PDLP Chapter 54: The Ghost's Grudge, Taking Life
Chapter 54: The Ghost's Grudge, Taking Life
All the common people were taken away. The four customers wanted to leave the village, but were stopped by the traffickers. Then the third in command had the door leading out of the village closed.
The boss looked panicked and muttered, "What should we do now?"
“What can we do?” The Third Chief grabbed Lin Lezhi’s collar tightly and said with a fierce look in his eyes: “Sly detective? Bah! He’s just a brat. Today I will let you know the price of playing tricks on us!”
After saying that, the third in command dragged Lin Lezhi and strode towards the wooden barrel filled with bean curd water.
"Wait a minute, Third Master, I think there is still room for maneuver in this matter. Are you really not going to discuss it anymore?"
The Third Master let go of Lin Lezhi's collar, pressed Lin Lezhi's neck into the wooden barrel filled with bean curd water, and said viciously: "There is nothing to talk to you about. Don't you like to hide? It's just right that I can help you wash this skin and see what else is hidden under this skin."
Lin Lezhi used both hands to support the edge of the barrel and barely held up his body.
The water in the wooden barrel was very turbid and was still reacting violently.
"Come on, Third Boss. I'm still counting on this skin to make a living. I think we can still have a chat. Don't you want to know how I know Cao An?"
"No need. The dead will never tell secrets."
The third in command looked at Lin Lezhi with a sneer on his face.
The violent reaction in the wooden barrel caused the water in the barrel to roll continuously, and even a "sizzling" sound could be heard.
Lin Lezhi held onto the edge of the barrel tightly, with veins popping out on the back of his hands and forehead. He forced himself to smile and said, "The dead really won't tell secrets, but the living can. Killing me won't make the murderer happy."
The Third In Command's men paused slightly and loosened their grip a little.
Lin Lezhi took the opportunity to break away from the third in command's hands and rubbed the back of his neck which was sore from being pinched.
"What did you just say?" The third in command narrowed his eyes and asked with a gloomy face. A strong sense of uneasiness rose in his heart.
Lin Lezhi walked slowly to the side, away from the barrel, soothed his almost injured heart, then looked at the two heads and said with a smile: "I have already said that the murderer is not me, but someone else. Even if you kill me, it will be useless."
Lin Lezhi walked slowly to the side, breathing heavily, and looked at the Third Master with some fear, and said with a wry smile: "Nothing, I just wanted to say that you have arrested the wrong person. It's easy to kill me, but I'm afraid the two masters will have to sleep with their eyes open from now on."
Having said that, Lin Lezhi cautiously glanced at the third in command, and saw that the muscles on his gloomy face were trembling slightly.
"So, you know who the murderer is?" The third in command said viciously, squeezing out these words from between his teeth.
"I don't know, but there's someone who might know."
Lin Lezhi turned his gaze to the four patrons. The four patrons had different expressions. Some were serious, some looked indifferent, and some stood there in a trance, not even noticing that Lin Lezhi was looking at them.
Lin Lezhi didn't mind. He walked slowly to the absent-minded Boss Hu, waved his hand in front of Boss Hu's eyes, and called out, "Boss Hu?"
Boss Hu came back to his senses all of a sudden, "Ah... yes, yes."
Lin Lezhi smiled slightly and said, "Boss Hu, I see you are often lost in thought. Could it be that you already know who the real murderer is?"
"Ahem." Boss Hu coughed several times and quickly shook his head to deny, "How can I know who the real murderer is? I don't know, I don't know."
Boss Hu shook his head, and the flesh on his face shook with him.
"So..." Lin Lezhi raised his eyes and pretended to think, then looked down at Boss Hu and asked with a smile: "But there is one thing I can't understand. After something like this happens, shouldn't the first reaction be that someone died again? But why did Boss Hu say that someone was killed again? It's as if he had seen the murder happen before."
"It was just a slip of the tongue... I meant to say someone was dead."
"And I remember that on the first day Boss Hu arrived, he was anxious to leave. At that time, the news of the death of the owner and the second in command had not yet arrived. Why was Boss Hu so anxious? It was as if he knew something was going to happen soon."
"This...I..." Boss Hu looked at everyone and wanted to defend himself, but when he received everyone's suspicious gaze, all the words were stuck in his throat.
The big boss immediately stepped forward and grabbed Boss Hu's shoulders, and shouted with his eyes wide open: "Tell me, is it you?"
Boss Hu was so scared that his eyesight was a little dazed. If the big boss hadn't grabbed his shoulders, he would have collapsed to the ground. Boss Hu was so scared by the third in command that he almost cried.
