Datang: Hiding private money, exposed by Xiao Sizi

Shen Lian said, "I'm sure you all know what happened that night. The two monks have already said that after they heard the noise, they rushed directly into the hall, but found nothing."

"It is not impossible that someone with great kung fu skills could have taken this opportunity to escape from the hall... but you arrived almost as soon as they rushed into the hall."

"And there is only one way out of the temple, and that is the way you came here."

"And none of you noticed anyone coming towards you, so this possibility is almost non-existent. Not to mention that the abbot immediately sealed off the temple and searched the ground thoroughly... In this case, the thieves who didn't escape the temple would have nowhere to hide!"

"So... all these situations can only indicate one thing, that is... there are no outside thieves. Only thieves, that is, people in your temple, would allow you to search like that and get nothing."

"This……"

At this moment, even Deyuan opened his mouth but had nothing to say.

They were not stupid, so they listened to Shen Lian's well-reasoned analysis and combined it with the situation that night.

They all knew that everything was just as Shen Lian had guessed.

The probability of an outside thief is too small!
So, could it be that the real thieves are really their own people?

Thinking of this, these crazy people subconsciously took a step back, and looking at the expressions of others, they also became alert.

Deyuan looked at Shen Lian's expression at this moment and dared not refute anymore. He hurriedly said, "Even if the thief is a monk in our temple, how did the thief sneak away after the attack? After all, Lord Shen also said that under that situation, the thief had no chance to escape."

The monks also looked at Shen Lian, as this was also something they did not understand.

Shen Lian chuckled and said, "This matter is actually not complicated and can be done very easily."

"I'd like to hear the details." Deyuan said hurriedly.

Shen Lian said: "To do this, we need to create a panic situation, where all the monks are gathered together, but it is impossible to check whether everyone is there in time."

"So, the fire in the woodshed that night was not an accident. I guess it was the thieves who deliberately set the fire in order to cause trouble and make all of you monks gather there to put out the fire, while at the same time you were not sure whether everyone had come."

"I think the overall process of the night was something like this..."

Shen Lian looked at the bald men and said, "First, the thieves set up a timed ignition device in the firewood room. It's not difficult. For example, light a stick of incense, and then put the second half of the incense into the kerosene. In this way, when the incense burns to the kerosene, the kerosene will be ignited. The firewood room is full of dry firewood, so it's too easy to burn."

"After making this timing device, he found a suitable opportunity and hid in the main hall first, quietly waiting for the woodshed to catch fire... What happened next was that the woodshed caught fire, and everyone in the temple was alarmed, and then rushed to put out the fire."

"When the fire was out and everyone gathered together, they had a chance to rest. The thief who stole the relic just shouted to attract everyone's attention."

"I think...he was hiding here at the time."

As he spoke, Shen Lian raised his hand and pointed at the beam above his head.

He said, "I just asked the dog to check. There is dust on the beam, and there are obvious footprints on the dust. So the thief was hiding on the beam at that time."

"Then the monks came in. It was night time and it was difficult to observe clearly from the beams. Not to mention that as soon as they came in, they were attracted by the missing relic, making it even more difficult to observe other places."

"And then they were about to leave quickly. Just at that moment, all of you arrived. Soon, the main hall was crowded with monks. It was a chaotic place at that time, and the thief took this opportunity to sneak down from the corner of the beam and quickly squeeze into the crowd..."

"Because the thief is also a monk, you will definitely not have any suspicions in such a chaotic situation. After that... you block the temple and investigate... naturally you will find nothing, because the thief you are investigating is hiding among you!"

"As for why you can't find the relics..."

Shen Lian raised her hand again and pointed to the beam above. She said calmly, "Because the relic was right here at that time. As the saying goes, the darkest place is the darkest under the lamp, or the most dangerous place is also the safest place!"

"You searched the entire temple, but you never imagined that the relic never left the main hall."

quiet!
Eerily quiet!

At this moment, everyone stared at Shen Lian with wide eyes.

