Tang Dynasty detective

Chapter 391
The warm pool water wrapped his whole body, and Li Canghai suddenly felt comfortable all over.

Taking advantage of the opportunity of taking a bath, Li Canghai looked around.

It has to be said that Datang's bath industry has been well developed, with all kinds of convenient facilities available, around the bath, there are various fruits for the bathers to eat.

In addition, Li Canghai also discovered that there were scrubbers in the bathroom.

"Tsk tsk, these facilities are really complete!" Li Canghai couldn't help but sigh with emotion.

At this time, Qiu Sihu had already arrived in the pond.

"My lord, do you want someone to wash the dirt for you?" Seeing him looking at the scrubber, Qiu Sihu asked.

Li Canghai smiled and said, "No need. Qiu Sihu, just now I saw you put your purse carefully, so it must be very important to Qiu Sihu, right?"

Qiu Sihu looked around and said in a low voice: "Your Excellency, I don't know, but the key to the Household Book Hall is stored in the purse. I am worried that I will lose it, so I always carry it with me."

Li Canghai was stunned. He rubbed his nose and remembered that Qiu Sihu had indeed said this. He had always carried the key of the household book hall with him, but someone had torn away Qin Fu's household registration records. This was one of the things he discovered. Doubtful.

But he didn't say anything to Qiu Sihu, so Qiu Sihu didn't know about it.

"Are you really carrying this key all the time?" Li Canghai asked.

Qiu Sihu didn't know what he meant by the question, he nodded and said, "My lord, except for sleeping and bathing, the key has never left the lower official's body, why does your lord ask such a question?"

Li Canghai thought for a while and said, "It's nothing, I just remembered it suddenly."

After dismissing Qiu Sihu casually, Li Canghai shrank in the pool with only his head exposed on the water, lost in thought.

"Qiu Sihu, you come to the bathhouse often, so you must be familiar with everything here?" Li Canghai poked his head out of the pool and asked suddenly.

Qiu Sihu nodded and said: "Naturally, I have been coming here often since the restaurant opened, and it has been more than ten years now. The staff of this restaurant have changed from group to group, but everyone I remember it all."

Li Canghai snorted, pondered for a moment, and asked, "Do you know a man named Xiong Asi?"

"Xiong Asi?" Qiu Sihu recalled with lowered eyebrows, and he suddenly said after a while: "Remember, he used to be a buddy here, but it was 14 years ago, and he only did it at that time. After a period of time, he left without saying goodbye. I heard that he opened a blacksmith shop in the West Market and became very rich, so why did your lord suddenly mention him?"

"It's nothing, just asking casually." Li Canghai smiled casually, and praised: "Qiu Sihu really has a good memory. Even people who lived more than ten years ago can remember it so clearly. It's rare!"

Qiu Sihu grinned, and said: "Your Excellency, the reason why I will remember him so deeply is because he came to the bath house after the Qin family ransacked and beheaded. In particular, the lower officials are impressed by the people they see."

"He came here after the Qin family destroyed the family. I wonder when did he leave the bathroom?" Li Canghai asked after thinking about it.

"The lower official remembers that he left the bathroom after the bodies of the Qin family were buried." Qiu Sihu recalled.

Li Canghai nodded, stroked his chin and fell into deep thought.

For the first half of his life, Xiong Asi was lonely and poor, and he couldn't even afford food, but he suddenly became rich. This in itself is unreasonable.

Fourteen years ago, dozens of corpses of the Qin family were collected by Xiong Asi. According to the shopkeeper of the sheep soup restaurant, he has become rich since he received the corpses of the Qin family. There is something hidden.

"The Qin family's extermination, Xiong Asi, what is the relationship between the two? Is it just the relationship between the collection of the corpse and the collection of the corpse?" Li Canghai frowned, and carefully recalled the information he had received in his mind. again.

Xiong Asi was originally a poor man. In order to survive, he worked as a coolie, a blacksmith, a bathhouse clerk, and even collected corpses for the government.

Judging from these experiences, Xiong Asi doesn't seem like a person who has a whole body of skills and waits for opportunities to make a difference, so the source of his wealth seems a bit strange.

"Is it just a coincidence that Xiong Asi came to the bathhouse before the Qin family destroyed his family and left after collecting the corpses?" Li Canghai lowered his eyebrows and thought for a moment, then suddenly asked: "Qiu Sihu, the common people collect the corpses for the yamen. How much reward?"

