"So many banknotes!" Yan Li was taken aback, and waved to Lu Yun, the guard guarding the door, "Come here, count..."
Not to mention Yan Li was surprised, even Qin Yan, who was also from a prosperous family, widened his eyes. There was a thick stack of bank notes that landed, all of which were placed in the bamboo tube. Although there was only one stack, the denominations were huge.
Lu Yun finished betting expressionlessly, "Master, one hundred thousand taels of silver."
Hearing this, the expression of everyone in the room was not right. One hundred thousand taels of silver, even if Liu Renli was the head of the two lake salt transport envoys, all the lumi in one year would add up to less than a thousand taels. This one hundred thousand taels For money, Liu Renli can't make it back even if he has been a salt transport envoy for a hundred years. Where did the money come from...
Coincidentally, the eyes of Yan Li and Wang Huaiyu fell on Pang Fuliang.
There was a wry smile on Pang Fuliang's face, and he said with a long sigh, "Don't dare to hide it from His Highness and the Magistrate, Brother Liu came to me this time to borrow money, and this one hundred thousand taels of silver note is exactly what I gave the day before yesterday. his."
Yan Li had just moved the bag, but at this moment he somehow felt that the bag smelled bad, so he stood a little further away and raised his eyebrows, "Liu Yun is the same court official, what do you want so much money for?"
Pang Fuliang smiled wryly, "I just heard him say that something went wrong in the official business, and he needs money to make up for it..."
Having said that, there was still no one who didn't understand. Yan Li frowned, and Qin Yan's face was completely darkened. There was only one possibility that the official duties of the salt transportation had to be paid for with money and silver. Only a few corrupt officials were appointed, but Liu Renli was also deeply involved in it. Qin Yan's eyes showed a bit of coldness, and he immediately lost his sympathy for Liu Renli's death.
Thinking about it this way, Qin Yan couldn't help but glance at Qin Wan. Qin Wan reminded him that Zhou Huai had just asked Zhou Huai to check on Liu Renli, only to find out that he had some dirty accounts on the salt tax, so he made a decision immediately. I thought it was just that, but I didn't expect Liu Renli to take one hundred thousand taels of silver from Pang Fuliang to make up for the shortfall. If this amount is found out by the court, it would be a capital crime. But it really got me into trouble...
Qin Yan felt a little scared, but he paid more and more attention to Qin Wan.
"Interesting and interesting. If you need to use one hundred thousand taels of silver to make up for it, then the amount of corruption is quite a lot."
Yan Li smiled, and said, "Master Pang is worthy of being the richest man in Northwest China, and it can easily cost one hundred thousand taels of silver. Since Master Pang knew that Liu Yuntong had committed a crime, he helped cover it up. He is really kind..."
Pang Fuconscience knew that Yan Li's words were meant to be mocking, but he didn't dare to refute, "Forgive me, Your Highness, at first the villain didn't know what he wanted money for, but he guessed something later and asked him, but he refused to explain clearly. , The villain didn’t know what was going on, and he thought he was an old friend, so he never thought of reporting to the official, it was the villain who helped the evildoers.”
Pang Fuliang's attitude changed quickly, and Yan Li smiled again, "Master Pang's behavior is only natural, but... one hundred thousand taels of silver is just given out so casually, how much is the annual tax payment for the property under the name of Master Pang?"
Pang Fuliang's forehead was covered with sweat, "Your Highness is joking, the Pang family is passed down as a rich man outside, but in fact, the villain took a lot of trouble to transfer the one hundred thousand taels of silver, if it wasn't for the sake of an old friend In fact, the villain will definitely not borrow, and the villain made it clear to Liu Yuntong the day before yesterday that there will be no next time. As for paying taxes, the property under Ponzi’s name is the first in the Northwest every year in tax payments. penny..."
Yan Li chuckled, "Master Pang, don't be nervous, I'll just talk casually."
Pang Fuliang smiled apologetically, and Wang Huaiyu looked at the banknotes on the ground and said, "Put these banknotes away first, and when the investigation is over, if Master Pang has nothing to do with the case, these banknotes will be returned to Master Pang, but Master Pang indulged Liu Yuntong's matter." That's another matter."
Pang Fuliang had no choice but to apologize, but Yan Chi glanced at Pang Fuliang for a moment, then turned his eyes to the door.
Outside the door of the main room, Pang Yiwen, who hadn't shown his face for several days, was looking around. Seeing that there were many people in the room, he didn't come in. However, seeing that Qin Wan was also in the room, he turned his eyes to Qin Wan again.
On the other side, Wang Huaiyu ordered, "Search this place carefully, and the rest of you will follow me outside to have a look."
