Tang Dynasty detective

Chapter 5 Secret Investigation
"Brother Li, we've been wandering around the village for two hours, should we go find the murderer?" Di Feng raised his head to look at the scorching hot sun in the sky, and couldn't help reminding.

"It's getting late, we should go find something to eat." Li Canghai replied casually with his hands behind his back.

"Ah? Looking for something to eat?" Di Feng was stunned for a moment, and quickly followed Li Canghai's footsteps.

The two of them, one in front of the other, wandered around the houses in the village as if they were on a green outing.

It was close to noon at this time, and every family started to cook lunch, and Li Canghai took Di Feng, and started to eat from the village.

When Di Feng learned that Li Canghai was going to go door-to-door for a meal, he actually refused in his heart, but couldn't bear Li Canghai's threats, so he could only follow behind him cheekily.

Li Canghai has now become the public enemy of the whole village, if it wasn't for Di Huai's cover, the villagers would have beaten him out long ago.

Therefore, the result of Cengfan is that after entering every villager's house, he was ruthlessly thrown out as soon as he expressed his intention to come.

Dozens of households were like this, and the servant of the dignified county magistrate was bombarded dozens of times in a row. Di Feng's face was even redder than a monkey's butt.

"There is one last family, Di Feng, keep going." Li Canghai squinted his eyes as he stared at the last family at the end of the village.

"I'm not going, Brother Li, please, just let me go! My face has been thrown in, and if I go to Cengfan again, I want to find a crack in the ground." Di Feng slapped his butt Sitting on the ground, looking at him pitifully.

"Okay, if you don't go, I can go, don't regret it." Li Canghai smiled authentically with his hands in his sleeves.

Di Feng scratched his hair bun, and suddenly felt some hesitation in his heart. After sighing, Di Feng said with a sad face: "Forget it, I have lost so many people anyway, and I don't care about losing one more time."

The last family is located next to the forest in the west of the village. Compared with other families, this family seems to be a bit out of the village and too independent.

There are two connected earthen houses, plus a thatched shed, and some wood is piled up around them, stacked in an orderly manner.

"The one who didn't even set off the fireworks at noon must be a poor ghost. I'm afraid he can't afford to eat by himself, so how can he greet us?" Looking at the deserted house in the earthen house in front of him, he suddenly complained with a sad face.

Li Canghai smiled indifferently, and said, "Since everyone is here, why not go in and have a look, maybe the owner of this house is very hospitable!"

Di Feng curled his lips and muttered, and followed him in dejectedly.

When the two walked into the fenced yard, they happened to see a man under the hut chopping a piece of wood with an axe.

The man held a broad-backed axe, first set a position on the log, and then swung the ax violently, the thigh-thick log suddenly became two pieces.

"Awesome, such a thick piece of wood can be cut with one axe, little carpenter, you are really good!" Di Feng praised.

The man was stunned for a moment, as if he didn't expect someone to come from the house, he quickly raised his head, it was the little carpenter.

Seeing the two standing not far away looking at him, he hurriedly dropped the machete, ran over, and asked in surprise, "Why are you here? Please sit down quickly."

The little carpenter tidied up the bench in a hurry, let the two sit down, and stood aside cautiously, a little at a loss.

"We were just passing by, and we stopped by to take a look. We didn't expect this to be your home, so we didn't bother you, did we?" Li Canghai nodded to him and smiled gently.

"No, no." The little carpenter hurriedly lifted the teapot from the table beside him to pour water for him, but after shaking the teapot vigorously, he found that the water in it had already run out.

He grinned in embarrassment, and said, "There's no water, I'm going to burn it now."

"Don't bother, we just wandered here. Were you chopping wood just now?" Li Canghai looked at the surrounding wood curiously, and asked casually.

"Well, I want to make a coffin for sister Jing." The little carpenter bit his lip and said softly.

"Oh? Since the murder happened, the other villagers have only cared about themselves, and you are the only one who still thinks about Miss Jing. I think Miss Jing will be relieved that she is in the sky." Li Canghai sighed, stood up and said, "Anyway, we are fine. Why not let us help you."

