After confirming that he had cleared his thoughts, Steward Xu said in a slow tone: "The first person to discover the thieves in the house was Song Zi, a servant of the house in the house. Song Zi is two in his Chinese New Year's Eve, but he has the problem of waking up at night, and it is difficult to fall asleep within an hour or two after waking up at night, so he developed the habit of patrolling the mansion at night. The chief doesn't need to suspect this person, Song Zi has a pure temperament, his ancestors have served the Song Mansion for generations, and he is kind to the head of the family......"

Huang Xinyong frowned slightly, and interrupted: "Steward Xu can state the facts of the case, there is no need to say anything else, this arrest has its own decision!"

"Yes, yes, yes! ”

Steward Xu straightened his clothes and said strictly: "It was about three or four minutes of the ugly beginning that night, and I suddenly heard an exclamation in my dream, and when I woke up, I heard noisy noises from all over the house. went out in clothes, caught a small guy and asked, saying that it was a thief in the west wing. When they arrived, there was no sign of the thief. According to Song Zi, he saw two figures on his night patrol, thinking that they were people from the house, and called out. Unexpectedly, the two of them ran away, and one of them fell to the ground with a cloth wrap in his hand, spilling a porcelain vase full of hanging paintings and gold and silver. Only then did Song Zi know that the thief had entered the house, and shouted loudly while chasing after him, but unfortunately it was too late, and the thief was nowhere to be seen. That night, I counted the belongings in the house and found that a large number of utensils and paintings had been stolen, and it was expected that there were a lot of thieves. In addition, the west wing is dominated by aunts and daughters, and many aunts in the side rooms say that the gold and silver jewelry around the bedroom is missing. ”

Speaking of this, Steward Xu gave a look.

Seeing that Shangfeng considered the circumstances of the case and did not comprehend it, Xue Siwei whispered in his ear: "Steward Xu is implying that the confessions of these partial concubines may be biased, such as losing a pair of earrings, saying that there is no pair of jade chuan, and the woman's greedy nature dictates it. Let's get the list later, and the number and description of the utensils and paintings handled by Steward Xu are true and credible. ”

Steward Xu secretly gave him a thumbs up, and the two of them gave each other a look, tacitly acknowledging each other.

Huang Xinyong nodded, admitting this, if there are too many false clues that favor the case, the case is not easy to investigate. Gesture to Steward Xu to continue his statement.

"What else does the chief want to know?" With the approval of the official, Steward Xu was inevitably a little complacent in his heart, so he didn't know where to say it.

Huang Xinyong had to ask questions again, but his tone was a little irritable that he hadn't completely suppressed, and exhaled: "Could there be any absences or undesirable hospitality that night? Can there be guests, actors, tailors, embroiderers, craftsmen and other outsiders staying in the house? In addition, if anyone is suspected of colluding with thieves, they can also be explained." ”

Steward Xu pondered for a moment and swore solemnly: "There are no suspicious people in the mansion! There were no outsiders staying overnight that night. ”

Huang Xinyong's eyebrows furrowed, knowing that it was useless to ask again, this person wanted to pile all the responsibility and pressure on the head of the fishing room. If it is said that there is an internal response in the house, and the external thief should be combined with the outside, doesn't it reflect that his steward is dim-eyed and has major omissions in his position?

While speaking, a small servant trotted over and handed over a small folding book the size of a palm, and after taking it, Steward Xu handed it to Huang Xinyong and said, "Sir, this is a list of stolen property in the house." ”

Huang Xinyong put the small folding book into the placket of his clothes, and said, "I am on official business, and it is inconvenient to stay for a long time!" and immediately returned to the house.

After leaving the house, it was already lunchtime. The two found a simple restaurant to carry the burden and asked for two bowls of noodle soup to satisfy their hunger. The vendors who were doing small business saw that they were two government officials with long iron on their waists, and not only did not accept half of the copper plate, but also added a braised egg to each of them. This bowl of noodles is heavy on oil and salt, and the amount of noodles is sufficient, which makes me quite hungry.

After eating a mouth, Huang Xinyong took off the iron plate on his waist, handed it to Xue Sixiang along with the folding book and the authorization document approved by the government office, and explained: "The task of chasing the stolen goods is handed over to you, with the iron plate and the documents of the government office, even if you leave Jinjufang, the people everywhere must work together." There was a curfew at night in the workshop, and after the guards at the city gate received the martial law order, they were extremely careful about the iron tools and valuables, presumably this batch of goods had not completely flowed out of the Golden Snow City. You can explore the vicinity of Jin Jufang first, or you may have a harvest. ”

"Then sir, you?" Xue Siwei took three things, secretly rejoicing in his heart, and the obscene smile on his face couldn't hide it at all.

Relying on such a frivolous young fast hand of Meng Lang, Huang Xinyong actually had no confidence in his heart, but he had other plans, and said: "I think that Steward Xu has concealed something in his words, and maybe someone escaped suspicion under his deliberate cover-up." However, after Fang Cai's beating and inducement, I must have suspected that person as Steward Xu, and now I want to sneak into the Song Mansion, secretly investigate, and take the opportunity to smash the thief's lair. ”

Xue Siwei clapped his hands and exclaimed: "Wonderful! Chief Huang's hand is exquisite, that old fox never expected that we would investigate the thieves openly, but secretly use him as a breakthrough point." That Nei Ying must also be very wary, good! good! good!"

"Leave it for you to solve the case and shoot it again! Investigate the case, act quickly!" Huang Xinyong tightened the single knife more than two feet long at his waist, and his standing posture was as tall as a mountain, and his back was particularly majestic.

