From a refugee to a martial artist

Chapter 129 Handling the case
It is night and the stars are bright.

There were no lights on in the yard behind the county government office, only the light of the stars and the moon. Everyone was enjoying the cool air while munching on melons. Then Chen Shouzhe began to speak.

Naqishui Town is located at the westernmost part of Hedong County, backed by the Funiu Mountains.

It is a beautiful place surrounded by mountains and rivers. There is a medicinal herb market there, where rare medicinal herbs are occasionally produced. There are many merchants coming and going, so the business is quite prosperous.

As early as half a month ago, there were rumors of a flower thief there, but no one reported it, probably because they were afraid of losing their reputation.

Then the flower thief broke into the room of the mistress of a wealthy family, but the mistress was a strong-willed woman who would rather die than surrender, so she was killed by the flower thief and two of her guards also died.

The flower thief did not rob unmarried girls, but only married ones.

The most tragic case happened to a newly married couple. After the wedding ceremony, the flower thief drove the groom away, and the couple died on their wedding night.

In the past half month, seven cases have been reported, ranging from newly married women in their teens to people in their 40s and 50s who already have grandchildren.

Chen Shouzhuo led the detectives to investigate and got some clues. They deduced that the thief should be a seventh-rank warrior, and his attack was ruthless, so he was definitely not a novice.

Then Chen Shouzhuo pretended to go back home and secretly turned back. As expected, he waited for the other party. However, the thief was very good at escaping and had the supernatural power of hiding his body, so he lost him.

It stands to reason that when a warrior reaches the seventh rank, whether he enters the government or makes a living, he will no longer have to worry about food, clothing, or women.

But people always have some weird hobbies.

After explaining the case, Chen Shouzhuo made a conclusion, saying, "This person committed a serious crime. Generally speaking, he should hide away and not show his edge for the time being, or change the place to commit crimes. But there was another case in Qishui Town two days ago. Obviously, it was done by that person again."

"I understand!" Hu Qian understood again, "What you mean is that this person doesn't take the government seriously at all and is extremely conceited!"

"Miss Hu is very smart and talented," Chen Shouzhuo praised. "This man is indeed quite capable and has the capital to be conceited. And I guess he probably has other important things to do, so he won't be leaving for the time being."

After hearing this, Meng Yuan thought that the Funiu Mountain behind Qishui Town was behind Wangjiang Cliff, and it was only a hundred miles away from Wangjiang Cliff. Could it be that the flower-stealing thief was also waiting for the Rat Dao Meeting?

"Is there anything unusual in Qishui Town?" Meng Yuan asked.

"That's not the case. There is a medicine market in Qishui Town. Although it is a mixed bag, it is actually orderly." Chen Shouzhuo smiled and said, "Of course, the reason why Qishui Town produces precious medicinal materials is that the people there often go into the mountains. I heard that they secretly have dealings with monsters."

"Dealing with monsters?" Hu Qian frowned.

"There's nothing strange about this." Chen Shouzhuo explained kindly, "Some herbalist families even marry monsters in the mountains."

“……” Hu Qian widened her eyes.

Tie Niu grabbed Meng Yuan's arm tightly, extremely worried.

"The government doesn't care?" Dugu Kang asked curiously.

Chen Shouzhuo said, "They have a tacit understanding with the monsters in the mountains. The monsters rarely come down from the mountains, and there are very few cases of them hurting people. The people don't report it, and the officials don't investigate it. This has been going on for many years. Besides, they have a clan, so as long as the matter is not serious, they usually discuss and solve it among themselves."

After this was said, everyone fell silent.

Meng Yuan is now a small-scale officer in the Demon Suppression Bureau. He is not surprised by such things. He heard from Gong Zihua and others that they also have spies among the mountain monsters in the Songhe Prefecture area.

In fact, many monsters don’t have much ambition. They just eat and sleep when they are full, and live their lives honestly.

"Mr. Chen, what should we do?" Hu Qian was eager to try.

"No rush, let's go there together tomorrow and talk about it on the way." Chen Shouzhe said with a smile.

"Mr. Chen," Wang Xiucai bowed, "Your Highness is here to collect folk songs. Will you not go with us this time?"

"Of course." Chen Shouzhe didn't want to bring a burden.

Dugu Kang curled his lips and wanted to say something, but he had already made an agreement with Meng Yuan on the way that he would not go to Qishui Town.

"Everyone, have a good rest tonight, and we will set off tomorrow morning." Chen Shouzhe said.

"I'll sleep with my brother!" Tie Niu said immediately.

"You sleep with Wu Changsheng, and I sleep with Meng Shuangjue!" Dugu Kang came to grab it.

Tie Niu wanted to say more but was stopped by Wu Changsheng.

Hu Qian smacked her lips but couldn't utter a word.

After entering the room, lighting the candles and closing the door, Dugu Kang fanned himself with a serious expression.

"I'd better go with you." Dugu Kang held it in for a long time before finally speaking.

Meng Yuan ignored it.

"I have reached the seventh level." Dugu Kang said.

After entering the seventh level of the Buddhist path, one's muscles and bones become very strong, and one can learn a variety of supernatural powers, such as the six supernatural powers. As for the power, it is different for each person.

Meng Yuan wanted help, but it was definitely not Dugu Kang.

The two chatted for half the night, and on the next day, before dawn, Hu Qian came knocking on the door.

"I bought food for everyone!" Hu Qian always kept Xunmei's words in mind and did not dare to spend Chen Shouzhe's money.

After everyone had their meal, they headed towards Qishui Town together.

Come out of Hedong County and head west.

In addition to Meng Yuan and his four companions, Chen Shouzhuo only brought two constables.

