wind in the dark night

Chapter 303 Silencing
Qi Yue stepped into the hall.

Zhao Zhenhai followed in and said, "Captain, I heard from the old Taoist priest that one of the two who came first was Captain Zhou. I guessed that it must be Zhou Yi. It's a pity that he got away!"

"Who's the other one?"

Qi Yue looked around.

The furnishings in the hall are simple, but the environment and facilities are very clean. The Four Dragon Kings are colorful, and there is a half-person-high merit box next to them.

Zhao Zhenhai said: "The old Taoist priest said that Zhou Yi called the other person Zhao Guanshi."

"The old Taoist priest knows a lot."

Qi Yue's gaze stopped on the merit box.

Zhao Zhenhai said: "He is just an old man, no one takes him seriously..."

The merit box was newly painted bright red, and on the front was neatly inscribed with eight large characters using a brush: Immeasurable merit, happy to help as circumstances dictate.

Qi Yue looked at it for a while and felt that it seemed familiar. He concentrated and thought for a while, and suddenly remembered that the eight words on the merit box were written in the same handwriting as the words on Li Tiezui's hexagram banner.

Is this what Li Tiezui wrote?

Why is he here?

Zhao Zhenhai continued, "I guess Captain Huang and his men should have gone into the mountains by now. Hong Tianlei got away by chance at the Dragon King Temple, but he will be shot if he goes back."

Qi Yue asked: "Have the prisoners been interrogated?"

Zhao Zhenhai said: "Not yet. I'll think about it when I get back to the town hall..."

Qi Yue said: "We are back at the town hall. It is not convenient for us to show up. We will conduct the trial now."

"Yes!"

Zhao Zhenhai went to interrogate the prisoners.

Qi Yue walked to the side building and pushed the door open and went in. An old Taoist priest was sitting cross-legged in meditation. When he saw the chief of the police coming, he quickly put on his shoes and went downstairs.

"What do you call Taoist Priest?"

"Mingjing Sanren."

"What's your last name?"

"My surname is Li."

"From your accent, you're not from here."

Qi Yue walked to the window and watched Zhao Zhenhai in the yard interrogating the prisoners in a stern voice. Wang Peng was holding a wooden stick as thick as a bowl, and would beat anyone who resisted the interrogation.

Taoist Li said: "I am originally from Cangzhou, Hebei Province. I am a Quanzhen disciple of Baiyun Temple. However, because I was distracted and felt that the path of cultivation was long and endless, I became a free-spirited wanderer and found another way."

"Manchuria worships Buddhism. I'm afraid you came to the wrong place this time."

Qi Yue discovered that Taoist Li’s eyes and eyebrows were somewhat similar to Li Tiezui.

Taoist Li bowed his head and said, "Immeasurable Heavenly Venerable, our ancestor Chongyang Zhenren once said, the east is the sea, the south is the Han and Huai Rivers, the northwest is the vast desert, even if there are ten houses gathered together, there must be one seat to offer incense."

Qi Yue sighed and said, "Master Chongyang founded the Quanzhen Sect, and Qiu Chuji surpassed him. The Quanzhen Sect was able to flourish. Unfortunately, it began to decline from the generation of Qinghezi Yin Zhiping..."

Taoist Li was very surprised. He didn't expect that this policeman knew so much about Quanzhen Sect.

Qi Yue smiled slightly: "I am from Beijing. When I was in school, I often went to Baiyun Temple to hang out. It was at that time that I gradually became interested in Taoism... By the way, what did Captain Zhou and Hong Tianlei talk about?"

Taoist Li said, "I was not in the monk's room, so I don't know what they were talking about."

Qi Yue asked: "The words on the merit box are quite elegant. Did you write them?"

"Forehead……"

Taoist Li hesitated a little.

There is a calligraphy hanging on the wall, with the words "Cultivate the Truth and Cultivate the Mind" written on it, and the signature is Ming Jing San Ren. The handwriting is obviously different from the handwriting on the merit box.

Seeing Qi Yue staring at the words, Taoist Li immediately said: "The words on the merit box were not written by me, but by a fellow Taoist who was inspired..." Qi Yue asked: "Is he in the temple?"

Taoist Li said: "You make a living by fortune-telling. You travel around the world without a fixed place to stay. You only come to the temple to stay for a few days in your spare time."

Through this conversation, Qi Yue was basically able to confirm that the "Daoist friend" that Taoist Li mentioned was the missing Li Tiezui.

……

into the night.

Houses in the alley.

Xu Tao opened the door and went in. He took off his hat and put it aside. He threw his coat on the chair. The dark figure hiding behind the curtains walked out: "You're back."

Xu Tao was startled and subconsciously reached for his gun. Then he heard someone's voice and couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief: "It's you. You scared me... How did you get in?"

"Pick the lock."

"........."

"I have something to do with you."

"What's the matter?"

The shadow said nothing, looking out the window.

Xu Tao said, "Don't worry. On the way back, I took two extra detours. There was no one following me. It's so cold, and there are few people on the street. If someone was following me, I wouldn't be able to hide it from my eyes."

The shadow looked at him for a while before saying, "What's going on, Chief Liu?"

Xu Tao sighed, "When this guy was on the wrong side of the law, he followed the people to the Dragon King Temple to arrest people and was shot. I just went to see the body. The bullet was a round-nosed rifle bullet made in Hanyang. The police were using Type 38 rifles. It must have been shot by the bandits."

As he spoke, he reached out to touch the light cord.

The shadow said, "Don't turn on the light. If someone passes by, they can see it clearly."

Xu Tao said: "Draw the curtains."

The shadow said, "It's only six o'clock now. It's too early to draw the curtains at this time. If there are Communist spies outside, they will definitely become suspicious."

Xu Tao nodded: "You are right..."

The shadow said, "I heard that this time when they went to the Dragon King Temple to arrest people, only Chief Inspector Liu died."

Xu Tao said: "Two were injured."

The shadow was silent for a while: "There were so many people, but Chief Inspector Liu was beaten to death... Don't you think this is a bit too coincidental?"

Xu Tao frowned: "What do you mean?"

The shadow said: "I was just wondering if he was shot by someone."

Xu Tao thought for a moment: "The question is, who will shoot him in the back?"

The shadow said, "If he has evidence that is unfavorable to someone, once he tells it to others, that person might be put in a passive position. If he gets the chance, he might just kill the person to silence him!"

Xu Tao said: "In our plan, Chief Inspector Liu is just a pawn. He doesn't even know as much as Jiang Yuying. What evidence can such a person have against others?"

The shadow slowly sat down and said, "Last night, Chief Liu followed your instructions and secretly released Ma Kai. If he told someone else about this, and that person happened to be associated with the Communist Party, this would be unfavorable evidence against that person!"

"That makes sense..."

Xu Tao nodded slowly.

Chief Inspector Liu released Ma Kai privately on the orders of Xu Tao. Anyone who knew the truth would inevitably become suspicious. In any situation that arises afterwards, it would be difficult for this person - Qi Yue - to prove his innocence. The best solution is undoubtedly to stabilize Chief Inspector Liu first and then find an opportunity to kill him to silence him.

“A horse may have the ambition to run a thousand miles, but it cannot go by itself without a rider. A person may have the ambition to soar to the sky, but he cannot achieve his goal without luck… Fortune-telling, fortune-telling, Guiguzi’s innate fortune-telling, I will give you a fortune for every fortune you give. If it doesn’t work, I won’t charge you.”

There were faint shouts coming from the street, and Li Tiezui was walking through the streets carrying a divination banner.

(End of this chapter)