"It smells so good, brother, let's eat first, we're hungry."
"Ling'er, you smell the fragrance, are you greedy again?"
"What, it's dinner time."
The aroma came from an inconspicuous little shop on the roadside. I looked up and saw the five characters "Zong's Ham Shop" written on the horizontal plaque of the shop.
According to research, people in Jinhua have been curing ham since the Tang Dynasty. The reputation of Jinhua ham started in the Song Dynasty. More than a hundred years ago, Zongze, a famous general from Yiwu (belonging to Jinhua) who fought against the Jin Dynasty in the Song Dynasty, once "marinated" his hometown.
"Legs" were presented to the court. Song Gaozong Zhao Gou, who was still King Kang at the time, saw that the flesh was as bright red as fire, with distinct red and white colors.
, the lean meat is salty and sweet, the fat meat is fragrant but not greasy, and delicious, so it is full of praise and named "ham", also known as "Gong ham". Because ham is concentrated in Jinhua area, it is commonly known as "Jinhua ham".
In order to commemorate Zongze, later generations regarded him as the ancestor of the ham industry. Since then, Jinhua Ham has been famous all over the world and has lasted for thousands of years.
A portrait of Zongze hangs in front of the hotel to show its authenticity.
At noon, we ate some dry food on Chisong Mountain. We were all very hungry at this time. With the homemade rice wine from the shop, everyone returned happily.
Song Chengzu waited in the inn for a long time. After returning to the room, he said: "Sir, in the past few days, the Jinhua government office has screened all the foreigners in the past month on the pretext of checking household registration. A total of sixty people are still in Jinhua.
Nine people, sir, please take a look at this. This is all the information. Among them, twelve people have been highlighted with a red pen, who I think may be suspects."
I first looked at the information files of those twelve people, and the name of Hejiazhuang Tang Feng was clearly on it.
Tang Feng’s original identity certificate was very simple. He was male, 26 years old, and his place of birth was unknown. He wandered around when he was young. Thirteen years ago, he settled in Qingxi, Muzhou (now Chun’an, Zhejiang) with his adoptive father Tang Tianhao. He had no meritorious status.
, no bad deeds.
The following is the record of the yamen officer's inquiry. Tang Feng claimed that he had traveled around because of his fruitless studies. Last month he came to Jinhua for the first time. Seeing the outstanding people here, he stayed at the house of He Dongfu, the housekeeper of Hejiazhuang. Later, he met Hejiazhuang to compete in martial arts.
Recruit relatives, win the marriage, and become the son-in-law of the owner of the village.
Tang Feng, Tang Feng, could it be Hu Feng?
Thirteen years ago, it coincided with the time when Hu Feng disappeared.
"Mr. Song, what do you want to do next?"
"Sir, I want to focus on further investigating these twelve people and send people to spy on them to look for clues."
I said "yes" and after carefully reading the records of the twelve people, I said: "Mr. Song, please immediately arrange for the government officials to notify the sixty-nine people above to report to the government office tomorrow morning to apply for temporary identity certificates."
"Temporary credentials?"
"Yes, when applying for temporary certificates, we can check to see if any of these people have martial arts skills."
"Young master, do you mean a competition?"
"That's not necessary."
With Yuan Ji here, I think this is not a difficult task. Unless the murderer's martial arts is even higher than Yuan Ji's, then he must at least be someone like Tianya.
Although Song Chengzu didn't know what method I used to investigate, he didn't dare to ask more.
I continued: "In addition, Hu Yun's wanted notice is posted in a prominent place. If the murderer is among these people, there will always be some clues."
"Sir, if you keep doing this, won't you be able to alert others?"
"Haha, I just want to scare the snake away. If the murderer hides in the grass and doesn't come out, we can only wait, but if we can drive him out of the grass, we have a chance to capture him."
Song Chengzu thought for a while and said: "Well, what you said makes sense. Master, should we place surveillance on these people overnight, or just target these twelve people."
"Mr. Song, please arrange for your men to keep an eye on the remaining eleven people. Tang Feng has martial arts skills and is in Hejiazhuang. I will arrange for him to be monitored."
