Chapter 8: Catching the thief

Author: Xiyumu

Chapter 8: Catching the thief

After eating two mung bean cakes, Xiaolan looked at Ling Changfeng and wrote and painted on the desk. She knew whether he would get up for a while, so she slipped up Xiaoyu in the lounge bored.

One person and one cat were chasing in the hall. For a moment, the girl's chuckle and the cat's angry growl filled the hall.

Ling Changfeng was full of questions. Although the case was gradually developing, more doubts surged.

The fingers were "did" against the desktop. The most urgent thing now is to understand the situation from the servants in Lord Wang's mansion and know where Lord Wang went before his lifetime. Only in this way can we discover the clues hidden behind it.

However, Meng Ziyan would definitely not let him go to see the servants of the royal palace alone. He only waited for the relevant personnel of the case to be summoned to the government office before making a decision.

With the direction set, Ling Changfeng didn't think too much. He raised his head and looked at Xiaolan with a smile, and said, "Okay, Xiaolan, don't slip on Xiaoyu anymore, look at it so tired. Since you are so bored, why don't we go to the street market together and have lunch by the way."

When Xiaolan heard this, she immediately carried Xiaoyu and said happily: "Young Master Changfeng, you have finished your work. If you don't go out, I will be bored! Let's go, Xiaoyu, let's eat delicious food!"

Ling Changfeng shook his head pamperedly, and followed Xiaolan out the door. When he walked to the government office, he said to the little official: "I'll go out for a walk. If the rest of the people come back, you will say I'll go outside."

The little official bowed his head and bowed, "Little Man Jin Ji."

...

The two of them came to the market and watched the crowds of people coming and going on the bustling streets, and the vendors kept selling their food.

“Selling candied haws…”

"Selling mutton skewers, authentic Western Region mutton skewers"

"Do you eat Roujiamo? Freshly baked Roujiamo"

Xiaoyu held the cat in one hand and a large skewer of mutton skewers in the other hand. At this moment, she was eating the corners of her mouth full of oil stains.

Ling Changfeng looked at her eating chunks and said, "If you continue to eat like this, I'm afraid the soft sword on your waist will be replaced by four feet."

Xiaolan didn't care, chewing meat skewers in her mouth, muttering, "Hmph, I have to eat more meat when I am growing up. Let's go ahead and see, there are a lot of people around there."

Without waiting for Ling Changfeng to speak, he quickly walked forward. He was worried that he would go too late, but he looked down on the excitement.

When the two walked in, they saw a group of people surrounding an old man and a thin middle-aged man. The old man pulled the man's sleeve, and the two seemed to be arguing something.

Ling Changfeng came forward and heard clearly that the old man came from the countryside. Today, he worked hard to carry a load of charcoal from home to the city for sale. After selling more than half of the charcoal, he thought he would finally get something today.

Unexpectedly, the middle-aged man came here to buy charcoal. When the old man collected the money, he touched his purse, but disappeared. He suddenly felt panic in his heart. He immediately grabbed the middle-aged man and said that his purse had been stolen by him. He begged the people around him to help report to the official.

The middle-aged man was entangled by the old man, but his face was ferocious and roared fiercely. However, the old man held his sleeves tightly with both hands. He was inconvenient to hit people in public. So the two of them were in a stalemate at the market.

Xiaolan reached out and poked Ling Changfeng and said softly: "Young Master, I don't think this middle-aged man looks like a good person. Just help this old man. It's so pitiful."

Ling Changfeng nodded and said, "You'll just watch the show next to you."

After saying that, he walked forward and said calmly to the entangled two people: "You don't have to wait for the government to come. I can make a conclusion for you. Old man, you can let go. With me here, he can't escape. Please testify to the people around you."

The enthusiastic people around him replied one after another: "Young Master, don't worry, we're watching."

The old man looked at Ling Changfeng with red eyes. Seeing that the young man was dressed up, he didn't seem to be lying to him. Besides, there were neighbors as insurance, so he slowly let go of his hand, but his whole body was still tense. I'm afraid that as long as the man turned around, he would pounce on him in the next second.

The middle-aged man was surrounded by the crowd around him and did not dare to escape. The boy in front of him was making a promise, thinking: Could this person be the young master from some family come out to play? Humph, let's see how he boasted about how the Haikou ended.

Ling Changfeng said with a smile: "Okay, since both of you have let go, then please ask this elder brother to take out the money bag on his body."

The man reluctantly took out a burlap bag, and the copper coins inside were jingling, and said angrily: "This is what I brought out today. Look, how could it be this old guy! It was obvious that he lost the money himself and was lying to me here."

Ling Changfeng nodded, looked at the middle-aged man, and said, "Tell me, how much did you bring out today?"

Without thinking, the middle-aged man hurriedly said, "I brought fifty-five coins out! Why, let's count now? I've said that I was wronged by this old guy!!"

