space player

Chapter 115

On the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month, the people in the world worship the stove, sweep the dust, and offer sugar melons, but ask the stove king to bless their family with a smooth and prosperous coming year.

The shop selling candied melons on East Main Street ushered in the busiest day of the year, and even the uncle who sold Spring Festival couplets next to him made a small fortune. Uncle's calligraphy stall here bought a pair of "God said good things, return to the palace to bring good luck."

In the matter of offering sacrifices to the stove, as long as Zhao Chengqi followed, as the adopted son of Sanfang's son and Erfang, Zhao Chengping just randomly responded to the situation and it was over.

Passing around the lively crowd on the street, someone suddenly patted him on the shoulder: "Master Zhao."

Looking back, it was Zheng Shuxia from the security brigade, and Zheng Shuhua, who was standing beside him with a camera to take pictures of the crowds of shopping queues.

"Why, are you here to interview the people to celebrate the new year?" Zhao Chengping smiled.

Zheng Shuhua turned to Zhao Chengping abruptly: "Smile."

With a "click", Zhao Chengping's slightly stiff smile was frozen in the camera.

Zhao Chengping looked at the camera, a Zeiss lens made in Germany. He knew that this camera was bigger and heavier than modern digital cameras, but it was actually the most sophisticated product of this era, and the price was quite high. Only Dafu Others or big newspapers and big photo studios will have it.

Seeing him looking at the camera carefully, Zheng Shuhua said: "What do you see?"

Zhao Chengping smiled: "I see that you must be very rich, or you must be particularly valued by the newspaper boss, otherwise you, a little girl, would not be allowed to run around with expensive and heavy things."

Zheng Shuhua waved his hand, and Zheng Shuxia on the side hurriedly put away the camera.

The younger sister didn't even say a word, but she immediately grasped the spirit of being a big brother. She is really a textbook sister-in-law.Zhao Chengping twitched the corner of his mouth.

Seemingly seeing Zhao Chengping's thoughts, Zheng Shuxia quickly explained:
"Young master Luo gave it to me. Even a newspaper office doesn't have such a good camera. If it breaks, you can't afford it if you sell me."

There is no need to explain, explanation is to cover up, and to cover up is to be true.

The words "Master Luo" in this sentence attracted Zhao Chengping's attention.

Master Luo?Luo Xinyuan?

"Why would he borrow your camera?" Zhao Chengping asked.

"I said that I wanted to write an article about the customs of the New Year in a water town. Miss Luo said that she saw that her cousin had several cameras and didn't use them much, so she took the smallest one from the drawer and lent it to me." Zheng Shuhua laughed.

It turned out to be like this, several cameras, really rich.

"Remember to show me the photos that have been developed. I still have some things to do. Let's go first." Zhao Chengping said goodbye to Zheng's brothers and sisters with a smile.

Passing by that overcrowded candy and grocery store again, Zhao Chengping thought about it and stepped in.

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Pushing open the black lacquered gate, the wintersweet in the courtyard is already in full bloom, and the cool fragrance still lingers in the courtyard.

The atmosphere here is completely different from the bustle on the street, there is almost no sound at all.

Stepping into the hall, Zhao Chengping put the Tanggua he just bought on the table, and greeted the decadent-looking person in the corner, "Come over and have some?"

The man had ashes on his face and waved his hand wearily: "No."

"I eat it every year, but if I don't eat it this year, will I not be able to sleep at night?" Zhao Chengping laughed.

"It's all down to this level, how can I have the heart to eat." After speaking, the man lazily got up, wearing the brocade gown that used to be, but now the original color can hardly be seen.

He said that he had no intention of eating, but Zhao Chengping only felt that the figure in front of him flickered, and there was a piece of candied melon missing in the box, and the mouth of that dilapidated beggar-like man was moving, eating very sweetly.

Zhao Chengping yelled upstairs: "Nezha, do you want to come down and eat Tanggua?"

Not long after, I heard the sound of "dong dong dong" hurried footsteps from the wooden floor above my head, and a seven-year-old bear galloped with his great enthusiasm for candy.

"Look, this is the heart of a child. What kind of arrogance do you think you are a big man?" Zhao Chengping sat lazily on the soft chair by the window, watching Nezha stuffed a mouthful of candied melon, I was so glued that I couldn't speak at all.

