Chapter 141: Murder Case

As the door leaf opened, a somewhat short and fat middle-aged man was reaching out and supporting the door frame, panting with his mouth open, his face flushed, and sweat glistening.

"Old Zhang?" Bai Sibing said in surprise. "What's the matter?"

"Lord Bai! Save me, save me, someone died in the... in the restaurant!"

Bai Sibing frowned: "Reporting to the official is enough if someone died, why talk about 'saving' you?"

"It has already been reported! But the one who died is a protector of the Lake Heart Gang," Old Zhang said with a mournful face.

Bai Sibing was silent for a while and sighed: "I will sign a warrant for you. Just manage to keep the restaurant, and investigate the case as it should be investigated."

"That is natural! That is natural! Thank you, Lord Bai!" The middle-aged man was about to bow.

"I still want to drink your wine," Bai Sibing smiled, supported him, and turned to sign the warrant.

The middle-aged man was left looking forward with anxiety and tears, his worry not diminishing.

Seeing Pei Ye looked at his face, and only then could he interject: "Zhang, Uncle Zhang?"

"Ah?" The middle-aged man raised his face, looked at the youth blankly, and suddenly gave a sharp cry, "Little Pei?!"

He had a mottled face and a round face, nearly fifty years old, and was exactly the owner of the original Fenghuai Old Zhang Wine Shop.

"Why did you come to the prefecture city?"

"I'm participating in the martial arts competition, Uncle Zhang. What's going on with you?"

"I—forget it, don't get involved in this matter," Old Zhang wiped his sweat. "If you're participating in the martial arts competition, practice well. Try to win two rounds. According to the last session, there are four taels of silver to take, which is not a small amount. I'll go cheer for you then."

"Tell me about yourself first, Uncle Zhang, can you afford to open a restaurant?"

"It was opened by someone else long ago. I added some money and became a small proprietor, so I'm busier," Old Zhang sighed. "I've only been here for seven days..."

At this time, Bai Sibing came out with a piece of paper with ink not yet dry and handed it to Old Zhang: "The wine supplied at the military meeting outside the city in two days will come from you. It's also what I'm used to drinking."

Old Zhang took it excitedly: "Bai Sibing, everyone says you are a good official, and it's not false at all!"

Bai Sibing waved his hand, said goodbye to Seeing Pei Ye, and returned to the residence.

Seeing Pei Ye poked his head to look at the warrant and quickly withdrew his gaze: "I'll accompany you for a trip, Uncle Zhang."

"No need, no need, there is a warrant here. You hurry up and do whatever you need to do. I'm fine now."

"If you're fine, I have to go even more, otherwise I won't be able to find you next time."

"... Then let's go."

Seeing Pei Ye followed Old Zhang to the north. It wasn't too far. After turning into a branch street, a three-story small building appeared in front of him.

This wasn't actually the first time Seeing Pei Ye had seen it. When he first arrived at the prefecture city two days ago, he had passed under it. At that time, its doors and windows were wide open, and the wine guests talking loudly by the window lowered their heads and cast a glance at him.

Now the windows of the whole building were tightly closed, and there was no one left. The common people pointed and whispered from afar.

Separating them from the building were some people who were also in coarse cloth and hemp shirts, but their temperament was completely different from that of the good people. They had tied sleeves and leggings, chewed grass stems, were in groups of three or five, and had arrogant expressions. Each of them carried a sharp weapon.

There were about twenty such people, scattered outside the restaurant.

In front of the restaurant, the chef's left face was highly swollen, bruised and purple, with blood stains flowing from the corner of his mouth. At this time, he was leaning against the wall with his legs curled up, and behind him were the maid, the groom, and a row of people sitting on the ground.

The waiter was curled up alone under the other wall, with seven or eight footprints remaining on his body.

"Good men, I am the proprietor, I am the proprietor," Old Zhang smiled and hurried up. Several pairs of eyes from different directions had already fallen on the tall, sword-carrying youth behind him.

"Hearing that the good men of the Lake Heart Gang had an accident, I ran all the way here. You good men can investigate as you please. Our restaurant can be closed for three days, five days, until the murderer is caught!"

A man in a black silk shirt with a long sword at his waist walked over.

