long moon smiles in the sky

Chapter 110 Beads, Gamblers and Chips

Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao came to the silverware shop in Kaifeng Mansion, found the shopkeeper, showed him the two silver beads, and asked, "Shopkeeper, have you seen this kind of silver beads?"

The shopkeeper reached out to take the silver beads and looked at them, frowned slightly, and said with a smile, "Master Zhan, these silver beads are not made by me in the Central Plains."

"Oh?" Zhan Zhao asked curiously, "Where did that come from?"

"It's a craft from the Western Regions." After speaking, the shopkeeper took out a booklet from the cupboard and handed it to Zhan Zhao.It was an atlas, he flipped through a few pages, found a picture in it and showed it to Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang, "My lords, please take a look!"

The two went over to have a look, and saw a string of Buddhist beads painted on it. The craftsmanship of the beads was basically the same as the silver beads in their hands, except that those beads had eyes and could be threaded into beads.

"Hmm...it looks alike." Zhan Zhao compared the two beads.

"What's the use of this kind of beads?" Bai Yutang asked the owner of the silver shop, "You can't even wear them. What is a bare bead used for?"

"Oh...then there are many uses. I have seen a lot of them, and they are used as chips."

"Breaking chips?" Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang looked at each other, not quite understanding.

"Masters, have you ever been in a gambling house?" The clerk said with a smile, "We have a lot of gambling houses here, and they all use ivory chips or carved bamboo sticks as chips. Name or logo, when gambling money, first exchange the silver and bank notes into chips, so it is not easy to fish in troubled waters!"

"Battling chips..." Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang's eyes lit up when they heard it, and it was serious to be said so.

"However, there is something strange." The shopkeeper of the silver shop said, "It's rare for anyone to use silver as a bargaining chip, how expensive it is... Also, I heard that some rich people in the Western Regions or The nobles in the palace are very fond of gold and silver, and will use these to make beads to pave the floor."

"Paving the floor?" Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao both opened their eyes and asked, "The gold and silver pavement?"

"That is, it is even more magnificent than the Efang Palace of the First Emperor." The shopkeeper of the silver shop laughed.

Afterwards, the two asked some more questions, and the shopkeeper answered them one by one.

When leaving the silverware shop, Bai Yutang asked Zhan Zhao, "Mao'er, I think... the bargaining chip is more reliable. Aren't the two dead people all gamblers?"

"Yeah." Zhan Zhao nodded, and said, "I have to send someone to find out if the people who died in other prefectures were also gamblers. If they are all, then there is something wrong!"

Bai Yutang nodded, thinking it made sense.

As the two walked towards Kaifeng Mansion, they felt someone following them behind them and looked at each other.

"Cat... has someone delivered it to your door?"

"Well...that's just right, it doesn't take much effort to get here."

"We split up?"

"Well, block him."

"Cat." Bai Yutang said suddenly, "I'm going to the Bai Mansion to do something, and I'll go to Kaifeng Mansion to find you later!"

"En!" Zhan Zhao nodded, Bai Yutang left, Zhan Zhao continued to walk into the mansion, and felt that the people following behind him were still there and did not follow Bai Yutang... It seemed that they were coming for him.

Zhan Zhao walked back, turned into an alley, and disappeared without a trace.

The people who were following behind saw that Zhan Zhao had suddenly disappeared, so they started looking for him. When they couldn't find it, they sensed that something was wrong, and hurried back, only to see Bai Yutang slowly walking in at the entrance of the alley. Surprised, he ran back quickly, but the other end was also blocked by Zhan Zhao.

There was no way to escape, and he was caught.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang understood that the person blocked was a young man, fifteen or sixteen years old, and quite handsome.

Zhan Zhao asked, "What are you following me for?"

The boy looked at Zhan Zhao, and said, "I... just passed by the silverware shop, did I see you, did I take the silver beads?"

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang looked at each other, showed him the silver beads, and asked, "This one?"

"Yes! That's it!" The boy nodded quickly.

"You followed us because of this bead?" Zhan Zhao asked.

"Yeah." The boy nodded and said, "I... I came to look for my father. My father has not been seen for several days. I have seen him holding such a handful of silver. What else can he say? He is going to make a fortune And so on, and then disappeared.”

"Oh?" Zhan Zhao raised his eyebrows and asked, "Your father...is he a gambler?"

"That's right!" The young man nodded quickly, "My father is addicted to gambling. When the gambling luck is good, the family eats and drinks spicy food all day long. When it's not good, he even uses it as a bed."

"What's your father's name?" Zhan Zhao thought for a while, and felt that the two middle-aged men who were killed should not have such a big son, and people they knew also said that they were all bachelors.

"My father's name is Wang Cairen, and I'm Wang Hu." The boy replied, looking at Zhan Zhao, and asked, "Are you Mr. Zhan from Kaifeng Mansion? My father...is there something wrong with him?"

"Hmm...we don't know if your father is okay, but you said you saw your father carrying such silver beads? Or a bunch of them?" Zhan Zhao asked.

"That's right!" Wang Hu nodded, "I asked him the other day what it was, it was pretty, and Dad told me to leave it alone, it's a good thing for making money."

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang nodded, and Zhan Zhao said to him, "How long has your father been gone?"

