Knife splashing

Chapter 666: Wang Family Searches for the Murderer
"A funeral is underway?"

Li Yan narrowed his eyes slightly, "Tell me about this person's situation."

To be honest, he already had some doubts about this kid.

That pattern is used by the Huangquan organization to mark territory, similar to the way a thief steps on his territory. Outsiders cannot understand it, and once they succeed, they will quickly erase all traces.

Since it's a funeral, why would the mark still be left there?

Besides, this kid discovered it too quickly.

These guys, cheating and deceiving is their habit.

It's possible to draw a sign and trick him into asking for money...

"Sir, how dare I lie to you!"

As if he had seen through Li Yan's suspicion, Liang Biaozi quickly complained, "I won't hide this from you. I recruited some beggars, who provided them with hot sesame cakes on weekdays and helped me run errands and gather information."

"As long as it's something in Tianjin, you can always get some information. I was worried about the place they found, so I went around and asked about the family's background. It was really strange."

"Oh, tell me, how is it so strange?"

"The family's surname is Wang, and the head of the family is Wang Chaoyi. He was originally an old bamboo craftsman. The family lived in a muddy alley, so poor that even mice could starve to death. The whole family only had one pair of cotton pants, and whoever went out in winter wore it."

"But just five years ago, Wang Chaoyi fell seriously ill and passed away. He was already 75 years old, so it was considered a happy funeral. His family prepared a thin-skinned coffin with a dog's head for burial."

"Who would have thought that while his children were crying, the old man slowly recovered. The Wang family was poor and couldn't take care of him, but they were afraid that the neighbors would say they were unfilial, so naturally they couldn't show their face."

"But after Old Wang woke up, the Wang family seemed to have a turn for the better. In just half a year, they became rich, had good food and drinks, and even bought a big house in South City. They survived until a few days ago when they suddenly died..."

A resurrected person!
After hearing this, Li Yan was certain in his heart.

Liang Biaozi is a chatterbox who likes to exaggerate things.

But he inadvertently revealed important information.

Even if ordinary people cannot remember anything after a trip to the underworld, the evil spirits will infect their souls and spirits, causing them to awaken powers similar to supernatural powers, and they can curse people or communicate with ghosts and gods to gain benefits.

But this kind of power must have a price.

When the spirit is infected by evil spirits, it will gradually become bloodthirsty and turn into an evil creature.

Sometimes, even the living ghosts don't need to take action, they will be discovered and killed by the sorcerers because of their mischief.

"Come on, take me to see..."

…………

As dusk falls, the scent of reeds from the Sancha River estuary floats through the city.

Li Yan followed Liang Biaozi and turned into Nanmenli Street.

On both sides of the alley with blue brick pavement, small townhouses built in the early years of the Daxuan period are crowded together, with faded words such as "Dunrenli" and "Shudefang" remaining on the lintels.

"Tianjin has a large population, and all the dignitaries live in the north city."

As Liang Biaozi walked, he introduced: "We have an old saying in Tianjin, 'The water of the Haihe River flows around the city, and the eight great families in the north of the city have never been rich for more than three generations.' It means that Tianjin has been in existence for a short time, and the eight richest families in the north of the city are almost all salt merchants and grain merchants, but they have experienced ups and downs, and none of them have been rich for more than three generations."

"But there are so many people in Tianjin that ordinary people can't afford a quiet mansion. If you are just a little rich, you can only squeeze in with the shops on the street..."

"We're here, it's that house!"

What he said was indeed correct. The Wang family residence was sandwiched between the pawnshop and the mutton stall.

It was already evening, there were fewer people on the street, and the surrounding shops were closing.

Under the Wang family's porch, the white gauze lanterns hanging were swirling in the breeze, illuminating the newly painted vermilion panels on the door.

This is an old custom. People in Tianjin pay attention to repainting the door panels with the "thick red material" produced by Sanyigong Paint Shop when someone has a funeral.

