The beauty of the Hou family and the king's plan

Shen Baozhao did not stay long and said goodbye to Wu Anbo.

Holding the 1,000 taels of silver in her sleeve, she thought about how she had arranged for the children to live in the charity home, but she had never visited it.

It was still early after the consultation today, so I asked the coachman to drive the carriage to the charity hall.

Unexpectedly, the carriage was blocked by a crowd halfway through its journey.

Shen Baozhao lifted the curtain and looked over, and saw a group of people gathered at the door of an inn, pointing and talking.

The carriage could not move and had to stop. The driver got off the carriage and asked for information, and then reported: "Miss, someone stayed at the inn ahead and refused to pay. Instead, he said that the money was stolen by the innkeeper.

The shopkeeper chased the man out, but he refused to leave and said he wanted to report to the police."

"It's already blocked. I don't know how long this dispute will last. I don't think this road will be cleared anytime soon."

Shen Baozhao was about to tell the driver to turn around and take another road when another carriage blocked the way from behind. Now he was in a dilemma.

"You wait until the crowd disperses before driving back home. Qingkong and I will walk to the charity hall. It's not far." Shen Baozhao instructed the driver.

When he got off the car and walked through the crowd, he glanced at the victim who was sitting on the ground and had thrown away the silver.

Oh! Another acquaintance, but from the last life.

Shen Jiemin's wife, Cui.

Shen Baozhao stopped and looked at Miss Cui.

She was dressed as a man and looked like a weak scholar. Her bag was thrown out by the shopkeeper and lay loosely beside her.

Qinghe Cui's family was not far from Kyoto, but not close either. It would take a whole day to get there by carriage.

Shen Baozhao couldn't understand why Cui, who was waiting to get married in the Qinghe clan, appeared in Kyoto. Moreover, she didn't bring anyone with her, and she was even driven out of the inn.

"You are wearing fine silk and satin, but why did you come to stay in this inn when you have no money? I let you stay for a night for nothing and you still falsely accuse our inn of having a thief.

In that case, you can take off your clothes to pay for yesterday's room rent." The shopkeeper shouted.

After saying that, he called the waiter to come forward and pull Miss Cui's clothes.

"Wait." Shen Baozhao really couldn't bear to see a group of men bullying a woman.

Everyone shifted their gaze from Miss Cui to the source of the sound. The people were naturally curious about who was seeing injustice.

The shopkeeper was also curious about who was meddling in other people's business.

Everyone automatically made way for Shen Baozhao. She took Qingkong to Miss Cui's side and asked someone to help her up.

The shopkeeper saw that it was a young lady, well-dressed, so he softened his tone and asked, "Does this young lady want to pay for the room for this young man?"

Shen Baozhao ignored the shopkeeper's words and asked Miss Cui: "Are you sure the silver was lost in this inn?"

Miss Cui nodded: "I am sure. I checked the silver and banknotes before going to bed yesterday and they are all in the bag."

"When I woke up in the morning, the waiter brought me breakfast and I wanted to give him some tips. Then I found that all my valuables were gone.

And I never left the room from the beginning to the end. If it wasn't stolen by the innkeeper, could my things have grown legs and run away?"

Miss Cui felt very aggrieved because she met bad guys the first time she ran away from home.

Shen Baozhao nodded, roughly understanding what was going on. It should be that Miss Cui was being targeted since she entered the store yesterday.

"I can tell whether the inn's people have stolen any silver by doing the math. But I don't know if the innkeeper dares to let me do the math?" Shen Baozhao looked at the innkeeper provocatively.

The shopkeeper's shrewd eyes rolled around, and he half persuaded and half threatened: "Girl, I advise you not to meddle in other people's business. Otherwise, you will get into trouble."

Shen Baozhao did not continue his words, but asked himself: "Shopkeeper, you don't dare anymore? Could it be that you stole the banknotes of this young master?"

The innkeeper saw that Shen Baozhao was very difficult to deal with, and the onlookers were also pointing and talking. If the matter got out of hand, it would not be good for the inn, so he was furious: "What do you think is the solution?"

"If it wasn't stolen by the innkeeper, what would you do?"

“It’s simple, I can figure it out with just a red string.

If it turns out that the money was not stolen by the innkeeper, I will compensate you tenfold for the room fee. What do you think, shopkeeper?" Shen Baozhao said readily.

When the shopkeeper heard Shen Baozhao say that a red string can be used to identify a thief, which was an unheard-of way of solving a case, he mocked, "You said that, don't be unable to figure it out and then refuse to pay."

"Of course not." Shen Baozhao bowed to everyone, "Please be a witness."

"Please ask the innkeeper to bring a six-foot red rope and call all the people in the inn forward."

A man with cold eyebrows, a high nose bridge, and a cold and silent demeanor was also hidden in the crowd.

Xiao Li's carriage was passing through here, but he never expected to be blocked. He just wanted to get off the carriage and walk, but he saw an interesting scene.

A red string is considered a thief? He had handled countless cases in the Dali Temple, but he had never heard of such a novel method.

This cousin is quite interesting.

More and more people gathered around, and no one had ever seen such a scene before. The curious ones held their breath for fear of disturbing Shen Baozhao’s solving the case, oh no, calculating the case.

The shopkeeper over there called everyone out and asked them to line up one by one.

Shen Baozhao tied one end of the red rope to Miss Cui's feet and the other end to the waiter's wrist.

He fiddled with the red string, muttering to himself, "Red string, red string, who is the thief? Tell me quickly."

In this way, all twelve people in the inn, including the innkeeper, were tested.

"You're playing tricks, have you figured it out?" the shopkeeper said angrily.

Shen Baozhao knew what was going on and said, "Of course, the thief is among you twelve.

If you take the initiative to admit it and return the silver, I will let you not pursue the responsibility. If I point it out, I will hand you over to the authorities."

"You guys think about it yourself." Shen Baozhao was confident.

The shopkeeper burst out laughing: "Girl, it's good to embroider at home when you have nothing to do. Don't come out and lie to me, do you think we are all three-year-old children?"

All the workers in the inn laughed.

Shen Baozhao was not angry, but pointed at a servant and said, "He was the one who stole the silver."

However, the servant cried out for justice, and realizing that there was no real evidence, he began to curse Shen Baozhao.

"How dare you, little girl, slander me? I am just a small servant and I don't even know where this gentleman's room is. How could I possibly steal his money?"

"You made a big promise, and now that you can't figure it out, you slander me at will. There is no such thing as this in the world."

The other people in the inn gradually moved closer to Shen Baozhao, hoping to force her to give up.

"If you want to know whether my calculation is correct, just search the servants' quarters behind the inn."

"It's only been a few hours since the incident. I don't think you can move the things so quickly."

The servant was panicked when he heard what Shen Baozhao said: "You, you, you, how can you search my house without a search warrant?"

When the situation was at a stalemate, Xiao Li stood up and said loudly: "I am the Junior Official of the Dali Temple.

She has no right to search your house, so do I have the right?"