It’s absolutely amazing!
Lin Sui'an held the drawing and compared it with the plaque of Zhu Hu's bookstore. He felt deeply that even if Hua Yitang fell into despair in the future, he could still make a living with his miraculous painting skills.
Not only was it exactly the same as her memory, it was also exactly the same as reality.
Jin Ruo's eyes looked back and forth between the painting and the plaque: "Are you sure that Feng Erniang has been here?"
"It's always right to ask." Hua Yitang walked straight into the gate of the cloth shop.
The cloth shop is of medium size, with an area of about 60 square meters. On the left is a long red lacquered counter. The shelves are divided into upper and lower parts. The upper ones are filled with brightly colored cloths, while the lower ones are more simple and elegant, mostly in black and white. There are three kinds of gray and gray, and the fabrics on the counter are thicker and more hemp. There is also a counter on the right side. There is a set of three-inch square wooden boxes on the counter, which contain silk thread, hemp thread, velvet flowers, tapes, and buckles in different categories. , there are several hemp ropes hanging on it, and palm-sized square pieces of cloth are clamped on it by long wooden clips. They are colorful and shaky, like the small colorful flags hung when the store opens. There are many, and they should be samples for supply. Customers touch and try the feel.
Directly in front of the gate is a three-sided screen, made of Sujuan, with a lotus picture popular in the Eastern Capital. There is a faint light behind the screen, and it is obvious that there is a door connecting the back house.
It was just after noon, when Nanshi was bustling. People were coming and going in the store, including those cutting fabrics, taking measurements, selecting threads, and customizing velvet patterns. The two clerks and the shopkeeper were so busy that they never touched the floor. Hua Yitang stood out from the crowd in his attire. The shopkeeper immediately nodded and bowed to greet him, "This guest, what do you need?"
Hua Yitang glanced briefly, pulled off a piece of blue cloth from the wooden folder, took it in his hand and rubbed it twice, "What's the price of Sky Blue? How many goods are there?"
The shopkeeper's eyes lit up, "Please come in, distinguished guests."
The shopkeeper led the three of them around the screen and into the back house. The house was also very elegant. Walking along the small corridor to the end, there was a teahouse with low tables and soft cushions and the smell of incense. It was very secluded.
The shopkeeper first scooped a bowl of tea soup for Hua Yitang, then invited Lin Sui'an and Jin Ruo to sit down, and saluted the three of them, "This gentleman has good eyesight, this sky blue is a new product from Yidu. Using the latest weaving technology, the color is firm and does not fade when washed. Although it is not as soft and luxurious as satin, it is more comfortable and durable. Most importantly, it is high-quality and cheap. It only costs 700 yuan a piece."
Hua Yitang nodded: "Take it and take a look."
The shopkeeper responded repeatedly, went out to shout a few words, and hurried to the warehouse with a clerk.
Jin Ruo looked sideways: "Aren't you asking about the case? Why did you buy the cloth?"
Hua Yitang: "If you want businessmen to tell the truth, you have to do business with them."
"Then why don't you just give me the money?"
"You don't understand this. Businessmen are philistines on the surface, but in fact they have integrity. If they don't earn money based on their own skills, they will disdain even the gold ingots falling from the world. If you only use money to throw it, it will be a huge loss. The insult makes him feel dissatisfied, how can he hear the truth?"
Lin Sui'an: "..."
I believed your ghost!
Jin Ruo glared: "Are you making this nonsense?"
Hua Yitang smiled and said nothing.
Soon, the shopkeeper led two waiters carrying two pieces of green cloth into the tea room. Hua Yitang checked the quality of the cloth slowly and expressed satisfaction, "How many goods are there in total?"
The shopkeeper was overjoyed: "There are still three hundred horses in the warehouse. If it is not enough, I can also transfer the goods."
"How many people are there in your place?" Hua Yitang suddenly asked Jin Ruo.
Jin Ruo was stunned: "Ah?"
Hua Yitang clicked his tongue, with a look of disgust on his face, "Why is this bastard kid so unscrupulous?" "When you become the boss, you should prepare a few greeting gifts. Look at how shabby your brothers are. If word spreads, I will Where do you put your face? This sky-blue color is strong and durable, and the color is not eye-catching. It is most suitable for you. "
This time, Jin Ruo was really stunned, and it took him a while to come back to his senses, "You, you mean, you bought these cloths to give to me?"
Hua Yitang waved his hand carelessly, "As an elder, it is normal to give something to the younger generation. It is not a valuable thing, so there is no need to be so moved."
"Who was moved?! No!" Jin Ruo jumped to his feet, "Please tell me clearly, who is the elder?!"
