Cypress Boat Floating

Looking at the doll in Liu Niangzi's hand, which was so familiar to him, Zhang's face turned pale instantly, and cold sweat kept dripping from his forehead. Even though his expression had betrayed him, he still planned to continue to quibble.

"No... I don't know him..."

"Uncle Zhang Shun, take a closer look. You used this thing to kill my man. Do you still dare to say that you don't know him? Don't you feel guilty in your heart? How can you have the nerve to say such things? You run a herbal medicine shop and save people, but you have such a dark heart." Seeing that Manager Zhang kept refusing to admit it, Madam Liu became more and more angry.

"Uncle Zhang Shun, tell the truth, did you do this? Madam Liu has already produced the evidence. If you confess, we will give you a lenient answer. If you still try to make excuses, we will then conduct an investigation. If we find out that it was you who did it, you will be even worse off." Lu Ci Qiu's face had never been good since the doll appeared. Seeing that Shopkeeper Zhang didn't say a word, he naturally became annoyed.

"I... am." Shopkeeper Zhang wanted to say something else, but facing the unfriendly faces of everyone present, he knew that he could not run away. Coupled with Lu Ci Qiu's words, he had no choice but to admit it since the evidence was conclusive.

In fact, there was no deep hatred between the herbal medicine shop and Liu the butcher. The two families had lived here for more than ten years, and the shop had always been here.

Butcher Liu chops pork and pork bones every day, making a very loud noise. Shopkeeper Zhang can't stand the noise. He always thinks they are too noisy and it will disturb the patients who come to him to get medicine. He feels that Butcher Liu has seriously affected his business and life.

At first, Zhang went to Liu the butcher and asked him to be quieter, but chopping bones is a laborious job, how could he be quieter? Liu the butcher and his wife also tried other methods, such as putting a towel under the chopping board to reduce the sound, but it didn't work. Zhang still didn't agree, so he went to Zhang again.

After trying countless methods, they were really at a loss. They took the initiative to communicate with Shopkeeper Zhang and even spent money to buy some gifts to send to him, but they were all returned.

Everyone in the neighborhood knew that Zhang had a bad temper, but this was the first time that Liu the Butcher and his wife had dealt with him so directly. Liu the Butcher also had a bad temper. He was picked on every day, and he would let them go without even talking to them. He didn't want to continue to be nice to him.

In this way, the two sides became enemies.

After listening to Madam Liu's description of the whole process, Lu Ci Qiu had an indescribable expression on his face. The pork of this butcher Liu was well-known in the West District. People would even go to him specifically to buy it. His meat was fresh, cheap and delicious.

Why did Zhang the shopkeeper keep picking on Liu the butcher? Logically speaking, the two were not competitors, nor did they have any conflict of interest. They sold different things, so why did he do this?

"There's no reason. They're just too noisy. I've lived on this street for decades and everything was fine. Ever since they moved in, they started selling pork here. They chop meat and bones before dawn every day. Anyone who hears them would find it annoying. I just don't want them to set up a stall here. I want them to leave." Shopkeeper Zhang rubbed his nose. He didn't think there was anything wrong with him from the bottom of his heart. To him, the problem lay with Liu the butcher and his wife.

"What are you talking about? The streets are open and everyone can do their own business. They sell their pork and you sell your medicinal herbs without interfering with each other. Besides, this stall was bought by others, and it cannot be moved just like that." Lu Ci Qiu frowned and responded to him. He really could not understand Manager Zhang's thoughts.

How can a person be so selfish as to want to kill someone just because the other person's voice is a little louder?

"If everyone is like you, then would we still open our doors to do business?"

When talking about the past, Zhang was full of anger, and he kept saying that it was Liu the Butcher's fault: "It's fine for them to do business, but shouldn't they also consider others? There are so many people there all day long, noisy and noisy, don't they let people rest? If they act like that, will other people come to buy medicinal herbs from me?"

"It's obvious that your herbs are not good, so no one wants to go there. When people go to the mountain to collect herbs, you are so unscrupulous that you have to charge them a small amount of money. It's strange that you can have a voice like this." After all, Madam Liu knew him a little bit, and she opened her mouth and directly exposed his black material, which made Manager Zhang speechless.

"I... who doesn't bargain for prices when doing business? Don't I have to support my family? I have elderly parents and young children to take care of. If I spend money lavishly, I will have to close my shop." Shopkeeper Zhang retorted in a low voice, but unfortunately no one paid attention to his rebuttal.

"Tell me, when did you start to have the murderous intention?" Ye Jianqing had already brought the doll that Liu Niangzi brought to Lu Ci Qiu. Lu Ci Qiu poked the doll with the other end of the brush. The doll looked very scary, which made him feel creepy.

