Interstellar: Start as a cleaner.

Chapter 704 House?

"Viscount Houston is the Speaker of the House of Commons of Jialan Province. This little loss is nothing."

"I think this is very suspicious. Rat hunters are not novices. How could they make such a mistake?"

"I've also heard rumors that the management of Houston Viscount Winery is in disarray."

"Their vineyard is the worst managed."

"I suspect something must have happened in the winery." What Yang Bo didn't expect was that everyone was talking about the news at the same time.

But when I think about it, we are all locals, so don’t we all know what each other looks like?
Besides, the Viscount also needs to hire people to do the work, and there will definitely be workers who see something and tell others about it in private.

"We're calling a meeting now. Because Viscount Houston's winery caught fire, we need to check various locations and ensure they have fire prevention measures in place." The sheriff of the Dongcheng District Public Security Bureau held a meeting and talked about the next steps.

However, patrols at night are not a big deal. Patrols during the day are to check businesses and residential areas to see how well the fire prevention and protection preparations are done.

In fact, the most important thing to do when putting out a fire is to put it out immediately. Maybe two basins of water can solve the problem immediately, but if the fire is allowed to spread, it is hard to say.

Originally Yang Bo thought that the matter was over, but he didn't expect it to escalate. It was said that the Houston Winery lost 100,000 gold coins, and some of the wines were said to be up to 100 years old, as well as winemaking equipment and these wooden barrels.

It is said that these barrels are of the highest value. The wine brewed from these barrels has a unique flavor. Some of the barrels are said to be used for five or six hundred years.

Viscount Houston sent someone to convey a message that the truth must be found.

Officials throughout Green City felt a lot of pressure, because Viscount Houston's behavior proved that he did not believe that the fire was caused by a rat hunter, or he had other ideas. After all, a rat hunter certainly could not pay 10 gold coins in compensation.

"Handy, did you find anything unusual when you went to the winery to exterminate rats a few days before the fire?" Locke asked as soon as Yang Bo arrived at the police station in the evening.

"At that time, the housekeeper of the winery wanted me to go to the wine cellar to exterminate rats, but I had no experience in extermination work, so I refused." Yang Bo answered honestly.

"Is this the abnormality you mentioned?" Locke asked with some confusion.

Yang Bo could obviously sense that Locke was probably being controlled by someone else, who wanted to use this incident to elevate Locke's status.

"Sir, don't you feel strange? If you were the housekeeper, would you find someone with no experience in rat extermination to exterminate rats? Anyway, I feel it is very strange." Yang Bo asked back.

"This is a strange place. If there is a problem, where do you think we should check?"

"Officials have checked all of their financial situations and found nothing unusual."

"We also investigated the scene, but didn't find any valuable clues. The scene was already in a mess." Locke asked again.

"Sir, I can't be sure without seeing the scene, and I have no experience in this kind of work." In fact, Yang Bo himself did not intend to take care of this matter, but it was the steward of Houston Winery who wanted him to take the blame.

Yang Bo’s character is that if no one offends me, I will not offend others.

"Then you go back and rest now. I'll take you to the scene tomorrow morning." Locke said after hearing this.

Yang Bo nodded, and Locke opened another letter of explanation.

Yang Bo returned to the academy and handed it over to the dean, mainly because he had a carving class tomorrow.

With the letter of explanation, you can apply for leave tomorrow. This procedure must be followed, otherwise the dean and other tutors will think you are impolite.

The next morning, Yang Bo arrived at the police station early, and Locke took Yang Bo and Roden to the Houston Winery.

Yang Bo's character was sitting on a horse. It was not stable at the beginning, but Yang Bo quickly controlled the game character and adjusted the posture.

The main thing is that the horse is led by Roden, and your character does not control the horse.

"Haha, brother, it seems you have a talent for riding." Roden said with a laugh when they soon arrived at the place on horseback.

Yang Bo didn't say anything. He probably felt that the character was in great pain, but he just couldn't feel it.

The winery has now been taken over by the police station. The appearance of the winery does not seem to have changed much, except that some places look a little smoky.

The wine cellar is in the basement. It is built entirely of stone and is now in a mess.

Yang Bo had no feeling either, so he couldn't smell the smell at the scene.

