Chapter 8 chapter eight

Qiaotai hummed a little tune and returned to the Phoenix Hotel.He found that the hotel was empty, only Yanxiang was there sweeping the floor with an unhappy look on her face.Seeing him coming in, he asked, "Where did the scholar go?" "I can't die anyway!" he replied.As he spoke, he carefully sat down on a broken rattan chair, "Hey, let's make a pot of tea. It's not for me, but for Mr. Shen. He is a tea drinker. Didn't Kunshan come? " Yanxiang made a grimace, and replied impatiently: "It's already here: I told him that you both went out, and he said he would come back later. Well, let me say, I can bear with any man, Even if that Kunshan gave me ten taels of gold, I wouldn't bother to look at him."

"You just close your eyes and don't look at him," Qiaotai said. "No, I'm not referring to his ugly face, he is a crooked material that hurts people, he is sinister and vicious." Yanxiang said, sniffed her nose contemptuously, and walked back to the kitchen . Qiao Tai laughed wildly, leaned back on the wicker chair again, and put his feet on the table.When Yanxiang came back with a large teapot, he was already snoring like thunder. As soon as Di Gong walked into the door of the hotel, Yanxiang grabbed him and asked anxiously, "Why didn't Xiucai come back with you?"

Duke Dee glanced at her and replied, "I've assigned him an errand." "He won't be in any trouble?" "No, even if he gets into any trouble, I have a way to get him out. You'd better go upstairs to sleep, we have something to do, and we need to stay here for a while." Yanxiang went upstairs.Di Gong immediately woke Qiaotai up. Seeing Di Gong's haggard and tired look, Qiao Tai's mood suddenly became gloomy.He immediately poured a cup of hot tea for Duke Di, and asked anxiously, "How's the situation?" Di Gong then told Qiao Tai the situation of the corpse and the conversation between him and Teng Kan.Before he could finish speaking, he heard someone knock on the door lightly.Qiao Tai went to open the door and met Kun Shan who came in.Qiao Tai couldn't help but cursed.

Kun Shan gave him a cold look, then turned to Di Gong and said, "Mr. Shen, is the new residence comfortable? Should I thank you?" Duke Dee said, "Sit down, please. Now tell me why you want to help us." "Let me tell you the truth!" Kun Shan said sharply, "I need you just now, and I need you urgently. You may have heard of my name. In thirty years, I have never failed once. However, I Force is lacking, but I never wanted to increase it, because force alone is vulgar to me. Now I happen to have a business that requires some force. I have examined you both carefully, and I think you can I am qualified for this transaction. I have done all the difficult preparations alone, and there is no risk to take when it is your turn to help me. You should be satisfied if you can get a good reward .”

"It's easy for you to say," Qiao Tai interrupted him, "Let us do that dangerous business, and you sit and wait for a windfall without any effort. Tell you, don't do it without us, you mean and incompetent coward!" Hearing Qiao Tai call him a coward, Kun Shan's face turned pale. The name obviously touched his sore spot.He said viciously: "A strong man is considered a hero? Tonight I am really worried that the rosewood bed will not be able to withstand the toss of a strong hero like you. How well the poet described it: Lightly fan and shake the spring clouds, The torrential rain destroys Qiumei..."

Qiao Tai jumped up, grabbed Kun Shan by the neck, pushed him to the ground, then knelt on his chest with his legs, and beat him with his hands.One side growled and wrote: "You despicable bastard, it turns out that you are spying on me again. I will strangle your neck!" Di Gong stepped forward to persuade him: "Let go of him, he hasn't finished speaking yet." Qiao Tai stood up and slammed Kun Shan's head on the ground. Kun Shan lay there motionless, with wheezing sounds coming from his throat. Qiao Tai's face turned blue with anger, she sat down and said, "I stayed with a famous prostitute for a while at night, her name is Qiu Mei, but this bastard is watching me secretly."

