Chapter 355: The Case of Arrival at the Pawnshop (1)
Zhao Bai walked in the courtyard of Shangshu Mansion.
He found that the courtyard did not look luxurious at all, but people who understood it could see many things from it.
For example, there are several large agarwood trees in the corner of the yard, or the various orchids in full bloom on the other side.
There is also a lake in the yard, and the lake is actually steaming. It is obvious that the water in the lake is hot spring water.
This kind of low-key luxury makes people feel that the owner is not simple than the exaggerated wealth.
"This must be Boss Zhao."
Mr. Tian came out with a smile on his face.
"Master Shangshu, Zhao Jia has met Master Shangshu."
Zhao Bai saluted politely.
After a while of pleasantries, Zhao Bai revealed the purpose of his trip.
"Sir Tian, Mr. Zhao went to the Ministry of Revenue earlier to register the shop in his hand, but was told that the matter had to be verified by the Minister himself, so he came uninvited and bothered Mr. Tian."
"Oh, those bastards are trying to make things difficult again."
Mr. Tian was cursing, but a smile appeared on his face, "Boss Zhao has already obtained the business license of the shop. He only needs to simply renew the registration. I guess those bastards are bullying Zhao."
Sir, you are so angry."
Why couldn't Zhao Bai understand what Lord Tian meant?
The muscles on his face trembled, and a smile appeared at the corner of his mouth: "Zhao took over this pawn shop because he was taken care of by his friends. In addition, Zhao had just arrived in Lin'an and was not familiar with some of the rules.
I understand. I hope you can give me more advice in the future. Oh, by the way, my friend also sends his regards to Mr. Tian."
Zhao Bai said, taking out a luminous pearl from his sleeve, "My friend asked me to hand over this luminous pearl to Mr. Tian, saying that this pearl was originally kept by Mr. Tian, and this time it happened to be for me.
Return the property to its original owner and once again express my gratitude to Mr. Tian."
Master Tian's face changed slightly when he saw this night pearl.
He had only seen this pearl once.
When he found this pearl, he gave it to Shi Miyuan.
Shi Miyuan took him with him to present the pearl to the current queen.
He clearly remembered how much the Queen liked this luminous pearl and placed it in his room, saying it would calm the mind and calm the mind.
Who would have thought that such a precious pearl would appear in the hands of this stranger.
What's more, I didn't expect that this man actually said that he wanted to return the pearl to himself.
He was really flattered, but at the same time he was a little panicked.
After all, Mr. Tian has followed Shi Miyuan for a long time and has some understanding of the Queen's temper.
How could the Queen spit out the fat sheep so easily when it reached her mouth?
unless……
This man is the Queen's confidant.
Or the Queen is very dissatisfied with her recent performance.
When he thought of this, Mr. Tian's expression immediately became humble.
"Boss Zhao, you are so polite. This night pearl was given by Tian to the noble man, so there is no reason to take it back. Boss Zhao should return it to the noble man on Tian's behalf, and say a few good words in front of the noble man on Tian's behalf."
"This is easy. My friend is very fond of Mr. Tian and Mr. Shi. She also said that Mr. Tian is one of the few ambitious people in the court and is a pillar of the Song Dynasty."
Mr. Tian was praised in this way, and the vigilance he had just set up in his heart immediately relaxed.
As long as the Queen does not doubt her loyalty, that is a good thing.
Thinking of this, he suddenly became elated.
Turning around, he said to the servant standing aside: "Come on, prepare a table of wine and food. I want to have a few drinks with Boss Zhao today."
Zhao Bai did not delay and sat down with a smile.
After coming out of Tian Mansion, the smile on Zhao Bai's face immediately disappeared.
Drinking wine is not for free, and chatting is not for free.
Zhao Bai actually got a lot of news from Mr. Tian.
It turns out that this pawn shop is basically a small bank of the official family.
Not only the government departments in Lin'an City have funds deposited into the treasury, but even the government offices from all over the country have accounts at this pawn shop.
Such a large customer group is definitely not because the pawn shop is well-run. It is more likely that the pawn shop has ulterior secrets with the leaders of these departments.
