Lu Ming didn't understand the purpose of hiring him for such a large sum of money. He didn't want the money at first, but Sheng Youde's attitude was firm and could not be questioned, so he had to accept it and put the banknote into his wallet. He still felt uneasy.
"I gave you some five-yuan, ten-yuan, fifty-yuan banknotes, and ten thousand-yuan banknotes, so it's easier to spend them," Sheng Di said with a smile.
"Thank you very much. I deserve it. I didn't do anything and received the salary for nothing." Lu Ming said a little embarrassed.
Lu Ming has an unusual relationship with the Sheng family, and he is very familiar with Mu Yi. Normally, even if he does something, he would not take money. Now that the Sheng family is in trouble, he should not take money to help.
, but if I really don’t take it, I’m afraid Sheng Youde will be disappointed.
What does it mean to seek medical treatment in a hurry? He knew in his heart that if the Sheng family only saw a little hope now, they would do their best. Taking money from the Sheng family was tantamount to giving them comfort.
"Don't say that. My brother Ming has settled the score. I have always valued you and wanted to help you start a detective agency, but you will definitely not want to give you free money. Now that this matter has happened, it is a suitable opportunity." Sheng
Di smiled.
After hearing a few words, Yuan Mingzhu felt impatient and left carrying the bottle and glass.
Lu Ming and Sheng Di looked at each other with a wry smile.
Yuan Mingzhu didn't know why, but she just didn't like Sheng Di. If Zi Yuan didn't love Sheng Di to death, Yuan Mingzhu would have ruined the marriage long ago.
While the two were chatting, someone came to Sheng Di and said that the bank had something to deal with. Sheng Di made a complaint and left in a hurry. Lu Ming was the only one left in the room. He walked to the table and took the money from his coat pocket.
He took out his Parker pen and started writing on the letterhead on the table.
He wrote down all the possibilities he thought of, and then crossed out them one by one on the paper. This is also the basic skill of detectives: paper work.
He originally wanted to go to the site to investigate first, but Sheng Youde insisted on keeping him, saying that he had something to say to him in the evening, so he had to obey.
Just now in front of Sheng Youde, he thought that Sheng Muyi's disappearance might be her personal behavior. He didn't mean to comfort the other party by saying this. He really thought so. Not only was this possibility possible, but it could also be explained.
So, why did Sheng Muyi disappear? He was lost in thought when Yuan Mingzhu came back to look for him again with a wine bottle.
"Come on, I can't enjoy this good wine alone." After she sat down, she poured a glass for Lu Ming.
"Actually, I prefer drinking Scotch whiskey." Lu Ming took a sip of brandy and said with a smile.
"As long as you have good wine to drink, it doesn't matter what kind of wine it is."
She looked to see if there was no one outside, then whispered in Lu Ming's ear: "Something seems to be wrong. During the time we were in Huzhou, not only did something happen to sister Muyi, but there seemed to be other things happening."
"How do you know about other things?" Lu Ming said in a tone of listening to gossip.
"I'm just asking, it's not a secret." Yuan Mingzhu turned the cup in her hand and took a sip of wine.
"Stop being so pretentious, tell me, what happened?" Lu Ming pretended to listen with his ears pricked up.
"A month ago, the Sheng family started to have constant funerals. Several people died. Even three of Muyi's sister's personal maids died. Do you think it's strange?"
"What? There is such a thing!" Lu Ming stood up.
Why has no one told him about this situation? Maybe these things are not directly related to Sheng Muyi's disappearance, but there must be a monster when things go wrong, and things will never be that simple.
"Didn't Uncle Sheng report the crime?" Lu Ming thought to himself, if the Sheng family reported the crime and the police station intervened, there would be no news outside.
"The case was reported, and people from the police station came, but later it was found that the cause of death was caused by food poisoning, so the case was not filed." Yuan Mingzhu said mysteriously.
"Who told you this?"
"It's a housekeeper. I don't know her very well. When she saw me, she took my hand and told me about the misfortune of our family. There have been so many funerals before, and now something has happened to the eldest lady. This must be the ancestral grave or the old house.
