travel frog

At night, Gin came to the old house of the Zhuang family that Zhang Ke was talking about.

A cold moon hangs in the sky, and the desolate twilight shines into the deep and quiet mansion, reflecting strange and changeable shadows in a piece of wild grass and dead trees.

Glancing at the locked front door, Qin Jiu saw that there was no one around, so he went around the wall next to him and jumped into the courtyard. His feet landed lightly, and the sound he made was not much heavier than that of a cat that came out to look for food in the middle of the night.

His feet sank into the grass, and the neglected weeds were almost up to his knees.

From time to time, there were soft sounds of insects and ants crawling in the grass. It always sounded weird in the middle of the night. Fortunately, he changed his clothes before going out, and specially wore boots that fit his legs. to him.

The yard is very large, surrounded by square walls, looking down from the sky like a square well.There is an ancient well where the weeds grow most densely, which is almost hidden. When Qin Jiu passed by, he took a look inside. The water surface was as dark as night, reflecting the crooked moon.

After leaving the grassland, the main hall is in front, and there are several small houses scattered in the back, all of which are deserted.Although no one has lived in it for a long time, several houses are locked, as if deliberately guarding against someone.

Gin was about to walk into the main hall when the golden threads on his temples were suddenly shaken by the night wind, and there was a rustling sound in the huge courtyard. The noise of people in lively places such as markets is creepy.

"... People who have lived there said that it was very noisy at night, but when they got up, the street was very deserted. The sound came from the old house."

Thinking of Zhang Ke's words, Qin Jiu looked around again, and found that the sound was a mixture of the wind blowing through the grass, sweeping out of the wellhead, and the echoes aroused on the four walls. Since the surrounding area was sparsely populated and too quiet, It was extraordinarily noisy, coupled with the scheming of human beings, it was naturally even more terrifying.

However, that's why he was so calm when he came here to discover the clues himself. Otherwise, if he lived in an old hotel and heard this sound suddenly at night, he would be surprised all night.

Gin put away his thoughts, walked around the accessible room, and managed to remember the layout of the interior by the moonlight. Other than that, he had nothing special to gain.

Unexpected.

Coming out of the last unlocked room, he thought for a while, and went straight to the locked room closest to him. The lock was locked, but it was not difficult to open.

The copper lock was surprisingly clean, with a layer of dark yellow luster on the surface flowing with the brilliance of the moonlight, and it clasped the door heavily.

Qin Jiu directly grabbed the lock with his hands, not by prying it, but by grabbing the thinner copper strip that was buckled into the keyhole at the top, twisting and deforming it forcefully, and then it was torn off with a "click".

There was a deep red mark on his palm.

Doing so will certainly leave traces, but the arrival of gin is not a secret, and it must have attracted the attention of interested people. It is better to check openly to see how many clues are on the surface.

From the first step of investigating the dealer's old house, his investigation route was different from that of all previous private investigators. Even if he couldn't find any valuable clues, he might find another way and find a different entry point.

Thinking of this, Qin Jiu strode into the room, took out the flashlight he borrowed from Pei Yu from his arms, and searched around by the light of the flashlight.

He accidentally stepped on something just two steps away, and when he looked down, it was a few books that had fallen on the ground.Compared to the dust that is so thick that the shape of shoes can be clearly printed, these books are more like they were dropped not long ago, and there are two fingerprints on the edge, as if someone accidentally dropped them when they left with them.

Qin Jiu picked up the book and shook it, flipped through a few pages, and all he saw were folk tales, but there were two yellowed letter papers sandwiched between the last page. become weird.

This is a love letter with many earthy sentences in it.

For example, "I count my fingers, you lack me in the five elements."

Another example is "I am a charming man, you are charming".

Gin made everyone dumbfounded. This letter was simply out of tune with the current situation, like a group of huskies with upturned mouths instead of the screaming protagonist in a horror movie.

What's even more amazing is that the love letter was signed by Su Fei, yes, it was his gentle-looking client.

When we talked at the time, I didn't think he was so crazy! ?

I can't read it, but I'm shocked.jpg

Taking a deep breath to calm down, Gin Jiu endured the surprise and then the smile, put away the love letter, turned around and looked at the other rooms.

In those rooms, he also didn't gain much, as if they had been plundered in advance.

However, he found a hidden compartment in front of the bed in a bedroom, which was exposed when he broke the board when he stepped on it. There was a stack of photos in it, half of which was cut off, and the remaining half was Su Fei's figure. .

Another clue that has no beginning and no end.

When Gin put away the photos and was about to leave the bedroom, there was a sudden sound of very subtle and cautious footsteps in the corridor outside.

His vigilance was full in an instant, and he hid behind the door with a stride, holding his breath and waiting for the sound to approach.

Outside the door, footsteps were getting closer and closer, but when they were about to reach the door, there was a sudden pause, as if they sensed something wrong, they turned around and ran in the opposite direction.

It's all within this distance, of course, it is impossible for Gin to let him run away. He immediately rushed out of the room, locked on to the figure running fast in the corridor, slightly lowered his center of gravity and rushed forward, almost killing him in the next second after the sprint. Pressed to the wall.

Use the gesture of holding someone down in a dream.

The side face pressed hard against the cold wall, and the man let out a short cry of pain from his throat, and wanted to struggle.

Qin Jiu didn't give him a chance to break free, cut his arms behind his back, kicked his legs hard to force him to kneel down, and at the same time clasped the back of his neck with his other hand, imprisoning him against the wall between yourself.

"Who are you? What are you doing here?" Qin Jiu asked in a deep voice.

"Ho ho..."