Wang Huaiyu ordered, then looked at Yan Chi again, Yan Chi said, "Go ahead, don't worry about me for now."
Wang Huaiyu respectfully responded, and then led the people out. Pang Fuliang took Pang Youde and followed Wang Huaiyu. When he got outside, Pang Yiwen hurriedly greeted him, "Father, why did someone die again..."
Hearing this question, Pang Fuliang suddenly became angry, and cast a sharp glance at Pang Yiwen without answering.
When Pang Fuliang found out about Pang Yiwen's eating of the thousand gold Shen Meng Wan, he felt guilty, so he didn't dare to be presumptuous, so he hurriedly followed Pang Fuliang respectfully—
Inside, Qin Wan was looking at Liu Renli's room.
After looking around, Qin Wan's eyes fell on the light stand in front of the east window.
It was a bronze crane-shaped lamp, and at this moment, the candles inserted in it had been burned out, and the white wax dyed brown dripped down the socket of the lamp, and even the wick was burnt, leaving only a few charred stars.
Qin Wan turned around and looked at the rest of the room, but there were no other lights in the room. Qin Wan frowned, feeling a little strange.
Yan Chi stepped forward, "What's wrong?"
Qin Wan pointed to the crane-shaped lamp stand, "The candle is burnt out."
Yan Chi looked over and frowned, and Yan Li stepped forward, "What's the matter? What happened when the candle burned out?"
Qin Wan then asked, "Will His Highness burn out all the candles?"
Yan Li tilted his head and thought for a moment, "When the candle burns to the end, the light goes out. There is no reason to burn the wick. Usually there is a little left and you have to change it..."
Qin Wan said, "The hospitality in Qinghui Garden is considerate. If you find that the candles are gone or there are not many left, you will naturally change them. It can be seen that Mr. Liu probably stayed up all night last night, so he burned out the candles." .”
Yan Chi looked at Qin Wan, and Qin Wan said, "This explains why Lord Liu died in the middle of the night, but his clothes were fully dressed. He was probably so anxious about something that he couldn't sleep..."
Yan Li smiled, "I've got the bank notes, why can't I fall asleep?"
Yan Chi and Qin Wan looked at each other, and Qin Wan shook his head, "I'm not sure yet, and there's one more thing that's very strange. There can't be only one lamp in this room. The candle burned out overnight, so there must be other lights. .”
Yan Chi frowned slightly, turned around and walked to the door to give Bai Feng some instructions.
Bai Feng took the order and went away. When Yan Chi came back, he saw Qin Wan looking at Liu Renli's baggage. He strode up to Qin Wan, and saw Qin Wan looking at the mud stains on the baggage. Wang Huaiyu said that the baggage was The servants of the government office picked it up outside Huiyuan. The weather has been fine these few days, and the snow has begun to melt.
After a while, Qin Wan put the hand that had turned over the bundle on the tip of his nose and sniffed lightly.
Yan Chi raised his eyebrows, "What's wrong?"
Qin Wan shook her head, "It has a strange smell, but it's not too heavy, so I couldn't tell the difference at the moment."
Yan Chi looked through the baggage, but he didn't see any obvious stains. He put his fingertips on the tip of his nose and sniffed it. Although he also felt a strange smell, he couldn't tell what it was.
On this side, Qin Wan said in a deep voice, "Master Liu died in the lotus pond. If this is Lord Liu's yard, this is the lotus pond, and this is the Huiyuan Garden, how could his burden fall outside the Huiyuan Garden?"
Qin Wan clicked three dots on the table, and the three dots were all in different directions.
Yan Li leaned over, "What if Liu Yuntong really wanted to leave at dawn? Then he went to find Master Pang? Then...the two of them had a dispute because of some quarrel? Besides, it is very strange that Master Pang gave Liu Yuntong one hundred thousand taels of silver... maybe It is not certain that there is any entanglement between the two of them."
Yan Li's thoughts are probably the thoughts of every normal person, and the emergence of this burden has linked Liu Renli's death with Huiyuan. Qin Wan shook his head, "Although it is possible, it seems that Master Pang will not So stupid, a dispute broke out outside Huiyuan, but Master Liu died in the lotus pond in the end, the distance from Huiyuan to Hetang seems to be about the same distance as from Master Liu's yard to Hetang."
Yan Chi narrowed his eyes, "Qingyun was poisoned while having dinner with Master Pang, and now Liu Renli's burden has appeared outside Huiyuan again. Both incidents seem to have a very obvious connection with Master Pang. But it doesn’t stand up to scrutiny.”
"So, the murderer did it on purpose?" Yan Li's reaction was two points faster.