The feng shui is bad."
Lu Ming pondered. Even someone like Yuan Mingzhu, who didn't like to think, thought there was something fishy in this, let alone him.
"How many people died in total?" he asked.
"I don't know yet, but it is certain that three of Sister Muyi's maids died. I quietly asked Sister Muyi's maid Xiu Chun, and she also shed tears and said that three little sisters were dead." Yuan Mingzhu.
road.
"Were all three maids poisoned to death?" Lu Ming asked.
He didn't say "food" poisoning because he didn't believe the result. He had a hunch that there must be something fishy involved in the poisoning incident.
Shengjia's kitchen management is very strict, and they attach great importance to the origin of food. If you are not a person who knows everything about it, it is impossible to become a supplier. In addition, the chefs in Shengjia are also very experienced. How could food poisoning happen? It is so unreliable.
Scored.
He happened to have no clue about Sheng Muyi's disappearance, so he might as well start with the poisoning incident, which might lead to unexpected clues.
At this moment, he thought that when Sheng Youde winked at him and left him to talk secretly at night, there must be something unspeakable, and maybe it was related to this matter.
He wanted to go back and think about it, but he couldn't investigate the matter. The wealthy family had many rules. He couldn't enter the inner house without permission. He had to get Sheng Youde's approval before he could investigate and question the maids.
"It seems so. They were all poisoned to death. Let me ask again. How about it, am I qualified to be a detective?" Yuan Mingzhu said proudly.
"Enough, you can become a female detective." Lu Ming said with a smile.
He didn't dare to say that Yuan Mingzhu was not qualified. It was just an itchy skin that needed to be dealt with.
"Then you give me half of the detective agency, and we will be detectives together." Yuan Mingzhu's eyes shone.
"Okay, how about you be the boss and I'll be the horse boy." Lu Ming said with a smile.
"Come on, you dislike me, do you want to use the name of a boss to oust me?" Yuan Mingzhu snorted coldly.
"No, no, I never meant that." Lu Ming said with a guilty conscience.
In fact, that was what he meant, but Yuan Mingzhu saw through it.
"Actually, it's okay to be a detective, but I see how busy you are all day long. Isn't it fun? If it's interesting, I'll do it." Yuan Mingzhu said with a smile.
Lu Ming didn't care. Yuan Mingzhu was very curious, but had no interest in anything. Now she said she wanted to be a detective, but maybe she forgot about it after dinner or changed her mind. Although she is eighteen years old, she still has the temperament of a child.
Same.
As for saying that he was very busy, that was really a compliment. He basically did nothing. He spent every day in that detective agency that was like a cold palace, either reading books or reading newspapers.
He subscribed to all kinds of newspapers and magazines in Shanghai. He knew all the major events that happened in Shanghai every day, and also wrote down all kinds of strange and bizarre cases in his little notebook.
No one asked him to solve cases, so he would make his own reasoning about those cases. After the case was solved, he would summarize his experience, gains and losses based on his own reasoning.
Yuan Mingzhu had had two drinks and wanted to pour herself some wine. Lu Ming quickly stopped her.
"This is good wine, but don't drink too much. One glass at a time is enough. If you drink foreign wine, you'll be spoiled for choice."
He actually felt sorry for this bottle of good wine.
He has seen alcoholics, but Americans don't drink like this. If you drink a bottle at a time, you will be drunk. When you are drunk, you will vomit, which makes you uncomfortable and wastes the wine. Good wine is for tasting, what is tasting?
, that is, one glass at a time, and then carefully seal the wine and save it for next time.
Drinking it the way Yuan Mingzhu does is a waste of natural resources.
"This wine is not good, boss." Yuan Mingzhu put down the bottle obediently. She felt a little energetic and her head was a little dizzy.
Lu Ming couldn't laugh or cry. This wine is not good, what else do you want to drink? It has to be fifty or one hundred years old wine?
