long moon smiles in the sky

Chapter 64 Case, Grandpa of Ghost Ship County

"Go up and have a look." Zhan Zhao pointed to the wall of the alley beside him, and said, "Since it's a famous seal shop, there must be a trick at the entrance, right?"

Bai Yutang thought it made sense, jumped up to the top of the wall, Zhan Zhao also jumped up, the two of them took a look, a little dumbfounded, finally understood what is called alleys, the twists and turns A large set of yards stacked on top of each other is really amazing.

"Oh my God, I'm so dizzy, what tricks are there?" Bai Yutang clicked twice.

Zhan Zhao pointed to the outside, and said, "You can go out there, why don't you go outside and ask for directions?"

Bai Yutang was helpless and asked him, "Master Bao didn't draw you a topographic map?"

Zhan Zhao shook his head and said, "Just give me a letter."

"Alas..." Bai Yutang was discouraged. At this moment, he heard a tender voice from the courtyard inside the courtyard wall where they were, "Big brother, are you thieves?"

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang looked at each other, looked down, and saw in the small yard, standing a four or five year old girl wearing a red satin jacket and two braids, with a pink, white and tender face, apricot He has big eyes and ruddy lips that are not as big as eyes. He is holding a big white rabbit in his hand, and he is raising his head to ask the two of them.

Embarrassed, Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang said, "No."

The little girl thought for a while, then asked, "Is that a big thief?"

The two then shook their heads, "No."

"Is that a Snitch?"

"no……"

"Is it a hero?"

"...That's it." The two looked at each other, really shameless.

The little girl giggled and asked,

"Then do you catch the thief?"

"No."

"Catch the robber?"

"No."

"Catch the snitch?"

"no……"

"Catch heroes?"

"..."

The two looked at the little girl helplessly, and Bai Yutang said, "Little girl, we are lost."

The little girl blinked and asked, "I'm lost, where are you going?"

"Seal Xu, do you know?" Zhan Zhao asked her, "It's called Xu Zixu."

The little girl put the rabbit on the grass, ran over and opened the back door, went out of the yard, and said to Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang, "I know, I'll take you there."

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang looked at each other, quickly stopped them, and said, "Oh, little girl, don't you need to tell your family?"

The little girl smiled and ran forward, "No, it's not far ahead."

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang followed, thinking, why is this little girl so generous?

Following her all the way forward, I heard the little girl singing while running, she looked very lively, and Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang discovered that almost all the courtyard walls here have a back door.

"Girl, what's your name?" Bai Yutang asked her.

"My name is Qiao'er." The little girl replied generously, "Are you foreigners? There are many people who get lost here every year, and most of them go to find Grandpa Xu, but this is the first time that you have been on the wall like you When you meet people who are lost, they always knock on the door."

Both Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang felt powerless...why didn't they knock on the door just now?

"Is it because of this reason that there are doors on every courtyard wall?" Bai Yutang asked.

"That's not it." The little girl laughed and said, "My name is Xu Qiao'er. Everyone here has the surname Xu. We are all relatives. We live together. There is a door at the back. It is very convenient to pass through the house."

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang were a little surprised. Thinking about the criss-crossing alleys they saw just now, they thought to themselves such a big family?

"When you go to Jiujiang Mansion in the future, you must be careful when going through the yard." The little girl turned her head and said solemnly, "Our yards here are all like this, and it is easy to get lost."

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang nodded, and said in their hearts - the customs of Jiujiang Mansion are quite strange.

After going around, the little girl arrived at the gate of a small courtyard and said, "Here we are." After speaking, she pushed the door open.

Only then did Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang realize that the door was unlocked. Is it really a family?

"Grandpa Xu!" The little girl ran in like a little tit, calling, "Grandpa, someone is looking for you."

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang left the horses in the courtyard, and followed the little girl through the corridor. As they walked forward, they could smell the faint fragrance of green grass...the four gentlemen of plum, orchid, bamboo and chrysanthemum were planted in the courtyard, so elegant.

When I arrived at the front hall, I saw a small building made of bamboo. It really deserves to be the seal Xu. There are seals everywhere in the house, big and small, and there are many template rubbings, which are hung all over the wall.

A black and thin old man was sitting on a small low stool. There was a long wooden table in front of it, which was full of tools. The old man was carving a seal.

Seeing the little girl coming, she smiled and said, "Qiaoer, why did you come to my place? Do you want some snacks? I have glutinous rice cakes here."

"Yes." The little girl reached for the glutinous rice cakes on the plate, pointed to Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao behind her, and said, "Grandpa, they were looking for you and got lost in the alley."

The old man raised his eyes to look at Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang, and said, "Yo...you two are good-looking, so you must be distinguished guests. Do you want to engrave a seal?"

Zhan Zhao nodded, bowed slightly to the old man, and asked, "Is the old man seal Xu?"

"Hey, easy to say." The old man nodded.

"Oh, someone asked me to give you a letter." Zhan Zhao took out the letter, seal and silver, handed it to the old man, and said, "I want you to engrave Fang Fang's seal."

"Oh, haha, good." The old man took a look at the envelope, said "Oh", and said, "It turns out that Mr. Bao wants a seal! What about you two?" The old man looked up at Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang, as if a little look forward to.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang looked at each other, the old man's expression was a little weird.

