Chapter 461: Possessing a Treasure Is a Crime

He Lingchuan asked Zhao Dazui in the car: "Did anyone get injured in the village last winter?"

"Ah?" Zhao Dazui didn't understand, "What kind of injury do you mean? Frostbite, bruises or falls?"

"...Not easy to treat." Pig thorns are not easy to deal with.

Zhao Dazui thought for a while: "I haven't heard of it."

Jiao Yu interrupted: "Did anyone die of illness?"

"Ah, yes." Zhao Dazui nodded decisively this time, "Old man Xu from Youtian Town had tuberculosis for many years, and he didn't make it last winter..."

"He died in his prime. Villagers or passers-by are included."

"Oh..." Zhao Dazui thought again, "There are also. Xujia Village next to Baita Temple, Xu Laoer, who was in his thirties, froze his legs in the mountains, and died of a high fever a few days after returning home."

He Lingchuan nodded and wrote it down: "Anything else?"

Zhao Dazui thought about it carefully again, but didn't remember.

He Lingchuan's heart moved, and he suddenly said, "What about the seriously injured or dead monsters?"

"Then I don't know." Zhao Dazui laughed, "Monsters don't usually live with us, how can I know what they have to do?"

"Do all monsters live in the suburbs?"

"Yes, most of them live in the suburbs and never interact with us." Zhao Dazui added, "Except for cat monsters, cow monsters, and bat monsters who live under the eaves, but I didn't pay much attention to them."

What does it have to do with him, a human, if a monster dies?

Before dark, He Lingchuan rushed back to Youtian Town and split up with Jiao Yubing.

He went to the largest medicine store in the town, and General Ling insisted on following him, as if he was addicted to watching the excitement.

Zhitian Township is the largest distribution center for medicinal materials in Chiyan. One-third of the country's medicinal materials are wholesaled from here. Of course, there are medicine stores and medical halls everywhere.

The one He Lingchuan found was a medical hall in front and a large medicine store in the back. After he went in, he went directly to the owner of the medicine store, took out the red powder scraped from the pig nest, and asked what it was.

The shopkeeper was also an expert. He looked at it twice, sniffed it lightly, and still couldn't figure it out, so he found some medicine powder and water to mix it with, and asked several doctors to come and study it.

He Lingchuan felt that there was no hope when he saw their posture, and at this time he missed his medicine ape even more. At least Lingguang was not as unreliable as them.

Fortunately, the shopkeeper finally invited a monkey out from the back hall.

He Lingchuan was very surprised: "Medicine ape?"

"That's right." The shopkeeper smiled and said, "This is our chief alchemist, Mr. Lu."

The chin and beard of Mr. Lu, the medicine ape, were all white. Hearing the shopkeeper say that he couldn't figure out the origin of the stone powder, he took a pinch of red powder on his fingertips and spit.

Including the four or five doctors, everyone saw that the red powder became transparent.

"That's right, this is stone veins." Mr. Lu affirmed, "It's also called stone blood. Where did you get it from?"

"What's it used for?"

"This thing is commonly known as stone blood, and is also considered the essence of the mountain. It is rarely used to make medicine and alchemy, so ordinary pharmacists and alchemists don't recognize it, but in fact it can still be used in some folk remedies." Mr. Lu listed them all, "In addition, it is also a material for making certain magic tools. If the customer takes it to the craftsman, perhaps they will find it easier to identify."

It paused and asked again: "Stone veins are rare, and these are very fresh. Is the place where the customer chiseled it not far away?"

"This is mineral powder, not plant powder. How can you tell whether it is fresh or not?"

"It has the smell of mountain rocks and a little rotten smell." Mr. Lu said confidently, "It should have been dug out not long ago."

"Exactly, I dug it out from the pig nest in Yulun Mountain this afternoon."

"Yulun Mountain?" Mr. Lu was obviously stunned, "There are stone veins in Yulun Mountain?"

"What's the problem?"

"I have been in Zhitian Township for eighty years, and this is the first time I have heard of such a thing in Yulun Mountain." Mr. Lu stroked his beard like a human, "I just said that the stone vein is very rare, and some prescriptions with strong medicinal effects cannot do without it. This thing is very expensive. After purification, one tael of the stone vein powder can be sold at a high price of five taels of silver!"

"This is what I just knocked down. It has not been refined yet. What do you think of the purity?"

Mr. Lu fiddled with it for a long time: "There are very few impurities."

He Lingchuan put away the bottle and laughed casually: "If you find the stone vein vein, you will get rich?"

"If the reserves are abundant."

The owner of the medicine shop couldn't help but interrupt: "Customer, it's not like that. You can't do anything wrong in collecting herbs and mining locally, unless that place belongs to you."

He Lingchuan knew it of course, and laughed: "Yes, the mountains and rivers have owners, who can mine casually? That's what I said."

After getting the answer he wanted, he thanked the medicine ape, put down the small ingot of silver and left the medicine shop.

He Lingchuan knew that Jiao Yu's task would not be completed in a short time, so he followed the aroma and found a small shop to eat.

It was more like a small stall supported by a snake skin shed than a shop.

But the seven or eight low tables in the shed were full of customers, each holding a pot and eating happily.

Yes, this stall specializes in pot noodles.