Qiu Sihu replied: "The collection of corpses in the yamen is usually carried out by Wu Zuo, but when the people need to collect the corpses, the yamen will post a notice. But this kind of corpses are often dead for a long time and have decayed, so the people collect them." , one penny per corpse. But this kind of thing itself is too unfavorable, so few people are willing to do it."

Li Canghai pondered for a while, and said, "Do you know that besides this Xiong Ahsi, there were other people who collected the Qin family's corpse 14 years ago?"

Qiu Sihu thought for a while, then shook his head and said, "He was the only one. Back then, the Qin family was ransacked and beheaded. Because of his involvement in treason, no one dared to collect the corpse after death. It was only because the weather was hot and the corpse was rotten. Smelly, after the old Duke Di heard this, he couldn't bear it, so he posted a notice in the city, looking for someone to collect the corpse. However, after the notice was posted, no one dared to take up the job at first. First, the people were afraid Because of this, the two were so rotten and smelly that no one could bear it. In the end, Xiong Asi took off the notice. Because he was worried about the plague, the governor at the time ordered him not to transport the corpse out of the city. It was buried in the Qin family's courtyard."

Li Canghai leaned against the edge of the bath, looked up at the roof, and began to meditate.

As he said, Xiong Asi collected the corpses of more than sixty members of the Qin family, which was more than six taels of silver.

More than six liang of silver is enough for him to live a life of small wealth and peace, but it is a bit unrealistic to say that he can embark on the road of wealth and honor.

So the question is, how did he get rich?

After deliberation, Li Canghai felt that this mystery should still be investigated from Xiong Asi.

After soaking comfortably for a while, Li Canghai left the bathhouse and went straight to the West Market where Xiong Asi was.

As soon as Li Canghai came to Yongtongfang, he saw Xiong Asi coming out of his yard and walking forward.

Li Canghai did not catch up with him, but followed him from a distance.

Xiong Asi didn't notice that someone was following him, and brought some fruit at the fruit stand as usual, and then walked on.

After crossing two streets in a row, Xiong Asi came to an iron shop.

In the iron shop, two dark-skinned, burly youths were beating a red-hot iron.

Accompanied by the tinkling knocking sound, sparks flew out continuously.

Seeing Xiong Asi walking, the two teenagers hurriedly put down their work and saluted him respectfully.

Xiong Asi nodded to the two, signaling them to continue working, and then walked into the iron shop.

Li Canghai folded his hands on his chest, stood not far away and waited for a while, but Xiong Asi did not come out.

After thinking about it, Li Canghai decided to talk to him personally.

Seeing someone coming, one of the teenagers hurried over and asked very politely: "Guest officer, what do you want to buy?"

Li Canghai walked in and looked around.

This iron shop is not big, but there are quite a lot of iron wares on display, ranging from daily hatchets, axes to weapons.

Picking up a long sword with a cold light, Li Canghai stretched out his hand and flicked on the sword, saying, "Good sword!"

The young man wiped the sweat from his forehead, smiled honestly and said: "Guest officer is really discerning, this weapon is handcrafted by our master, it is extremely sharp and durable, it is guaranteed to be a must-have product for walking in the world, do you want it? Come on?"

Li Canghai smiled, thinking that this young man looks simple and honest, but he also has a heart. He swung his long sword and said strangely: "This sword was made by your master? What is your master's name?"

"Our master's surname is Xiong, and his first name is A Si. Many knight-errants have bought weapons in our shop, and they all know our master's name!" The boy said proudly.

Li Canghai groaned, put down his long sword, and said, "But where is your master?"

"My master is in the back hall now, why does the guest officer want to find my master?" The young man scratched his head and asked suspiciously.

"It's like this. Recently, I opened an escort agency and recruited some escorts, but I haven't equipped them with weapons yet, so I want to buy some. It's just that I have a large demand. I don't know if the price is cheaper, so I want to buy some. Talk to your master." Li Canghai thought for a while and said.

The young man heard that there was a big deal, and hurriedly said: "Guest officer, wait a moment, I will go and invite the master to come out!"

Saying that, the boy lifted the curtain and walked into the room.

While the boy was looking for Xiong Asi, Li Canghai paced around the shop and started looking.

This iron shop does a lot of things, but it seems to be able to make anything related to iron, including iron chains, iron locks and so on.