They were completely shocked by Shen Lian!

No one could find any fault with Shen Lian's inference.

So, they all knew that basically, the facts were just as Shen Lian said!

Only in this way can we reasonably explain everything that happened later!
cocoa……

But it took Shen Lian less than a quarter of an hour to get here.

I just listened to their story once!
Then everything was deduced directly!
This... If Shen Lian was here that night, or if they invited Shen Lian to come over that night...

Does that mean the thief has been caught long ago?
The relics were also found a long time ago?
Why would they need so many days and so many people to not be able to find a single fart?
At this moment, even Abbot Dezhi felt a huge wave of turmoil in his heart.

He couldn't help but put his hands together and said, "Amitabha, I've heard before that Lord Shen's ability to solve cases is unparalleled in the world. After seeing it today, I know that what he said is true."

He bowed deeply to Shen Lian and said, "On behalf of all the people in Huasheng Temple, I ask Lord Shen to help us find the thief and the Buddhist treasure!"

The rest of the monks, more than a hundred bald heads, all flashed their eyes at Shen Lian. They were completely convinced, and no longer dared to be disrespectful or doubtful. They all bowed and said, "Please, Lord Shen, find the treasure of Buddhism!"

When Xu Gou saw this scene, he couldn't help but say in his heart... These people just lack the beating from society!
You dare to doubt the young master.

Now you know how awesome my young master is!
What does it feel like to have more than a hundred bald heads firing light waves at you? Shen Lian just wanted to say, it's really blinding.

Looking at all the people in Huasheng Temple attacking him with their bald heads, he was happily complaining in his heart, but his face was calm.

"Don't worry, Abbot. Now that I am here, I will do my best to investigate. However, it has been a long time. The thief hid the relic on the beam that night, but later took it away. In addition, people come and go in the main hall, and the evidence has been almost destroyed. So... I may be a little negative, but I still hope that the Abbot can be mentally prepared."

When Xu Gou heard Shen Lian's words, he was a little surprised.

As far as he could remember, his young master had never said anything discouraging about not being able to solve the case.

Why would you say such negative words today?

He didn't think that his young master couldn't catch the thief.

After all, in such a short period of time, his young master has already known the methods of the perpetrators and even determined the scope. With the young master's ability, Xu Gou thinks it will not be a problem to catch the real thief in a few hours.

But the young master now says this...

He was puzzled and felt that his young master was a little strange.

Dezhi and others did not know how terrifying Shen Lian was. They just thought that what Shen Lian said made sense. It had been five days since the incident and the evidence was long gone. It was normal that Shen Lian could not find the thief in a short time.

So they did not doubt the intention behind Shen Lian's words.

Dezhi clasped his hands together and said, "Amitabha, Lord Shen, please go ahead and do it. If you can find it, it will be the blessing of the Buddha. If you can't find it, although it's a bit sad, we have no choice but to redeem it with five thousand silver taels."

Shen Lian nodded and asked, "How long will the thief have to wait until the deadline?" Dezhi said, "In the evening, there are less than four hours left."

"Four hours?"

Shen Lian nodded slightly: "I will try my best to investigate within these four hours, and I may need the cooperation of all the masters by then."

"Of course, all of us will fully cooperate with Lord Shen." Dezhi said.

Shen Lian looked at Xu Gou and said, "Xu Gou, send some servants to ask the monks what they were doing when the crime happened that night and whether anyone can prove it."

"Yes!" Xu Gou nodded quickly, and then sent someone to inquire.

Shen Lian looked at Dezhi again and said, "Master Abbot, the thief contacted you three days ago and asked you to prepare the ransom. I wonder how he contacted you?"

Dezhi took out a letter from his bosom and said, "Three days ago, a child ran into our temple and gave us this letter. We didn't pay attention to it at first, but when we opened the letter, we found that it was actually written to us by the thief, asking us to prepare a ransom of 100,000 strings of cash to redeem our temple's treasure."

