Three-pot porridge and naan

The largest Lantern Festival in Dayi, Yingbei Lantern Festival.

Wandong hadn't seen a lantern like this for many years, so she found an open space to sit down and waited for the lantern to come out.

These are all run by rich families. When I was young, those big families in Beijing could fight for everything, such as Hu Xuanwu and lanterns. It’s the same as finding orchids to fight dances. Some people made a lot of money fighting lanterns last time. People can lose their money, but in short, the richer they are, the more they earn. Small businessmen without money have their faces swollen to pretend to be fat, and they all become little leeks on the top of the mountain in the end.

This is the case in Shangjing and in Yingbei.

The beautiful lanterns of this large family had just been put on, and accompanied by the sound of jingling wind chimes, another large family’s flowers were in full bloom. Hundreds of lanterns of various flowers were released together. Once they were released, people in the night market and on the river bank shouted loudly.

"That's plum blossom."

"That peony flower."

"This is the Begonia flower."

"Here are the orchids."

Later, there were more and more lights, and I seemed to be a little tired, and the calls gradually became smaller.

Until the biggest lantern flew into the sky, the children by the river suddenly screamed loudly again, and even jumped and ran to chase after it. Even Wan Dong followed the children and screamed twice excitedly.

What a big lantern, how much money does it cost to make one!

This can be said to be the biggest and most beautiful one tonight.

Some old people even said that this should be the largest lantern in Yingbei in the past ten years. It is very difficult to make such a big lantern, let alone let it fly in the air.

"I don't know which big family's ostentation made this amazing lantern."

"It looks like this is the first one."

"clap clap"

"Look at the sky in the east."

"Sure enough, the fireworks are going off, and the number one has been set."

Fireworks were set off in the eastern sky, and the huge lanterns were still fluttering in the air. Wandong noticed that it was not flying high, not as good as those small lanterns that flew far away.

The fire at the bottom of the lantern needs to be enough to fly up, and candles are used for lightness.

Wandong has seen candles the size of a square table in Yingbei, and there are more than ten wicks on the candles.

This kind of lantern is probably the kind used.

Such a large lantern must have found a higher place nearby. The nearest mountain is some distance away from the river, which is not conducive to the lantern floating over.

It should be at the city gate.

The city gate in Yingbei is the tallest in the Three Kingdoms. A royal family in the previous dynasty spent 40 years looking for skilled craftsmen to build the tall and thick city wall in Yingbei.

But the city gate is a bit short for such a big lantern, Wandong guessed that the lantern would not fly very far, and it might be turned off on the other side of the river.

Wandong didn't have time to think about it. Suddenly, the lantern shook, and then the huge lantern burst into flames.

The sparks fall, like stars falling for nine days, so beautiful that people are at a loss for words.

Dongfeng puts flowers and thousands of trees at night, which is probably so amazing.

When the lanterns were burning, many people stopped in their tracks, and the enthusiastic people also applauded: "This is ten thousand times more beautiful than fireworks."

Amidst the screams, a child grabbed his mother's sleeve and shook it a few times: "Mother, is anyone on the lantern a lantern god?"

Hearing what the child said, Wandong suddenly looked at the lantern again.

Sure enough, even though it was far away, he still saw the struggling and dancing figure in the place where the lantern was on fire!

"There is someone!" Wandong's beautiful eyes gradually widened, and the pupils were shocked, and she exclaimed.

What the child said just now did not attract the attention of the adults, but Wandong's exclamation made many adults look carefully.

"There are people! There are people on the lantern! Someone is going to be burned to death!" several men shouted, chasing after the lantern.

The lanterns in the air floated along the wind to the other side of the river. People could at most catch up to the shore, but they could only watch the lanterns drift away, and finally seemed to burn up the field on the other side.

At this time, the officers and soldiers patrolling the shore were already driving the boat to the other side, and Wandong also wanted to board the boat.

The officers and soldiers told him to go down, and he hurriedly told the man that he was a doctor and wanted to see if the man was still alive, so the officers and soldiers allowed him to board the ship.

Here, an adult covered the children's faces and said to them, "That's not a human being, it's a doll."

"It's the lantern god, mother."

"Yes."

The adults comforted the children with lies. The originally splendid lantern festival ended in terror at this moment, and people took the children home one after another.

Of course, there are still troublemakers waiting on the shore, wanting to know the results of the investigation by the government, so they have been reluctant to leave for a long time.

It seems that the place where the lanterns land is not far away, but in fact, there is still a long way to go after landing.

