The first volume of pearl curtains rolls up the western mountain rain at dusk Chapter 62 This is the Investigation Department
The owner of the restaurant who only drinks is called Lu Ruiming. Two years ago, he spent most of his savings to buy a property in Daxing, the capital city. He sent his wife and children to the capital, and he stayed alone to run the restaurant.
Drinking alcohol is a tradition passed down in his family, and he doesn't want it to end in his hands. The restaurant has been passed down for more than a hundred years, and he would feel sorry for his parents and ancestors if it were to end.
But he also knew that with the current state of Great Chu, no one could predict when a small county like Tang County would be breached by bandits.
Even if Laihu County, Liu Chongxin's hometown, is next door, those bandits might attack us when they run out of food and fodder in the winter.
In the past two years, he has been accompanied by several waiters and chefs in the kitchen. Most of them have to go home at night, but fortunately Yu Jiuling lives here, so he doesn't feel so lonely.
After three glasses of wine, Lu Ruiming's face turned slightly red.
"What the hell, this is the only one of its kind."
Lu Ruiming slammed the table and cursed.
Everyone was confused, wondering why such a sentence came from?
"Everyone says that we only drink authentic Shaodaozi, which has a pure taste, a strong aroma, and a sharp flavor, but in fact... it's just that we don't mix it with water. The wine sold by other families is mixed with half water in a jar, which can only taste a little bit."
Yu Jiuling said, "Boss, you must have drunk too much."
"many?"
Lu Ruiming said: "You don't know how strong your own wine is? You underestimate me."
He looked at Yu Jiuling and smiled, "If I were ten years younger, I would have knocked all of you down here... When I was a kid, my dad taught me how to make wine, but I stole wine to drink when I had nothing to do. My dad thought there was something wrong with the process, and the wine I produced was always less than before."
He said loudly: "After drinking too much, I thought I should be a chivalrous hero. At that time, when I listened to storytelling, those who could drink were all great heroes."
His tone suddenly changed, with a hint of sadness.
"At that time, there were no bandits, and the people were able to get by... I don't know why, but later the court kept increasing taxes, until the people had no food to eat..."
Yu Jiuling said: "Boss, you really have drunk too much."
"I don't!"
Lu Ruiming said, "I know my alcohol tolerance... You all know whether I am right or not. Where does the money of the court go? Why do you keep taking money from the pockets of the people?"
Yan Qingzhi said: "Shopkeeper Lu, drink less."
Just at this moment, a few people came in from outside the door, looked inside, and saw that only Li Diudiu's table was occupied. Because there was a sign outside saying "Free today", and they felt it was too suffocating to drink in the private room, so they sat in the lobby. When those few people came in, they looked a little unfriendly, and their hands were on their swords.
Ye Zhangzhu, who had not drunk any alcohol, frowned slightly and said to Xia Houzhuo softly, "They are from the Investigation Bureau. They should be related to Mr. Yuming's case. Don't act rashly."
The guards from the Criminal Investigation Department came in, led by a sergeant. He looked at everyone and said, "Who is Lu Ruiming, the owner of this restaurant?"
Lu Ruiming quickly stood up and said, "Sir, it's me."
The sergeant narrowed his eyes at him and said, "Come with us now. The Investigation Department has something to ask you."
Lu Ruiming was startled and asked quickly, "Sir, what's the matter?"
"Why are you talking so much!"
The sergeant of the guard shouted angrily, "Stop talking nonsense and follow us now."
Lu Ruiming didn't know why he was found by the people from the Criminal Investigation Bureau. In fact, he was destined to be unlucky. Last night, he followed Li Diudiu and the others and wanted to persuade them not to take Yu Jiuling away, but he came across Mr. Yuming's incident and watched the excitement out of curiosity.
Not long ago, the Criminal Investigation Department authorized Yan Jiuji to enter the city and ordered the arrest of people for questioning. Some people said that Lu Ruiming, the owner of Zhijiujiu, was present at the time, and they also found out that Mr. Yuming had been to Zhijiujiu to drink several times before.
Xiahou Zhuo stood up and was about to speak when Ye Zhangzhu pulled his clothes, signaling him not to reveal his identity for the time being.
Before Xiahou Zhuo could speak, Yan Qingzhi stood up and said, "Sir, I am a teacher at the Four Pages Academy in Jizhou City. Manager Lu is my good friend. Has he never committed any crime?"
"What happened to the Four Pages Academy?"
The face of the sergeant of the guard department turned ugly. He stared into Yan Qingzhi's eyes and said, "Do you think that as a poor instructor, you can stop the investigation department from handling cases? If you want to meddle in other people's affairs, you should consider whether you have enough weight and don't get yourself into trouble."
Yan Qingzhi was slightly angry.
"it's okay no problem."
Lu Ruiming said, "The officer just sent me over to ask questions. I haven't done anything wrong. Don't worry. I'll be back soon."
He straightened his clothes and walked out. After a few steps, he turned back and said, "Jiuling, greet the gentlemen."
Yu Jiuling said, "Boss, I 'll go with you."
The sergeant of the guard department said angrily, "You are dithering like this, do you want me to lock him up?"
Lu Ruiming leaned forward and said, "No, no, please calm down, sir. I will go with you now. This child is young and ignorant, sir, please don't pay attention to him."
As he walked away, he turned back and said, "Jiuling, take care of the business too."
