It was already an ugly moment when the fire was completely extinguished. After the fire broke out, several nearby streets had been blocked by patrolling Kyoto government officials. Moreover, the martial law in the capital has been in danger in recent times, so there were no crowds of people who rushed over to fight the fire nearby.
More than a dozen officers in Kyoto Prefecture also participated in the firefighting. After the fire was extinguished, the officers immediately found out whether anyone was buried in the sea of ​​fire.
Compared with local yamen, Kyoto Prefecture's yamen are well-trained, and during martial law, such a fire must naturally be handled with caution.
Among the ruins and tiles, although the fire was extinguished, there were still scattered fireworks.
After the fire was extinguished, General Manager Qiu quickly counted the pawnshop with Manager Xu. The pawnshop of Qi's family was not small. The shop was connected to Manager Xu, and there were eleven people in the front desk and the back warehouse. However, there were only five people on the night tonight. Except for Manager Xu, who was in charge of the front hall, the other four people were guarding the back warehouse.
There are naturally many kinds of goods stored in the pawn shop, and some existing silver is also present in the shop.
The pawnshop was temporarily stopped due to shortage of money a few days ago. However, in order to prevent some old customers from investing in, these silver were still placed here. Just in case, the Jinyi Hou Mansion was even more difficult, and they dare not call these silver. After all, the most important thing in operating a pawnshop is the word "trust". Some old customers invest in it, so they must not have any excuses to refuse to accept it.
Between the broken bricks and tiles, several iron boxes were found to seal the silver, and a lot of the silver was left in it, so it was also determined that the location of the warehouse was located.
But except for silver, most of the other things stored in the warehouse, except for a very few fire-proof objects, have been burned.
Yang Ning followed General Manager Qiu, shuttled through the ruins of the pawnshop, with a solemn expression.
"Criminal, the things in the pawnshop are almost burning." Manager Qiu led the two of them to search in the ruins and smiled bitterly: "How much is the loss? The account books have been burned, and it is difficult to calculate for a while, but it should not be less. Fortunately, the shopkeepers in the store are safe and sound, which is a great blessing in misfortune."
Yang Ning didn't say much. Even if General Manager Qiu didn't say it, he knew that the fire had brought a heavy blow to the Jinyi Marquis' Mansion.
"Criminal, Manager Xu said that the source of the fire should be at Houku." Qi Feng had already come from behind and said to Yang Ning: "He said that he heard a scream from the backyard in the middle of the night. He got up to see and found that Houku was on fire and hurried over. At that time, Houku had already launched a fire, and the fire spread quickly. He was anxious to put out the fire with the guys on the night side, but with the help of a few people, it was difficult to put out the fire, so he could only send someone to help while putting out the fire."
"Where were the accounts book at that time?" Yang Ning asked.
Qi Feng said: "The books in the shop are placed on the cabinet. Manager Xu was in a hurry to put out the fire, and was messed up and failed to take out the books in time. When he reacted, the cabinet also started to burn. He wanted to snatch it and take out the books, but the fire was too big, and several friends pulled him away." He said: "Chen San also proved that the fire was burning from the warehouse. They had no keys in their hands. After they found the fire, Manager Xu rushed over quickly."
"In this way, did the fire start to burn from the warehouse?"
"They all said that this is true." Qi Feng said: "The guys stayed at night on the side of the back warehouse. They took turns to guard and patrol in the middle of the night."
Yang Ning frowned and said, "If the fire source is here in the Houku, how did the warehouse catch fire?" asked General Manager Qiu, "Who is in the key to this warehouse?"
Mr. Qiu said: "Dangku is the most important place for pawn shops. Even Manager Xu cannot open it alone. Dangku is surrounded by airtight and there are no windows. The only way to enter and exit is to add two locks. Manager Xu and Lu Chaofeng each have a key to open one lock. Only two keys can enter Dangku together."
"Where is Lu Chaofeng?"
"Lu Chaofeng and Shopkeeper Xu take turns to stay at night." General Manager Qiu explained: "Lu Chaofeng takes a turn to rest tonight, and Shopkeeper Xu is on duty. Logically speaking, after the signing is closed, no one can enter the Curry."
Yang Ning said: "It's strange. When no one can enter the warehouse, but the fire is burning out of the warehouse. Wouldn't that be a ghost?"
Manager Qiu also frowned and said, "The warehouse is in a heavy area, and the door will never be opened at night, and it is strictly forbidden to enter the warehouse. It will never cause fires in the warehouse."
"Who was the first to discover it at that time?" Yang Ning pondered for a moment and finally asked.
Qi Feng hurriedly said, "It's Chen San. He said that when he was on the turn, he patroled and went to the cottage. When he came back, he found that Curry had already started to burn, and the fire was burning very quickly. In a blink of an eye, there were fire everywhere. He woke up several other people and alarmed Manager Xu. When Manager Xu came over, the warehouse was already in a raging fire."