The lantern is too big, you can still see people on it from a distance, but the distance from them on the other side is actually very far.

The officers and soldiers could only look for the direction where the lantern fell from memory. If the lantern was still burning at the moment, it would be difficult to see clearly because of the trees and stones.

They searched for a quarter of an hour before they found the wreckage of the lantern.

That person has been burned to charcoal, so naturally he is dead.

The scene was surrounded by officers and soldiers. The officers and soldiers were waiting for the people from the Yamen to arrive. Before they arrived, someone had already informed the nearest arrester.

Wandong wanted to take a closer look, but was stopped by officers and soldiers, until Detective Ye rushed over, saw Wandong, and said in surprise, "Wandong, why are you here?"

Only then did the officers and soldiers realize that this young man who claimed to be a doctor recognized him quickly from Captain Ye from Shangjing...

Wandong smiled and said, "I went out with Brother Qiu, but there were too many people and I got lost. I saw the lanterns on the shore were set up, so I came to see them."

Detective Ye touched his nose quickly, and walked over: "My God, it's all burnt like this, what a ruthless person thought of this."

Only when Detective Ye cleared the way quickly, Wandong could get close to the wreckage to see what happened.

"Hurry up Ye, do you smell a remnant fragrance?" This fragrance was there when the officers and soldiers first found the remains of lanterns and corpses, but no one cared about it at that time, probably because they searched for too long and their bodies Both consciousness and consciousness are a bit tired.

Just now Wandong and the officers and soldiers waited for the arresters to come quickly. He squatted aside and smelled this fragrance. It was very faint, so faint that it was not easy to detect.

There are flowers tied on the lanterns, but the smell of the flowers after they are burnt is not like this.

Detective Ye quickly wanted to say that he didn't smell it, but he also believed that Wandong would not be mistaken, so he was conflicted in his heart, and he pursed his lips and did not dare to answer casually.

The official asked: "Then did this man get into the lantern by himself, or was he tied up?"

Wandong: "When the lantern was burning, a child was the first to notice it. When I saw it, he struggled horribly and strangely. I don't think he should have gotten into the lantern by himself."

"Then I'll check whose house this lamp belongs to. Since someone is inside, they shouldn't know!" The policeman said and left.

"If someone is tied... where can the person be tied?" Wandong closed his eyes and recalled the appearance of the lantern when it first appeared in their field of vision. A layer of silk flowers covered the shadow cast by the man tied to the skeleton outside the lantern, but his strange posture when he was burned didn’t look like he was tied, so what’s going on.”

Just listening to Wandong's description, Detective Ye and the remaining officers and soldiers felt a gust of wind blowing behind them.

Detective Ye: "Since he wasn't tied up, why didn't he jump off when the light took off? Why was he burned to death?"

Wandong went over to check the charred wreckage, because it took a long time to find it, and the frame of the lantern was almost burnt beyond recognition.

"The time is wrong." Wandong squatted on the ground with sullen eyebrows, his eyes complicated.

Detective Ye quickly came over and asked in a low voice, "Wandong, what time did you say...?"

Wandong: "It was only half a moment from the time the lantern appeared in our field of vision to when it fell to the ground. It took us two quarters of an hour to find it. In these two quarters and a half, the lantern completely burned down, even the corpse was charred like this. "

Captain Ye suddenly nodded when he heard the words: "That's right! We were thinking about how to tie people to it just now, but we ignored this!"

"Catcher Ye." Soon another group of people came from not far away with lanterns.

The person who came was Qiu Butou from the northern outskirts of Paoying.

"Captain Qiu." Catcher Ye hurried over and cupped his fists in a salute.

Inspector Qiu had already heard from his arresting brother that the case was roughly over, so he came over and asked Captain Ye if he was interested in investigating the case.

Police Officer Ye quickly looked at Wandong, scratched his head and nodded, "I haven't seen such a case before, I really want to know the result."

"For example, how did such a big lamp fly, and what should the original appearance of the lamp be? When I saw half of the lantern, I went to the tavern to eat something, but I didn't see the second half."

Seeing that he was interested, Qiu Butou smiled and said, "I knew you were interested, so let's do something for the adults together."

Head arrest means that head arresters have the right to run away from the case, but it is still up to the adults to solve the case.

The adult above Qiu Butou is his cousin Qiu Chen.

Detective Ye is a well-known catcher in the Beijing area, and most of the catchers in Dayi have heard of this name.

Inspector Qiu has also admired the name of Inspector Ye for a long time, and he has long wanted to see the way Inspector Ye escaped from crimes.