"How...how did this happen?" The little carpenter froze for a moment, and said in a panic.

"We also want Miss Jing to die as soon as possible." Li Canghai sighed, and said angrily, "If I hadn't overslept that night, maybe Miss Jing would not have been killed. Let me do my best.”

The little carpenter looked at Li Canghai's sincere eyes, hesitated for a while, and finally nodded: "Okay."

Li Canghai hurriedly called Di Feng to help the little carpenter.

Neither of them had ever done woodwork, and everything was arranged by the little carpenter, helping saw wood and moving planks, and they were very busy.

But soon the little carpenter found that the two were just doing a disservice, either knocking over the nail or losing the hammer, so he had to let the two go sawing wood.

However, a bigger problem followed. They didn't know how to use the saw at all. The two dragged the saw as if they were fighting for territory, and they broke the saw blade.

In the end, it was the little carpenter who took the broad-backed ax and cut the wood into several pieces in two or three strokes.

"Both of you, this carpentry job is not suitable for you, let me do it, and you take a break first." Several people were of the same age, and the two were eager to help, so the little carpenter soon stopped being as stiff as before. In the messy surroundings, he smiled and said to the two of them.

"Alright, I'll go get some food. I'll be able to work if I'm full, right?" Di Feng stroked his growling stomach, made a face at the two of them, and went to ask Di Huai for some food. of.

At this time, a woman suddenly came from outside the fence. The woman stretched her neck to look into the yard with a basket in her hand. Di Feng recognized her as the mother who sacrificed the baby, and hurriedly greeted Li Canghai.

Li Canghai walked over, and the woman stuffed the basket into his hands, and said gratefully: "Benefactor, thank you for saving my child. These are some small dishes I cooked, benefactor, take them and eat."

Li Canghai hesitated for a while, but seeing the woman's sincere eyes, he said, "Thank you very much."

Seeing that Li Canghai accepted it, the woman thanked him a little more before turning and leaving.

"Now we have food, it's strange, we went to her house just now, but she didn't agree to it, why is it brought here again?" Di Feng took the food basket from Li Canghai, wondering.

"I'm the public enemy of the whole village now. Her husband's family was here just now, so naturally we can't keep us. Don't worry, let's fill our stomachs first." Li Canghai smiled, looking at the few dishes Di Feng took out from the vegetable basket, and said yes The little carpenter greeted.

After the little carpenter got acquainted with them, he didn't feel restrained, so he sat down and ate and talked with them.

"Little carpenter, you have been a carpenter for so many years, so you must be very familiar with the types of trees?" Li Canghai asked.

"Well, I often go to the mountains to look for wood, and I have accumulated a lot of experience over the years, but these are of no use." The little carpenter nodded disapprovingly.

"I heard that the nearby mountains and forests are rich in agarwood. I wonder if it's true or not?" Li Canghai picked up a vegetable and chewed it in his mouth.

The little carpenter scratched his head: "This... I haven't heard of it, why did Brother Li ask this?"

"Hey." Li Canghai sighed for a long time, put down his chopsticks, rubbed his brows and said, "To be honest, I have nightmares every night these two days. I dream that Miss Jing is seeking revenge on me. I heard that Chen Xiang It can calm the mind, so I want to find some agarwood and sleep well."

"Brother Li, don't blame yourself too much. Sister Jing's death has nothing to do with you... Oh, by the way, I once found a piece of agarwood in the mountains. Since Brother Li needs it, give it to Brother Li." The carpenter hurriedly ran into the earthen house, and after a while, he ran out with a fist-sized, strange-looking thing.

"This is... agarwood?" Di Feng leaned over, took the thing in his hand and smelled it, and said with a smile: "Little carpenter, this is not a piece of rotten wood you just found, right?"

The little carpenter was stunned for a moment, and quickly explained: "I don't know if this is agarwood, but it really calms the mind after it is lit."

