klisemfg Chapter 184: The Yamen Investigates a Case
Chapter 184: The Yamen Investigates a Case
Jiang Yuwei looked at the mess on the ground and instructed Uncle Ning Wu;
"Uncle Wu, go check if there is any money missing from the cabinet."
Uncle Ning finally reacted after hearing this, and hurriedly ran behind the counter to check the silver, stepping deep and shallow from the mess on the floor.
Jiang Yuwei instructed Ning Qiu and Ning Daya:
"Clean up the shop quickly and open as usual today."
The business had just opened a few days ago and was booming. If it closed down now, it would be a trap set by a villain. Jiang Yuwei did not have time to think about it and hurried to the backyard to fetch a bucket of water and put it at Ning Huaizhi's feet:
"Huaizhi, take care of these flowers and plants first. Pick out the wilted ones and put the rest in a flower-revitalizing bucket with water and take good care of them."
After that, Jiang Yuwei handed Ning Wan another rag.
"Wan'er, you will be responsible for wiping the shelves."
Uncle Ning Wu held the empty cash box with trembling hands and said:
"Yuwei, all the money is gone..."
Jiang Yuwei nodded. She had expected this result a long time ago. Fortunately, Jiang Yuwei was a cautious person. She would put the large silver bills and silver ingots into the storage space every day. The rest was just some loose change left in the store for Uncle Ning to use to find silver for the guests. Therefore, Jiang Yuwei was not very sad about the lost silver.
Jiang Yuwei handed all the change in her purse to Uncle Ning Wu and said:
"Use this change today to deal with emergencies, and record it in the account book later."
Uncle Ning took the silver and went back to the counter to clean up his counter.
Jiang Yuwei said to Ning Huaizhi:
"Huaizhi, I'll drive the ox cart to report to the authorities first. When Ning Qiu and the others have finished cleaning up, we'll open the front door for business as usual. Don't touch the backyard yet. We can ask the officials to come and inspect it later."
Ning Huaizhi nodded and said:
"Okay, don't worry, I'm here, Yuwei."
Jiang Yuwei went out and drove the ox cart to the yamen. At this time, she did not notice that there was a pair of cold eyes staring at her back in the Ge's Paper Shop opposite Moxiangzhai.
Jiang Yuwei hurried to the government office and was about to beat the drum to protest her grievances when she was stopped by Captain Huang.
"Jiang, why are you here again?"
Jiang Yuwei smiled bitterly after hearing this:
"I don't want to come here all the time. I came here today to report to the police. My shop was robbed. All the money in the shop was gone, and many valuable things were also missing."
After hearing this, Captain Huang couldn't help but frowned and said:
"Please wait here for a moment. I will report to the magistrate."
Jiang Yuwei nodded gratefully. She waited patiently outside the government office. Now that she had some free time, she began to think about the people who had grudges against her. Old Man Jiang, the Ning family, the Ge family? She went through all of them in her mind, but still couldn't figure out a clue. Jiang Yuwei felt that all of them were possible, but she felt something was wrong.
Just as Jiang Yuwei was daydreaming, Captain Huang came out of the government office with a group of people.
"Let's go, Jiang. You lead the way. We'll go take a look at your store first."
Jiang Yuwei nodded and said:
"Then thank you very much, but my shop has just been opened for a few days, and the front shop cannot be closed. I can take you to the backyard of my shop to check it out."
After saying that, Jiang Yuwei drove the ox cart in front and took Captain Huang and his party to Moxiangzhai.
When they reached the door of Moxiangzhai, they saw Manager Zhang standing at the door of Ge's Paper Shop, smiling and looking at Jiang Yuwei and shouting:
"Hey, isn't this Shopkeeper Jiang? How come you're involved in a lawsuit after only opening for a few days?"
Jiang Yuwei glanced at Manager Zhang and said calmly:
"Manager Zhang, are you so bored that you're getting anxious? There are no customers in the shop?"
After hearing this, Manager Zhang stretched his neck and said angrily:
"Bah, my shop has a lot of customers. Anyway, there are more customers than your shop!"
Jiang Yuwei was about to say something when she saw a strange man standing behind Manager Zhang, staring at her. Jiang Yuwei felt inexplicably annoyed by his gaze, so she didn't want to argue with Manager Zhang anymore and went straight into the backyard with Captain Huang.
Captain Huang looked at the messy backyard and said:
"When was it discovered?"
Jiang Yuwei thought for a moment and then said:
"When we came in the morning, we saw the shop door was open. When we entered the shop, it was like this. It was around noon. A dog in our backyard was chopped in the stomach. There was a lot of blood on the ground. When we found it, the blood on the ground had not dried up yet."
Captain Huang squatted forward, wiped the blood on the ground with his hand, and nodded:
"The blood has dried up now. The thief must have committed the crime at 9:00 p.m., when the curfew had just been lifted and there were not many people on the street. It was a good time to commit the crime."
Captain Huang stood up and looked at Jiang Yuwei and continued to ask:
"Besides the silver that was lost, was there any other loss in your shop?"
After hearing this, Jiang Yuwei hurried to the front and pushed Ning Huaizhi over, and asked:
"Huaizhi, have you taken inventory of the things in the shop just now? Is there anything missing?"
Ning Huaizhi nodded and said to Captain Huang:
"In addition to silver, this shop also lacks gold powder paper."
Captain Huang frowned and said:
"Is the only thing missing the gold-dust paper?"
Ning Huaizhi nodded and spoke slowly:
"Yes, only the gold-powdered paper is missing. Captain Huang doesn't know that this gold-powdered paper is the signature of our Moxiangzhai. It is also made of real gold, so a piece of paper can be sold for one or two taels of silver. The thief didn't steal any other paper, but only stole this gold-powdered paper and the silver in the cash box."
Captain Huang was thinking about it when he suddenly heard a noisy shouting outside:
"Gold-dust paper for sale! Gold-dust paper for sale! You don't need to pay one or two ounces of silver per sheet. You only need fifty copper coins to buy it!"
Everyone in the backyard heard the shout. Captain Huang looked at Jiang Yuwei and hurried out. He saw that it was Manager Zhang from Ge's Paper Shop who was shouting and selling gold-powder paper.
Jiang Yuwei also followed out and saw that the man who had just stood next to Manager Zhang had disappeared. She felt something was wrong.
Captain Huang walked forward, picked up the gold-powder paper placed in front of Manager Zhang, and looked at Jiang Yuwei with a frown.
"Is this the same paper as the one you have in your shop?"
Jiang Yuwei stepped forward and touched it, then nodded immediately:
"This is the paper in my shop. The paper in my shop is different from the paper made by the paper mill next door. The paper in my shop has been specially processed to make it thick and delicate. This gold powder paper is unique to our Moxiangzhai, so I am sure that this is the paper made by my shop."
After hearing this, Manager Zhang became anxious and said angrily:
"Jiang Yuwei, don't think that you are really a human being just because I call you Shopkeeper Jiang! This paper clearly belongs to our Ge's Paper Shop, how did it become your Moxiangzhai's!"