Manager Qiu said angrily: "What did this Chen San do? Don't he know that there must be no one in the warehouse for a moment?"
Qi Feng didn't speak, and Yang Ning thought that there was nothing wrong with caring about these things at this time.
"In this way, the fire started to burn when Chen San went to the thatched cottage." Yang Ning thought, "It didn't take long to go to the thatched cottage. When he came back, the other people were still asleep. In other words, the people in the pawnshop would not carry the lights into the warehouse at all."
Manager Qiu shook his head and said, "If you don't have a key, you can't get in. Moreover, these guys have been in the pawn shop for at least three or four years. They are all old guys. They understand the rules in the pawn shop and will never make any mistakes. Yes, when I locked the warehouse today, I personally walked around the warehouse, and there was no fire equipment in it. I watched the warehouse lock the door myself."
"Mr. Qiu has been here in the afternoon?" Yang Ning asked.
"The bank's silver deadline will arrive tomorrow." Mr. Qiu frowned: "The third lady asked me to go to the pawnshop to see if anyone could redeem it, and I could call some silver from here. In the afternoon, I came here, checked the warehouse, and checked the money by the way to see if I could pay some money to the mansion."
General Manager Qiu is the chief manager of the Jinyi Marquis Mansion. Yang Ning already knew that General Manager Qiu's father followed the old Marquis of Jinyi and helped the old Marquis of Jinyi to manage all kinds of things in the mansion in an orderly manner. At that time, General Manager Qiu also followed his father to do odd jobs. After his father got old, General Manager Qiu took over his father's position and helped continue to manage the Marquis Mansion. He has always been diligent.
The business of the two shops in the Hou Mansion, a pharmacy and a pawnshop, has always been good. Although the operators behind the Hou Mansion are Gu Qinghan, they are a woman after all, and they are female relatives of the Hou Mansion, so they should not be outside, so many specific things outside are managed by General Manager Qiu.
Yang Ning nodded slightly and said, "Manager Qiu, can there be extremely flammable things like sulfur in this warehouse?"
Manager Qiu shook his head and said, "Absolutely, there is sulfur on the pharmacy shop, but this pawn shop will not collect the matters." He asked, "Does the prince think that the fire in the warehouse is burning himself?"
"Besides burning it myself, it's hard for me to imagine who can enter the warehouse to ignite the fire." Yang Ning sighed: "You can't have anyone else going through the wall, right?"
Manager Qiu looked solemn and thoughtful.
Qi Feng finally said: "Criminal, the clerks in the pawnshop will never set fire to themselves. These are all old friends from the Jinyi Marquis' Mansion. They are loyal to the Marquis' Mansion. I am only worried...!"
"What are you worried about?"
"I'm worried that someone will take the opportunity to set fire." Qi Feng hesitated for a moment and finally said: "Maybe someone is an enemy of my Marquis' Mansion in Jinyi and wants to tamper with the pawnshop."
General Manager Qiu nodded slightly and said, "What Qi Feng said is not without reason. The prince and the general are upright and may have offended some people. Now that the general has just passed away, the pawnshop has inexplicably burned a fire. It may not be that there are enemies doing anything behind the scenes."
"Oh?" Yang Ning frowned: "Enemy?" He glanced at the two of them, "You all think that someone deliberately set fire?"
Qi Feng nodded and said, "There is a great possibility, otherwise the fire will not be explained."
Yang Ning didn't say anything, carrying his hands on his back, wandered around the ruins, suddenly stopped, squatted down, reached out to stick to the ground, and then sniffed his fingers to the tip of his nose. As soon as Qi Feng passed, Yang Ning had already gotten up, went around to another place, and squatted down again.
"Criminal Master, did you discover something?" Qi Feng asked softly.
Yang Ning stood up, shook his head and said, "It's nothing." At this moment, he suddenly heard a noise behind him. When he turned around, he saw that a group of people gathered not far away. Manager Xu and Gu Qinghan were surrounded. Duan Canghai stood beside Gu Qinghan with a cold face, full of vigilance.
Seeing that the group of people were aggressive, Yang Ning's face darkened and walked over quickly, he heard someone say, "Three Lady, we all know that you are the leader of the Jinyi Marquis' Mansion. We have always respected Marquis of Jinyi and have no intention of offending. But this time such a big incident happened, we can only offend it. This fire was led out of your pawnshop. I don't know that the shop in our house is all counting on it. Now it has been burned clean, and the family has no support. I hope the third lady will give me a message."
"Who said no?" someone from the side sighed: "Your Marquis' family has a great business. One finger is thicker than our waist. A shop is gone. It is not harmful to your Marquis' Mansion, but for us, it is skinning and blood drawn. We respect the Marquis' Mansion. The Marquis' Mansion just passed away and do not want to make the Marquis' Mansion look too ugly. If this matter can be solved in private, there is no need to work for the government."
Chapter completed!