This middle-aged man who looks like a pyrotechnician is the Stove Lord who is admired by all today. In a few hours, he will go to heaven to say good things. Who would have thought that he is squatting in the Here, it looks as if they were robbed and used as coal diggers.

Early this morning, as soon as Zhao Chengping woke up, he found a man standing in front of him who seemed to have just crawled out of a charcoal cave.

After the man introduced himself, he was even more surprised, Lord Stove?
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When a normal person wants to see his boss to report on his work, not to mention dressing up beautifully, he must at least put on clean clothes, wash his hair and face before going out, and... "Aren't you supposed to be in the sky now?", even if you are not in the sky, you can They should be sorting out the situation analysis reports of each company at the end of the year, right?
"How can I dare to go to heaven now? God will also cast down eighteen levels of hell." The Stove Lord cried sadly.

Zhao Chengping rubbed his sleepy eyes: "Ah, why, did you have an affair with someone in the underworld and your superiors found out?"

Lord Stove gave him a blank stare: "Ordinary! Why are you thinking about these things!"

"Then you tell me what's the matter, you can't just look at me."

Hearing Lord Stove Lord's cry, Zhao Chengping felt that the problem seemed to be a bit serious.

Just in these two days, Lord Stove suddenly discovered that he could not receive any news from the human world at all. Although he was still squatting on the stoves of various households, he could not hear what others were saying, nor could he see what others were saying. No matter what you do, you can only see a vague shadow and a buzzing sound.

The most frightening thing is that he can't remember what several families have done this year, as if their memories have been completely erased.

"Oh, it sounds like it was electronically interfered with." Zhao Chengping smiled, "Did you get blacklisted because you didn't say nice things to others last year?"

The Stove Lord asked the sky with a speechless look on his face.

If the annual report of the year is missing, the Stove Lord is dereliction of duty, and the dereliction of duty is either "snapped" to death on Zhuxiantai, or kicked to the world to accept reincarnation.

"Reincarnation is very good. You can see how lively it is to eat and drink in the human world. Isn't there still a fairy thinking about the lower realm?" Zhao Chengping comforted him cheerfully.

But judging from the look on the Stove Lord's face, he was not comforted at all.

"If it's true that I did something wrong, I'll admit it. I'm so wronged. It's none of my business!" Stove Lord felt sad when he thought of this. The work records of several households could not be found that day.

Seeing a fairy laying on the table crying and dying, Zhao Chengping couldn't help but said, "Although I sympathize with you, I'm just a mortal, and there's nothing I can do about it."

He seemed to be relieved when he heard that, Lord Stove suddenly raised his head, with hope shining in his eyes: "Yes! There are so many gods here, there is always one who can help me."

Zhao Chengping said loudly, "Hey, does anyone want to help him?"

Quiet……

quiet……

peaceful……

silence……

dead silence...

He looked at Stove Lord apologetically: "Everyone may not be familiar with you, so I'm sorry to talk to you."

Lord Stove blinked and grabbed Zhao Chengping's hand: "But they know you well! Tell me about it for me."

It felt really bad to be held by two hands that had not been washed at all, covered with kitchen ashes, and sticky with sugarmelons. Zhao Chengping tried his best to shake them off: "Hey, let go, let go, yourself Can’t we just go to heaven and explain it to the Jade Emperor?”

"Hey, if you can talk to him, why should I ask you? The superiors only look at the results, not the process. If you encounter difficulties, you can solve them yourself. If you can't solve the difficulties, it means that the executor is incompetent. I, I can tell you, I If I can't pass the test this time, I might be knocked down to the immortal training class to accumulate merits and wait for my return to heaven. If I get here, I, I won't leave!"

Hey, this kid is still threatening people.

But what he said really threatened Zhao Chengping. Now just a female ugly who refuses to return to heaven is enough to worry him. If you don't have a good time with yourself, then you will be in trouble.

One thing more is worse than one thing less, Zhao Chengping shook his head: "Okay, okay, help me, how can I help you?"

"Find out for me first, what's going on with these families." The Stove Lord said, and took out the list he had prepared from his pocket, and No.1 was the Luo family.

No.2 is Zhujia in Taiping Town.

No.3 is actually my own home, Zhao's.

Zhao Chengping pointed to the third one on the list and said, "Hey, my family doesn't do much."

