Aggrieved Fish Sprite

The mottled corners of the walls were overgrown with moss, exuding an unpleasant stench.

A group of figures flew out against the base of the wall.

Because the weather was too stuffy, every family spread out mats and cool chairs in the yard to sleep, but the house was empty. One-third of the medicinal materials shipped in have to go from the Meng family's shop, and the Meng family has two warehouses in Run County, and this is the account book on the surface."

The clerk of Ganquantang was very capable, and he gave Meng Qi a long list with his mouth open. At night, he recognized the door as if he had returned to his own home, and went straight to the accountant's warehouse without making a detour.This medicinal material merchant also happened to have the same surname as Meng Qi. Although Mo Li and Meng Qi knew it, they had no relatives at all, and their surnames were random. Let alone counting up to 500 years, even 1000 years, there is no "family" , but the folks at Ganquantang don’t know.

These days, people with the same surname met in the rivers and lakes, and they still have to say that they belonged to the same family 500 years ago.

It's usually just polite words. The disciples of the Dazong Sect look down on those who go to the rivers and lakes, and people with the surname Wang and the surname Li use this excuse to make friends wherever they go, and they have long been very annoying.

But the ancestral home of Taijing is still surnamed Meng...

Mo Li glanced at the buddy, who laughed along, as if he was completely unaware of the connection.

Whether it was a coincidence, or Fengxing Pavilion's another temptation, it had no effect on Meng Qi, he directly pulled out the account book and flipped through it casually.

"The numbers don't match, there are secret books."

Meng Qi spoke after a while.

At that time, the account book was something that my family made for my family to see. As long as I knew where the money and goods went, of course there was no need to deliberately balance the accounts.

Meng Qi couldn't understand the code words and signs used by this company to make accounts, but the numbers were clear.Those who can calculate quickly can find that some medicinal materials that are not easy to store have not been sold, but there is no loss in the accounts.

There was no need to look for the dark book at the moment, Meng Qi directly pointed it to Mo Li.

"These few are not. Ganoderma lucidum may be used as a gift, Honghuadanpi aconite... These may be aborted."

Needless to say the former, the buyer of the latter may be Huajie Liuxiang, otherwise how can there be a large and fixed demand?

Mo Li flipped through more than ten pages in a row, but couldn't find any definite problem.

Because there are very few single medicinal materials purchased, they are also tonics, such as ginseng, deer antler and tiger bone.Once the others go out, they follow the prescriptions. Mo Li knows what the medicines are for when they look at the medicines. Occasionally, a certain medicine store is out of stock, so they ask them to buy some medicines that don't have prescriptions.

Quantities are normal.

What kind of medicinal materials are consumed quickly in daily life, and where people are prone to get what diseases, the ink carp knows all about it.

Holding this account book, Mo Li can't see any problems. The Meng family is an ordinary medicinal material merchant, leaving a small part to sell locally, and most of them are resold to the north.

"The Chen family, the Sun family, and this Ci'an Hall, all go and have a look."

If there are also the same number of records as the Meng family, there will be no problem with the Meng family.

"The dark book?"

"There's no time to look slowly."

The swordsman has been captured by them, and the cemetery has been lifted.

I'm still afraid of beating the grass to scare the snake. The grass is almost pulled out, and the snake will come soon.

"Before dawn, determine where the medicinal materials flow out."

The buddy clicked his tongue. He did a lot of checking the news, but this was the first time he was so tight.

And the way these two people searched for clues was different from their Fengxing Pavilion. The second they went to was Sun's House, which was specialized in buying and selling. The medicinal materials were not sold locally, and there was no house in Run County.The business sells coarse cloth and brown rice, and the goods collected from the village are large and cheap.The firm opened on the widest street in Run County, with a total of five shops connected to the front. At this moment, there were still people squatting to watch the night.

Meng Qi threw out a handful of pebbles, and soon those who hadn't dozed off were also dazed because of the acupuncture points being tapped.

There was no trace of ledgers in the shop.

Ganquantang's man was about to pry open the door of the warehouse, but Meng Qi stretched out his hand and broke the big iron lock hanging on it.

The man looked at the twisted lock and clicked his tongue.

This is pig iron, the real thing.

"Why did you come to this place first?" Meng Qi asked curiously.

"intuition."

Mo Li didn't say that from the information of Fengxing Pavilion, the Sun family was the least suspected of the remaining three families.After all, the Sun family doesn't sell medicinal materials locally, they just transfer goods here.

Meng Qi pushed open the door of the warehouse, it was almost empty inside, only some cloth bags were piled up in the corner.

"Shu, bran, old rice..."

Mo Li looked at the goods in the bag one by one, while Meng Qi paced around the warehouse.

Check the corners, brick joints, and underground for abnormalities.

It was pitch black, and the warehouse was so stuffy, the clerk couldn't see anything, and was muttering in his heart, when suddenly he heard Meng Qi's footsteps pause, as if he had discovered something.

"Doctor!" Meng Qi picked up a short, thin, withered branch from the gap, the color was yellowish.

