city tomorrow, and if that person reappears, I'll see it."

Wu Qian was a little inexplicable to Shu Yan's words: "I said that he is a local, not a foreigner, and only because he is short of money in hand that he wants to sell the jewelry left by his ancestors." This is normal, why does Shu Cheng still doubt him? ”

"It is true that the family is forced to sell the jewels left by the ancestors, but it is not impossible for foreign robbers to instruct the locals to sell the stolen goods."

"Well—that's a possibility, too. But how do we tell? ”

"Of course it's easy to tell. It depends on whether he will come or not. If it is only sold once, then it proves that what he said is true; On the contrary, if he has jewelry to sell all the time, it is very doubtful. Just imagine, how many valuable jewels can be left by the ancestors of ordinary people's homes? Even if there are more than one, who is willing to sell all these heirlooms? ”

When Wu Qian heard this, he really made sense, "That's right, that's right." Wait for me to send someone to watch tomorrow, and as soon as there is news, I will immediately go back and forth to the county. ”

The next day, just after the birthday, I saw Wu Qian running in a hurry and said to Shu Yan: "That person is here again, in Xishi." ”

"As I expected." Shu Yan said with a hint of joy in his heart, "Let your people come back, in order not to arouse suspicion, I will send another person." ”

Ruyin City is not big, and many of the officers in the county office are known to the common people. For the sake of safety, you can't use the errand of the county office, only someone else. For whom? Of course, I can trust and do things properly. didn't know the bottom of others, Shu Yan specially sent a messenger to ride a horse to Shujiazhuang and invited Ruoxin and Shu Jin to help him. First of all, he secretly commanded Ruoxin.

Ruoxin got the order, had an idea in her heart, and went straight to the West Market. Sure enough, there was a man in his thirties who was there and touted to passers-by: "I am short of money, so I sell my ancestral jewelry, pearls, and jade ......."

There were already a few people who were attracted and gathered around to watch. Ruoxin also hurriedly walked over and saw that the man was holding a jade pendant, three golden hairpins and two beads that were not too big or small.

The word "discount" is certainly appealing. However, most of them are in the mentality of watching the excitement, and they have not met people who really want to buy.

Seeing that the treasure bearer had been selling for a long time and that there was no real buyer, he couldn't help but be a little discouraged, walked to a goldsmith's shop, took out three golden hairpins, and said, "Help me refine this into gold ingots." ”

The goldsmith took it, carefully identified it, and said: "This is pure gold jewelry, it is worth a lot of money, and this workmanship alone is worth a lot of money. Isn't it a great loss for you? ”

"I know it's a pity, but I'm anxious to get the money ...... Why don't I sell you the hairpin? ”

The goldsmith shook his head, "Contemptible people have always only made handicrafts for people, and do not recycle. ”

"You're really, you know it's real gold, but you don't recycle it." The treasure bearer complained, and continued helplessly, "Otherwise, you will return me the same weight of gold ingots, and don't ask me for money for labor, as for these three golden hairpins, you are destroying or selling, whatever you do, this should be okay, right?" ”

For the same weight, the carved jewelry must be much more expensive than the original gold ingots, and the money is basically negligible. It's certainly a good deal.

"That's fine."

When the treasure bearer saw that the goldsmith had agreed, he took out the jade pendant and two beads from his bosom and said, "How about selling these three pieces to you together?" ”

The goldsmith didn't pay attention to the bead, but only played with the jade pendant and said, "For your sake, this jade pendant will also help you accept it." As for this bead, although it is a good thing, I am not good at it, so I can't do anything. ”

It's also good to be able to shoot the jade pendant. The bearer bargained with the goldsmith and finally sold for four taels of gold.

At this time, there were still two beads in the treasure holder's hand that did not move. Seeing that it was close to noon, he walked up to a meat table and said to the butcher, "Weigh me twenty pounds of fine pork." ”

Twenty pounds, but a rare big customer. The butcher was glad to cut off a piece, weighed it, threaded it with twine, and gave it to him.

The treasure bearer did not ask the price, but directly took out a bead and handed it to the butcher.