He plugged the mouth of the bottle with a cork and waved his hand in front of Yuan Mingzhu's eyes.
At this time, autumn rain began to fall outside, the sky suddenly became dark, and the temperature dropped sharply by several degrees.
As the sky darkened, the heat of the wine they drank radiated from their stomachs to their entire bodies, and the air in the room became a little ambiguous.
"I have to go." Yuan Mingzhu seemed to feel something, stood up with a red face, and walked out.
"It's raining outside. You'll catch a cold if you get wet. Let's go later." Lu Ming looked at the rain falling more and more outside.
"What are you afraid of with this little rain? You won't get wet." Yuan Mingzhu said carelessly.
"Don't be careless, be careful of catching a cold. I'll go find Mr. Sun to get the umbrella before you leave." Lu Ming also walked to the door.
"No, why bother? I ran inside in a few steps. I'll get some news for you." Yuan Mingzhu said with her cheeks flushed.
"Then I'll take you there." Lu Ming felt restless in his heart and had a desire to protect her.
"Why are you sending it to me? I'm not a child. Don't let them see you and me together, they will laugh at me again." Yuan Mingzhu said.
"What's so funny about you and me being together? It's really weird." Lu Ming wondered.
Everyone in the Sheng family knew that they were officially engaged. It was natural for the two of them to be together. What was so funny?
"Don't ask, I can't let them see me with you anyway."
As Yuan Mingzhu spoke, she spread her long legs and ran outside, as light and fast as a deer in the mountains. Lu Ming only saw a shadow that disappeared in an instant, and Yuan Mingzhu was gone.
"If we were to participate in the Olympic Games and run the 100-meter race, it wouldn't be a problem to win the championship." Lu Ming shrugged and said with a smile.
After a while of cold wind blowing in the corridor below the door, Lu Ming felt the heat on his body disappear.
"Is it really time for me to get married? Mom has her reasons too." He murmured, and then returned to the house.
As soon as he returned to the house, Butler Sun came in with two servants carrying a bag of fine charcoal. He said that it was still a bit cold in the evening in autumn, so he wanted to light a fire for him, and it happened to be wet on a rainy day.
Lu Ming hurriedly waved his hands and said no. He benefited from the habit of taking cold showers all year round for many years, so he was more resistant to freezing. Even in winter, he rarely lit a fire, but wore an extra set of underwear or an extra pair of clothes.
A sweater and a few sips of wine at most.
"Then leave it here first. If you get cold at night, just make a fire yourself." Butler Sun said and was about to leave.
"Uncle Sun, wait a minute, I have something else to ask you." Lu Ming hurriedly called him.
"Oh." Butler Sun said, knowing that Lu Ming had something to do, he sent his two servants to leave first.
"Master Lu, if you have something to say, just say it."
"Old man Sun, did something happen at home a month ago? I heard that several maids died."
"Oh, it's true, it's food poisoning." Old Man Sun frowned and said calmly.
"It's really food poisoning. How could something like this happen to our family?" Lu Ming asked with a smile.
"This... you are really questioning me. I don't know very well. At that time, I was discussing a business with the master in Hangzhou, and something happened at home. It seems that the lady reported the case. The police came and questioned everyone.
Personally, I also carefully examined the body and finally determined that it was food poisoning, so let’s forget about it.”
"The police station didn't open a case for investigation?" Lu Ming asked.
"No. It seems that the police station also asked the lady if she wanted to file a case. The lady said that since it was food poisoning, it should be the chef's fault for accidentally serving poisonous ingredients. The chefs have been using it for many years, so it is definitely not the case.
It was intentional, so I gave the chef a sum of money and sent him back to his hometown."
"So it's Mu Yi who insisted not to file a case?" The doubts in Lu Ming's mind grew bigger and bigger.
"Well, that should be the case. The young lady was in charge of housework at home at that time. If she didn't say anything, no one would have the right to make this decision."
Lu Ming nodded, but he didn't agree in his heart. He vaguely felt that there must be something wrong here.