Something happened at the British Legation in the capital, and the military attache Robert Wood was killed. Because the place of death was not in the consulate, the Qing Empire was involved in this unfortunate incident. Prince Gong Yixin was also alarmed, and the Minister of Punishment, Shubao, personally sat down to order the order. Li Guolou will be asked to go to the scene of the crime. This is because Li Guolou can speak English, has studied in the UK and has an inherent advantage in dealing with the British Japanese. In addition, during this period, Li Guolou is in the limelight and has good luck. , even Prince Gong Yixin also knows the name of Li Guolou.
Li Guolou only got this bit of news from Ai Hai, so he dozed off in the carriage and slept on the cushion with his eyes closed.
Ai Hai chuckled mockingly and dozed off early in the morning. Even a non-captain would know what was going on.
Li Guolou closed his eyes and said: "Bald Ai, have you forgotten what it was like back then? Eight hundred steps and a thousand steps, everyone is talking to each other." In less than a minute, Li Guolou was already asleep, with a beautiful expression on his face. expression.
The coachman whipped his horse and headed eastward. He had already left the city and drove for more than three hours before arriving at the villa where Robert Wood died.
Ai Hai pushed Li Guolou and said: "When we get to the detective, don't lose face."
Li Guolou opened his mouth wide, gasped, and said, "It's so fast."
Ai Hai pinched Li Guolou's thigh fiercely and shouted angrily: "Don't disgrace the Criminal Department, the foreign devils are all outside."
Now Li Guolou woke up, jumped out of the carriage with his eyes wide open, and saw rows of government officials standing on both sides of the road, and a row of Indian Asans standing straight in front of the villa holding long guns with bayonets. This is the Qing Dynasty On the land of the empire, there are foreign soldiers standing guard blatantly. This is the cruel reality.
Li Guolou took off his top hat, nodded and bowed to a British officer, and said with a smile: "Hello! So unique, buy the male and female Mike Lee..."
(Everything will be written in Chinese from now on, the language is convenient.)
Li Guolou and the British officer were chatting at the door of the villa. The British officer started by talking about the damn weather. The two started talking about the weather and then ended up talking about those Indian assans. After a while, Li Guolou was already talking about it. After getting the business card of the British officer, Li Guolou also had this kind of gilded business card, and the two exchanged business cards. Because the British officer was from London, the two of them had the same pronunciation in English, and it was like meeting an old friend in a foreign country. It felt like we met very late. Li Guolou also took out a black ink pen from his wallet, wrote down his home address, and invited Howard Eugene to play at his home.
Li Guolou took the time to strike up a conversation with Howard Eugene because such British officers were all from aristocratic origins (there were also shabby aristocrats) who came abroad to serve in the British Foreign Legion and were gilded and had a bright future.
In the villa, Wu Defu looked around to see that Li Guolou had not come in. He couldn't bear it anymore and ran out of the door, saying loudly: "Deputy Captain Li, I asked you to come here to see the crime scene. Mr. Bao is also inside. "
Li Guolou hurriedly took off his hat, greeted the British officer Howard Eugene, and invited his family to have dinner at Baozhifang during the Spring Festival. The British are different from the people in the capital. The greetings and invitations to dinner by the people in the capital are all polite and fake. The British people's invitation to dinner was a formal invitation, and the two of them set a time to get together under the northwest wind.
Wu Defu said angrily at the door of the villa: "Xiao Lizi, I asked you to come because I think highly of you. There are so many officers inside, why are you still hanging around outside? Haven't you seen any British devils?"
Li Guolou defended: "It's not Mr. Wu. I met a Londoner. I felt friendly talking to him, so I just wanted to chat a few more words. There are so many of you, why do you want me to come? We are about to have lunch."
"Fuck you, the British minister is losing his temper inside. He wants to inform the Qing Empire that we are responsible for the murder of the military attache. My grandma will not be able to live a stable life during the Spring Festival." Wu Defu said in annoyance, finally feeling relaxed.
I came down and put all the things I should avoid until next year. I didn’t expect to encounter such a difficulty at the end of the year.
"I heard from Howard that the dead man Robert Wood starved to death and was locked up in the study. The property in the villa was looted. How much was lost?"
Wu Defu said: "I didn't know that the foreign woman was still crying and crying, and I couldn't understand the list she wrote."
"Oh!" Li Guolou stepped into this European-style villa. The senior officials in the hall did not even sit down. They stood chatting with people. The translator was busy communicating with the British Minister Justin Lear.
.
Justin Leal is an aristocrat, in his forties. He has a sense of superiority. He looks down at everyone, of course because he is over 1.9 meters tall and has a thick beard. Everyone saw the room.
When a fake foreign devil walked in, he couldn't help but stop talking and observe Li Guolou.
Li Guolou did not expect that Bao Yiyi would come to the scene of the crime. Now he was wearing a dress to pay homage to the officer. Wouldn't it make the British devils look bad?
Li Guolou bowed and took off his hat, bowed to the superiors and the foreign devils inside, and acted like a fawning and laughing slave according to the standards of the Qing Empire.
