Catching Monsters

Chapter 19: The Yard Armed to the Teeth
There was a light snow falling from the sky, and Qian Buchou was walking on the street, leading his horse.

After looting the Xia Mansion, he discussed with the Tongpan of the government office how to compensate the seven deceased constables.

Those seven detectives had been working for Qian Buchou for many years, so naturally he wanted to get more compensation from the government for them.

According to the laws of the Great Zhou Dynasty, each constable who was killed or injured in the line of duty would be compensated with thirty taels of silver, and if he had a son, the son could inherit his position as a constable.

The magistrate meant that each household only needed to give ten taels of silver. Of course, when reporting to the higher authorities, they would have to report more, so they would say that each household gave fifty taels.

Qian Buchou had no way to refute this because the Tongpan was his direct superior.

On the horse's back were seven bags filled with gold, silver and jewelry.

This was the box he got from profit sharing. He took out half and divided it into seven parts.

Soon, he came to a shabby little house. A blind old lady was sitting at the door.

The old lady held a cane in her hand and reached forward: "Xu'er, Xu'er, are you back?"

"Auntie Qin, it's me." Qian Buchou's cheerful voice sounded, and he laughed: "Liu Xu was appreciated by the nobles in the court and came to the capital to work."

"The mission was urgent, so I rushed to the capital first. I was specially asked to come here to give you some money, and then I will come back to take you to the capital to enjoy life."

"Captain Qian?" Aunt Qin was delighted when she heard this and asked, "Really?"

"Seriously." Qian Buchou said, taking a bag of gold and silver from the horse's back and handing it to Aunt Qin.

After Aunt Qin took the bag and weighed it, she was stunned and asked in disbelief, "Captain Qian, how much silver is this?"

"To sum up, I'm afraid it's worth a hundred taels of silver." Qian Buchou said, "It was all rewarded by that nobleman in the capital."

Clang.

The gold and silver in her pocket fell to the ground. Aunt Qin had realized something. She grabbed something with both hands, picked up her cane, and stood up tremblingly: "Captain Qian, has something happened to my Xu'er?"

Qian Buchou had a gloomy face, but he forced a smile and laughed out loud: "How could it be, that kid..."

"I may be blind, but my heart is not." Aunt Qin trembled slightly and said, "In our Great Zhou government, even if you give money, you can't get a good job. How can you give a good job and give money as a reward?"

"Is Xu'er in trouble?"

"Captain Qian, please don't lie to me."

Qian Buchou knew that Aunt Qin's husband had died early, and she had been mending clothes day and night, earning a little copper money alone, and raising Liu Xu.

He was afraid that the other party could not bear the blow, so he did not dare to say anything.

Seeing that the other party had said this, he could only grit his teeth and nod: "Auntie Qin, don't worry, from now on, all the constables in the government office will be your son."

"I will take care of you in your old age."

Aunt Qin grabbed Qian Buchou's hand and asked, "My son, how did he die?"

Qian Buchou said truthfully: "Died at the hands of a demon."

After hearing this, Aunt Qin looked dazed, stumbled, and slowly walked towards the shabby little house behind her, not caring about the gold and silver on the ground.

Qian Buchou sighed, picked up the money on the ground and put it back into the house.

Aunt Qin sat in front of the wardrobe in the house in a daze, taking out Liu Xu's clothes one by one.

All the clothes Liu Xu wore from the time he was born to the time he grew up are still kept.

From the clothes for newborns, to the cloth clothes for young people, to the uniforms for police officers today.

Aunt Qin stroked her clothes as if she were touching Liu Xu, and murmured to herself:

"This child is so stupid. He only knew how to call his mother when he was three years old. His father passed away before he learned how to call his father."

"I have had poor health since I was young, and I have spent a lot of money on medicine."

"So I asked someone to teach him some boxing and kicking, hoping that his health would improve."

"I didn't expect that he would go to the government office to be a constable, and he claimed that by doing so, no one would dare to look down on us because we are orphans and widows."

Listening to the old lady's mumbling, Qian Buchu felt unhappy.

He sighed, quietly put the money beside the bed, and then walked out.

He had to go through this kind of thing six more times.

