"Something happened, something happened! That butcher Tu Laosan is dead!" A man dressed as a waiter ran into the store and shouted.
"Stone, what are you talking about?" Uncle Fu stopped his calculations and asked, "Who died?"
"Tu Laosan!" The waiter, who was called Shitou, had a simple and honest look on his face. He wiped his sweat and continued: "At dawn, I went to buy meat and saw that he didn't come out of the stall. I went around again just now, and the result was
Before he came, I saw a man leading a government servant and heading straight to his house, saying that someone was dead."
"You mean Tu Laosan, the meat seller at the vegetable market?" I also stopped using my chopsticks: "I bought meat from him yesterday, why did he die?"
"Who knows, I saw the county magistrate, Xiao Xiao, led a group of people over." Shitou said.
"Hey, it seems that this person can't do too many evil things, otherwise God will deal with him sooner or later." Uncle Fu sighed.
"Is this person bad?" I was confused. I didn't have much friendship with him. I just bought some meat from his stall every ten days. I only knew that he was a butcher and he spoke in a rough voice.
In fact, there are three or four meat stalls in that area, but every time we wait for our tofu to be sold out, he is the only one who still sells meat at his stall. He is probably tired of selling, so he can pay back the price.
When I first met Tu Laosan, his father was still there. Although he was also a butcher, he was much kinder than Tu Laosan. At that time, Fatty Wang taught me about the various internal organs of the human body, so he often took me to see Tu Laosan’s father.
Killing pigs. Every time I see Tu Laosan skillfully helping his father to remove the entrails of a pig, it makes my legs feel weak.
"God knows best whether he is bad or not. Anyway, among the meat sellers, he has the most bad temper and the worst business, so every time I let Shitou go to his stall a few times to see if he wants to buy it or not.
If the meat at other stalls has been sold out, and you go to him to find out the price, you can get a lot cheaper if he is anxious." Uncle Fu said, with some contempt in his eyes: "But this person is really not a good person. Once
I just saw him beating his wife in the street, punching and kicking her without mercy."
"Ah? Why is this like this?" I was shocked: "If a grown man hits his wife, is he still a man? I really didn't expect him to be such a person."
"Oh, I'm not living a satisfactory life, so I'm just looking for a place to vent my anger." Shitou also frowned: "The key is that he drinks too much and gambles, so he leads a lifeless life. The year before last, when Uncle Tu was still here,
, I can still control him. It’s been less than two years, but I didn’t expect that he would also go to find his father.”
"Hey, life is unpredictable!" Ah Wu shook his head and sighed.
I drank up the noodle soup and reluctantly counted eighteen copper coins.
Uncle Fu put the copper plate in the drawer: "Thank you very much. Haha, do you want me to free up these household items for you now?"
"Oh, no, just wait until I come back in the evening."
I left the inn, took care of the old stall, and started wandering around the streets. It would be good if I could find a job and earn dozens of copper coins.
"Li Jianghu? Which one is Li Jianghu?" someone behind him shouted loudly.
When I looked back, my legs trembled with fright, and I saw two government officials standing next to me, questioning me.
"I don't know."
"I don't know."
Pedestrians replied one after another.
"That's the guy who's been selling tofu there, a young man in his twenties." A yamen servant added.
"That's right, think about it carefully. I heard from the people next to me that he just left the stall and came this way." Another yamen servant said, tilting his head, and he just met my eyes.
I felt even more nervous. I shouldn't have done anything wrong, right?
"Hey, do you know Li Jianghu, the tofu seller?"
Just as I was about to turn around, two government officials also chased me.
I swallowed: "I...I am."
"Are you the one? Are you deaf? I shouted your name all the way here, but you didn't know how to respond?"
"I...I don't know what the two bad guys are looking for me...about?" I asked carefully.
"The county magistrate is looking for you, come with us."
"County magistrate? Magistrate Xu?" I felt a little excited. I have never interacted with an official in my life. What does he want to see me for? I didn't have time to ask, and the two government officials waved their hands.
Already hurried forward, I had no choice but to follow quickly.
Not long after, they arrived at a house. Two women collapsed on the ground and sobbed softly. Around a dozen government officials stood upright without saying a word. Only County Lieutenant Xiao was pacing back and forth.
"County Lieutenant, Li Jianghu brings you here." The two government officials who led the way bowed their hands to him and stepped aside.
"Are you Li Jianghu?"
"Yes, I'm going to Li Jianghu to pay my respects to the county magistrate." I quickly clasped my hands and glanced left and right to make sure I didn't see Magistrate Xu.
"Are you a gangster?" Lieutenant Xiao, who looked about forty years old, asked with a serious face, and his two thick eyebrows were intimidating.
"I...my master is the governor of the governor's office. I used to work with him."
"Okay, then go in and take a look. The county magistrate will be here soon."
"Yes." I stepped in the door carefully, and heard a few flies buzzing. Tu Laosan was lying on the ground, his clothes were disheveled, and the room was filled with the smell of alcohol and the sour smell of vomit.
There are also a few pieces of thatch scattered here and there.
A man was covering his mouth and nose, holding pliers and turning something over his body. When he saw me entering the room, he stood up and asked with disdain, "Are you here to do the autopsy too?"
"Yes, I am Li Jianghu. I wonder who you are?"
"Zhang Xiaoquan, county government official."
County government office? I was stunned. Since the county government office is here, why did you call me here?
Zhang Xiaoquan had pulled down the veil covering his mouth and nose, and took a few steps back. His face was pockmarked, like a pancake with sesame seeds stuck on it.