Hua Yitang was surprised: "Why, don't you plan to become Lin Sui'an as your teacher?"
Yes. Lin Sui'an suddenly became energetic. If Hua Yitang hadn't reminded her, she would have almost forgotten about it. She immediately sat up straight and looked at Jin Ruo with a high look.
Jin Ruo's face turned red and he hesitated, "Go home and talk, go home and talk..."
Lin Sui'an and Hua Yitang looked at each other: Oh! Looks like there's drama.
The shopkeeper was confused when he heard this, "How many horses do the three guests want?"
Hua Yitang: "Report the number of people."
Jin Ruo: "...less than six hundred people."
"Three hundred horses, we want them all." Hua Yitang threw a gold leaf to the shopkeeper, "This is a deposit. Someone will pay the balance later to pick up the goods."
The shopkeeper burst into happiness and said, "Thank you for your patronage. Thank you for your patronage!"
"By the way, shopkeeper, I want to ask you something." Hua Yitang took out Feng Erniang's portrait from his sleeve, "Have you ever seen this woman?"
The shopkeeper was very happy. As soon as his eyes touched the face in the portrait, his expression suddenly changed. "Why do you want to ask about her?"
Lin Sui'an: "Do you know this person?"
The shopkeeper lowered his voice, "She has been posting it on the city department's bulletin board for seven or eight days. It was first a missing person notice from Jingzhao Mansion, and then it became a corpse identification notice from Dali Temple. It was clearly about this little lady. He’s already dead!”
Lin Sui'an quickly glanced at Hua Yitang. Hua Yitang's eyebrows moved slightly, and he lowered his voice mysteriously, "To be honest, I also saw it in the city department announcement, and I heard someone say that this little Before my wife died, she went to several cloth shops, including yours. I also heard that the senior officials of Dali Temple took this case very seriously, and almost immediately investigated it, so they rushed before the officials of Dali Temple. Come and restock.”
The shopkeeper was shocked: "My conscience! I have never seen this lady! What does her death have to do with me?!"
Lin Sui'an: "There are so many people coming and going in your business every day, maybe you have forgotten?"
"Hey, this lady, what we earn from buying and selling people is to know people and things. No matter how many customers there are, as long as they come into my store, I will definitely have an impression, but this little lady -" the shopkeeper He looked at the portrait and shook his head repeatedly, "I've definitely never seen it before."
"I saw that the shopkeeper's expression didn't look like he was lying." Hua Yitang stood at the door of the cloth shop, slowly waving his fan and observing the streets and shops around him.
The main streets in Nanshi are in the shape of a "well", with east-west streets and north-south roads. There are two main streets named "Wuling" and "Xiangchen", and the two main roads are "Yunshen" and "Jinbi". ", the entire Nan City is divided into a nine-square grid layout, and there are countless paths and alleys scattered throughout it like a spider web. The Municipal Office is located in the middle of the nine districts, and the eight surrounding districts each have their own focus. For example, the northwest district is mainly home to fruit shops and pepper and bamboo shoot shops selling fresh fruits, while the east district is mostly home to gold banks, grocery stores, mat shops, and pig iron shops. The silk industry, silk industry, dyeing industry, etc. are all clustered in the Southwest District.
Guochun Lane is very short, with only seven shops. Next to Zhuhu Clothing Shop are "Tianjia Dyeing Shop" and "Li's Silk Shop" respectively. Opposite are a Hu Cake Shop and three cloth shops. Although they are all small shops, they are The location is good, right next to the intersection of Wuling Street and Yunshen Road, and there is a lot of people.
Jin Ruo squatted on the ground and yawned: "Don't think about it. There are at least tens of thousands of people coming and going here every day. If you want to find witnesses from more than ten days ago, it is like looking for a needle in a haystack."
"I always feel that we seem to have overlooked some important clues." Lin Sui'an held up the drawings for comparison, squinted his eyes and thought about it for a while, and suddenly an idea came to him, "The angle of the eaves is wrong!"
Hua Yitang closed the fan with a snap, "What's wrong?"
"The eaves should be more upward, with a feeling of plunging into the sky -" Lin Sui'an handed the drawing to Hua Yitang, and made two "eight" figures with both hands to form a viewfinder. The left side of his body was crooked, and the right side was tilted, switching. After several angles, the body slowly leaned back, getting lower and lower until the back was almost parallel to the ground. Suddenly, he exclaimed, "Oh!"
Unexpectedly, this shout accidentally released his confidence in his Dantian. His core and abdominal muscles relaxed, and he fell straight to the ground. Soon after, Hua Yitang grabbed Lin Sui'an's waist and held him firmly. Lived her.