"Come on." Duke Di said coldly. 'Pour some cold water on Kunshan's head! " Qiaotai brought a large basin of dirty water from behind the counter and poured it on Kun Shan's head, saying, "It will take some time for this bastard to wake up!" "Sit down, let me tell you the unfinished part of Teng Kan's story!" After Di Gong finished explaining the ins and outs of Siqiping, Qiao Tai's anger had long since passed.He couldn't help but praised: "Master, this case is really amazing." Digong nodded. "I don't want to tell him that his wife was raped. You know that's the most obvious reason I suspect someone else killed his wife. I don't want to distress my colleague any further."

"But, didn't you say that the deceased looked peaceful?" Qiaotai asked. "I think she should at least wake up and act agitated and angry, right?" "This is the most puzzling detail in this mysterious case, and of course there are others... Attention! Kunshan has awakened!" Qiaotai lifted the one-eyed monkey from the ground and put it on the wicker chair.Kun Shan gradually opened that one eye, and said hoarsely to Qiao Tai: "Bastard! Wait for me to settle the score with you!" "I will accompany you whenever you come!" Qiao Tai replied triumphantly.

There was a vicious glint in Kun Shan's one eye, and he sneered, "You don't even know that romantic widow, you idiot!" "Widow?" Qiao Tai was taken aback. "Of course it's a widow, and a widow whose husband died just yesterday! You idiot, you don't even know the home of Ke Xingyuan, a well-known silk dealer, and you broke in to have fun with his wife. Madam Ke wanted to show Mourning for the dead has just moved the bedroom—the one you were in just now. You're taking Mrs. Cole for a whore!" Qiaotai blushed with shame.He wanted to say something, but he could only make sounds that others could not understand.

Di Gong asked Kun Shan, "Then, Mrs. Ke's moral integrity may have something to do with Lao Ke's suicide?" Kun Shan held his neck and drank a cup of tea in one gulp.Then he said strangely: "Mrs. Ke is certainly not a moral and chaste woman! Hey, the business I discussed with you just happened to have something to do with this Ke Xingyuan. Listen to me carefully, my words are very short. I I got a Lengqian account book in my hand. This Lengqian is the treasurer of a well-known cabinet shop in this city, and countless gold and silver flows in and out every day. He is Ke Xingyuan's financial partner. I am also proficient in financial tricks Some, I soon found out that the ledger contained secret records of how Lengqian had cheated Old Ke through falsified accounts in the past two years. He used despicable methods to get a considerable amount of money from Old Ke. Hey, there are about one thousand taels of gold!"

