Chapter 35 Chapter Twelve

The red sun sinks to the west, and the evening clouds merge.Ma Rong took thirty taels of color-patterned silver from the government treasury, wrapped it in a robe, put on some makeup, and hurried to Shengming Temple. Shen Ba was already waiting for him by the big censer outside Shengming Temple.Seeing Ma Rong swaying towards him, Lao Yuan shouted in a rough voice: "Brother Yong, I was so anxious to wait. It turned out that the one who took off the gold hairpin was a wandering monk. I saw him holding a clay bowl in one hand and the other in the other. I kept beating the wooden fish, and a ragged coat was covered with lice. I never thought that there were some valuable things hidden in my waist pocket..."

Ma Rong quickly waved his hand, signaling him to keep his voice down. Shen Basan smiled sarcastically, and continued: "Tonight he will be waiting for you at Wang Liu's tea shop behind the Drum Tower. He said he was sitting alone in a corner. Two empty tea cups were stacked on the table, It is facing the spout of the teapot. After you go, you only need to disassemble the two teacups and lay them flat, and pour a cup of tea each. Then ask him if he can have tea at the same seat." Ma Rong thanked him again and again, hurriedly resigned from Shen Ba and went all the way to the Drum Tower.

The Drum Tower is the tallest building in Puyang City.Ma Rong could see clearly, it was along the street directly facing east.Passing through the door opening of the Drum Tower, Ma Rong saw a one-story house opposite the big red fence, with a banner of "Wang Ji Tea House" hanging on the door. Ma Rong lifted the bead curtain of Wang Liu's tea shop, only to hear the buzzing in the shop.Almost every dilapidated Eight Immortals table was filled with leisurely tea drinkers, with incense and mist curling from the table, whispering to each other.The ground is full of melon rinds and husks, with a stench.There are still a few pictures of celebrities and screens hanging on the dirty wooden walls.Ma Rong's sharp eyes swept over the tea guests, and he saw a short and fat wild monk sitting on a seat near the window in the corner of the west wall. A wooden fish with a circle of Buddhist beads hanging under its neck.Two teacups are stacked on the table, facing the spout of the teapot.

Ma Rong thought it was this person, but felt very puzzled, didn't the master clearly say that the murderer was a man with a light body and extraordinary strength?In front of him is such a plump and hollow monk.Alas, no matter how he went forward to test it first. Ma Rong walked up to the fat monk, gently put down the nested teacup, poured tea into both teacups with a teapot, and asked, "Master, can I sit on this empty seat?" ?” The fat monk laughed and said, "It's so good, how can there be no reason not to sit? I wonder if the benefactor has brought the Lotus Sutra?"

Ma Rong understood, stretched out his left arm to put it on the table, and said with a smile, "Thirty volumes are bundled into a bundle, and all of them are hidden in this sleeve. What scriptures did Master bring? I will exchange thirty volumes for you." A scroll." The fat monk reached out his hand to Ma Rong's cuff and pinched it. He felt heavy, but he didn't feel overjoyed. He smiled and said, "The poor monk also has a sutra, which was taught by the Tathagata Buddha himself. It doesn't say anything, it's like a book from heaven. It can be exchanged with the benefactor. Come to the class." As he spoke, he took out a book from the sleeve of his robe and handed it to Ma Rong.

Ma Rong flipped through it, but there were no words, and he was puzzled: "How can I read the scriptures without words?" The fat monk said: "You will know after reading ten pages. Ma Rong turned the booklet to the tenth page, and sure enough, he saw a yellow gold hairpin sandwiched between the pages.The gold hairpin was made into the shape of a flying swallow, very delicate, exactly the same as the image that Di Gong showed him! Ma Rong closed the thin book and put it carefully into his sleeve. "Master's heavenly book is really wonderful." He took out the bag of silver from his sleeve and handed it to the fat monk respectfully.

The fat monk poked a corner with the tip of his little finger to see it, quickly put it into the sleeve of his robe, and stood up. "The poor monk bid farewell." Ma Rong nodded and smiled, just sipping the tea on the table. The fat monk raised the beaded curtain and went out of Wang Liu's Tea House.Ma Rong immediately stood up and snatched out Wang Liu's tea shop. The fat monk walked around the drum tower and swayed towards the north gate.Ma Rong was separated by a distance, and followed closely. Suddenly he saw the fat monk turning into an alley at the base of the city wall.He immediately stepped forward and hid at the entrance of the alley to peep inside.The fat monk walked to a house and was waiting to knock on the door.Ma Rong strode up, twisted one of the fat monk's arms, and squeezed his neck tightly with one hand.