He went door to door. Some families, upon hearing the news, cried bitterly and hung their feet in despair.

What's worse, some people even cursed that they had no worries about money, asking why it was their own sons, husbands, and brothers who died.

Not other people.

Why they have to die.

Why don't people who die worry about money?

In this regard, Qian Buchou could only remain silent.

Finally, they arrived at the last house, which was the home of Constable Sun. He had only one wife, and Qian Buchou pushed the door and walked into the yard, but he didn't expect that there was a noise inside the house.

Qian Buchou pushed the door open and entered the room, only to see Constable Sun's wife hurriedly getting dressed with a naked man.

Seeing that it was Qian Buchou who entered the room, the woman said in a panic: "Boss, boss, please don't tell my old Sun about this, I..."

Qian Buchou had seen too many joys and sorrows today, so he just said, "Detective Sun is dead, I came to inform you."

"Ah?" The woman's cry was three parts surprise and seven parts joy.

"Dead? It's better to be dead, it's better to be dead." The lover next to him sighed subconsciously.

Qian Buchou, who was about to leave, looked at this person sharply: "What did you say?"

The man realized that he had said the wrong thing and changed his words: "I mean..."

"Put on your clothes and follow me back to the government office." Qian Buchou said coldly, "You are under arrest."

The lover hurriedly took out a silver ingot from his clothes and stuffed it into Qian Buchou's pocket: "Captain Qian, please take a look at this as a token of your appreciation."

Seeing that money is not a worry, I am indifferent.

He took out another ingot of silver: "I'll give you a little more, just turn a blind eye..."

Qian Buchou, who had been suppressing his emotions, finally exploded.

He grabbed his lover's neck, slammed him against the wall, and shouted at the top of his lungs: "Am I the kind of person who only cares about money?"

"I'm asking you, huh?"

The lover was strangled to the point of being unable to breathe. He managed to squeeze out a sentence: "Everyone, everyone says you are."

Whoosh.

She drew her saber and pressed it against her lover's neck: "You colluded with the bandits outside the city. According to the laws of our Great Zhou, it is a capital crime."

The lover's face changed drastically: "I am the owner of the pawn shop on the next street, you can't slander me like this."

"You don't want to admit it, right? Once you enter our government dungeon, you will have to confess to all your crimes!"

……

In the Jiang family courtyard, Jiang Yun has been busy for almost an hour.

He first found a lot of cinnabar, mixed it with chicken blood, glutinous rice and other things, and mixed it into a large vat of black unknown liquid.

Then he scattered these things around the yard.

They began to reinforce the doors and windows, and painted various talismans on them.

It's a pity that my magic power is low, otherwise I could set up a formation and the whole courtyard would be impregnable.

Jiang Qiaoqiao was standing by, helping and handing Jiang Yun various tools.

Some chicken blood spilled on his face, but he was completely unaware of it.

"Brother, what are you busy with?"

"You spent thirty copper coins to buy so much chicken blood and sprinkle it on the ground. Why?"

"This is very nutritious."

"You drew so many weird words that the windows were all stained."

While Jiang Yun was busy, he smiled and said, "What do you know? This is the latest calligraphy. Go and plant those two willow branches in the backyard."

Jiang Qiaoqiao curled her lips. Although she couldn't understand, she listened to Jiang Yun and trotted to the backyard holding the two willow trees.

Jiang Yun took a quick look and found that many traps had been prepared in the front and back yards, so it should be almost done.

Then he got a very long iron rod and installed it on the roof.

It looks like a lightning rod.

Although the whole courtyard looks ordinary, it is actually armed to the teeth and is full of things that can be used to deal with evil people.

If evil people attack us, we will make sure they never return.

Jiang Yun felt a little regretful at this moment. He didn't have enough mana at the moment. Otherwise, if he could set up the mountain protection formation from the Taoist temple in his previous life...

Just then, a crisp sound was heard outside the yard.

"Jiang Yun..."

Jiang Yun turned his head and saw that the person coming was Xu Suwen.

He was about to say hello, but when he saw Xu Suwen preparing to step into the courtyard, he hurriedly reminded her loudly: "Don't come in! Be careful!"

But it was too late, Xu Suwen's foot had already stepped into the yard.

(End of this chapter)