The streets suddenly boiled and filled the sky.
There were also wailings in the inn, as if some tragic disaster had occurred.
Shen Li was startled.
He stood in front of the window and looked at the street.
Many people wore mourning clothes and ran to tell each other with tears streaming down their faces.
It was completely different from the jubilant funeral procession last night.
"Did something really happen?"
The door was suddenly pushed open.
Zhu Hongni barged in: "It's a big deal. The people who mourned the plum blossoms last night were all dead."
"died?"
"Yes, I heard from the waiter at the inn that they left the city last night and never came back. Someone's family was worried and searched all night. Unexpectedly, the place where the plum blossom funeral was held was blazing with flames and blood was flowing on the ground. Those people were actually killed by a handful of people. The fire burned it out.”
Zhu Hongni looked uneasy.
This was the first time she had heard of such a tragic death.
The entire procession for the plum blossom funeral was slaughtered, and then the corpses were set on fire to destroy all traces.
"The murderer was never found?"
"The waiter didn't mention it."
She saw that although Shen Li's face was surprised, but his overall expression was calm, she asked doubtfully: "Did you notice something?"
The young man said: "Before going to bed last night, I suddenly remembered that the woman in front of the team had something wrong with her expression."
"The expression...isn't right? Could it be that the night is too dark and you saw it wrong?"
"maybe."
Shen Li didn't say much, the evidence was insufficient, and the more he said, the more mistakes he made.
The two went down to the second floor.
The shopkeeper grabbed his head and cried incessantly. The wailing that Shen Li heard just now was mostly from him.
Someone beside her cried with her and tried to persuade her: "Everyone is very sad when something unexpected happened to Mrs. Cao. She is not only your wife, but also the Plum Blossom Lady of the entire Meixian County!"
"Now there are no traces of the murderer, and the police sent by the government have no clues. You must bear it, and don't get too sad and get sick. Don't forget, you and Mrs. Plum Blossom have three children!!"
"Yes, Cao Bin, everyone is very sad about the accident that happened to Mrs. Plum Blossom. The most important thing to do now is to let the lady rest in peace, and then find ways to catch the murderer! Find justice for the innocent people who died tragically!"
"The government has sealed off the entire county, and the murderer will be found."
Shen Li and Zhu Hongni were listening silently.
After the waiter helped the shopkeeper, who was obviously very sad, back to the room, the young man said: "The government has sealed off the whole county. I'm afraid it's hard for you and me to leave."
"You are not afraid of shadows. The murderer is not us anyway. Just let the government investigate. It just so happens that we can spend a few more days in Meixian." Zhu Hongni didn't take it seriously.
The young man secretly thought, do you not know or are you just pretending to be stupid? So many people died outside the city and there were no clues about the murderer. The first thing the government suspected was passers-by.
Call the waiter.
"Is the inn still open?" Zhu Hongni asked.
"The shopkeeper has given instructions and the inn will be open for business as usual."
"Okay, prepare a table of wine and food for us... We won't eat it here, but send it to our room."
"good."
He was the one who kept vigil last night, so he would not doubt the two of them. He hurried to the kitchen and asked the cook to prepare a table of their signature dishes.
"I gonna go see."
Shen Li followed the waiter into the back kitchen of the inn. The kitchen was quite neat and tidy. The cook was an honest old man. After the waiter finished his instructions, he turned around and said, "Sir, why are you here?"
"Let me ask you a few questions."
"Ah? Sir, what do you want to ask?"
Shen Li pulled the waiter aside and asked in a low voice: "Does the shopkeeper usually get along well with his wife?"
"..."
The waiter asked in embarrassment: "Sir, why are you asking these things?"
Self-explanatory.
The relationship between the shopkeeper and Mrs. Plum Blossom is not good.
After thinking about it, the waiter whispered: "I know that you, sir, have nothing to do with this matter. I secretly told you that a few days ago, the shopkeeper had a big quarrel with his wife. I don't know why, but she was so angry that she fell down. I bought a lot of porcelain that the shopkeeper loved, left angrily, and never came back...and then there was the fire last night."
After thinking about it for a moment, the waiter asked horrifiedly: "Sir, are you suspicious..."
Shen Li shook his head: "I'm just curious and asking, please don't tell anyone."
He handed the waiter a piece of silver and happily accepted it.
"Sir, please be careful. A small mouth is the most perfect. Don't say a word that you shouldn't say."
Returning to Zhu Hongni, the two went to Shen Li's guest room.
The window is still open.
Meixian County seemed like the sky was falling, and the streets and alleys were filled with cries and howls.
"Plum Blossom Burial..."
Shen Li tapped his fingers lightly on the window sill and murmured to himself.
Zhu Hongni raised her face in boredom: "When you followed the waiter to the kitchen, I heard someone saying that not only Mrs. Meihua died, but also Lord Meihua died."
"Wine-making is the livelihood of the people in Mei County. Mrs. Meihua and Lord Meihua both died outside the city. It must be a blow to Meihua Brewing," Shen Li said.
The waiter brought the food quickly and heard the two people talking, "The two guests are right, Mrs. Plum Blossom and Lord Plum Blossom are crucial to the plum blossom wine in Meixian County!"
"Normally, when Mei County sells wine to other places, it needs to be stamped by Mrs. Meihua or Mr. Meihua. As a result, the wine sold to outsiders seems to be from Mrs. Meihua or Mr. Meihua, and the price is higher. , and you don’t have to worry about sales!”