"Then, how did you get this ledger?" Duke Di asked. "A shrewd treasurer will never leave this thing that is related to his wealth and life carelessly." "It's none of your business!" Kun Shan snapped. "No, I'm interested in financial matters as well--that's the real reason why I hastily resigned from the office of the Yamen. You can get this secret ledger from the intricate financial transactions. Today I finally I saw you! My friend, if you want to cooperate, you must trust. I haven’t touched the edge of the matter with just a few words! Besides, you have to tell me the details of getting this account book.” Kun Shan glanced suspiciously at Di Gong. "What a cunning traitor!" Kun Shan smiled sinisterly, "Since you really want to know the details of the matter, I will give you all of it today. I have been to Ke's house several times, of course he doesn't know Yes. I opened his silver cabinet and found two hundred taels of gold—of course it belongs to me now. I scrutinized the bills, bills, contracts, and deeds he hid in the silver cabinet, and finally I figured out the secret of Leng Qian's ledger." "So that's how it is." Di Gong said. "You go on." Kun Shan took out a small piece of paper from his sleeve and carefully spread it flat on the table.Gently tapping the paper with his slender index finger, he continued: "I tore this page from that account book. You two will visit our friend Lengqian tomorrow morning and take this paper Show him and tell him that you have all the information. Then, you ask him to open two batches with empty names, one for six hundred and fifty taels of gold, and the other for fifty taels of gold. He issued After this little blood, he can get three hundred taels. This is quite acceptable to him. Of course, I really want to get the whole money, but the secret of this thing's success is to leave a way for others to survive, so that they It’s not like a dog jumping over the wall. The lot of six hundred and fifty taels belongs to me, and the fifty taels belongs to you. You can earn fifty taels of gold without any effort. Isn’t this a cheap deal?” Di Gong stared at Kun Shan with sharp eyes, caressing his beard leisurely, while tossing his mind to think of a countermeasure.After a long while, I saw him slowly say: "My partner's speech is a bit blunt, but he is impartial and just right. It is your job to go over the wall to drill holes, but you don't have the guts to face it. Face to face snatching, I conclude that you don't have the courage to blackmail that Leng shopkeeper face to face, right?" Kun Shan involuntarily moved his body on the chair.Duke Di took the piece of paper and put it in his sleeve, and said: "This is indeed a good deal. But we should not deceive each other, and we should split the account between the north and the south. To be honest, I just don't need you and any account book now. You can blackmail Lengqian. Why can't I put all the thousand taels of gold into my own pocket?" "Really, why not!" Qiaotai agreed with a wide grin. "Then, I'll report to the Yamen and let them arrest you two robbers!" Kun Shan said fiercely. "I'm sorry you don't dare to report the letter." Di Gong said calmly, "Stop procrastinating, let's make up your mind! How about it?" Kun Shan stared fiercely at Di Gong's face, pressed the twitching nerves on his cheek with his hand, lowered his eyes for a long time, and gave in: "Okay, let's do this: the north and the south will dismantle the tent!" "It's a deal." Duke Dee said confidently, "I'll visit Lengqian tomorrow morning. You can draw me a street map of Lengqian's cabinet shop first." Kunshan finished painting the street map and was about to get up to leave. Di Gong grabbed his arm and said kindly: "It's still early, please sit down for a while, let's talk again, and toast to our cooperation!" Zhou Great, go behind the counter and get the wine jar specially prepared for the army!" Qiao Tai ran to the counter and saw the bartender sleeping soundly, so he moved out the wine jar of the platoon army. After a few glasses of wine, Mr. Di stroked his beard and said, "Brother Kunshan, to be honest with you, your sneaky skills are nothing compared to what we do. Let me tell you that we are on the way Some of the adventures we have experienced. Zhou Da, do you remember? That time in Xuzhou, when we..." "Who wants to listen to your deceitful nonsense?" Kun Shan retorted, "The adventures you do are all based on force, relying on thick arms and big fists. What I do requires brains. A truly successful master can It can’t be tempered in three to five years, I have been in this line of work for thirty years:” Duke Di raised his voice: "I will also effortlessly turn the lock on someone's door, enter the house, subdue the owner of the house, ask him politely where he keeps his valuables, then pick up these things and quietly Leave. What's so difficult about this kind of business?" "Nonsense!" Kun Shan said contemptuously, "You are a clumsy trick of ordinary thieves and thieves. Maybe you can get away with it once or twice. However, once the government issues an arrest document and Huaying chases after you, you have to catch them with nothing to do. But I have my unique skills. I have been around for more than 30 years, and I have never been caught once! You two rats who just came out of the hole, how much world have you seen? Just to teach you my unique skills, you guys I won’t be able to imitate it in my whole life.” Kun Shan began to talk triumphantly, “Listen! At the beginning, I spent a month carefully inspecting the other party’s occupation, residence, family members and their living habits. I Trying to chat with the servants, chat with the keeper of the nearby shop. Of course it costs a little money. Then I