Yang Bo checked the information last night and found several breakthroughs.

“Why are all the barrels cracked here?”

"That's because the burning temperature caused the temperature inside the barrel to rise and explode." The answer came from Locke, who had read the detailed report himself.

"It's impossible to clearly see the quality of these wines now because they were poured with water when the fire was put out." Locke said again.

Yang Bo looked into the wine cellar and saw that there was indeed a lot of wine and water mixture.

Soon Yang Bo, who had dynamic vision, found what he was looking for.

"Sir, I think I have found the suspicious points." Yang Bo waded into the water and brought up a few things.

Locke was a little surprised. He didn't expect that the guy in front of him would find the suspicious points so quickly.

"Sir, please look."

"Here are some corks from some wine barrels."

"As far as I know, the cork is knocked in when the barrel is opened, but this is not absolute."

"In theory, new corks would be used, but these corks clearly show signs of secondary use."

"Also, inside the wine cellar, these heavy barrel candles can't be lit."

"Even oil lamps are difficult to light. Rat hunters are experienced and should not use oil lamps. So what caused the fire?"

Locke looked at some corks and answered, "It is said that the wine barrel was broken."

"Sir, I think this is a lie. This kind of barrel can hold so much wine and needs to be turned over regularly. I don't think a rat hunter would bring a sledgehammer."

"A rat hunter can only carry a small stick. If this small stick can break these wine barrels, then it means there is something wrong with the barrels themselves." Yang Bo said again.

Locke soon discovered the abnormality of the cork. Anything would leave traces after being used a second time.

Regardless of whether the cork is knocked into the barrel or pulled out, of course a new cork can also be used, but the year can be seen from a new cork.

"But what if they don't admit it?"

"I think workers are needed to do these things. Then the officer only needs to tell the workers that the housekeeper said they stole the things."

"I'm afraid this won't work?"

"Then lock the workers up in a room separated from the housekeeper and the stewards here, and let the workers hear the housekeeper and the stewards discussing it, and let the workers bear the consequences."

"Of course the commander can still keep these corks. As for these workers, they know the flaws of this matter best."

"And the workers must have been involved in the actual operation. Now there are flaws, and they heard that the housekeeper wanted to put the blame on them. Some of these workers will definitely speak out."

Yang Bo whispered his idea.

No matter what happened to the wine in the winery, the workers must know about it, otherwise the housekeeper would not be able to handle so much wine alone.

Even if the workers did not participate in person, they must know something about it, but the housekeeper who usually manages these workers must pretend not to know.

Workers must remember what the work they do looks like, such as what a wine barrel looks like.

Locke understood it all at once. As for whether the next door really had a housekeeper and steward, he could make some arrangements.

"Handy, you're great." The person who controlled Locke didn't expect that the breakthrough point was actually a small wooden cork. He had reviewed the case with an intelligent program, but there was no useful clue.

"Thank you for the compliment, sir."

Then Yang Bo had half a day off in the afternoon. "Haha, Handy, we followed your method in the afternoon, and those workers were scared to death."

"We asked someone to pretend to be the butler next door, and let the workers see the butler in person. However, the butler was knocked unconscious after the workers saw him. The person pretending to be the butler then whispered to the butler, so when I took out the corks, I said that these corks were evidence."

"These workers were so scared that they quickly told everything."

“It turned out that the wine reserves in the winery were very different from the reserves in the account books. On the one hand, the butler and the steward secretly stole wine on a small scale many times. On the other hand, poor management led to a decrease in the yield of the vineyard, and the butler did not dare to tell the truth.”

"In addition, the butler and the steward were greedy and bought some cheap wooden barrels. The wine brewed from these barrels did not meet the requirements at all."

"The Viscount's servant had a problem himself, and it has little to do with our Green City. What reward do you want this time?" In the evening, Locke called Yang Bo to his office alone and asked.

"This is all thanks to you, sir. If you hadn't brought your subordinates with you, there would be no way you could have discovered these things," Yang Bo answered modestly.

"This time the credit is huge. If the responsibility does not lie with the Viscount himself, then our Green City will most likely have to bear part of the losses."

"You don't have a place to live now, right? I happen to have an idle house here, I'll give it to you." Locke said again.

Yang Bo could clearly feel that Locke had regained his mind.