"Proprietor Zhang, are you giving us such face?" The man pressed his sword and smiled.

"What are you talking about! It is a glory for the good men of the Lake Heart Gang to come to my humble place," Old Zhang leaned to the man's side and said in a low voice, "This good man of your gang didn't reveal his identity, otherwise our building would definitely have treated him with good wine and food, and sent him to the best private room. How could we let the good man of your gang be on the second floor."

The man nodded and smiled: "Since that's the case, then let's close for fifty years first."

"... Lingzi Guanshi Chai!!" Old Zhang's voice changed.

"The murderer killed someone in your restaurant and disappeared without a trace in less than a quarter of an hour. Your people actually know nothing about it," the man narrowed his eyes. "Who believes that your restaurant has nothing to do with the murderer?"

"We really don't know anything, Lingzi Guanshi Chai! We don't even know that the good man of your gang came to us to drink!"

At this time, a low voice came from the building: "Let him in."

Lingzi Guanshi Chai looked at Old Zhang and gave way.

Old Zhang had long lost the expression of "I'm fine now" when he got the warrant in front of Bai Sibing's residence. In fact, having come to the prefecture city from the happy Fenghuai, he didn't know how to deal with these fierce gangs at all.

He forced himself to calm down and stepped forward. His legs were shaking, and his face was white.

Seeing Pei Ye followed silently. Just as he took a step, a strong wind whistled in front of him, and a sheathed sword had been fiercely stabbed into the tree in front of him. The iron wrapping at the end shattered the bark, smashing out a dent, and the flying wood chips made the youth tilt his head subconsciously.

"Proprietor Zhang, is the dog you're leading so ignorant of the rules?" Lingzi Guanshi Chai didn't look at Seeing Pei Ye, turned his head, and said coldly.

Old Zhang looked back in a panic, saw the youth blocked there, and hurriedly said: "Ah! Little Pei, you don't need to follow! Just wait outside, it's, it's fine."

Seeing Pei Ye stood still for a moment, looking at the man in the black shirt: "What official position do you hold?"

Lingzi Guanshi Chai stared at him and laughed: "I have no official position. So what."

Seeing Pei Ye frowned: "Since you are not an official of the Great Ming, why do you forbid the people of the Great Ming from stepping on the land of the Great Ming?"

Lingzi Guanshi Chai's smile widened. Seeing Pei Ye saw that the hand holding the scabbard was exerting force.

Seeing Pei Ye was also waiting for him to exert force on himself.

At this time, a voice came from the window on the second floor: "That's right, now we all have to abide by the laws of the Great Ming. Please let him in."

Seeing Pei Ye looked up and was stunned. The person leaning on the window on the second floor had extremely short hair, rough skin, and a face like an owl.

It was exactly the leader of the three people he met in the mountains that day.

Seeing Pei Ye frowned, withdrew his gaze, and stepped in.

"Take off the sword!" Lingzi Guanshi Chai shouted coldly behind him.

Seeing Pei Ye didn't stop his footsteps and looked back again: "What official position do you hold?"

He entered the building.

Walking up to the second floor, this floor was set with many tables and chairs, with only two separate private rooms.

The incident happened in the private room on the left. Seeing Pei Ye turned into the room and was pressed at the door by the scene in front of him.

The center of the room was completely cleared by an explosion. All the objects flew forward in a radial shape, stuck to the wall by huge force—the fragments of pots, bowls, and plates were embedded in the walls and ceiling, while the soup and dishes were pasted into a painting on the wall. Several chopsticks were buried nearly halfway into the pillars, like a rack for hanging clothes.

This explosion was not in all directions, but had a clear direction. It had a clear "front." The starting point of this direction was probably where he was standing, and its end point...

Seeing Pei Ye followed the traces and looked up. On the wall painted with broken porcelain and wine soup, a horrific corpse was hanging, like a blood-dripping specimen.

What bore his weight was an iron candle rack that pierced through his body and was deeply embedded in the wall. On both sides of the candle rack, the corpse's arms hung down powerlessly, and the red-black blood flowed along the yellowish-brown wooden wall to the ground, winding into a thick pool.

Posting one chapter first, I need to organize the next chapter for a while, later.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 142 =====