The man could barely see Meng Qi taking something, and it was extremely difficult to distinguish it, because it was too small, not as long as a fingernail.

But the ink carp took it over steadily.

First put it on the tip of your nose and sniff lightly, then break it open and smell it carefully.

It is not surprising that the Sun family sells medicinal materials, and there are scattered things on the floor of the warehouse, but this warehouse is too simple, and the medicinal materials are basically stored in a dark place away from light.At first glance, this place meets the standards. It looks fine in autumn and winter, but now people can tell something is wrong as soon as they come in.

Airtight, broken and poor.

Even if it is resold in transit, it cannot be expensive medicinal materials.

However, the Sun family's business seems to be doing very well, not to mention the shop, but according to the Meng family's account books, the Sun family often buys some common medicinal materials from them, each time starting at three hundred catties.

Meng Qi turned around and asked the man of Ganquan Tang: "What is the origin of the Sun family?"

"It's also from the north, not from Taijing Yongzhou, it is said that it is even further north."

"Supposedly?"

"The Sun family claims that the person in charge is a branch of the concubine. Usually, they don't even report their names, but they seem to have a connection. Such a family is either a servant of a powerful family who makes money for the master's family, or a family member of the family. The property that the clan buys secretly, the people who work on it are all hired from outside, and they don't know much about the master's family, so they can't find out the name."

Mo Li twirled the dead branch Nian Mengqi picked up with his fingers, and asked with a frown, "But the accent from Yanzhou, Jizhou, or even Youzhou?"

The man was taken aback, and looked at Mo Li unexpectedly, almost thinking that Mo Li had discovered something again.

"Yes, the people escorting the cart and selling the goods, as well as those in charge, all have that accent. The convoy is also full of Qiang people from Xiliang and Dangxiang!"

When the Chu Dynasty was strong, foreigners could often be seen in Taijing City, some came to do business, and some were tribal slaves brought by caravans.Decades later, the aristocratic families in the Qi Dynasty and even in the south of the Yangtze River still kept the habit of raising orchids, and salt merchants even liked to bring one or two Kunlun slaves with them to show their style.

On the contrary, after the fall of the Xiliang Kingdom, the Dangxiang Qiang people from there flowed into the pass in large numbers. After two or three generations, they were no different from the Han people except for their appearance.And because they don't have land, they don't know how to farm, so they raise horses for escort agencies, and many of them work as caravan drivers in caravans.

This situation is very common among merchants from the Northland.

"When did the Sun's last batch of goods pass by Run County?"

"This...was about half a month ago."

The buddy hesitated, desperately trying to remember.

Although Fengxing Pavilion collected information, it didn't pay attention to everything, after all, manpower was limited.

The guy's expression was a bit ugly, he probably felt that he had lost the reputation of Fengxing Pavilion, and now time is limited, and he really couldn't remember the specific date, so he could only explain dryly, "It's not more than a month, our soup pool is very popular in Run County. It is famous, and every time those caravans pass by, the stewards will patronize Ganquantang. The Sun family caravan does not show up in winter, and comes more often in spring and autumn, just like other Northland caravans."

"Really? I saw that these grains have just been harvested." Meng Qi raised his eyebrows and said.

"This is the manpower they stayed in the local area. They were idle to do other business, and they went to the village to collect it..."

The guy's voice became lower and lower, apparently he himself had noticed something, and suddenly he was in a cold sweat.

Mo Li said slowly: "The soup pond in your Fengxing Pavilion was originally a good place to inquire about news, but if people see through it, the Sun family can completely control the people who show up every time, and go to Ganquan soup regularly, making you think that the Sun family's The caravan is here today. Do you have any guards outside the county seat? Are you keeping an eye on the city gate? Will the Sun family’s caravan going to the countryside to collect rice and sell groceries be confused with the caravan from the North? mix?"

The guy opened his mouth and couldn't utter a word.

He originally wanted to say that the coachmen from the north of the Sun family were easy to recognize, and they were all Qiang people, but what if even this feature was left on purpose by others?

"Why did the doctor guess Youzhou and Yanzhou?" Meng Qi stared at the dead branch in Mo Li's hand.

"...It's just a coincidence. This herb grows much more in the north."

Mo Li also looked down at the things in his hand with an unpredictable expression.

"What is this?"

"Ephedra, a commonly used herbal prescription in medicine shops, can cure wind and cold, sweat, and clear lung qi. It depends on how the prescription is formulated." Mo Li said in a deep voice, "Brother Meng found this root, which has not been damp, and fell into the The gap is only three to five days at most. The smell in the storeroom is strong, they should have washed it, but I can't smell it, but I saw the Sun's family buy ephedra several times in the account book of the Meng family. The price of this thing is not high. High, the Northland produces a lot, and it is difficult to make a profit by reselling it. The Sun family shouldn’t need so much ephedra.”

"So this is the medicine that is added to the drug?"

"More than that, there are others, but the most important thing should be this."

***

This night is destined to be restless.

