Chapter 18 Liu Wu
at dusk.
To the west of the imperial city of Haojing, there is Yipinfang Market, Fengtiaofang, and Jiangtanzi Street.
This is the busiest street in Fengtiaofang. Even in the first month of the lunar year, it is still bustling with people coming and going.
Walking on the street, Lu Yi listened to the introduction of Ding Laohe, the senior five-star supervisor who was in charge of him, and couldn't help but take a deep breath.
Liu Wu, male, 25 years old, young master of Liujiazhuang in Jingufang.
Jingufang, the seventh-grade market town in Haojing, is 350 miles long and wide, with over 4 million acres of high-quality farmland, of which Liujiazhuang occupies 10%. Every year, the Liu family earns a lot of money just from selling grain, raising silkworms and reeling silk, and their family is very wealthy.
Liu Wu's father had a son when he was old . Liu Wu had seven older sisters, all of whom were married to gentry and wealthy businessmen in Jingufang and neighboring markets. Liu Wu was spoiled by his father, mother, seven sisters and brothers-in-law since he was young, and he developed a lot of bad habits.
He was fond of women and was also naughty and violent. Over the past few years, the Liu family had reported to the magistrate's office that there were as many as forty-three maids who had died of sudden illness!
"Forty-three people? The Jingufang Commander doesn't care?"
As soon as he said this, Lu Yi slapped himself lightly.
Tube?
How to manage it?
Those maids must have signed a death contract as slaves; they were the private property of the Liu family.
These "slaves" were extremely lowly. According to Dayin's laws, they were not even considered human beings, but were equivalent to the cattle and sheep raised by the Liu family.
What's wrong with killing a few of your own animals?
How could the Jingufang Ling possibly bother the Liu family, who owned hundreds of thousands of acres of land and had a lot of in-laws and connections, just for the death of a few "lowly people"?
Old He, who had dark skin and a simple and honest appearance, looked like an "honest old farmer". He laughed a few times and pointed at Lu Yi: "It's good that you understand. Those maids were obviously molested and tortured to death. However, this is the law of the country. Liu Wu is indeed not a good person, but according to the law, he is not guilty!"
There was silence.
"Then, why are we looking for him?" Lu Yi asked Lao He in confusion.
"In the eighteenth year of Jiayou, that is, on the eighteenth day of the twelfth lunar month of last year, another maidservant of the Liu family, 'Green Bird', died suddenly of illness." Old He walked forward quickly, looking around the street vigilantly: "That night, Green Bird was buried."
"Then on the 20th day of the twelfth lunar month, at the Qionghua Pavilion in Min'anfang, Anlefang Commander He Jun was attacked."
Old He said in a deep voice: "A dignified fourth-rank square commander was almost killed on the spot, and the injuries were extremely... weird."
"There are witnesses in Qionghua Pavilion who saw the appearance of the assailant who attacked He Jun."
"Based on their statements, we drew a portrait of the murderer."
"It was just a coincidence. The Guardian had spies in the human tooth business, and he was the one who handled the sale of Green Bird to the Liu family in late November last year. Green Bird was very beautiful and had some literacy skills, so he was worth a lot of money. And not long had passed, so he was very impressed by Green Bird and recognized the murderer in the portrait as Green Bird."
Lu Yu felt a chill on the back of his heart, and the hairs on his neck stood up.
"Brother He, are you saying that a maid who had been dead for two days ran to Qionghua Pavilion and attacked Anlefang Ling He Jun?"
Lao He's voice was a little hoarse.
"A team of brothers was assigned to dig up Greenbird's grave. Inside the coffin, there was only a set of shrouds and a pool of blood."
"I heard from the brothers who were at the scene that in the middle of winter, when the coffin was opened, the blood was gushing out, but it didn't freeze at all."
Lu Yu felt his teeth go cold and the hairs on his body stood up.
Old He continued, "A six-star captain led a team to investigate and found that except for Liu Wu, the old owner of the Liu family, his wife, and all the servants were dead."
Lu Yu was shocked.
Old He shook his head and glanced at a few men who were leaning against the wall and squatting at the corner of the street chatting.
"According to the villagers of Liujia Village, in the early morning of the second day after Luque was buried, which was the 19th day of the twelfth lunar month, they heard screams and cries coming from the Liu family compound. Someone saw through the crack in the door that Liu Wu and two guards had escaped from Jingufang overnight."
"At noon the next day, the villagers plucked up the courage to go to the Liu family compound to check, only to find that the entire Liu family had died. All of them were shrunken, like mummies that had been exposed to the sun for months."
Old He took Lu Yi and walked towards the idle men, muttering to himself.
"What's annoying is that they didn't report it to the police in time."
"Liu Wu ran away. The elders of the Liu family took the initiative and avoided the Fangling Yamen to deliver letters to Liu Wu's seven sisters and brothers-in-law. When those idiots arrived at Liujiazhuang and were busy fighting for the family property, our palace guards had already come to the door."
"Look, Liu Wu's sister, brother-in-law, and the elders of the Liu family are still imprisoned in the secret prison."
"Alas, they didn't know where Liu Wu was, but the captains and generals above didn't believe it... They were beaten day after day, and the blood and flesh flew everywhere!"
"In my opinion, the adults above are determined to beat them all to death."
"Liujiazhuang has hundreds of thousands of acres of good land."
"And the seven brothers-in-law's families have almost the same wealth as the Liu family. Hehe, you understand, right?"