"I went out three days ago, and then I never came back. Before leaving, I said, let me wait, we will soon be able to live in a big house and eat big fish and meat... But I never came back. I was worried, so I came out to look for it , I just passed by the silverware shop, and I saw you looking at that bead, and I recognized it, it’s the same as Daddy’s.” After speaking, Wang Hu’s expression darkened, and he said, “If Daddy doesn’t come back, I’m going to be hungry died."

"Where's your mother?" Zhan Zhao asked.

"Mother passed away very early." Wang Hu replied.

"Well, can you take us to your house, okay?" Zhan Zhao asked him.

"Well, okay!" Wang Hu led Zhan Zhao and the others outside, and asked, "Can you help me find my father?"

"We're looking for it." Zhan Zhao said, bought some food for Wang Hu when passing the intersection, and followed him out with Bai Yutang.

"Where does your father usually go to gamble?" Bai Yutang asked him.

"Go anywhere." Wang Hu said, "If you have money, go to a big gambling house, if you don't have money, go to the side of the road or in a small tea shed... In short, if you don't have money, play small, and if you have money, play big."

"You don't want to persuade him?" Zhan Zhao asked, "It's not a good thing to gamble like this."

"Well... my father used to be very good, and he loved me and my mother very much, but after my mother died of illness, he began to become self-defeating, gambling all day, and rarely going home, but sometimes at night he would Drinking alone in the yard. I know he is depressed and misses my mother. It would be good if he can be happier with gambling, and he has never been in debt. He gambles when he has money, and gambles when he has no money. Nobody is chasing debts."

"Are you the only child?" Bai Yutang asked.

"Well," Wang Hu nodded, "I used to have a younger brother, but he died when he was less than one year old. My mother also died at that time."

Zhan Zhao patted his head, it's not easy being a child.

The two followed Wang Hu around and came to a relatively secluded village in the southern suburbs. They saw a dilapidated small courtyard there. There was an acre of land outside the fence, and vegetables were planted in it. There was also a loofah shelf in the courtyard. Chinese chives.

"You planted it yourself?" Zhan Zhao asked.

"En." Wang Hu nodded, took the two of them into the room, opened the door to look around, and poured tea for Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang with some disappointment.

The two looked at each other. It is estimated that when Wang Hu was looking forward to returning, his father had already returned home.

"Shall we take a look around?" Zhan Zhao asked.

"Well, take a look." Wang Hu nodded, served the tea, and said, "I've searched for everything I should look for, and there's nothing left."

Zhan Zhao nodded, but still looked around.Although Wang Hu's house is not rich, it is not down to the bottom of the barren walls. It is well-organized. It seems that the children are very capable and sensible.

"Has your father ever mentioned where he's going?" Zhan Zhao asked.

Wang Hu thought for a while, then shook his head, "I asked him, but he didn't say anything."

"Then did he act strangely?" Bai Yutang continued to ask.

"Hmm...it's weird to say." Wang Hu thought for a while, and said, "By the way, a while ago, Dad got some black dog blood, painted it on shoes and clothes, and got two dead dogs' paws to hide it. On the body."

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang frowned, feeling a little inexplicable, Bai Yutang couldn't help but ask, "What's the use of carrying that on your body?"

"I don't know." Wang Hu shook his head, "It seems to be used to ward off evil spirits, isn't it the black dog's blood to ward off evil spirits?"

Zhan Zhao raised an eyebrow at Bai Yutang—a dog!

It is true that the black dog's blood can ward off evil spirits. Could it be that Wang Hu's father wants to enter and exit an evil place?Also, is there any connection between this black dog and the animal that killed the two gamblers?

Zhan Zhao searched Wang Hu's house again, and found another bead in the corner of the room, which was exactly the same as the bead worn by the two dead gamblers.

"It seems to be a clue." Zhan Zhao handed the beads to Bai Yutang.

Bai Yutang held it in his hand, looked at it, nodded, "It's exactly the same."

Afterwards, Zhan Zhaoyou rummaged around in the room, and found a small piece of paper under Wang Hu's father's pillow. There were some crooked lines drawn on the picture above, which looked like a circuit diagram.

"What is the picture of this place?" Zhan Zhao asked Bai Yutang.

Bai Yutang took it over and looked at it for a while, then shook his head, "Go back and ask Mr. Gongsun?"

Zhan Zhao nodded, and brought Wang Hu back to Kaifeng mansion.

Gongsun held the blueprint and compared it on the map for a long time, but he couldn't find one with the same orientation as that, so he shook his head helplessly and said, "It doesn't look like a map."

"Hmm..." Zhan Zhao looked at the blueprint and touched his chin, "It's not a map, what is it?"

"That's right." Bai Yutang told Gongsun about the black dog's blood and dead dog's paws, and asked, "Is this to ward off evil? What kind of evil can it be?" Get rid of dogs!"

"Pu dog?" Both Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang were a little surprised.

"That's right, dogs are most afraid of the smell of the same kind, that is to say, they are afraid of dead dogs!" Gongsun smiled, "Wang Hu's father should go in and out of a place with dogs!"

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang suddenly realized, nodded, "I see!"

While talking, Zhao Hu hurried in and said, "Lord Zhan, I found it!"

"What did you find?" Zhan Zhao was delighted, "Blood stains?"

"Yes!" Zhao Hu nodded, "On the mountain to the north!"