The man struggled to open his mouth wide, but only uttered a hoarse, unintelligible monotone.

"Say!"

Seeing this, Qin Jiu pressed his hand a little harder, he had difficulty breathing with his head up, and almost rolled his eyes.

"You...I...let go..."

The man stretched his neck, the blue veins on his forehead were exposed, and he spat out a few words from the restrained throat with great difficulty, and a few drops of sweat rolled down his flushed face.

Gin was taken aback for a moment, and immediately realized that he was using too much force, so he quickly let go of his grip—mainly the hand that was holding the back of his neck.

"Cough...cough...cough..."

The man was coughing so badly that he was clutching his neck in pain while coughing, and Gin was worried that he would faint in the next second.Fortunately, he just coughed for a while, and he recovered after a while.

"Can you talk now?"

"I... I'm a thief." He met Qin Jiu's cold eyes and announced his family name, and he was not ashamed of his identity at all, "I came here to see if I could steal something and sell it for money... ...I thought you were my colleague, so I ran away..."

"Bullshit."

Gin pretended to press his neck again, and he quickly turned his head and shouted: "Don't stop! If you do it again, my neck will break! I'm not talking nonsense, I'm telling the truth!"

"Really? You said you ran because you thought I was a colleague, but you didn't see me when you started running, you only saw the broken door lock."

Gin punctured his lie, and kicked him on the leg again, this time with a little more force, and his scream became more horrific.

"Don't kick! Don't kick! Can't I explain it?!"

The man didn't care about other things, and kept yelling, afraid that he would give him another blow, but he still didn't forget to bargain: "You, you let me go first, this posture... I can't talk."

"Not good to talk?"

Qin Jiu raised his eyebrows and nodded clearly.

Two minutes later, Qin Jiu tied the man upside down into a chicken roll with the hemp rope he found from the system and hung him upside down on the eaves. He sat aside and picked up a wooden stick to poke his stomach.

"Is this posture good for talking?"

"...Thank you, I'll just say it."

The man put on an unlovely face, sighed, and didn't talk to him: "Actually, I'm really a thief. I usually steal eggs and cabbage from my neighbor's house for a living. This is the first time I'm serious A few days before it opened, someone asked me to come here and take some things."

"Continue." Qin Jiu thought for a while, and asked in-depth questions in no hurry.

He glanced sideways and saw Qin Jiu's stern eyebrows and eyes became colder under the moonlight, and he could hardly see the human expression.

"I don't know exactly what that person wants. He asked me to remove everything that can be moved from these locked rooms. It took me several days to finish the move. Today is the last day. This time... I didn't expect to meet you."

Gin didn't say whether he believed it or not, but just asked, "Where are those things now?"

"I don't know, I'm in charge of transporting them to the entrance of the town, and someone will come to pick them up again. The person who picked up the things was masked and wearing heavy and loose clothes. I don't know who he is." The thief's tone was sincere and humble, " That's all I know, can you... let me down?"

Qin Jiu thought for a moment, got up and untied the rope, but held down the thief at the moment when he was about to break free—with familiar posture and familiar strength, he bared his teeth and screamed for pain.

"Help me with something." He said flatly.

The thief was startled, and a bad premonition arose in his heart: "What?"

"Follow the man who took the things and tell me after seeing his destination clearly." Qin Jiu said, pulling out a jackknife from his waist and throwing it away. "Don't think about obedience and infidelity. Since I dare to let you act alone, there are naturally ways to find you after you escape or inform me."

Cold sweat dripped from the thief's forehead, and he only dared to look at Qin Jiu for a moment before being forced back by his sudden murderous aura.

"I know, I know..."

……

Looking at the things the thief found, there was no valuable evidence, so Gin let him go, and once again emphasized that he was a private detective with top-notch skills in finding people, and asked him to do it honestly.At the same time, he gave him the 2 yuan given by Zhuang Wumei.

Coercion and temptation, two-pronged approach.As long as the thief is not too greedy or smart, he will naturally get things done honestly.

Of course, it doesn't matter if he can't do well, Gin will not be harsh on people with poor abilities.And if he not only fails to do something well but also informs that person, Gin has plenty of ways to tie the two together and clean up.

After the thief went out with his things in his arms, Gin Jiu took out a love letter and some photos he had just found.

He focused on the latter, and ran his fingers across the cut edge of the photo, and found that the edge was smooth and neat, not like it had been torn, but was cut with scissors or a sharp tool.

Someone deliberately hid half of the photo. Judging from the people on the other half, the hidden half is probably the male Zhuang Wumei who only Mr. Su Jiu and his cat know.

"The thing that person really wants to take away may be the items related to Zhuang Wumei, but why is his reaction so slow? Su Jiu has obviously investigated several rounds before."

Gin has a feeling that it is approaching a set set by someone else.

So he wandered around the house for another half an hour, and after confirming that there was not much to read, he decided to go back to his residence and read the information given by Mr. Su Jiu.

Just as Gin was about to climb over the wall and leave, the thief came back in a hurry. He looked like he was running out of breath, and grabbed the half-turned Gin from the wall.

"I, I saw him go to the new hotel on the north side of the town, but I don't know which floor and room he lives in."

Hearing this, Qin Jiu took a deep look at him and said, "Okay, I see."

The thief nodded and gasped for breath while clutching his chest. He didn't seem guilty at all: "I peeked at the door and saw him ask the front desk for packing cartons and bags. Maybe he wanted to pack and ship the things away."

"Well, thank you for your reminder." Gin Jiu patted him on the shoulder, and when he walked past him, he left a faint sentence: "I hope you didn't lie to me."

"……certainly!"