"Isn't this the first time that a refugee has died in such an inexplicable way?" Zhang Yan's face was filled with curiosity, his eyes widened a bit, and he looked like he was listening carefully. But in fact, I had another thought in my heart.
"Well, it's not the first time. In the past, three or four refugees would die every one or two months. The policemen in the yamen have checked more than a dozen times, but they have never found anything useful. It has always been an unsolved case. If it weren’t for the fact that the homeless people who died were all alone and no one was looking for them, the government office wouldn’t be able to escape their involvement.”
"Ahem. Why are you telling Wu Ming this? Just tell me what happened last night!"
"Oh, haha, yes, yes, I'm going too far. Yesterday, probably in the middle of the night, I found the body during the night shift, and then reported it to the police..."
At the beginning, the two people talked a little superficially, listening to what someone said. Later, they became more enthusiastic and talked about some guesses together with the words of the Yamen agents and the police officers. It was as vivid and vivid as if he was helping Zhang Yan prepare the outline of a storybook.
At the end, he added: "Do you think adding these would make it more fascinating?"
It was almost noon when we came out of the homeless shelter, and the tempting aroma of food was already wafting on the street. But this time Zhang Yan was not as anxious as yesterday. I have something on my mind, so I don’t rush to eat.
Zhang Yan got a lot of information from the officials of the two refugee halls. After sorting through it, there were several key points that he needed to verify further. For this reason, he was willing to pay the price of staying in Xuanhua City for half a month.
The reason is that the merit gained from saving the six wild ghosts is worth Zhang Yan's hard work for more than half a month. What about one or several evil ghosts? How much benefit will it have?
At the same time, Zhang Yan was also very curious about what kind of existence Li Gui was, and wanted to take a closer look. If I have the chance, I would also like to try to see if the various methods used by Li Gui are similar to those recorded in the Longhu Mountain classics.
After coming out, the first place Zhang Yan went to was a soup shop not far from the homeless people's hall.
There is an extra word "kind" in front of the porridge shop, so you should know what it is about. It is a shop where the local government distributes food from the official warehouse. But generally it is not eaten, but is made into porridge and given to people. The targets are either beggars on the street or homeless people who have no source of livelihood.
Cheating on petty gains? Even if they are greedy for petty gains, no one will go to the porridge shop to get food under false pretenses, because it is a very shameful thing. It is even more looked down upon than a woman in the family looking for a wild man. Therefore, unless there is no other choice, normal people will not go to the soup shop to beg for food. This is different from that on Earth. In terms of face, people from that world are undoubtedly better.
According to the information provided by the two officials in the refugee hall, the refugees would gather at the porridge shop during meal time. Unless you have found a job that can provide food.
The three refugees who died before all came to the soup shop on time to eat. For them, unless their job provides them with food, they can save whatever they can, because if they save enough money, they will be driven back to their place of origin. Saving more will give them more confidence in the future. As for face, since they are all refugees, they temporarily take off their face and put it in their pockets.
"Do you know Ma Datou? Where's Li Mazi? Zhao Hou'er?" Zhang Yan did meet a lot of refugees during lunch time, about twenty or thirty people, most of whom were old and weak, and few were young and strong. The three names he asked about were told to him by the two people from the homeless manor. In fact, this should not be the names of the three people who died, but more like a perfunctory name. The two people did not tell Zhang Yan the specific real name. They only said these three pronouns were enough.
Zhang Yan understood that those two people were not willing to bear any responsibility at all. The real names of the refugees belong to the file information of the local government. If it is leaked, they will be held responsible, but the nicknames are not used.
Moreover, real names may not be as practical among refugees as nicknames and nicknames.
After asking seven or eight people in a row, no one got an answer. They all looked at Zhang Yan, shook their heads and walked away silently. These people all looked very cowed.
"Hey, what do you want to ask? Is there any benefit?"
A loud voice sounded from behind Zhang Yan. He turned around and saw a man with a strong body and dark skin who was missing an arm. He seemed to be around forty years old. Although this kind of person is missing an arm, he doesn't want to be bullied, and his figure doesn't look like a hungry person. But the way he was dressed was no different from the refugees next to him.
"Do you know Ma Datou and the others?"
"Of course. Those three unlucky guys were originally with me, and of course I know them. But you don't look like an official, so it's not a serious way to ask about these things, right? Just tell me how much benefit you can give?"
Zhang Yan chuckled without hesitation, raised his hand and threw a bag of loose money over. Money is not a problem for him. He has a lot of skills and it is not easy to get money.
Zhang Yan's bag of loose money was not too much, but it was still quite a lot. At least it was worth the money that the homeless helper had saved for many days.
The one-armed man curled his lips, collected the money, and accepted the deal. Then he waved to Zhang Yan, indicating that Zhang Yan should follow him. The two left the porridge shop, walked for half a cup of tea, and finally stopped at a street corner. There are few people here, so it can barely be considered a place to talk.
"Whatever you want to ask, just ask."
"What did Ma Datou and the others do with you before they died? Didn't they do it later?" Zhang Yan was not in a hurry and bought two dry biscuits on the roadside. He tore them into pieces and ate them while leaning against the wall and talking. The one-armed man started chatting. He didn't ask the other person's name, that wasn't what he was interested in.
"Work as a tortoise for the Hualou on Yuhua Street. Those three people are very concerned about face. They can't stand it after working for a day. They are so stupid. What's wrong with being a tortoise? It's not tiring. They can earn it in one day. It's quite a lot. If you're lucky, you'll get a reward. One day is worth the three or five days of work outside knocking rocks."
Mr. Turtle? Zhang Yan felt that it was indeed not a job that ordinary people could do. So he then asked: "What happened next? Where did they go?"
"Those three people have no strength, good looks, and no skills, so what else can they do? They live on the porridge shop all day long, and at night they go to the abandoned warehouse on Dashu Lane to spend the night. Basically, they are going to stay in Xuan There’s a bad war in Huacheng.”
"Abandoned warehouse? Didn't the Refugee Hall say they had arranged a place for the refugees to stay?"
"Hey, are you talking about Datongpu? It stinks so bad and there are so many lice in there. Who would want to stay there except those who really can't stand the night breeze? How do those gentlemen in the homeless hall know this? Before Ma Datou and the three of them died, , I have always slept with them on the ground floor in Dashu Lane at night, so I know it well."
"Oh? Did you notice any unusual behavior before they died?" Zhang Yan asked, looking into the eyes of the one-armed man.