"Then we asked the child who gave him the letter, but the child said he didn't know. It was just that a man covered in a black robe bribed the child with a string of candied haws and asked the child to deliver it."

Shen Lian thought for a moment and nodded slowly: "It seems that the thief is quite cautious."

Using a child to deliver a letter, what can a child remember?

In this way, it is completely impossible to trace the source.

Shen Lian opened the letter and saw that the content was very simple.

That is to say, the relics of Huasheng Temple are in his hands. If you want the relics, raise five thousand silver taels in the evening three days later, and then wait for his next notification.

That's it.

But there was actually a signature at the end.

There are four words on the signature - heir of the thief family!

Shen Lian narrowed his eyes.

The thief family... It's news from the various schools of thought...

There were many schools of thought in the Qin Dynasty, but in fact there were more than one hundred of them.

Moreover, it is not only those orthodox doctrines that can become the leading trend of thought, but some unconventional people can also shine in that era.

Among them, the Dao family is an existence that is not recognized by the orthodoxy but cannot be ignored.

Theft means stealing!
The purpose of a thief's family is to steal ill-gotten gains in order to benefit all people in the world!

It is similar to many later film and television works about chivalrous thieves.

Dezhi said: "Look at the signature, it says heir of the Dao family, it seems that the thief should be the Dao family among the Hundred Schools of Thought."

"I've heard that thieves always steal ill-gotten gains. I wonder why he would steal my Buddhist sacred objects?"

Shen Lian glanced at Dezhi and said, "It wasn't done by the Dao family. You were deceived."

"What?" Dezhi was stunned. He asked in confusion, "Why did Lord Shen say that it wasn't done by the Dao family? Who else could have stolen the relic without anyone noticing in our important Buddhist place, and who else could have signed the letter except the Dao family?"

Shen Lian was too lazy to explain. He just raised his hand and waved it in front of Dezhi's eyes.

Then he said calmly: "Abbot Dezhi, you should understand now, right?"

"Uh, what do you understand?" Dezhi was completely confused. He had no idea what Shen Lian was doing.

Shen Lian said helplessly: "Master Abbot, don't you feel that you are missing something?"

"Less?"

Suddenly, his eyes widened and his expression changed instantly.

He immediately lowered his head and saw that the Buddhist beads that were just spinning in his hand had disappeared!
"This this……"

He looked at Shen Lian with surprise.

Shen Lian spread out his hands, and saw a string of Buddhist beads lying intact in the palm of his hand.

Abbot Dezhi was stunned.

He looked at Shen Lian in disbelief and said, "Lord Shen, what...what is going on?"

Shen Lian threw the Buddhist beads casually, and Abbot Dezhi caught them in a panic.

Shen Lian walked out slowly while saying calmly: "This is called magic, it can be said to be another means of stealing. Of course, it is a new thing for you, so don't worry too much."

"Although the stealing skills are not up to par, I have to admit that some of them are truly amazing, and you just experienced it yourself."

"Even a layman like me could easily steal your Buddhist beads right in front of you without you noticing, so what do you think..."

Shen Lian narrowed his eyes slightly: "If it was a true heir of the thief family, and wanted to steal your relics, would it be necessary to mobilize so many troops? Arson, and so on?"

"This...this, this, this..."

Dezhi frowned and began to wipe the cold sweat from his forehead.

After a while, he sighed and said, "Lord Shen, what you said makes sense. So it seems that the thief deliberately framed the heir of the thief family, or deliberately lied to us so that we can't know his true identity?"

The words fell.

Shen Lian chuckled and stood at the door of the hall, looking at the pilgrims coming and going in front.

A meaningful smile appeared on his lips: "The Dao family is a bandit family, and their people are not good people. If they did this, then it's okay..."

"But if they hadn't done it..."

A meaningful smile appeared on his lips: "The Dao family is a bandit family, and their people are not good people. If they did this, then it's okay..."

"But if they hadn't done it..."

(End of this chapter)