Kaifeng House Small Dining Table

Wang Chao, who had already inquired about the deceased, reported back: "The deceased's name is Liu Sanshui, 35 years old, from Xuzhou. At the end of last year, he went to the city alone to open this tailor shop. His wife and children are in Xuzhou. There used to be a clerk in the shop. Yue was arrested for stealing cloth, Liu Sanshui wanted to send him to the officer, but the guy beat him up halfway and then ran away. Recently, he was the only one in the tailor shop.

People in these nearby shops said that Liu Sanshui had a bad temper, and he didn't like to talk to everyone. In the past, his clerk would often beat and scold him when he didn't make any mistakes.At midnight last night, the waiter at the east restaurant saw the owner of the tailor shop close the door. When he opened the door early this morning, the tailor shop door was already open, but no one saw it.It was raining today, and there were no customers. Everyone was busy cleaning their shops, and didn't pay much attention to the abnormal state of the tailor's shop. It was not until Zhao Han entered the tailor's shop that he found the body. "

"Master speculates that the time of death was last night. You should focus on investigating the situation last night." After Zhan Zhao ordered, he planned to find Zhao Hanyan, but in a blink of an eye, he found that she was standing by the wall at some point, watching everything coldly.

"Aren't you afraid of corpses?" Zhan Zhao walked up to Zhao Hanyan, and added an explanation, "Mr. just now was afraid that you would be frightened, so let me comfort you, but I don't think you seem too frightened."

"Not afraid." Zhao Hanyan said bluntly, his eyes still on the coir raincoat on the ground.

Zhan Zhao followed Zhao Hanyan's gaze and asked doubtfully, "What?"

"This is also the case in the last case?" Zhao Hanyan turned his eyes, and then met Zhan Zhao's eyes full of inquiry.

Zhan Zhao nodded and asked Zhao Hanyan what he meant.

"It's nothing." Seeing that Zhan Zhao didn't intend to leave, Zhao Hanyan smiled at Zhan Zhao, "Are you wondering why I'm not afraid of corpses? The cook handles 'corpses' every day, and sometimes 'dismembers corpses'."

Zhan Zhao looked at Zhao Hanyan suspiciously.

Zhao Hanyan: "Chicken, duck, goose, fish..."

Zhan Zhao suddenly understood, shook his head and smiled helplessly, "You dare to joke with me? If I really thought you were a murderer just now, I would have taken you with a knife, and you probably wouldn't even have a chance to breathe right now."

"Because I know that Guard Zhan has chivalry in his heart, distinguishes right from wrong, and will never kill a good person by mistake." Zhao Hanyan explained, "Master Zhan, do you have anything else to ask? If not, I should go back to pickle radishes."

Zhan Zhao came back to his senses and nodded. Although he had a lot of thoughts about Zhao Hanyan in his heart, the investigation was important right now, and the little cook couldn't run away.

Zhao Hanyan nodded to Zhan Zhao, and left with Chunlai carrying a basket of radishes.

After Gongsun Ce inspected the scene, he didn't see Zhan Zhao, so he searched around. Seeing him staring at the back door in a daze, Gongsun Ce went to pat Zhan Zhao on the shoulder.

"Is something wrong?"

"It's okay." Zhan Zhao smiled slightly at Gongsun Ce, "Sir, have you checked the identity of the little cook?"

"It is true that there is such a person on the household registration, and the house has been checked. Although the house is big, it is dilapidated." Gongsun Ce asked Zhan Zhao, "Why, do you suspect that there is something wrong with Zhao Han's little brother's identity?"

Zhan Zhao frowned, not knowing whether to nod or shake his head, so he had to tell Gongsun Ce the conversation between the two of them just now.

After Gongsun Ce heard this, he twitched his beard and laughed, "It makes sense, cooks and butlers do have something in common, and cooks often cut open 'corpses'."

"Sir, I'm not joking, this little cook is not simple."

"I said earlier that he is not simple, and if it is simple, who would dare to come to us as a cook." Gongsun Ce had already figured this out, and soon found that Zhao Han was gone, asked Zhan Zhao where he was going, and learned that she had returned home After the pickled radish was gone, Gongsun Ce smiled and said with emotion, "I saw such a horrible corpse just now, but I can still think about the pickled radish and work hard. Do you think this is a bit similar to Mr. Bao?"

Zhan Zhao: "..."

Zhao Hanyan bought some more salt on the way back.

When we returned to the kitchen of Kaifeng Mansion, the sky had cleared up.At a glance, Zhao Hanyan saw Xiuzhu sitting on the porch in a daze, motionless.

"What's going on here?"

"I'm afraid, I dare not be alone in the room after I come back." Chun went to look at Xiuzhu over there, and whispered to Zhao Hanyan.

"I'm going to persuade her, you go and wash the jar and scald it with boiling water."

Spring comes and spring goes, brothers promise.

Zhao Hanyan called Xiuzhu over.Xiuzhu immediately came back to her senses, and when she saw Zhao Hanyan, she hurried over and hugged Zhao Hanyan's arm, expressing fear tremblingly.

"Go and wash the radishes." Zhao Hanyan pointed to the two baskets of radishes on the ground.

Xiuzhu was stunned.

"Don't be idle when you are busy, you won't think about it." Zhao Hanyan explained.