Li Yan glanced at the old tree outside the Wang family mansion.

In the shadow of the tree branches, the symbol of the Huangquan organization was clearly drawn in ink.

Crooked, intersecting with the tree texture.

If you don't pay attention, you won't notice it at all.

"Uncle Li, there must be something wrong with this house!"

Liang Biaozi glanced a few more times and said with certainty.

"What do you mean?" Li Yan asked.

"Simple, look at that."

Liang Biaozi pointed to a canal outside the Wang family's gate and said, "Although I don't understand Feng Shui at home, I have been helping people find houses and set up connections for many years, so I also know some taboos."

"The mourning shed should not face the ditch. The elderly in Tianjin are most afraid of this 'ditch-facing evil'."

The two hid beside the Guangou Stone at the corner of the alley across the street, just in time to see the Wang family's gate.

Through the gap in the gate, you can see the makeshift reed mat shed in the Wang family courtyard.

The shed was facing the opening of the underground canal made of bluestone.

Li Yan could even smell the salty smell of river water.

"Thank you!"

Li Yan nodded and threw out a few more taels of silver.

"Alas, this..."

Liang Biaozi's face was full of joy. He had already given the reward before, but he didn't expect there would be a bonus.

"Then you are busy, I will go first."

He was very tactful and knew that Li Yan gave him money in order to ask him to leave.

Anyway, this job is easy and pays well, so he doesn't want to cause any more trouble.

As for whether Li Yan was committing robbery, murder or arson, he would pretend to be confused afterwards.

After he left, Li Yan went into a dark alley and waited patiently.

He was the only one who came out this time.

After all, Tianjin has a large population, so it is more convenient for one person to go alone.

Soon, the sky became completely dark.

Except for one tavern that still had candles lit, the rest of the shops on the entire street were closed.

Li Yan hid in a dark alley. He pinched his left hand and flicked his little finger. Several paper figurines flew out from his waist and revolved around him. As he chanted the "Northern Emperor's Mysterious Water Escape" spell, a cold wind suddenly blew around him and his figure quickly disappeared.

A gust of wind blew in the night, and Li Yan was already standing on the wall of Wang's courtyard.

He lowered his body and looked down.

Although the Wang family is not a wealthy family, they do have a neat courtyard house with three entrances and three exits.

The words "Harmonious Neighborhood" are carved on the blue-tiled gatehouse. In front of the screen wall is a blue-and-white fish tank, in which several red lionhead carps are swimming happily, adding a touch of elegance.

The mourning hall was set up in the front yard, and the coffin was covered with a brocade quilt with the word "swastika" written on it.

Three children in mourning were kneeling on a cushion. A filial son was burning paper money in a brazier. A monk was invited to the side, who was chanting scriptures with his eyes slightly closed while beating a wooden fish.

It looks no different from any other funeral held by an ordinary family.

However, Li Yan could clearly spot the problem.

In front of the coffin, three gold-painted chopsticks were stuck in the last meal on the Eight Immortals table.

Li Yan and Wang Daoxuan had handled many funerals and knew many of the rules.

This is a common custom in funerals, which is called "incense, candles and fruits are offered to the deceased soul, and grain is stored in the funeral basin. The Five Emperors give the first meal, and three pillars are placed in the middle."

Three chopsticks are inserted into the rice, representing the three elements of heaven, earth and man, and symbolizing that the food in the world of the living is finished.

But generally speaking, the chopsticks used for cooking rice should be wrapped with cotton.

The taboo about this thing is "burn three incense sticks and don't use chopsticks to touch gold."

Anyone who knows a bit about this wouldn't do this.

Also, the arrangement of the coffin and the eight-immortals table does not look like a mourning hall, but rather like a woodblock print of a case in the underworld.

And there was no sadness on the faces of those filial sons and grandchildren, only fear and worry.

"Brother, do you think this matter is over?"

"How would I know? The old man is already dead, so those people should stop now."

“I’m afraid they won’t keep their word.”