This move directly stunned the butcher: "Dude, what do you mean by this?" Not to mention that you only buy 20 catties of meat, even if you buy the whole pig, it is far from enough for your bead? ”

The treasure bearer shook his head embarrassedly: "I have no choice, I don't have any money in my hand, only this bead, what do you want me to do?" ”

The butcher also smiled helplessly: "You can't help it, and I can't help it." How can I have so much money to exchange your beads? ”

"That'...... You see, this will not work. You've been around the market for a long time, and you must be familiar with most of the vendors. I have several mouthfuls in my house, but my mouth and stomach have not yet settled. Can you help me buy two large jars of wine, two stones of rice, two loads of firewood, ten catties of salt and five catties of oil, and send them to my house. If there is any surplus, no matter how much, it will all be yours, what do you think? ”

Seeing that the butcher seemed a little hesitant, the man immediately put on a rogue posture and said, "Anyway, I don't have any money, what do you think?" ”

The butcher thought: Now that the meat is so difficult to sell, how can he let him run away even if he encounters such a big order? Although it is a little troublesome to help him change this bead, but with his own connections, there is always a way, not to mention that there can be a lot of surplus profits, why not do it?

"Oh well. Dare to ask where is the residence? ”

"Balipu outside the East City, contemptible Zhu Da."

After Zhu Da finished explaining to the butcher, he went back first.

Ruoxin secretly learned about these situations in secret, and immediately went back to report to Shu Yan.

Shu Yan carefully analyzed it, and even more determined that this Zhu Da was very suspicious: "Three beautifully made golden hairpins, but they did not hesitate to destroy them as gold ingots; obviously said that he was short of money, and he had no stomach at home, but he was willing to buy 20 catties of fine pork and two large jars of wine. It doesn't make sense. ”

Shu Jin's young temperament immediately couldn't hold back and said: "Since my brother thinks this Zhu Da is very suspicious, why don't you order the thief Cao and send someone to arrest him immediately?" ”

"Although I am more skeptical, I will continue to hammer it. There will always be some strange people in the world who do something incomprehensible and abnormal. What if what Zhu Da said is true? ”

"If you don't arrest him, how do you know if what he said is true or false?"

"It's always much more reliable to start with evidence than to arrest people unilaterally."

"Is my brother talking about those suspicious pieces of jewelry?"

"Exactly, it's going to be hard for the two of you to make a trip."

"This is a major matter related to the safety of the people of Ruyin. But according to my brother's orders, how can I talk about hard work? ”

Shu Yan was very happy to see that Ruoxin and Shu Jin were so positive, and first instructed Shu Jin: "You go to the goldsmith, temporarily borrow the three golden hairpins and a jade pendant, and then ride a fast horse to the two counties of Kuiyang and Xincai, go to the owner for identification, and confirm whether it is what they were robbed." In order to gain time, as soon as one of the lost owners can confirm it, they will return immediately, and there is no need to go to another place. ”

Shu Jin seemed to be a little embarrassed: "I can work hard to go to Liyang and Xincai, but those jewels are very valuable, how can the goldsmith lend them to me?" ”

"I signed an IOU in the name of the county office. You explain the situation to him: if you cooperate with us, promise not to let him suffer losses afterwards; Otherwise, if it is indeed stolen goods in the future, it will be confiscated and returned to the donor without compensation. One is private, and the other is public. The government cannot handle the private property by one person, and I will send another messenger to accompany you. If this thief is not eliminated for a day, the people of Ruyin will be in danger for a day. Make sure you return overnight, without delay. After instructing Shu Jin, he instructed Ruoxin again: "You have to go to Balipu in the east of the city, secretly visit the details of this Zhu Da, and you must not know the ghosts, and don't show the news." ”

The two of them listened to the command, and they all agreed to go.

Before dark, Ruoxin came back and returned the news to Shu Yan and said, "This Zhu Da is really the Balipu clan." is single, has no relatives, is idle on weekdays, and is addicted to gambling. The ancestors were engaged in farming and had never made a fortune. ”

Shu Yanxi said: "There has never been a trace, and the so-called large number of jewelry left by the ancestors must be fabricated; A single person, but he has to buy four or five mouthfuls of food, who is this for? Most likely, the thieves are hiding their homes! ”

Ruoxin nodded and said: "The so-called smell is similar, even foreign thieves who don't know each other will quickly hook up with local scoundrels." Even if this Zhu Da did not participate in the direct robbery, at least he played the role of selling stolen goods and eyeliner. ”

"That's right, we'll just wait for Shujin's good news, and then we can do it."