Xiuzhu nodded understandingly, and went to the well to fetch water to wash the radishes without saying a word.Despite Xiuzhu's slender stature, she has strong hands and can carry things that weigh dozens of kilograms without much effort.Zhao Hanyan likes her very much, not only has a good temper but also works neatly, so among so many maidservants, she is the only one who trusts her and takes her by her side.

Zhao Hanyan divided the radishes into small, medium, and large parts according to their size. The small parts were shredded and dried in the sun for later cooking; into refreshing salted radishes; the remaining largest and crispest radishes are used to make pickled radishes.The method is also very simple. Cut the radish into the pattern you like, put it in the jar, add the carefully selected sauce that Zhao Hanyan bought in the market before, and wait for a day or two before eating it.

After finishing the radishes, Zhao Hanyan thought that Zhan Zhao and the others might have to stay up late tonight, so he grabbed some shredded radishes and salted them.Take two catties of red beans and add water to the pot, then use the temporary stove built yesterday to cook the beans.After Zhao Hanyan sent Laiwang to watch the fire, he stretched and went back to his room to rest.Xiuzhu also finished her work, and she was so tired that her whole body ached. After returning to the house with Zhao Hanyan, she fell asleep on the bed.Seeing that she was sleeping soundly, Zhao Hanyan didn't think about the murder scene or have any nightmares, and covered her with a thin quilt with a smile.She couldn't fall asleep, so she lay on the couch and read the recipes. When she was really sleepy, she took a nap and slept for about half a stick of incense.

When Zhao Hanyan came out of the room, the sunset had already burned the western sky red.

Xiuzhu changed into fresh clothes and followed behind Zhao Hanyan, finally with a smile on her face.

"Better?" Zhao Hanyan asked.

Xiuzhu nodded straightly: "It's strange that the servant is worthless. She came to serve the young master, but in the end she wants to make the young master worry about me. I will never do it next time!"

"Too polite." Zhao Hanyan shook his head and left.

Xiuzhu hurriedly followed and continued to make amends, but soon realized that she was being 'polite' after making amends, so she covered her mouth.

"Okay, I'm joking with you, help me cook." Zhao Hanyan smiled.

"Cooking? But the stove isn't ready yet."

"Just use that temporary stove to make something simple." Zhao Hanyan insisted.

Xiuzhu couldn't help laughing and sighed: "Our son really likes cooking."

When the two of them arrived at the kitchen, Lai Wang was bringing a cart of firewood to the kitchen.The driver was an old man surnamed Zhang over sixty years old, with a thin body and dark skin, half of his teeth were missing when he smiled, but he was full of simplicity.Old man Zhang jumped out of the bullock cart and helped Laiwang unload the cart with a smile.Laiwang was moving firewood while talking loudly to old man Zhang. Although the old man pointed his ears in the direction of Laiwang, he still couldn’t hear clearly occasionally, so he asked with a smile: “Brother Laiwang just said that. of what?"

Laiwang and old man Zhang started to unload the cart, and they each tore a bundle of firewood from the cart, when suddenly something fell down.Laiwang put down the firewood, picked up the long thing that had just dropped on the ground, and upon closer inspection, it turned out to be a nanmu ruler with silver nails.The color of the ruler is brownish red, and the surface is smooth and shiny. It looks like a good thing at first glance, and it will be burned in the woodpile that no one would throw into it.Laiwang belonged to old man Zhang, and he accidentally dropped it while chopping firewood, and hurriedly sent it to old man Zhang.

Old man Zhang shook his head while waving his hands, "Isn't this mine?"

"It's really not yours? Then why is it on your diesel car?" Laiwang kept his voice high.

After the old man listened, he shook his head and waved his hands faster, "It's not mine, it's really not mine, and I don't know why I'm here."

Laiwang refused to accept it, and wanted to argue with old man Zhang. The ruler fell from old man Zhang's car, so how could it not have anything to do with him.

The more Zhao Hanyan looked at the ruler in Wang's hand, the more he felt that something was wrong. He walked up to Laiwang and asked for the ruler. He looked carefully back and forth, and finally saw a red mark on the worn part of the ruler.

Zhao Hanyan asked uncertainly, "Is it a tailor's ruler?"

Xiuzhu nodded straight: "Yes."

Zhao Hanyan frowned, and asked old man Zhang where he lived, where he drove into the city from, and whether he stopped halfway.

"Chai packed up and came to the city early this morning. The ox carts are slow, and it's time to go to Kaifeng Mansion. Starting from Baokang Village, when entering the city, go to the New Song Gate, then to the Old Song Gate, and then to Kaifeng Mansion." Thinking back carefully, old man Zhang stopped the car three times on the way, twice outside the city for lunch and a urgency, and once inside the city to buy two catties of snacks at the Zhuangyuan Building.Old man Zhang's eldest daughter and son-in-law live in Tokyo. Every time old man Zhang goes to the city to deliver firewood, he will stay at the eldest daughter's house that night. This snack is a gift for the child when he goes to his daughter's house later.

Zhao Hanyan took the ruler and went to find Gongsun Ce.But then I learned from the yacha that Gongsun Ce and others were still working on the case and had not returned.Zhao Hanyan asked Master Bao's whereabouts again, and he was not there because he entered the palace under the imperial edict.Zhao Hanyan had no choice but to take the ruler back to the kitchen and find a clean place to put it away.

She subconsciously scanned several people in the kitchen, but Li San was nowhere to be seen.Thinking back carefully, she did not see Li San today.

Zhao Hanyan immediately asked everyone where Li San went.

"Li San? I don't know."