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Chapter 128 I've Never Seen This Before (Seeking Monthly Tickets)

There was a breakfast shop at the intersection across from the gate. Xu Yuan sat down and ordered a bowl of rice noodles. He then asked Lang Xiaoba, "Would you like to eat together?"

"No need, I've already eaten." Lang Xiaoba refused bluntly, standing next to the four people with a knife in hand, scaring the diners around so much that they didn't dare to sit near him.

After a few bites of breakfast, Lang Xiaoba led the way and everyone rushed to the South City Patrol Room.

Along the way, it felt like the whole of Champa was moving slower than yesterday.

The peddler carried his load and hawked his wares along the street, but he took every step carefully.

An old man was pushing a wheelbarrow loaded with vegetables. He tried hard to hold on to the handlebars when going downhill, and the veins on his neck were exposed.

On a sunny open space on the street, a dozen or so rickshaw drivers gathered together, basking in the sun and complaining that they had not earned a penny today and would have to work harder in the next half month to make up for it.

God really doesn't give the poor a way to survive.

It took more than half an hour to walk from the Champa Office to the South City Patrol Office.

Because of the rush yesterday, Xu Yuan and others did not have time to take a closer look at the entire patrol room.

Today, I saw that the courtyard was quite large. The front yard was about forty steps wide and twenty steps deep. There was a well in the southeast corner, a stand of purple bamboo in the northwest corner, and a large banyan tree in the center, dividing the courtyard into two halves.

On the western half, there are stone locks, iron knives, etc. used for physical training.

The banyan tree has lush branches and leaves, a thick trunk, and a crown that covers half of the yard. Dozens of birds fly in and out among the branches and leaves, singing clear and loud songs.

The backyard is much smaller, only about one-third the size of the front yard.

The layout is also much simpler, but there is a heavy stone slab placed horizontally under the north wall of the backyard.

It is about ten feet long, five feet thick, and seven feet wide, and probably weighs several thousand pounds.

There is a five-foot-long groove in the center, but it is not deep and I don’t know what it is used for.

The surface of the stone is mottled and rough, but you can still clearly see the marks left by the stonemasons when they chiseled the stone.

The entire stone was swept very clean, without any dust, bird droppings or the like.

What was strange was that there were some broken porcelain pieces, three broken incense sticks, and several crushed oranges and bananas scattered under the stone.

Xu Yuan was surprised: "What's going on?"

Lang Xiaoba hesitated for a moment before saying, "This bridge stone is a lucky charm for the patrol station. On ordinary days, everyone would offer it with fruits, vegetables, incense, and candles.

But yesterday, Lord He died before its eyes, and the brothers, filled with resentment, destroyed these offerings. I'm afraid... they'll have to move this thing out in the future."

Xu Yuan couldn't help but step forward and examine the stone carefully. Auspicious objects like this are rare.

For example, Ah Hua is a lucky charm, and even Da Fu should be considered as well.

In essence, door gods are also auspicious objects, but they function differently from ordinary auspicious objects.

The function of all auspicious objects is to drive away evil spirits.

Aside from door gods, true auspicious objects were actually quite rare. Otherwise, every noble family would have one, and they wouldn't have to spend so much money every year to buy the Imperial Astronomical Observatory's calendar.

However, Xu Yuan circled the "bridge stone" three times clockwise and three times counterclockwise, but did not find anything strange.

Generally speaking, auspicious objects always show something extraordinary.

For example, Ahua and Dafu are fatter than their peers just by looking at their body shape.

That’s right, it’s fat, not huge.

"Have you ever seen with your own eyes that this stone repels evil spirits?"

Lang Xiaoba thought about it and shook his head: "I haven't seen it."

"When the office bought this courtyard, this thing was placed here. The original owner said it was a piece of stone from a stone bridge that was removed from the Hundu River outside the city a hundred years ago. It was quite magical and must be an auspicious object, so he was reluctant to sell the house.

He said so, and the brothers, dealing with evil spirits all day long, preferred to believe it existed rather than not. They had no idea that after years of worship, it would have done nothing. "The Hundu River outside Champa is a large river that flows from Jiaozhi into the neighboring territory of Zhenla.

But now it is also part of the Ming Grand Canal.

When the Ming Dynasty built the canal, countless bridges of various types were demolished.

Why? The Canal Dragon King doesn't like it.

It is said that the man felt that every bridge was a circle around his body.

But building a stone bridge on the Hundu River? The Hundu River is thirty meters wide. Xu Yuan doesn't believe that the Jiaozhi people a hundred years ago had such a skill.

"The price of this house is not cheap, right?" Xu Yuan asked.

"This subordinate doesn't know."

Xu Yuan stopped looking at it. It was probably just an ordinary big stone. The original owner just made up an excuse to ask for more money.

Xu Yuan walked towards the room where the crime happened yesterday: "Has the room been cleaned?"

"Clean it up, otherwise I'm afraid I'll run into evil spirits at night."

All the bloodstains in the room disappeared, and Xu Yuan knew at a glance that they were caused by the fire in Dan Xiu's abdomen.

If we don’t deal with it this way, who knows what might emerge from these bloodstains at night!
Xu Yuan entered the house and stood under the beam.

Song Lu became bolder in broad daylight and carefully checked every corner of the house.

Fu Jingyu came over and stood side by side with Xu Yuan: "What do you see?"

Some images flashed through Xu Yuan's mind. The most recent one was when he bought a black donkey heart a few days ago. The butcher cut into it with a knife and pulled it out, and donkey blood splattered.

"Look at these traces of blood," Xu Yuan said, "Why did the evil spirit deliberately leave blood everywhere?"

Fu Jingyu was puzzled: "Did you do it on purpose?"

Xu Yuan then changed his approach: "Have you ever seen anyone kill a chicken?"

Xu Yuan had seen that his stepmother would make smoked chicken during the New Year.

Pluck the feathers from the chicken's neck, then cut the blood vessels horizontally with a knife. Collect the chicken blood in a bowl. When it's almost all gone, throw the chicken aside.

The chicken will struggle for a while, and blood from the wound will splatter everywhere.

But these bloodstains can be traced.

When the black donkey was killed, the blood splattered out and there was also a traceable trail.

But these traces in this house are not.

Xu Yuan imagined in his mind He Junan fighting with the evil spirit, being bitten and scratched, and blood splattering.

Even if He Junan's stomach was cut open, if the evil spirit dragged his body around the house, blood would be smeared everywhere.

But even if all the possibilities were added together, they still didn't match these bloodstains.

There were a lot of bloodstains in the room, but they were scattered here and there, as if they were just smeared here and there randomly.

But when Xu Yuan asked this question, Master Fu was at a loss: "I have never seen it."

In fact, before meeting Ah Hua, Master Fu had rarely seen a chicken that wasn't served on a plate.

Xu Yuan was a bit shocked. He briefly explained a few words and expressed his doubts. Then he said, "We need to ask the people at the Champa Office if all the crime scenes are like this."

At this point, Xu Yuan suddenly remembered: "Why hasn't Inspector Lu come yet?"

　Ask for a monthly ticket~
　　
　
(End of this chapter)