Ling Changfeng turned to the old man without saying anything, and said, "Old man, do you remember how much money is in your wallet?"

When the old man heard this, he said anxiously: "Of course, of course I remember! I only brought three copper plates for later use when I went out today. In the morning, I sold 52 cents of charcoal. I counted them one by one, and there were 55 cents in the bag in total!"

(One qian = 1 copper plate, 1000 qian = 1 guan, 2 guan = 1 tael of silver, 10 taels of silver = 1 tael of gold)

Ling Changfeng did not argue with him and said, "Since you two are so coincidental, you put the same money in your purse, then let's count if that's the case."

After everyone counted together, there were indeed fifty-five copper plates lying in the purse.

The crowd around him whispered: "The two of them said the same thing, I'm afraid they were wrongly blamed this man."

"I'm afraid there's nothing to do with this doll."

Everyone sighed and felt sorry for the old man.

The old man suddenly felt that the sky fell and stood there. He was lost in his mind for a moment. Tears suddenly burst out and he turned around to clean up the remaining charcoal.

The middle-aged man next to him was arrogant and said proudly: "Old guy, your eyes will be brighter next time! Seeing that you are old, I will let you go for a while." After that, he made a gesture to squeeze out the crowd.

Ling Changfeng sneered and said, "It's ridiculous! You're too happy too early! You haven't cleared your suspicion yet."

Then he said, "Since the number of copper coins is correct, please continue to testify for me, and you will be able to tell the truth soon."

"Xiaolan, help me get a bucket of clean water."

"Haol, young master." Xiaolan ran to the shop to fetch water like a gust of wind.

Everyone wanted to see what he sold in the gourd, but he did not retreat. The middle-aged man was calm and fearless. The old man seemed to have caught a life-saving straw and stared at Ling Changfeng tightly.

After a while, Xiaolan came over with a basin of clear water. Ling Changfeng poured the copper plate in his purse into the clear water, and then shook it gently twice. A trace of charcoal ash floated in the clear water, and the clear water was slowly turning black.

Ling Changfeng pointed to the charcoal ash in the water and said, "The charcoal ash on this copper coin is not yours, right? This bag of money is clearly what you have gained from stealing. It depends on how you can argue! Friends, please tie up this person and send it to the government office!"

The middle-aged man looked at the black water in the basin and his face suddenly turned white and red. He immediately turned around and wanted to take the opportunity to slip away. However, Xiaolan stretched out his legs and immediately threw a dog to bite the mud.

Seeing this, everyone rushed forward and sent his uniform to the government.

Ling Changfeng said to the old man: "Old man, please collect your money quickly! You just need to help me send the basin to the shop. I still have something to do, so I won't delay it here." After that, he raised his legs and walked forward.

The old man recovered and bowed to Ling Changfeng repeatedly, and burst into tears. The onlookers also applauded his thoughts.

Xiaolan followed Ling Changfeng and asked, "Young Master, how do you know how much money the thief has?"

Ling Changfeng smiled and said, "This thief probably has set his sights on the old man early in the morning. And for a habitual thief, you can tell how much money you have. If he doesn't know, he can save a lot of trouble."

When Xiaolan heard this, she knew that he had already been confident and couldn't help but exclaim: "Young Master, you are so amazing! Oh, isn't the Qingyue Restaurant you passed by in the morning? I wonder if the drunk man is still there. Let's go over and have lunch by the way."

Ling Changfeng looked forward and said, "Let's go, I'm hungry too. Look at Xiaoyu, she's so hungry that she's listless." After that, he rubbed the cat in Xiaolan's arms and walked up.

...

Qingfeng Restaurant is one of the top large restaurants in Nanhe County. It has three floors in total and is very luxurious in decoration. Even the dishes are made of silver, and the chopsticks and soup spoons for picking up dishes are carved with jade. Of course, the price of wine and vegetables is also quite luxurious. An ordinary dish costs an ordinary person a month’s expense (about 5 taels of silver, an ordinary person’s annual wage).

This restaurant is famous for its wine and dish. The wine is apricot blossom wine, which is a good wine that has been sealed for many years and is sold in limited quantities. You can only buy one pound at a time. The dish is braised lion head, four golden meat balls, which melt at the mouth and have a great taste. The nobles of Luoyang also often visit here.

It was lunch time, and the tables in the restaurant lobby were already full of people.

Ling Changfeng took Xiaolan into the restaurant. When the waiter saw them coming in, he hurriedly greeted him and said, "I'm waiting for Mr. Ling to come. Please invite you inside! The third floor private room - Yaxiang Pavilion, is empty."

After all, Ling Changfeng is a regular customer, so he is not polite. He is about to walk upstairs through the lobby.

Suddenly, a "bang" sound came from the counter, and someone shouted: "Hurry up and hand over the poem!"
Chapter completed!