Chapter 37: Got Robbed

  Originally, Yin Wuchang disliked dealing with court officials, thinking that few of them were good people. However, through today's experience, he began to slowly change his mind, at least feeling that Bao Zheng was a good official who would plead for the people.

  Furthermore, Yin Wuchuang thought that solving cases was a very interesting thing. Following Hualang to solve cases was much more interesting than wandering the rivers and lakes alone. However, now that they were solving cases, he could only watch from the side and couldn't help with anything.

  This makes Yin Wu feel very unfulfilled.

  After leaving the Fragrant Pavilion, they immediately returned to the county government office.

  After returning to the county government office, a yamen runner came rushing in, looking very flustered. Bao Zheng asked urgently: "Have you found out something?"

  The official hesitated for a long time and said: "After investigation, it was found that something happened at Dong Cheng's rice store."

  Although the official said so, Bao Gong and Hua Lang were not in a hurry. The grain store had an incident, which meant that the murderer finally couldn't bear to take action, and when the murderer took action, they would have some more clues.

  "Come on, let's hear it!"

  The day Dong Cheng was killed, Feng Ji was indeed working at the rice store for a whole day until it closed before leaving.

  "So it seems that Feng Ji is not the murderer after all. Then tell me what really happened at the rice shop."

  The yamen runner got the order and hastily replied, "When we went to investigate Feng Ji, a shop assistant at Dong Cheng's rice store said that there was a theft case there, and one of Dong Cheng's account books is missing."

  "Has the account book gone missing?" The crowd was shocked, they were very puzzled, who would steal an account book, what's the use of stealing this account book, is the person who stole the account book the murderer?

  At this time, Hua Lang hurriedly asked: "Don't account books all have duplicates? Can you ask Mr. Accountant for one?"

  The yamen runner hastily pulled out an account book from his body and said, "What Master Hua said is true, it really exists. I saw the account book being stolen and found it strange, so I asked Mr. Account House for a copy, maybe it will be useful for your investigation."

  After taking over the account book, Hualang flipped through it many times, but didn't find any suspicious points. The records only showed daily expenses and income, what's worth stealing?

  Everyone passed it around and took a look, but didn't find any clues. For a moment, no one knew what to do next.

  After a long while, Hua Lang suddenly said: "I think it's necessary for me to go to Dong Cheng's rice shop."

  Bao Zheng said: "Then I'll entrust this matter to Hua brother. I will preside over the court here and help the people of Long County redress their grievances."

  Hualang nodded and then went with Yin Wucheng Mengmeng and Hua Wan'er to Dong Cheng's rice shop.

  Because Dong Cheng was killed and Mrs. Dong was also locked up by Bao Zheng, the rice store had already closed down at this time, with only one small servant and the accountant staying behind to guard the store. After Hua Lang and his men came into the rice store and explained their intentions, the little servant immediately invited them in.

  Hualang didn't want to waste time and directly asked: "Where has Dong Cheng's account book been kept all along?"

  The young servant didn't dare to hide anything and said directly: "In the past, they were all in the drawer. Manager Dong didn't let us see them, only letting Accountant Mr. copy the duplicates, after copying, he immediately put them back in the drawer and locked it up. Today, I was really bored in the store, so I looked around and found that the lock on Manager Dong's drawer had been picked open. I was very curious, and when I opened it, I found that the account book was gone."

  After listening to Xiaoye's account, Hualang and others felt that this matter was even more bizarre.

  "After Dong Cheng was killed, has anyone entered your store in the past two days?"

  The young servant thought for a moment and said, "Ever since the county yamen's runners left, no one has entered our shop. It was closed immediately after my master's body was discovered."

  Hualang listened and smiled faintly, then asked: "From the day your father left Tianchang County to purchase goods until his body was discovered, did anyone enter your store during this period?"

  Hualang thought that if the account book wasn't stolen in the past few days, it must have been taken before then. Before then, Dong Cheng's body hadn't been discovered yet, so this store should have been operating as usual.

  The young man's question had put the little servant at a loss, and he thought for a long time before answering: "Those days were no different from usual here, with many guests coming and going, I don't remember."

  The young servant's words were not unreasonable, but the flower gentleman thought that since the person had come to steal the account book, they would definitely leave some clues behind. He looked at the young servant and asked: "With so many guests, is there anyone who didn't come to buy grain?"

  The young servant thought for a moment and said, "If they didn't come to buy grain, what did they come here for?" The young servant stopped suddenly, furrowed his brow, and then suddenly became very excited, saying: "You know what? There really is one person who isn't here to buy grain. That person is Mr. Dong's friend, Zhu Yougui. He didn't come to buy grain, but to find Mr. Dong to go drinking with."

  "How long has Zhu Yougui been staying in your rice shop?"

  The young shop assistant shrugged and said, "I don't know about that. When Zhu Yougui came, I was just about to leave to deliver goods for Old Master Liang, so I didn't know. At the time, the accountant was in charge of watching the store."

  "Is Mr. Accountant watching the store?" Huā Láng was very surprised, because Mr. Accountant is in charge of accounting, how can he watch the store? This really doesn't make sense.

  It seems that the young servant understood Hu Lang's confusion and hastily explained: "Yes, at that time there was not much business, so I asked Mr. Accountant to help take a look for a while. Moreover, I will finish sending it soon, and Mr. Accountant won't have to watch for long."

  After listening to Xiao Shu's words, Hua Lang called the accountant Mr. again. The accountant was a man in his fifties, thin and slender. After seeing Hua Lang, he nodded and said: "That's right, at that time I helped take care of the store for a while, and Zhu Yougui stayed in the store for half an incense stick. During this half incense stick, I went to the toilet once because of diarrhea."

  After inquiring about the young servant and Mr. Zhang, Hua Lang and others could basically guess that the account book was stolen by Zhu Yougui without a doubt, but what did Zhu Yougui steal Dong Cheng's account book for? And was Dong Cheng killed by Zhu Yougui?

  Now that there is a clue, it's not difficult to figure out what happened. Hua Lang was preparing to go find Zhu Yougui to ask for an explanation, but just as he and the others were about to leave, the accountant suddenly hesitated and called out to them.

  "Does Mr. Accountant have any leads he'd like to share with us?"

  Mr. Zhang hesitated for a moment before finally nodding and saying, "There's something I want to say, but I don't know if it's useful or not. If I say it, people might think it's inappropriate, but if I keep it in my heart, I'll feel uneasy."