"Thieves are bald, take a step to speak. If you snort, you will die!" The fat monk turned pale with fright, but dared not speak out.Ma Rong put an arm around his neck and dragged him to a dark place in a nearby alley. The fat monk begged for mercy: "Hero, spare the little monk's life, and I will return the money to you." Ma Rong quickly pulled out the bag of silver from his robe sleeve, put it into his own sleeve, and said softly: "Quickly tell me, where did this gold hairpin come from?" "Yes... I picked it up on the side of the road, maybe some noble lady accidentally lost it."

Ma Rong slammed the fat monk's head against the wall twice. "If you don't tell the truth, I will kill you right now!" He said, pulling out the shiny dagger from his waist. When the fat monk saw the dagger, his face turned earthy with fright, his muscles were numb and his legs were crisp.Panting heavily, he begged, "Hero, spare your life, I'm telling the truth." Ma Rong loosened his grip slightly. "The little monk originally escaped from the temple, but because he had nowhere to live, he went to the hands of a rascal named Wang San. That Wang San was a cruel and ruthless person. The little monk regretted it so much that he always thought of running away. One day suddenly I saw Wang San's long robe with a gold hairpin in between. I took advantage of his drunken sleep, stole the gold hairpin and escaped. I want to sell it and fly far away."

Ma Rong was secretly delighted, as expected the fat monk was not the real culprit of the murder.But I don't know what kind of devil Wang San looks like.Maybe it was Xiao Chunyu, who was killed by Wang San, who stole the pair of golden hairpins. "Let me spare your life today, and lead me to find that Wang San right now." The fat monk panicked and begged: "A good man, don't send me to Wang San, he will beat me to death." "Xue Deluo! Wang San dares to be presumptuous, I will manipulate him first!" The fat monk had no choice but to obediently lead Ma Rong to find Wang San.

The fat monk was pumping water with fifteen buckets in his heart, he was going up and down, he didn't pay attention, but he arrived at the gate of Wang San's house.The fat monk tremblingly said: "Wang San lives in this courtyard." Ma Rong saw it kindly, stepped forward and knocked on the door like a "Dongdong" drum. There was a promise in the courtyard, someone pulled the latch, and a candle flashed out. Ma Rong saw that the man was really tall and strong, showing his fierce appearance, he must be Wang San in his heart. "Shopkeeper Wang, I wonder if you would sell me another gold hairpin. I already bought one from this monk. Everything must be in pairs." Wang San stared at the fat monk with a pair of triangular eyes, almost wanting to let out a fire. "It turns out that this evil bastard stole my golden hairpin!" Ma Rong said: "This monk is still reasonable. We are not deceiving each other in buying and selling. Now I don't know what the shopkeeper Wang wants.'" Wang San laughed wildly, revealing a mouthful of ragged big yellow teeth. "Let me tear off the skin of this bald donkey first!" He put down the candle, rolled up his sleeves and was just about to start when Ma Rong stepped forward to block the fat monk, and then let go of the fat monk. The fat monk fled away like an arrow flying from the string. "Treasurer Wang, let's talk about our business. What can we argue with that bald donkey!" Wang Sandao: "I was also planning to sell the pair of gold hairpins. It's just that the bald donkey stole one from me. -- Logically, you have to pay me for a pair. I don't know how much the guest officer will offer?" Ma Rong looked around vigilantly, and saw the crescent moon like a hook, shining silver light on the ground, and there was no one walking around. "Treasurer Wang is not afraid of being bumped into by idlers, so there are many side issues?" Wang Sandao: "Brothers are all working in the three streets and six markets. There has never been anyone idle here." Ma Rong changed his face and said: "I am a public servant in the yamen. Master Di wants to ask you about the origin of the pair of gold hairpins. ——Let me tell you the truth, but you killed Butcher Xiao's daughter?" Wang San was taken aback, and argued, "I've never seen any butcher Xiao. Could it be that the butcher murdered someone himself, and then he tried to blame me. The stupid officials in the yamen couldn't find the criminal, so they took us ordinary people as top vats." .” Ma Rong was furious, and stretched out his hand to capture Wang San.Wang San is not someone to wait for nothing, he tried his best to resist Ma Rong.In terms of boxing and martial arts, Wang San seems to be no less than Ma Rong, but after all, the offender is timid and timid, gradually lost his way and panicked.Ma Rong, on the other hand, was upright and strong, and the more he fought, the more courageous he was. Although he was against the trend several times, he finally turned defeat into victory.Seeing an opening in Wang San's mouth, Wang San's kick flew to the center of the jaw, blood gushed out of Wang San's mouth immediately, spit out three or four teeth, fell to the ground and did not move.Ma Rong stepped forward and quickly tied Wang San with a rope, then went to the street and called two soldiers on patrol, and escorted Wang San to the state government.