"Two people died last night, and without the stamp, I'm afraid that the rich people who are keen on plum blossom wine will no longer accept prices that are much higher than the market price."
Shen Li asked curiously: "Wouldn't it be enough to re-elect Mrs. Meihua and Lord Meihua?"
The waiter smiled bitterly and replied: "If it were as easy as the guest officer said, the people in the county would not be so sad. Mrs. Meihua and Lord Meihua were appointed by the previous president with more than a dozen candidates, and then invited famous lovers from other places. Wine lovers come, and in the end the people of Meixian County together with the dozens of wine lovers will elect him."
"Right now, the two of them are dead outside the city, and no candidate has been appointed. This is the result of the teacher being unknown. If we do things as we did before, I'm afraid no one will acknowledge them."
Zhu Hongni ate the food: "Is there no other way?"
"Yes, but it will take too long, and the major wine shops in the county will suffer heavy losses." The waiter introduced, "Mrs. Plum Blossom and Lord Plum Blossom involve a lot of interests. Everyone in Mei County wants to be one. According to the old rules, Every household takes out the newly brewed plum blossom wine, and after the people in the county taste it, the two people who make the best wine are recommended."
Shen Li laughed: "In this case, not to mention the cumbersome process, the intrigue below will not end in a day or two."
"The guest officer is right. Moreover, without the seals of Mrs. Plum Blossom and Marquis Plum Blossom during this period, the sales of major wine shops are sluggish, and they have to compete for names. With all kinds of things, maybe something else will happen. Moth.”
Zhu Hongni smiled and said, "Can't we temporarily use the seals of Mrs. Meihua and Lord Meihua?"
"Sir, Meixian County has done this kind of thing before, and the lesson is really profound. After customers from other places heard about the fraud in Meixian County, they stopped buying plum blossom wine and bought other products. In those years, the lives of the people in Meixian County plummeted and they were miserable. Word."
The backbone of Meixian County is plum blossom wine. If plum blossom wine cannot be sold, of course it will be a mess.
Merchants value credibility, not just by words. Once credibility collapses, the consequences will be bitter and must be swallowed.
She immediately sneered: "It's obviously not the wine they brewed, but because it's stamped and stamped, it looks like they brewed it themselves. Isn't this a fraud?"
The waiter blushed and had a thick neck. Although he knew that Zhu Hongni was right, Meixian County had always been like this. Not only did the drinks he sold not only sell well, but the prices even kept rising, making him an unknown amount of wealth.
"The plum blossom wine in our Meixian County has similar taste and excellent craftsmanship. Even if it is not brewed by Mrs. Plum Blossom or Lord Meihua herself, it is still one of the best wines in the world!" the waiter argued.
Zhu Hongni was too lazy to say anything more and waved to the waiter to continue serving the food.
"Do you think there's anything fishy in it?"
Some words made her a little interested.
Shen Li thought deeply: "Every household asks Mrs. Meihua and Lord Meihua to stamp their seals. The money obtained from them is enough to make people become greedy."
"ah?"
The young man slowly picked up his chopsticks and picked out a piece of soy sauce beef: "If Mrs. Meihua is not dead, is it that the wine shop that originally asked Marquis Meihua to stamp the wine turned around and asked her to stamp it?"
Plum Blossom Marquis is also dead.
"Didn't you hear? They are all dead." Zhu Hongni shook her head.
"What if you're not dead?"
"What did you guess?"
Shen Li smiled and said: "There are some guesses, but we have to wait for Mrs. Meihua to show up before we can make any judgment."
"The custom of plum blossom burial is a bad name."
"It's really not good."
In the afternoon.
Then some government detectives found the two of them.
"name."
"Shen Li."
"Zhu Hongni."
"From where?"
"Nan Wu."
The detective looked at Zhu Hongni: "Are you from Nanwu too?"
"My home is in Luojing."
"Oh? Your home is in Luojing, why did you go to Nanwu?"
"There are elders from the family in Nanwu who are visiting Nanwu."
The courier looked at his companions: "When did you enter the city last night? Have you seen the Plum Blossom Burial?"
Shen Li told the truth.
"You mean you saw them?"
"right."
"When did you check into the inn?"
Zhu Hongni gave it a moment.
"You guys took a rest after eating?"
"yes."
"Didn't you go out all night?"
"yes."
The detective took a deep breath and slammed the table in an instant: "Nonsense! Why did shopkeeper Cao and the waiter in the store say that you went out in a hurry after dinner and didn't come back until late at night?"
Zhu Hongni’s expression changed drastically.
Shen Li said calmly: "We did not go out all night and rested after dinner. The shopkeeper and the waiter are lying."
"Haha, nonsense! The people of Meixian County know that Shopkeeper Cao is a man, and he never tells a lie! The clerks who can be taken into the store by Shopkeeper Cao are all from good families with innocent family backgrounds. Besides, you are just passers-by. How can it be so? Why don’t you, the detective, believe in you, but not in the outstanding character of Shopkeeper Cao?”
Zhu Hongni was angry and angry, and argued: "If we are the murderers of others, what is the purpose?"
"Purpose?"
"Okay, let me tell you what the purpose is!!!"
His companion gave him a note from his enemy.
The policeman said angrily: "This note was given to me by someone else. Someone in Liu County commissioned you to kill Lord Meihua and Mrs. Meihua during the Plum Blossom Burial in order to steal the sales of Plum Blossom Brewing!"
"The witnesses and material evidence are all there. Do you two have any other arguments?"