Zhan Zhao said, "My lord, Zhan Zhao, this is Bai Yutang."

The old man was silent for a while, and asked with some uncertainty, "You two are, Yumao Zhan Zhao and Chinchilla Bai Yutang?"

Both Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang were stunned, they looked at each other with a smile, and said to themselves, let alone, this old man knows some things about the world.

The two nodded.

The old man turned pale slightly, and said to the little girl beside him, "Qiaoer, be good, go back first, and lock the door for me when you go out."

The little girl nodded, took another piece of glutinous rice cake that the old man handed her, and ran to the backyard with a smile, locked the door, and ran happily through the front door.

Seeing that the little girl had left, the old man stood up, and unlatched the front door, brought two cups of tea to Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang, and said, "My lords, sit down."

Both Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang felt a little strange, this old man, did he have something to say?

Seeing the old man standing at the side feeling awkward, Zhan Zhao asked, "Old man, do you have any difficulties? Do you want us to help?"

"Hey..." The old man sighed, pulled a stool and sat down, and said, "My lords, to tell you the truth, you are really here. I was thinking about this a while ago, should I report it?" An official...or, I even want to go to Kaifeng Mansion to find Mr. Bao."

"What happened?" Zhan Zhao asked when he saw the old man's serious face.

"Isn't Jiujiang Mansion a haunted ship these days?" The old man asked the two of them, "Have you heard of it?"

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang nodded, thinking, not only heard about it, but also saw it with their own eyes.

"I have an apprentice named Xiao Mao, who is not really an apprentice. The child of a relative in my family is dumb. He is quite quiet. He thought it would be difficult for him to make ends meet, so he was sent to me to learn crafts. I don't have any children, and when I die, he will take over the business..." The old man frowned when he said this, and said, "On the night six or seven days ago, I suffered from gout again. Xiaomao is filial and wants to Get me a bowl of ginger soup, but there is no ginger in the house, so I ran to the front, trying to ask the neighbors for some... When he came back, he didn't get ginger, his face turned pale with fright, and he followed me with gestures gesture."

Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao looked at each other, thinking that this little Mao must have seen something extraordinary.

"I brought up the child. I know what he is gesticulating. He said that there is a ghost ship outside." The old man sighed and said, "I was also frightened at the time. Doesn’t it mean that seeing a ghost ship is unlucky? ?”

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang nodded, listening to the old man continue talking.

"Later I went out with him, and the ghost ship was gone. Xiao Mao gestured to me, saying that someone was on board." The old man frowned, and said, "I asked him, who is on board? He said... the county magistrate here I am."

"What?" Both Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang were surprised, why is the magistrate on board?

"I told Xiao Mao at the time, let him stop talking nonsense, Mr. Liu is an upright and honest official, how could he be on the boat? Could it be that he is similar?" The old man shook his head, "Xiao Mao just shook his head at that time, saying that he really saw Yes, I thought he was playing with a childish temper, so I ignored him... But after a few days... the child is gone."

"It's gone?" Zhan Zhao was startled, and asked, "It's gone..."

"I lost it." The old man sighed and said, "That night, he went to the street to buy me some roasted seeds and nuts, and then he disappeared."

"Could it be that he went somewhere else?" Zhan Zhao asked, "Is there any relative?"

The old man shook his head and said, "A lot of people have told me that maybe the child is wild and went out to play... But I know best in my heart, no, something must have happened... And I think it probably has something to do with that ghost ship." relation."

Bai Yutang suddenly thought of the few headless corpses floating on the river these days, glanced at Zhan Zhao, and raised his eyebrows.

Zhan Zhao frowned slightly, hoping it wouldn't be such a coincidence.

Seeing the expressions of the two, the old man said, "I've heard about the dead bodies fished up in the river recently. I wanted to identify them, but the people in the yamen said that the dead bodies had been in the water for a long time. And there is no head, so it's unrecognizable... Besides, the case hasn't been solved yet, so no one is allowed to see the body."

After hearing this, Zhan Zhao rubbed his chin, feeling a little strange—this is unreasonable. If the government got a headless corpse, then the most important thing is to identify the corpse. After all, the identity of the deceased can only be investigated before the case can be investigated... ...How could it be possible to reject all those who provide clues to identify the corpse in the future?

"Old man, what do you mean?" Zhan Zhao looked at the old man.

"Now that I think about it now, I feel that Xiaomao might have really looked at the county magistrate that night. He didn't lie or be dazzled..." the old man said, "I don't have any tricks, and I don't have evidence. The old man has a lot of bones." Alright... Since the two officials are from Kaifeng Mansion, then I feel at ease. You can help me find out about this... If Xiao Mao is dead, then I have to avenge my child, if not... Then You have to get the baby back."

Zhan Zhao saw the teardrops in the old man's eyes, his heart softened, and he looked at Bai Yutang.

Bai Yutang sighed helplessly, and looked at Zhan Zhao—you are the one possessed by the bad star, forget it, just take care of it if you want, this county magistrate might really have some skills.

Zhan Zhao nodded, reached out and patted the old man's shoulder, and said, "Don't worry, old man, we will investigate this matter for you."