Seeing that Qin Wan seemed to be thinking about something, Yan Chi said, "Wait a while and see if Master Wang can find out anything."
The voice fell, but Qin Wan walked to the door. She stood at the door, frowned and thought for a moment, then walked a few steps forward, and stood in the courtyard. She looked at the door of the courtyard, and then at the courtyard around, and finally stood at the gate of the courtyard.
Seeing that Qin Wan was the first to follow, Qin Shuang saw that Yan Li also walked out. As a result, Yan Chi was a step behind. Qin Shuang walked up to Qin Wan, "What are you looking at?"
Qin Wan said in a deep voice, "I was wondering how Master Liu got out."
"What do you mean?" Qin Shuang opened his big eyes, somewhat confused.
Qin Wan glanced in the direction of the lotus pond, "There is no sign of a fight in the house, and the courtyard is also an ordinary scene. It can be seen that Master Liu probably walked out of the house by himself."
With that said, Qin Wan walked along the road leading to the lotus pond in the south.
The lotus pond in winter has no scenery, only Pang Jiayan goes there during the day when he is playing, and at night, it is even less visited. Qin Wan walked slowly on the path, with dark eyes.
She was thinking about the case, but Qin Shuang followed behind her, followed by Yan Li and Yan Chi, and finally Qin Yan also walked slowly. raised his eyebrows.
She didn't find anything unusual along the way, and almost felt that her deduction was wrong. Seeing everyone following her, Qin Shuang couldn't help crying and laughing. Qin Shuang said, "Why don't you leave? Where are you going? The lotus pond?"
Going forward is indeed the lotus pond, but Qin Wan felt that it was impossible for Liu Renli to come to the lotus pond alone at night, so she shook her head, "I didn't find anything, so let's go back."
Qin Shuang naturally didn't care, Yan Li stepped forward with some doubts and said, "This is indeed a bit remote."
Liu Renli's courtyard is located on the north side of the central axis of the mansion, but the lotus pond is located in the southwest. This road is full of beautiful scenery of flowers and trees in the garden. It is not the widest main road in the mansion. If it is at night, it will be even worse. no one left
"Yes, let's wait for Prefect Wang's search results."
Qin Wan said something and was about to turn around and leave when Yan Li suddenly moved her nose.
"Wait a minute, do you smell something?"
Yan Li, who was brought up by Jin Zunyugui, is particularly sensitive to smells, and his brows are slightly frowned, revealing a look of disgust.
Qin Wan paused when he heard this, and at this moment, a gust of cold wind blew over from the southwest, a light flashed in Qin Wan's eyes, and he continued to walk along the path, Yan Li rubbed the tip of his nose, He also followed, and soon, even Qin Wan could smell that smell, that smell was just the strange smell on Liu Renli's bag, but it was even more intense with the cold wind now...
"I smelled it in that room just now."
Yan Li said something to himself, but Qin Wan quickened his pace and walked forward. Soon, Qin Wan saw the rockery group to the north of the lotus pond. Outside the lotus pond, there were two independent rockeries, each of which was hollow inside. There was a great mystery, Qin Wan frowned slightly when he saw the rockery, and then walked quickly to the rockery.
"Is it from here?" Yan Li asked, and followed Qin Wan to find it. However, Qin Wan searched around, but didn't see anything strange outside the rockery. Suddenly, she stopped in her footsteps.
"It seems to be the smell of lamp oil..."
When Qin Wan said this, Yan Li seemed to remember, "How can there be lamp oil here?"
As soon as the words fell, Yan Li saw the entrance of the rockery in front of him. He was curious for a moment, so he simply went in. Qin Wan's heart moved, could it be inside the rockery? As soon as the idea was settled, Yan Li suddenly found himself inside the rockery There was a shout in the corridor, "Here, here, I found—"
Qin Wan heard the words and immediately walked inside. Although the inside of the rockery is hollow, there are small holes around which light can come in. After walking a few steps, Qin Wan saw Yan Li standing in the hole and looking at her feet. She hurried forward Looking over, he saw that a secluded lamp had fallen and shattered on the floor of the corridor before Yanli, and Qin Wan frowned instantly.
And Yan Li asked strangely, "Why are you here? At night, Liu Yuntong not only came to the lotus pond, but also got into the rockery? Could it be that he also wants to play hide-and-seek tricks..."
Having said that, Yan Li couldn't help but feel a shudder down his spine, and naturally thought of seeing Pang Jiayun in that bowl again.
Yan Chi and the others all followed, and seeing Yan Chi walking in, Qin Wan said, "Of course Master Liu would not come here for no reason, unless he was lured here by something."