"Yes, sir."
"There is still no news from Hu Yun?"
"not yet."
"By the way, you have an agent who is good at tracking. I think his name is Hou Qiang."
"Yes, sir, you have a good memory."
"Tell him to focus on the outskirts of Hejiazhuang."
"Yes, I'll do it right away. Master, if I don't have anything else to do, I'll leave first."
"Wait a minute, Mr. Song served as an official in Jinhua for three years. Does he know the dialect here?"
Song Chengzu smiled proudly and said: "Master, I am quite talented in languages. Wherever I go, I will quickly learn the local dialect. My Jinhua dialect is exactly the same as that spoken by the locals."
"Well, very good, you can do this and that tomorrow."
"Yes, yes, I understand, sir."
After Song Chengzu left, I said to Yuan Ji: "Sir, please arrange for your servants to investigate Hejiazhuang tonight."
"I want to go." Fang Ling was the first to shout.
Yuan Ji chuckled and said, "Miss Fang, it's better for you to stay and protect the young master. Lan Yu, Shen Mo, you two should go there."
I practiced the Shadowless Technique once and went to bed early. I walked on Chisong Mountain for a day, and since I didn't have to go to bed early tomorrow, I slept soundly. I didn't wake up until Fang Ling asked me to get up for breakfast.
Before breakfast, Lan Yu and Shen Mo also returned to the inn. Everything was normal at night. Hejiazhuang was calm and peaceful. Apart from chatting with He Dongfu, the official in the village, Tang Feng spent the whole night practicing in the house.
"Lan Yu, Shen Mo, you've had a hard night. You don't have to go to the government office with me soon. Just rest here."
"Sir, it's okay, this is nothing."
Yuan Ji also said: "Yes, Young Master, this trivial matter is not worth mentioning, let's go together."
In a large house at the side gate of Jinhua Mansion, sixty-nine people lined up to go in and apply for temporary identity certificates. There was a row of wanted posters for Hu Yun posted on the wall outside the house. However, most people did not pay attention to the wall.
Fang Ling and others stood in a nearby hut and looked at the group of people through the window.
"Brother, look, that's Tang Feng."
Among these people, Tang Feng was outstanding in both appearance and temperament. Tang Feng's eyes stayed on the wanted notice for a moment, his face did not change at all, and he looked indifferent.
An elderly government official with a hunched back was in front of the door to check the people who came in. Yi Changjiang and several other government officials maintained order in front of the door and kept saying: "Everyone, line up and prepare your original identity documents.
, they will be inspected one by one and no weapons will be allowed inside."
Tang Feng accepted the inspection of the elderly government officer very calmly, and the government officer lightly touched Tang Feng's body and said in a low voice: "No problem, come in, next one."
"Name?" Song Chengzu asked in the room.
"Tang Feng, this is your original identity certificate."
Song Chengzu took it and looked at it, asked a few questions casually in a heavy Jinhua accent, then took out a blank voucher stamped with the seal of the Jinhua government office, filled it out and handed it to Tang Feng, saying: "That's it.
"
Not long after, all sixty-nine people had applied for temporary vouchers.
I came to the big house and said to the elderly government servant: "Sir, what do you think?"
"Master, except for Tang Feng, no one has martial arts."
Fang Lingle said: "Mr. Yuan, you really pretend to be like a government servant."
Song Chengzhu said suspiciously: "This can tell that there won't be any disguise among those people, right?"
I smiled and said without explaining, "Mr. Song, what did you find here?"
Song Chengzu did not dare to ask further questions and hurriedly said: "Sir, I chatted with Tang Feng casually for a few words in Jinhua dialect. Tang Feng responded with ease. This is completely beyond the reach of an outsider."
Inside Hejiazhuang.
"Xian son-in-law, is everything done so quickly?"
"Father-in-law, it's done."
"Well, you have been practicing the martial arts of our Chisong sect these days. On June 1st, you will go to Baoji Temple with me. Let's read the Chisong post together."
"Yes, father-in-law." Tang Feng replied respectfully, "By the way, father-in-law, don't all the officials in Jinhua Mansion like to speak Mandarin?"