When Hong Chenglüe left, there was no way he would take these rustic household items with him. He had returned to the Beijia Kingdom at their invitation to serve as a commander, not to become a cook in another village!
He Lingchuan focused his attention on the bedroom. "There's blood on the floor in this room, and the whole place was deliberately cleaned up. Hong Chenglüe didn't want us finding any useful clues here. So keep your eyes peeled and search thoroughly!"
The three acknowledged the order and began a fine-toothed search.
Yet Hong Chenglüe was evidently a professional at this. The four of them searched together for half an hour, checking every gap between the bricks and even uncovering a hidden compartment in the wall behind the headboard, but still found no useful personal effects.
"He had already killed three bailiffs back then, had to clean this place up immediately, and also had to carry his paralyzed wife out, hmm—" He Lingchuan broke off as he caught Maotao shooting him a meaningful glance, and gave a slight nod.
Maotao tiptoed over to the courtyard gate and yanked it open without warning—
"Aiya!" A little old woman tumbled inside.
She had a hunched back and a sunken mouth, but her movements were surprisingly agile. Stumbling once, she caught her balance and turned to flee.
Maotao snagged her by the collar and hoisted her directly before He Lingchuan.
He Lingchuan folded his arms. "Official business of the prefecture. You came to eavesdrop?"
"Ah?" The old woman cupped an ear with a blank look, shouting at the top of her lungs, "What did you say?!"
"Do you live in this alley too?"
"Louder!"
Maotao chuckled and said to He Lingchuan, "Boss, this old woman is half-blind and hard of hearing. Let's find someone else to question."
Ten copper coins jingled loudly in He Lingchuan's palm. "A reward shows our sincerity."
The moment she saw those ten coins, the old woman's eyes went wide, and her voice immediately softened. After all, that represented several days of full bellies. "Ah, I hear you, I hear you! What do you want to ask?"
"Are you familiar with Hong Chenglüe and his wife, who lived here?"
The old woman nodded. "Familiar! I often came over to visit. A-Jin was bedridden and couldn't move; I often poured water for her to drink. When the murders happened here a few days ago, I... I was the first to walk in and discover them, and then I reported it to the authorities."
"Do you have any clues about how the murders happened?"
"Ah, I remember several things happened that day. First, those boys from the Liu family were beheaded, and then the authorities came knocking to search for grain. Aiya, even my family's..."
He Lingchuan cut her off. "Wait. Why did the authorities come searching for grain?"
"Liu Yalin had heaven-defying guts! A few days ago, after stealing the military grain, he went door-to-door handing it out, thinking he was some legendary chivalrous bandit!" The old woman smacked her lips. "When he was caught, the authorities said the military grain had to be returned. As a result... wait, where did you say you came from?"
"Xiazhou Prefecture."
"Bigger officials than the ones here?"
"Bigger," Jiao Tai rumbled. "Much bigger."
"Oh, when those bailiffs entered our homes, they searched for more than just grain! Several of my preserved rabbit legs were taken away. My lord, could you help me get them back?"
"Didn't you say several things happened that day?" Maotao prompted her. "What else?"
"After Hong Chenglüe returned, I heard A-Jin crying. Just then, three more bailiffs showed up holding chains, clearly intending to make an arrest. But once those three entered his door, they never came back out."
The old woman smacked her lips again. "A little while later, a carriage pulled up in front of the Hong gate. The man who stepped down wore satin and looked like a merchant, and he went into the courtyard too. More than an hour later, the Hong couple boarded that carriage and left. I asked Hong Chenglüe where he was going, but he refused to say.
"Aiya, I thought it was strange—why hadn't those three bailiffs come out? Later, I pushed open the door to look, and a leg was sticking out from the kitchen floor! I knew something was wrong, so I reported it to the authorities."
"In other words, you were the first on the scene?"
"Uh, you could say that."
He Lingchuan gave a slight smile. "Since you were the first inside, the pots, bowls, and cookware in the kitchen were all taken by you, weren't they?"
The old woman refused to admit it. "Not me, I didn't!"
Maotao clapped a hand onto her shoulder, startling her half to death. "Hey, old woman, we need Hong's belongings as physical evidence. If you dare conceal them, that's harboring evidence, treated as an accomplice! You'll have at least two fingers crushed in the finger-press!" With that, he squeezed her fingers and clicked his tongue with a sharp *crack*, making her shudder from head to toe.
He Lingchuan didn't even bother to smile, but such bluffs worked exceptionally well against village women. The old woman abandoned all her petty tricks. "Th-they're at my house."
The four followed her home.
The old woman lived diagonally across the lane from Hong Chenglüe. Only her husband lived with her, and he had not yet returned from outside.
The moment He Lingchuan crossed her threshold, he caught the greasy stench of stale grime. Countless odds and ends were piled across the room and courtyard.
Jars and pots, rotten wood, long hemp ropes, ragged sacks—he almost thought he had wandered into a junkyard.
Had this woman never thrown anything away in her entire life?
She led the four inside and began rummaging around.
The Hong family's cookware, bowls, and plates were indeed here.
There were many other miscellaneous items as well, all of which she claimed belonged to the Hongs. Considering A-Jin was bedridden and Hong Chenglüe frequently went out, the old woman had undoubtedly helped herself to their possessions regularly.