"I...I, it's not me, it's really not me!" Boss Hu turned pale with fright and quickly waved his hands to deny it.
"If it's not you, why do you say that someone has been killed again?" The third in command said coldly.
"I... I just wanted to come here to take advantage of the opportunity to make some money, it's really not me." Boss Hu didn't know where he got the strength from, he pushed the third boss away, and crawled to Lin Lezhi and said, "Mr. Jiang, it's really not me, I really don't know anything, you are a spy, please help me, help me!"
Lin Lezhi bent down, kindly helped Boss Hu up, and reminded him: "Boss Hu, if you don't tell the truth, even gods can't save you."
Hearing this, Boss Hu burst into tears and said tremblingly: "Yes... I saw it with my own eyes."
"What did you see?" The boss stared at Boss Hu, wanting to know the answer more urgently than anyone else present.
"I...I..." Boss Hu stuttered and was unable to speak for several times.
While Boss Hu was hesitating, Lin Lezhi secretly glanced in the direction of the dungeon. When he turned around, he met the gaze of the female customer.
Lin Lezhi looked away and coughed a few times, pretending to have a cold.
When he put his hand down, his expression paused slightly.
The Third Master had no patience. He squatted down and looked at Boss Hu. He drew the short knife from his waist and threatened him viciously: "If you don't tell me, then you are the murderer who killed the owner of the manor and my second brother."
"I said! I said!"
Boss Hu was so scared that he was trembling and crying as he said, "After I received the letter from the owner of the manor, I knew that according to his habit, he would come to the manor one night earlier, so I rushed here in advance without telling anyone else. As a result, on the way to the manor, I accidentally heard the conversation between the owner and the second in command."
"I thought they must have something to say, so I hid myself. As they were talking, the owner suddenly pulled out a knife and stabbed the second in command in the chest. The second in command wanted to draw his knife to fight back, but he couldn't pull it out. Soon, he fell to the ground and was motionless."
Boss Hu kept his eyes wide open as he spoke, as if the horrific events of that night were happening right before his eyes.
Hearing this, the two heads were both shocked and looked at each other.
The Third Master obviously didn't believe it and said, "You are lying. The owner of the manor and my second brother were murdered by a villain last night. If you tamper with the facts like this, who else could be the murderer but you?"
"It's true, I definitely didn't lie!"
Lin Lezhi frowned slightly, stepped forward to help Boss Hu up, and then said, "Boss Hu, I believe you for now, but how can you prove that you are not the murderer?"
When Boss Hu heard this, he became anxious and stammered, "I...how can I prove it? I don't know who the murderer is. The facts are just what I saw."
Lin Lezhi pondered for a moment and said calmly: "Boss Hu, do you still remember the conversation between the owner and the second in command?"
Boss Hu tried hard to recall and said in a panic, "I was quite far away and only heard bits and pieces. I think it was about the dry bones that appeared in the town a few days ago. The owner of the manor seemed to say that someone was still alive. The second in command said that he saw the man commit suicide with his own eyes and asked the owner to rest assured."
Lin Lezhi nodded slightly and said, "Besides this, did you hear anything else?"
Boss Hu shook his head. "No more... I was so scared at the time. I don't know what the two heads were talking about, but there are rumors that the abandoned house where the withered bones are is shrouded in the resentment of evil spirits. Anyone who lives there will die a violent death. The two previous and current owners were not spared, and perhaps the withered young man is no exception."
As he spoke, Boss Hu realized that he had said something wrong, and quickly raised his head to look at Lin Lezhi and continued, "I think maybe Master Xing felt that the Second In Command was not doing his job well, so he killed him."
"Afterwards, I was afraid of getting into trouble, so I didn't dare to look any further. While the owner was dealing with the second in command's body, I left. I waited until dawn and pretended to have just arrived here and met up with the other three customers. Everything I said was true, and I never lied."
"Nonsense!" The Third Master obviously didn't believe it and retorted: "If you are afraid of death, why did you come here the next day? It's obvious that you have something to hide!"
"Third boss, I'm telling the truth. If I hadn't come, and the owner of the manor suspected me, I wouldn't have made any money, and I'd have lost my life. It would be better for me to pretend I didn't know and leave here. It was only today that I found out that the owner of the manor was actually County Magistrate Yan."
Lin Lezhi thought for a moment and said, "If Boss Hu wants to make money by buying and selling people, why not come with a few customers during the day? Why come at night?"
"This..." Boss Hu looked at Lin Lezhi, wondering whether to say it.
