"I put it in the background." The little girl trembled and spit out these words, and the officials looked at each other.
"Is it the place you put on on your usual place?" The question was Jing Che. He couldn't stand the aggressive look of the officials who were scaring a little girl. She turned around and protected the little girl in front of her. Her delicate body just blocked the officials' arrogant aura.
"Yes," the little girl nodded and shook her head quickly, "No, no!"
"You kid! What's going on?" Several yamen runners were angry and roared at the little girl.
"Don't be afraid of them! Think slowly, think clearly before talking slowly." Jing Che turned his head and glared at the yamen runners behind him, protecting the little girl in front of him tighter, for fear that the child would be scared by these vicious officials if he accidentally did not.
"I put the teacup in the backstage. I used to put it in the backstage sometimes, but before my uncle came on stage, he would ask me to bring the tea to the stage before he went on stage, and drink it while telling stories." The little girl's eyes widened, and shed tears quietly while talking.
"But I just poured the tea today and there was something else, so I didn't serve it for him after I put it in the background. Maybe it was because I asked my uncle to bring it to the stage by himself."
"You said you have something else? What's the matter?" Jing Che looked at the little girl with a gentle look.
"I just poured the tea, but the shop owner called me over." The little girl still didn't understand the current situation, but was just sad.
"What's the matter with the shop owner looking for you?" The person who spoke was Baili Fengjian who had been watching silently, "Didn't you say you never pretend to be your uncle's affairs? Why are you so casually putting down the teacup without caring about it?"
"The owner's aunt is not a bad person!" The little girl's tears fell even more fiercely, and Jing Che hurriedly coaxed her to continue talking.
"The owner's aunt found me to settle the money from my uncle's storytelling last month. This time she and her family were about to move, so she specially paid the money for her uncle in advance. He also praised me for being sensible and obedient, and specially rewarded me with a few copper coins."
"Do you leave first or the shop owner leave first?" Baili Fengjian took advantage of the moment when several officials were stunned and suddenly robbed the yamen runners' words. The yamen runners' faces were not kind but they were not easy to get angry.
The little girl thought for a while: "After the owner handed me the money, I asked me to take a little bit of it. I stayed in the house to count the money. When I counted, the owner was no longer in the house."
"Where are others who know where you put the teacup besides you and your uncle?" Jing Che stared at the little girl's face curiously, waiting for the truth that was about to come out.
"It should be," the little girl said it was not very clear, but it didn't seem like she was lying. "The backstage is full of people coming and going, and I should be able to see where I put it."
Baili Fengjian and Jingche frowned. The places where people come and go mean that there are many people suspected of poisoning. When the truth is revealed, they are a little at a loss. This is probably what people often say, whether the darkness before dawn can be seen by the sun, depends on whether there are any clues.
The little girl seemed to understand what everyone was worried about at this time, and raised her red and swollen eyes and said, "But others won't touch that teacup. Everyone in the backstage here has their own rules. They all know that the cup and the placement belong to my uncle. They also have their own special tea sets and placement locations, so no one will take them wrong."
At this time, I don’t know which smart yamen runner brought an aunt to clean the house. The aunt was short but looked agile, and she was holding a rag in her hand.
"This aunt said she was cleaning in the backstage, maybe she saw someone coming in and out." The yamen runner pulled the aunt to everyone, and the aunt sneezed, raised her head and looked at the little girl.
"Yes, this little girl came to the backstage. I saw her put down the teacup and left in a hurry."
"Then you see who else went around the backstage? Who brought the teacup to the table?"
The aunt shook the rag in her hand: "Who else can you do? Isn't it the owner of our store? The little girl came over to take a look shortly after leaving. When she saw the storyteller's teacup, she even cursed that we were accidentally doing things, so she brought it out to herself."
The yamen runner suddenly realized: "Go and arrest the shop owner! He must be the one who killed the storyteller!"
The other yamen runners responded and wanted to catch the shop owner, but the yamen runners in the room walked back and forth several times, but in the end they all came back dejectedly.
"What's wrong with you?" The yamen who just spoke to the head was extremely dissatisfied with their reaction.
Before the yamen runners could answer him, several guys in the tea shop shouted in unison: "The owner is gone!"
The yamen runners winked at each other, and each of them pulled a friend and led them to search in the tea shop and around.
Baili Fengjian stayed until everyone was finished, and then frowned and said, "Ache, how dare you say you didn't mean it?"
Jing Che looked around and confirmed that she was the only one around him. Then he said strangely: "You said I was intentional? Why did I do it on purpose? What did I do on purpose?"
Baili Fengjian said helplessly: "You pulled me to this tea shop and happened to encounter this murder case. You will be unable to escape for a while. What are your difficulties? Why can't you tell me? Will your intention be too obvious?"
When asked, Jing Che was slightly stunned and soon returned to his former spirit: "Aren't you going to come out to watch the lion dance? I'm waiting to be bored before I get into this tea shop?"
Jing Che suddenly said, "If I say, I brought you here because I know there are people here, you are looking for... Do you believe it?"
"I'm looking for this has nothing to do with you. What I want to know is who you are." Baili Fengjian looked at her with a calm look in his eyes.
"Aren't I your disciple?" Jing Che shook his shoulder and said helplessly, "Master, don't you recognize me anymore?"
Baili Fengjian's sleeves suddenly came, not fierce and just tempted. She tilted her toes slightly and took a step away, smiling at Baili Fengjian, but her figure had already twisted into the appearance of another person.
The strange face was slowly covered by a mask from top to bottom until it finally turned into a red dress.
"Red clothes——" Baili Fengjian forced a few words out of his mouth, his face turned pale and almost furious, "Where is she?"
Baili Fengjian said something right. He wanted to leave, but the yamen guarding here could not stop it. And this sentence was the same when used on Jing Che.