"As for Liu Wu, we need to find out what happened that night. We also need to find out whether that Green Bird is a human or a ghost."
"Finally, the land of Liujiazhuang."
Lao He lowered his voice and said, "It's easier to take over unowned land. So, Liu Wu must be found. And whichever team of brothers can find Liu Wu will definitely get credit and will definitely receive a lot of rewards!"
When a few idle men saw Old He and Lu Yi in white robes, they stood up hurriedly, bowed politely from a distance, and called them "Uncle He" affectionately.
Old He pointed at a few idlers and said coldly, "These are the members of the Three Tigers Gang. Thousands of shops on Jiangtan Street have to pay them a share of the money every month. Of course, 60% of it belongs to the team led by Brother Lu, and we have to hand over half of it to the higher-ups."
Lu Yi looked at the idle men and said nothing.
These idle guys were just born strong and powerful, and had learned some basic martial arts, so they were on the threshold of Pei Yuan realm.
They must be good at bullying good people.
But in front of a violent organization like the Guardian Prison, they are just a group of docile little lambs.
Not to mention Lu Tianxing, even Lao He, who is in charge of leading Lu Yi, has also reached the seventh level of Tuomai cultivation and can easily crush these idlers to death with one hand.
While Lao He was speaking, a few idle men stood there, bowing respectfully, looking like filial sons and grandchildren meeting their grandfather.
Old He whispered a few words to Lu Yi. His simple and honest face suddenly turned ferocious and he slapped the idlers in the face.
A dozen slaps made the idlers dizzy, and two of them had blood spurting out of their noses, but they stood there without daring to move, letting the blood drip and stain their clothes red.
A small area of the nearby street immediately cleared, and many pedestrians looked over here with curiosity and fear.
"Any news? Any useful news?" Old He roared fiercely, "Let me tell you, Brother Lu has been very angry these past few days. When he's angry, we brothers get even angrier!"
"To put it bluntly, once we get angry, we don't know what we will do!"
"You guys, do you want to stay in the secret prison of the palace guard for a few days?"
Several idlers turned pale with fear. One of the tallest idlers begged for mercy in a trembling voice: "Master He, Master He, we have hundreds of brothers in the Three Tigers Gang. We have been working non-stop for the past two days."
"I guarantee it with my life, with my head, that there are no outsiders or idlers in the 1,572 shops and 5,697 households on Jiangtan Street."
"The night before yesterday, the man who was stabbed at the street corner must have been attacked by a passerby."
"Passerby." Lao He slapped the idler in the face so hard that the idler turned around on the spot and hit the back of his head heavily on the stone wall behind him.
He pointed at the idler and said coldly, "I know you filthy fellows are all good at being lazy and slacking off. You are afraid of offending others, so even if you receive the news, most of you will hide it from us."
"In the past, we just let it go. After all, there is no shortage of lowly people like you on the streets."
"But this time, it's different."
"Brother Lu said that I will give you three more days. If you still don't have reliable news after three days, your Sanhu Gang will be finished. Take my words to your leader and get out!"
A few idle men knelt on the ground with a "thump", kowtowed to Lao He, then got up and ran away.
Old He coughed heavily.
A few idle men shuddered and turned around hurriedly. They took out a few small strings of money from their sleeves and handed them to Lao He respectfully.
Old He shook a few strings of money, and casually stuffed about half of them, about two hundred copper coins, into Lu Yi's hand.
"Go away. Three days. Remember that." Old He had a gloomy face and glared at the idlers fiercely.
A few idle men ran away, faster than a rabbit hit by an arrow in the buttocks.
Lu Yi looked at the copper coin in his hand and laughed dryly: "Brother He, this?"
Old He naturally put the copper coins in his hand into his sleeves, and returned to his simple and honest appearance: "These ghosts in the land, their parents don't love them, and they don't have a legitimate business. The money in their hands must have come from an illegal source."
"We use this money to spend, which is taken from the people and used for the people , and it is acting on behalf of heaven!"
Lu Yi was stunned.
'Take from the people and give back to the people', there is actually such an explanation?
"But, to be honest, if they still don't receive any useful information after three days, the Three Tigers Gang will be finished."
Lao He sighed, "The night before yesterday, a brother was killed at the entrance of Huangjiang Hutong on Jiangtanzi Street. The four underground ghosts under his command were also killed. None of them escaped."
"This is already the eighteenth brother who has died in the past few days. Brother Lu is already heartbroken, and Huang Ba Pi from the next team has also said a few words to him. How can he not be angry?"
With his arms folded across his chest, Lao He took Lu Yi and continued walking along the street.
"That Huang Ba Pi, he has been coveting the Jiangtan Street for a long time. Tsk, next time you run into him, you have to be careful, his team is our mortal enemy."
"Well, these days, so many teams have been busy with this case, and no one from other teams has gotten into trouble, but our team has suffered heavy casualties. Otherwise, you wouldn't have been assigned to our team, right? That Huang Ba Pi found an excuse to find fault with us. We were all angry to begin with, and after being tossed around like this, Brother Lu is really furious."
Lu Yi followed Lao He and walked along the street for a while, thinking about what Lao He had said.
After a long time, when Lao He had taught the third group of idlers a lesson, Lu Yi said in a deep voice: "Brother He, I think the brothers in our team suffered the most casualties. I'm afraid that the brothers have unknowingly found out the trick."
Old He's eyes suddenly lit up.
