Lin Ji and Huang Cui were not traveling very fast, but within three to five days, they had already arrived not far from Sishui County.
They were taking the official road, and the outline of Sishui County could be vaguely seen in the distance.
With a few quick steps, the two quickly entered the county town.
Perhaps because there were many merchants coming and going here, the two outsiders Lin Ji and Huang Cui did not attract much attention.
"The vendors here all sell fish." Huang Cui looked around curiously.
On both sides of the street, almost 80% of the stalls sell all kinds of fish from the sea. The saying that you eat from the sea is indeed true.
However, because the two of them were here on errands, Lin Ji took Huang Cui directly to the Sishui County Government Office.
As soon as he arrived at the gate of the county government office, the gatekeeper scolded him.
"Stop! Who is it?"
Lin Ji opened the hem of his gown, revealing the token at his waist.
He originally thought that the yamen officer would not stop him after seeing the token. Who would have thought that the yamen officer looked at it for a long time, frowned and said: "Why, you want to force your way into the county government office if you have money? Who are you looking for? Wait until I get in and give it to you.
Tongqi."
"Rich?" Lin Ji was also stunned.
"What's so great about using gold to get a waist card? Who are you looking for?!" the Yamen servant urged...
If it weren't for the pure gold waistband, he might not be as polite as he is now.
Huang Cui on the side laughed out loud.
"Brother Lin, it seems that your reputation is not very effective in this remote area."
"Stop laughing." Lin Ji rolled his eyes and passed by the Yamen servant with a fleeting momentum.
In just an instant, the yamen servant was so frightened that he broke out in cold sweat and sat down on the ground.
"You...are you a monk?"
"The Chief of the Supervisory Office ordered Lin Ji to come to investigate the case. You can report it." Lin Ji waved his hand impatiently.
He wasn't trying to intimidate the yamen servant, he was just afraid that the guy wouldn't be able to explain clearly when he got in, so he simply reported himself to his family.
"Yes, yes, I've seen you, sir. I'll go right now." The yamen servant rolled into the county yamen.
It was said that he was asked to report, but Lin Ji was too lazy to wait outside and quickly walked into the county government office with Huang Cui.
After walking only a few steps, two people walked out in a hurry.
As soon as they saw Lin Ji, the two people quickly stopped and walked to salute.
"The Magistrate of Sishui County, Chen Bingtong, has met the Lord Commander."
"Sishui County caught the head of Niujiu, and I met the Lord Zhang."
The two of them bowed to the end and did not dare to get up before Lin Ji could speak.
In an ordinary county government office, even if a traveling star official comes, he has to be treated with caution, for fear that something will go wrong or there will be some lack of etiquette.
As for the commanders of the fourth rank, they had never heard of them.
Chen Bingtong and Niu Jiu were extremely worried when they thought that something big had happened on their own territory, and that even the adults in the capital's general office had been alerted to come in person.
"Get up and go in to talk." Lin Ji waved his hand and led Huang Cui past the two of them, directly through the county government lobby and into the back hall.
He sat down on the main seat unceremoniously, and then looked at the county magistrate and the head catcher who had followed in.
"Sit down, don't be afraid, I'm not here for you." Lin Ji said with rare relief.
He knew very well that his subordinates were frightened and walked on thin ice in front of their superiors.
It felt really unpleasant.
After the two sat down carefully, Lin Ji asked straight to the point: "Do you remember Qi Zheng, the last arrester in your county?"
Upon hearing this, the county magistrate and the catcher looked at each other.
"Remember, Qi Baotou was transferred to Sishui County together with Xiaguan." Magistrate Chen said quickly.
Lin Ji looked at Catcher Niu Jiu again.
"I also remember that I was the demon catcher under Qi Baotou at the beginning, and I took over after he was promoted." After saying that, Niu Jiu asked again, "I dare to ask the commander, but something happened to Qi Baotou?"
Lin Ji did not answer, but continued to ask: "When Qi was in Sishui County, did he tell you about the dream murders?"
"Dreams kill people?" Magistrate Chen's voice suddenly rose in pitch.
Lin Ji had been using the six Buddhist powers to probe the two of them since he came in. Their surprise at this time was not fake.
"It seems that you don't know either. Qi Zheng has kept it a secret." Lin Ji shook his head and said bluntly, "I'll give you an hour to sort out the murder case files in Sishui County in recent years."
"Remember, you can't miss any murder case. Even if it's a hanging or other mysterious death, send it to me."
Upon hearing this, County Magistrate Chen and Niu Baotou both reacted.
"Why are you here, sir?" Niu Captou asked.
"Huh? Do you know what I want to check?" Lin Ji raised his eyebrows and asked quickly, "Tell me quickly."
Niu Baotou nodded and said: "Dozens of people die every year in the county. I'm talking about accidental deaths... Everyone knows that there may be something fishy about this matter, but several investigations have yielded no results."
County Magistrate Chen also added: "Yes...this matter has been going on for several years. It happened when Capt. Qi was still there. It was just because we couldn't find out the cause, and we didn't even know if it was caused by evil spirits, so we never reported it to the police."
Hearing this, Lin Ji sighed lightly and was too lazy to pursue the two men's malfeasance.
This is also human nature.
If I don’t understand the reason, how can I dare to ask people from above to come down to do errands?
If something goes wrong, it doesn't matter if they are embarrassed, but the image of their incompetence is unavoidable.
"Now that you know, I can save a lot of words." Lin Ji asked, "This matter has been going on for several years. Even if you can't find the murderer, you should still have some clues, right?"
Magistrate Chen and Niu Baotou looked at each other, and then they couldn't sit still anymore. They stood up and knelt down in front of Lin Ji without saying a word.
Lin Ji helped his forehead.
"There are no clues, so is there a pattern? For example, one dies every few days, or is it a sign that one dies after another?"
This time, the two of them started kowtowing directly, putting their foreheads on the ground without saying a word.
Lin Ji was already gritting his teeth.
It really doesn’t mean that one family does not enter the same house.
That Qi Zheng is disgusting, these two are not good birds either.
How many years have passed without any clues?
"There must be something wrong in the county, right? It doesn't matter whether it's someone or something!" Lin Ji threatened, "If you two continue to be so silent, then don't blame me for being rude."
Maybe the threat had an effect, or maybe the scope of the problem was much wider this time.
This time, the two people at least had some reaction.
Niu Jiu raised his head, thought hard for a moment, and said, "If you want to ask someone about something wrong, there is one person."
"who is it?"
"The gentleman from the private school in the county, Fang Xiucai."