Lin Sui'an was stunned. She could feel the arms behind her back as steady as a rock, and the warm breath in Hua Yitang's palm. The melodious fruity wood fragrance hit her sense of smell in waves, making her feel dizzy.
This boy is stronger than she imagined. Lin Sui'an thought.
Hua Yitang's face turned red and he whispered, "Why are you still standing there? Get up!"
"Don't move, hold on!" The viewfinder in Lin Sui'an's hand slowly moved up, "A little further up, a little to the left, more, a little more, a little to the right, right, right, right, right, right, right, down a little, okay, okay, okay, Hold on!"
Hua Yitang's whole body was stiff. He carried the weight of Lin Sui'an's body in his arms. Although it was not heavy, this posture reminded him of the scene when he carried Lin Sui'an back to the room the night before. At that time, she was Only when he was asleep could he look at her unscrupulously, but now, she was awake, her eyes as bright as stars flickering, making his heart skip a beat.
"That's right, that's the angle!" Lin Sui'an finally found a satisfactory picture and breathed a sigh of relief, "Hua Yitang, it's right here -" A handsome crimson face appeared in the viewfinder, like peach blossoms in his eyes. face blooming.
"Wow, young people today are so brave and bold!"
"Although this young man looks soft and weak, he has a lot of strength."
"Hey, I'll be strong enough to hold the little lady in my arms."
"My lady, please spare your husband, his face has turned into a monkey's ass!"
There was roaring laughter all around, and a group of people watching the fun suddenly appeared. Lin Suiteng jumped up and took two steps away. Hua Yitang flicked his sleeves and opened the fan, fanning quickly.
The people booed, covered their mouths and left happily.
"You two -" Jin Ruo opened his mouth so wide that he could fit a whole steamed cake in, "what are you doing?"
"Of course I'm investigating the case." Hua Yitang said dryly, "Ahem! Lin Sui'an, what did you find?"
Lin Sui'an took a long breath and pressed his chest. After his violent heartbeat calmed down for a while, he said, pointing to the location just now, "That's right here."
Hua Yitang stepped on Lin Sui'an's footprints and looked around. It was in the middle of the road in Guochun Lane, and the ground was covered with ruts.
"Her posture is very close to mine," Lin Sui'an gestured, "She should be half lying and half leaning, and the position should be a little higher -"
At this point, the two suddenly looked at each other and said in unison, "She is half lying in the carriage!"
Lin Sui'an: "No wonder I couldn't see Bu Xing's specific name. She was probably looking out of the car window, so her sight range was limited."
Hua Yitang: "She just passed by in a car and didn't get off the bus, so the shopkeeper of the cloth shop has never seen her."
"Her family is poor and does not have a carriage to travel."
"It was the murderer's carriage. At that time, she was already controlled by the murderer!"
The two of them finished speaking quickly and fell into silence at the same time.
Even if we could deduce Feng Erniang's condition at that time, it would still be useless. The number of carriages entering and exiting Nanshi every day was terrifying. Feng Erniang did not show her face, and there were no witnesses. More than ten days had passed, and even a hundred Jin Ruo could not find traces of that day. What's more, they knew nothing about the characteristics of the carriage and had no way of checking it.
"You two -" Jin Ruo stared at the two of them as if they were crazy, "What do you want to do?! Who is she in your mouth? Feng Erniang? How do you know she has been here? And she is still sitting on the carriage? You two ——" After a pause, he lowered his voice cautiously, "Is he really a human?"
Lin Sui'an slapped Jin Ruo on the back of the head, "If you're not a human, could you be a ghost?"
Jin Ruo covered his head and said, "You are scarier than a ghost."
"Didn't I tell you before?" Hua Yitang waved his fan proudly, "Hua knows everything about the Five Elements, Bagua and Feng Shui compass. He can cut off the fate of yin and yang and listen to the words of the dead. When Feng Erniang was alive, Wherever you have been and what you have done, you only need to count them with your fingers and you will know them clearly.”
Jin Ruo rolled his eyes: "Hua Yitang, even the cows were blown to death by you!"
"Brother, are everything you said true?" Suddenly, a dirty little hand grabbed the hem of Hua Yitang's clothes, and then, another dirty little face popped out, it was a The little beggar, about five or six years old, was dressed in rags, barefoot, but wearing a pair of clean and thick black cloth shoes around his waist. "Then can you tell me where Sister Xue'er went?"
Hua Yitang: "Huh?"
"Silang! Madam Lin! It's not good!" Ling Zhiyan walked over quickly, sweating profusely, "I just got news from Jingzhao Mansion that another girl named Zhong Xue has disappeared.":,,