To He Lingchuan, this was an unexpected windfall.
He sorted through the pile and pointed at a comb among the clutter. "Does this belong to Hong's wife, A-Jin? Have you seen her use it?"
"Yes, yes." She had pinched that as well.
"Have you used it yourself?"
"No, no." Most of the things she dragged home hadn't even been touched yet.
He Lingchuan picked up the wooden comb and held it up to the light. "Then the hair tangled in this belongs either to Hong Chenglüe or A-Jin?"
"Th-that should be so?"
He Lingchuan set the ten copper coins on the table. "Anything else I should know?"
The old woman actually pondered it seriously before shaking her head. "Nothing else."
The group turned and strode away.
He Lingchuan dispatched Shan Youjun to the timber yard north of Bailu Town.
There were indeed plenty of signs that men and horses had stayed there, with even the horse manure still fresh, but the people and stables were already empty. Evidently, after pulling off his strike, Hong Chenglüe had slipped away with his troop, leaving them nothing to catch.
More than half an hour after their departure, a figure crept into the alley. Glancing left and right to confirm no one was around, he leaped over the wall into the old woman's courtyard.
The old woman was rummaging through firewood to cook dinner when the back of her neck was suddenly pinned. A low bark came into her ear: "What did those people ask just now?"
"Ah..." Why was someone else here? Terrified, she stammered, "Th-they were from the prefecture, asking about what happened yesterday..."
Before she could finish, a dull thud sounded behind her, and the hands gripping her neck went slack.
She turned around to see a man sprawled on the ground, and behind him stood Maotao, grinning ear to ear.
"Sure enough, an informant was left behind in town." The Young Master truly had divine foresight, having him secretly double back midway to wait by the stump for the hare—and a surprise had indeed walked right into the trap.
Maotao pointed at the man on the ground and asked the old woman, "Is he from the town?"
Still shaken, she shook her head vigorously. "Never seen him, never seen him!"
Next, Maotao hauled the man back into Hong Chenglüe's empty house and stuffed a rag into his mouth.
When the captive was splashed awake by a ladle of cold water, the first thing he saw was Shan Youjun cracking his knuckles with a vicious grin, striding toward him...
In less than half an hour, the courtyard gate of the Hong residence swung open without warning.
The old woman outside stumbled once more, nearly falling inside. Once again, Maotao caught her.
This old woman's obsession with peeping through door cracks was truly deep.
"Aiya..." This time even she felt embarrassed, at a loss for an excuse. At first, muffled sounds had drifted from inside, like someone crying out with their mouth and nose covered, but later it had gone dead silent; no matter how hard she pricked up her ears, she couldn't hear a thing.
Maotao didn't make an issue of it. "Old woman, do you know about the mine pit to the northwest? The abandoned one."
"The mine pit?" Her eyes darted about. "I think I've heard of it?"
Maotao held out his palm, revealing another ten copper coins. "I just saved your life, you remember that, right?"
The old woman gave a sheepish chuckle. "There's only one small mine pit to the northwest, and it stopped producing ore ten years ago. You want to go there?"
"Thinking about it."
The old woman stared fixedly at the coins in his hand. "That place is hidden deep in the thick woods and very hard to find. If you pay a bit more, how about I find you a guide?"
"Fine." Time was short, so Maotao didn't haggle. Didn't the Boss have plenty of money?
"Wait here then." The old woman hurried out on her bowlegs, remarkably brisk.
Dozens of breaths later, she returned with an old man under sixty. He was withered and thin, but his back was still straight.
"This is my old man. He worked in that pit for two years and knows the way!"
He Lingchuan invited them inside. "Old gentleman, what did you used to do in the mine?"
"A bit of everything." Unlike his wife, the old man seemed quite honest, answering every question. "Quarrying stone, digging ore, chiseling tunnels, shoring timber, and setting explosives."
He Lingchuan was surprised. "You used explosives?"
Quite modern. He had visited the mines in Qiansong Commandery, where extraction was done purely by manual labor.
"Ah, yes, it saves a lot of effort. We've been using gunpowder for work here for many years." In other words, a long-standing tradition. "Even when the pit was abandoned, a lot of gunpowder was left unused."
Shan Youjun and the others couldn't help cursing under their breath. Now they finally knew where the gunpowder that blew up the Dunyu grain convoy officials had come from!
He Lingchuan had naturally realized this as well. His eyes glinted slightly as he asked the old man, "You wouldn't happen to have any of that gunpowder left at home, would you?"
"No, no, absolutely not." The old man waved his hands repeatedly. "How could I do something so stupid? If it blew up the house, that wouldn't be worth it!"
"Uh..." The old woman beside him looked awkward. "The gunpowder you're talking about... wouldn't happen to be hidden in those black-and-white jars, would it?"
Married for decades, the old man understood her the moment he saw her expression. He cried out in horror, "Don't tell me you stashed gunpowder at home! I clearly threw it out!"
The old woman gave a sheepish grin. "It seemed such a waste to throw it away."
He Lingchuan snapped his fingers. The heavens were truly on his side.
"Then please find it and bring it to me." He glanced back at his men. "It's only right that we return Hong Chenglüe the favor in kind."
Chapter 266