Lin Lezhi smiled and said, "The only one who can prove your innocence now is you, Boss Hu. If Boss Hu doesn't speak, I'm afraid no one will believe what you just said."
Suddenly, Boss Hu turned pale with fear and said hurriedly, "I'll tell you, but this story started thirteen years ago."
Lin Lezhi nodded slightly, motioning for Boss Hu to continue.
Boss Hu said as he pondered, "I have been friends with Manor Master Xing for many years. I always buy people from Manor Master Xing whenever the mine needs them. But thirteen years ago, something strange happened. Manor Master Xing took the initiative to come to me at the mine and asked me to buy a group of people. I thought Manor Master Xing needed them urgently, so I sold them to him."
"After that, when I came to this village again, it was already a year later. This village has undergone earth-shaking changes. It turns out that this Ya Ren Village was not what it is now. There...there used to be a banyan tree growing in that place." Boss Hu said, pointing in the direction of the dungeon.
"I think the owner may have hired someone to renovate the Ya Ren Manor. Yes, the three heads were there at that time, and the Ya Ren Manor became more and more orderly under the management of the three heads."
"What's so strange about this?" Lin Lezhi asked puzzled.
"The weird thing is that Manor Master Xing clearly paid me for buying the person, but when I came to buy the person later, Manor Master Xing gave me another sum of money, saying it was a thank-you gift from someone else. I thought it was weird, but I didn't ask about it."
Boss Hu looked more and more miserable as he spoke, and choked up, "It's been hard to do business in the mine these past few years. The mine land has been taken away by the government, and I have no income at all in recent years. I still have a family to support, so I wanted to ask Master Xing. There are still many refugees in my mine. If he needs them, I can sell them to him at a low price."
After Boss Hu got caught up in his own emotions, he kept complaining, but he didn't notice that the eyes of the two bosses had become terrifying.
"I wonder what the two bosses and the other three customers think?" Lin Lezhi suddenly asked.
The female lead Gu Waner said, "I think Mr. Jiang must have a better idea than us about this matter."
Lin Lezhi smiled awkwardly and said, "Sister, you are too kind. I can't make a judgment easily without any evidence."
Hearing Lin Lezhi say this, Boss Hu's face immediately changed, and he accused: "Mr. Jiang, you said that you would help me as long as I told you, you can't go back on your word. The death of the owner and the second in command has nothing to do with me!"
"It's not that I don't want to help you, but... solving a case also depends on facts and evidence. Boss Hu, you described it vividly, and I understand your difficulties, but no one in this manor can prove that what you said is true. Now the owner of the manor who can testify for you is dead, unless one of the other three customers has a long-term friendship with the owner of the manor like you."
Hearing this, Boss Hu turned to look at the other three customers. A male customer next to him said, "Except for Boss Hu, we have only been doing business with Master Xing in the past ten years."
Boss Hu looked devastated and collapsed to the ground again.
"I think what Master Jiang said makes sense. You are telling lies to get away with it." The Third Master rarely agreed with Lin Lezhi's words and shouted to the human trafficker beside him, "Someone, put him in the dungeon."
Boss Hu fell to the ground with a thud, shaking his head continuously.
"Third boss." Lin Lezhi persuaded, "I think this matter should not be that simple, and Boss Hu has been a customer for many years. As the saying goes, even if the deal fails, there is still room for maneuver. It would be bad if the relationship becomes strained. Before the matter is thoroughly investigated, just lock Boss Hu in his own room."
"Yes... yes, Mr. Jiang is right, there must be room for maneuver." Boss Hu nodded quickly.
The two bosses looked at each other, and then the third boss said, "Let's do as Jiang Guitan said. Take him back to the room first. It's getting late. The customers and Jiang Guitan should rest first. Come on, prepare a room for Jiang Guitan."
Lin Lezhi was flattered and said, "Since it is the good intention of the two masters, I will not refuse."
"It's my duty. Thank you Detective Jiang Gui for helping us solve the case. We have offended you before. I hope Detective Jiang Gui will not take it as an offense."
"No, no, it's like fighting makes us acquainted!"
After returning to the room, Lin Lezhi fell asleep immediately.
But Boss Hu suffered from insomnia. Near dawn, he was still huddled in his bed, shivering. Then, a thin, hollow pole came through the window screen into their room, and white mist slowly floated out of the hollow pole.
Afterwards, Boss Hu's body stopped shaking and he fell asleep on the bed. Then the doors of Lin Lezhi and Boss Hu's rooms were slowly pushed open.