"Don't worry, I have made arrangements. After the old man is buried, our family will immediately take a boat to Jiangsu and Zhejiang and live there for a few years. We will come back after the storm has passed." "The property in the city..."

"At this moment, there is no time to care about these things. Anyway, the old man left behind more than these."

Listening to their conversation, Li Yan seemed to be thinking about something.

There is indeed something wrong with the Wang family. It seems like they are being targeted by someone?
Thinking of this, Li Yan immediately pinched the Yang Jue.

The ability of smell and hearing are activated at the same time for perception.

As soon as he smelled it, he frowned.

There was an unpleasant stench coming from inside the coffin.

This was not a corpse that had just died a few days ago. Although it was covered with lime and a large amount of spices, the smell was still clearly discernible to him, and there was a strong smell of urine.

Some elderly people who have been bedridden for a long time have urinary incontinence, which is why they have this smell.

The living dead!
Li Yan immediately understood the reason and his eyes turned cold.

After the old man came back to life, he somehow awakened some magical power and brought wealth to the Wang family, but his body was old and had long since decayed and died, so he had to use a large amount of preservatives.

This is a kind of desperate pain, watching your own body decay step by step.

Ordinary people would have collapsed and committed suicide long ago.

The fact that the old man was able to hold on for five years was probably due to the efforts of these "filial sons and grandsons".

The question is, who taught them these methods?
At this moment, Li Yan frowned and looked outside the wall.

On the moonlit street, three men were seen walking in a sloppy manner, with their arms swinging.

The short and sturdy man in the lead was wearing a coarse indigo short brown robe with the collar askew, revealing the tattooed wave pattern. An ebony pipe was tied casually with a straw rope around his waist, and the Liuhe hat on his head had long been soaked yellow by oil and sweat.

Li Yan has seen quite a few of them on the road. This is the most typical attire of Tianjin's "pot gang".

"Guohuo" is a Tianjin dialect, which means "eating from the same pot".

The scoundrels and vagrants in Tianjin who live and eat together are called "pot gangs".

As a water transport hub and commercial center, Tianjin has attracted a large number of migrant population in recent years.

There were many porters, coolies, bankrupt farmers, deserters, etc. They were too lazy to endure the hardship and hardship, so they gathered together to do evil and extort money to earn a few cents.

The characteristics of this group of people are that they are shameless and difficult to deal with, but at the same time they are brave and fearless of death.

Boom!
The three men kicked open the Wang family’s door and staggered into the yard.

"What does Jie...Jie do?"

The short, stocky, green-skinned man spoke with a stutter, tilting his neck and glaring, "You just… just holding a string of broken prayer beads and… you dare to eat vegetarian food in our Jinghai Gang territory?!"

The monk was just an ordinary monk and he shuddered with fear.

He looked behind him as if for help, but the Wang family members had already turned pale and were retreating one after another.

Jinghai Gang? Interesting...

Li Yan narrowed his eyes slightly and noticed something strange.

On the way here, a disciple of the Cao Gang said that the Jinghai Gang had the greatest influence in Tianjin. Not only did they control the docks, they also subdued all the "pot gangs" in Tianjin.

There was a pipe on the short and sturdy man's waist, and the smell of opium wafted from it.

And some members of the Wang family obviously knew these culprits from the Jinghai Gang.

“Get…get out!”

The short and strong man in the lead slapped the monk and sent him away, and the two followers behind him blocked the door frame.

The toothless man on the left picked up the bronze bell and weighed it. The scarred man on the right had his short shirt open, revealing three old centipede-shaped scars on his ribs. He touched the hilt of the knife at his waist with a malicious look on his face.

The middle-aged man headed by the Wang family said with a bitter face, "Brother Wu, didn't Mr. Zhou say that we owe each other nothing after the matter is done? He..."

Before he could finish his words, he was pushed away by the short and strong man.

