ninety thousand miles

Chapter 336 Late at night
Li Chuan was stunned for a moment, and then he realized that Zhang Xintong was probably convinced that he was some kind of expert when he appeared in the morning.

Anyway, it's good to cooperate.

Li Chuan then said, "Mr. Zhang, don't be in a hurry. Let's sit down and talk slowly. Have you had dinner?"

"Not yet. After I left Qintian Prison, I took a leave of absence from my boss. I went back and had a few bites of food, and I have been sorting it out at home." Zhang Xintong explained his whereabouts that day, and then said: "Dr. Li , I want to understand, you saved my life, and you also want to save the lives of my whole family. You said, if your life is gone, is fame and wealth still interesting? "

Li Chuan smiled and said, "That's it. Then just stay here and eat whatever you want."

Then he said to the third person next to him: "Third brother, please go to the kitchen and ask for a bowl of noodles and make a pot of tea."

The third person said: "Okay."

After the third person and the second male went out, Li Chuan and Zhang Xintong sat down outside.

The night wind blew through the doors and windows, and Zhang Xintong calmed down. He said: "I am just a low-ranking official in the capital. I am afraid that my family will cause trouble and accidentally offend people who cannot be offended, so I will tell them not to do it unless necessary." , don’t go out. Usually, you only interact with officials you are familiar with. As for the servants at home, those are the only people they can come into contact with.”

Zhang Xintong's words are very organized.

"Okay, I'll do it early tomorrow morning..."

Zhang Xintong said: "Yes, now that I think about it, maybe this disease came from the people in that theater troupe."

Zhang Xintong said: "Fortunately, my son went to the academy to study just after the Chinese New Year in order to prepare for the national examination next year."

"Forgot the lyrics?" Li Chuan grasped the key point.

"When did the steward's son become ill?" Li Chuan asked.

Zhang Xintong said: "Fortunately, he is still working at my house."

Zhang Xintong said: "About half a month after the troupe arrived, the steward came to tell me that his son had broken his leg and had gone to the countryside to recuperate. I didn't think much about it at the time. I just told him to take good care of himself and recuperate, and also gave him a few taels. Give him the money. But it’s been eight or nine months now, and the boy hasn’t shown up. There must be something wrong, right?"

"So I began to wonder if anything special had happened at home before the cook got sick. I thought about it over and over again, and it occurred to me that shortly after the Chinese New Year, it would be my wife's birthday, so I invited a theater troupe to come to my house.

"At that time, there were also the family members of several officials I knew well who came to my house. I was not at home during the day, and when I went back in the evening, they had already dispersed." Zhang Xintong slowly recalled, "Then At that time, there was a young actor who seemed to have gone the wrong way, and I met him. Not long after, the troupe leader took him away and scolded him, saying that he had forgotten his words and did not recognize the road, etc. At that time, I I didn’t pay attention, so I didn’t listen.”

"Is the manager okay?" Li Chuan asked again.

Li Chuan nodded and said: "Anyway, tomorrow, you bring a few people over first, I will treat them, and then I will ask them some questions. Divide them into several batches, and treat a few every day."

He went on to talk about things in his family, "As for my family, the person who got sick first might not be the cook, but a boy next to my eldest son. He is the son in charge. He has a bad character and is usually habitual. I like hanging out with these low-life people.”

"What about your eldest son?" Li Chuan was a little curious.

"It'll be okay later." Li Chuan said.

Zhang Xintong understood and said, "Then I'll come back after six hours."

Li Chuan said: "Okay, you should come in through the small door when you arrive, and I will tell them."

"Okay, okay." Zhang Xintong responded repeatedly.

"By the way, I haven't finished talking about the troupe yet," Zhang Xintong said. At this time, the other three came in with a bowl of noodles and a pot of tea.

Li Chuan saw Zhang Xintong's throat moving, apparently smelling the fragrance of the noodles. He then said, "Let's eat the noodles first, and then we'll talk about it later."

"Then I'll eat something first." Zhang Xintong said. He was really hungry, and he lost his usual grace and airs. After a few grunts, he finished the noodles.

After finishing the noodle soup and putting down the bowl, he said to Li Chuan again: "Hey, Dr. Li, this is the most solid meal I have eaten in the past few months."

"Another bowl?" Li Chuan asked.

"I'm full, really." Zhang Xintong said.

So Li Chuan poured a cup of tea, pushed it in front of him, and said, "What's wrong with that troupe?"

Zhang Xintong said: "This troupe came from Yashan County a few years ago, and they are also..."

"Yashan County?" Li Chuan repeated the place name.

"That's right, from Prince Su's fiefdom." Zhang Xintong was sensitive to the strangeness in Li Chuan's tone, "Li Chuan, are you not very optimistic about Prince Su?"

Li Chuan quickly shook his head and said, "I am a junior official from the eighth rank, so I can't get involved in these things."

"That's good." Zhang Xintong breathed a sigh of relief and said, "His Majesty's birthday will be in a few days. People in my Ministry of Etiquette said that up to now, they haven't decided who will host this matter."

After hearing this, Li Chuan blurted out and asked, "Let Prince Su preside over it? Isn't he under house arrest?" Then he waved his hand and said, "If you don't talk about this or that troupe, you can continue talking."

Zhang Xintong took a sip of tea and said, "That theater troupe also came to the capital half a year ago."

Li Chuan counted the days and felt something was wrong.

Let’s not count the boy first. The cook in Zhang Xintong's family became ill more than five months ago. After two rounds of changes, the head of the family became infected.

The troupe all performs and walks at the same time. Normal people would have to walk for a long time from Yashan County to the capital. There are so many people in the troupe and they still have property, so they are not allowed to go on stage for more than half a year?
If the theater troupe contracted the strange disease in Yashan County, at this rate of infection, after more than half a year, there should be no normal people left in the theater troupe.

Could it be that the troupe also contracted this spirit-eating disease after arriving in the capital?

No, even if it was contracted in the capital, according to Zhang Xintong, more than half a year has passed? And they were singing opera in the capital. They went to this house today and that house tomorrow. Why did something happen to the Zhang family?

Is it because there is something special about the Zhang family, or is it because other families are also secretly hiding it? That's not right. They had already fallen ill when they were singing at the Zhang family. It would take at least half a month from infection to onset...

So Li Chuan asked: "Where is the troupe now?"

Zhang Xintong said: "Three months ago, I went to Prince Gunlong's mansion. I heard that the princess missed her life in Yashan County, so she left them in the mansion."

Li Chuan now knew why Zhang Xintong had to come to him first. He suppressed the rest of the doubts in his heart and said, "Don't worry, Qintian Supervisor will handle it properly after taking over this matter."

"I know, I'll leave everything to you." Zhang Xintong said. He took another drink of water and said, "Then...I'll go back first."

"Okay, I'll take you to the door." Li Chuan said.

(End of this chapter)