Volume II: The Case of the Red Lotus in the Ancient Temple Chapter 42: Monk Mingli
After a while, Duan Ming was looking at the transcripts of Fa Wu and the others, when Xu Shizhong knocked on the door and walked in.
Along with Xu Shizhong was a monk who was about fifteen years old. This monk was slightly fat and had a chubby face. It looked like he had eaten a lot of delicious food on weekdays.
"Hey, donor, no, no, sir, why did you ask me to come here?" Monk Mingli bowed to Duan Ming with a smile on his face.
"Master Mingli? Your name is indeed correct." Duan Ming put down the note in his hand and said with a smile: "Sure enough, Mingli is reasonable."
"Amitabha, I am laughing at you, I am laughing at you." Monk Mingli said as he touched his head.
"Since Master Mingli is so sensible." Duan Ming stood up slowly: "Then tell me, what do you want to tell me?"
"Ah?" Mingli's face froze: "Didn't you summon the young monk here..."
"I came to you to ask you to tell me something, can't you?" Duan Ming interrupted directly, tapping the transcript on the table with his finger: "You have to do something yourself, do you want me to do it?"
Shall I ask you again?"
"Plop!" Upon hearing Duan Ming's words, Mingli's expression suddenly changed, and he bent his knees and fell to the ground: "Master, Master, this little monk is wronged."
"Oh." Duan Ming replied lightly: "Tell me about it."
"Master." Mingli's eyes swept across the top of the table, and he gritted his teeth and said: "The young monk is in charge of the procurement and inspection in the temple. At that time, the young monk saw that there was something wrong with the gold paint to be applied to the Golden Buddha.
I originally wanted to report it, but they, they threatened me, so I didn’t dare to report it.”
"What kind of threat are you using?" Duan Ming shouted coldly: "How come no one uses those things to threaten me?"
"This, this... the young monk didn't dare to hide it." Mingli gritted his teeth: "Those people did give the young monk one, no, two, two pieces of gold! But they also threatened the young monk, saying that if the young monk
If the incident is reported, the gold will be used as money for the monk to buy a coffin..."
"You're not at a loss for buying a coffin with two pieces of gold." Duan Ming sneered: "What about the rest? Are they all buried as your burial objects?"
"No, no..." Mingli panicked even more, with cold sweat covering her forehead: "The rest, of course the rest is to honor you, sir."
"You will go back and get it in a while and bring it to me. If I know that you left even a grain of gold sand, you know the consequences." Duan Ming said solemnly.
"This is natural, this is natural." Mingli nodded repeatedly.
"Who are the people threatening you? Do you know?" Duan Ming asked, "Where can I find them?"
"This little monk doesn't know this. They are from outside, and I have never seen them before," Mingli said.
"So yesterday you were looking outside the North Courtyard for a long time, did you see anyone acting suspiciously?" Duan Ming changed his tone and asked in a deep voice.
"I..." Mingli's expression changed, and then he smiled bitterly: "The official has a sharp eye, and I can't hide anything from you."
"Say it." Duan Ming said again.
"The young monk has been watching for a long time, but he has not seen anyone acting suspiciously." Mingli shook his head: "Wait, there seems to be an official who is acting suspiciously..."
"Around Youshi?" Duan Ming said again.
"That's right, around the time of Youshi!" Mingli nodded.
"Well, I don't have anything to ask now. You can go ahead." Duan Ming pondered slightly: "When I get back, I will send the things over immediately. If I have any questions in the future, you must be on call."
"Thank you, sir, thank you, sir!" Mingli said hurriedly, and then walked out in a panic.
"Mr. Duan, are you going to let him go now?" Xu Shizhong came to Duan Ming and asked after seeing Mingli leave.
"What else? Let him have lunch?" Duan Ming smiled: "He must have something to hide, but he will never say it at this moment."
"I don't believe he didn't say anything before he was sentenced to death," Xu Shizhong said.
"How can it be that simple?" Duan Ming sighed and looked to the east: "The Immortality Sect is still here, do you really think you can torture these monks? Besides, I originally just wanted to ask about rouge and gouache, but I never thought I would ask.
There was a problem with the gold paint, so it was an unexpected gain."
"This..." Xu Shizhong gritted his teeth and sighed.
Indeed, with the Immortality Cult here, they have to be more careful in everything they do.
Half a quarter of an hour later, Mingde came back again, handed the entire four pieces of gold to Duan Ming, and then left.
After a while, Xing Qianqiu also came back.
"Found it!" Xing Qianqiu saw Duan Ming and said with a smile: "This Jingxin is so cunning, he actually hid the red dress behind the abbot's room!"
"Did anyone see this when you went to look for it?" Duan Ming asked.
"No, I didn't take out the red dress either." Xing Qianqiu shook his head: "But I have sent someone to keep an eye on Jing Xin secretly."
"Okay." Duan Ming nodded: "Even if we can find the red dress, there is no way to prove that it was worn by Jingxin. Even if we can prove that it was worn by Jingxin, there is no way to prove that he set the fire in the Main Hall."
"I think so too." Xing Qianqiu nodded: "If there is no evidence, mere speculation will never be able to silence Master Wangji."
"Old Xing." Duan Ming looked at Xing Qianqiu: "I just read the transcripts of Fa Wu and the others. They said that Jing Fa and Jing Xin had a dispute. Do you know why?"
"I just sent someone to investigate. It seems to be because of a small matter." Xing Qianqiu said: "The monks in the temple don't know very well. It is said that it is for a jade pendant."
"Jade pendant?" Duan Ming frowned: "What kind of jade pendant?"
"I don't know, but the monks heard Jingfa shouting: 'This jade pendant is clearly for me. If you don't return it to me, I will definitely make you look good!'" Xing Qianqiu said.
"Yeah." Duan Ming nodded: "Then I must not have found this jade pendant during the previous search."
"Indeed." Xing Qianqiu nodded: "I also asked Jingxin, but Jingxin said there was no such thing, and there was no jade pendant."
"Okay." Duan Ming thought for a moment, and then said to Xing Qianqiu: "Let's go take a look at the ruins of the morgue now. I always feel that we have missed something."
Then Duan Ming and Xing Qianqiu came to the morgue together and started searching carefully.
Duan Ming even took a wooden stick and tapped every piece of ground to see if there was a secret passage, but found nothing.
However, just when Duan Ming was about to give up, he suddenly found a burnt piece of iron in a corner of the ruins.
"This is..." Duan Ming picked up the iron piece and narrowed his eyes slightly.
"What's wrong?" Xing Qianqiu came to Duan Ming's side.
"It's okay, it's just a little strange." Duan Ming wrapped the iron piece in cloth and said, "Did you find anything?"
"No." Xing Qianqiu also sighed.
"Okay, then I'll go back to sleep. I'll talk about it tomorrow if I have anything to do." After saying that, Duan Ming left without looking back... This chapter has been completed!
