Tang Dynasty detective

Chapter 394 Interesting Prince
"My lord, if it's a ghost who kills people, why use a dagger?" Li Cang searched by the sea and replied without raising his head.

Li Yu blinked, and asked puzzledly: "Why don't ghosts use daggers to kill people?"

Li Canghai rolled his eyes, he really didn't know how to explain to Li Yu, "Ghosts and monsters are formed by wandering souls, how can invisible things hold the five elements of gold?"

"What you said seems to make sense!" Li Yu stroked his chin with a jade-like hand and nodded in approval.

Li Canghai almost spat out a mouthful of old blood, he thought, King Su, are you here to be cute?

"Cough, I'm confused now. He didn't commit suicide or was killed by an evil spirit. What's going on?" Li Yu looked at Li Canghai expectantly, wanting to get an answer from Li Canghai.

Li Canghai didn't answer him, but held the candlestick and devoted himself to the observation again.

The gaming table as a whole looks like a "concave" shape. Behind the inner circle of the "concave" is a supporting beam, and there is still a lot of water between the inner circle and the supporting beam, which seems to be caused by the return of damp on the ground.

Li Canghai searched from the inner circle where the croupier died all the way to the pillars, but found nothing, which made him a little puzzled.

"Cang Hai, what are you looking for?" Seeing that he was holding a candlestick with his face almost lying on the ground, Li Yu couldn't help being curious.

Li Canghai didn't speak, but still focused on searching.

When he found the beams and pillars, Li Canghai saw some finely divided red powder floating on the water. He picked up some powder with his fingers, thought for a while, took out the magnified gemstone from his satchel, and looked at it carefully.

This satchel contained all the routine things needed to solve the case, and he kept the magnified gem in it all the time. After returning from Zhengyang, he always carried this bag with him.

Li Canghai crushed the powder, put it in front of his nose and smelled it, and found that the red powder seemed to be a kind of vermilion lacquer.

He suddenly thought of something, quickly raised his head, and looked at the supporting beam in front of him. The supporting beam in front of him was coated with vermilion lacquer, and the powder clearly fell from the supporting beam.

Li Canghai casually touched the supporting beams and pillars, and his hands were immediately stained with some vermilion lacquer powder. The vermilion lacquer on the pillars was getting mottled and peeled off after a long time, and it would fall off with a little force.

Li Canghai looked at the vermilion lacquer powder on his finger, then at some powder floating on the water under the beams and pillars, and then fell into deep thought.

After a while, he took the magnified gem and searched from top to bottom along the beam and pillar. At the bottom of the beam and pillar, one finger high from the ground, he found a suspicious point.

It's suspicious, but it's actually just a half circle of peeling vermilion lacquer.

On the outside of the beams and columns, one finger high from the ground, there is an obvious half-circle of vermilion paint peeling off.

However, what surprised Li Canghai was that this half circle of vermilion lacquer did not fall off without any rules like other places, but it looked like marks drawn by a slender object.

Li Canghai immediately stood up and glanced around.

The supporting beams and columns are located three feet behind the upper left corner of the depression of the word "Au", and on the right side are two tables and chairs, on which there are tea and fruit snacks. In terms of position, it is located in the word "Au". Two feet from the upper right corner of the depression, exactly parallel to the left supporting beam.

Li Canghai stood in the 'cavity', looked carefully at the left and right sides, imprinted what he saw in front of his mind, then closed his eyes, and simulated the whole case in his mind.

Rainy days, damp ground, supporting beams and pillars, neatly arranged tables and chairs...

Clues that are inconspicuous, even without any doubts, are spinning rapidly in Li Canghai's mind, constantly overlapping and connecting.

Suddenly, all the pictures stopped.

Time quickly reversed, to before the crime happened.

Like a bystander, Li Canghai came to the gambling house where the crime happened.

At that time, the rain was still falling non-stop, the gambling house opened the door, and several gamblers were already waiting impatiently at the door.

The owner of the workshop cheerfully welcomed the crowd in, and several gamblers rushed to the gaming table impatiently, took out their silver taels and slapped them on the gaming table, clamoring to gamble.

On the gambling table, if there are gamblers, there must be a banker, and the banker is the croupier of the gambling house.

At this time, the croupier hadn't arrived, so the shop owner could only smile apologetically and ask everyone to wait for a while.

Not long after, the croupier Han Da hurried over with an umbrella and apologized to the owner.

The owner of the shop said a few words to him, and told him to change into the clothes of the gambling shop and greet the gamblers.

As always, General Han handed over all the money and belongings on his body, but he only had two pitiful copper coins on him.