Bao Yiyi looked at Li Guolou's attire with some dissatisfaction, thinking that no wonder the people in the Ministry of Punishment called Li Guolou a fake foreign devil. He was well-deserved, and he had embarrassed the Qing Empire on such an important occasion. But it was difficult to say anything? They all
already
After looking at the crime scene and finding no useful clues, I asked Li Guolou to shoulder the burden. This was someone Wu Defu strongly recommended, and he also liked it very much. With the unique conditions of the young husband, people couldn't help but
Produce affection.
Bao Yiyi said: "Master Wu, please introduce the case."
Wu Defu followed suit and said, "Xiao Lizi, please tell the foreigners yourself that you are responsible for this case, so as not to waste time with the translator." He was particularly dissatisfied with the translator, who couldn't convey what he meant, and after talking for a long time, he still couldn't communicate well.
Li Guolou glanced at the translator. He had snatched his job. He felt a little proud that he was the only person in the Criminal Department who could speak English. Who else could he use to communicate with the British devils? Li Guolou directly talked to him first.
The British Minister Justin Lear communicated with him. This man spoke a Stoke County dialect, which made Li Guolou extremely difficult to understand. No wonder the translator wiped his sweat from the side. It turned out that he could not understand this man.
English.
A British man who could speak Chinese was of great help. He was the first person to come to the scene of the crime. It was he who found the dead Robert Wood. James White (translator and counselor), who was less than thirty years old.
, 1.8 meters tall, with curly black hair, a bushy beard, a straight aquiline nose, and a pair of light blue eyes. He looked extremely mature and could be Li Guolou's father. He worked and died at the British Legation.
The military attache Robert Wood was a friend.
Li Guolou glanced deeply at James White. This guy was not authentic. He obviously knew how to speak Chinese, but he let the translator gesticulate for a long time. James White saw that he could speak fluent London English, so he came to show his Chinese proficiency.
Accompanied by James White, Li Guolou came to the sofa to greet Mary Wood. After saying a few words of condolences, he went to see the crime scene. The British pay most attention to the study room, and cultural knowledge is what they value most.
The nobles even decorated the study room in a luxurious and simple way. Standing at the door of the study room, which smelled of the fragrance of ink, was a government servant, and on the other side was an Indian Asan.
Li Guolou couldn't help but smile and said: "Zhang Haojie, why are you here?"
The yamen servant Zhang Haojie smiled and said: "I am your lucky star, how could I not be here?"
Li Guolou smiled freely and knelt down to look at the study door lock.
James White pointed to the door lock and said: "Because Little Robert was missing, I came here last night and saw that the study was locked, so I broke the door lock, broke into the study, and found that Little Robert was dead."
Li Guolou picked up the iron chain and padlock on the ground without saying anything. The heavy door was still covered with iron sheets. It was originally a study to prevent thieves, but it became Robert Wood's cemetery.
Li Guolou squatted on the ground and asked: "Mr. James, are there any antiques missing in the study?"
James White said: "It seems not. Now that Lady Mary refuses to enter the study, we don't know how much damage has been done."
"Oh!" Li Guolou put down the iron chain and padlock, stood up and walked into the study. There was no light coming into the secret study, and the desk was full of candles, as if to comfort the souls of the dead and let the dead ascend to heaven early.
There was a dead body on the ground, huddled together, and the ground was covered with paper. The bookshelf behind him was not scattered at all, and the books were still arranged neatly.
Wuzuo Dieffenbachia walked in and said: "Xiao Lizi, I have checked the scene. The deceased died of thirst. The time of death should be two days. You are late this time." After saying this, he glanced at Li Guolou proudly and wanted to let him know.
Li Guolou was ashamed. He came later than him, got lazy after getting some results, and was looked down upon by an old man like him.
Li Guolou squatted on the ground, looking at the expression of the deceased, with his mouth wide open and his face as if he had tasted all the pain in the world, and he died silently. But his huge body could not bear hunger and thirst, and a person could not survive three days without water.
Li Guolou said: "Master Wan, did the deceased have any external injuries?"
Wan Nianqing glanced at him and said, "Didn't I say he would starve to death? How many times do you want me to say it?"
Li Guolou was still unwilling to give in and asked: "Master Wan, that means there are no external injuries."
Wan Nianqing let out a "hum" in his nose and put on an old-suffering posture.
Li Guolou asked: "Mr. James, did you touch anything inside when you came in?"
James White said: "Without Mike, I just turned over Robert's body. When I saw that it was like this, I knew it was hopeless. Oh! This is what Robert took when he died. I wonder if it will help solve the case.
.”
Li Guolou took a piece of pipe, which was an iron pipe used to clean short muskets. Li Guolou asked anxiously: "Where is the musket?"
James White sighed: "We haven't found the musket yet. We have looked for it several times."
Li Guolou raised the rod and looked at it under the light. It seemed that he would be able to find the traces of the criminal now. He remained motionless for a long time. People next to him didn't know what Li Guolou was thinking.
(The highest realm of reasoning is waiting to surpass countless predecessors!)