The Famous Detective of the Red Mansion

Chapter 111: Begin with Word of Blood

It was said that there was not a drop of wine left. Sun Shaozong felt relieved and more sure that this was Lai Da's work.

After all, according to Wang Xifeng's original plan, there was no need to add insult to injury and do such a self-inflicted evil thing. As for why Lai Da gave himself the pills, Sun Shaozong didn’t understand.

Maybe he had prepared other seduction candidates, but it was messed up by Jia Baoyu?

This was not a problem that must be clarified immediately, so he temporarily pressed it to the bottom of his heart when Sun Shaozong did not understand it for a moment. He would wait until he found other clues later.

Seeing that the sky was getting dark, Sun Shaozong greeted Jia Lian to return.

Jia Lian tried his best to keep him. After repeatedly being refused, he sent Sun Shaozong out of the Rongguo Mansion.

When he arrived at the gate of the Rongguo Mansion, he saw that no one was paying attention to him, thus he suddenly came up and asked, "Erlang, the young lady of the He family, do you still remember?"

Wasn't it the Young Madam of the He family of the Royal Merchant? The matter was so overwhelming in the beginning that the two people caught up with the arrest scene. Sun Shaozong naturally won't forget it so soon.

But…

Why did he suddenly mention her again?

"What's wrong with her?"

"I just don't know how she is. That’s why I'm worried!"

Jia Lian said anxiously, "It's been more than a month. It's said that the He family has all been killed. Why don't they send her to the Entertainer Department? Could it be that someone in the Dragon Guard is greedy and has detained her?"

After a pause, he said with a smile, "You are also a Cavalry Captain over there, Erlang. You can help me inquire about what's wrong."

Tch!

This guy was thinking about other people's wives. Thinking of when would she be "on the shelf" in the department of Entertainment, but he didn’t know that there was already a fire in his backyard.

Sun Shaozong was speechless, but he answered with a promise that he would definitely ask someone to inquire carefully.

Jia Lian was happy to let him go.

The next morning, when he arrived at the Yamen, Cheng Rixing took the initiative to find him and reported the results of the undercover operations.

After a period of freely eating anything and everything, they have gained some rewards from several fake scholars being identified now.

Most of the products sold on the doorstep were common cheating products. Occasionally, there were a few who sold test questions. However, judging from the prices offered by those "literary dealers," 90% of them are undoubtedly swindlers.

After hearing Cheng Rixing's report, Sun Shaozong said, "We recorded all the names and painted their appearances down, and we also registered all the things they sell."

"I will send someone to deliver the message at noon."

Cheng Rixing agreed and asked for instructions, "Do you want to find out about those who have bought their things, Master?"

"No, it's easy to scare the snake."

Sun Shaozong shook his head and said, "Besides, our task is to maintain order in the examination room. There is no need to offend so many people outside the examination room. On the 18th, we will take the ”literary dealers” out one by one according to the list. It will be enough to set an example to others."

After a pause, he said again, "If there are still stubborn people, then don’t blame me for punishing them severely!"

Cheng Rixing hurriedly said, "The master is brilliant. I'm really..."

"Okay enough. Keep the flattery for others."

Sun Shaozong waved his hand impatiently. He was about to let him leave, but suddenly remembered something and said, "By the way, you should know the Steward Lai of Rongguo Mansion, right?"

"Naturally."

"After you leave the Yamen, go to his house and tell him that the wine he sent me is very good. If he can find something similar, don't forget to send me more jars."

The current plan to provoke Lai Da to fight against Jia Yucun was unlikely to work thus, Sun Shaozong simply took advantage of the ”medicinal liquor” to deliberately act as a warning to the opponent. He thought that if Lai Da was guilty, he should not dare commit fraud again.

And after surviving this period of the Autumn Examination, Sun Shaozong would have time to settle the scores with Lai Da!

However, after he finished, Cheng Rixing's face hesitated.

Sun Shaozong immediately knew that this guy misunderstood. He must have thought that he had taken advantage of Lai Da. He said, "You are responsible for leading the team and searching for Lai Da's son thoroughly!"

Cheng Rixing, however, was still suspicious and asked carefully, "How thorough can I be, Master?"

"Search thoroughly by stripping them all!"

Sun Shaozong replied angrily, waving his hand and saying, "That’s it, go down and be busy."

Cheng Rixing suddenly knew that it was Lai Da who had offended Sun Shaozong. The "I'm very satisfied with the wine you sent" was actually slang to warn the other party.

Because he couldn't guess what was fishy about it, he didn't dare ask again, so he was obedient and left the room.

However, when he got to the door, Cheng Rixing also remembered something and hurriedly turned back and said, "Oh right, Master, there was a murder in Fengzui Lane last night."

"Oh."

Hearing this, Sun Shaozong's eyebrows tilted, and asked, "Is there anything strange about this case?"

Since he served as the Inspector, all the cases in the office have been handled by Liu Chongshan, the Governor, without disturbing Sun Shaozong. Therefore, if there was nothing strange about it, Cheng Rixing would not take the initiative to mention it.

"A drunkard was stabbed in the heart." Cheng Rixing said, "It's strange that the murderer wrote the word ”Divine Judgement” with the blood of the dead on the drunkard himself!"

The murderer wrote the word "Divine Judgement” with blood?

Was the murderer trying to provoke him?!

Sun Shaozong's face showed a trace of anger. At the beginning of modern times, he had also met a maniac who deliberately provoked the police. But it was the first time he was ” identified by name” by the murderer who wanted to provoke him.

If it were another time, he should take the case, go in person, and bring the clown to justice.

But now…

Before his day off, he had just applied to the upper authorities to renovate the Imperial Examination hall in advance. The reason was that the rain was too heavy this year, and many rooms have become dilapidated. It naturally took more time to renovate than before.

Now that the above approval has come down, he would go to the Imperial Court to break ground after the Ministry of Revenue allocates the funds. At this time, how was he allowed to investigate homicide cases?

He should know that this was not a modern society where “human life is as important as heaven,” but an age when “All things are inferior but only reading is superior!”

If the Autumn Examination was delayed by solving a case, even if one hundred murderers were finally caught, in the opinion of those officials, it couldn’t be used to atone for it.

Therefore, Sun Shaozong hesitated for a while before he asked, "Who is pursuing this case?"

Cheng Rixing replied, "It should be Daxing County that is investigating."

Then they can't intervene. Wang Qian of Daxing County was conceited. If he couldn’t wait to intervene when the case had just happened, he must be unwilling.

"Let them investigate it first. If Daxing County has not found anything after the Autumn Examination, I will take the initiative to take over."