After getting dressed, Han Da walked towards the gaming table, ready to start his day's work.

Fangzhu saw that the gambling game started, and all the gamblers took out their white money one after another, Le's eyes were narrowed. He was holding a cup of tea, sitting on a chair, and looked at the gaming table with a smile.

However, at this moment, Han Da suddenly fell to the ground and let out a scream.

Everyone didn't know why, but then they saw Han Da who was covered in blood struggling to get up from the inside of the gambling table. He had a ferocious face, protruding eyes, a dagger in his chest, and stretched out his right hand to call for help.

But when he opened his mouth, blood immediately overflowed from his mouth, his eyes widened, and a spout of blood suddenly spewed out, and his head drooped powerlessly.

The sudden change made everyone startled.

The whole casino suddenly fell into chaos.

At the same time, Su Wang, who was in the opposite brothel, had a warm heart and always wanted to be a master of crimes, rushed over immediately and restricted anyone's actions.

With a wave of Li Canghai's right hand, the picture suddenly freezes again.

In this storm of thinking, he can control everything by himself, and he can repeat the picture without limit.

Li Canghai walked to the inside of the gambling table where Han Da died, and kept repeating the scene of his death.

Suddenly, the corner of his mouth raised, and the scene in front of him suddenly shattered.

Slowly opening his eyes, Li Canghai glanced at the crowd, and suddenly understood.

Seeing him in a daze, Li Yu couldn't help feeling a little strange, just about to speak, but Li Canghai stretched out his hand to stop him.

"Mr. Han, I want to ask you, has Han Da complained recently?" Li Canghai asked with his hands behind his back.

Han thought for a while, then choked up and said: "Returning to the adults, my husband has indeed complained. In the past two days, the child has been seriously ill, but he has no money to buy medicine, and he is crying day and night. It must be because of this that my husband is worried."

"As a croupier, Han Da is running a good gambling house, so why does his family have no money?" Li Canghai asked.

"My lord doesn't know that although my husband works in this gambling shop, his wages are pitifully low, and the owner of the shop has not paid his wages for three months. My husband asked the shop for money many times, but the owner just postponed it. There is no more food left, so how can there be money to buy medicine for the child?" Han cried, patting the baby in his arms with tears streaming down his face.

Li Canghai frowned slightly, just as he was about to speak, Li Yu took the first step.

"That's unreasonable! How can you be so treacherous! Since he works for you, why do you delay in paying him? Huh?" Li Yu raised his eyebrows, staring and scolding angrily.

The owner of the workshop was startled, and quickly knelt on the ground, touching his head to the ground, tremblingly said: "My lord... the lord, calm down! The grass people don't want to, but the income in the past few months was really bad, and they even couldn't make ends meet. It's not that the grass people don't want to Pay him wages, but wait for the transfer, and pay him again at that time!"

"Stop fooling me! You are wearing silk and satin and eating pork knuckles. Will you have no money? This king asks you, how much is Han Da's monthly salary?" Li Yu snorted and asked angrily.

"Back... back to the prince, Han Da has two silver coins a month..." The master shrank his neck and said tremblingly.

"Two coins?" Li Yu tilted his head and thought for a while, he seemed to have no idea about money, and he didn't know how much these two coins were.

So he waved to Qi Yunhe, and Qi Yunhe hurried over.

The two murmured for a while, and Li Yu's entire face drooped instantly.

"My lord asks you, how much is this sauced elbow worth?" Li Yu walked to the table with a gloomy face, and asked with the sauced elbow.

"Back... back to the lord... two or two silver coins..." The owner of the workshop said tremblingly with cold sweat on his forehead.

"Okay, I bought a soy elbow for two renminbi. You fucking have the money to buy soy elbow, but you don't have the money to pay wages?" Li Yu held the soy elbow, weighed it a few times, and suddenly cursed at it. The shop owner photographed it.

With a crackling sound, the plate split in two, and a line of blood flowed from the Fangzhu's forehead.

"My lord, my lord, spare me my life! My lord, my lord, my life! Caomin knows his mistake, so I will give him his wages, and my lord, if I spare my life, I will die!" The shop owner was dizzy after being slapped on the head, and the blood on his forehead dripped down his forehead. , He didn't dare to wipe it, he could only kowtow desperately to beg for mercy.

"Pay wages now? Now that Han Da is dead, what's the use of paying wages now? Damn, this king hates bullying the weak most in his life. If you meet this king today, you just wait for bad luck!" Li Yu Ahhh, he raised his foot and kicked towards Fangzhu.

Li Canghai looked at Li Yu in surprise, the Li Yu at this time was completely different from his elegant image before.