"I'm not popular with people, and I can't find any warriors to help me. I'm sorry to bother you." Chen Shouzhuo still rode his donkey, and was very polite. That's right! There are not many famous warriors in Hedong County, and those who have some ability are all children of aristocratic families. Mr. Chen, you are targeting the rich families, so they are naturally unwilling to help you.

After walking for a while, Meng Yuan pushed Hu Qian and others to the front, and he talked to Chen Shouzhe himself.

"In Qishui Town, cats run around the front fence and dogs run around the back fence."

Chen Shouzhuo has a lot of experience, "Because there is a medicine market, there are many outsiders. But after all, it is a small town, and most of the merchants who come and go are familiar with it."

"Sir, what you mean is," Meng Yuan smiled knowingly, "that flower-stealing thief is either hiding in the mountains or in the market, and is he following the drug dealer?"

"That's right." Chen Shouzhe took out a piece of paper from his sleeve.

Meng Yuan took it and looked at it. It recorded the medicine dealers who went to Qishui Town to make purchases in the past month, as well as the length of time they stayed and the approximate items they purchased.

The size of these drug dealers varies, with the smallest group consisting of two or three individual customers and the largest group consisting of fifty or sixty people.

Moreover, most of them were individual tourists, and there were only six large merchants. Currently, there were only three merchants still staying in Qishui Town.

Meng Yuan looked carefully and saw that one of the big customer service representatives was from Yang family.

"This is the property of the Yang family in Songhe Prefecture." Seeing Meng Yuan coming to ask, Chen Shouzhuo answered carefully.

The Yang family of Songhe Prefecture is the family of Yang Huaiyi, but Yang Huaiyi is a branch.

Suddenly, Meng Yuan thought of Liu Dabao and Prince Xin again. In a vague way, Meng Yuan felt that it was the Yang family who did it!
"How many warriors are there?" Meng Yuan asked.

"Among these merchants, there are also individual travelers who have entered the martial arts world. Most of them are at the ninth level, opening three or five acupoints to increase their strength. Among the big merchants, there are warriors accompanying them, and most of them are ninth-level warriors. The eighth-level ones are considered the leaders." Chen Shouzhe said.

"Where is Yang?" Meng Yuan asked again.

"The leader of the Yang family is a warrior, at the eighth level. There are two others at the eighth level, and five at the ninth level." Chen Shouzhuo said.

"What does Mr. Chen plan to do?" Meng Yuan asked.

"The other party has disappeared without a trace, but in my opinion, he is stubborn and will do it again." Chen Shouzhuo said seriously, "We are in the light, and the other party is in the dark. We can only wait."

Meng Yuan also thought so, there was really no good solution.

We walked westward for about 70 miles, and saw more and more tea stalls along the way. In the distance, we could see green mountains, which were the Funiu Mountains.

Continue forward for more than ten miles and cross a stone bridge to reach Qishui Town.

Everyone was in casual clothes, and even though they were carrying swords and bows, no one said anything. After all, there was a market here, and swordsmen often escorted goods.

After entering the town, Chen Shouzhe first went to visit a local gentry.

Meng Yuan and others accompanied him and chatted for most of the day, all of which were meaningless words, but they also knew that the flower thief had not taken any action in the past few days.

Then Chen Shouzhuo went to an inn and found two constables who were left there and questioned them again.

Still nothing gained.

"Why don't we go to the crime scene and take a look?" Hu Qian was smart.

Chen Shouzhe has no objection.

The group worked under the scorching sun until dusk, but gained nothing except hearing the cries of the victims.

The local gentry of Qishui Town had already arranged accommodation for Chen Shouzhe, but Chen Shouzhe did not agree and instead rented a yard.

"I'll go see Yang." Meng Yuan was a man who couldn't sit still. He changed his clothes and took Hu, Zhao and Wu with him to look for Yang.

Yang came here to collect the medicine, and there were 43 people in total. Perhaps they were regular customers, or important customers with more connections, so they did not stay in the inn, but rented three adjacent courtyards.

These three courtyards are next to the medicine market, not far from the center of the town.

When they arrived at the door, Meng Yuan claimed to be a good friend of Yang Huaiyi. He asked someone to pass the message and a young man in his twenties came out to greet them.

"My name is Yang Youzhi." The young man, dressed like a scholar, bowed politely and said, "May I know your name? How do you know my father?"

"So Chief Bannerman Yang is your father?" Meng Yuan laughed heartily and said, "I am Meng Yuan, a small bannerman of the Hundred Households Division. I have always worked under your father."

"It turns out to be Meng Xiaoqi! My apologies!" Yang Youzhi bowed deeply again.

"How is your business, Brother Yang?" Meng Yuan asked with a smile.

"I'm just helping with some chores at home." Yang Youzhi was very polite and invited Meng Yuan and others in.

After serving tea and chatting for a while, Meng Yuan asked about the flower thief.

"This is quite a big deal, but we are all men on this trip, and we have a few warriors, so it's relatively safe." Yang Youzhi said.

This person was telling the truth. Meng Yuan found an excuse and met the warriors of the Yang family one by one. There were indeed three of them of the eighth rank and five of the ninth rank. Yang Youzhi was an eighth rank warrior.

Meng Yuan's energy was locked on these people, but he didn't notice anything wrong.

After a long discussion, Meng Yuan couldn't find any suspicion and wanted to leave, but was forced to stay for dinner, and then he could go back to rest.

Meng Yuan gave detailed instructions to Hu Qian and others and made many arrangements and plans.

But after waiting for ten days, the flower thief didn't make any move and never committed any crime again.

(End of this chapter)