The man came to the coffin carelessly, took out the butt of the cigarette from his waist, and knocked on the nanmu coffin board, shaking the candlelight on the altar, and said in a sarcastic tone: "Old Master Wang, the coffin you are lying in was made by us."

As he spoke, he took off a piece of the lacquer and crushed it in his hand.

"The payment for the Huanghuali wood and the paint for Sanyigong has not been settled yet!"

What he said was pure nonsense, but the middle-aged man who was the head of the Wang family immediately understood what he meant. He hurried into the room and brought out a small black box. When he opened it, he found ten ingots of silver.

"Brother Wu, I'll settle it for you right away."

"Oh, Wang... The Wang family is indeed very wealthy..."

The short and strong man nodded with satisfaction, winked, and told his men to put away the things.

However, after extorting a sum of money, he did not leave in a hurry. Instead, he slapped the middle-aged man from the Wang family on the face with his palm and said, "I heard... I heard that you found a boat to leave?"

The middle-aged man of the Wang family shuddered and dared not speak.

"Tsk, tsk."

The short and strong man slapped the middle-aged man's face until it turned red, and sneered: "This...this Tianjin is so good, don't...don't go, be careful not to feed...feed a turtle on the road!"

The middle-aged man's face was filled with grief and indignation, and he could not help but say: "Mr. Zhou agreed..."

Snapped!
Before he could finish his words, he was slapped hard in the face.

"Scare...scare me?!"

The short and stocky man glared, "To tell you the truth, that Zhou guy died a long time ago!"

After saying this, he left triumphantly with his men.

Before leaving, the scarred pot guy suddenly turned around and smiled grimly: "We will come again tomorrow. Your Wang family is not short of money. From now on, I will trouble you to take care of the brothers' meals. Hahaha..."

After the three men left, everyone in the Wang family collapsed on the ground, their faces pale and at a loss.

"Brother, how did they know?"

"Needless to say, we were sold..."

"What should we do?"

Before he finished speaking, everyone's eyes widened.

But in the yard, fog rolled up and a figure appeared, it was Li Yan.

Clang!
A woman was about to scream when Li Yan put a knife to her throat.

"I ask, you answer. If you dare to hide even a word, you will die!"

Li Yan's murderous intention was real, so the Wang family dared not hide anything and told him everything that happened.

It turned out that after their old man came back to life, he probably awakened his supernatural powers and often dreamed of turning into a fish swimming in the Sancha River.

Tianjin had a developed water transport system and was often hit by floods, resulting in countless shipwrecks. The old man used his ability to control the fish to find gold and silver jewelry from the shipwrecks. The Wang family was also good at business, so they bought a store and gradually became rich.

However, the old man became more and more weird.

He is afraid of light and people, has a foul body odor, and likes to eat raw flesh and blood.

The Wang family was afraid, so they wanted to find a sorcerer to exorcise the evil spirit.

Unexpectedly, the sorcerer named Zhou did not take any action after arriving at the door. Instead, he taught them a secret method to refine corpse oil to help the old man preserve his body, and then marked the door on a tree branch.

They didn't know what happened.

All we know is that Mr. Zhou has been living in his house since then, and that people from the Jinghai Gang have been coming and going and ambushing nearby. No one knows who they are dealing with.

"Oh, right!"

The eldest son of the Wang family suddenly spoke up: "Just a few days ago, Mr. Zhou caught an old fortune teller and locked him in the woodshed, forcing him to write a letter to Cangzhou. The old man refused, but he was tortured by him for a few days before he wrote the letter."

"Since then, Mr. Zhou left my home and said it was the last time."

After hearing these words, Li Yan instantly understood the reason.

This is a trap set for the Huangquan Organization!

The Huangquan organization fell apart and its members scattered all over the place.

Such an obvious target would naturally attract many thieves.

Thinking of this, Li Yan could no longer conceal his murderous intent.

"Do you know who he wrote to in Cangzhou?"

"I haven't seen it, but I vaguely heard them say that it was a man named 'Wu'..."

(End of this chapter)