After saying that, he glanced towards the counter and Yu Jiuling immediately understood that the shopkeeper wanted him to take good care of the money.
After Ye Zhangzhu and the other officers from the Criminal Investigation Department took Manager Lu away, they said, "It shouldn't be a big deal. He doesn't have any connection with Mr. Yuming. Maybe it's just a routine question. Who knows, maybe Mr. Yuming has been here to drink before."
Yu Jiuling said, "He has been here before. Mr. Yuming likes my Shaodaozi very much and praised me for being smart. I remember Mr. Yuming once wrote a poem praising our Shaodaozi wine."
It would have been better if he didn't say this. After hearing this, everyone's faces darkened. However, Yu Jiuling didn't think there was anything wrong with it.
The lobby of the county government office.
Commander Yan Jiuji sat on the chair and looked at the people kneeling below. All of these people had had interactions with Mr. Yuming.
"that."
He raised his finger and pointed at Lu Ruiming and said, "Bring him here for questioning."
Two guards stepped forward and kicked Lu Ruiming: "Step forward!"
Lu Ruiming quickly crawled to the nearby place on his knees, and said with a pale face, "Whatever you want to ask, I will tell you everything I know."
Yan Jiuji asked: "I heard that Mr. Yuming often came to your restaurant to drink. Are you familiar with him?"
Lu Ruiming said, "In fact, Mr. Yuming has not been here very often, only five or six times. Most of the time, his disciples come to buy wine and bring it back, so I can't say that I am familiar with Mr. Yuming."
"Let me ask you, has Mr. Yuming ever gotten drunk while drinking in your restaurant?"
"Yes...twice."
Yan Jiuji nodded after hearing this: "That's it, this guy is one... Mr. Yuming drank too much in his restaurant, and he talked about how much money he had at home, and this guy got malicious. He runs a restaurant and has a lot of dealings with some bandits in the Jianghu, so they conspired to break into Mr. Yuming's house to rob and kill a lot of people."
Hearing this, Lu Ruiming's face turned extremely pale in an instant. He kept kowtowing and said, "Sir, I am innocent. I am not familiar with Mr. Yuming at all, and he has never said anything in my shop. I really don't know how a thief broke into his house."
Yan Jiuji snorted coldly and said, "I don't think you will confess so easily... Come, torture me!"
At his command, two guards came over. One of them grabbed Lu Ruiming's hair and pulled it back, and Lu Ruiming's face was lifted up. The other guard took out an iron plate and slapped Lu Ruiming's face left and right. After a few hits, blood started to fly all over Lu Ruiming's face.
The people kneeling nearby were all terrified, and were shaking like sieved chaff.
Yan Jiuji looked at those people and asked, "You saw it, the thief is so stubborn. He refuses to confess even though there is solid evidence. Do you want to learn from him?"
Those people immediately shook their heads and were so scared that they almost wet their pants.
"Did anyone testify against him?"
Yan Jiuji asked again.
The few people kneeling in the lobby of the county government office were all businessmen. Some sold cooked food, some sold snacks, and some sold dried fruits and preserves. They were all familiar with Lu Ruiming on weekdays. Who would be willing to testify against his conscience? As fellow villagers, no one was willing to do such a thing.
Seeing that no one spoke, Yan Jiuji pointed at one of them and said, "This person is shielding a criminal and not speaking out. This is as serious as murder. Punish him, even if it means beating him to death."
Several other guards rushed over, pinned the merchant to the ground and started beating him violently. They had understood the meaning of Yan Jiuji's words, so they attacked him extremely cruelly. It wasn't long before the man was beaten to death with blood coming out of all his seven orifices.
Yan Jiuji stood up, walked around those people, and asked, "Is there anyone willing to testify against this heinous criminal? If you don't think about yourselves, you should think about your families. If you shield the criminal like this, you will end up in a bad way."
"I……"
One of the merchants trembled and said, "I am willing to testify against this person. He...he colluded with a group of bandits because he knew that Mr. Yuming's family had a huge fortune."
Yan Jiuji smiled and said, "A man who knows the current situation is a hero. You are a smart man. Then let me ask you, how did you know this?"
The man trembled as he answered, "He...tried to recruit me?"
Yan Jiuji hummed: "Reasonable."
He turned around and ordered: "The accomplice has already identified the principal offender, sign and seal the accomplice..."
He paused and looked at Lu Ruiming's face, which had been smashed. The sides of his face were bloody and his mouth was torn open. However, Yan Jiuji seemed unsatisfied. He pointed at Lu Ruiming's mouth and said, "The tongue was pulled out... You all saw it. He bit his tongue to hide his crime."
After saying this, Yan Jiuji returned to his seat and sat down. He looked at the county officials who were terrified and silent and said, "My lords, you all saw it, right?"
The officials of Tang County nodded repeatedly.
"Yes, yes, this thief is so vicious that he even bit off his tongue and tried to commit suicide."
Yan Jiuji smiled and said, "If that's the case, then there is both human and physical evidence that bandits broke into Mr. Yuming's house... By the way, where is the physical evidence?"
The regiment commander Yuan Wuxian, who had just returned, stepped forward and said, "I brought back dozens of weapons, which I found in the thief's home. There are bloodstains on the weapons, so the evidence is solid."
Yan Jiuji hummed and ordered, "Go, go to the restaurant and see if there are any thieves who have escaped."
Yuan Wuxian immediately responded, "I obey your command!"
