Kaifeng Bistro

Zhan Zhao's body still carried the coldness of the cellar, but it smelled fresh.He had a long sword hanging on his waist, as if he was afraid of touching Tan Zhifeng, he carefully took off the sword and hugged the sword and scabbard to his chest.

Tan Zhifeng felt that his aura was somewhat similar to that of Xu Gan's, both of which were a bit harsh and masculine, while Zhan Zhao was usually gentle, and this feeling was much more obvious when he was wearing a sword.

The string of broken jade around his waist was shining brightly under the moonlight. Tan Zhifeng accidentally touched it, but it was not cold at all, but warm.

Seeing that he was curious, Zhan Zhao took it down and handed it to him: "It's...it's from an old friend, and it's called Moyu Flying Locust Stone." Zhan Zhao explained to Tan Zhifeng: "Although it's a bit old, I'm used to it, so I just ...that's how it's always been."

According to what Zhan Zhao meant, this old friend of his must not be a casual acquaintance with him.Tan Zhifeng nodded, and carefully returned the jade pendant to him.

The moment Zhan Zhao stretched out his hand to pick it up, there was a soft knock from the door, and everyone froze.

Holding the saber in his hand, Zhan Zhao gave a "shh" to several people, then jumped up and walked from the back kitchen to the door in a few steps.Zhuo Zhuo nervously poked his head over to Tan Zhifeng's ear and asked, "What if, what if the enemy comes, we are unarmed!"

Tan Zhifeng pretended to be calm: "Smash him to death with cabbage."

The door was not locked, and opened after shaking a few times.When Tan Zhifeng was trying to see how much spiritual power he could gather, a thin figure flashed in from the door.

This figure looked quite familiar, Zhuo Zhuo stared at it for a while, and suddenly realized: "It's him!"

The man was like a frightened bird, he immediately turned around and moved back when he heard the sound, but saw something waved in front of his eyes, the giant sword in Zhan Zhao's hand blocked his way.

The other party still wanted to struggle, but Zhan Zhao had already grabbed his wrist: "Don't move. I won't hurt you."

"That's it and it's over?!" Zhuo Zhuo was disappointed, got up from the ground and lit the oil lamp.In the dim light, Shangshang also recognized the person coming: "You... aren't you Brother Li?"

"Li Weiming." Zhan Zhao let go of his hand and made a gesture of invitation: "Sit down and talk."

When Li Weiming saw Zhan Zhao, he looked terrified. Zhan Zhao's sword was not out of its sheath at all, but was held in his hand, blocking Li Weiming's side to prevent him from making any radical moves.Li Weiming's face was sallow and sallow, his eyes didn't turn away, Zhuo Zhuo stretched out his hand and shook in front of his eyes: "What's wrong with you? Why did you come to our tavern at night?"

Li Weiming turned around abruptly, and held Zhan Zhao tightly: "Master Zhan, Master Zhan! Save Shuanglian! I was wrong, I know I was wrong. I hurt Ben Liang, but I didn't really want to. If you want him to die, I will, I will move my hand...Master Zhan, I am really afraid of the man holding the snake, he..."

"Okay." Zhan Zhao put away his sword, "Let's explain the matter clearly."

Li Weiming took a breath, took a bowl of warm water from Tan Zhifeng, took two sips, sat down on the nearest wooden bench, and talked about what happened to him.

Like Zhang Shanchu, his family was relatively poor among the students of Taixue. Zhang Shanchu had only one father who sold pancakes, and Li Weiming relied on his mother to open a scented wax shop near Daqing Temple to make ends meet.His father was a scholar who failed for a long time, and died of illness when he was in his teens, leaving his mother and son, who could barely fill their stomachs.

Li Weiming studied since childhood, and his mother couldn't bear to let her give up the imperial examination. Fortunately, Li Weiming fought hard and was admitted to Taixue at a young age.

"But when I entered the academy, I saw that the students were either rich or noble. Needless to say, Chen Qing and Lu Yang, even Brother Zhou's family had a lot of property. Although they were polite to me, in fact ..." Li Weiming drooped his eyes and sighed: "But I don't want to pretend to be lofty, like Zhang Shanchu..."

"I'm in the same room with Zhang Shanchu. He doesn't talk to anyone very much. Maybe it's because of the same illness. I, I'm very curious about him. I always want to see what he's doing... Once, I found him writing He didn’t hide from me about the story books, he told me to write something occasionally and sell it in the bookstore to earn some money to spend.”

"So, you're also trying to write a storybook?" Zhan Zhao asked, "Master of Bilian Pavilion? Is that you?"

Li Weiming saw that Zhan Zhao knew about it a long time ago, showing a look of surprise, and then lowered his head again, "Yes. Zhang Shanchu used the name of "Luoposhanren". He told me the name of the owner of the bookstore, and sometimes took my name for me. Write the script and sell it."

"Then why did you push him into the water?!" Zhuo Zhuo asked angrily, "He treats you so well!"

"I really haven't!" Li Weiming shook his head with a painful expression: "I... I haven't thought about it, if he didn't start writing early, people would recognize the name 'Luoluoshanren', if there is no him, would it be possible? , Will my words be more favored by the owner of the bookstore, will it sell better? But I just think about it! I never really wanted to harm him!"