slipped into the house, but I didn't take anything. I have plenty of time, don't worry. I went in just to find out Inside the house. I can spend an hour or two in a large wardrobe, hide in the folds of a curtain or drapery, curl up in a trunk, or squeeze into the narrow gap behind the bed frame .In this way, I observe the owner's daily life, listen to what they say privately, where they store valuables-well, so I make a last door visit. Neither pick the lock nor rummage, anyone No alarm, nor shifting of the chests and furniture. If there is a secret stash of money, I know it better than its owner; if there is a silver chest, I know exactly where to get the key. I They do it without anyone noticing it. It often takes half a month and a month before they find out that the money has disappeared from their home. But they don’t think it has been stolen. The wife suspects the concubine and the girl, causing them countless misunderstandings. Many harmonious families have turned against each other and even fought..." Kun Shan spoke with enthusiasm, giggling, and covering his crooked lips with his hands: "My clever colleagues, should you have realized something by now?" "It's wonderful, but we will never imitate your tricks." Di Gong changed the topic. "Your skills may have enabled you to know a lot of private affairs between men and women, right? Recently, there have been rumors of several cases involving murder and bloodshed. You must know something inside!" Kun Shan's face twitched violently, and his expression became even more gloomy and terrifying: "Don't bring up such topics! I hate women, despise women, and I hate all kinds of dirty tricks that men use to tease them. I don't Willing to hide in other people's rooms and listen to those women's set words, but sometimes I have to listen to these dirty, disgusting words, the annoying thing is..." Kun Shan suddenly stopped talking at this point, and beads of sweat appeared on his forehead.He stood up and stared hard at Duke Di with his one eye, and said hoarsely, "I'll see you here at noon tomorrow." As soon as Kun Shan left, Qiao Tai cursed angrily: "A real bastard! A hateful insect! But, master, why do you still listen to him talking so much nonsense?" Duke Di replied calmly. : "I want to get some information about how to sneak into the house from his mouth, which may be helpful to find out how the murderer sneaked into Mrs. Teng's bedroom, but unfortunately Kun Shan didn't say anything. Secondly, I also want to know more A little kun out of me." "Why is he so interested in us and wants to cooperate with us?" Mr. Qiaotai still didn't understand. Di Gongdao: "Perhaps he thinks that we are the ideal partners for his blackmail plot. I seem to be a decent person, not only able to confuse Lengqian at the beginning, but also capable of conducting risky negotiations with him and finally Get over him. You're strong enough to put pressure on him. And the most important thing is that we're strangers, and when it's done, we'll go our separate ways, and we won't give up on each other, and we won't give him any trouble—I think That's the main reason why he was unconventional and pestered us to work with him. However, he accepted our proposal to split the stolen money equally. I think there may be something wrong with it. I thought there must be a hard bargain. I don't want this No matter what, we will throw this villain into prison for sure, let him squat in the iron cage for the rest of his life." Di Gong rubbed his red eyes and continued: "I Now I want to write a letter to the disobedient officer in the county, you go and find me a square inkstone and a pen. The platoon army needs to draw and cross to keep accounts, then he will have these two things." Qiaotai rummaged behind the counter for a while, and found a broken inkstone full of dust and a bald pen with sparse hairs. Dee used a candle to burn off the scattered hairs on the tip of the pen, and then put it in his mouth to lick it for a while, finally sharpening the tip of the pen.Then he took out the official letter and envelope from Teng County Magistrate's desk from his sleeve.He signed a warrant in the name of Teng Kan, the magistrate of Muping County, ordering Nao Zuo to rush to Siyang Village, saying that he was urgently needed for an autopsy there.He hastily sealed the seal with wax paint, and handed the letter to Qiaotai.Said: "I don't want the body of Mrs. Teng to be examined, because there is no need for him to know the fact that Mrs. Teng was raped. You should send this letter to the big herbal medicine shop at the corner of the city tomorrow morning. Zuo is the shopkeeper of that shop. We passed a place called Siyang Village on the way from Zhouli, and it takes at least half a day to ride there, so that Zuo Zuo won’t be able to hinder our investigation all day tomorrow.” Di Gong scratched his scalp with the pen, and suddenly thought, since I can use the name of Teng Kan to act freely in this way, I might as well write another letter to the Military and Political Department, asking them to check the status of the Leopards under the command of General Zuo Xiaowei. A team surnamed Liu who served in the third cavalry battalion was in charge of the file and extracted relevant materials.Di Gong took out another letter and wrote it hastily, sealed it and handed it to Qiao Tai, and said: "You can choose a convenient time tomorrow to deliver this letter to the Military and Political Department, and send the Military and Political Department's reply. And bring back the excerpted materials about the platoon's resume." He looked at Qiao Tai's weary eyes, and said with a smile, "It's been a long time for no reason. Well, we can go upstairs now to see the room where we sleep."