"Ten days ago, Liu the butcher was still chopping meat and bones early in the morning. I was getting more and more annoyed, so I went out for a walk by myself. Then I met a friend on the way. Seeing how annoyed I was, my friend said he had a way to help me solve the problem and took me to the shrine.

I didn't intend to kill him, I just wanted him to be quiet and stop making noises, I really didn't think he would die because of this." Shopkeeper Zhang still wanted to defend himself, he wanted to cure him from the beginning, he really never wanted him to die.

Lu Ci Qiu asked: "What's your friend's name and where does he live?"

Shopkeeper Zhang answered honestly, "My surname is Wang, my name is Ren, I live on West District Third Street, and I'm a traveling doctor."

"What itinerant doctor? Your Excellency, don't listen to his nonsense. This Wang Ren is just a lousy doctor who can't do anything. He can only sell a few plasters. He wanders around like a rogue all day long and does nothing." As soon as Madam Liu heard the shopkeeper Zhang say the name, she knew who the other person was, so she also sneered at the itinerant doctor that Shopkeeper Zhang mentioned. If your Excellency doesn't understand, doesn't she either?

"Someone, go to the Third Street in the West District and bring this Wang Ren to me." Lu Ci Qiu frowned and ordered.

This person knows where the shrine is, which is very suspicious. If we bring him here, we should be able to get some information from him.

Seeing that a constable had already run out to arrest someone, Ye Jianqing came up behind Lu Ciqiu and asked quietly: "Do you want me to go there? I'm afraid Wang Ren will run away."

Lu Ci Qiu glanced at Shopkeeper Zhang who was still kneeling on the ground and shook his head. "If he wanted to run away, he should have run away when Zhang Shunbo was caught. If he didn't have this consciousness, Xiao Shi could go over and catch him back. If he can't be caught, there is still Zhang Shunbo here who can be asked for some clues in the shrine. If you leave and someone wants to kill Zhang Shunbo in public, no one can save him."

Ye Jianqing thought about it and felt that what Lu Ci Qiu said made sense. They didn't even know whether Wang Ren was there or not. If the people from the Shenwu really wanted to kill Zhang Shunbo, there would be few people present who could protect him. Now they had to at least make sure that there was someone in their hands who knew the clues about the Shenwu.

Not long after waiting, Xiaoshi, who had gone to look for Wang Ren, came back alone, bringing back an unexpected yet not-so-unexpected disappearance.

"Sir, Wang Ren is missing. He hasn't returned home for several days and we can't find him anywhere."

The one who was surprised was Zhang Shunbo, while the ones who exclaimed that it was indeed the case were Lu Ci Qiu and Ye Jianqing.

When Lu Ci Qiu heard the news, he and Ye Jianqing looked at each other. They had been guessing before they received the news and felt that there was a high probability that the person would not be found. Sure enough, the person really disappeared, but they did not expect that the other party was missing so quickly. It has been several days, which means that he disappeared on the day Liu the Butcher died. It seems that Liu the Butcher's death was not that simple.

Zhang Shunbo stood there in shock. He knew nothing about these things, so how could he know the reason for Wang Ren's disappearance? What he was more worried about now was his own life.

Wang Ren could not be found, and Zhang Shunbo's murder was confirmed, so Lu Ciqiu ordered Lu Ciqiu to be locked up first, and then an autopsy was performed on Liu the Butcher to confirm the cause of Liu the Butcher's death. Lady Liu thanked Lu Ciqiu and went home, leaving the rest to Lu Ciqiu and his men, as she had to go home to take care of her children.

"Is this thing really that powerful? Can it kill people from a distance?" After everyone had left, Lu Ci Qiu picked up the pitch-black doll with two fingers and looked at it again and again. He actually didn't believe that such a thing as witchcraft really existed.

"If you believe it, it exists; if you don't believe it, it doesn't exist." As a pure modern person in the 21st century, Ye Jianqing studied Marxism. How could she possibly believe in these things? But she did not completely deny them.

Lu Ci Qiu glanced at her and said, "Anyway, I don't believe it."

"I don't believe it either."

"Let's take a look at the body of Liu the Butcher first. There must be a reason for his death. It is definitely not just because of this doll." After saying that, Ye Jianqing was the first to walk out. She was anxious to see the body. She really wanted to know what Madam Liu meant by the body turning blue after a few days.

Although the weather has been hot recently, the corpse should not appear in such an unusual state so soon. When Ye Jianqing heard what Liu Niang said, his first reaction was that Liu the Butcher was poisoned, which led to this situation.

When Lu Ci Qiu saw Ye Jianqing walking out, he quickly stood up and went with him. Before leaving, he did not forget to put the doll away. It was very important evidence and could not be thrown away casually.

The body had already been sent to the morgue for autopsy, but the coroner had not arrived yet. Ye Jianqing and Lu Ci Qiu stood at the door and neither of them went in.

The body covered with a white sheet was placed in front of them.