In other words, this pawn shop is a tool used by officials to make money.
However, as soon as the three of them took over the pawn shop, they cleaned up the shop like a carpet. All they saw were normal accounting records, and there was no evidence of any criminal activity at all.
Zhao Bai decided to investigate this pawn shop again. At the same time, he also noticed several other pawn shops in the city.
Although the scale of those pawnshops is not as large as this one, it is inevitable that like this one, they will become a place where officials are corrupt and bend the law.
It seems that we need to carefully check all the pawnshops in Lin'an City.
Zhao Bai was thinking as he returned to the other courtyard.
"General Zhao, you are back."
Lian Le greeted him with excitement: "Did that night-light pearl come in handy?"
Zhao Bai took out the box from his arms, handed it to Lian Le, and smiled slightly.
"Le'er is really amazing. This pearl has played a big role."
After saying that, his face turned cold and he said again.
"You must quickly return this pearl to its original place. Don't let anyone find out that we borrowed this pearl."
"Will the Lord Shangshu tell the truth about this pearl?"
Lian Le asked worriedly.
Zhao Bai shook his head.
He had just reminded Mr. Tian overtly and covertly that the Empress did not like others to know that she interfered in court affairs, so no one should know that the new owner of the pawn shop was a confidant of the Empress.
After Lian Le left, Zhao Bai asked Qin Shaobai to be invited.
After Qin Shaobai heard what Zhao Bai said, he couldn't help but fell silent.
After a long time, Qin Shaobai said: "General Zhao thinks that someone is using this pawn shop to commit corruption and pervert the law?"
Zhao Bai nodded: "That's why I want to ask Shao Bai to come over and look through the account books of this pawn shop with me to see if anyone has misappropriated official property for his own use."
This matter is really difficult for Qin Shaobai.
How could he, a big man with a gun to catch thieves, discover the criminal evidence of the thief from a bunch of numbers?
But now they can't find anyone who can help.
Qin Shaobai thought of Bai Min, but Zhao Bai refused immediately.
Zhao Bai's meaning is very obvious.
The two of them cannot restore their identities now, and naturally they cannot let Bai Min know that Zhao A and Zhao B are Zhao Bai and Qin Shaobai.
The two had no choice but to bite the bullet and look at the account books themselves.
Qin Shaobai banged his head while watching.
Zhao Bai even frowned at the pile of account books on the table. After looking at them for a few minutes, he would pace around for a while with his hands behind his back.
"General Zhao, actually I think they must have prepared a secret ledger. As long as we find that secret ledger, we can know who has embezzled official funds."
Qin Shaobai really couldn't stand those boring numbers, so he simply made a suggestion.
Who knew that when Zhao Bai heard this, his tense face suddenly relaxed.
"Shaobai is absolutely right. However, the three of us have searched this pawn shop all over, and we haven't seen any hidden debts."
Qin Shaobai thought for a while and said to Zhao Bai: "The former boss's house is not far away. Why don't we go to his house and take a look. Maybe there will be any clues?"
"Yes, how could I have forgotten that coward?"
The two of them said that, regardless of how late it was, they ran towards the former boss's residence.
When they arrived at the house, they found that the door was open.
They entered the yard.
I lit the lantern in the yard, only to find that the yard was in a mess.
The two of them felt nervous and rushed to each room.
The room was even more messy, with paper scraps and debris everywhere.
"General Zhao, come quickly."
Qin Shaobai shouted in the courtyard of Erjin.
Zhao Bai hurried over.
I saw an old man lying prone in the small pond in the courtyard, apparently drowned.
Zhao Bai was about to jump into the water and fish the old man out, but was suddenly held back by Qin Shaobai.
"We are not suitable to be witnesses in this case. Let's go back now and find an unrelated person to come to the yard. Let him find the deceased and report it to the government."
"Why bother?"
Qin Shaobai's eyes flashed with worry: "Obviously, the other party also wanted to find the account books in the yard, so he would not hesitate to kill people and make this house so miserable."
He suddenly slapped his forehead: "No, Boss Xiao (the original owner of the pawn shop) is in trouble. Hurry, let's catch up with him."