"Thank you, sir. How about Brother Roden?"

"Don't worry about this." Locke said meaningfully.

"Sir, I know what to do."

"Okay." When Locke heard Yang Bo say this, he naturally understood what the other party meant.

"Politics!"

"I didn't expect that I would benefit from it." Yang Bo muttered to himself while patrolling.

The next day, after playing the game and finishing his work with Bob, Yang Bo stayed in the city.

Locke took Yang Bo to a house in the commercial district. The security in the commercial district, noble district and administrative district were all very good. These three districts occupied 3/4 of the entire city, but only had 1/5 of the city's permanent population.
The remaining 4/5 are all crowded in the civilian area which accounts for 1/4 of the city’s area.

These common people serve the business and the nobility.

It is a two-and-a-half-story building with a land area of ​​probably only 120 square meters. There is a half-story attic on the top and a basement.

The basement floor is 50 centimeters higher than the street floor, and the basement is made entirely of stone walls. These are the tall stone walls you see next to the street.

"This house is quite small and there is no room for parking carriages or anything like that," Locke said.

"Thank you very much, sir. This is something I have never dreamed of." Yang Bo was already very satisfied. A house like this would cost at least hundreds of gold coins.

"Locke seems to be a native controlled by the Blue Water Empire, but it is difficult for people of this level of civilization to understand these things." Yang Bo muttered to himself.

"What kind of thing could it be that a powerful country like the Blue Water Empire couldn't find out in this way? Could it really be related to soul control?"

"Here is the title deed and the property deed of the house. I'll take you to transfer the ownership." Locke said with a smile again.

"Thank you, sir, but I think I'll stay outside the city for now."

"Then I can rent this house out for you, which will bring you a considerable income every month."

"Thank you, sir."

"In fact, you should eat more good food, it will be good for you."

"I will do as the commander says."

“Eat more beef.”

In the evening, Yang Bo just returned to the college with the land deed and other things in his pocket, and saw Adam waiting for him.

"Are you doing something else secretly?" Adam sent a message when he saw Yang Bo.

"I found another part-time job in the city!"

"Ah, how are you so lucky to find a part-time job? How is the work?"

“Work is OK.”

"How much money is there?"

“Part-time jobs don’t pay very well.”

"Can I do it with you?"

"Let me ask about this."

"If you can find me a job, I'll treat you to honey cookies."

"Thanks!!"

The next night Yang Bo asked Locke if he needed anyone else.

Locke asked who it was, and Yang Bo said that he was his partner in hunting rabbits.

Locke asked Yang Bo to bring the person over and handle the formalities at that time, but it would be best to ask the college to issue a letter of introduction.

"Handy, I didn't expect you to have the ability to handle cases." When Yang Bo saw the dean, the dean smiled and praised him.

"That's all thanks to the commander." Yang Bo said quickly.

"Adam's performance is a bit average, but there's no problem." The dean began to write a letter of introduction.

Today is Friday, so no need to learn skills.

Adam was still a little dizzy as he followed Yang Bo.

"When did you join the city guard?" Adam asked in a low voice.

"I came in a few days ago."

"How did you get into the army?"

"A letter of introduction from the dean?"

"You are lying!"

"Handy!"

"Brother Los!"

"Has the patrol time been changed today?" When passing by the city gate, several familiar soldiers greeted Yang Bo warmly.

"I'll take my little brother to do something."

"Then go in." Adam followed behind with a confused look on his face, watching Yang Bo chatting and laughing with the guards guarding the city gate.

Normally, these guards looked ferocious when entering the city, staring at everyone with a fierce look, and some were even taken aside and roughly searched.

Of course Adam didn't know that his brother was beaten up by this group of people in front of him, and then sent to the border on charges of robbing soldiers and using force against soldiers. If Adam's brother had not had any weapons, he might have been charged with rebellion.

"I didn't expect you to be so capable. You've just entered the game and you've already become a city guard?" After entering the city gate, Adam sent a message to Yang Bo.

"Keep a low profile, keep a low profile!" Yang Bowu quickly sent a few words, and Adam rolled his eyes at Yang Bo.

Yang Bo was still very envious because his own character couldn't roll his eyes because he didn't have neural access.

(End of this chapter)