So I had to reply truthfully: "As far as the villain knows, there are three other in Nanjianzhou that are comparable to the scale of Renhe Pharmacy, we are all in the medicinal materials business, and they know a little bit about their situation, I heard that something has happened to those three in the past two years, although they are still in business, they can no longer be compared with the past, and the business is getting worse and worse. ”

"And do you know what happened to them?" Meng Zhizhou asked again.

Mr. Lu thought about it for a while and said, "The villain is hearsay, and he can't say it clearly, it seems that there is a problem with the transportation of medicinal materials." In fact, most of the medicinal materials business in Nanjianzhou is to be sold to the north or the two Zhejiang areas, the merchants to purchase and pay, we are responsible for transporting out of Nanjianzhou, in the past we have taken the waterway, and then the waterway has happened a few times, everyone has changed to the official road, in the past two years, the official road has often had accidents, the pharmaceutical merchants have come less, and our business is more difficult to do. This time, there was an accident in Renhe Pharmacy, and I am afraid that several major pharmacy stores in Nanjian Prefecture will be finished. ”

Ignoring the other party's complaints, Meng Zhizhou nodded slightly, and then said: "In this way, transportation is very important for you to do the medicinal material business, but is this?" ”

Mr. Lu nodded and replied, "Yes, without transportation, there will be no trade routes, and there will be no business to do." ”

"Although the trade route is important, the person in charge of transportation should be more important to the pharmacy." Meng Zhizhou turned around and finally asked the question.

Mr. Lu nodded again, and replied very sadly: "Yes, the person who transports the goods is more important, now that twenty-three of them have been killed, the trade route of the pharmacy in the north has been cut off, and we can't do the medicinal material business in the Jianning Mansion area, and now the people are in a trance, and the procurement and transportation of medicinal materials in other places have also become a problem." To tell the truth, they are all good hands in the pharmacy, and they have been working in the pharmacy for many years. ”

"The people who transport medicinal materials are related to the survival of the pharmacy, these people are so important, who are they selected, and who is in charge?" As soon as Meng Zhizhou asked, his eyes were fixed on the people in the hall.

Mr. Lu felt the compelling momentum exuded by Lord Zhizhou, and did not dare to hide anything, and replied truthfully: "The people who purchase and transport medicinal materials from all walks of life are the treasures of the pharmacy, and these people are all in charge of the shopkeeper himself, from selection, teaching, training, to going out to purchase and transport, the shopkeeper follows to the end, others cannot interfere, and every pharmacy is the same." ”

"In this way, every time I go out to purchase medicinal materials or transport them, the shopkeeper personally arranges them?" Meng Zhizhou immediately asked again.

"Yes, it was all arranged by Shopkeeper Lin himself, and he also arranged to go to Jianning Mansion this time." Mr. Lu nodded without hesitation.

Meng Zhizhou's face was slightly relieved, Mr. Lu's answer confirmed his conjecture, as soon as the shopkeeper Lin appeared in the yamen, the family of the deceased rushed towards him and asked him for an explanation, obviously the deceased would often mention this shopkeeper Lin at home, and only if there was more contact, the family would know about the shopkeeper Lin.

So he immediately began to investigate further, only to hear Meng Zhizhou ask: "Do you know all the twenty-three deceased people last night?" Do you know where they live? ”

Mr. Lu replied: "The villain is in charge of the accounts and the payment of remuneration, so he naturally knows each of them. But where do they live? The villain has not much contact with him, and he doesn't know much about it, and the approximate location of individual people, I have heard them say, but I don't know the specifics, the villain has a lot of accounts to do every day, and almost all of them live in the pharmacy, and they don't have time to understand their private affairs. ”

Meng Zhizhou asked: "Who do you think will know where they live?" ”

"Shopkeeper Lin, there will be no one else besides him." Mr. Lu did not hesitate too much and answered almost immediately.

"Oh, surely you won't have anyone else?" Meng Zhizhou was a little surprised, and the other party's answer seemed too affirmative.

Mr. Lu replied: "They have to go out many times a year, and they spend eight or nine months a year outside, and the rest of the pharmacy rarely has time to contact them, so it's hard to say whether they can recognize them all." The purchase and transportation of medicinal materials is very important, and the people who do these things must be very reliable, so the shopkeeper Lin knows them very carefully, how many people in the family, where they live, what they do for a living, whether they have a hobby of stealing chickens and dogs, and what the reputation between neighbors is, they must be understood clearly in advance, and if they feel unreliable, they will not stay in the pharmacy. ”

"The day before yesterday and yesterday, where were you? Where is Shopkeeper Lin? Have you ever seen any suspicious people come to the pharmacy? Meng Zhizhou nodded secretly, and sure enough, Mr. Accounts was right first.

"The villain has hardly gone out these days, the day before yesterday and yesterday has been in the pharmacy, except for taking the official to find Shopkeeper Lin in the morning, he has not gone out. As for the shopkeeper Lin, he came on time every morning and left at night on time, but he left the pharmacy at noon yesterday, saying that there was something at home and he wanted to go back, and he didn't come to the pharmacy after that. The suspicious person that the adult said, the villain has never seen, and he really doesn't know. Mr. Lu was secretly frightened and did not dare to hide it in the slightest.

"What you said in the hall today, can anyone testify to it?"

