Chapter 188 Liu 3-finger

When Chen Mo finished dealing with the girl and returned to the large burial mound, he saw three people standing in front of the corpse from afar.

One old man and two young men.

Only when you get closer can you see clearly that it is an old man with two apprentices, a man and a woman.

The old man was in his early sixties, wearing a drab gray Taoist robe, with his hair tied in a loose bun and secured with a wooden hairpin.

With a thin face and a few strands of gray beard under his chin, he looked somewhat like a hermit.

The male apprentice was about twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old, with broad shoulders and a thick waist; when he stood there, he looked like half a wall.

The younger female apprentice, with her hair in a ponytail, stood quietly beside the old man, carrying a cloth bag in her hand.

The two exchanged a few silent glances.

Chen Mo glanced at the three people, then at the corpse on the ground, his expression unchanged.

He didn't recognize these people; he guessed they were just passing by to watch the commotion, even though the Taoist priest's attire didn't seem to suit local tastes.

He didn't bother to reply and turned to leave.

When he turned around, he saw Yue Shan walking over from the side of the grave mound, with Zhou Ling and two other team members beside him.

Yue Shan looked unwell, with stubble on his chin and dark circles under his eyes.

"Hey, Captain Yue, what a coincidence," Chen Mo greeted him.

Yue Shan ignored him, walked straight to the corpse, squatted down, and scanned it up and down with his eyes.

"You little rascal, I still remember the first time I met you, you were already killing someone." His tone was a mix of hatred and helplessness. "Even now that you're in the investigation department, you still can't change this habit."

Chen Mo's face showed an innocent expression as he spread his hands, "Captain Yue, what are you saying?"

"I just got here too, okay? Look at all these people here, what gives you the right to bite me?"

As long as you're not caught red-handed, just say no when asked.

He turned to look at the old Taoist priest opposite him, his tone tinged with grievance: "Why wasn't it that old man who killed him?"

The moment the words left his mouth, the male apprentice's face flushed red, and the veins on his neck bulged. "Don't make false accusations!"

The female disciple also became anxious, pointing at the corpse on the ground and saying, "My master is the abbot of Qingfeng Temple, a righteous person. How could she use such insidious methods to harm people?"

"Watch your mouth!"

The old Taoist priest didn't speak, but frowned slightly and raised his hand to stop his two disciples, signaling them to calm down.

"Young friend, we just left the city with Captain Yue..."

Yue Shan glanced at the old Taoist priest, then at Chen Mo, his face expressionless.

"Abbot Wang was invited by me to investigate a missing person case." Yue Shan barely suppressed the urge to punch him. "Do you suspect Abbot Wang of committing the murder? Or do you suspect I did?"

"Forehead......"

Having failed to shift the blame, Chen Mo scratched his head, somewhat speechless. "Captain Yue, don't get so angry. Is something difficult going on? Tell me and I'll help you brainstorm some ideas."

Yue Shan took a deep breath, as if trying to suppress the anger that was about to erupt.

"These beggars might be involved in several local missing persons cases. I was just about to arrest them when they died."

"You still haven't found a middleman? Wouldn't you be furious in that situation?"

"You're looking for a middleman? Just say so, I know who it is..."

.....

The alley in the south of the city was as narrow as a crack, with old brick walls on both sides. Liu Sanzhi's shop was hidden at the deepest part of the alley. A faded cloth banner hung at the door, embroidered with a yin-yang fish. A small piece was missing from the position of the fish's eyes, making it look like two holes from a distance.

The shop wasn't big; the front half was filled with common items like talismans and magical artifacts. (Does this person prefer fantasy novels?)

The three rooms, inside and out, were crammed full of all sorts of random things.

After circling the shop three times, Liu Sanzhi finally sat down.

He pulled a purple clay teapot from under the counter, pinched a pinch of tea leaves and threw it in, then picked up the copper kettle sitting on the charcoal stove and poured boiling water in. The tea leaves tumbled in the pot, and a bitter taste of inferior tea stems rose up.

He took a sip, smacked his lips, and felt his right eyelid twitch again.

"It's weird," he muttered under his breath, put down the pot, and rubbed his eyelids.

My right eyelid twitched several times today.

He felt something was wrong as soon as he woke up in the morning.

The ever-burning lamp in the main room went out for no apparent reason.

The lamp used smoldering oil, and the flame was bluish-green. Even the wind couldn't extinguish it, but it flickered right under his nose, went out, and then reignited on its own.

He immediately packed up a few shady items from the shop and stuffed them into a hidden compartment under the bed. He also put the account book in his pocket. After hesitating for a long time, he finally decided not to leave.

I couldn't bear to leave.

In fact, he and Song Li were both trained by the same master to become spirit mediums.

Master Xun was a highly respected teacher in western Hunan. He had two disciples in his lifetime. The eldest disciple, Song Li, was born with the ability to see ghosts and suffered from all five deficiencies and three shortcomings.

He was less gifted, but he was quick-witted. He learned the art of sealing altars and suppressing evil spirits, and he was also skilled at creating animals and gathering life. Usually, one order was enough to feed him for half a year.

Later, their master died, and the two brothers went their separate ways.

Later, Song Li somehow got involved with the current county magistrate and came to Linhe County.

Less than two months after he arrived, the other party came to him, saying that the county magistrate needed someone to keep an eye on things in secret, and asked if he was willing.

Liu Sanzhi thought for a moment and then did it.

He wasn't just after his senior's face, but also the profits in this county town.

An outsider magistrate and a senior apprentice who walks the path of the dead—one in the open, the other in the shadows—if this game is played well, he can live off it for a lifetime.

So he settled down in the south of the city, ostensibly keeping an eye on the activities of all sorts of people for the county magistrate, while secretly engaging in several shady deals.

They were living quite comfortably...

Just then, footsteps came from the alley entrance.

It wasn't just one person, it was three or four.

Liu Sanzhi twitched his ear, and his expression changed slightly.

He quickly glanced at the shop's furnishings, making sure there was nothing shady on the surface, before slowly standing up and heading towards the door.

"Oh, what a few guests..."

The words got stuck in my throat halfway through.

The first person to enter was a man in his early thirties, with stubble on his chin and dark circles under his eyes, looking like he hadn't slept well for several days.

He recognized the man; he was Yue Shan from the county's inspection bureau, a notoriously difficult person. Several cases had previously fallen into Yue Shan's hands.

Yue Shan was followed by several people, three men and one woman, all from the Inspection Bureau, and Liu Sanzhi recognized them as well.

But his gaze swept across the crowd and landed on the young man at the very back.

The young man looked to be in his early twenties, wearing an ordinary dark shirt, with his hands in his pockets, and a very casual demeanor, as if he had strolled in as if he were visiting a vegetable market.

With a half-smile on his face, but his eyes were unusually bright, he didn't look at Liu Sanzhi after entering the shop, but instead scanned the items in the shop.

Liu Sanzhi's heart skipped a beat.

He didn't know this person, but his intuition told him that this person was not simple.

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