Li Canghai walked to the low table where the ironware was displayed, picked up an iron lock casually, weighed it a few times, and said with great interest, "I never thought that you would not only forge weapons, but also make these daily objects!"

The young man who was forging iron was beating hard on the red-hot iron, and replied: "The guest officer does not know, my master used to make these small objects for a living, and then he got the advice of a benefactor, so he started to forge weapons." To tell you the truth, no one in Luoyang city can compare to my master when it comes to making iron locks!"

"Oh? Venerable Master, have you ever met an expert to advise you?" Li Canghai suddenly became interested.

The young blacksmith put the forged iron into the water tank, and immediately made a snort, and said, "Yes! I heard from the master that when he was poor at the beginning, it was because he met a benefactor that he was able to have a mouthful. food, even this iron shop was opened with the help of a benefactor."

"I see." Li Canghai nodded, and then asked: "But who is the benefactor that Master met?"

The young man scratched his head and said, "I don't know about this, the master has never mentioned it."

Regarding this matter, another young man came out, he scratched his hair, and said to Li Canghai: "Guest officer, I'm really sorry, my master left at some time, and now he is not in the iron shop."

Li Canghai frowned suddenly, "Your master isn't inside? But I haven't seen him come out?"

The young man said apologetically: "The guest officer doesn't know something. Our iron shop has a back door. The master must have left through the back door."

"If that's the case, then I'll take my leave first." After thinking for a while, Li Canghai said a word to the two of them, and then walked out of the iron shop.

However, Li Canghai did not walk away, but walked around to the back door of the iron shop.

Behind the iron shop was a narrow alley. Li Canghai looked around, thought for a while, and then walked towards the alley.

Walking out of the alley, Li Canghai only felt that his eyes suddenly opened up, but a house appeared in front of him.

This house is deep, but it gives people a gloomy feeling.

Li Canghai touched his nose, looked down and found a row of footprints on the ground.

At this time, the drizzle had not stopped, and the ground was already wet, and the row of footprints looked very obvious.

Li Canghai narrowed his eyes, then followed the footprints and walked over.

Following his footprints, Li Canghai soon came to a dilapidated back door. Under the eaves of the back door, some fruits were neatly placed, but no one was there.

Li Canghai thought for a while, then walked to the roof.

He looked at those fruits, and then at the word 'Qin' engraved on the stone next to the back door. He suddenly remembered that this house was exactly that deserted house!
Li Canghai squatted down, looked at the fresh fruits in front of the door, and suddenly had some guesses in his heart.

This fruit was obviously used for worship, and the person who worshiped was none other than Xiong Asi.

Because, this fruit was bought at a stall on the side of the road when he came out of his home, and Li Canghai saw it clearly at that time.

"Xiong Asi came to pay homage to Qin Fu, but he didn't dare to meet anyone. It's interesting." Li Canghai narrowed his eyes, and he gradually became concerned.

At this moment, Xiong Asi walked over from the corner, and when he saw Li Canghai squatting in front of the door, he was stunned for a moment.

"Young master, why are you here?" Xiong Asi asked as he came over with three thatch in his hand.

"Same as Your Excellency, I came to pay homage to General Qin." Li Canghai said calmly.

Xiong Asi shook his head, walked to the door a few steps, inserted three thatch grass on the threshold, and sighed: "Master, you should leave quickly, so as not to be discovered and implicated."

Li Canghai looked at him and said, "Aren't you afraid of being implicated?"

Xiong Asi chuckled, and said indifferently: "I'm all alone, there's nothing to be afraid of."

"Your Excellency, I don't want to know why I came to worship General Qin?" Li Canghai asked.

Xiong Asi shook his head and said deeply: "It's been 14 years. It's rare that someone still remembers General Qin. If you can come to worship, General Qin's soul in heaven will be very pleased. Why should I bother with this?"

Li Canghai nodded, looked at Xiong Asi, and said, "Could it be that Your Excellency paid homage to General Qin for 14 years?"

"General Qin is kind to me. When General Qin died, I was powerless to help. This is all I can do." Xiong Asi said with a sigh.

Li Canghai's face was full of respect, he bowed his hands to Xiong Asi, and said: "Your Excellency has been like a day for 14 years. You are not afraid of being implicated, and you will come to pay homage to General Qin. You are a true righteous man!"

(End of this chapter)