"There are more than ten people living in Renhe Pharmacy, and all of them can testify." Mr. Lu said urgently.

"Okay, you look at the testimony first, if it is correct, after signing and detaining, wait for the summons at the yamen for the time being, and don't leave." Meng Zhizhou glanced at the scribe after speaking.

The scribe got up, picked up a case file that recorded the testimony, walked up to Mr. Lu, and said, "Do you think there is a mistake?" ”

After taking it in his hand and reading it carefully, Mr. Lu replied to Lord Zhizhou: "The testimony is correct. ”

After speaking, sign and draw under the testimony and press the fingerprint.

Then he was taken down to the hall and guarded at the yamen, where he continued to wait for the summons.

Mr. Lu had just been taken away when another person was brought up.

"Who is in the hall, report your name?" Meng Zhizhou lightly patted the startled wood.

The man immediately knelt down and replied, "The villain Wang Zeng is the head of Renhe Pharmacy. ”

"Wang Zeng, what are you responsible for in Renhe Pharmacy?"

Director Wang replied: "The villain is mainly responsible for sorting the purchased medicinal materials according to their quality, and then further processing the medicinal materials. ”

"Then did you know that twenty-three people died last night at Renhe Pharmacy? Can you know them? ”

The king was terrified: "The villain has never heard of it before, in the morning I went to the pharmacy to hear Mr. Lu say that several people died in the pharmacy, and the shopkeeper Lin ordered the pharmacy to close today, and the villain went back, and it was not until noon that I heard that the pharmacy had killed twenty-three people overnight." The villain is sorting and processing medicinal materials in the pharmacy on weekdays, and these people who died yesterday have little contact with the villain, only being more familiar with the leader Song Cheng, and even if others have seen it, they can't be named. ”

"Where were you the day before yesterday and yesterday?"

"The villain has been in the pharmacy from morning to night, and dozens of people up and down the pharmacy can testify for the villain." The king was afraid of having anything to do with him, so he pulled out a bunch of people to testify.

"Where's Shopkeeper Lin? Where was he these two days? ”

Master Wang thought for a while, and then replied: "It seems that the day before yesterday I have been in the pharmacy, yesterday morning the villain went to look for him, and in the afternoon I looked for him, but I didn't find it, I heard that there was something at home and went back." ”

"Do you know what's going on in his house?"

Director Wang immediately shook his head and said, "The villain doesn't know. ”

"Do you not know, or do you not want to tell this official?" The pupils of Meng Zhizhou's eyes shrank slightly, and his eyes were sharp.

"Let the villain think about it." Director Wang immediately bowed his head, and after a while, he said: "The villain is also hearsay, I heard that the shopkeeper Lin originally set a family affair for his son, the other party's family is rich, and he is relatively wealthy in the local area, the other party retired a few months ago, I heard that he fell in love with a richer rich child, and he was depressed for a long time. Shopkeeper Lin has a good face, and in choosing his in-laws, he can't be high or low, and he hasn't succeeded in a row, and now he is still worried about his son's marriage. His son also likes to make a fuss, so he doesn't have to worry about it, and he went home yesterday, probably because of this. ”

"Yesterday, you also saw a suspicious person enter the pharmacy?"

The king thought for a moment and replied, "I haven't seen it." ”

"Okay, look at the testimony, if it is correct, sign and draw the charge, and wait for the summons at the yamen for the time being."

Meng Zhizhou finished speaking, and the scribe hurriedly picked up the testimony and let Director Wang read it.

The king signed and drew his fingerprints, and after a short time he was taken down, another man was brought to the court.

The person who came didn't wait for Meng Zhizhou to ask, and immediately knelt down and reported his origin: "The villain Tang Jing is Renhe Pharmacy sitting in Langzhong." ”

"Tang Jing, do you know why this official summoned you here?"

Tang Jing replied: "There were twenty-three murders in the city last night, and the deceased were all from Renhe Pharmacy. ”

"I ask you, do you know these twenty-three deceased, when did you learn that the murder occurred?"

Tang Jing replied: "The villain has been in the shop for more than 20 years, and although these deceased have not been in the pharmacy for a long time, they will see them several times a year, so they naturally recognize them." After learning that the murder case in the pharmacy was in the morning, after going to the pharmacy in the morning, I heard that there were eight murders, and I was shocked at first, but I didn't know until noon that it was not eight, but twenty-three, and as soon as I heard the news, the villain knew that something big had happened in Renhe Pharmacy. ”

"Do you know where these twenty-three live?"

Tang Jing said: "The villain doesn't know, the villain is also very busy in the store every day, and he has to check the ancient medical classics and study some incurable diseases when he has a little time, and he has no friendship with them, nor does he have the leisure to inquire about their private affairs." ”

"The day before yesterday and yesterday, where were you? Where is Shopkeeper Lin? ”

Tang Jing replied: "The villain sits in the pharmacy every day, there are no special circumstances, he generally does not go to the clinic, the day before yesterday and yesterday from morning to night, he sat in the store for consultation, and he didn't go anywhere." As for Shopkeeper Lin, as far as the villain knows, he was in the pharmacy all day before yesterday, and he was there yesterday morning, but someone came to look for him at noon, so he went back, and he didn't see him in the afternoon. ”

"Who came to him yesterday at noon? Do you recognize? Meng Zhizhou's eyes lit up and he hurriedly asked.