There were seven or eight pots on the stove, all of which were filled with medicinal food. The stall owner would put noodles into the pots according to which the customer ordered.

He Lingchuan ordered a angelica turtle dove soup, which was made with local Yunsi fine noodles. The aroma filled the pot as soon as the lid was opened. The soup inside was light brown, with only a thin layer of oil floating on the surface.

Take a bite, it is mellow and warm, and the medicinal materials and meat go well together. The ingredients are also stewed until the bones are crispy and the meat is tender, and you can chew it directly.

Smelling the aroma, the three-headed wind-drilling beasts would not treat themselves badly and ordered something to eat. This is the demon country, and it is common for demons to eat in towns. In order to cater to their big mouths, the stall owner served them open bowls instead of cans.

These sheep are indeed omnivorous. They nibbled on the little doves and asked the boss to add more dishes.

He Lingchuan finished a can in a hurry, and the others had already finished three bowls. He raised his hand and asked for another flavor of canned soup, this time to eat with hot noodle small sugar cakes.

Sweet and salty, the taste is very interesting.

What's more interesting is that this stall is opposite the medicine shop he had just entered.

When he ate the second small sugar cake, he saw the shopkeeper coming out and hurried out.

He Lingchuan smiled and raised his arm to make a gesture.

Passers-by thought he was saying hello to someone, but in fact there was a crow flapping its wings on the tree, fluttering to follow the shopkeeper.

Ready-made eyeliner, don't waste it.

There were crows everywhere in Zhitian Township, and no one would pay special attention to its behavior.

He Lingchuan then asked the stall owner: "Two more sugar cakes, take them away. By the way, this Shuojintang has a big storefront, may I ask who owns it?"

"Everyone in Youtian Town knows that this is the property of the Li family."

He Lingchuan said, "So it's the Li family."

After dinner, he went to the medicine market in Youtian Town for a walk.

It's rare to come across a wholesale place for medicinal materials, so he shouldn't take the opportunity to replenish his inventory? But Lingguang was not there, so He Lingchuan's own quality control was not good.

After walking around and shopping like this, it was soon time to light the lamp.

He Lingchuan stayed in the inn for more than an hour, and Jiao Yu returned under the moonlight.

"How?"

"I checked the account books of the township office. Excluding those who died of old age and illness, there were seven young men and women who died last winter, three people were missing, and two passing caravans reported that their servants died of acute illness." It paused, "These are human."

"As for the monsters, the dead ones are the piglets. Two monsters entered the township to seek medical treatment, so they were recorded, and the others are unknown."

Yes, if the monsters didn't come to seek medical treatment, who would know that they were injured?

He Lingchuan shook his head: "I really can't see anything from the official records. No wonder Fu Shanji couldn't handle this case well. The people behind the scenes know the government too well."

He recounted the trip to the medicine hall, and Jiao Yu said: "In addition to water sources and medicinal herbs, the territory of this piglet now has a stone vein. The resources are really rich."

"It is a crime to possess a treasure." He Lingchuan said, "It seems that our suspects are not only the three families of Li, Wang and Tu."

He had already inquired, and those three families were all in the medicinal materials business.

However, few people in the local area know about Shiluo, and these big families may not have been involved in it.

He frowned again when he said this: "But there is one thing I can't figure out: since the murderer knows our whereabouts, why don't they wait until we leave Youtian Town or Zhitian Township before taking action?"

"Yes, if they ambush us in such a hurry, if they fail, it will expose the fact that they are active nearby." Jiao Yu asked him, "What are you going to do now?"

"Let's muddy the water first, maybe the big fish will show up." He Lingchuan said to it, "Master Jiao, please find Master Li."

"Now?" It was very dark.

"Yes, now." He Lingchuan affirmed, "This is the effect we want."

Jiao Yu is a man of action, and he found Master Li in less than two quarters of an hour.

Master Li was dug up from his sleep. Although he was dressed neatly, he had feces hanging from the corners of his eyes and yawned all the time. He is fifty-seven years old this year. Although he takes good care of himself, his energy is far less than that of young people.

The prince's special envoy actually called him to the door at night, and he was always nervous. He kept asking Jiao Yu indirectly, is there anyone else going with him?

Who can do such a big business? Who has a clean bottom?

If all the old things are dug up, then...

Just when he was feeling uneasy, He Lingchuan took out a note with a fake smile and unfolded it to him:

"Someone reported you."

...

The next day, at the end of the Yin hour.

Just when Bai Shi County Magistrate dreamed that he was promoted and held a banquet to be congratulated by everyone, he was ruthlessly awakened by the old servant at home:

"Sir, Mr. Li and Mr. Wang want to see you."

"Now?" Bai Shi County Magistrate rubbed his eyes and saw that it was still dark outside the window. He couldn't help but get angry, "Are they crazy!"

"They said it was related to the messenger case."

Messenger? The county magistrate sat on the bed in a daze for a long time, and gradually came back to his senses, and then he remembered the missing messenger case in Lingxu City.

He didn't think that Zhitian Township had anything to do with this case from the bottom of his heart, so he didn't think much about it in the past two days. Why did these two wealthy families rush to see him in such a hurry?

"Tell them to wait in the study."

Five minutes later, when the two local sages, Li and Wang, had finished their tea, the Baishi County Magistrate finally arrived.