Fengxing Pavilion mobilized all the people, except those who went to check the news, more people retreated in all directions under the cover of night.

The shopkeeper of Ganquan Tang has a thin and pockmarked face. He felt sorry for the property, and couldn't help but say to Qiu Jing, "Master, we...are we really leaving like this? Those killers may not be found so quickly, isn't their leader Has it fallen into the hands of Meng Guoshi?"

"What kind of leader is that?" Qiu Jing held his folding fan and said coldly, "It's just a slightly expensive chess piece. You haven't understood it after looking at it for so long? At first I wanted to fight for this person to get some clues to confess, but now Do you think I'm still interested in this guy?"

The shopkeeper, he almost blurted out, isn't it because the swordsman has a stubborn temper and can't ask anything?

His subordinates were busy trying to smooth things over: "Don't blame the pavilion master, Uncle Tian feels uncomfortable. The sub-rudder of the Piaoping Pavilion is hidden nearby, but we have never found it. We only grabbed a line from Sijia Mipu. Now we have finally dug it." Clues, and we have to give up our hard-working sub-helm, it is really..."

"The gains outweigh the losses, do you all think so?" Qiu Jing raised his eyebrows, and the folding fan beat his palms repeatedly.

The shopkeeper dared not answer.

Qiu Jing sighed and looked into the courtyard.

Several stoves were set up in the yard, and the booklets that could not be taken away were soaked in water, and then stuffed into the furnace after they were rotten. Black smoke came out in bursts, and someone nearby used internal force to fan the smoke away.

Really important things will not be written down on paper, and even information about Meng Qi will be destroyed immediately after three days of copying, so there are not many things that need to be destroyed now, and all can be resolved before dawn.

Qiu Jing issued this order, which meant that Ganquantang, the branch of Fengxing Pavilion, would be completely abandoned.

This is not the bookshop in Willow Alley, Huajie Street. Except for the secret room, it took more than a year to build this soup pond. The business is so good in winter that the shopkeeper doesn't even want to sell the news.Now if you say no, don't, the shopkeeper is very distressed.

It is inevitable that people have selfishness.

Although the shopkeeper had heard about the horror of the southern border holy medicine Afulong, and knew that Piaoping Pavilion would definitely come to him if he found out that the swordsman had been arrested, Qiu Jing was right to order everyone to evacuate, but there was inevitably a hint of resentment in his heart. If Qiu Jing and Mo Li interrogated the swordsman in the wilderness, maybe this disaster would not have happened.

Qiu Jing said unhurriedly, "Speaking of which, it's my fault."

The shopkeeper was shocked when he heard the words, his expression showed flaws, and he accidentally revealed what he was thinking.

The Fengxing Pavilion master who was following Qiu Jing narrowed his eyes slightly, already wanting to kill.

Qiu Jing seemed to know nothing, and sighed: "I just thought that there are many businessmen passing by this place every year. The brothels and Chu houses are too eye-catching, and the tea houses and inns have to compete for business. That's why I came up with the idea of ​​opening this soup pool." .I didn’t expect this place to be good, but it was a step late, and Piaoping Pavilion had already set their sights on it. They know us, but we don’t know where they are.”

Meng Qi mentioned to Mo Li that he discovered that the cemetery of the family temple was the nest of Piaoping Pavilion, and when the killers falsely identified Ganquan Tang as belonging to Piaoping Pavilion in order to lure Meng Qi away, Qiu Jing and others were eavesdropping in the nearby yard through the copper pipe mechanism.

Everyone was shocked at that time.

Not only because Piaoping Pavilion's sub-helm is really so close, but also because the killers already know the details of Ganquantang.

Beads of sweat immediately appeared on the shopkeeper's forehead. He has been here all year round, but he failed to find out the problem. A charge of negligence cannot escape.Relying on his senior qualifications in Fengxing Pavilion, he is not afraid of Qiu Jing's pursuit, but now he looks reluctant to give up his property, and this soup pond, where the business is booming and the door is opened, is actually Qiu Jing. What needs to be repaired, and the layout inside, is also learned by Qiu Jingren from Yangzhou.

From the beginning to the end, it has nothing to do with his shopkeeper.

Another person can also be the shopkeeper of this soup pool. Now that he wants to give up this property, there is no room for him to make irresponsible remarks here.

——Thinking of Qiu Jing seemingly casually mentioning it in his words, the shopkeeper understood that the pavilion owner was quite dissatisfied with him.

"The subordinate was dizzy and didn't handle the matter well."

Just as the shopkeeper Tangchi was wiping his sweat and trying to make up for his mistakes, a rush of wind suddenly came from his ears.

"Whizzing."

A few sharp arrows flew in, with fire still on the arrows.

The courtyard was in chaos, and everyone dodged one after another.

Qiu Jinghan stared out of the wall with a grimace, and the attendants beside her rushed forward to block the arrows.

"All back, don't fight the fire."

"It's from Piaoping Pavilion, be careful! Be careful of the ambush outside the wall!"