Xue Siwei took the order and left, and his figure disappeared at the end of the street.

In the Song Mansion of Jinjufang, the steward surnamed Xu sent away the two arresting officials who came to inquire about the case, and set off to the residence of Mrs. Dafang to explain the matter. Mrs. Dafang is in charge of all matters in the house, and this theft case has a lot of impact, so it is natural to review and make decisions through Mrs. Dafang.

After that, Steward Xu was busy supervising the work of servants and maidservants everywhere, and it was not until noon that Steward Xu had time to eat a bite of food and take a nap.

Steward Xu, who couldn't sleep for three quarters, woke up on time and began to urge the lazy subordinates again.

There are many restaurants at the back of the Song Mansion, among which there is a three-storey pavilion that is unobstructed on all sides, the first floor listens to books and watches plays, the second floor drinks and eats, and the third floor enjoys the scenery and drinks tea. The guests in the building are flowing like water, and the business is quite impressive.

A middle-aged man with a wooden sheath and iron at his waist walked through the bustling flow of people, past the loud voice of the storyteller, and ascended the stairs with heavy and steady steps.

When I climbed to the second floor, there were 16 tables in the building, and many people were eating. One of the tables was surrounded by four or five young men, and there were not many plates of beef in sauce left, and several wine jugs had bottomed out. The man who was seated facing the stairs suddenly bowed his head quickly, his face almost touching the table.

The drunken accomplices laughed and were about to taunt a few words, but they heard him nervously and whispered: "The yellow head is here!"

"Are you too drunk?" The tigress in the Yellow Head family is strictly controlled, how can there be any money to spend here for recreation, besides......" As he spoke, he turned his head to look at an accomplice at the staircase, and the words came to an abrupt halt, and he quickly bowed his head. He scolded his mother in a low voice, blaming the person for not meeting him in time.

Several other people also bowed their heads, pretending to be drunk and pretending to sleep. A few of them wore iron rulers on their waists, and they were originally fast hands in neighbors, serving under Huang Xinyong, and they should have patrolled and caught thieves at their respective posts at this moment.

Huang Xinyong turned to the stairs on the third floor and continued to climb the stairs, but did not find a few of his subordinates who were drinking and lazy.

The Kuaishou breathed a sigh of relief, not only the joy of being reborn after the catastrophe, but also secretly calling them unlucky, hiding so far away to drink, and still bumping into Shangfeng. So everyone quickly checked out and left, and returned to their posts with alcohol.

The top floor is more lively than the lower two floors, and only tea money is charged here. There are many kinds of tea, such as Longjing, Biluochun, such as the famous tea often ordered by guests, and there are also more expensive than gold in various famous mountain private tea, most of which are purchased by literati and elegant guests who really understand tea. The most sold is the most affordable bud-free tea, which is also divided into six tea series, and the taste is varied for customers to choose. The little people drink tea to quench their thirst and moisten their throats, as for whether the tea is picked from the top bud or the bottom leaf, what does it matter. In the hearts of the people who have always adhered to the values of "buy more and not buy less, buy cheap and not expensive", the same cup of green tea, the taste of the top bud and the coarse leaf cannot be a river, the reason why the coarse leaf is a copper plate and three bowls, and the top bud is one tael to a tael of silver, which can only be understood as a gimmick for businessmen to sell. Those who are willing to pay for silver must also be stupid and big money who lack heart.

Huang Xinyong walked into the crowded third floor, and the people in the building avoided it one after another, whether they knew it or not. In these years, those who can carry swords are not ordinary people, either they are errands in the military camp, or they are officials in the government; sometimes they can also meet the swords of the gentlemen as decorations, they rely on the blessing of their ancestors, who dares to investigate the crime of stealing iron weapons?

Although these three types of people can't be provoked, they rarely make it difficult for no reason. There is also a kind of people in the rivers and lakes who do not obey the laws and regulations of the imperial court and have high martial arts and self-control, which are the most feared. If you don't agree with each other, you can draw a knife and cut people, but it doesn't happen less.

Huang Xinyong is only equipped with a single knife at the moment, although the style is a trapping knife that imitates the Yanlong saber standard, but there are only a handful of recognizable knives in the building. So Huang Xinyong, who has no jade pendant at his waist and a token and is dressed in cloth, is naturally classified as a high-roller.

Walking to the periphery, the line of sight crosses the waist-high sparse railing, and the landscape of half of the Golden Chrysanthemum Square is in full view. Sitting on a wooden bench facing south, he asked for a gourd of coarse tea. Huang Xinyong narrowed his eyes and looked at the Song Mansion that was just under his line of sight.

The tea guests in the building saw that the Jianghu people had not behaved abnormally for a long time, and the scattered crowd gradually gathered, and the men showed an ambiguous smile, which turned out to be a fellow practitioner who came to see the body of the maidservant and the concubine of a large family.

The mansions near this pavilion are continuous, and there is a beautiful scenery when you climb high and look into the distance, but there are plump beauties in the near future, otherwise how could you attract such a huge number of vulgar people.

The owners of the mansions living under the noses of everyone are dissatisfied, but it is a pity that the owners of the pavilions are well-connected, and the profits are made every day, and the officials are full of food and drink, so where do they care about the trivial complaints here.

Although he couldn't peek into the house, Huang Xinyong was able to roughly grasp the whereabouts of Steward Xu in the Song Mansion. For the time being, he has not shown any unusual behavior, nor has he whispered to anyone. Huang Xinyong shook the tea in the gourd, and continued to wait.

More often than not, it is a test of patience rather than relying on momentum.