"What happened at the Longjin Bridge on the first night of October?" Zhan Zhao lowered his voice, "Why did you walk so far behind him?"

"Yes... In fact, I saw that he was always out of his mind during that time. I saw him go out at night and didn't come back for a long time, so I wanted to go out and look for him. Although Taixue has a place to live, the people in our fasting room are all We live outside, only the two of us live in Taixue. I don't look for him, and no one else knows where he went..."

Li Weiming paused, and a trace of confusion flashed in his eyes: "Later, I searched for a long time before I saw him walking slowly along the river bank alone by the Caihe River. Follow him, follow him to the Longjin Bridge."

"And then?" Zhan Zhao asked immediately, "How did he fall into the water?"

"Later..." Li Weiming closed his eyes, as if he was trying to remember, "I don't remember how I got on the Longjin Bridge... When I opened my eyes again, I saw my hands on Zhang Shanchu's shoulders Go up, and then it seems that someone is holding my hand and pushing him down..."

He clenched his fists and said sharply, "But it's really not me! I didn't do it!"

Tan Zhifeng and Zhan Zhao glanced at each other, remembering Xu Gan frowning in thought, and Xu Gan's words: "I can't remember what happened that night."

"It's him." Zhan Zhao nodded, and then said to Li Weiming, "Go on, did you see anyone else nearby?"

Li Weiming thought that Zhan Zhao would immediately tie him up as a suspect. Seeing that he didn't do anything, he was a little surprised, but also a little grateful. He seemed to see the hope of being rescued, so he hurriedly continued: "Yes, I turned around and saw one……"

Li Weiming's eyes showed fear: "A man..." He pointed at Yi Yi, "about half a head taller than you...he...he held a yellow snake in his hand, that yellow snake..."

He shivered for a while, and finally said out: "That yellow snake has two heads! Just staring at me like that, scared me to death!"

"The man said to me with a sullen face: 'You killed someone. I'm going to sue the police. If you don't want to die, come with me...'"

After saying this, he huddled into a ball and trembled against the wall: "Master Zhan, I beg you, you must avenge me. If I die, what will my mother do..."

Before he finished speaking, there was another sound from the door, and everyone at the table jumped up in fright, only Zhan Zhao got up calmly and asked, "Who is it?!"

The door fell silent, and then there were two knocks on the door.Someone said in a deep voice outside: "Shopkeeper Tan, it's me."

"Xu Gan?!" Tan Zhifeng stood up abruptly, "You..."

"Are you asleep?" Xu Gan continued to ask, "Who is in the room?"

Zhan Zhao stopped Tan Zhifeng who was going to see the door, and walked over by himself.He pulled the door open, only to see Xu Gan standing at the door, arms crossed, looking at him coldly.

Tan Zhifeng poked his head out behind Zhan Zhao: "Yes, it's you. Come in."

Xu Gan looked inside and saw several people sitting inside, looking at him in shock, and he looked at Tan Zhifeng suspiciously.Tan Zhifeng didn't know how to explain it, so he could only say: "This... first, let's talk about it first."

Xu Gan scanned for a week and found Li Weiming who was trembling. He sneered suddenly: "So that's it. Mr. Zhan. It seems that this time my charges can really be cleared."

Yiyi, Zhuozhuo, and Changshang kept silent, and soon they all slipped upstairs.Only Tan Zhifeng, Xu Gan, Zhan Zhao were left downstairs, and Li Weiming by the wall.

"It's so late, why are you here looking for Zhifeng?" Xu Gan's arrival surprised Zhan Zhao, and he asked.

"It seems that Mr. Zhan is trying a case." Xu Gan answered irrelevantly.

"I'm just making a routine inquiry. Master Bao is the real judge of the case." Zhan Zhao replied, his voice became more serious. "You haven't told me what are you doing here?"

Xu Yan ignored Zhan Zhao, looked at Tan Zhifeng: "I have something to say to Shopkeeper Tan."

"How about it..." Tan Zhifeng saw that the two of them were in a tense atmosphere, and said, "So...Xu, uh, Brother Xu, come over and let's talk over there. Guard Zhan, you continue to ask..."

"What on earth are you here for?" Zhan Zhao asked again unwillingly.

This time, Xu Yan didn't play Tai Chi with him, he replied directly: "Like you, look for the things left by Zhang Shanchu."

Tan Zhifeng and Zhan Zhao looked at Xu Gan in surprise at the same time, and Zhan Zhao asked, "How do you know... how do you know that Zhang Shanchu will hide things here?"

"The oil on the copper coins." Xu Gan said lightly, "He inquired about the blacksmith's shop and came to me several times to buy some small things. Every time the copper coins he gave were stained with oil. He must be a scholar. Where did he come from? These copper coins?"

"Really? What about his money for writing the storybook?" Tan Zhifeng asked wonderingly.

"Mostly it's a lot of money. At least one or twenty pennies each time, I won't use small money." Zhan Zhao said.

Tan Zhifeng suddenly realized, "But..." He thought of something again, "How do you know this place?"