Li Canghai put the thing away without any doubt, he nodded and said: "I believe what you said, I hope this thing is useful to me."

Di Feng was a restless guy, he didn't forget to look around while eating, and he didn't bother to listen to what the two said about Chen Xiang, so he simply picked up steamed buns and wandered around.

In addition to various axes and saws, there are some other tools in the courtyard, all of which are rare things that Di Feng has never seen before.

"Little carpenter, what is this?" Di Feng found a fish-shaped ink fountain from nowhere, held it in his hand and looked at it over and over again.

"This is an ink fountain. It can draw straight lines on wood." The little carpenter couldn't help laughing when he saw that he didn't seem to have seen this thing before. , and then pull out the ink line to straighten it tightly, and then lift the middle to bounce, and a straight line will be left at the desired position."

Li Canghai squinted his eyes, watching the little carpenter demonstrate to Di Feng, and looking at the ink fountain in the little carpenter's hand, a thunderbolt suddenly flashed in his mind.

"That's right, that's how it is." Li Canghai patted his head suddenly, cursing himself for being so stupid, he didn't even see such an obvious reason.

"Brother Li, what's wrong with you?" Seeing Li Canghai thumping his head, Di Feng thought he was sick, so he hurriedly asked.

"We have enough food and drink, let's finish the coffin quickly. Otherwise, it will be too late." Li Canghai looked up at the sun and said deeply.

Di Feng and the little carpenter looked at each other in surprise, thinking, it's only past noon, how could it be too late?
However, even Li Canghai opened his mouth, and they couldn't say anything, and soon the yard became busy again.

When the sun was about to set, the coffin was finally made. Li Canghai asked the little carpenter to go to the mountain temple in the evening, and then took Di Feng away without saying a word.

"Brother Li, we didn't do anything this day, and the sun has already set, what should we do?" Di Feng said worriedly.

"Who said we didn't do anything this day?" Li Canghai asked rhetorically.

"We really didn't do anything, oh, except for Cengfan being kicked out and helping to do coolies." Di Feng pouted.

Li Canghai smiled: "You can't just look at the surface of everything, I'm investigating the case all day!"

Di Feng was confused by his laughter. He followed Li Canghai all day long, almost never leaving him. When did he go to investigate the case?
Seeing his puzzled face, Li Canghai didn't explain, and said to him: "Go and inform your lord, let him call everyone to the mountain temple, and say that I have found the murderer."

"Have you found the murderer?" Di Feng was stunned for a moment, his eyes widened with an incredulous expression on his face.

Li Canghai nodded slightly, and said calmly: "I want to point out the murderer in public."

Hearing how confident Li Canghai said, Di Feng no longer hesitated, and hurried all the way to inform Di Huai.

As the sun was setting and the sun was setting, the crowd gradually came, and Li Canghai had been waiting for a long time.

"Boy, what else do you have to say now, murder for life, left and right, take it down for me!" Huang Mang shouted angrily when he saw Li Canghai from a distance.

After several soldiers responded, they immediately surrounded him, trying to tie him up.

"General, it's not yet sunset, how do you know that I have nothing to say?" Li Canghai said neither humble nor overbearing.

Huang Mang snorted, and said coldly: "This general has given you a day, it's because you didn't seize the opportunity, and you can't blame others."

Li Canghai was very calm, without panic at all, he said indifferently: "The general is going to break his promise? How can the general know that I haven't found the murderer before the sunset?"

At this moment, Di Huai just arrived, and he came to Li Canghai's side and asked, "Have you really found the murderer?"

Li Canghai nodded heavily: "By calling everyone here, I want to find out the real murderer in front of everyone."

Di Huai was a little surprised, he didn't believe that he could really find the murderer within a day, but he didn't show it, but calmly said to him: "This matter is about your life, don't be careless."

After finishing speaking, Di Huai patted him on the shoulder and said, "Let's begin."

The two ignored Huang Mang during their conversation, as if he didn't exist, which made Huang Mang very unhappy, and he snorted hard while holding the sword hilt.

(End of this chapter)