"Here are the tools, let's examine how he died?" County Lieutenant Xiao also came in, but only walked to the door and pressed the back of his hand on his mouth and nose.
"yes."
I was summoned suddenly. I didn’t even have a veil on me. I looked around and saw that the people around me were unfamiliar and it was hard to borrow. I had to hold my breath and look through the dead body.
After a while, I finally stood up and cupped my hands towards Lieutenant Xiao and said: "Reporting to Lieutenant Xiao, the deceased was a male, about thirty years old. The time of death was about late last night. There was a large amount of vomit on the clothes on the chest of the deceased, as well as in his mouth and airway.
, mixed with the obvious smell of alcohol, and there were no other fatal injuries. It can be initially concluded that the cause of death was suffocation due to inhalation of vomit into the airway after being drunk."
Lieutenant Xiao County looked at the deceased again and nodded slightly.
"Um...can you lend a hand and turn the body over?" I asked again carefully.
"The county magistrate has arrived." A government official reported.
Lieutenant Xiao Xian quickly came out of the house to greet him and called: "Ming Mansion."
"Greetings to Mingfu." I quickly followed everyone and bowed.
"What's going on?" Magistrate Xu asked. He glanced at the room where two government officials were standing, but had no intention of going in to find out. Hehe, all officials are the same, so of course the dirty and tiring work must be done by us.
The untouchables have come to do it.
Xiao Xianwei said: "Back to Ming Mansion, it was not a murder case. After the deceased drank a lot of alcohol last night, the vomit entered his airway and he died of accidental inhalation."
"Are Zhang Xiaoquan sure?"
"In order to be sure, Xiao sent someone to the Governor's Mansion to ask Fatty Wang to come over and have a look, but he recommended this person to come and help." County Lieutenant Xiao said, pointing at me.
"Li Jianghu, I'd like to pay my respects to Mingfu." I clasped my hands again.
"He is Fatty Wang's apprentice. The autopsy results of both of them are the same."
"Hmm." Magistrate Xu glanced at me, snorted softly, then turned to look at the woman on the ground: "Who are you, the deceased?"
"I..." The old woman wiped away her tears and couldn't speak anymore.
"Oh, they are the mother and wife of the deceased. Xiao Mou has just asked. The deceased went out to Wanhualou to have a drink at the beginning of Youshi. When he came back at the end of Xushi, he was so drunk that he could not walk steadily. His wife went to help him.
, was kicked by him and wanted to hit him again. His mother felt distressed, so she took her daughter-in-law back to her room to sleep.
This morning his wife prepared breakfast and went to call him. No one answered the door. She was afraid that he would not sleep well and would be beaten if he woke up, so she did not call the door again.
Afterwards, his mother also got up, thinking that it was getting late, and urged him to kill the pig, but there was still no response, and then he realized that something was wrong.
They called the neighbors and broke the door open together, only to find Tu Laosan lying on the ground, very cold, so they called someone to report it to the authorities."
Magistrate Xu helped the old woman up from the ground: "Old man, we have determined that your son died of drunkenness. Please show your condolences and prepare for the funeral."
"Thank you Mingfu." The old woman relaxed her mood and shouted to the room: "I knew...this unfilial son would die from drinking sooner or later...eating every day...going to flower houses...it's better now.
, we no longer have to suffer from it..."
"Mom, mom, are you okay..." The young woman patted her back and sobbed.
"Come, take this little money, prepare a coffin, and bury him as soon as possible. It's hot, so you can't keep it at home all the time." Magistrate Xu said, looking at the dilapidated rooms with sympathy.
He walked into the house, put a money bag into the old woman's hand, and then waved to everyone: "Let's go!"
"This..." The old woman was stunned, and before she could thank her, everyone had already left the yard.
"What a good official!" said the remaining hunky-backed man.
"Don't cry. Look, he beat you before. This is his retribution." The woman in yellow next to the man came over and took Mrs. Tu's hand to comfort her.
I also took a quick look, and sure enough I saw that Mrs. Tu's face was still a little red and swollen, and even her wrists were bruised. It seemed that she must have suffered a lot in daily life.
Everyone else has left, and the couple who remain behind, who look like a couple, should be their neighbors. As an outsider, of course it’s not convenient for me to stay.
"Hey, little brother, can you help me?"
I was about to leave when the man stopped me.
"Me?" I pointed to my nose: "What can I help you with?"
"I see you don't shy away from the dead either. Why don't you do a good deed for me and bury Tu Laosan with me?"
"That's right, my man can't do it alone. I'm afraid I won't be able to find anyone to help me at this time." The woman in yellow also said.
"Oh, thank you for your work. Here...this money is for you..." The old woman handed the money bag to the man and begged with eyes filled with tears.
"Oh, aunt, how can I ask for your money? When Uncle Tu was here, we used to get free oil and water. Hey, if the third child hadn't failed to live up to his expectations, your family wouldn't be living like this..." The man sighed.
After taking a breath, he took out a handful of copper coins from his purse and gave it to me: "Come on, little brother, take these, don't be too little. Do you think you can leave the rest to my aunt and the others?"
"Oh, no, no, no, I don't have anything to do today anyway, so I just take it as a help. I used to go to the slaughterhouse with my master to watch Uncle Tu kill pigs. Uncle Tu even gave my master a pair of pig intestines to drink with.
I also ate it." Of course I couldn't ask for money, so I quickly declined.
"That's going to be troublesome." Madam Tu Laosan knelt down towards us, and was pulled by the woman in yellow. The three women sighed together. This chapter has been completed!