Qiu Butou said: "I have a general understanding. This kind of big lantern is made of silk cloth as thin as skin, which is as delicate as skin and as thin as paper, so it can be light. The frame used is also different from others. It is light and strong. , if you use the high ground, you can fly up with a person."

After hearing what Qiu Butou said, everyone present could probably figure out how such a big lantern could fly.

"Leave five people here to watch on the spot. Everyone will guard it when it gets dark today, and I will ask you to do an autopsy tomorrow."

*

The next day, Wu Zuo came over for an autopsy, and the scene was also mapped.

It was found out which rich family the lantern belonged to, but it has never been found out who the person on the lantern was helping.

Detective Ye quickly told Wandong what Qiu Butou said: "Yesterday, the one who won the first place was from the Gu family in the north of the city. When the Gu family heard that someone was burnt to death on the lantern, they didn't even want the first place. A large number of servants who participated in making lanterns were driven away."

Wandong: "The Gu family didn't lose anyone?"

"Catcher Qiu sent someone to investigate, including those who were driven away, saying that there is no shame. It is strange that a living person was burned to death, and no missing case was reported all night." Detective Ye said quickly, "If It would be nice if the corpse could speak for itself."

Wandong stopped holding the teacup: "What does Wu Zuo say?"

"Wu Zuo said that this person probably burnt him... It's better not to say that the dead are the greatest." Detective Ye sighed quickly.

"It did burn like that."

Detective Ye quickly sat closer: "Catcher Qiu said that at that time there was a place in the river section of the city gate where passers-by could see lanterns flying over their heads, and he wanted to find witnesses there."

Wandong put down his teacup: "That's right, but it was too urgent at the time, and passers-by might not have looked carefully. It was still the servants of the Chagu family who made the lanterns and the people who went to put them on."

"Lord Qiu Chen also said the same thing." Detective Ye laughed quickly, "I'll tell you when Master Qiu finds out. I'm afraid this case is very tricky. It's even worse if there are no missing persons to report."

Wandong went out to the stall for three consecutive days, and on March [-], Wandong went to the tavern outside the city where he had an appointment with Captain Ye.

Detective Ye came a bit late, holding a pack of pastries in his hand: "Everyone said that the mung bean cakes of Grandma Wang in the suburbs are delicious, so I specially lined up to buy them. Wandong, you can try them first."

Detective Ye quickly opened the paper bag in his hand, and called the waiter over: "One catty of braised beef, two stir-fried side dishes, and half a catty of wine."

As soon as he said that Wandong, who was eating mung bean cake with half a catty of wine, raised his eyelids and looked over: "Lao Ye, I can't drink it."

"You drink less, too."

"..." Detective Ye was on the verge of crying, and finally went to the north of the camp to stay away from Mr. Mo. He thought no one would talk about his drinking, but Wandong came to take care of him.

"Mung bean cake is delicious." Wandong's eyes flashed, and he ate several pieces in a row.

Guy: "Your stewed beef, side dishes and wine..."

"Forget about the wine, it's troublesome." Detective Ye blushed quickly and said.

The clerk realized his plan and ran away with the wine.

"..." Detective Ye quickly wanted to put his temper in the past and scolded people long ago, but let's forget about it today.

"All the servants of the Gu family asked, and no one was missing. The master who made the lanterns and the person who put them up were also arrested by Mr. Qiu for questioning. The masters asked three times a day, and they all said that they didn't know when they entered. Master Qiu got tired of hearing this and immediately put the master who made the lanterns in the prison cell first, and if he can't be convicted, he will be released from the cell for at most half a month."

Wandong: "What did Lord Qiu say?"

"Master Qiu said that this matter can only be done by the lantern master."

"..." Wandong immediately put down his chopsticks.

Detective Ye also stopped quickly: "Haha, it's interesting. I've never seen such an unreliable adult who can directly identify the murderer without evidence. Hahaha, it's better to be Master Mo."

But Wandong smiled lightly: "Suddenly I want to get to know Mr. Qiu Chenqiu."

Detective Ye quickly looked up at Wandong: "Wandong, you don't look like you think he's unreliable, or even admire him?"

Little Wandong, you are such a person! !

Wandong just squinted his eyes and smiled slightly. Wandong felt that this case was quite troublesome. When investigating the case itself, the lantern was burned to the ground and the corpse could not speak. It was impossible to get in through the population investigation.

For such a troublesome case, Qiu Chen cut it across the board.

A casually imprisoned adult would not have the guts, let alone no evidence at all.