Lord Stove also felt a little embarrassed at this moment, and asked for help from the suspect, he said with a dry smile, "I didn't say there was any problem with your family, but it is true that I can neither see nor hear anything about your family, which means you Strange things have happened at home, maybe there are evil spirits, don't you want to find out?"

"Evil spirits are at work...with me here, why are you afraid of evil spirits?" Zhao Chengping dismissed it.

That's what he said, but he still thought about it seriously. Has there been any strange things in the family, and the conclusion is... no.

But something happened to the Luo family and the Zhu family who were ranked first.

"Okay, I'll go find out." Zhao Chengping threw the list back to Lord Stove, "Clean yourself up, don't be like a beggar at the door."

On the way to Luo's house, Feng Dayong happened to walk towards him: "Oh, Young Master Zhao, I was just about to find you."

"If you look for me, nothing good will happen." Zhao Chengping became upset for a while when he thought of the headless case.

Feng Dayong quietly pulled him aside: "Hey, the fire talisman you mentioned is the one on Zhu Kiln Worker's body. It's a tattoo, not a natural birthmark."

"Oh?" Zhao Chengping was a little surprised. The female ugly said that only the Fire God Talisman given by the Vulcan God Zhu Rong is useful, and Zhu Rong will only give it to those who are born with the Vulcan blood in the form of birthmarks.

Or did this kiln worker surnamed Zhu accidentally read the record about the fire god talisman, so he stabbed one on his body, hoping to seek the protection of the fire god?

"The forensic doctor from the provincial capital said that this is a new tattoo not long ago." Feng Dayong wanted to say something else, Zhao Chengping asked: "Is this forensic doctor from the provincial capital still there?"

"exist."

"Take me to see him." Instead of listening to Feng Dayong's narration and missing information, it would be better to listen to the forensic doctor directly.

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"The tattoo should have been done three days before the death. The tool was an ordinary sewing needle. The disinfection work was done well. Only some places showed slight signs of suppuration."

The young forensic doctor Su Yanqing told Zhao Chengping what he had observed.

Zheng Shuhua is also here. It is said that he wants to find out the truth of the case so that he can publish a big report and hit the headlines in one fell swoop.

"Although there are many wounds on his body, none of them are really fatal. There is a trace of a lightning strike on his chest. Although the heart cannot be found, judging from the impact of the lightning strike on the skin, it will have a great impact on the heart, which in turn leads to die."

"On the chest tattoo, there is still a bite mark. But it was only a bite, and only the flesh was broken. It should be bitten after death."

"Been bitten? Dog or mouse?" Zhao Chengping asked.

Su Yanqing shook his head: "None of them. Judging from the tooth marks, it should be a human being."

As soon as these words came out, Zheng Shuhua couldn't help gasping: "Ogre?"

Zhao Chengping turned to look at her: "Have you already given the names?"

"Did you see anything else?" This question was asked by Su Yanqing.

Su Yanqing shook his head.

So far, the first scene has not been found, and what can be seen from the water-soaked corpse is also very limited.

Zhao Chengping talked about the sealing mud found between the kiln worker's fingers, but he didn't tell the winemaker that Zhao Chengqi once took a jar of wine.

The kiln worker surnamed Zhu stayed at his home until the porcelain came out of the oven after the Luo family sent someone to invite him. According to his pace, it was dusk when he arrived at the water town. Luo Xinyuan said that he did not see him, and he did not lodge any inn.

Where would he have stayed until the wee hours of the morning and then got killed?
Or, Luo Xinyuan is lying?

Zhao Chengping half-closed his eyes. If Luo Xinyuan saw the kiln worker and killed him, who would accompany Luo Xinyuan to dismember the kiln worker and throw an arm into a wicker box in a dead end far away from Luo's house.

Luo Xinyuan invited him, why did he kill him again?If you want to do it, why don't you do it directly at his house in Taiping Town, you have to get it at your own door?
"I'm going to Luo's house." Zhao Chengping stood up.

Zheng Shuhua picked up the camera and said to Su Yanqing, "Smile."

When the shutter was pressed, she let out a regretful "Oops". She worked hard again and finally closed the camera: "The film is out."

"There seems to be no place to develop film in this town." Zhao Chengping said.

Zheng Shuhua raised his head triumphantly: "Hmph, as a reporter, you can't even develop film."

(End of this chapter)