Chapter 189 Stirring up the enemy

"This taste..."

As soon as Chen Mo entered Liu Sanzhi's shop, he noticed a peculiar stench in the air.

It's very light.

It has a strange sense of familiarity, but I can't quite remember where I've smelled it before.

He stood on the threshold without moving, his gaze slowly sweeping around the shop.

If it weren't for that smell, it would just look like any ordinary little shop selling incense, candles, and religious items.

"Captain Yue! What brings you here? Please, have a seat..."

"Liu Sanzhi".

Yue Shan ignored him and stood in the center of the shop, staring straight at him. "Your case has been exposed. Come with me to the investigation bureau."

"Captain Yue, I don't quite understand what you're saying." Liu San calmly straightened his clothes. "I've been caught doing something wrong? What's wrong with me?"

He spread his hands and looked around his shop. "I run a small business, selling incense, candles, and paper money. I burn paper money and chant scriptures for my neighbors. I'm just doing my little business honestly."

"You came in and immediately said you'd take me back. I'd like to ask, is this how the investigation bureau handles cases now?"

His gaze toward Yue Shan sharpened, but a smile remained on his lips.

Yue Shan looked at him expressionlessly and didn't say anything.

"Captain Yue, I'll cooperate with whatever you're investigating. But you have to tell me what I've done wrong, right? It doesn't look good if word gets out that such a large group of you just barges in and tries to arrest me without saying a word."

He walked to the center of the shop, his demeanor so open and honest that he didn't seem like someone with a guilty conscience. "I've been running this shop for three years. When have I ever not been law-abiding? Who in the neighborhood doesn't know that I, Liu Sanzhi, am an honest man?"

Yue Shan suddenly chuckled, reached out his left hand and patted his shoulder, "Manager Liu, don't be nervous, it was just a joke."

Liu Sanzhi's shoulders visibly stiffened for a moment.

"Captain Yue, you scared me to death." He patted his chest, looking relieved to have escaped a close call. "I'm so easily frightened, I can't take such a scare."

"We were just passing through and thought we'd drop by."

Yue Shan withdrew his hand and casually glanced around the shop.

"How's business, Manager Liu?"

"Thanks to you, things are still going well." Liu Sanzhi followed behind him with a smile on his face. "These days, not many people believe in this stuff. It's just some old neighbors who patronize the business."

"Hmm." Yue Shan stopped in front of the shelf, picked up a roll of yellow paper, and casually asked, "You haven't been selling anything you shouldn't have lately, have you?"

Liu Sanzhi's smile remained unchanged. "Your people come and wander around my shop every few days, how could I dare?"

"That's good." He turned around and clapped his hands. "Alright, I won't delay your business any longer."

"Take care, Captain Yue. Come over for tea sometime."

Yue Shan didn't turn his head, he just raised his hand and waved.

Only after they left the alley did Chen Mo move closer to Zhou Ling beside him. "I have something to ask you."

Zhou Ling turned her head to look at him, "What?"

"Is this how your captain handles cases?" He gestured towards the retreating figure, "He could have just taken the person back, but he refused?"

The middleman has been arrested. He is a middle-aged beggar nicknamed Little Eight, and his origin is said to be Liu Sanzhi.

Zhou Ling glanced at him, her lips twitching slightly.

"You're new here, you don't understand," she said. "Our Captain Yue's tactic is called 'beating the grass to scare the snake.'"

"Hehe, is it useful?" Chen Mo chuckled, secretly thinking, "What's there to be surprised about? The other person's expression didn't even change."

"it works."

Zhou Ling explained to him that a vast collection of fantasy novels is available to satisfy your reading preferences. "Although Little Eight said Liu San sold him..." "But as you know, such statements can only serve as a direction for investigation, not as evidence."

"If Liu Sanzhi insists on denying it and says that Xiao Laoba is implicating him, there's nothing we can do. This guy has connections, so we can't use force."

After a few seconds of hesitation, she changed her approach: "Captain Yue's move should be called 'striking the mountain to scare the tiger.'"

"Give him a few nudges first, let him know the investigation bureau is watching him. If he panics, he'll make a move, and that will give him away. Then we'll catch him red-handed, and he won't be able to deny it."

After listening, Chen Mo nodded. "That makes a lot of sense."

"That makes sense."

Zhou Ling's tone carried a hint of pride, "Captain Yue has used this method several times before, and it has always been very effective."

As she spoke, it was as if she recalled some unpleasant memory, and the expression on her face became somewhat subtle.

"Every time?" Chen Mo noticed her pause and tilted his head to look at her.

Zhou Ling hesitated for a moment, "It's effective most of the time, but... it failed once with you."

Chen Mo was taken aback, but quickly realized what he meant. "You mean... the Black Tiger Gang incident?"

She nodded, her expression complex. "Captain Yue used the same method that time..."

"We didn't touch you then because we wanted to follow you and find out who was behind you," Zhou Ling said, her tone tinged with helplessness. "But you acted like nothing happened, eating and drinking as usual, wasting a whole month of our time."

"Just as Captain Yue was wondering if he had made a mistake in his judgment, you..."

"What do you mean, 'what am I'?" Chen Mo asked innocently.

"You just ran away with the stolen goods." Zhou Ling looked at him expressionlessly.

"..."

"Hehehe, it's a misunderstanding, a misunderstanding."

Chen Mo chuckled awkwardly a few times, and then saw Yue Shan turn around in front of him.

"Captain Yue, what are you saying? My captain didn't lose his position because he broke the rules."

"Then why was it lost?" Yue Shan asked in return.

"Because of justice."

Chen Mo answered with righteous indignation, "My conscience won't allow me to back down and watch helplessly as twenty or so people are sold into the hands of those beasts in the church."

The sunlight shone on his face, making his pupils appear as if they were filled with fragments of gold, so bright that they were almost scorching.

If you tell too many lies, sometimes you can even fool yourself.

Chen Mo felt that he was shining with golden light all over his body, and that a mysterious and profound fortune was quietly blessing him from the heavens.

With merit and virtue bestowed upon you, you will be successful in everything you do.

He even felt a slight burning sensation on his back, as if something extraordinary had crawled into his skull.

Of course, that was just his hallucination.

He certainly wouldn't tell them that he simply wanted to test the consequences of killing a few gang members in the street.

Yue Shan squinted at him for two seconds, neither saying he believed him nor disbelieved him, but his lips twitched slightly before he turned and continued walking forward.

"I'm off. I have a lunch appointment with Abbot Wang, so I don't want to keep them waiting."

Zhou Ling's eyes were sparkling when she looked at him.

She was young and didn't quite know how to hide her admiration when she looked at people. Her admiration was genuine, and her enthusiasm was clear in her clean eyes, without any reservations.

When Chen Mo was looked at like that, the lingering warmth of the illusion of being blessed with good deeds on his back hadn't dissipated yet, and the back of his head felt a little numb.

Startled, he hurried to catch up with Yue Shan ahead, "Captain Yue is treating us to dinner? I can't stand vegetarian food..."