However, this made Li Canghai a little interested in him.

"Tsk tsk, this lord looks gentle and gentle on weekdays, but unexpectedly he is also a master of injustice!" Li Canghai said to himself.

The workshop owner is just an ordinary person, how dare he contradict Li Yu?
It was true that after Li Yu kicked his left head, he also took the initiative to stretch out his right head to let Li Yu continue to kick.

Seeing that Li Yu didn't care about his image at all, Qi Yunhe suddenly smiled wryly. He hurried forward and said in a low voice: "My lord, be reserved! There are still many people here!"

Only then did Li Yu come to his senses, hurriedly put on a gentle look, grinned at Li Canghai in embarrassment, pretended nothing happened, and said calmly: "Forget it, this king is not so unreasonable Man, since this croupier was tricked by you and died at your place for no reason, you, the shopkeeper, will naturally have to pay some compensation."

Li Yu thought for a while, then stretched out three fingers and said, "Well, this king will fine you to pay him 50 taels of silver! How about it?"

"Five... 50 taels?" The owner of the workshop was stunned. This 50 taels is not a small sum!
"Why, don't you think it's too little?" The corners of Li Yu's mouth raised, and a sly look flashed in his eyes. He frowned and said, "If that's the case, then you can pay him 100 taels. If you still think it's too little, we can take it slowly." How about increasing it?"

As he spoke, Li Yu winked at the workshop owner.

How dare the workshop owner dare to say no, he was afraid that if he talked too much, he would pay more compensation, so he nodded hurriedly: "100 taels, not less, not less at all."

"Remember, for 100 taels, not one copper is missing." Li Yu said calmly, shaking his folding fan.

"Don't dare, absolutely don't dare, Caomin will go and get it now." Saying that, the Fangzhu hurriedly retreated all the way on his knees, and ran towards the back hall in a panic.

After a while, the owner of the shop came from the back hall, holding a tray in his hand, and on the tray were ten taels of silver, a total of ten pieces.

"This is 100 taels of silver, please take a look at it." The owner of the workshop planted a big bag on his head, and he respectfully lifted the tray above his head without wiping off the blood.

Li Yu snorted, pocketed the money directly, walked up to Mrs. Han, and said, "This is Han Da's funeral expenses, you take it."

With tears streaming down her cheeks, Han hurriedly knelt down and kowtowed to Li Yu: "The woman thanked the lord, for the lord's great kindness, the woman can only repay the lord's kindness."

Unbearable look appeared in Li Yu's eyes, he hurriedly supported Mrs. Han, and sighed: "I don't want your reward, this is what you deserve. It is enough for me to just hope that you can raise your children well."

"The folk woman will definitely raise him well." Han pressed her cheek against the face of the baby in her arms, choked up.

"My lord, you did a good deed, why do you seem unhappy?" Li Canghai couldn't help being a little puzzled when he saw Li Yu's expression was dull.

Li Yu sighed, and said deeply: "Even if you get compensation, what can you do? This orphan and widow will have a long life in the future. This king only hates himself for being incompetent and unable to find the murderer. Give him justice!"

Li Canghai became silent. He never thought that Li Yu would care so much about ordinary people. From what he did, it was not difficult to see that his concern for ordinary people was from the bottom of his heart, not like a fake.

After a while, Li Canghai smiled slightly and said, "Don't worry, my lord, there is still justice between heaven and earth."

Li Yu thought about this sentence, his eyes suddenly lit up, he looked at Li Canghai in disbelief and said, "Canghai, do you already know who the murderer is?"

Li Canghai smiled. Instead of answering Li Yu, he walked up to the workshop owner, stared at him, and said word by word, "Tell me, why did you kill Han Da?"

As soon as this remark came out, everyone was shocked.

The shop owner looked at Li Canghai blankly, his face was full of innocence.

But Li Yu was stunned. He rubbed his eyes vigorously to make sure that he was not mistaken. What Li Canghai said was indeed the workshop owner.

"Cang Hai, you said he killed Han Da? This... How is this possible?" Li Yu opened his mouth and said in disbelief.

"Injustice... Injustice! How could the grassroots kill people? The grassroots didn't kill people! I beg your lord to find out!" The owner knelt on the ground and kowtowed loudly.

"Yeah, Cang Hai, did you make a mistake? How could he kill people? There's no reason for that!" Li Yu said.

Li Canghai's expression was indifferent, he glanced at Fangzhu, and said indifferently: "You think that if you can deceive others, you can deceive this official? You underestimate this official."

The master knelt on the ground and said blankly: "The grass people don't know what the lord is saying, the grass people have never deceived the lord!"

(End of this chapter)